[Div3North]

Torquay United

V

Accrington Stanley

2011 Prediction League – Game 41; v Torquay (away)

This week’s starter for 10; which was the last team to score more than 2 goals against the Gulls in a League game this season? Answer – we were , beating them 3-1 at Fortress Crown on Saturday 17th December with goals from Bryan Hughes, Jayden Stockley (one of the 3 he got in a 10-match loan spell before returning to the Cherries) and Kevin Long (now of Rochdale, of course), before they scored a last-minute consolation goal by Chris McPhee. Both sides, for the record, ended with 10 men, Rene Howe being red-carded for a foul on Deano, and Luke Joyce for (apparently) having a bit too much to say ……… Mind you, he wasn’t the skipper then ……… Proccie was ……. Didn’t Proccie quite often have a bit to say to Referees ?

They haven’t done vast amounts in the transfer market; they sold ex-Blades CB Chris Robertson (25) – who’d played 199 games for the Gulls – to Preston (I bet he wishes he was back at Plainmoor! ), signed free agent Welsh u21 winger Nathan Craig (ex Everton and Carmarthen Town), and recently took former Leyton Orient and (currently) Walsall striker Ryan Jarvis (25) from the Saddlers, he having played for Martin Ling at the O’s when ML was the manager there……..

If you’re going to hit form, the turn of the year and the run-in to the end of the season is as good a time as any to do it. When they lost to us in mid December Torquay’s League record was P21 W8 D7 L6 F33 A29 for 31 points and 12th place (ask me who was 13th, just 2 points behind them …….. go on, ask me ); now, it’s P40 W22 D9 L9 F57 A42 for 75 points and 2nd. To put that another way, of their last 19 League games they’ve won 14, drawn 2 and lost just 3 (2-0 at Swindon, 2-0 at Gillingham and 2-1 at home to Bradford), scoring 24 and conceding 13 ……. They’ve won a lot of games 1-0, which says much for their ability to close things out , and – and I think this is scary – in 40 games in the League they’ve kept 18 clean sheets (10 at home but 8 away) ……… Aaaaargh! Mind you, their record up to coming to Fortress Crown was also spectacular - their previous 6 League fixtures saw them draw 0-0 at Port Vale, and beat the Wombles 4-0, Crewe 3-0 away, Hereford 2-0, Barnet 1-0, and Plymouth 3-1; overall, P6 W5 D1 L0 F13 A1 (yes, ONE) for 16 points out of 18 . Yes, it’s definitely “Aaaaaaargh!”

Leading scorers are striker Rene Howe (24), signed from Peterborough, with 13, skipper and midfielder Lee Mansell with 12, and midfield colleague Danny Stevens (who’s in his 5th years there, having started out life aged 8 with Spurs) with 9; less than 1 ½ goals a game is ok if you don’t concede more than a tad over one a game ………… You’ve got to think they’re going up this time ; given who they lost to last time, you’d have liked them to go up last time , and certainly they deserve massive credit for getting themselves into that position for a second year running (as do the Shrews, of course)

As always the deadline for entries is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Good Friday, 6th April. The stats say that we’re not likely to get anything out of this game, but I very respectfully remind you that – according to my mate Chimer – the stats show that DaveinGermany could still win the Prediction League ……… Hi Dave!

Good luck to everyone ………… and thanks for playing!