Cod Almighty | Diary

The boys are back in town

12 August 2015

Wicklow Diary writes: My trial diary performances have led to a permanent signing and I'm hoping to be Mendonca-like as opposed to the occasional duds that Town have signed in this fashion. To grease the wheels in my contract negotiations, CA top brass pointed to ex-London Diary using the Wednesday slot as a stepping stone to Saturday night ITV primetime and the Edinburgh festival. Of course we all know he's just using fame and celebrity as a temporary means to pay the bills before he takes his rightful place between the sticks for Town. Regardless, I am certain that CA consulted with the best legal advice in authoring a watertight and Fry-proof sell-on clause.

Last night's victory over Barrow was just what we needed. Kidderminster, as previously mentioned by all rational and sane people, was just one game. However, the way it ended was a testing experience for fans in a hurry. Everything feels like it is in place but it is difficult to be patient – one kick from promotion, we now have 46 games ahead of us again.

So a convincing win before a decent-sized and expectant crowd – with first goals for Toto and Omar thrown in – was the perfect remedy. Town even had the good humour to troll the fans by conceding in injury time again. To cap a fine evening, the goals also prompted two pieces of commentary that are personal favourites. Sir Alan, in the live broadcast, purred that Omar "took his goal with aplomb" and John Moore's trademark "CRIKEY ALMIGHTY!" was the reaction to Andy Monkhouse's second on Mariners Player.

As for our top scorer, I might have sussed his nickname. "Monkers" was the Monkhouse moniker most evident as I waited with my fellow pen-wielding autograph zombies for the open day head tennis to finish last week.

It is a rare experience, but 4-0 is the point where I can begin to relax with Town. At 0-0: we need to score soon or this crowd will get antsy… at 1-0: GET IN, but hang on, we need to build on this… 2-0: YESSSSSSSSS! Oh rubbish, it'll be just like Town to blow this again... 3-0: we might be alright, how long is left…? 4-0: EE AYE ADDIO THE TOWN ARE GOING UP! Of course this is just a brief respite until "come on Hurst, rest some regulars and give the young lads a run-out".

A big talking point last night was the omission of Shaun Pearson from the starting XI. After the game Paul Hurst cited this as a benchmark for the competition that he wants to have in the squad. We all know how good Shaun has been for the past four years and given his continued excellence I'd assumed the central defence was Pearson plus one for the foreseeable future. Leaving him out is a big statement – don't forget we'd all assumed he was off to the third division in June.

I suppose it is better than the compromise that Hurst seemed to reach by playing Toto at right-back against Kidderminster. Having been impressed with Tait against Boston and his support of the attack, I was disappointed to see him omitted from Saturday's game.

To increase cover and competition elsewhere, Hurst is still on the hunt for a loan striker. JP and Marcus Marshall are both about two weeks away from fitness and I'm looking forward to seeing both back in action. Marshall in particular was excellent at Boston and even managed to tie the defence in knots for 20 minutes after he picked up the injury. With Amond, Bogle, Arnold, Pittman and Marshall all firing we could have the most exciting side in years at BP.

I took the family to the Boston and Kidderminster games and it was an interesting learning experience for them. Now bear in mind that we live in Ireland, a country where the universities could run PhD courses in bad language. This wasn't enough to prepare us for the Aggborough car park fallout zone and the gent who managed to fit six fucks into a five-word sentence during a 'Hursts out' rant. "Come along now children, it's OK to hear these things from a rage-blinded lunatic as he takes a whizz against the wheel of a minibus, just don't repeat or copy the actions…"

Of course, it wasn't all bad. Boston was the first time my two boys had stood on a terrace for a game. They loved it. Even with a healthy following of 500 Town fans, there was space aplenty to move about at York Street with fine views of the action from the large terrace. A shark-infested Kidderminster promised to be livelier. With a little sister in tow who slept through her last game (despite it being a 5-3 League of Ireland slugfest with two red cards) we chose seated tickets for Aggborough. Although not able to fully participate, this allowed us to witness the amazing atmosphere on the terrace from 2:30pm onwards.

Watching the fantastic scenes, I felt lucky to be a Town fan. The boys, their sister and even their usually footy-indifferent mum were feeling it too. Nearly 1,700 mad, jubilant Mariners bouncing away in chorus. And nothing says party like a retro Ciba Geigy Town shirt bobbing away on an inflatable flamingo. Imagine wasting your time watching the Premier League and missing out on this.

"Standing, when is it coming back?" was one of the good questions in the car afterwards. I didn't hearing any more about bringing it back to BP since we trialled the safe standing section at the Gateshead game in April. If done properly and safely, hopefully we can forge ahead with plans for it. Boston and Kidderminster are two great examples of what we're missing at BP and every other all-seater.