Cod Almighty | Diary

We're all from Grimsby

7 February 2022

Miss Guest Diary writes: Wow. Just wow. For me, Saturday's game at Notts County was the best away day experience since Scunny two years ago. Funnily enough, I've just opened the pack of toilet rolls which I "panic bought" at the Tesco opposite Scunny's ground after that game. But I digress.

Saturday was a reminder of why we put ourselves through the pain of games like Solihull and Bromley – or Stevenage in years past – because when it all comes good there is no feeling like it. 

I won't lie – I wasn't optimistic, and the way Notts seemed to run through our midfield at will in the first few minutes had me predicting a 3-0 loss. But, oddly, after our penalty miss Notts were the ones who crumbled and Town got better and better. We undoubtedly dominated the second half and deserved the win.

I like to think that the crowd played its part too. Despite numerous attacks it was beginning to look like Town would never score. Often, especially at Blundell Park, frustration creeps in at this point and the support is reduced to a sullen mumble. Not on Saturday – about half way through the second half the singing and chanting was ramped up and it gave the players a visible lift. The introduction of Max Wright also speeded play up and the equaliser soon came. Cue an increase in volume from the fans. And the inevitable flare, but I'm not letting that spoil the overall memory.

I did hear someone mention the P-word at this point but Paul Hurst resisted the temptation to strengthen his defence and instead swapped McAtee for Abrahams, who played his small part magnificently. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The only downside to the day is the news that Ben Fox will be out for a few weeks with a poorly hamstring. A great shame as he made a real difference when he was swapped for Coke at half-time.

Now it's on to Tommy Widdrington's Kings Lynn tomorrow. They are adrift in the relegation zone and have won only two games on the road this season. Let's hope the footballing gods are looking the other way and don't decide to even the score for our unexpected victory on Saturday.

Well done to Boreham Wood for reaching the last 16 of the FA Cup. Unfortunately, it does mean that our home game against them will have to be rearranged for a third time as, for some spurious reason, the fifth round cup ties are played in mid-week causing a clash with Boreham Wood's match at Everton. Whenever our game does finally take place, I'm willing to bet that the number of their supporters who make the trip to Blundell Park will be but a tiny fraction of those "fans" who go to Goodison Park.

Finally some sad news. At the weekend, I heard of the death of Roger Swindells, who I understand was well known as Ipswin to frequenters of the Fishy message boards. I first encountered Swin on the Town mailing list which pre-dated the Fishy, where Tony Butcher began sharing his match reports nearly 25 years ago. We met up with Swin a few times for drinks before games in Ipswich and Norwich in the heady days when Town were in the second tier and he once wrote a piece for Cod Almighty which perfectly encapsulates the Swin I remember.

This reminded me that earlier in the season I learned of the recent death of another occasional CA contributor – Andrew Lumbard. In the early 2000s we would often see Andy at games in the midlands and the south accompanied by his young children Ross and Ellie. They are now all grown up – in fact Ellie is now a mum herself and lives in the USA – but we last bumped into Ross at Solihull, so he is keeping up the Grimsby-supporting tradition.

This to me is what is meant by the football family: people you usually only meet at games, but whose loss can nevertheless be keenly felt. RIP Swin and Andy.

UTM.