Cod Almighty | Diary

Diving for pearls

20 January 2014

Miss Guest Diary writes: If, like me, you came away from Saturday's game feeling cross and cheated and fully in agreement with the chants of "2-1 to the referee", then stay away from the post-match offerings on Mariners Player and in the Grimsby Telegraph. They also made me feel cheated, but in a different way.

The highlights clearly show that the free kick from which Gateshead's second goal was scored was awarded correctly following a challenge from behind by Colbeck. And Paul Hurst in his post-match interview is adamant that Thomas's challenge on Maddison was deserving of a penalty. That doesn't mean that the referee wasn't dreadful and didn't make some terrible decisions, just not the game-changing decisions which would allow us fans to blame Town's failure to win on the officials.

So what can we blame? Maybe John-Lewis's erratic shooting, Disley's somewhat lacklustre performance or the fact that Hannah seemed to spend virtually the whole game offside could account for Town's inability to convert more than two of the umpteen chances they created. Rodman seemed to galvanise the team when he came on – his contribution to Town's second goal was nothing short of superb – so maybe his introduction a little earlier would have done the trick.

What Saturday's performance indicates is that Hurst really does need to bring in another goalscorer – and the fact that more than half of Town's goals this season have been scored by midfielders or defenders would seem to back this up. Apparently there is money available for a striker, but he told John Tondeur that he is still "not close to anything". I know my fellow diarist urged us all on Friday to be patient, but it's less than a fortnight till the transfer window closes and a month since Town won a league game at Blundell Park, so allow me to have a small panic.

I saw at the weekend that our old friend over at Too Good to Go Down has been co-opted onto the board of the Mariners Trust. I would urge him to make it his first mission to bring whatever influence he has to bear on the club to open the Pontoon for the FA Trophy game against Tamworth. I am fed up with not being able to watch games from behind the goal, traditionally the home of the most vocal and enthusiastic supporters. I'm not sure this actually applies in Blundell Park... but it's the principle that counts.

At least Saturday finished on a high note: seeing Ryan Bennett score a late winner for Norwich against Hull. I always feel that a player who makes their professional debut with Town will always belong to us in some way, no matter how many subsequent clubs they play for. So Bennett's goal was somehow also Town's goal. And John Oster's Welsh caps. And all those goals Jack Lester scored for Forest, Sheffield United and Chesterfield. Hey, that's an idea – maybe Hurst can coax Lester out of retirement for a last few months at Town: we'd certainly get a lot of penalties.