2012 Prediction League; Game 20 v Gillingham FC (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

V

Gillingham FC

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 20; v Gillingham (home)

You sort of hope that Gillingham’s players aren’t superstitious ; well no, you sort of hope that they are, actually ; Fleetwood had only lost three League games before we did them over fairly comprehensively on Tuesday, and I’m prepared to bet that they and their fans thought we were there for the taking ……..And how many League games have Gillingham lost immediately prior to playing us? Got it – three ……… Let’s see how they handle 4-4-2 and the Mighty Beattie chez nous on Saturday …….

Better still, the Gills – founded in 1893 as New Brompton FC - kind of dented their air of invincibility in their game on Tuesday too, going down 3-2 at home to Exeter, for whom The Old Guy (aka Jamie Cureton) scored two (the second on 87 minutes – don’t you love it ) as well as missing a penalty, giving him 15 for the season, four behind Tom Pope at the now out-of-administration Port Vale and three ahead of our mate You Fat Bastard at Northampton (where Clark Carlisle’s just returned on loan, if you missed it ……..) And no, I don’t call losing to another team in the top eight “a small blip”, as MF Danny Jackman (ex Stockport, Northampton) did after the game ……….. He also said,

·"We can't dwell on this too much. Because of where we are in the league and we were at home, everyone expects us to win every single game.

"We expect ourselves to do that and sometimes we have to play with our heads a little bit more.”

Absolutely! You play with whatever you like, Danny……………

They shipped twelve out over the summer, including ex Torquay, Brentford, Bournemouth and Bristol Rovers striker Jo Kuffour (30) and Dennis Chiedozie Oli (28), a right winger who previously played for QPR and Gray’s Athletic, both of whom went to Wycombe (and probably now wish they hadn’t ); midfielder Curtis Weston (25) and RB Barry Fuller (27) signed for Barnet (and probably now wish they hadn’t ); CB Simon King (29) joined Inverness Caledonian Thistle (and is probably feeling the wind round the Trossachs, so to speak ); and 6’ 5” Argentinian GK Paolo Gazzaniga (20) – once of Valencia, and definitely a bit useful – joined Nigel Adkins Southampton for an undisclosed fee (said by one source to have been £2.7 million).

In exchange they signed several of their own youngsters, plus 7 more senior players from elsewhere; ex Notts County and Brentford winger Myles Weston (24); former Wycombe striker Ben Strevens (now 32); English-born Jamaican striker Deon Burton (36) arrived from “The Radars” – Azerbaijani Premier League side Gabala Futbol Klubu , whose stadium has a capacity smaller than ours! – where he’d spent two happy (?) years, scoring 15 in 50 games (most of them for Tony Adams – ex Arsenal & England), having started out with Pompey in 1994, and having played for at least a baker’s dozen of English League sides including Derby, Brentford, Sheff Wed and Charlton (or, if you prefer, the Rams, the Bees, the Owls and the Addicks). On loan they added MK Dons’ Northern Irish u21 international CH Tom Flanagan (20); Romain Marcel Georges Vincelot (26) – French, although you’d never have guessed it from his name – who started with Chamois Niortais, moved to 3rd tier side FC Gueugnon, signed for the Daggers and then joined Brighton in 2011; American striker Robbie Findlay (26) – LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake (where he hit 29 in 96) and thence to Notts County; and Palace (Crystal, not Buckingham ) FB David Wright (32).

Manager Martin Allen – previously ‘Boss’ at Barnet (3 times – so far), Brentford, MK Dons, Leicester, Cheltenham and Notts County – signed one more player of note – a 20 year old midfielder whom he’d had at Brentford and who he previously signed for Notts County before signing him again for Gillingham, the lucky (if not favoured) young man being his own son Charlie . So no nepotism there then ………… Shades of Blair Sturrock, who was signed for four (I think it was) different clubs by his (manager) Dad Paul.

They opened their Cup account in the CapitalCityCup with a 2-1 win at Bristol City before leaving in the second round after a 2-0 home ‘reverse’ at the hands of Middlesbrough; the TinPot ended in Round One, 3-2 at Crawley; the FA Cup saw them stuff The Iron 4-0 at the Priestfield Stadium, giving them a Second Round tie next weekend at Deepdale.

