2012 Prediction League; Game 22 v Wycombe Wanderers (home)

Div3North · 13-12-2012, 22:17

Accrington Stanley

V

Wycombe Wanderers

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 22; v Wycombe (home)

I’ll tell you what – it hasn’t been a bad week to be a Bradford fan, has it?

First they put “Mighty” (as in “mighty boring”

) Arsenal out of the CapOne on penalties (and my old Granny could have scored the one that Vermaelen ‘dribbled’ against the post), then they win their appeal against expulsion from the FA Cup for fielding a player whose paperwork hadn’t been properly lodged in time – Curtis Good from Newcastle ……. Manager Phil Parkinson expected that appeal to be refused (Bury and Droylsden’s appeals were in 2006 and 2008 in similar situations), but there you go ……. City have now won their last NINE penalty shoot outs

(shoots out?

), going back to 2009 – perhaps they could give the England team lessons next time we play Germany.

The result of that (memorable) win is that the Bantams reach the (League Cup) semi-finals for the first time ever, and will likely make a mint – and good luck to them; they’re also the first “Tier 4” team to reach that stage since 2006-07, when Chelsea knocked out – go on, have a guess – Wycombe! And, Arsene, if I’d been manager of a Premier League team which cost £65 million + to assemble, as against Bradford’s £7,500, I’d have been more than embarrassed by that result – I’d have been mortified

………………..!

Seven games in to the season, Wycombe – the “Yo-Yos” (see below) - were in all sorts of problems; one win (3-1 at York in their opening game), one draw (1-1 with Cheltenham) and 5 defeats meaning 4 points and 21st place (on the same points as the teams in 22nd and 23rd); that cost Manager Gary Waddock his job, to be replaced by (player-manager) Gareth Ainsworth. The next 7 were a smidgeon better – 2 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, moving their points total up to 12 but their League position down to 22nd; the most recent 7 were going swimmingly – 3 wins, 2 draws and only 2 defeats (which would have been 4 wins and one draw if Mighty Atom Jack Redshaw hadn’t popped up with a last minute equaliser on Saturday to end the Chairboys’ run of 3 consecutive wins: it does strike me that 5’ 5” strikers shouldn’t get last minute headed goals, but that’s just me

…….) With a home record of W3 D3 L4 F13 A12, and an away record of W3 D1 L6 F12 A20 (combined, therefore, 6 wins, 5 draws and 10 defeats – goals scored 25 and conceded 32) they’ve got 23 points and lie 19th.

One of those wins, you might have noticed, was the replayed home game against the Pirates, which Wycombe won 2-0, having been 3-1 down when the original game was called off for Health and Safety reasons (thunder storms) back in August; shades of Dennis Law’s six-goal haul in the Man City v Luton Cup game all those years ago, when City led the abandoned game 6-2, and lost the replay ………….

They haven’t had a brilliant Cup season, either; out of the League Cup 1-0 aet at Watford; a 3-1 win at Portsmouth, followed by a 2-0 loss at Yeovil in the Tinpot, and a 4-1 smacking at Crewe in the FA Cup …….four games ….all away from home ……………So; not just Burton Albion that happens to, then …….

They shipped the mandatory loads of players out in the summer, including three strikers (Stuart Beavon (28) to PNE, Ben Strevens (32) to Gillingham and Scott Rendell (25) to Luton); in, amongst others, came the new, much younger (!)

, strike force of Dennis Oli (28) – ex QPR, Grays Athletic and Gillingham – and Jo Kuffour (31), formerly with Torquay, Brentford, Bournemouth, Bristol Rovers and Gillingham, plus CB Gary Doherty (32) from Charlton (now the Club captain, having played over 400 games for Luton, Spurs, Norwich and Charlton), CF Richard Logan (30) from Exeter, and MF Matt Spring (30) from Orient …….. they probably have got some players under 30, but I haven’t found any yet

………….unless you count recent loan signings Ade Azeez (18), an England u19 striker from the Addicks, Spurs’ Scottish u21 keeper Jordan Archer, and QPR’s 19 year-old Portuguese MF Bruno Andrade.

Incidentally, if you look up their “Famous Old Boys” section, you find, among others, the late Gary Ablett, Steve Claridge – who doesn’t count, because he played for all 92 League teams

– Steve Guppy, Tommy Mooney, Cyrille Regis, Butch Wilkins (Chelsea, Man U, AC Milan, PSG, Rangers, QPR and England) – who played one game for them

– and Neil Lennon (Celtic manager) …….how come they’re still in League 2? Famous ex managers include Martin O’Neill, John Gregory, Lawrie Sanchez, Tony Adams, John Gorman, Paul Lambert and Peter Taylor ………. Please note that I said “famous”; I didn’t say they were any good …………..

They’ve hit 25 goals in the League, and 4 more in the Cups; 29 in all from 25 games; Joel Grant (25) – a forward/winger (with Watford, Aldershot and Crewe on the cv) leads the list with 7; Youth-product striker Matt McClure (21) has 5, as does Dean Morgan (29), who’s played for most of the teams in and around London, and more besides – Colchester, Luton, Reading, Orient, MK Dons, Aldershot, Snakefield and Oxford; Gareth “Call me Boss” Ainsworth has 2, and eight others have one each. Their ‘strike rate’ isn’t thrilling – 6 blanks, 8 singletons, 2 goals four times and 3 goals three times; against that they’ve shipped one 4, five 3s, 3 twos, seven single and kept but 5 clean sheets

We’re even-stevens over the seasons; 3 wins apiece, with 2 draws. No high-scoring games either – 2-0 is the biggest margin, and there’s never been more than 3 goals in a game …….last time we met was 2010/11, when we drew 1-1 at home (Rory Boulding in the 103rd minute, as I recall) but won 2-1 away, with goals from Joe Jacobson and Lord Sunbeds of Rochdale.

The deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 15th December (soon be Christmas!

); Wycombe went up to League 1 at the end of 2008/9, and came straight back down; they went up again in 2010/11, and again came straight back down ……… nothing suggests that they’re going back up this season

. We need to Return to Winning Ways, we all seemed to think, and this game, and next week’s, would be a good time to do it, mayhap

…………. Keep the Faith ………. Come on Team Leam!

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