Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 23 January 2013

23 January 2013

A brace from Andy Cook on a suitably bracing night ensured that the Mariners returned to the top of the league after being knocked off it by the weather, sort of. Last night's 2-0 win over Hyde was very welcome indeed after successive home draws to mid-table teams left some fans wondering if we had the stamina and guile to really challenge for this automatic promotion spot.

Credit goes to the ground staff at Blundell Park, by the way, who managed to get the game on when all others in the division were postponed. Your West Yorkshire Diary hasn't failed to notice that when clubs fight hard to beat the weather, they tend to lose the resultant match to some lowly team (naming no Newports), so I'm glad the Mariners were able to buck that particular trend.

When a victory is accompanied with a less than convincing performance you often hear comments along the lines of: "We wouldn't have won that last year!" But this time last year we were in the midst of our purple patch, so we'd have probably hammered them 5-2. "It's a sign of a good team!" is another I hear a lot. Just because pundits say it on the telly, it doesn't necessarily make it true. After all, in 2005-06 under Russell Slade we started playing badly from January onwards and ended up getting sod all by the end of the season.

Anyway, there's another game on Saturday and I believe Wrexham are on FA Trophy duty, so it's a fantastic opportunity to open up a gap - if the game can go ahead. Last season's game at the Abbey was regarded as one of Town's best team performances of the season, so a repeat of that would be handy.

There's nothing more to say on the subject of Marcus Marshall, according to Town's Shouty-turned-Soothy manager. But playground bullies Luton have shoved back with manager Paul Buckle claiming that Scott's comments yesterday were "a little bit flippant". Scott is due to issue a press statement shortly, in which he's expected to claim that his dad is bigger than Buckle's dad.

Rumours - apart from being the title of a 1977 Fleetwood Mac album - are now so significant in the world of football that local rags are drawn to write about them. But I suppose the practice of reporting and dealing in hard facts is one that was lost many years ago.

Finally today there's some good news for Aswad Thomas - the first Town left-back in many a year not to be haunted by the left-back curse. Not only has he served his suspension and become available for the Cambridge game: he's also been called up to the England C squad. Well done him!