Cod Almighty | Match Stats

Saturday 16 September 2023

Division 4

Wrexham 3 Palmer (21), Boyle (31), Lee (79)

Grimsby Town 0

Attendance: 10,116 (1,025 away fans)

Most were mostly adequate most of the time, but everyone had a wobble. Townites played like the stooges in a comedy routine, their only purpose to be the foil or butt of the joke.

Clutching at straws as Harvey clutched his head?

"I'm frustrated with that decision certainly because there were a couple of other moments in the game where he's stopped play when there were injuries that were not head injuries."

But the rest of his musings and mutterings were perfectly reasonable and accurate summaries of our inadequacies. He saw what we saw, but that was his vision.

We had some bland niceties from deputy Parkin, as we were spared the usual churlish groaning from the luckiest man in football.

"It was good because we were playing against a good team and we know that Hursty's teams are always well-organised and they've had a good start to the season."

Town took the Bradford second half as a boilerplate and refined the mediocrity: plain, meek, drab, unexceptionally inferior. Actually, how about anaemic?

Injuries, blah-blah-blah. Reffing inconsistency, boo-hoo-hoo. If only this, if only that. Town looked like a complacent mid-table team, the sort that collapses like a strawberry soufflé when bullies shout in their face.

Playing wing-backs so far up the pitch was foolhardy. They left space for Mullin and their wing-backs to roam, and neither of ours can cross the ball with any adequacy or consistency. And that was the difference. Both teams got in the same positions, but our powders puff. Between the boxes there was parity, inside each box I can't lie to you about our chances, and I don't seek you sympathy. If 28 May 2022 was the ying, this was very much the yang as Town went twang.

Big crowd, big blokes playing bigball.

The Wrexham Leeks  are exactly the same bunch of bananas we left behind in the Bananarama last year, with a couple of better players dotted around here and there. But they are the same. Just the same. A single method: chip down the channels for Mullin to chase. He either shoots, gets fouled, or the ball goes out of play. It's a goal, a goal kick or a chance to stick it in the mixer. And that's their simple, rather basic plan. There is no subtlety, just a rather reductive old-fashioned fourth division football team.

And if Plan A fails then Plan A+ is to kick higher, run faster, try harder. One could understand someone like Sutton or Bromley adopting this approach, but really, is this what £20m buys you?

For Hollywood's heroes play a very ordinary brand of football, but they do it very, very well. Especially if the opponents set themselves up perfectly to maximise the old Wreckers' attributes and opportunities. Ah well, horses for courses and they don't need to be Pep-lite this year.

There's a ceiling for these old bruisers, this manager, this style of football, but they haven't hit their heads on it yet.

Some cried for yesterday's triumphs, but most recognised it's an ordinary world now.

Mr D Rock

Dr Rock was at least consistent in his inconsistency. His linesman under the Town fans was not inconsistent, just incompetent. The Rockstar was lenient, he was strict, he was freewheelin', he was a stickler, he was mediocre, but a higher level of mediocrity than normal: 5.999

We had the ball, they had the chances.

In a word: wan