Cod Almighty | Diary

Until we're playing three games a weekend, don't panic

14 January 2016

"God clearly despises the FA Trophy," noted Middle Aged Diary on Tuesday. Judging by the comments on social media over the last couple of days, so do many Town fans. But our fans don't like a lot of things, do they? #Tinpot leagues and cup competitions obviously rank highly on our shitlist along with Lincoln City, Steve Evans and loan strikers who displace Irish superstars. Maybe we should make a list of teams, players, competitions and just things in general that irk us? Yes? Next time I have a spare month or two I'll get to work on it.

Also commenting on the ridiculous situation in which Town might have found themselves without a game this Saturday was your man Aristotle, who chipped in with "nature abhors a vacuum", clearly referring to the twitchiness of the good folk of north-east Lincs when faced with a Podge-less weekend. Fortunately last night Wealdstone and Weston-super-Mare managed to conjure a result at the sixth attempt as they agreed to play at nearby (ish) Paulton Rovers' ground, simply to get it over with.

So it's Weston who make the trip to Blundell Park on Saturday. I for one sincerely hope the weather holds and we don't have to postpone it, because the date pencilled in for a replay is the following Tuesday – and that would in turn mean postponing the Bromley game. Fixture pile-up? Not yet. But it's like dominoes, isn't it? After all the griping and sniping, we need to avoid accusations of us being big-time charlies by smashing teams out of sight and also forking the Blundell Park turf at the merest hint of rain.

What can I tell you about the Seagulls? Well, I know where it is but that's not important as we're at home. Scotty Wilson, who bagged a hat-trick last night, probably needs to be shown a bit of respect but apart from that? I dunno – how about that their home shirts look a lot like our 2006-07 kit?

The club has reduced prices for Saturday's game so get yourself down to the ground if you can and support the team. It's not the biggest competition but we're in it, we can win it and it won't affect our promotion chances. It's the same team we support in the league and we're on a roll – so quit sneering at it and get behind the lads.

What else is happening? Wicklow summarised pretty much everything newsworthy in yesterday's diary, apart from the transfer news of which there is pretty much none. Nowt, dada, zilch. Wait, there's still a hint of a sniff of a whisper about Armand Gnanduillet, whose return to Chesterfield might just be a sign that the Spireites are looking to move him on permanently. Either that or his goals for Stevenage and their precarious league position mean they're giving him a chance.

If Gnanduillet is available, though, and we're in the running to sign him then I'd expect that we'll face a battle from Stevenage manager Teddy Sheringham, who knows a thing or two about goalscoring. Did you know that Sheringham registered himself as a player this season? He's 49 years old! I'm dropping this in to give hope to all of you out there still holding out hope of a career in professional sport and wondering if you've left it too late. 

One last thing. Do you listen to the Codpod podcast? No? Check it out and please join in with Lloyd and Bill's request for examples of unusual memorabilia. Items mentioned online since episode 12 was published are a signed Barry Conlon shirt, a Mike Newell training top and a Josh Lillis match-worn keeper's shirt. Can you beat that? Of course you can. Dig out your Disco Des Hamilton shirt and tweet a photo to them now.

Here's to another Amond hat-trick on Saturday and maybe Tuesday too. Up the Mariners!