Cod Almighty | Diary

Withstanding a bumpy journey

30 March 2016

Town's defeat at Macclesfield was Middle-Aged Diary's first game this year, so forgive me if, in the absence of any particular news, I share my few impressions.

It is now obvious – it has been for a couple of months, but I've been kidding myself – that we are not going to take the high road to promotion. Not for us the regal sweep of a celebratory procession and the opportunity to say our leisurely goodbyes. If we go up then Exeter 1991, not 1972, is the model. Brace yourselves, because there will be bad days.

Monday was a bad day. Everything went right in that all our rivals dropped points. Everything except the one thing that mattered. But against the backdrop of a poor performance – all the more frustrating, as Macclesfield looked quite beatable – there were grounds for hope.

First of all, Jon Nolan is a footballer who invites extravagant comparisons. His frame is slight rather than short but I found it quite easy to imagine him doing for us in the Conference what Joe Waters and Dave Gilbert used to do in the higher reaches of the Football League. He is one of several players we would like to imagine settling in North East Lincolnshire, part of a team we could well be talking about for years to come.

Second, at least the coaches turned up. That's not something Macclesfield have always been able to take for granted when hosting Town. Yesterday, the reserves put on a tribute act, turning up at the wrong ground for their tie with Hartlepool. That was probably just balancing the karma.

The coaches turned up in impressive numbers at the Moss Rose. Town fans have been too quick over the last 12 months to pat ourselves on the back, but on Monday the crowd was both large and supportive. And the players' acknowledgement of that after the final whistle was far more than the usual sheepish tap of the hands that usually follows a defeat. To become a team that we will take pleasure in remembering takes a bit more than innate football ability. It needs a bond of mutual respect and acknowledgement with the support that can withstand a poor display.

It is the kind of bond that can help us overcome whatever setbacks we meet between now and May.