2012 Prediction League; Game 12 v Torquay Utd (away)

[Div3North]

Torquay United

V

Accrington Stanley

2012-13 Prediction League – Game 12; v Torquay (away)

Excluding the Ryder Cup , I’d guess that the season’s best ‘come back from the dead’ performance – the sort of stat that the Yanks love quoting – was Torquay’s last home game against Aldershot; 3-0 down to a Craig Reid (“proper”) hat-trick (ie three consecutive goals – in his case, on 28, 37 and 47), they climbed back into the game with goals from Billy Bodin on 48 and Ryan Jarvis on 69, and then won it with two in the last 6 minutes – Andrew Yeomans on 84 and Rene Howe on 89 ……… Not as good as watching Ian Poulter (who I always thought was mad as a box of frogs ) and the rest, and – sadly for Gulls fans – not something they could repeat yesterday, losing by the odd goal in 3 at Wycombe ………..

I notice that no-one took me up on my “quiz of the week” in the Millers’ thread ; the question was “which teams that were in League 2 when we came back up are there this season as well, and how many teams have, like us, been continuously in League 2 from 2006/7 to now?” If you think (or look) back, League 2 in 2006/7 included Darlington, Stockport, Lincoln, Wrexham, Boston Utd, Mansfield, Hereford, Grimsby, Chester and Macclesfield (all of whom are now BSP or below), and Notts Co, Bury (who we look likely to again play next year, unless we go up as they come down), Swindon, Walsall, Peterborough, Hartlepool, Shrewsbury and the MK Dons (all now League 1 or – Posh only - above); that leaves five who were here then and are here now as well, apart from us – Bristol Rovers, Rochdale, Wycombe, Barnet and Torquay; the Pirates went up in 2006/7, as did Coleydale in 2009/10, and Wycombe (why “Chairboys”?) in 2008/9 and 2010/11); Torquay went down to the BSP in 2006/7; which leaves Barnet as the only team – apart from the Stanley – to be in their 7th consecutive season in League 2; I don’t think they’ll make it 8 seasons , although they did get their third point of the season in a 2-2 draw at Southend yesterday …….The words “dead in the water” spring to mind …………….But then, remember Plymouth’s start to last season ……………..

In 1921, when football restarted after WWI, the Third Division was created, and both Exeter and Plymouth were elected into it for its inaugural season; the Footballing Big-Wigs of Torquay were obviously anxious to join them, and so the present Torquay Utd arose as a result of a merger in that same year between Torquay Town and Babbacombe; they joined the League in 1927 – replacing Aberdare Athletic, who weren’t re-elected (shame!) - and probably wished they hadn’t been, because after a respectable 1-1 draw against Exeter in front of a crowd of 11,625 in their first ever game in the League, they went to Millwall for their second, and promptly lost 9-1 ; after 48 games they came bottom with 30 points, having to rely on re-election themselves, but that proved to be the start of 80 years consecutive membership of the FL, ending (as above) at the end of 2006/7, when they went down with a record of P46 W7 D14 L25 F36 A63 for 35 points , and last place by a massive 11 points from Boston Utd (managed by that nice Mr Evans! )

During that close season they also created a record for the shortest tenure in office of a Football League manager; Colin Lee was sacked as Director of Football, and Keith Curle, who’d been Head Coach only since February, wasn’t re-appointed; instead, on May 17th, Torquay went back to former manager Leroy Rosenior , and he became manager once again; he lasted, according to the stories, 10 minutes , because a new consortium bought the club and hired Paul Buckle instead .....……….. Way to go, Leroy (who I like on the Fooball League show, not least because he knows everyone); I wonder how much he got for breach of contract?

They made a pot of money in the summer (relatively speaking), selling Bobby Olejnik (25), an Austrian GK they’d bought from Falkirk, to Peterborough for £300,000, MF Eunan O’Kane (22) – who turned down a move to Crawley – to Bournemouth for £175,000 (or so it’s said, that being the figure in his contract which triggered his release clause) and defender Mark Ellis (24) to Crewe for £80,000; O’Kane started with Coleraine, and has managed to play for both Northern Ireland u21s and the Republic of Ireland u21s, which is a good trick if you can do it............ Also out went Taiwo Atieno (27), a forward whose cv includes Kenya, Walsall, Puerto Rico Islanders and Rochester Rhinos ; Nathaniel Rowe-Turner (22), a LB (formerly of Leicester) departed to play once again for Paul Buckle at Luton; and Chris McPhee (29), a midfielder who scored the goal for Ebbsfleet which won them the FA Trophy back in 2008 (when we owned the team, didn’t we Lads! And we picked the team, didn’t we, Lads! Oh; didn’t we? ) And who did Ebbsfleet beat 1-0 that year to win the said FA Trophy? Right – Torquay Utd! McPhee – who’s also has spells with Brighton, Weymouth and Kidderminster – has apparently joined Salisbury as player/coach.

