Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 12 February 2013

12 February 2013

If you are on your way to Nuneaton, slow down and enjoy the views. You have 35 days more to get there.

Your Middle-Aged Diary feels it is time to give some credit where it is due. Tuesday is traditionally self-promotion day on the Telegraph site. Trawling the Town, the Century Club and now Our first match are all the types of initiative the Mariners need to ensure the club's future, and ones that have been neglected in the past. Graham Precious's series of Mariners memories, with their plug for the supporters' trust, reminds us how much we would lose without them.

Today, Graham looks back at Grimsby's 4-0 win over Sheffield United at the end of the 1979-80 season. Another highlight of that season was a League Cup run to the quarter-finals which meant that Town finished the season with a charge as they played and won games in hand to claim the title. Alan Buckley's first spell as manager was kick-started by an FA Cup run which engendered improved league form, and his second started not only with promotion but good runs in both major cups as well as winning the Associate Members' Cup.

Town may well lose their lead of the Conference either tonight or on Saturday, when they take on Dartford in the FA Trophy. There is a class of supporter who, having spent a bit too much time watching TV punditry, like to pass themselves off as being in the business by taking a world-weary, know-it-all "distractions of the cup" line. They may come out in force should this happen. The examples above give them the lie.

Even the season that appears to back their case - 1990-91, when the Mariners were knocked out in the first stage of all three cups - is an exception that proves the rule. After a confident start to the season, giving Town a nine-point lead on third place, a series of cup defeats knocked our confidence and contributed to the loss of form that allowed our rivals back into the promotion race.

What does it profit a team if it gains a less congested fixture list but loses its own soul? It would have been good to have the chance to extend our lead tonight, but it's not to be. Andi Thanoj, whose broken nose should not prevent him playing on Saturday, reports that the mood at Blundell Park is the most positive he has known, but let's not test it by losing a cup tie.