Cod Almighty | Diary

Is there a limit on the number of Carter USM lyrics this thing can take?

22 November 2016

Wicklow Diary writes: E-I-E-I-E-I-O, up the Football League we go. The CA twitterer yesterday highlighted possible hysteria on the Fishy. A poster proposing Championship football at Peaks Parkway in four years? Madness? I'll take it. If the world's going to hell in a right-wing handcart, we might as well go laughing.

Bristol Rovers are the tangible poster boys for an effortless ascent. Just as long as we can forget that they're owned by a Jordanian banker whose body is made entirely of gold. We'll have to get there by other means. There are several known 'power-ups' that can boost form and shoot you up the leagues. Town are using some of these right now. Momentum from a recent promotion? Tick. New manager bounce? Tick. New stadium? Err, the tick to approve it is in the post from the council, as well as the cheque to pay for it.

After being trapped in the dark depths of non-League, the only danger is we get the bends by coming up too quickly. Maybe that's why back to back promotions are reasonably common. Not so much the momentum, more the release from the burden of expectation of the last few seasons. I'm all for a bit of unbridled enthusiasm, as long as the lofty goals don't suddenly become the expectation.

We just beat the league leaders 3-0 at their place and have a manager who makes attacking substitutions when we're ahead. Anything is possible

Let's take it one funny old game at a time, Greavsie. Tonight, we welcome Carlisle to Blundell Park. It's a fixture that evokes memories of an afternoon in those utopian Thatcher years when the Tories were a bunch of lovable softies. A gloomy afternoon which had me once again questioning the Blundell Park floodlight wattage. After a frustrating 90 minutes, Big Keith bobbled the winner home after playing one-twos with the shins of several Carlisle defenders. The win settled a stuttering Town side and we went on a glorious run to Alan Buckley's first promotion.

There's that promotion word again. Look, we just beat the league leaders 3-0 at their place and have a manager who makes attacking substitutions when we're ahead – anything is possible. A manager who, asked last week about "the difficult run of fixtures" ahead, replied: "Are they? I'll let you know after them." Love it. Let them worry about us. On the theme of 'anything is possible', I just noticed that Colchester are now second from bottom. Who'd have thunk that after our 45-minute shredding in August? Crazy division. Let's get promoted and try and figure it out later.

That manager. It's easy to go on about Marcus Bignot's infectious, almost giddy enthusiasm – so let's do just that. I'm going to enjoy it now just in case the weight of GY ever starts to mardify him. His pre-match conference is on Mariners Player and some of it is in print. Drink it all in and smile at his comments on "not having had that loving feeling at the moment, that one-on-one" with all of his squad. He even has time to joke that he had more staff at Solihull Moors. Take that, Shrewsbury and your team of fit and conditioned relegation fodder.

Before we consign the Plymouth game to glorious history, Argyle have put together a video which is a nice little souvenir of the day.

No jarring soundtrack, no daft commentary, just a lovely log of the action on and off the pitch. The Town goals are shown from several angles and there's plenty of footage of the travelling fans in full song. It also captures a moment for 'where are they now' trainspotters (like me) with Andy Warrington and Rhys Wilmot talking keeper stuff in the tunnel as the Town players arrive.

A weekly feature for almost every season in the Telegraph from 2002 to 2012, the 'Tell The Telegraph We've Not Been The Best Lately But We'll Get Better Soon' article has thankfully been rarely seen of late. The closest we'll get today is a chat with Danny Collins along the lines of "we know our home form has been pants but we're keen to put it straight". Even better is the inclusion of the news that Collins looks set to sign a deal to keep him until BP until the end of the season. This is good. Omar gets the headlines, but Collins and Zak Mills have been especially impressive of late. For those worrying about Collins' 36-year-old legs, check out how nimble he is getting in and out of the net to celebrate his goal at 8m 20s of the Argyle video above.

Back to tonight. For Carlisle, catch up with Rich Mills' rough guide. In addition, Jamie Devitt is unavailable due to suspension/Grimsbyitis. He picked up a second yellow in the 97th minute of Carlisle's epic 3-2 win against Exeter at the weekend.

There are no new patients on Dave Moore's treatment table, with Ben Davies and Sean McAllister still sidelined. It's a game that every exile would like to be at, so if you can go, sing your heart out. UTM.