Cod Almighty | Diary

Changing the narrative

2 October 2024

I was 16 when I first contributed an article to Cod Almighty, back in 2004.

I was that incensed by Chris Brandon's last-minute dive and consequential penalty that drew Chesterfield level in our infamous 4-4 draw at Saltergate that I rushed home and bashed out 700 words on the topic (I've just watched it again and it probably was a pen, to be fair). So imagine my surprise, honour and then subsequent terror when I was offered the chance to be a diarist for CA some 20 years later.

Under the new pseudonym of "VFTF Diary" myself and other members of the View From The Findus podcast team will be your new companion every Wednesday. Over the last year our relationship with CA has slowly blossomed, culminating in a collaboration on our "21st Century Ultimate XI" series, and we are thankful to be allowed this extra platform. Don't worry, we won't use it for self-advertisement every week.

But might Wednesdays be the short straw? Hump day. Ordinarily most weeks by now you'll be bored of hearing about last weekend's game and not quite ready to think about the next. Luckily for me, this isn't an ordinary week.

That’s because fresh from their heroics at Carlisle on Saturday, the players last night travelled 200 miles in the complete opposite direction to take on league leaders Gillingham. Priestfield hasn't been a happy hunting ground for the Mariners over the years. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 1997 to find the last time we won there in the league. But all that changed last night. And with it potentially the course of our season.

To a man the side put in as complete an away performance as you are likely to find. A performance full of character and guts and guile. A statement win against a side that hadn't lost on their own patch for an entire calendar year. On the surface of it many will assume we had our backs to the wall for 90 minutes and ground it out. But that simply wasn't the case. We earned the points fair and square, looking just as comfortable and composed going forward as we did defending. Another wonderful Hume run and assist, Green back in the side and back marauding forwards. Rodgers and McJannet colossal. McEachran the brains, Khouri the beating heart and soul.

In the lead up to the game, the club signed 22-year-old goalkeeper Jackson Smith from Barnsley on a seven-day emergency loan deal. He rocked up in Kent looking every bit the last minute Sunday League draft-in, wearing mismatched kit and not knowing the names of the players in front of him. But it mattered not as he turned in a performance for the ages; confidently commanding his box, composed with the ball at his feet and even employing some of those dark arts that made Max Crocombe so popular with supporters.

I couldn't help but laugh at the image in my head at half time on Saturday, as it became rapidly apparent that we'd be needing another keeper: Steve Croudson crouched in the Brunton Park dressing room showers, his jogging bottoms tighter than ever, desperately trying to get a phone signal. Joe Hutchinson - our poor Head of Recruitment, sat oblivious with his feet up at home - about to have his Sunday lunch reservations completely ruined. Hopefully his wife was understanding of our plight.

A week ago we spoke on the podcast about targeting four points from this tough looking run of three fixtures. This morning we sit 8th in the league having recorded six points already with a game to spare. Too many milestones have been achieved in the last 72 hours to mention. Eighteen months since we did this, five years ago since we did that. David Artell and this Grimsby side are slowly and surely beginning to write their own narrative and excitement is building to see where they may take us.

So after last night, maybe you are ready to look ahead to the next game after all. But if there is a controversial late penalty awarded on Saturday, and Billy Sharp steps up to hammer it home, maybe sleep on it before bashing out 700 words and using the CA editorial team as therapists. They'll have their work cut out with me again now.