In, rather exotically, came Tom Cruise ……….No, not that Tom Cruise – this one’s a 21 year old defender, ex Arsenal, who was apparently linked with Sampdoria and New England Revolution before signing at Plainmoor (or were they just hiking up the price? ); Aussie defender Aaron Terence Downes (27) left Chesterfield after 174 games to sign on down the English Riviera ; ex Southampton and Brighton keeper Michael Poke (26) arrived to replace Bobby O; Craig Easton, a 33 year-old central MF who’s previously plied his trade at Dundee Utd, Livingston, Orient, Swindon, Southend and Dunfermline, also fancied the sun on his back; former Everton Youth player Nathan Craig (20) arrived from Caernarfon Town (apparently he’s bilingual, but they can’t touch you for it ); after a load of messing about they eventually signed Welsh us1 forward Billy Bodin (20) from Swindon (loan spells at the Gulls and Crewe last season) – who isn’t bilingual, having been born in Swindon, but who qualifies for Wales through his dad Paul Bodin; and lastly, but not leastly, striker Ryan Jarvis (26) – ex Norwich, Leyton Orient and Walsall, left the Saddlers for the joys of the South Coast. By the way, did you see that Barry Hearn wants to rename Leyton Orient “London Orient” if they get to share the Olympic Stadium? In your dreams, Barry ……………..

They didn’t leave their fingerprints on the Capital One Cup, going out at home 4-0 in Round One to Leicester; they got a bye in Round One of the JohnSaysPaintAPicture Trophy, but meet Yeovil this coming week in Round 2. Their League form has been uninspired; 0-0 draws at Fleetwood and at home to Plymouth; 1-1 draws at Port Vale and Chesterfield, and at home to Burton; a 2-2 draw at home to Cheltenham; they’ve won three – 4-2 at Plainmoor against Coleydale and 4-3, also at home, against the Shots, and a 1-0 road trip to the Wombles; they’ve lost two – 1-0 at Rotherham, and 2-1 on Saturday past at Wycombe. Manager Martin Ling – usually good for a quote – said this to Radio Devon after the defeat at Wycombe:-

• “That’s possibly our worst performance of the season. I thought that not at any time did we get up a head of steam up”

Pardon?

He also said:- “We were second to first balls and second to second balls and we got what we deserved, which was nothing …………… For the first 15 minutes of the second half we couldn’t even seem to pass water, if I’m honest”

Which I’m sure you are, Martin …………….

Home form, then, is P5 W2 D3 L0 F11 A8; away, it’s P6 W1 D3 L2 F4 A5; overall, P11 W3 D6 L2 F15 A13 for 15 points and 11th place ……… Not the form that got them to the last two Playoffs, you might think, where they lost 1-0 to Stevenage in the 2010/11 Final, and got dumped by Cheltenham 4-1 on aggregate in the 2011/12 Semis. Not to suggest they’re a one-man attack, but of their 15 goals, 7 (or 8, if you believe Manish) have come from ex Bedford, Kettering and Posh striker Jermaine Renee Howe (who’s also played on loan at both Rochdale and Morecambe); apart from him, Aaron Downes and Billy Bodin each have 2, and four others have one each.

We’ve met 8 times; 2006/7 saw us win both games , 2-0 away and 1-0 at home; in 2009/10 we won 4-2 at home (goals from Lord Sunbeds, Captain Marvel, Luke Joyce and Bobby G) but lost 2-1 away, with Michael Symes (of London Orient) getting our goal and Darran Kempson – still with Alfreton in the BSP last I heard - volleying their winner through his own net on 95 ; 2010/11 saw a goalless draw away and a win by the odd goal in one chez nous (Ian Craney getting it), and last season we lost 1-0 away, but won 3-1 at home, our scorers being Bryan Hughes (still without a Club I believe), Jayden Stockley (still at the Cherries, but now in the Development Squad) and Kevin Long (who recently spent a month at Portsmouth, picking up a red card and a back injury); how long ago does that (pre-Cooky) side seem? P8 W4 D1 L3 F12 A6 Pts13 ………….

As always the deadline for entries is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 13th October. Difficult one to call, this – as is the whole season, which might explain why Cashy (2nd), mab (3rd), me (5th), DaveinGermany (8th) and Leylandii (9th) all feature in the Top Ten of the Prediction League . It won’t last, of course ……….Unlike Stanley’s start to the season, which WILL last …………. Keep the Faith! Onwards and Upwards Team Cookie!

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

[Stevie R]

Torquay 2-2 Stanley please

[Wynonie Harris]

5-2 to the Stanley please.

[Redash]

3-1 to The Stanley, please.

[cashman]

Stanley 2 Torquay 1 fer me.

[heth]

1-0 to Stanley please

[Mysteron]

Having retired to Cornwall, this is my first game of the season & my first under the new management - can't wait for it. As ever, going for a win so its Torquay 1 Stanley Boys 2. On Stanley On

[Tommy McQueen]

Torquay 1 Stanley 1 please

[smudgie]

Torquay United 1-2 Accrington Stanley

[Div3North]

I've been pm'd with a shed-full of predictions from players who are on holiday ..............

LongLostSon thinks we'll win 2-1
Proccy Fan thinks we'll draw 2-2
Chimer thinks we'll draw 2-2
Outback Ozzy thinks we'll draw 1-1

[cashman]

Just proves how popular this is then don't it.

[Div3North]

Originally Posted by cashman

Just proves how popular this is then don't it.

Hadn't thought about that Cashy ............ maybe you're right! That'd be nice!

[smudgie]

I still have nightmares about the last minute Kempson Own Goal !!!

[sparkie]

2-1 stanley please

[Tom D]

1-1 please