[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

V

Northampton Town

2013/14 Prediction League – Game 19; v Northampton (home)

• "………… we're bottom of the league, conceding far too many in the last minutes of games and frankly I've had enough of it."

No, not Cobblers’ Chairman David Cardoza ……….actually, Cobblers’ Manager Aidy Boothroyd , one-time manager of Watford, Colchester and Coventry (his first permanent signing for Colchester was one Kayode Odejayi ) ………..Last season, around the end of October, he was bemoaning his injury list

• “We can completely do without this. We have good players here, unfortunately half of them are injured”

…….but even without defenders David Artell (groin) and John Johnson ( cartilage), midfielders Ben Harding (ankle) and Luke Guttridge (fractured metatarsal) and winger Chris Hackett (groin) plus striker Alex Nicholls with a double fracture of the leg which needed pinning and a skin graft they still made the Playoff Final; currently they’re without skipper/defender Kelvin Langmead, Chris Hackett (again), Alex Nicholls (still), 6’4” striker Clive Platt, and Roy O’Donovan (hernia) ………on top of that, Peterborough have just recalled MF Kane Ferdinand from his loan spell , ex Man U striker JJ Hooper has been loaned out to Alfreton , and defender Ben Tozer (23) has just yesterday gone on loan to Colchester ……..

Perhaps it was the disappointment of not getting promoted, but they culled their squad big style in the summer; out, amongst others, went our mate You Fat Bastard , now 31, who rejoined Gillingham (where he’s largely keeping the bench warm – the whole of it! ), plus David Artell (Rotherham, Mansfield, Chester, Morecambe and Crewe) who left for Wrexham, CMF Ben Harding (Torquay), Jake Robinson (26, CF) who went to Whitehawk (surprised he could find it ), CMF Luke Gutteridge (to Luton), striker Louis Moult (remember him? ) who’s now the joint 3rd leading scorer in the Conference with Nuneaton, Nana Ofori-Twumasi (my grandchildren think "Nana" is a wonderful name for a footballer! ) (RB) to Yeovil, and Clarke Carlisle (to retirement)

Including loan signings, they’ve brought 19 in, among them GK Matt Duke (35) from Bradford, MF Ricky Ravenhill (32, also from Bradford) on loan, strikers Jacob Blyth (Leicester, 20) and Luke Norris (also 20, from Brentford) - again, both on loan; unemployed RB Mathias Doumbe, 31 year-old CBs Matt Heath (Colchester) and Kevin Amankwaah (Exeter), ex-Hull right winger Danny Emerton (20), CMF Gary Deegan (25) from Hibs and defender Kashif Siddiqi (27), who once played for (but not in ) Presbyterian Blue Hose (US College Soccer) (you can picture it, can’t you; “Come on You Blue Hose!” ). Most recently – as in “yesterday” – they loan-signed striker Izale McLeod (29, ex Derby, MK Dons (twice), Charlton, Barnet and Portsmouth)

But what a difference a few short months makes ……….last year they finished 6th, with 73 points; they put Cheltenham to the sword (1-0 and 1-0 in the Playoff semis) before succumbing to Bradford 3-0 in the Final; this year they’re plumb last – P18 W3 D5 L10 F14 A24 for 14 points . They aren’t the lowest scorers (Plymouth also have 14, while Brizzle R have 13 ), nor have they the worst “goals conceded” column (Morecambe and Rochdale have each let in 25, York 27, Cheltenham 28, and Torquay and (Managerless) Pompey have both shipped 30 ) ………… They’re still in the FA Cup, having beaten Bishop’s Stortford 2-1 away, which gives them a Second Round game next week at Grimsby (lose that and you’d think it’s “Byee, Aidy” ); they lost any direct interest in the CapitalOneCup in Roundo Uno (2-1 at home to the MK Dons), and in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy they went out at the first stroke, 2-0 away to .................. MK Dons …………. It’s no wonder MKD let them borrow Izale McLeod (whose strike rate, by the way, is 1 in 3 (122 in 380)

Their away form in the League is truly and majestically AWFUL ; won 1 (2-0 at the Wombles), drawn one (0-0 at Chesterfield on Tuesday gone) and lost the other eight …………not only that, they’ve failed to score in 8 of their 10 away games (plus 2 other matches as well) ……….at home, the stats are 2 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses; they’ve beaten Newport 3-1 (opening game) and Fleetwood 1-0 (90th minute), and their losses have come, oddly, against Exeter and Torquay, both by 2-1…………If you add the 3 cup goals to the 14 League goals, you get 17 goals in 21 games. Which explains why they’re bottom of the League ……………

They came down to League Two at the end of 2008/9; in 09/10 they thumped us 3-0 at our place and 4-0 at theirs; 10/11 saw a goalless draw away, and a 3-1 win at our place with two goals from Ian Craney and one from Sean McConville; 2011/12 saw another goalless draw at Sixfields and a 2-1 win at home (Jamie Devitt and Chester’s Craig Lindfield); last season, courtesy of a YFB hat-trick, which included a horizontal diving header that I won’t forget for a while; like a hump-back whale coming up for air, it was ............), they did us 4-2 at ours and 2-0 at theirs; W2 D2 L4 F7 A15 ………..and we haven’t scored in four visits to Sixfields!

Leading goalscorers are both loanees; Luke Norris with 5 and Jacob Blyth with 3; Roy O’Donovan and MF Stuart Dallas (was he one of the Dallas Boys originally?) both have 2, and five others have 1 each ……

This would be, I think, a good one to win ; firstly, it’s time we did win there; secondly, we’re the form team of the League (5 wins in our last 6, unbeaten in 8 ); thirdly, it would put clear water between us and the bottom several; fourthly, we deserve it for the way we’ve stuck to the task and improved our performances out of recognition ………..Is it just me, but it seems that these days everyone I meet who knows I’m a Stanley fan suddenly wants to talk to me about how well we’re doing ………….I smile benignly and say, “Never doubted it” …………… .......Lying sod!

Good luck to everyone …………..remember; passion overcomes logic ……………. Keep the Faith ………………and thanks for playing!