Cod Almighty | Diary

Rain, rain go away, I want to see Grimsby play

14 November 2025

It was at last season's early away fixture against tomorrow's opponents, Chesterfield, that your A46 Diary felt that Town had properly turned a corner. It was an away performance to be proud of marred only by some defensive calamities in a 2-1 defeat. Vernam's left-foot rocket was not our only consolation on the drive home as we chattered excitedly about how the team had played, what they'd tried to do and, despite those calamities, how solid they had looked for most of the game. After the previous season's flirtation with a relegation fight, this was very welcome.

And since then, despite the still-lingering ability for calamity, there has been nothing to change my mind. Last week's draw against Barrow, calamities and all, should be measured against the quality away performances that have resulted in us leaving with nothing, blighted as those performances were by silly mistakes. Last week, we didn't crumble, we didn't quit, we didn't succumb to the inevitable. We pulled our socks up and ensured the point. One point is not nothing and while the frustrations are certainly still there, the defeats, at least those strings of defeats that wreck a season, are pleasingly absent.

Soonsup-Bell made his debut for Thailand in a 3-2 victory over Shanghai yesterday. Coming on in the 64th minute the yet-to-impress forward missed a penalty he had won for himself. So, still yet to impress, I suppose. Half an hour's play after travelling 6,000 miles doesn't seem ideal for a young man trying to force his way into Town's first team but I'll admit to a little frisson of excitement checking Twitter for updates on our glamorous international. I mean, come on, the Faroe Islands and Iceland are great, but they're not the Orient. Imagine if he took the Express to get there. Would there be a murder or two for him to solve? You don't get than on the Smyril Line ferry.

No Jude for tomorrow's game against the Spireites then. No Turi either. He can qualify for the World Cup this weekend, so we'll forgive him for this distraction even though we will miss his growing influence on the team. With Turi's progress, I have been thinking that it might not be so bad to lose McEachran in January. Heresy, I know, but losing him for free in the summer will be about as welcome as a turd on a Thai beach. Cash in with some sweet sell-ons and let Turi loose on League Two.

But back to tomorrow: who's in and out? Artell is his usual self in his pre-match interview, refusing to discuss injured players in detail and assuring us we'll have to wait and see just like he does. He leaves the road to recovery to those who are qualified, he says, over and over. He lingered long on his philosophy with the injured despite having told us all this before. Let's hope that this is because the rest of the team is a story-free group of pros ready and waiting to do the business sans drama.

The most we all know (except those qualified to know), therefore, is that there will be no Tharme or Sweeney tomorrow and no clear idea of when they will be back. And that doesn't matter. There's no problem. We have the squad to deal not just with ensuring a point at Barrow but with absences as well. Pinch yourselves.

I'm looking forward to a full 90 of super Staunton's sumptuous crossing, a return for the marvellous McEachran, another venomous performance from Vernam, the gorgeous Green, the immovable McJannet, the luscious Lavelle, the capable Khouri, the reliable Burns, the ambiguous Amaluzor, the radical Rogers and the peeking-from-behind-the-sofa Pym. Don't panic. As I said, we're sans drama right now and our number one is going to be fine. He's big enough, old enough and ugly enough to put Barrow behind him and guide us to another clean sheet. At 'em, Town!