Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 1 April 2008

1 April 2008

"No craft without graft" was the motto of Middle Aged Diary's school, and if Sunday's performance has left us a shade disappointed that it was longer on work-rate than it was on skill, then we can surely take solace in the way this has been acknowledged by both players and manager. It has been the emphasis given to both parts of the equation that has won great Grimsby sides of the past a place in our hearts. The Town team of Alan Buckley's spell was a living refutation of the belief, commonplace at the time, that you could not combine hard-work and flair. His second assembly spent the Tuesday after a Football League Trophy final travelling to Carlisle to secure an emphatic 1-0 win (emphatic 1-0 wins are another Town tradition). One of the many abiding images of the 1997-98 season was the subsequent match to that, the Mariners playing themselves to a standstill to withstand the physical battering of a Watford side chasing the third division title, and take the point that made a play-off place certain.

Alan Buckley does not really do plaintive, although there is a note of that in his reflections on the missed penalty and the admission that the selection of a less than fit Danny North was a gamble that did not pay off. The dominant tone of his latest interview, however, is the bullish assertion that the season is not over.

While the rest of the club had the day off yesterday, Neil Woods took a young reserves side to Sandy Lane (why are there so many Sandy Lanes, and why do so many have non-league grounds on them?), home of Worksop Town, to play a Sheffield United XI that featured both Nicky Law's son (also called Nicky) and a loan player from Internazionale. Trailing 3-1 at half-time, and with goalkeeper Leigh Overton having been sent off, the selection "won" the second half 2-1 with two goals from Nathan Jarman adding to the first half score from Liam Davis.

Further evidence of a reviving Town: provide the graft and the craft will come.