Cod Almighty | Diary

The one where I failed to shoehorn in an Edgar Allen Poe pun

24 December 2015

Devon Diary writes: Christmas is a time for giving and so I'm hoping that this year Town enter into the festive spirit and give new contracts to both Pádraig Amond and Conor Townsend, two players who have arguably been in the form of their lives as the team has clicked over the last couple of months.

I'd also like to see us give Lincoln a lesson in football on Monday to make up for the draw back in August – and more importantly to gain redress for Matt Rhead's gamesmanship in that away fixture. 

Before the Lincoln game, though, we have a boxing day trip to the wonderfully named Nethermoor Park and the first leg of a festive double-header with Guiseley. Lions manager Mark Bower reckons Town are the best side in the league this year so it's up to us to prove him right and kick off a hugely important week with three points. Standing in our way in West Yorkshire are a couple of former Mariners. Defender Rob Atkinson has turned up there after a couple of post-Grimsby spells at Fleetwood and Accrington and also in the side is player/assistant manager Danny Boshell.

I reckon Boshell's release back in 2010 was one of Neil Woods' big mistakes as a manager and in hindsight he was one of those players we should have held on to. Hopefully our supporters recognise that and give him a round of applause, but at the same time I'm hoping that he doesn't recreate that volley against MK Dons which earned him our goal of the season for 2006-07. 

Come to think of it, Atkinson was pretty decent too, although maybe overshadowed a little by Ryan Bennett at times. Maybe he deserves some applause too? I can't blame him for choosing to leave when he did; those were dark days which are now well behind us.

Another interesting name on the roster at Nethermoor is James Hurst, who until recently was at Torquay United. Hurst was the leading scorer at Plainmoor before being suspended by the club in early November because of an 'incident' (football slang for getting pissed up in the town centre and getting hauled away by the police) before being sent out on loan. He hasn't scored yet for Guiseley but his tally of seven for Torquay makes him the Lions' top scorer. A good player with an eye for goal if he can be bothered – but unfortunately, more often than not, he can't. A bit like Barry Conlon.

While I can't predict the exact score, one thing for sure is that our visit will boost Guiseley's gate considerably as we have sold our full allocation of 1,050 tickets. In a ground with a capacity of only 3,000, that many travelling Town fans will generate the sort of atmosphere that away teams in the Conference can only dream of and surely cheer the team on to victory. A win at Nethermoor and then a drubbing of the Imps will put the gaffer in the running for manager of the month again. He deserves it too – the last couple of months have seen Town add a steel to our perormances which had often previously been missing. Our miserly defence doesn't concede late any more (except for the Shrewsbury replay) and we can grind out results when it matters. 

There won't be a diary tomorrow – we're giving Retro a day off - but keep an eye out for reviews of Saturday's game and Wicklow Diary will be in on Monday with a preview of the Lincoln game.

Until then, have yourselves a very merry Christmas, and of course up the Mariners!