Cod Almighty | Diary

Mid-season slog

20 January 2022

Mr Target Demographic writes: The "Hunt" goes on for a replacement midfielder (See what I did there, and no Grimsby Town Live you can't steal it for a Twitter headline.) It is a void I and many other Town fans saw coming. Harry Clifton has been suggested and he works extremely hard but does he have the natural talent of Hunt? Hurst has got a tricky job if he does intend to replace Hunt with a like-for-like player as not even I, the self-proclaimed best scout south of the Humber, can find a decent replacement that wont cost us and arm and a leg. Perhaps I was getting ahead of myself.

Moving on, the criteria for the modern-day full back - pace, tackling, crossing and extreme levels of fitness - seems to get stricter and stricter with each season. However, within many systems nowadays (including ours at Town) it is one of the most important positions on the pitch. This makes Hurst's acquisition of Danny Amos a brilliant piece of business. This takes nothing away from Adam Crookes who can tackle well enough and would probably be a decent full back for many teams but for me lacks something we need; something that, from what we've seen, Amos has. Perhaps it is because he had been with us for so little time before his debut that he hasn't yet caught the plague of turning and giving the ball to Pearson, Waterfall or Crocombe rather than playing it into midfield.

With what we hope is light at the end of a dark winter tunnel, my season's expectations remain high. Not winning the league high, but if we make it into the play-offs we at least give ourselves the chance of getting back into the League first time round. We've built an extremely solid foundation to push on from, and the arrival of Amos - dropping down a division after he had only joined Port Vale in the summer - suggests we are a team that players want to be part of.

I was recently asked if John McAtee is Hurst's best-ever signing for Town. It is one for you to comment on, but my own view is not yet, unless he goes on to bigger things.

Not much fun today, was I? Sorry about that. Must be the effects of adulthood finally taking over.

UTM.