Cod Almighty | Diary

Not the Hootenanny. We're better than that

31 December 2015

Devon Diary here, bidding you welcome to the last Cod Almighty diary of 2015. It's been an amazing year, which the Too Good To Go Down blog summarised perfectly yesterday, and after reading that I found myself wondering about where we could have got that extra goal to bring the year's total to the magic 100. That many wins, that many goals, and now we're in the middle of a winning streak which could easily beat our 1952 record of 11 on the bounce. Town fans have every reason to be happy right now.

Of course, not everybody is totally happy; not everybody is totally 'in the moment'. Did you see those fans leaving early at the Lincoln game on Monday? We're 2-0 up against our local rivals in what is our only real grudge match these days and what? "Time to go, then – I don't want to waste my time applauding that magnificent performance when I could beat the rush and pop to Tesco on the way home?" Why would one leave? Is it getting tiresome seeing Town win so regularly?

Maybe that's it. Wicklow Diary is in Spain on his hols right now and he reported back that during Barca's 4-1 win over Real Betis last night home fans were leaving after 80 minutes – while Messi was still on the pitch! Spanish shitlarks!

While Wicklow has flown to warmer climes (with Town shirt and Harry Haddock packed, of course) I was at Plainmoor on Monday to see Torquay win for the first time in ages and there certainly wasn't a rush for the exit after 80 minutes. Anyone who did would have missed the last two goals, of course – but they would also have missed a near-perfect display of shitlarkery by the Forest Green fans.

The Rovers faithful had gone a little quiet since falling behind and their tactics became almost Lincoln-esque as they resorted to the big unit – Jon Parkin in their case – falling over too often. Their fans looked shell-shocked as three nailed-on points evaporated in front of their eyes – but what happened after the fourth goal was like manna from heaven for the Gulls fans. As Andre Wright broke away and scored in the 88th minute, the Green Army started taking down the banners with which they'd decorated the away end. That massive, green union jack being folded drew the biggest cheers of the day and a huge chorus of "cheerio, cheerio". Shitlarks!

Forest Green have since banned Torquay's mascot Gilbert the Gull from attending the new year return fixture at the New Lawn. For insurance reasons rather than sour grapes apparently. We should bear this in mind for 5 March and make sure we don't take inflatables or Mighty Mariner.

So, what else is happening?

If the rumours are to be believed it looks like Conor Townsend will be moving on in the new year. Of course, I'd like the rumours to be wrong – he often looks a class apart in this league and he's clearly enjoying his football at Blundell Park. He deserves to go far, but could that be with us? I'm sure that Paul Hurst will be trying to persuade him to stick around and sample the fourth division with us rather than upping sticks and heading down the A1 to Cambridge United. You're better than that, Conor. We're better than that.

If the gaffer fails in his efforts to extend Townsend's stay then it's certainly not all doom and gloom as we have pretty decent cover in Gregor Robertson and Danny East. Whatever happens, though, I hope he recovers from the knock he received in Monday's derby in time for the Guiseley game. I'd like his last game in a Town shirt to be remembered for something other than being lumped by a Lincoln neanderthal.

There's been some speculation that Town's other man of the moment, Pádraig Amond, might be an outside chance for the Republic of Ireland squad at next year's European Championships, despite us languishing/having a whale of a time in the Conference. I'm surprised that his teammate Jamie McKeown isn't getting similar attention – those clean sheets are due to him too, not just our miserly defence.

This time last week I previewed the Guiseley boxing day fixture which was then wiped out by the flooding in West Yorkshire. All of that still stands I guess so check it out here. The only thing that has changed since then is that we have another win under our belts while the Lions got comfortably beaten by Gateshead on Monday.

We have a goal difference of 45 better than Guiseley and are 15 places higher up the table, but if you want to really see the differences between the teams then check out Ben Mayhew's latest charts for proof of our relative superiority. Read it through and you'll also see that Ben has surmised from his data that Town "should be capable of challenging for the title". Science says so.

Take care of yourselves over the new year and I'll see you in 2016. Up the Mariners!