Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Friday 7 May 2004
7 May 2004
Now then. Let me take care of business first off, gentle reader, 'afore I forget. Phil Shackleton from Brahm wrote in yesterday, enquiring as to why Si Wilson has gone AWOL from work. Well, Phil, Simon doesn't write this diary, but I do happen to know he's been proper poorly this week. I've suggested to him a cool flannel and some goose grease rubbed in the right places, but more importantly, told him to "wear your vest in future like your Nanna told you!"
An eerie feeling of calm has descended 24 hours before the now ritual and annual Town relegation crunch game. It's a long and awkward journey but, with typical gallows humour, an estimated 2,000 Town fans are preparing to trek across to Prenton to watch our beloved club battle to attain 20th place in Division Two. The match has taken on David versus Goliath proportions, with Tranmere enjoying a cracking run which culminated in Brian Little winning Manager of the Month last weekend, while Town have been concentrating very hard this season on being inconsistent, crap, and erÂ… Town.
The former led Mike Dunderdale to write in to the Diary, exclaiming: "Surely we're safe as the curse of Manager of the Month must strike this weekend." There must be some truth in that adage though, as the bookies at Marinersbet are offering quite remarkable betting odds on the match with Tranmere odds against the home win at 11/10, with 13/5 the draw and Town at a miserly 7/4 for the crucial away win they need. Considering Town's away record of almost no points for as long as I can remember, there must be something in it.
The Tranmere offical site claims that Town's secret weaponry may include Tranmere reject Des Hamilton, obviously having failed to notice that our Disco is twinkling his toes in the Conference these days. It also reports, as does the Liverpool Echo, that Brian Little is giving Town a sporting chance by refusing to consider five of his senior squad for tomorrow's game. Apparently Brian had stuck a squiggle next to their names as players he won't need after his big summer reshuffle. This will allegedly see top stars attracted to the club following their mercurial rise to 10th spot in Division Two. Never one to keep a secret, he's blurted out the names before the end of the season, resulting in a minor dip in morale among the ones to be dumped. The other factor, I assume, is that he's thinking that the last game doesn't matter, and anyway, it's only Grimsby.
So no final fling for the likes of Micky Mellon, Sean Connelly, Shane Nicholson, Graham Allen or Alex Hay. Brian also explains just how damn popular a chap he is, saying: "It's not taking anything away from the way we want to approach Saturday's game, it is saying that we will be putting our very best team out based on everybody's mentality and I will despite having some friends at Grimsby try to beat them, but I also have friends at Chesterfield and everywhere else so the most important thing for me to do is to make sure the players that are playing this weekend know that next season starts for them on Saturday."
On the other hand Mr Nicky Law went up a tad in your Guest Diarist's estimation yesterday in an interview on the Grimsby official site. Paraphrasing, he said that Town need to give it 'hell for leather for ninety minutes' and they had bought a 'ticket to ride' last week. No talk of ugly anything, and welcome news that there are no new injury worries.
Indeed, Armstrong and Young will be vying for the spot vacated by Crane due to suspension, so we even have a full hand of substitutes to pick from. And if Mariners World is right, they may even include John McDermott, who is reported to be begging for a chance to play. Unlike Martin Keown, who is ingratiating his way towards another Premiership winner's medal by a series of cameo substitute appearances at the dog end of the season, Macca is obviously looking to add to his very long list of appearances in vital promotion/relegation matches for Grimsby Town. Hell for leather is a nice way to describe tomorrow's match, and I must confess that sentiment leads me to secretly hope that Macca leads the team out tomorrow, even if Crowe replaces him at half time.
The referee tomorrow sounds like a worry, as our Refwatch report explains:
The referee for Saturday's decisive game at Tranmere will be Mr Clive Penton from Woodindean. Woodinwhere? Woodindean, Sussex. Most recently officiating Reading's 1-0 'Ginger Day' win over West Brom last Saturday, Mr Penton will take charge of his 28th game of the season. In Mr Penton's 27 games this season - his third as a referee - he has issued 92 yellows and 13 reds. Or an above-average 3.41 bookings per game and a red card every other game. (This is above Mr Penton's career average of 3.25 bookings per game.)
Looking at the number of times the away team has won this season under his gaze you might lose heart: just five in all divisions. The away team hasn't won even one of Mr Penton's eight second division clashes, seven of those encounters ending in home wins. Having said that, this isn't the first time Town have encountered Mr Penton. Previously he took charge of the Mariners' 2-1 victory at Stoke in November 2002. A quick trawl through into the Cod Almighty archives reveals that our ace match reporter, Tony Butcher, awarded him 5.984 after a tidy first half but an erratic second half. Steve Livingstone and Stuart Campbell's quickly-taken free-kick helped Town on their way that day. Let's hope Town grab another away win with this man in charge, so it will be a case of Stay Up the Mariners."
So, wherever you are at 3pm tomorrow, shout up for the Mariners. Games like this are what supporting Town's all about. See yer.