Cod Almighty | Match Stats

Saturday 3 October 2009

Division 4

Barnet 3 O'Flynn (11pen), Adomah (16), Bolasie (67)

Grimsby Town 0

Attendance: 2497 (539 away fans)

What a dapper Dan, catwalking into the ground five fashionable minutes late. It's 1972 all over again! All heads turned as the Man in the White Hat strutted a funky beat all along the watchtower. Tight high-belted jacket, drainpipes and a tiny jaunty titfer atop his silver waves -€“ he'd perfected that Serpico undercover cat look. He was the fashion antithesis of Town -€“ a lot of retro style with considerable thought put into its construction. Play that funky music, Town boy, when watching the way below average black and white band.

The emotionally superficial will moan about Bennett, but he was the only man on the burning deck. Apart from Colgan and Wood, who battled gamely, the rest were several shades of shocking blue. Clarke won the Stuart Campbell Klingon Cloak, but throughout the game Rob Atkinson was totally incapable.

"There's a lot of players in there that have not performed at all today. There will be changes at Hartlepool on Tuesday and there will be fresh legs in. Players who didn't play today will be given an opportunity."

"The most pleasing thing for me was the clean sheet -€“ we've not conceded in two home games and we've kept the opposition at arm's length in both of them."

They have no fans, but they can afford the luxury of decent footballers. Built upon the old spine of experience they frilled and thrilled down the flanks with fast pacey pace. They didn't really do much, but punctured Town's balloon with just three little prods. A couple of injudicious injuries and they'll be back down towards the middlemen. Hyde and Furlong have the nous, Bolasie and Adomah the fleeting feet, so take away a couple of them and all they have is some adequate scufflers. We have no idea how competent their keeper is, but the rest of the back four looked on the verge of shakes and flakes. If they go up someone will have to eat their white hat.

There were 500 people who paid cash, out of their own income and savings, to travel and hope. They banged, stamped, clapped and sang... For nine minutes. Only in the last quarter of an hour did the sourness descend. It's tiring spending an hour swinging on the barriers staring at your shoes, you know. A remarkable display of the old British stuff upper lip. A return to traditional values. We'll be bringing rattles and wearing over-long scarves next.

Mr D Sheldrake (Surrey)
He was the excuse some players needed. A useless coda to a codastrophe, 3.2713. Why waste time listing his inadequacies, which, like the surf at Da Nang delta, broke both ways, eventually. Some day these ref wars are gonna end.

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