Cod Almighty | Diary

There there

24 February 2026

A matchless midweek is music to the ears of the Town players' legs, or even just their actual ears, but not so to the ears of Daubney Diary's keyboard (that's quite enough of this ears silliness, get on with it - Ed)

Well, it's must-win season. Having drawn one and lost the other must-win game last week, we find ourselves facing another must-win at Notts County this weekend. It's the time of year that the jocular gent who operates the CA Twitter account likes to recognise the first must-win of the season.

Unfortunately, research revealed this to have been in August. The unnamed user below was sleeping outside Curry's to get the washing machine for a fiver and we hadn't even poured the foundations for the shop. Mere days after the greatest win in the club's history we must beat, coincidentally, Bristol Rovers.

Why highlight such an obvious outlier? In an attempt to illustrate what David Artell and his boys are up against in some quarters. The same level of expectation led to terrace scenes at Bristol that might be described as comic. 

Years ago on a trip to Thailand, the Lonely Planet guide book advised us not to lose our temper or get angry during our visit. This was a social faux pas and would be regarded as showing weakness, and amusing to the locals. They were right. Within minutes of landing a poorly guided baggage trolley clipped my heels for the third time and my resultant rage left me the laughing stock of the arrivals gate.

The incident popped into my head as Town's players and management applauded the travelling support on Saturday. A group of what appeared to be fully grown men tried to convey their nuanced assessment of the perfomance to those on the pitch. We have ways to signal from distance our appreciation, love, and thanks to Wayne's World, not-worthiness. However, we await the semaphore for "WHY THE FUCKING FUCK HASN'T MY FUCKING FOOTBALL TEAM WON AGAIN FFS?". David Artell might not have appreciated the frantic flailing octopus arms and impotent chest beating, but we can borrow from Thai culture and have a good laugh at it.

Notts away always draws a crowd. Assessing our chances at Meadow Lane and for the remainder of the season, one of the younger members of our party on Saturday decided the fixture was daunting but one that if we couldn't handle, we had no business being in the play-offs. It sounded like a similar visit in 2022. A repeat outcome on both fronts would be pleasing and greatly simplify the post-match communication from the stands. UTM.