2012 Prediction League; Game 23 v Plymouth Argyle (home)

Div3North · 21-12-2012, 01:43

Accrington Stanley

V

Plymouth Argyle

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 23; v Plymouth Argyle (home)

Seasonal warning; if, come Saturday afternoon, you see Toto in or around our box dithering with the ball, and a Plymouth player bearing down on him looking to dispossess him, please DON’T shout, “He’s behind you!” ……….if you do, chances are that Toto will stop and shout back, “Oh no he isn’t”………………..

How quickly things change in football; Darren Purse (35), a CB of massive experience (450+ games (incl Premiership) for Orient, Oxford, Birmingham, West Brom, Cardiff, Sheff Wed and Millwall) joined on loan last November, signed an 18 month contract in January, scored against us at Fortress Crown with a thumping header in a game we’d sooner forget

, was appointed Pilgrims’ captain in the summer, got sent off at Fleetwood on 17th November, and is now transfer listed; it seems to be to do with money (he’s their highest earner), but looking on their Forum he isn’t universally admired (“fat”, “can’t play”, “useless”, “get rid of him and sign four strikers” etc etc) ………… How transient is fame!

The good news is that, whatever happens, they can’t overtake us before Christmas

; they have 22 points from 22 games (20th) and we’ve got 26 points from 22 (19th)

. At home their record is W3 D3 L5 F15 A17; away, more relevantly, it’s W2 D4 L5 F11 A14, giving them P22 W5 D7 L10 F26 A31. They’ve scored 4 once (4-1 at Barnet), 3 three times (3-2 v Northampton, 3-2 at Morecambe and 3-1 v Rochdale), 2 three times, one goal nine times and zero on 6 occasions; against, they’ve conceded 2 threes, 8 twos, 9 ones and managed 3 clean sheets.

Their Cup career this season was interesting; in normal time they’ve only lost one Cup game (albeit a rather embarrassing 1-0 defeat at Dorchester Town – currently 15th in the Blue Square South - in the FA Cup Round One

), yet they’re out of all three competitions; after a 3-0 home win over Pompey in the Capon Cup they travelled to Burnley in Round 2, drawing 1-1 but losing the shoot-out 3-2, and in the Tinpot they beat Aldershot 2-1 at home in Round Two (after a bye in Rd 1), but lost to Oxford in the Quarter Final 3-1 on pens after, again, a 1-1 draw ……. Sounds like they might want to go back in the afternoons and practice penalties

……….but not until after Saturday!

Both Carl Fletcher (32), defensive MF and player-manager, and his assistant Romain Larrieu (36) hung up their boots at the end of last season; English born but a Welsh international, Fletcher played for Bournemouth, West Ham and Palace before moving to Home Park in 2009, playing over 400 games in his career; Larrieu, a 6’ 3” GK born in Mont-de-Marsan (France) was on the books of Montpellier before moving to Ligue 2 side ASOA Valence (Association Sportive d’Origine Armenienne de Valence

) between 1998 and 2000 when they went down to Div 3 (going out of existence in 2005, which they deserved to do with a name like that

) and he went to Plymouth, where he played for 12 years.

Others to leave were left winger Luke Daley (22) to Lincoln, central MF Simon Walton (24) to Hartlepool (who look odds on to be with us in League 2 by May next year

), and MF Damien Johnson (33) to Fleetwood; in came striker Rhys Griffiths (32) from Port Talbot Town, whose main claim to fame appears to be being 2nd in the all-time list of Welsh Premier League strikers

with 237 in 320 games, including 180 in 181 appearances for Llanelli; striker Andres Gurrieri (24) from Burton (see the Burton thread for more info); Jamie Lowry (25), a RB from Chesterfield – not related to LS as far as I know (“Oh he painted matchstalk men ……”

); Rene Gilmartin (25), a GK from Watford; and Paris Cowan-Hall - who I mistakenly thought was a fashion model

- (25), a striker from Woking ……….on loan they’ve got 31 year-old MF Mark Molesley from Bournemouth, Posh’s LB Scott Griffiths (26), Burnley MF Alex McDonald (22), who gave Toto such a bad time at our place last season

, Watford MF Ross Jenkins, and Aldershot’s striker Guy Madjo (28), who’s also been on the books at 12 other clubs in 8 years (incl loans), those other 12 including Guangdong Sunray Cave

(Chinese Div 2) and Bylis Ballsh

(no, seriously

) in the Albanian Superliga ………………

One player we don’t have to worry about is French def/MF Maxime Blanshard (26), once of Laval, L’Entente SSG, Moulins and Tranmere (?), who got sent off last week and misses the game; also suspended this Saturday, by the way, are Wycombe’s Matt McClure (sent off after scoring against as last week – shame it wasn’t before!

), one Terence Gornell of Rochdale-via-Shrewsbury, who got 2 goals and two yellows = one red in the one match

(which they lost 3-2 ha ha ha

), Jack Lester of Chesterfield, and our old mate You Fat Bastard

(for 5 bookings); presumably Mrs You Fat Bastard wanted him to go Christmas shopping …………

Last year we drew 2-2 at their place, despite losing Sean Hessey early on and going two down – goals from Kev Long and Podge; the return fixture attracted some high-scoring predictions, all for us ………. I posted a 4-0 win for the Stanley

……………. At least I got the right score …………….

Their leading scorers are the aforementioned Paris Cowan-Hall with 4, MF Robbie Williams (no, not that one) with 3, and strikers Rhys Griffiths, Warren Feeney (who must be knocking on 60 by now

) and Guy “Ballsh” Madjo, also with 3 apiece; half a dozen players have 2 each, and a couple more have one………….

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 22nd December. They’ve won just one in their last seven (2-0 at home to York), and went through the whole of November picking up just one point with a 2-2 draw against the Gills (the other four games, plus the Cup match, they lost

); against that, we’ve not scored in three

, not won in six

, and only won twice in the League in 13 starts since the beginning of October (1-0 v Bristol Rovers and 3-1 at Fleetwood)

. Both League games last season resulted in four goals being scored; it was just the share of the 8 that we got that was a bit of a worry

………….Time for a big win, I think

………or a medium win

…………..actually, a small (and ugly) win would do fine, thank you Santa ………..

Good luck to everyone …………….A Very Happy Christmas to you all

……….and to Leam and the Lads

(didn’t they once play the Cavern?)……….Keep the Faith!

...…………and thanks for playing!