Cod Almighty | Diary

Taming the Tigers

21 April 2014

Miss Guest Diary writes: On Friday my Mardy colleague, in response to the suggestion from some fans that Town are not good enough to get promoted, asks what pits of human misery these people inhabit. To which I would respond: Blundell Park. Or the away end at Nuneaton, or Kidderminster, or Chester, or even Alfreton.

I have seen 37 Town games this season, which is well over 3,000 minutes of football, and would estimate that the moments of Town play which I have actively enjoyed probably add up to about 90 minutes in total. That's one full game out of 37. If I applied that enjoyment ratio to any of my other leisure time activities – such as visits to the cinema, eating out, baking cakes, tai chi – I would have given them up years ago.

Why is football different? I haven't a clue. But that doesn't stop me feeling annoyed when people who hardly ever go to games say that winning is all that matters and how Town play is irrelevant. That's easy to say if you only follow the games on social media, or listen on the radio, or read the result in the newspaper next day. When you expend a lot of time, money and energy on watching games, the performance is every bit as important as the result. If it isn't, then you might just as well reduce every football match to a computer simulation and we can all stay home and moan about it on Twitter.

The Manager Formerly Known as Shorty has been doing some moaning of his own about Saturday's game, claiming a Bradley Wood handball after he blocked a shot by throwing his body at the ball. Well, if Hurst hadn't let Bradley go this season he could have been throwing his body at the ball for us – something some of our players might like to try. I can think of a few goals Town would not have conceded this season had there been a bit more commitment from the full-backs.

Now for today's game against Hyde. I think we were all hoping, maybe even expecting, that we'd be safely in a play-off spot by now. But it never seems to work like that with Town, does it? And playing the bottom club who have won only once this season is no guarantee of success either: Town have a history of upsetting the odds in the most frustrating of ways.

The manager has urged fans not to expect an avalanche of goals and to have some patience – not the strong suit of the average Town fan in my experience. Of course, if football games were just computer simulations, then Town would win easily this afternoon. But where would be the fun in that?