Cod Almighty | Diary

Keep on running

16 January 2026

Giddy for tomorrow. We have the opportunity for a perfect synergy of nostalgia and present-day joy as Andy Cook makes his return to Blundell Park as a Mariner. Twelve years ago the young man who left Barrow to join us, left us to rejoin Barrow and go on to have one of those lower-league stellar careers. Now he returns, an old man ready for a last hurrah. The stars are sure to align tomorrow, and the sharp-elbowed, bull-headed League Two batterer will put Barnet to the cudgel and lead us to glorious victory.

He could do with a goal. Your A46 Diary was surprised to see that Cook only scored 14 in his two seasons with Town back in those Vanarama days. In my mind, he scored more. That will be the goal at Wembley, I suppose. His 70th minute opener in the 2013 FA Trophy final dared us all to hope but the game is better remembered for Richard Brodie's penalty miss and reported abandonment by the team bus after the game.

Artell is delighted at the Cook signing, and while he can't tell us exactly why Cook chose us, he is delighted to remind us that we're already a good attacking team without him, so his addition has only happened because his data allowed it. He hasn't started a league game in a year, hasn't played at all since early December, has come back from an ACL, so we don't know if he has fully recovered. Basically, DA is telling us not to expect him to start tomorrow.

There was a crumb of excitement as he said two up front is now more realistic. I'd like to see the Thai terror and Cook partnered up there with Kabia and Green/Khouri on the bench to come wreak havoc in the last 25 minutes. Stick with the back four and let Khouri/Green grow into a box-to-box role. Imagine the positions JSB could get into. I've gone giddy again...

Back to the dulcet Yorkie drawl. Artell dismissed the link with another ex-Bradford player, the right-back Halliday who's gone up to Scotland. McAtee was also dismissed. "You may as well start chucking Messi's name in if you're talking about him!" So, you're saying there's a chance, Dave?

In other news, Vernam - he of cup wonder goals - has won the Mitre Sports goal of the FA Cup third round. I concur. The goals in last weekend's game were all quality and, despite all coming from corners, a lovely spread of styles: a wonder goal and a near-post flicked header sandwiched the delicious double dink of Kabia's smart right-footed jab after McJannet's delicate little left-footed lob. Lovely stuff.

Barnet tomorrow. They thrashed us at their place and have been Artell's thinly veiled annoyance at complaints about how negatively we play. "We've only been outplayed once this season," he's told us over and over, "and that was Barnet!" A win would see him able to cling to that veil, a defeat would see him unable to cope with Dean Brennan's runners. That's the plaudits they've got this season: they run and run. And run. I've been a little suspicious of our fitness lately as the second halves of games have seen us run out of ideas and puff. The subs have helped but with how late Artell uses them, we look tired for too long in games.

Go on, Town, prove me wrong and run out winners tomorrow.