In the League they’re not doing too badly, by and large; at home it’s W6 D2 L2 F22 A9; away it’s W6 D2 L1 F14 A7; overall, then, P19 W12 D4 L3 F36 A16 giving them 40 points and 1st place. The home losses were to Rochdale (2-1) and Exeter (3-2), the draws with Chesterfield (1-1) and Cheltenham (0-0); apart from Snakefield (12th), they haven’t dropped any home points to teams outside the top 7 (Rochdale 6th, Exeter 7th, Cheltenham 3rd), but it’s also worth noting that they haven’t beaten any team managed by a former manager of the Stanley . Their ‘away failures’ are a 2-1 loss at Torquay (currently 13th), a goalless draw at Oxford (18th), and a 2-2 draw at Plymouth (19th) …………

Even more worthy of note (if you like numbers) is that every side which has scored two or more goals against them (admittedly there are only four) has either won the game (Rochdale, Torquay and Exeter) or at least got a point (Plymouth) …………..In the League, the Gills have scored four goals three times (Burton 4-1, and both Aldershot and Bristol Rovers 4-0), three goals twice, two six times, one six times and they’ve failed to trouble the scorers twice; they’ve conceded one 3, three 2s, 7 ones and kept 8 clean sheets. The one final relevant statistic – and I like this one – is that in their last 6 League games they’ve taken only 8 points – 2 wins (v Morecambe 2-1 and at the Wombles by 1-0), 2 draws and 2 defeats (Torquay and Exeter) ………… Now that can’t really be described as a “small blip”. Can it?

They have 45 goals in their 24 games overall; leading scorers are ex-Wombles skipper (and current Gills skipper) Danny Kedwell with 11 (he got 58 in 119 for Wimbledon, and netted the winning penalty in the BSP Playoff Final which got them their League status), the above-mentioned Deon Burton with 7 and Myles Weston with 4.

In 2008/9 – the year they went up – we lost 2-0 at home and 1-0 away; in 2009/10, as you’ll remember, we put them out of the FA Cup 1-0 as they came back down; in 2010/11 we lost 3-1 away but whopped them 7-4 at home (I was there! ); last season we drew 1-1 away (Craney) but beat them 4-3 at home in Leam’s first game in charge after the departure of Coley (I was there then, too ); many people reckoned that the first half of that game (by the end of which we were 4-1 up) was as good as it got ……. Three goals for the very unlucky ex Darlington, now Charlton striker Michael Smith (who’s just joined Newport in the BSP on loan and has 2 in 2) and one for Luke Joyce ……. Three defeats, one draw and two wins against them, but I have to say that 7-4 and 4-3, as far as I’m concerned, give us the bragging rights! So there!

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 24th November. 7-4 again? 4-3 again? With 18 goals in our last two meetings at Fortress Crown, who’d go for 0-0? Let’s hope that James B is on fire, and that no-one puts him out; give ‘em hell, lads; Come on Team Leam ; and remember, Keep the Faith ……………….

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

[alan7554]

4----0 to the stanley jb to score 2 goals

[Redash]

3-1 to The Stanley, please.

[cashman]

4-3 to the stanley. always seems to be goals when we play em.

[Revived Red]

Stanley 3 Gills 2, please.

[smobile]

3-1 Stanley

[david1]

2-1 to Stanley please

[Stevie R]

Stanley 4 - Gills 2 please

[football19]

2-2 please , beattie and roco

[Tommy McQueen]

Stanley 3 Gills 2 please

[Div3North]

On behalf of Ack 94V - a 2-2 draw

[Div3North]

And ossy kid (on the Barnet thread) put up a pre-thread guess of Stanley 0 Gills 2

[Outback Ozzy]

Gills on a downer at the moment which will make them dangerous, however, I foresee a goal fest on Saturday, 5-2 to Stanley please.

[Tom D]

2-1 to stanley please

[moodyblue2]

Hi Gills fan here, just a couple of corrections on your preview (which I enjoyed by the way)

Danny Kedwell is not our captain that position is held by central defender Adam Barrett and David Wright from Crystal Palace (who it is rumoured that we have just re-signed on loan) is played as a holding midfielder not full back.

Let's hope for a good game, after our last two visits to you I'm hoping for a 0-0!