Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 5 March 2012

5 March 2012

Miss Guest Diary writes: By the time this is published I will be on the road to Morecambe for a two-day stay at the Midland Hotel, something I've wanted to do since it was refurbished in 2008. But Morecambe is in the north-west and, like many other attractions in that area, is "worth seeing, but not worth going to see", as Samuel Johnson once said. In our household that quote has become "worth seeing, but not worth the long drive unless there's a Town game involved".

Hence, a visit in 1996 to see the location of Colin Firth's Pride and Prejudice at Lyme Park was combined with a game against Bolton (6-1 defeat); a long weekend in Chester in 1999 took in Blackburn (1-1 draw) and Tranmere (3-2 defeat), and the dreadful relegation game against Tranmere in 2004 (2-1 defeat) was preceded by trips to Tate Liverpool and Port Sunlight. It doesn't take a genius to guess that my Morecambe trip is merely a prelude to the Fleetwood game tomorrow. Unfortunately, with my track record, I fear Town's unbeaten league run may be about to end.

It looked for a while like that might happen on Saturday, what with the dodgy match officials and Braintree's spoiling tactic of going down injured every time Town got a bit of momentum going in the second half. The awful referee did redeem himself just a little in our eyes by blowing for full-time just as it looked like Braintree might score a second goal. By the end of the game he was being reviled by both sets of fans and, from the apparent jostling on the pitch, by both sets of players too. In his post-match interview, Shouty confined himself to talking of the referee's "strange decisions", on the basis that he couldn't afford any more fines.

What about new boy Louie Soares? Is he going to be one of those players who always does well playing against us but fails to perform once we sign him? Think Martin Butler. Well, Louie's tall and sturdy and looked promising in the first half, making a few good passes and crosses. But he faded in the second half and missed a chance to score towards the end. On the way out of the ground, I overheard a fan expressing amazement that Louie had managed to score 15 goals for Hayes & Yeading. But, as Shouty told John Tondeur, he's been playing for a part-time club and hasn't had a game for five weeks, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now.

I mentioned last week that my first Town game was in April 1990 against Southend, when Keith Alexander scored two goals. Here is a chance to read a tribute to Keith, published to mark the second anniversary of his death.

Well, it's time for me to be on the road: there are some north-west attractions to be visited including the famous statue of Eric Morecambe. Let's hope Town's performance tomorrow will bring us all some sunshine.