Cod Almighty | Match Stats

Tuesday 27 January 2009

Division 4

Grimsby Town 1 Elliott (19)

Dagenham & Redbridge 1 Nurse (37)

Attendance: 3431

For standing blond toe to blond toe with a rollicking forward line, the sponsors' lucky dip spun towards Rob Atkinson today. He did play very well and deserved his bottle of flat Aste Spumanti.

If the sponsors plump for the Blond Bob, then his partner in crime prevention, Chief Inspector Ryan Bennett, deserves recognition for his contribution to Town safety. So here it is. Another game where he literally threw himself in the path of lasers to save planet Town from these alien invaders. Ryan Bennett's alive!

"We have been defending well but the frustrating thing was that we did not get the ball down and keep hold of it in the second half. That allows them to keep putting you under pressure, and that's what they are: a high-pressure team."

"I was pleased with the result, pleased with the performance. It could have been three points but they are much improved side so I have to be quite happy. It was a great strike for the goal. Sometimes in football it is your day. I don't think it was our day because one or two decisions, on another day, would have gone for us. But I am not moaning."

I can't decide whether they were brilliantly horrible, or horribly brilliant. Like a swarm of killer flying ants, they smothered Town from first to last second. Super-fit and super-fast, they are built to destroy. They don't have style: they have a method which is ruthlessly, relentlessly employed and engineered to the nanometre. When the ball neared their foot or head it was bonked either straight down the middle or into the corners. And none of their roadrunner, roadrunners ever stopped chasing after the ball. And do you know something? Some of their players were talented footballers, Taiwo and Ritchie being the principle boys in the pantomime, subjugating their inner footballer for the sake of the collective endeavour. Mind you, they didn't have a defence, just some blokes standing further back. Their idea of defending seemed to be running upfield as fast as possible shouting "Banzai!" A hypnotically bizarre side. Not many teams will survive the Dagenham Inquisition if they play like this every game. We may not like what they do, but have to admire them for doing it well.

Mr D Deadman (Herts)
Disgracefully alright, though perhaps the tiniest squidgeon indulgent in the Cock-er-nee vigour, and sometimes strangely draconian on Town touches. Even the goals he disallowed were reasonable decisions. Why did he insist on man-marking Stuart Elliott though? Overall he left us without reason to grumble. So 6.987. Did they send his brother Dave along instead?

Not long ago this would have been a 4-0 defeat. All things considered, it was a point gained.