Cod Almighty | Diary
Matchday? on a Monday?
7 December 2015
Devon diary writes: That was weird wasn’t it? A weekend without a game I mean. Even the gaffer was confused by the lengthy gap between league games but I guess that’s the price you pay for not getting dicked by a team nobody has heard of before.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the absurdity of FC United of Manchester having to face Chesterfield on a Monday evening after the draw for the next round had taken place. Tonight it will be our turn as ball #53 holds the fate of both ourselves and Shrewsbury before we face off half an hour later. A lucrative away tie at Big Club United or a trip to Whitehawk or Dagenham? Will knowing where we’re bound in the next round affect our performance?
Have we played on a Monday before? Bank Holiday Mondays don’t count, they’re perfectly normal. What I mean is, have we played on a Monday evening for a reason other than letting the financial industry put their feet up? A quick google shows we were scheduled to replay an FA Trophy tie with Gateshead on a Monday earlier this year but that already rearranged tie was postponed out off to the Wednesday. I can’t remember much about it but it seems that we lost the game. Although I wonder did we actually play it, or just concede rather than go through the headache of repeatedly rearranging games at the constantly frozen, waterlogged or hexed International Arena pitch?
Whatever, Monday it is. Tonight.
The last time Salop beat us was in 2007 and our last FA Cup meeting was as far back as 1997. We won 4-0. None of that matters of course. It’s all about the performance on the night, but it’s interesting to note though that the last time we played them - 5 years ago – Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro got himself a goal and created two more as we ended a particularly dismal winless run.
JLAA of course left us after we got relegated from the League and now finds himself at Shrewsbury. I asked my friend Adrian, a devoted fan of Salop, about him and he had this to say: “He's magic you know? There is a world class footballer trying to get out. When he's on his game he’s just brilliant. Very rare though.”
Plus ca change, hey Jean-Louis?
The Shrews aren’t having the best of seasons and are currently floating around the lower reaches of the third flight (ah, the memories!) But it’s the Cup and teams tend to pick themselves up for it and pull a performance out of the bag. Adrian has a day off so is making his way to Cleethorpes for fish and chips before the match but reckons that the scheduling and the game being on BT Sport will kill any chance of a decent crowd in the Osmond. Don’t get me started on that scheduling again.
How will we do? I reckon we play better against decent footballing sides – something that Alan Buckley talked about at the launch of We Are Town last month – and the Shrews will try and play rather than hoof it. Adrian didn’t sound too confident and sees us as "flying" and hopes his side don’t "feck it up".
In his opinion Salop are struggling. They have lost the flair and togetherness of last year when they gained promotion from League Two. They didn’t recruit well in the summer after losing a couple of key players and lack a bit of pace, apart from loan midfielder Sullay Kaikai. Their defence look good individually but hasn’t gelled and make too many mistakes so it looks like we have a decent chance of progressing if we - *ahem* - keep us shape. As I’ve said before, I love a good cup run and the FA Cup could be good for us.
The only bad thing about a cup run is that those teams already knocked out are playing league games and leaving us with games in hand. This weekend Dover leapfrogged us with their win against Aldershot but we can address that as they’re our next opponents after next weekend's FA Trophy games. Braintree and Wrexham are both sneaking up on us but they’re due to play each other once the league resumes so as it stands it’s still looking good. It’s all about racking up the wins and having another month like November. Starting tonight with a cup win just like we started November with a win against St Albans.
I'm tentatively confident. Up the Mariners.