2011 Prediction League; Game 43 Cheltenham (away)

Div3North · 11-04-2012, 21:45

Cheltenham Town

V

Accrington Stanley

2011 Prediction League – Game 43; v Cheltenham (away)

Under the heading “You Couldn’t Make It Up If You Tried” I rather liked this BBC Sport website headline from 22nd March:-

“Burgess and McLean join Cheltenham”

They actually did sign Burgess and McLean; no, not those two

– they signed Notts County’s Ben Burgess (30) – ex Blackpool, Blackburn, Stockport and Hull striker who – the Boss claims – is “a big target man who’s good with his feet as well” (as well as what, Mark?

) and Yeovil’s ex Rangers, Blades, Cardiff and Plymouth striker Steve McLean (29); on top of that, they’ve re-signed Birmingham’s England u21 keeper Jack Butland (18) who was there earlier in the season, and Everton’s 18 year-old England u19 defender Luke Garbett (who cost £600,000 when signed from Leeds’ Academy set-up). As well as those four loanees, they signed Jermaine McGlashan (23) from Aldershot to bolster their midfield ……..

You’d wonder, wouldn’t you, how a team whose results over their last 10 games are 2 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats, manages to remain in the playoff places …………?

If you go back to the start of that period their record was 60 points from 32 games, leaving them 2nd, 1 point behind Swindon

; now, its P42 W20 D8 L14 F57 A46 for 68 points and 6th – 2 points above Oxford and Crewe …….they seem to be hanging on by their fingernails – even more so when you realise that they’ve actually only scored at all in one of their last 7 fixtures

; in those ten games they’ve had home wins over Barnet and Burton (both 2-0), home draws against Oxford (0-0) and Northants (2-2), and a home 3-0 defeat by Gillingham; away, 5 straight losses – Morecambe (3-1), Swindon (1-0), Shrewsbury (2-0), Southend (4-0) and Rotherham (under Steve Evans

– although he got there late, and the first thing he saw was Lewis Grabban miss a penalty!) by 1-0, the goal coming in the 93rd minute of 94). In those 10 games they’ve scored just 7, and conceded 16

The Robins don’t travel very well, especially of late; W9 D3 L9 F32 A32; at home, it’s W11 D5 L5 F25 A14. Manager Mark Yates is – or is pretending to be – upbeat, though; after Monday’s loss at the Don Valley Stadium, he said,

"I don't have any doubt we can hold our nerves, we're disappointed to get beaten today but there's 12 points to play for and we're in the box seat."

Depends how you define “box seat”, Mark

; I think you need to watch over your shoulder, because Crewe (and Oxford) are coming up fast on the outside rails ………………….

We’ve got a funny old record against them; in 2009/10 we whipped them 4-0 at Fortress Crown

(Chris Turner, Sunbeds (penalty) and Bobby Grant (2) doing the damage) and drew the return 1-1 (Turner again); last season we lost 4-2 at home

(Gornell and Sunbeds (penalty)) but won 2-1 away

, with goals by Terry Gornell and Leam Richardson

(89) – his first goal in over 3 ½ years; on an instantly forgettable Friday last October we lost 1-0 at home……………. P5 W2 D1 L2 F9 A7 Pts 7 ………. By the way, does anybody remember when we last got a penalty? I’m not even sure we’ve had one this season ………….

Their leading scorers, unusually, are almost all strikers; scottish striker Darryl Duffy (28) – ex Falkirk, Pirates, Swansea, Hartlepool and Hull – tops the list with 15; Welsh born Kaid Mohammed (27), with Swindon, Torquay, Forest Green and the Wombles on the CV, has 10; Huddersfield loanee James Spencer (20) - who spent last season at Morecambe, you might remember, where he hit 8 in 33 games – has 9, and Jeff Goulding (27), formerly of the Cherries, Hayes and Yeading and Eastbourne, and 24 year-old midfielder Luke Summerfield (Plymouth. Orient and Bournemouth) both have 6. Wish we had a 15 – 20 goal-a-season striker …………. Or two!

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 14th April. Another draw? Another win? (that’d be nice!

). 0-0? 7-4? 26-0? Some of us – me, Wynonie, DaveinGermany and Chimer to name but 4 – can’t win the PL this season – but we can still play for pride ………..!

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