Cod Almighty | Diary

Ted's at it again

17 November 2022

Just under two weeks ago, when the Mariners thumped third division leaders Plymouth in the FA Cup, no one was really concerned about where the goals were going to come from in the absence of Ryan Taylor. Max Crocombe apart, every Mariner that started against the Pilgrims had, by the end of that game, scored a goal for Town this season.

Fast forward a week and, after also progressing in the pizza trophy without our attacking lynchpin, we found ourselves mid-table on the back of a third successive league defeat. It was enough for the negative nellies to crawl out from under that big rock they’d been hiding since they last burst a few blood vessels over Town not scoring at Boreham Wood in March.

Your West Yorkshire Diary would never deny any fan an opportunity to share their thoughts, no matter how wild they may be. However, in a season when most reasonably grounded Town fans claimed a mid-table finish would do, mid-table now doesn’t seem so acceptable to the pocket of supporters who can’t wait to have a dig at Hurst and then have a dig at those who, like myself, tend to give him a fair bit of slack. The guy’s delivered two promotions and brought some good times to Blundell Park, relatively speaking. If last season taught us anything it’s that we shouldn’t be reactionary when the team hits a sticky patch and, instead, back them even more.

You can do that when you have a manager you can trust. Overall, Hurst’s pragmatism gives more than it takes. He’s not beyond criticism but if you look at the bigger picture and not get bogged down by the minutiae, you see a man who delivers steady improvement, year on year. Promotion from non-League in 2016 didn’t come fast enough for some of our fans. Was first time fast enough last time?

We don’t have to look too far back into history to find another occasion when Town possibly over-achieved in the early part of the season, raising everyone’s expectations, and then faded away to the point where the season felt all but over in mid-winter.

Our problem here, clearly, is that this team suggested it might be good enough to have a tilt at the fourth division play-offs. Since that gutsy display against Bradford, we’ve slumped to where we perhaps expected to be. To answer the question of whether the glass is half full or half empty, it depends whether the water is being added or taken away. It certainly feels like it’s being taken away, hence the sense of malaise from some quarters.

But let’s say it like it is. Given what he said about Taylor in a recent Telegraph interview, Hurst has built a team whose attacking play is dependent on a 34-year-old striker with an injury record that isn’t exactly in the Paul Groves category. We do seem to have a lot of strikers on our books. If Aribim Pepple and Lewis Richardson aren’t the answer to this particular challenge, then it does make you wonder what they’re doing at the club.

The relationship between Hurst and a minority of our fans has ebbed and flowed over the years, but the general pattern that emerges is one that typically sees Hurst come out on top. There are some elements to his management style that are unlikely to change any time soon and, in that sense, we can sometimes be relatively predictable. But for all the Parslow Points we’ve dropped down the years it’s only fair to count the amount of points Town have won from losing positions. And since this tends to happen more regularly, they’re collectively less memorable.

This Saturday the Mariners welcome Stevenage to Blundell Park. They do, of course, bring with them circa 300lbs of Steve Evans (best served rare). My mum always used to tell me, if I haven’t got anything nice to say about a big sweaty nappy then I shouldn’t say anything at all. I can’t deny that his presence in the dugout will make the occasion a little more interesting, though.

Ignoring my mum’s advice for a moment — and I’m sure their fans will take issue with me saying this — but Stevenage is a nothing club. If someone says ‘Rochdale’ to me, I at least feel something. Stevenage haven’t been around long enough to have generated any sort of rivalry with us on the pitch. Sadly, the issues we have with them are off the pitch. Their manager is appalling, their stewards are worse, and what’s even more irritating is that they’re having a good season.

Stevenage at home on the back of three league defeats, and just one win from eight at home in the league all season, would normally draw a fourth division crowd of around 3,000, I’d say. It’s possible we may double that this weekend, but that’s dependent on a couple of things. Firstly, how many of our season ticket holders turn up for a match against an annoyingly decent team, and secondly, how many fans the annoyingly decent team bring with them.

As usual, the Lower, Upper and Pontoon appear to be sold out. Any remaining seats available in the Main Stand come with the usual restricted view warnings, and I’m trying really hard not to make another cheap joke at Evans’ expense here.

The Mariners have only beaten Stevenage twice in our grand total of ten meetings, and both those victories came at Blundell Park. I’m still trying to get over the pain of last time we met when Stefan Payne’s injury time equaliser was outdone by an even later goal from the visitors in front of no fans on a crap pitch. Hurst was in charge that day. We’ve come a long way since then.