[VALAIRIAN]

Originally Posted by Div3North

Portsmouth FC

V

Accrington Stanley

2013/14 Prediction League – Game 25; v Portsmouth (away)

We met, you’ll recall, on Sky TV on 10th August ; Pompey were in the fourth tier of the League for the first time in over 30 years ……….. we drew 2-2 (our only League meeting), and Murph played a blinder with both our goals . They were managed then by their former striker Guy Whittingham, with a wholly new team (7 new signings in the starting line up, 5 more on the bench) and were, in the eyes of the Bookies, racing certs to go up …………….. What a difference half a season makes!

Whittingham was the 3rd League 2 manager this season to get the bullet (Kevin Blackwell at Bury and Brian Laws at Scunny beat him, Aidy Boothroyd at the Cobblers and – today – Alan Knill at Torquay followed); now he’s first-team coach at Crawley, whose former manager Richie Barker is now Pompey Boss (sounds a bit incestuous, this …….. ). Pompey – 21st then – are now 19th, with a record that reads W6 D8 L10 F29 A38 Pts26 (we’re 21st, with 25 points – half the accepted “safety level” required - from 24 ) …………They’re out of the Cups ; they lost 1-0 at Bournemouth in the Capital One, 2-1 at Stevenage in the First Round of the FA Cup (which they won, remember, only 5 seasons ago , beating (Ole Solskjaer’s ) Cardiff 1-0), and 3-0 at Newport in the QF of the PaintBox, having seen off Torquay (5-3 on pens after a 0-0) and Oxford (2-1), both away, in Rounds One and Two……………..

There have been few comings and goings since the season began; Bury’s keeper Trevor Carson (25) came on loan, has made the shirt his own, and is rumoured to be going to sign a contract this month – certainly his loan is already extended to the end of the season; ex Bournemouth and current Crawley MF/def Shaun Cooper (30) – who started his career at Fratton Park – is back on loan for a third spell there; and French-born Guadaloupe international CMF Thery Racon (29) joined from Millwall and seems still to be on their books ….Most recently (today) they’ve loan-signed Swansea and Wales u21 defender Daniel Alfei (21)

You’d not have expected them to have as few as 32 goals in 29 games, but they have ; three of their five cup games saw them fail to score , as did 5 of their last 10 League games ………… Leading scorers are ex Wombles (Gillingham, PNE, QPR, Stevenage, and Ghana) international striker Patrick Agyemang (33) with 6, Republic of Ireland international strike partner David Connolly (Watford, Feyenoord, Wombles, Hammers, Leicester, Wigan, Sunderland, Southampton) with 5, 19 year-old MF Jed Wallace, signed from Lewes, with 4, and def Bondz N’Gala (Plymouth, Yeovil and Stevenage), MF Andy Barcham (Spurs, Gillingham and Scunthorpe) and striker Ryan Bird (signed last summer from non-League Burnham, for whom he got 45 in 42 games in 2012/3), each of whom has 3 ….

The most interesting stat, though, is their record over their last 10 games ; 6 defeats, 3 draws, and but 1 win (1-0 against the Daggers on Boxing Day) ; away, they’ve drawn 0-0 at Hartlepool, and lost 1-2 at Southend, 0-2 at Brizzle and 0-4 at the Wombles; at home – apart from the single win – they’ve drawn 2-2 with Wycombe, 0-0 with Northampton, and lost 2-1 to Scunthorpe and Southend, and 2-0 to Newport ………….P10 W1 D3 L6 F6 A16 Pts6 ; worried though we are, our comparable record (last 10) is W4 D3 L3 for 15 points ………Think about it!

Thank you to my co-conspirator Chimer for the scouting assessment of their strengths and weaknesses; their weakness, at the moment, is that they can’t score for toffee (7 in their last 12, including cup games), and that they’re sliding down the table alarmingly fast ………..If we can stop Agyemang doing what he did to us at our place (and what Jon Parkin and You Fat Bastard always do to us) which is bully us up front , and get the right people playing in the right places (not five goalscorers on the bench! ), and put someone in form in for the departed Richardson ………….then this could be a winning 6-pointer, instead of another Cup Final; not sure my nerves will stand it …………..

Deadline for entries, as you all know very well, is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 4th January (weather permitting) …………. Go for it! The climb up the table could very well start again here ……………….

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

For the above fixture, I predict there will not be any goals