Cod Almighty | Diary

And then later when it gets dark we go home

17 February 2025

Miss Guest Diary writes: Wow – Doncaster, eh. But more of that in a minute. First it's another wow, this time because, with only two thirds of the season gone, Town have passed the Holy Grail of 46 points which, according to a man who knows (no prizes for guessing it's Mr B), is the benchmark for survival in the fourth tier. For the first time since 2005-06 when Town almost achieved promotion under Russell Slade, we can sit back and spend the last third of the season dreaming about promotion instead of worrying about possible relegation to non-league.

We almost reached that magic number after 31 games of the 2007/08 season in Buckley's third spell as manager but after losing to the club which shall not be named in the League Trophy final at the end of March Town didn't win another game that season, finishing a disappointing 16th. I feel confident Artell can do better than that – I'm putting my money on Town finishing at least ninth, the spot we have occupied for the last six weeks regardless of the result.

But getting back to Doncaster, it was simply a brilliant day. Nervous before the game that we might see a repeat of our trouncing from earlier this season or, possibly worse, a dreary game in which we lost by a single goal from an undeserved penalty as in this fixture last season, it was nothing of the sort. Instead we had some great football from Town, tremendous singing support from the fans for the entire game, a late goal from Rovers to ramp up the tension and evidence of some real team spirit among the players. All that was followed by a heartbreakingly sincere interview with Doug Tharme in which he emphasised what a privilege it is to play for Town and one with a decidedly grumpy Rovers manager in which he claimed we aren't a footballing side. Really?

Another potential cloud on the horizon had been the prospect of seeing Harry Clifton, my longtime favourite Town player, turn out for Rovers; I thought I would hate that. As it turned out, after his shot in the first minute which drew a great save from Jordan Wright, I barely noticed him – not because he was playing badly, but simply because opposition players don't really register with me as individuals and that's what Harry is now. I didn't mind that much when some of the crowd booed him and I was even able to have a little smile when he appeared to get a nudge from Evan Khouri in the build up to Town's second goal.

All in all, a perfect awayday.

Less perfect is the news that the Wolds Panther has sustained another injury. While I have never been a particular fan of Vernam, I do have sympathy for a professional athlete who is constantly thwarted in this way. But with the arrival of winger Darragh Burns – who made a brief appearance as a sub on Saturday and looked quite lively - will Vernam even make it back into the team when he recovers? Who knows? Football can be such a surprising game at times - who'd ever have thought that Luke Waterfall would become a Town hero?

UTM