Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 20 February 2013

20 February 2013

Toppled! Our world has come crashing down around us as Wrexham muscled in on our patch at the summit last night. While we wilted in boggy Essex, the Dragons splashed gaily in the Gateshead swimming pool to snatch top spot. You know, there was a time when we could only dream of being tough to beat and capable of stringing together a long and fruitful unbeaten run. So it seems difficult – impossible, almost – to think we could get so tetchy over our fifth defeat of the season when we're just about to enter Marathon March.

Is it just me or did last night's Cressing Road pitch at Braintree resemble a crumpet? Your West Yorkshire Diary couldn't ignore the parallels it drew with Town's recent form, either – patchy and porous; holes that were predictably exploited by a buttery Braintree.

Not that the state of the pitch was ever going to be an excuse for a defeat, of course – the management duo were adamant about that ahead of the game. Town lost because, for once, they actually went behind when they deserved to go behind. The traditionally nervy opening half-hour performance was accompanied this time with an opposition goal. No one knew what to do – least of all the players. It was unchartered territory.

Both Braintree's goals were apparently scored by a former Mariners trialist, Luke Daley. Anyone who has any idea when Luke Daley was on trial at Town, and can identify him from the 1,046 others who have come through Blundell Park's revolving door since 2003, should get in touch – because we're none the wiser.

You'd imagine that Shouty would have flexed his vocal cords and given the players a good dressing-room dressing-down last night. No more Mr Soothey – at least not until Town are winning 3-0 again. It's nice to know that he can still adopt more dulcet tones when giving his post-match interview to the BBC, even if he's clearly raging inside.

It's easy to be sceptical about the signing of Lenell John-Lewis – maybe it's because we already had seven strikers in the squad when he joined. I dunno. The managers followed up their promise of making a couple of changes to freshen things up by introducing the former Bury striker into the starting XI last night. I don't know about you, but I'd have imagined Ross Hannah would've been pretty fresh after being benched since the start of the month. Still, we all know what Cook did (or didn't) do during his first dozen games in a Town shirt – and the managers haven't got too much wrong in the transfer market, so perhaps we should trust their judgment and hope that John-Lewis shows something that we didn't already have in Greg Pearson.

No-one likes to lose but, still, it's best to keep a bit of perspective. I'm obliged, as your moral conscience. It was only Town's fifth league defeat of the season and their first since the 3-2 defeat at Hyde in early November. Back then, no-one would have anticipated a promotion fight of an automatic theme, along with a massive Monty Python-esque foot in the final of the FA Trophy. It's been a very good season so far so let's see how the team responds down at Dartford on Saturday.

Oh, and if you didn't already know, Paul Buckle has left Luton by mutual consent – which I think means he was told to go by the Hatters' board but was paid most (if not all) of his remaining contract. I never have worked that one out. Anyway, I haven't got the time or inclination to make any humorous comments about his failure – but it does mean someone in these ivory towers needs to pay some attention to the CA entry page.