Cod Almighty | Diary

Don't mention the tifo

4 August 2025

Miss Guest Diary writes: If I'd had a hat with me at Blundell Park on Saturday, come 5 o'clock I would have had to eat it. Well, let's be honest, I'd have had to start doing that about five minutes into the game.

A fortnight ago, having witnessed a very lacklustre showing at the pre-season game against Gainsborough, I was here spreading doom and gloom about Town's prospects for the season; after Saturday's performance and result my hopes are sky high. In the space of a fortnight I have gone from fearing relegation to expecting promotion. Finally, after 35 years of watching Town, I find myself modelling the behaviour of an archetypal Mariner – there is no grey area now, it's all feast or famine. The Town are going up!

To be fair there were clues in the pre-season performances against Lincoln and Peterborough that the recently talked of 'alignment' was occurring, but nothing could have prepared me for what I witnessed on Saturday. From first to last, every single Town player ran and ran and worked their socks off for each other and for us fans. The skill and determination on display was incredible. Triangles! Tackles! Interceptions! Shots! Goals! Three-nil up with 25 minutes to go and they were all still playing with the intensity you'd want your team to show when trying for a winner in the last minute of a cup game.

Two of our goal scorers, McJannet and Khouri, made it into The Football League Paper team of the day, alongside the Wolds Panther. I felt a bit annoyed that they'd overlooked McEachran and Kabia, then I decided that the less other teams know about those two while the transfer window is still open the better. Humberside did an interview with our Jaze after the game in which he came across as a lovely young man and also revealed (in a very charming Irish accent) that his dad is from Mansfield and played for Lincoln back in the '90s.

According to a Tweet from the club, Saturday's result was Town's biggest opening day victory since 1979. Of course I had to look up who that was against, only to discover that the 4-1 win against Exeter didn't actually take place on the opening day as we had already played and beaten Scunthorpe in the League Cup. Was that normal in those days – to start cup competitions in advance of the league season? Perhaps someone who's been watching football for longer than I have can enlighten me.

The Premier League season being a couple of weeks away, we seem to have got Liam Emmerson back on loan from Villa. He was spotted on the pitch, camera in hand so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that means one of his excellent Matchday Moments is coming up.

It really does feel like Saturday was the perfect start to a season. Of course, now I've developed the mindset of an all-or-nothing Town supporter, if it goes wrong at Harrogate next Saturday (as it has in the past), I'll be here next week to spread some more gloom.

UTM