Cod Almighty | Diary

Let's dance

7 March 2024

Your Guest Diary today is penned in the early morn as there is ground work to attempt here in the muddy Fens and the robins and blackbirds eagerly await fresh-turned worms. And the application of a carefully mixed blend of fertiliser which I cannot resist calling Bloodfishtrombone despite it being a terrible Grandad music joke. The skies are grey but there is a chance of komorebi later. They say we english have a word for everything but I can't find a pithier way to describe sunlight leaking through trees.

Football and politics occasionally collide in my mind - like when Artell reminded me of an incoming Liz Truss. Full of bright-eyed blow-up convention-discarding ideas that can be "successfully implemented" in a fortnight and completely hopeless at explaining them. But, unlike Ms Truss who definitely did not deserve one, Mr Artell got a chance to sober up and start again. The bottom half of division four is a dangerous place; as Maester Qyburn said "belief is so often the death of reason". But conventional reason has prevailed (for now anyway) and Town look like a mid-table side not a relegation one in their new shape and old style.

Successfully playing out from the back requires a LOT of practice. A lot. To be honest you need to start at the age of ten for it to be truly instinctive at making those passing triangles. When I was six the Beatles and beat dancing had not been thought of so my elder sister taught me the Twist. I took to it like a duck to water but three years later no-one was twisting any more. I now realise that this analogy makes little sense but it is too late to stop. But as Artell has learned doing the Mashed Potato at the school dance when you have only glimpsed it on the telly is a very risky manouevre.

And the rowdier fans on social media, ever-keen to aggressively dismiss young players playing in a struggling team using unfamiliar tactics, have been forced to wind it down a bit. A man of the match goalkeeper for instance. It was a good performance but Wimbledon gave him the opportunity. Lots of inviting catchable crosses, dipping shots from so far out that he could set himself to save them etc. But he caught and saved and acted confidently and decisively - another clean sheet ensued and was well earned by our young keeper. As for Thompson, he lacks Conteh's silky elegance on the ball, but his experience and workrate are just what we need in this mad March. Holohan too, he looks knackered after an hour but then gets a second wind somehow. Tharme's throws are getting longer and better-directed and he likes heading the ball doesn't he?

Wimbledon were unexpectedly (for me anyway) easier to play against than you would expect from a side with playoff aspirations. It was like taking on sellswords rather than Brienne or The Hound. We ground out a point and could have won it. But we came home unscathed to sharpen the swords for Saturday. It is at this point that older battle-scarred Town fans usually muse that Town usually follow up two half-decent results with a limp unexpected defeat against the bottom team. Don't worry, we only do that at home. I gather it's a long walk from the station to those going to Sutton Saturday so don your walking shoes and give 'em a shout from me. See yer.