Cod Almighty | Diary

You'll be humming it for weeks

24 October 2022

Miss Guest Diary writes: For me, Saturday's game was the most exciting since Wrexham in May and the best defensive performance I've seen since…I can't remember when, to be honest.

Bradford are definitely the strongest league team we've encountered this season. In the first 20 minutes it looked like we might be overrun, but to a man our team stood firm and did what was necessary to turn the tide in our favour. That Andy Cook, one of the top scorers in the fourth division, barely got a sight of goal and was subbed with about 10 minutes left says it all. Imagine what might have been if we'd had a fit John McAtee in our team. Hopefully, we will find out in the return fixture in April.

What might also have been if we'd had that defensive line-up and team cohesion when we faced Forest in the League Cup? I like to think we could have got something from that game too.

I wasn't the only Town fan to rate Saturday's game as the best 0-0 performance for years. It's hard to explain to people who don't get sport how much sheer excitement can be had from watching a match in which there are no goals. I remember puzzling about that myself before I 'got it' – which happened back in April 1992 away at Ipswich. I'd been to a couple of dozen Town games by then but hadn't really committed myself.

Picture the scene: Ipswich were top of the second division and planning to start their promotion party after they'd seen off lowly Town, who were trying to avoid relegation. I can't remember anything about the action in the game but I can still conjure up the excitement and the feelings of pride and relief when our team's battling performance secured a 0-0. I believe that was the day I changed from being a spectator to a real supporter. God help me.

Paul Hurst's admission last week that he thinks Town have been too nice in the past and that he had no problem with his players "slowing the game down" in the second half against Stockport was great. In his pre-match interview on Thursday he stepped up his willingness to gain an advantage wherever he can with much talk of player injuries and illness in the squad, then named an unchanged team on Saturday. Outstanding.

The Blundell Park crowd was keen to get in on the time-wasting act on Saturday too, with the ball being booted away more than once. Even the Mighty Mariner had a sly little kick of the ball at one point. Can a mascot be booked?

Talking of mascots, only the other week I suggested they might be dying out as I could not recall seeing an opposition mascot for ages. So I was pleased that Bradford brought along Billy Bantam to indulge in some pre-match hijinks with Mighty before kick-off. It then got me wondering where Bradford City's nickname of The Bantams originated, and I found this interesting article. It seems marketing was alive and well even before the First World War.

I wasn't so happy to hear a chorus of the dreadful Yorkshire Ripper song from the lefthand side of The Pontoon. Thankfully, it was short-lived and probably not very audible to most.

Oh, and I'd just like to add – Waterfall for England! You know it makes sense.

UTM