Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 28 December 2012

28 December 2012

Mardy Diary writes: Heheheheheh. Ha ha ha. Sorry, was just thinking about the Lincoln match again...

Tickets for the return match at Blundell Park are selling fast, with the club predicting a crowd over 7000. I phoned up for tickets at 12ish and it took quite a while to get through, so I think we could see a fair few more than that. Although it will be disappointing if Lincoln fail to sell the majority of their allocation. Just stick 'em in the corner, eh?

Rob Scott is expecting more Lincoln-type hoofing when Town face Mansfield tomorrow. Joy. Between Pond, Pearson and Miller, though, we have three capable centre-backs who are more than equal to diagonal punts into the box. There's a bit of rain out that way at the moment, so there'll be a pitch inspection at 10:30 to see if it's playable or not.

It seems, then, a bit more curious that Mansfield have made it pay on the gate. I'm not sure of the capacity of their away end these days but given Town's form, the fact it's the holidays and also that we always tend to take large numbers there, there's every chance that some who make the journey might not get in. Which also means that some fans may feel the need to set off before the pitch inspection to ensure they get tickets.

The Telegraph is reporting good news on the signings front - although I'm not convinced it is particularly good news. The club are hopeful of extending deals for Marshall and Pond, but talks are "ongoing". Also, the Hannah deal is looking more likely. I suppose it is good news in a way, but to me we're not necessarily any closer to concluding these deals: we've just stated a desire to get them done. Good news will be when they actually sign.

That's me being cautious rather than cynical, I'd say, and I'm not alone as there's an understandable nervousness among Town fans that we may lose out on some or all of the loan players. Neilson has buggered off to Luton, and good luck to him. But losing Pond, Marshall and Hannah would be a bit of a blow. That said, I think the difference between this season and others is that we're better placed to attract decent replacements (should we need to).

In former seasons, fighting relegation or floating around mid-table, it was always a massive blow to lose that key loan player who'd made such a difference. There was always that feeling that we'd got a bit lucky attracting that sort of player in the first place and the knowledge that replacing them was going to be near impossible.

However, as Scott rightly points out in the Telegraph today, we're an attractive prospect for loan players at the moment given our position in the table. Even League players may be more tempted to join us as they see it as a chance to be part of a championship-winning side. That's not to say that I'm in any way blasé about Pond, Hannah and Marshall - I'd much rather we signed them - more that it might not be as much of a risk to lose them as it would have been in other seasons.

Anyway, if you're going tomorrow have a good day, have a great new year and let's have a load of bloody noise for the Lincoln match. I'm really excited about it. See yers.