2012 Prediction League; Game 17 v Northampton Town FC (home)

Div3North · 07-11-2012, 23:24

Accrington Stanley

V

Northampton Town

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 17; v Northampton (home)

Aidy Boothroyd on the Cobblers’ injury list; October 25th 2012:-

“We can completely do without this. We have good players here, unfortunately half of them are injured”

And, to be fair, many of his senior players were; defenders David Artell (groin - ouch!) and John Johnson (“nipped a cartilage”, apparently ………..

), midfielders Ben Harding (ankle) and Luke Guttridge (fractured metatarsal) and winger Chris Hackett (groin - also ouch!) were all out; Artell and Guttridge still are, until at least the New Year …………..But the trick, surely, is to suffer in silence and hope it all goes away, not to tempt the Fates by shouting about it, because the Fates have a nasty habit of biting your bum when you're not looking

. And they did. Two days after that quote, striker Alex Nicholls (24) – their leading scorer with 8, and a summer capture from Walsall – suffered a double fracture of the leg which needed pinning and a skin graft, ending his season ………

That left, of course, Adebayo Saheed Akinfenwa – affectionately known to the Clayton End as “You Fat Bastard”

– to form a new strike force with 20 year old former Stoke striker Louis Moult (remember him?

), who told the press that he wasn’t “a direct replacement for Alex”, but claimed to have a good understanding with YFB, announcing that

“Me and Bayo” – which should, grammatically, be “Bayo and I”, but never mind – “Me and Bayo understand each other. When I’ve got the ball, he’s already expecting it off me round the corner ………………and vice versa”

So that’s explained that, then ……… Moult (who hit none in five on loan to us at the start of last year

) also spent a while on loan at Alfreton last season, where he played with his brother (Jake), making his debut against Kidderminster on 21st January (I'm still saving up for a £4 pie) and getting sent off just before half time for a “poor challenge”

(NB - Alfreton didn’t extend his loan period either!) He really seized his chance in the Cobblers' team, though (not!) – Northampton Town's Chairman David Cardoza saying of him, “Within the club we’re really excited about him”

. Well I bet they aren’t now, because he got sent off again on Tuesday at York in the 41st minute for a “reckless foul” on York CB Chris Smith . So now the Dream Team up front looks like being YFB (30) and Clive Platt (6’ 4”, ex Colchester, Peterborough, Walsall, Rochdale, MK Dons and Notts County, and YFB’s senior by 4 years); should be fun! Wheelchairs at 50 paces ………………….!

Summer departures included MF Michael Jacobs (20) to Derby County for (reputedly) in excess of half a million

, fellow MF Arron Davies (28) to Exeter (for free!

), CB Byron Webster (25) and CF Lewis Young (22) to Yeovil (also for nowt) and Ryan Gilligan (25), an attacking MF, to Ostersunds FK, a “second tier” (no idea!) Swedish side

In came ex Millwall, Hearts and Oxford winger Chris Hackett (29), Ishmel Abendigo Demontagnac (24) – ex Walsall, Blackpool, Chesterfield, Stockport and Notts County winger, who’s been sent off – if I counted correctly - at least five times in his career

, Alex Nicholls (see above), Clive Platt (ditto), Louis Moult (also ditto), and Joe Widdowson (ex Rochdale LB – presumably ousted by one Kevin McIntyre); on loan they added Congolese striker Henoc John Mukendi, an 18 year-old from Liverpool, and GK Lee Nicholls (20), who went there for 3 months from Wigan, and has just gone back for the rest of the season, having kept 7 clean sheets in 16 ……….I’m not sure he managed that at our place; he kept tripping over Toto!

They’re having some decent results in the Cup competitions

; they beat Cardiff 2-1 in the COCup 1st Round before succumbing to Wolves 3-1 (both at Sixfields); in the Paintball Trophy they’ve seen off MK Dons 1-0 and Colchester 2-1 (also both at Sixfields), giving them Leyton Orient (at Sixfields) in the Quarters; in the FA Cup they drew 1-1 with Bradford (at Sixfields – is there a theme developing here?

), Louis Moult getting their equaliser on 61 after Alan Connell (ex Swindon etc etc) had made an opening goal for Will Atkinson (ex Hull) – and if they win the replay (not at Sixfields) they’ll entertain Brentford (at Sixfields) …………….Hell’s teeth!

The League isn’t quite so productive; at home, 4 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats, scoring 13 and conceding 7; away, one win (at Dagenham 1-0), 3 draws (0-0 at Coleydale, 1-1 at York on Tuesday, and 3-3 at Burton); the four defeats were by 4-0 at Barnet, 1-0 at Fleetwood, 3-2 at Plymouth and 3-1 at Bristol Rovers. Overall, their League record is P16 W5 D5 L6 F21 A22 for 20 points and 14th place – 1 place and 1 point behind us ……..But we’re on a roll!

They might well reflect with some concern on the absence of two of their three leading scorers – Nicholls (Alex, not GK Lee) with 8 and David Artell with 4; the only other player with more than 2 goals is Bayo (of "Me and Bayo" fame") – whose future, over the summer, looked a bit uncertain – who has 7 (on target to repeat last season’s 20, which put him near the top of the League 2 Leading Scorer List). Otherwise, Kelvin Langmead, Chris Hackett and Louis ‘Red Card’ Moult have 2 each, and Big Clive Platt and Henoc Mukendi have one each …………

They came down from League One at the end of the 2008/9 season, alongside Crewe, Cheltenham and Hereford; in our first season playing them we lost 3-0 and 4-0; since then we’ve drawn 2 and won 2 – drawing the 2010/11 and 11/12 away games 0-0, and winning the home games 3-1 (April 11, with two goals from Ian Craney, now a fixture on the Rochdale bench, and one from Sean McPrimarkUB40 , now a fixture on the Barrow bench) and 2-1 (March 12, with goals from Jamie Devitt (who's just gone out on loan to Rotherham) and Craig "Scoop" Lindfield

); P6 W2 D2 L2 F5 A9 Pts 8; ok, but not thrilling – especially since we’ve only scored in two of six games; but that’s about to change – isn’t it Will?

The deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 10th November. Team Leam are unbeaten

– shaken but not stirred at the Globe on Tuesday (well played again, Bavs ); the Cobblers don’t travel well, it appears ……..sounds like it could be a Good Game!

Good luck to everyone – and thanks for playing!