2012 Prediction League; Game 28 v Aldershot Town (away)

Div3North · 10-01-2013, 23:11

Aldershot Town

V

Accrington Stanley

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 28: v Aldershot (away)

Yes, OK, we are in a bad patch, but we have a buffer in terms of points, aren’t the only team in a slump, and will get out of it

. Keep the Faith!

We actually aren’t the worst team in League 2 currently anyway (judged over the last 10 League games)

; that (doubtful) honour belongs to Plymouth, who’ve won 1, drawn 3 and lost 6 of their last 10

, resulting in the departure from the club of Manager and legend GK Carl Fletcher, to be replaced by ex Chesterfield boss John Sheridan, he having been replaced by a certain well-known snake of our acquaintance

………. Over the last 10, Plymouth have picked up 6 points, Bristol Rovers (also with a new manager – ex Colchester boss John Ward (who had been going to Plymouth, it was rumoured, as Director of Football – isn’t it a small world?

)) have 8, as have we; the Wombles and York each have 11, Torquay – after two consecutive play-offs – have 12, as have the Daggers (although they’ve lost 4 of their last 5); the Shots, Barnet (Edgar Davids now in sole charge) and Morecambe all have 13, and Wycombe (Gareth Ainsworth in the hot seat) have a spectacular 19.

I know there are lies, damned lies and statistics, but if you project that form over the rest of the season we still stay out of the bottom two

…….. so that’s alright then

. Statistics tell you nothing, of course; I don’t accept that this is Macclesfield Revisited either, though …….. Might I point out that we’re actually only 6 points behind the teams in 11th and 12th places in the table – they being Chesterfield and Rochdale ……. now how’s THAT for a coincidence?

Long term absentees through injury MF Craig Stanley (28) – Raith, Hereford, Morecambe, Bristol Rovers and Torquay – and CB Olly Lancashire (24 – Southampton, Grimsby and Walsall) still aren’t ready to come back; winger Alex Rodman (25) went on loan to York in November, and has extended that recently; more ‘finally’, on January 2nd Cameroonian striker Guy Madjo (28), whom they’d signed from Stevenage in January 2012 - since when he’d scored 8 in 23 games – left the club (presumably his contract being terminated by mutual consent), and on the following day 33 year-old defender Guy Branston, who joined from Bradford in the summer, played 5 games and then went on loan to the Pirates, also left on “mutual consent” terms; this, it should be said, is a man who’s had more clubs than Tiger Woods

(19 and counting …………)

They signed Namibian international Oliver Hanjorge Rissole – sorry, Risser

– from Swindon earlier this week; a defensive midfielder, and yet another “mutual consent” (whatever happened to “You’re sacked!” ?) departure, Risser (32) hasn’t played for Paulo di Pushover this season, but had a loan spell at Stevenage, when he played 13 games, scoring once. His career, interestingly – or perhaps it’s not - started at German side Spielvereinigung Eintracht Glas-Chemie Wirges

(“Give us an S, give us a P ….”

), and includes spells at Hannover 96 (reserves – who are really a separate entity from the First team), Borussia Dortmund (reserves again), Lyn (Oslo), 6 games at Breidablik (who?

) and a period at KuPS (Finland); after that, Swindon – even under P di C – must have been a doddle! Namibia – for whom he’s played 27 times so far – are currently ranked joint 121st in the world by FIFA – just behind Bahrain and slightly ahead of St Kitts and Nevis - which puts them about 10 places above England and a couple of hundred above Scotland

. If anybody’s interested, by the way, Namibia appear to be playing a friendly against Morocco this Saturday night, KO 6.30, at Johannesburg; no doubt the highlights will be on the Football League Show later on ………… Very recently they appear to have acquired Macclesfield’s left-sided MF Anthony McNamee (29), who has also been at Watford, Swindon and Norwich ………….By the way – I was joking about Scotland; they’re actually a massively respectable 72nd, right behind Austria and Togo, and three places above Benin!

The Shots departed the League Cup (as Auntie Beeb insists on calling it) at Wolves (Dean Saunders!) 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1 draw; in the Tinpot they went to Devon twice, beating Exeter 4-3 on spot kicks after a goalless draw, and then losing 2-1 at Plymouth (currently, statistically, the Worst Team in the League - see above). They’ve had good results in the FA Cup though; Hendon were downed 2-1 at home; then Fleetwood were dumped out 3-2 at Highbury; then they beat Rotherham 3-1 at home – decent form for a team currently 4th from the bottom of League 2 – a bit like Bratfud beating Arsenal and then doing it unto Villa ………… All of that gets them a 4th Round tie at Middlesbrough on 26th Jan ; it's obviously not the glory tie they wanted, but decent money all the same …………

If you believe in coincidences, you might want to be aware that Aldershot are in a ‘cycle’ at the moment; their results go ‘defeat, draw, win’ in that order, and have done for the last 9 matches; happily, their last result was a win (1-0 at Barnet on New Year’s Day), meaning that they’re due to lose their next game

……….It may not be scientific, but it seems to work ………

Their home record is pants

; W2 D3 L7 F9 A18; only the Wombles have a worse record at home (W2 D2 L8); no-one else has won as few as 2 games, and only 3 teams have lost 7 or more at home – the Shots, the Wombles and our good selves

. Away, it’s a more respectable W4 D4 L5 F14 A20, giving them an overall total of P25 W6 D7 L12 F23 A38, for 25 points and 21st place; they head Wimbledon on goal difference, Plymouth by 1 point and Bristol Rovers by 3. They do, though, have 2 games in hand over Plymouth ………….. Their only home League wins have been on 18th September (1-0 over Barnet) and 15th December (4-2 against Coleydale – Result!) They aren’t due another win, I reckon, until 12th march or thereabouts …… Draws were two 0-0s – Morecambe and Wycombe – and a 2-2 against Bristol Rovers on Boxing Day ………

We’re ahead in the head-to-head over the last three years; having won 1 and lost 3 of our first 4 meetings (including losing to them at our place in their first game back in the League), we actually haven’t lost to them in the last five; in 2010/11 we drew 0-0 and 1-1’ in 11/12 we won 3-2 at home (Hessey, Coid and Barnett) and drew 0-0 away, and in September last we beat them 1-0 with an 89th minute winner from Podge – Peter Vincenti’s “congratulations (?)” getting him a red card.

They’ve hit 10 goals in 6 Cup games and 23 in 25 League games; 33 goals in 31 matches. Leading scorers are strikers Craig Reid (27) – ex Cheltenham, Newport and Stevenage (who paid a club record £90,000 for him) – with 10, and home-grown Danny Hylton (23) with 9; next on the (short) list is Spanish-born 23 year-old defender Daniel Lopez Ramos with 4 ………..

As always the deadline for entries is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 12th January. Is this a six-pointer or what?

Is it going to get sweaty?

Do we really, really need something out of this one?

Yes, yes and yes, in that order …………

What’s the score gonna be? Goodness knows ………..But I’d rather get 1 goal and 3 points than 3 goals and 1 point! It’s time to win ugly ……………..Or pretty ……………. Or bloody gorgeous!

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