Cod Almighty | Diary

Hurst's a lumberjack, is he OK?

8 November 2021

Miss Guest Diary writes: A big thank you to St Albans City for beating Forest Green on prime-time TV last night.

There's a couple of reasons for my gratitude. Firstly, it removes any possible spotlight from Town's loss to a team from a lower league. Secondly, I dislike Forest Green.

This is one of those vaguely irrational dislikes born out of petty annoyances, such as their sanctimonious attitude to being eco-friendly; selling ghastly nutrition bars instead of real chocolate; not allowing us to have the covered terrace behind the goal on a blistering hot day even though they have no fans to speak of; and sporting some of the worst kits in football.

Having worked in St Albans for a few years in the 1990s, I have a soft spot for their football team too. I have even seen them play – a pre-season friendly against a Chelsea XI. Quite why we went I cannot remember, but it was a lovely sunny July evening and it was all very quaint and charming. Oh look, they have an oak tree growing in the middle of the terrace. Back then, Town were in the second tier visiting teams like Wolves, Leicester and Crystal Palace, so places like Clarence Park seemed impossibly small and distant. Now the tree is gone and St Albans City are in the division below us. It's a funny old world.

I'm not going to talk about the events in Saturday's game at Kidderminster – if you want any details and can prise them out from among all the pop culture references, read Mr Butcher's match report. Suffice to say, I didn't enjoy it very much and wasn't surprised at the 1-0 scoreline. Neither did I enjoy Paul Hurst's post-match interview with John Tondeur. He brushed over the change to a 3-5-2 formation with the suggestion that was just an excuse for the players and that the reason for the defeat was all down to their attitude. I think I even detected a hint of the old Mr Snippy at the start of the interview.

On my way out of the ground I heard someone ask their companion whether Town's bubble had burst. To me it feels more like a slow deflation. Almost as if Hurst has been unnerved by the flying start to the season and wants to put on the brakes. Was the change he made last Saturday forced by squad injuries or is he reverting to his old habit of tinkering with the formation and setting up to counter the opposition, rather than playing our own game and letting the opposition worry about us Buckley-style?

Injuries to Crookes, Sousa, Hunt and McKeown that prevented them taking part at Kidderminster were mentioned in the interview, which one might infer was the reason for playing a different formation. Apparently these players are all likely to be available for Aldershot on Saturday so we'll see whether Hurst reverts to playing four at the back.

The last time I went to Aldershot they also had a tree on the terrace. I'll let you know next week if it's still there.

UTM.