Cod Almighty | Diary

Another clash with Havant & Waterlooville, another three weeks of avoiding puns on "I'm sorry I haven't a clue"

19 January 2016

Forewarning: This diary was written before Town's match at Bromley was postponed because of a frozen pitch. If you are on your way to Kent, please turn back. Or, if you are hellbent on a night in London, hook onto Twitter to find out about plans for a live recording of the latest @CodPodPod.

You really want to read about the game that isn't happening, don't you?

Let's have our bread and butter first. Tonight Town travel to the old Kent market town of Bromley to play the Ravens. Bromley, according to Wikipedia, play in white shirts and black shorts, and have an alternative nickname of the Lilywhites. Middle-Aged Diary's guess is that the name Ravens derives not from their colours, then, but from the River Ravensbourne, which flows through Bromley on its way to joining the Thames at Deptford Creek. Of more practical interest, Bromley are currently 13th in the Conference. That is something of a recovery; they are unbeaten in their last three games, having done us a favour by taking points off promotion rivals Dover and Eastleigh.

Strange that the expression "your guess is as good as mine" should imply that everyone is in the dark. Paul Hurst's team selections have been entirely consistent of late, so unless you are a Cheltenham fan only reading this to see if I call for your club to have points "DEDUCKED", your guess on tonight's XI is indeed as good as mine. Hurst has told the Telegraph that Conor Henderson is close to earning a place in the team, but not that close. He also confirms that Scott Brown and Jack Mackreth are available to other clubs.

Bromley v Grimsby is the only Conference game on tonight. That is after the FA withdrew its consent, reported by original/regular Diary yesterday, for Cheltenham to play their league game against Kidderminster and their FA Trophy replay against Oxford City on consecutive nights. A local journalist posted a story on Twitter claiming to have the inside story on this, but in fact all they had were some quotes from the Cheltenham manager Gary Johnson which paraphrased the late Fred Trueman on Test Match Special: "I don't know what's going on out there."

It is actually another fairly easy guess. Cheltenham were given consent for the arrangement before anyone at the FA checked the fixtures. When the FA realised, or had its attention drawn to the fact, that Cheltenham were proposing two midweek games, it reversed the decision. It's not a piece of administration that does anyone any credit. Non-League administration gets a lot of brickbats thrown at it, many of them undeserved, but this was shoddy. If it was a third party who tugged on the FA's coat, that lacks class.

As for Cheltenham, I'm not sure they can really claim their proposal was marked by any notable respect for the competitions they play in. There is a certain bluster in Gary Johnson's comments that suggests someone who thinks he has pulled a fast one only to get his collar felt at the last. It is the fans, of Kidderminster more than Cheltenham, who will suffer for this attempted sleight-of-hand and the bungling that almost let it succeed.

Grimsby's continuing involvement with the FA Trophy will take the form of a home tie against Havant & Waterlooville, to take place on Saturday 6 February. The Hawks, who we beat 4-0 in the second round of the Trophy three seasons ago, are yet another side, after St Albans and Weston-super-Mare, fighting relegation from the Conference South. They have however, beaten, two Conference Premier sides to reach the third round.

Despite the Mariners' winning run, the Grimsby Reaper has been quiet of late. But perhaps, like bird flu, it is mutating. Yesterday, Mark Robins of Scunthorpe and Ian Hendon of Leyton Orient were both dismissed. Both were competing parties in two of the relatively few bits of transfer speculation involving Town this transfer window, with the Iron signing Conor Townsend and the Os linked with rumoured Town target Armand Gnanduillet. Where once upon a time losing to Town was seen as the ultimate disgrace, now apparently wanting a player who we also want is the unmistakable sign that a manager has lost his bearings.

Post-script: Tonight's game at Bromley has been postponed because of a frozen pitch.