Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Wednesday 17 April 2013
17 April 2013
Everything about last night's game at Woking led your West Yorkshire Diary to believe Town were going to turn over and have their tummies tickled. The team was once again changed comprehensively as part of Shorty and Shouty's Keep 'em FreshTM policy. That left pivotal players like McKeown, Disley, Pearson and Cook, who provide most of the steel in the Mariners' spine, out of the starting XI. Woking, with 13 home victories in the league and second only to rampant Mansfield in home goals scored, would've fancied their chances against a rotating Town team drifting in their astronaut suits to Planet Play-off.
I would probably class myself as a glass-half-full kind of man, normally, but these are not normal circumstances, and we do not live in normal times. Town don't normally finish anywhere near the top of any division, let alone the play-offs. Town don't normally do something so well that they leave themselves three games at the end of the season to play with.
So after winning at Dartford to secure our top five place last week, I thought we were about to embark on a run that would rival the pre-Wembley sequence. After all, with nothing technically to play for in the short term, the players might take their feet off the gas, avoid 50/50 tackles, listen to Frankie's lyrics and take them a bit too literally. Relax. Don't do it.
But, unlike a politician or a lawyer, I'm always happy to be proven wrong. While no one would claim we're playing free-flowing football or dominating part-time opposition, no one would deny we're digging in and grinding out results. It's this drive and commitment (in the absence of any real quality) that we missed in March.
I'm not sure how the managers are motivating the players, but it appears to be working. When I looked at our run-in after the defeat to Wrexham in the FA Trophy final I saw six tough-looking away games that I'd easily choose to shun. To come through those matches - which dragged the team all over the country in a short space of time - with four wins and two draws is extremely admirable in my book. Not that I've written a book. I'd like to, I just don't have the time unfortunately.
Last night's victory, which saw the much maligned Lenell John-Lewis grab his debut Mariners goal, did not come without a price. Almost immediately after scoring, the Kwik-E-Mart departed with a thigh injury, leaving the Mariners a man light for the last ten minutes since all subs had been used. The second-hand Ford had earlier left the pitch with a similar sort of injury, but Miller was able to step in.
Shouty was keen to pay particular attention to John-Lewis in his post-match thoughts, although he admits that he is now a doubt for the play-offs. He also confirmed on the radio that the likes of Disley, Niven and Pearson are injury-free and ready to be used as and when called upon, which is excellent news. Only a fully-fit Hearn could make this situation any better.
Last night's radio was something else. Plucky Scunny threw away a one-goal lead at already-buried Bury to leave them five points adrift of safety with two to play in Division Three. And if that wasn't bad enough, manager Brian Laws then said "sex" live on air when he meant to say "success" and juvenile people like me couldn't stop giggling while he poured his heart out in a desperately honest interview with Mike White. At least he didn't say Penis Peter Sweeney.
The tone was similarly depressing when they went to a caller from Hull. Despite supporting a team that is six points clear in the race for automatic promotion to Greedville, the caller sounded like he wanted to chuck himself off Humber Bridge because they lost 1-0 at Wolves.
With no other meaningful news to bring you, attention now turns to Saturday's final game at home to Newport County who are finishing the season strongly. They, like Kidderminster and the Mariners, have gone eight games unbeaten. The nuts on Wrexham's wheels certainly look like they're wobbling out a little, but logistically we'll only get to play them if we both make the play-off final. It looks like it's going to be Kiddy, doesn't it?
Whoever we play, whenever we play, you can bet your bottom dollar that we'll be rubbish for the first 20 minutes, do something good either side of half time and then go rubbish again for the last 20 minutes to protect the good bit we did earlier. Hey - it's a formula that seems to be working at the moment!