Cod Almighty | Diary

It gets late very early

23 September 2015

Wicklow Diary writes: Another Wednesday, another midweek result that some us are still trying to swallow let alone digest. We are really cramming these games in aren't we? It's still early but it gets late very quickly, as my grandad likes to say. Twelve games gone: that's over halfway to halfway. Still, it should clear a few weekends for the FA Trophy and accommodate the winter bogs of Gateshead.

The 4-3-3 klaxon sounded before kick-off so we shouldn't have been shocked that Town had to struggle to get a result last night. We can take the positives of the clean sheet and ending Wrexham's run. Off the pitch, Town's fans repaired some of the damage to our reputation from Town's last visit to the Racecourse. The perfectly observed silence for the victims of the Gresford mining tragedy earned the respect of the locals and was in contrast to some embarrassing and boorish behaviour during Wrexham's 150th birthday party last season.

Take a moment today if you can to read up on the Gresford disaster. The horror of the disaster and the events surrounding it will wake up your sense of perspective if you are still worried about last night's result. You can add to this that last night's formation may have been partly dictated by the sad news about Nathan Arnold's mum. Just as most were unaware of Craig Clay's personal issues which Paul Hurst alluded to this week, we sometimes forget that underneath the kit, these are ordinary young lads trying to do something extraordinary on our behalf.

Back on the pitch, it was mildly irritating that we waited until the 77th minute to change the formation and offer more attacking threat. In the meantime we allowed the home side to dominate proceedings and create chance after chance. Wrexham seemed to have a tempo and intent that we haven't shown apart from in parts of the Bromley game. Bromley: remember them? They're on 20 points and looking down on us now. We can take solace in that as proof that anything can happen in this league. And we can still look at the calendar and point out that it's only September… it's still early for at least for another a week.

As with the Tranmere game on Friday, it's frustrating to see the team struggling to click and become greater than the sum of its parts. As I've mentioned in previous diaries, even with stuttering form I believe we will still make the play-offs. However, neither my wallet nor blood pressure can take another hammering like they got at Wembley. Waiting until February for some jobsworth steward to step out of line and wring some necks to galvanise players and supporters isn't a reliable tactic to spark a title push.

Actually, I retract my praise a couple of weeks ago of the Boreham Wood stewards. Perhaps they should have given that wigged stag party a tasering with a good throttling for anyone wearing a replica shirt in the stands in case we fancied joining in. We'd be top of the table by now.

I have yet to see McKeown's free kick save from last night. I've read comments that it deemed it better than the save against Tranmere. This would surprise me. What doesn't surprise me is his return to top form. Having read reports of extra training during his sticky patch, I also watched his warm-up before a couple of games. My concern at these was that he was working too hard. At Boreham Wood in particular he worked up a right sweat in a session that lasted twice as long as the outfield players'. It certainly made a joke of those who suggested that we make a loan signing to incentivise McKeown.

Of course everyone can and will have their opinion; that's what can make football debate simultaneously interesting and tiresome. However, to speed things up in the pub and online, I have a suggestion of my own. Let's make up some pin badges with accompanying social media profile tags for comments so we can quantify the salt dosage to add to the bearer's future comments. We can't let the fans who spouted nuggets such as these to slip back into anonymity until their next nutty tirade:

"Forest Green Rovers are not going to be stopped – they had the title wrapped up in August"

"The best keeper in the league is actually now crap and we need to sign a keeper on loan"

"Operation Promotion is the worst thing that could have happened to Town"

"Clay has to be in the team, there is no possible reason for Clay not to be in the team"

"Robinson has a clause in the loan agreement saying he must start every game"

This last one makes me laugh. I'm sure these arrangements exist but I would think they are reserved for when Chelski farm out Dutch starlet Hans Kneez or one of the other three hundred players they have. Maybe the follow-up to this one is that Robinson's been called back to Luton because we violated the terms.

There is also a special category: the "not good enough" badge. I love it when this one gets trotted out. Usually in the form of a smug pronouncement to confirm all the preceding guff. Not good enough? Really? We've just drawn again and we're piddling about in non-League. Bet these are the same people who tell you "ohh, I don't like hospitals" or "aren't funerals a rum do?"

Of course I am not innocent. My rash and thoughtless comments have been reined in significantly down the years though. One incident in particular served to accelerate this process. At Derby a few years back the Original Dave Watson – the one who had the face which appeared in the Incredible Hulk's nightmares – was centre-half for the home side. Despite a good display he had to endure a mocking chant of "old man Watson!" for the entire game from a terrace wag next to us in the Town end.

As an impressionable young lad, I thought this was the perfect bait for Tommy Hutchison when he visited Blundell Park with Swansea a few years later. Hutch must have been 60 at that stage but still playing regularly. Anyway, I greeted the moustached Swansea defender with a cheery "old man Hutch!" whenever he came within earshot. I kept this up until the second half until the defender politely informed me at a throw in that Hutch was actually on the bench but he would send on my love.

Anyway, the veterans of Southport are safe this weekend. It's a trip that I always try to fit in but I won't be there this weekend. The apparently trivial delay in the release of our fixtures meant that the Division One games were announced first. When I went to book my flight from Dublin, the plastic Scousers had got there first. The only seats available were already jacked up to 150 quid each way. A plastic planeload.

A lot of these guys never attend a game in Ireland. I have Liverpool-supporting mates who actually book flights for each day of a Liverpool home game weekend to cater for games shifting with the TV schedule. Muppets. Where were they when their country needed them and Lansdowne Road was half empty for a vital Euro qualifier last week? Probably busy at home looking up cheap flights to France in the off-chance that Ireland qualify. Just remember this when you hear Guy Mowbray chirping to commend The Best Fans in the World as a stadium full of boozed-up fans sing Fields of bloody Athenry in the face of a 4-0 defeat.

Sorry, went off on one there. Might go and see if I can get a last-minute ferry deal to Holyhead to calm down.