Cod Almighty | Diary

Factual impact

13 February 2019

Thunderdiary writes: It's a quiet day in GTFC land. No-one's got anything to moan about, Jolley's proving he understands the area a bit more, and results last night meant we are still within a fingertip of making a late dash to losing against Carlisle in the play-offs.

Here's a fact for you: Town have drawn just 12 per cent of all league games this season. The average for the league is 26 per cent. Is this doing us any good? Maybe, but if we had drawn against Lincoln, FGR and the unmentionables, we would have been happy. We still, however, got three points over those games.

The current win some/lose some sequence (it's been 13 games since a draw – even the horror of the Neil Woods' 26 had some stalemates) probably gets you more points than not and points to a mentality that sets out to win games. If we are to have that Cumbrian disappointment in May we will have to win more than we lose, so it will hopefully continue to be enthralling.

Want another fact? When Wes Thomas scores, Town win. True. Of the eight league games he's scored in, we've won all eight. In the four other wins he's played in, he's missed a penno and been a general nuisance. In total, Wes's goals add up to a nice nine points.

Thomas's impact is obvious and can be measured. James McKeown's can too, sort of. There's no doubt he contributed four points against Exeter this season and went through a stage in December where the worldie save was just normal. But it's hard to ascertain whether, for example, he could have saved the Stevenage goal to earn a point, or done better with John Akinde's penno to earn another two. That's the difference – the Thomas effect is tangible.

One player yet to contribute any points by scoring is Jake Hessenthaler, but there can't be many arguments that his impact has led to many of those wins. His energy and intelligence have added a steel to the side and a desire to win. At times, his ability to slow the game down or affect the play with an astute pass are deeply influential. There are the makings of another midfield Mariner to remember.

So on this slow news day, what does this all mean? Not a lot, but you can probably put a couple of quid on Thomas scoring in a 1-1 draw on Saturday, leaving our promotion dream in tatters for another season at least.