Cod Almighty | Diary

Five wins from safety

9 December 2024

Miss Guest Diary writes: I have a confession to make – Saturday's result had me looking up the play-off dates. If you're interested, they're 9/10, 13/14 and 24 May. Too soon? Probably. But six points and eight goals in a week feel like promotion form and sometimes it's nice simply to dream. Though I suspect that dream would quickly turn into a nightmare if Town did get promoted, given the size and wealth of many teams in the league above.

I still find it hard to warm to Artell-ball – the first half performance last Tuesday was sparkling, but Town went back into their shell in the second half, conceding two soft goals. Saturday's performance at Morecambe sounded more complete – and included a clean sheet – but it's a long way to the end of the season. Also, four of those goals were scored by players – Obikwu and Luker – who aren't and are never likely to be ours permanently, likewise Jordan Davies who, whisper it, I heard Mr B comparing to Paul Groves on Tuesday. I don't pretend to know how these things work but is it possible that any – or all – of them could be recalled by their parent clubs before the season ends? That would certainly put a spoke in Town's wheel.

I'm sorry to sound so negative, but I have found over the years that it's best not to get carried away too soon. The time to start counting those chickens will be if we're still fifth in the table when we play the reverse fixture against Morecambe in April.

Something we can safely get carried away about is the job Neil Woods has been doing with the youth team for many a year. I remember watching them play Horncastle Town in a pre-season game over 20 years ago, with Steve Croudson helping out in goal. And now for the second year running they are in the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup, having beaten West Ham 1-0 last Friday. The fact that West Ham have actually won the cup four times, the last time only two years ago, shows what an impressive result that is. More impressive in real terms than the senior team beating Southampton in 2022.

I was unable to go on Friday due to a prior commitment, but I'm sure Jase Ives won't mind me quoting from his social media posts to give you a flavour of the game.

"Town resolute behind the ball and get a goal on the break…West Ham ‘should’ batter a Grimsby youth side, it’s a competition they take seriously…brilliant effort from the youths…fantastic organisation, concentration, application and endeavour behind the ball…not sure I’ve ever seen a team defend so well as a unit…testament to their ability, desire and commitment…not to mention physical and mental capacity…good to watch."

Everyone was singing the praises of the scorer, Grayson Giles, who I hear has already scored 10 goals this season. According to his profile on the Town website he came to us from Scunny at under-16 level and lives in Hull, so not a local lad. Let's hope he follows the path of Cam Gardner into the senior squad rather than that of Ben Grist – sold to Leicester three years ago and currently languishing in their under-21 squad. Or Rumarn Burrell, sold to Middlesborough five years ago, and landing this season at struggling Burton via Falkirk and Cove Rangers. He may not be 'one of our own', but let's hope Grayson aspires to be a real Town player.

UTM