Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 2 January 2013

2 January 2013

The Mariners continued to prove the theory that they can't perform in front of a big Blundell Park crowd as they laboured their way to a 1-1 draw in front of 7,405 fans against Lincoln City yesterday. Marshall and McKeown apart, the team was largely below par. The shorter of the two Town managers has said it's a point gained and your West Yorkshire Diary wouldn't like to disagree, considering the 'ghost goal' in the first half when Nathan Pond batted the ball clear with his left arm from a foot behind the Pontoon goal line. But then we should have had a penalty against the Imps in 2010, according to Town fans with memories infinitely better than mine, so that's evened that one out, then.

The visitors put in the kind of performance their manager David Holdsworth talked about (but failed to get) on Boxing Day. It seems it took six days for the tactical penny to drop, but, when it did, we got to see the scrappy, fractious Lincolnshire derby Holdsworth was pining for.

It might not have been the all-conquering, swashbuckling performance some fans may have been dreaming of, given the result at Sincil Bank, but it's a point that keeps us top of the division. All the best teams have a bad day from time to time, and yesterday was (hopefully) ours. Only time will tell if it was an isolated incident or the start of a struggle, but it's not as if we've just lost 5-0 at home to a promotion rival.

It only ever swings open and it only ever slams shut. Yes, that's right - I'm talking (well, typing) about that stupid sodding transfer window, which drives managers, players and chairmen mad, and gets that annoying, hyped-up Scottish bloke off of Murdoch TV unbearably excited. A clock appears in the corner of the screen and counts down, as if to some impending doom. This is not a new or exciting phenomenon (even though the channel does its level best to make out it is). Several windows have come and gone without me bothering to give one solitary shit - until now.

You see, I feel slightly nervous about this one because, for the first time in many a year, we stand to lose something. One of our most influential players in Pond is set to play his last game for us this Saturday, unless Fleetwood decide they don't want him of course, while Ross Hannah, for now, remains a Bradford City player. But in typical Cod Almighty tradition, Hannah will probably sign just as we publish the diary. We hope.

It's difficult to judge what sort of effect the absence of Pond will have on the team. There remains a smidgen of hope that he'll stay, in some capacity, but these 'noises' from Fleetwood suggest not. A centre-back pairing of Miller and Pearson on paper looks great, but they haven't played as a pair this season. And I don't really want to consider the consequences if one of them gets injured. None of us know what Simon Ford is capable of.

So then, it looks like the petrol station on the A180 is about to get busy with sightings of footballers topping up their tanks as the scrap for one-upmanship begins over on the Fishy messageboard. It's always worth reading (and sometimes participating in) when you have a few spare moments.