Cod Almighty | Diary

Home and away

17 October 2022

Miss Guest Diary writes: It certainly was a long and winding road across Derbyshire to see the mighty Mariners in Stockport at the weekend. Made even longer by the determination of seemingly every car we got behind to travel at 10 miles below the official speed limit. Do they think driving slowly conserves fuel? Spoiler alert: it doesn't.

But the extended journey time did give us plenty of opportunity to discuss the forthcoming match. Given Town's record at Edgeley Park this century of won two, drawn four, lost six, we decided that a good outcome would be a boring 0-0 and not getting wet. So much for those aspirations – at once both under- and over-ambitious.

The staying dry part got off to a good start when we arrived at the ground a couple of minutes before the heavens opened and were able to shelter in the turnstile area until the storm had passed. Then the sun appeared, but inevitably the rain started again a few minutes into the game. I sat down huddled under an umbrella for a while but it impeded both my view and my ability to jump up and give a proper cheer for Harry Clifton's goal. By the time Holohan scored the second I was standing up and braving the weather with everyone else – what's a bit of rain when you're 2-0 up anyway.

Fortunately, the second half was dry and I able to full appreciate Alex Hunt's great strike and impressive knee-slide. Much better than Harry's after he scored the other week – I expect it's on the curriculum at higher division academies. Maybe next time he can manage a back flip, like the Golden Dude.

I often puzzle over why more or less the same set of players can look inept at home and so impressive away from home. I have had it explained to me more than once that teams play more defensively at home due to the psychological pressure exerted by the so-called home advantage. Contrast this with the lower expectation of winning for an away side which allows them to play with more freedom and in a more attacking style – which obviously suits Town.

I still don't really get it - so I was pleased to hear Paul Hurst say in his post-match interview on Saturday that he doesn't "get into this away from home and home – it's just results…nothing changes." As far as he's concerned they're trying to win a game of football and he doesn't want the team to have a "shift in mentality." I hope he manages to convince the players of this in time for next Saturday's game against Bradford, who have won their last four games on the road.

As well as having some talented footballers this season, Town also seem to have a great bunch of blokes in the current squad. Listening to the recent interviews with Max Crocombe and Kieran Green on Humberside, they come across as honest, hard-working professionals who really want to play for our club – the sort of people who you know could be relied on to feed your cat or take in your bins if they lived next door.

A lot has been said on social media recently about the Welcome to Wrexham documentary – and I too found it both interesting and moving – but the level of camaraderie which has been evident at Town in the last year is clearly missing from their squad. Wrexham players speculating about how much their star player earns and suggesting he should be fined for missing goals and fringe players being ignored at training sessions are a couple of examples which highlighted just how much inclusiveness, good humour and team spirit there is in the Town squad, as shown in recent behind-the-scenes videos. Another reason to be proud of our club.

UTM