Cod Almighty | Diary

He's still dead but he's getting warmer

19 March 2014

Miss Guest Diary writes: I was all set to go to Forest Green yesterday – hotel booked, travel plans made – when I was overcome by an attack of inertia and settled instead for an afternoon of dressmaking and an evening watching corny films. When I received a text at 19.49 to say Town were 1-0 down after a "terrible Pearson error", followed by a second goal after half an hour, I knew I'd made the right decision.

Town were, by all accounts, very poor in the first half: the half-time Tony Butcher text described them as "the living dead". Apparently the performance improved in the second half, but Town could still only manage one goal despite "a dozen ace Aswad crosses". I'm guessing there were quite a few frustrated calls for Town to attack the near post. Listening to Hurst's post-match interview, the theme of that was also frustration and disappointment.

As least we have the match report to look forward to: bad Town performances seem to bring out the best in Cod Almighty's main reporter. My personal favourite is the 6-0 defeat at Oldham in 2004. I would have provided a link for you to enjoy it too but, when I went back to read it, I discovered about two thirds of the report is missing. Sort it, editors, or Mr Butcher will be withdrawing his labour again.

Looking at the table, Town are back down to eighth. Admittedly, that is only one point behind fifth and with three or four games in hand on some teams above them. But Town have taken only one point from a possible 12 in the last four Tuesday games which, being rearranged matches, were 'in hand' games. On that form, I'm not optimistic about Town making the play-offs. Even if they do scrape into fifth spot, the way things stand they will meet Cambridge in the play-off semis and we all know how well our games against them went last month.

Away from the pitch, the Mariners Trust has been busy again, organising a quiz night this Thursday in the trust bar, then a Wembley '98 reunion event on Friday 6 June. The trust has also published the results of its recent survey. I'm not going to bore you by rehashing the results here, except to comment that some of the findings are entirely predictable – 93 per cent of respondents want a new stadium – and some are a little surprising – 7 per cent think some ticket prices should rise. And on that cheerful note, I'll leave you.