Cod Almighty | Diary
The worst of times
23 December 2024
Miss Guest Diary writes: Let's face it, Saturday's game at Swindon had defeat written all over it before a ball was kicked. It's the Grimsby way to fluff these 'landmark' games, isn't it? Who can forget the abject capitulation to Morecambe on Town's 140th birthday, and then again, this time to Crawley, on their 145th? And that's leaving aside the fact that Town had only won twice in their 26 previous visits to the County Ground. I was there for both 1-0 victories but the first, in 2000, has left no impression whatsoever and the second, in 2018, is memorable only for the fact that Town won it with a penalty awarded after Harry Cardwell tripped over his own feet.
Before kick off I commented to my neighbour that I liked being so high up in the stand as it would be easier to distance myself from Town if they lost. While I was putting that into practice after Town conceded in the third minute, I further remarked that, bad as the game might get, I suspected it would not make it into the top ten worst away days I had suffered following Town. He congratulated me on only having to ponder games from 1990 onwards – his pool of Town dross stretches back to the 1960s.
In his post-match interview on Saturday David Artell described Town's performance as "one of the worst". It was undoubtedly poor but bears no comparison to some of the agonies Town has put me through over the years. So here, in date rather than trauma order are my ten worst away trips:
September 1994 Swindon 3 – 2 Town – the game where we were winning 2-1 on 90 minutes but managed to lose 3-2 due to some egregious diving by Jan Age Fjortoft which caused me to stand up and shout some very unladylike words.
April 1996 – Watford 6 – 3 Town – where we gave the game to an about-to-be-relegated opposition; Mr B still maintains that our keeper threw the ball into his own net at one stage; living in Watford at the time just meant more salt rubbed in the wound.
September 1996 – Bolton 6 – 1 Town – a humiliating evening which has ruined the memories of an afternoon visit to the location of that famous Mr Darcy wet shirt scene in the BBC's Pride & Prejudice adaptation.
September 2003 Hartlepool 8 – 1 Town – a long drive home on a Friday evening, enough said.
February 2004 – Oldham 6 – 0 Town – Paul Groves' last game in charge, where the players simply did not turn up for him; made worse by having some Oldham fans who couldn’t get tickets for the sell-out game sitting among the Town fans.
May 2010 – Burton Albion 3 – 0 Town – of course, no matter the result that day, Town would have been relegated, but a win might have staved off the atrocious behaviour of some fans and left us feeling a little less traumatised.
September 2013 Halifax 4 – 0 Town – a performance so dire that Ross Hannah was awarded the CA man of the match for "running around" and "trying".
May 2014 Gateshead 3 – 1 Town – the second leg of the play-off semi-final where Town gave themselves an impossible mountain to climb by having two players sent off.
February 2016 Halifax 4 – 2 Town – memorable as much for the animosity arising from the Town fans towards the manager as the weaknesses in defence which saw us go three down in the first half hour.
September 2021 – Bromley 3 -1 Town – a promising start lost to a torrential downpour which nearly drowned us on the open terrace, capped by the most ungracious team and manager ever encountered.
I'm sure readers will have their own traumatic memories but, for all our sakes, please don't bother to share them.