Month by month
August 2003
A new hope
September 2003
The Mariners strike back
October 2003
Return of the Geordie
November 2003
Great, kids - now don't get cocky
December 2003
All too easy
January 2004
Watch out for those fighters
February 2004
Stay on target
March 2004
The emperor's March
April 2004
Almost there
May 2004
Let's blow this thing and go home
About this series
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December 2003: All too easy
Mat Hare
21 July 2003
December is another busy footballing month for our virtual GTFC side, with seven matches to be played. We open with a cup double, Bury at home in the FA Cup second round followed by Chesterfield (h) in the Vans Trophy northern section quarter-final. Five more league games then follow before the end of the year, Chesterfield (a), Oldham (h), Port Vale (a), Colchester (h) and finally Peterborough (a).
The Mariners struggled in their first FA Cup match of the season but recovered to win the replay convincingly. No need for a replay in this round, Bury being brushed aside by Town who ran out 2-0 winners with Boulding and Livvo again proving to the 6,000-strong crowd that they know where the net is. But then they presumably both forget as we lose the Vans Trophy game 1-0 to Chesterfield.
But the cup action takes a back seat now as we press on with the league. Grimsby finished November in third place and needed a good set of results to overhaul QPR's lead. They get off to a good start when the goal machine that is Steve Livingstone takes revenge on Chesterfield for the cup defeat, netting the only goal of the game. Next up are Oldham, except we went one better and beat 'em - 1-0 the score again. Port Vale are also beaten 1-0 by the same scoreline. Well, by Livvo anyway. What a season that lad is having. Surprisingly he doesn't score in the 4-0 win over Colchester - but Pouton does. Twice. None of the Mariners score in the game against bottom-of-the-table Peterborough though, which is probably why the Posh go away with a 1-0 win and all three points.
So a couple of games go by this month without Livvo adding to his already impressive goal tally. But is he still the man? He's now on 20 with Boulding back on 15 goals. Groves' average rating is now 7.63 out of 10, with Livvo on 7.62. Livvo also has nine assists to his name so I think we can say that he is indeed still the man. But Macca is showing his talent too, with six man of the match awards, two more than Livvo.
Four out of five league wins for Grimsby in December then, giving 12 points from a possible 15. And only one goal conceded. Blimey! [Come on Mat; where's the swearing gone? - concerned Ed.] Whichever way you slice it, that looks like a good month - but is it good enough? Yeah, of course it is. These results zoom Town back to the top, where they belong. It's now a three-point gap to QPR, who have a game in hand.
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P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
+/- |
Pts |
| 1 |
Grimsby |
24 |
16 |
2 |
6 |
42 |
19 |
23 |
50 |
| 2 |
QPR |
23 |
14 |
5 |
4 |
40 |
12 |
28 |
47 |
| 3 |
Blackpool |
24 |
14 |
4 |
6 |
44 |
26 |
18 |
46 |
| 4 |
Brighton |
24 |
12 |
6 |
6 |
50 |
31 |
19 |
42 |
| 5 |
Oldham |
24 |
12 |
6 |
6 |
43 |
30 |
13 |
42 |
| 6 |
Stockport |
24 |
12 |
5 |
7 |
35 |
26 |
9 |
41 |
| 7 |
Bristol City |
24 |
12 |
4 |
8 |
40 |
28 |
12 |
40 |
| 8 |
Swindon |
24 |
11 |
6 |
7 |
33 |
22 |
11 |
39 |
| 9 |
Chesterfield |
24 |
10 |
8 |
6 |
26 |
18 |
8 |
38 |
| 10 |
Hartlepool |
24 |
10 |
6 |
8 |
35 |
27 |
8 |
36 |
| 11 |
Sheff Wed |
23 |
9 |
8 |
6 |
32 |
24 |
8 |
35 |
| 12 |
Brentford |
24 |
10 |
5 |
9 |
33 |
31 |
2 |
35 |
| 13 |
Notts Co |
24 |
10 |
5 |
9 |
34 |
35 |
-1 |
35 |
| 14 |
Tranmere |
24 |
11 |
1 |
12 |
39 |
41 |
-2 |
34 |
| 15 |
Colchester |
24 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
30 |
33 |
-3 |
29 |
| 16 |
Rushden |
24 |
8 |
5 |
11 |
30 |
34 |
-4 |
29 |
| 17 |
Port Vale |
24 |
8 |
5 |
11 |
28 |
39 |
-11 |
29 |
| 18 |
Luton |
24 |
7 |
7 |
10 |
25 |
32 |
-7 |
28 |
| 19 |
Plymouth |
24 |
7 |
6 |
11 |
28 |
40 |
-12 |
27 |
| 20 |
Barnsley |
24 |
7 |
4 |
13 |
37 |
53 |
-16 |
25 |
| 21 |
Wrexham |
24 |
6 |
6 |
12 |
28 |
38 |
-10 |
24 |
| 22 |
Wycombe |
24 |
7 |
1 |
16 |
31 |
58 |
-27 |
22 |
| 23 |
Bournemouth |
24 |
4 |
4 |
16 |
21 |
46 |
-25 |
16 |
| 24 |
Peterborough |
24 |
3 |
3 |
18 |
20 |
61 |
-41 |
12 |
Would you look at that: the three points we gave to Peterborough as a Christmas present still aren't enough to get them off the bottom of the table. I think they are relegation certainties now to be honest. QPR's great defensive record still holds - just 12 conceded in 23 games now. Brighton are the division's hotshots with 50 goals already. Sheffield Wednesday are no longer struggling as much as they were but they are hardly making a big impression. Bristol City, the bookies' favourites before the season kicked off, are still there or thereabouts, seventh in the table.
Liverpool maintain their lead over Fulham in the Premiership while Leicester, Man City and Portsmouth retain their unenviable places at the bottom of the table. Wolves have dragged their sorry arses up to the dizzy heights of 13th. No, it's true, they have. Coventry still lead Millwall in the first division with Sunderland losing pace on them a bit. Palace put a bit of a run together to leave Gillingham, Burnley and Sheffield United now facing the dreaded drop. In the third division Hull are still the leaders, ahead of Cambridge and Cheltenham. Macclesfield and Yeovil occupy the relegation spots but Scunthorpe and Lincoln could still be dragged into that scrap.
A cup upset this month as the Mariners slip up to Chesterfield in the Vans Trophy. That was looking so promising too. Chesterfield are now the only Division Two northern representative. Hull, Mansfield and Darlington make up the rest of the semi-final teams. In the southern section there are three Division Two teams (Luton, Rushden and QPR) and only Swansea representing the third division. No real shocks in those four getting that far though. Halifax provided the shock of the second round of the FA Cup, putting out Wrexham. There have been no surprises in the League Cup either, other than the fact that at the semi-final stage West Ham are still there.
There has only been one more set of games in the Champions League this month. Man Utd lost theirs but Arsenal won, which leaves the red-shirted global corporation second in their group while the Gunners head theirs. In the UEFA Cup a win for Chelsea still wasn't good enough to see them go through. Also out are Liverpool, who lost 2-0 in the second leg. Newcastle scraped through on away goals to become the sole English team in the fourth round.
December ends and with it the year is passed. The past few months have been good to Town. We've had a bit of fun in the cups and top the second division, which is more than I think we had expected. But the season is only half over and Town will have to continue to fight hard and grind out the results if they are to gain promotion. Happy new year everyone.
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