[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

V

Scunthorpe United

2013/14 Prediction League – Game 32; v Scunthorpe (home)

This week’s starter for ten …………….Name me the last League Two manager who managed to plot the downfall of the Iron this season ……………The answer – as you’ll all have remembered – is ………….James Beattie! Our 2-0 win at Glandford Park (they moved from the Old Show Ground, which is a much more footballingly-romantic name, in 1988) was their last League defeat ……….. And when they lost their FA Cup First Round replay 2-1 at home to Grimsby in their next game, following an earlier 0-0 away draw, Brian Laws was awarded his P45 …….

On 16th November – the day we beat them, thanks to first-half goals from George Bowerman and Kayodi Odejayi – they lay 12th, with 24 goals from 16 games; now they’re 2nd, with a record of P30 W13 D13 L4 F42 A28 Pts 52 - 3 behind Snakefield…….Since Brian Laws was sacked, (and he didn't think it was fair, by the way ) they haven’t lost ; their last 14 games have seen 7 wins and 7 draws, scoring 25 and conceding just 9 ; without a full-time Boss they won 4 and drew 1; since Russ Wilcox got the Manager’s job full-time on Christmas Eve, he’s won 3 and drawn 6 (including their last five league games); in 34 games in League and Cups, they’ve kept a clean sheet 18 (yes, eighteen ) times ……..for the record, their other three League defeats have been by 4-1 at York, 3-2 at the Wombles, and 4-0 at home to Exeter

They went out of the Cups in the first Round; 5-4 on penalties at Barnsley after a 0-0 in the League Cup, and four weeks later 5-3 on penalties at home to Sheff Utd, again after a 0-0, in the Southern Section First Round of the Football League Trophy (the PaintPot – and who moved Scunthorpe and Sheffield? ) ……43 goals in 34 games suggests they don’t rattle them in, which may be why they’ve head-hunted a couple of experienced strikers in the Transfer Window – ex Coventry, Birmingham and Chesterfield goalscorer Gary McSheffrey (31), and ex Carlisle and Yeovil striker Paddy Madden (23) – said by Glovers’ Manager Gary Johnson to have lost his place in the starting lineup because of ‘attitude problems’ . They also brought in former Bratfud and Doncaster MF David Syers (26), Sheffield Utd defender Marcus Williams (27), and Gainsborough and Lincoln defender Andrew Boyce (24) ………………Ex Watford, Stoke, Charlton, Wolves, Colchester, Notts Co, Oldham, Burnley and Scotland (tho not necessarily in that order) frontman Chris Iwelumo – now 35 – was released ……speaking of old strikers, who saw that ex Chesterfield, red-card collecting goalpoacher Jack Lester (38), who hung up his boots last summer, un-hung them again , and signed last week for Gateshead?

Their leading scorers are ex Wolves striker – loaned out at various times to Burton, Hereford, Inverness Cally and Shrewsbury – Sam Winnall - a good name for a striker - (23), with 15; Deon John Burton (37), who’s played for every club in all four Divisions (plus two years in Azerbaijan), having amassed 600+ appearances, has 6; and David Syers (see above) has 5.

We lead the head-to-head by the odd game in one (I don’t count Cup matches) thanks to our 2-0 triumph – which I don’t think is too strong a word – in mid November, when we eventually lifted our collective arses off the floor of League Two, never to look back ……………….

Deadline for entries, as always, is scheduled kickoff time, which is 7.45pm on St Valentine’s Day (come on, all you Romantics; say to the wife when you get home from work Friday, “get yer coat on, love; I’ve got you a ticket for the Iron” , and see who gets the iron. Round the Ears ). They’ve lost fewer games than anyone else in the League (four ), and drawn more than anybody else (thirteen ) ………..that said, they’ve yet to beat us , yet to score against us , and while they’re unbeaten in 14, we’re unbeaten in 4 – and there’s not a lot of difference, as my old maths teacher used to say, as long as you remember to pay back what you borrowed ……………… Mind you, he was crackers!

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