Cod Almighty | Diary

I'm not angry, just disappointed

3 November 2014

Miss Guest Diary writes: How is it possible to come away from a 3-0 home victory feeling disappointed? I don't know, but that was my experience and that of several of my friends and acquaintances on Saturday.

Could it have been the lack of tension in the crowd? It was obvious to everyone in the ground – except possibly Tony Burman, the visiting manager (more on him later) – that as soon as Town scored there was no way back for Dartford. Over the years we have become used to putting up with many frailties in the Town defence. The oft-repeated mantra in the back of the Pontoon that "we need four to draw" is only partly said in jest. But no longer: Town's manager, who must surely have "keep it tight" tattooed above his heart, has constructed a team with the meanest defence in the Conference. In one cup game and 18 league games this season Town have conceded just 14 goals. That's one better than table-topping Barnet.

But therein lies the rub. All this defensive solidity is the product of a formation which doesn't lend itself to exciting attacking football at home. I heard many complaints from people around me on Saturday about the negative style of play and the seeming reluctance of players to get the ball forward. The fact that Town put seven past Alfreton a couple of months ago playing 4-4-2 only highlighted the contrast.

Even Paul Hurst admitted that Town "won without playing particularly well" and "didn't get out of third gear". Given that many cars have six gears these days, that's really not a ringing endorsement of the performance.

Back to the Dartford manager. When he made a triple substitution after about an hour, there was speculation from my neighbour in the Pontoon that Burman thought Dartford could get something out of the game, maybe having mistaken Town's reluctance to attack for some kind of improvement in his team's performance. After the game we learned from a friend who sits in the Main Stand that Burman's half-time team talk had caused quite a stir: less the hairdryer, more like the paintstripper, and laced liberally with profanity. He should have saved his breath.

And what about Town's new signing Harry Pell? Well, he's very tall and a bit gangly and seemed to put himself about quite a bit. He also might have had a goal. All I can say at the moment is that I wasn't unimpressed. But I prefer Scott Brown and hope he recovers soon. The good news on that front is that the original diagnosis of three months out with a broken ankle has been reduced to four to six weeks out with ligament damage.

A bunch of ex-players from way before my time as a Town fan received a round of applause for parading across the front of the Pontoon on Saturday. The official site was expecting Phil Hubbard, Jack Lewis and Alan Woodward, but I am (not very) reliably informed that they were actually Hubbard with Mike Czuczman and Stewart Gray. And Dave Boylen, who I recognised from his cheerleading exploits in the relegation seasons. Was their presence part of the excellent Mariners Trust initiative to have former players return to mingle with fans in the trust bar before the game, or somehow connected with the launch of the official sticker album?

Probably the former reason, because Dave Boylen is the only one of those present to feature in the album. How do I know? Because I got my album on Saturday, and was fortunate enough to get both Alan Buckley and the Shop in my first packet of stickers. Have you got yours yet?

And now for some breaking news: the Lincoln City manager has been put on gardening leave. I wonder if he'd like to pop round and prune some shrubs for me.