IT'S in the dictionary, so it must be true. 'Lynch - a mob out to attack a person for some supposed offence.' Not that I'm advocating that sort of thing, you understand, but it does have a certain relevance to last Saturday's game.

And you can forget the 'supposed' bit of the definition too. Mr Lynch may have borne no physical resemblance that I could detect to Mr Uriah Rennie, but he was as bad as the shaven Sheffielder in every frustrating respect. My good book defines 'referee' as 'an official who controls a game of football'.

Nothing there about 'ruining a perfectly good Saturday afternoon for thousands of supporters' (including, might I add, those who travelled from the Land of Cod to the Land of Kidd)!

But, if we're into definitions, and whilst there's no doubt Mr Lynch personally defined the shape of most of the Grimsby match, let's be definite about some other things too. First, before the ref took centre stage, Rovers were looking as far as ever from being the definite article. The verb 'to pass' has many meanings, but the relevant one here is about 'kicking the ball to another player of the same team'.

Our blue and white heroes seem to have got the hang of the first 60 per cent of that definition, but could our coaching staff now please now move on to cover the last four words?

'Guile' in my dictionary is said to be 'clever or crafty behaviour'. I would argue that you need some of that to be successful in Division One, and preferably not sitting on the bench.

Every book on football that I've read depicts wingers who go past full-backs and send in penetrating crosses.

Even before Craig Short's aberration (definition: 'a lapse in control of one's mental faculties'), our 'wingers' yet again seemed reluctant to do the former and reliable only in their inability to do the latter.

The fans have been patient so far, even stoical (look it up in the dictionary for yourself). But it won't last. Should BK be worried if we can't knock down the Palace tomorrow?

Definitely!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.