Cod Almighty | Diary

Shiny happy people

1 October 2019

That's a cracking outcome for Town at the weekend, then. Plenty of goal threat, an emphatic win, great resilience from the players when they were up against it – and strong support too. If you're one of the 501 fans who were at Blundell Park to see the Mariners' thumping 6-3 victory over Barton United, you'll have enjoyed every minute.

Yep, it's two wins out of two so far for GTFC's new women's team – with a bigger attendance than nearly all the games in the Women's National League, higher up the pyramid than the county competition that Town have started off in. How's that for something to celebrate? Pretty unambiguously bloody brilliant, I'd have thought, unless you're that dickhead on the Fishy who thinks he's living in 1974 or Iran.

Like nearly all Town fans, your original/regular Diary continues to feel hugely encouraged, too, by the work of the GTFC academy. Max Wright threatens defenders more every game; Mattie Pollock is, of course, a beast; and Harry Clifton will continue to grow in reliability and to learn from the excellent midfield assembled around him.

I note, however, that after winning their league last season the youth team don't seem to be getting the results this time round. Defeat by Mansfield at the weekend leaves Neil Woodses's charges languishing ninth in their 11-team league, having played seven games – two more than both the teams below them.

Is this a cause for concern? No, I wouldn't have thought so. Several of the stars of last year's academy side are no longer present – some playing men's football out on loan, others in the first-team picture at Blundell Park. In any case, results aren't really the point at this level, are they? Plenty of recipients of youngling silverware find themselves out of the game by their mid-twenties. Slow and steady, that's the Woodses way, and it suits GTFC just fine.

Ethan Robson is rightly receiving praise for his performance at Exeter on Saturday – not just the two excellent goals but the energetic, commanding presence throughout. Sunderland fans want him back in January; Town fans want him to do an Embleton. And I'm going to suggest that, after the women's team and the academy, a third source of optimism for Town fans right now is Michael Jolley's ability to sign useful players on loan.

As much as I admired the achievements of Paul Hurst, it seemed to me that there were a few too many Jordan Chappells and Oumare Tounkaras in among the Dean Henderson. And as for Russell Slade mk2, it was clearly a long time since he'd been arsed to do the homework on his permanent signings, let alone the loanees. It seems different with Jolley though. Predominantly these are players who, first of all, are good enough to play for the first team – and second, actually improve it.

So that's a happy, smiley diary on a wet and dreary day. If you want some further reading, check out Baz Whittleton's excellent new piece on Fenty, Shutes and fan ownership, and more heart-warming reports from the weekend with Rich Mills and Pete Anderson's account of their lovely afternoon in Exeter. Now go out into the world and radiate positivity.