2012 Prediction League; Game 31 v Southend Utd (home)

Div3North · 07-02-2013, 00:50

Accrington Stanley

V

Southend Utd

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 31; v Southend (home)

Mohsni’s back!

…………….. Well, no, actually, he’s not …………..

I’ve mentioned Bilel Mohsni before; mad as a box of frogs

(no joke intended) - he’s the guy who leaves the pitch, leaves the ground without waiting for the team bus and goes home on the train. He made it pretty clear in the summer that he wasn’t hanging around any longer at Roots Hall, and he went on trial at West Ham (for whom he didn’t sign); then he went on trial at Ipswich, but when they asked him to stay for another week’s trial he refused, returning to France; then they kissed (Gallic-style!) and made up, and he signed on loan for 3 months, which has recently ended ….Well, I don’t know how or why, but he isn’t at Portman Road any more – he’s back at Southend; or, more accurately, he isn’t, ‘cos he won’t go back; registered with them, but not playing for them ….

Ooops!

They also released ex Palace, Derby and Millwall MF David Martin (27) “by mutual consent” (if it’s “by consent” it must be mutual, surely?

), and he’s signed on the dotted line at Luton; 24 year-old winger Ryan Hall (who hit 14 goals last season) got very tied up in speculation about joining Peterborough or Blackpool, and then signed on loan for Leeds, much to Paul Sturrock’s displeasure, and has now signed a permanent contract for Neil Warnock (for whom he played at Palace previously); and MF Scott Donnelly (25), who left Aldershot for Swansea in 2010 (where he played just one league game, then had two loan spells at Wycombe, then re-signed for Aldershot) came in on a short (actually, a very short) loan, knowing that Aldershot weren’t going to extend his contract, but didn’t get taken on at Southend either and is now at Newport (you need a flow-chart for that one!

). Defensive MF Tamika Mkandawire (29) came in on loan from Millwall, having been at WBA, Hereford and Leyton Orient (who’ve just loaned Michael Symes

to Burton, you’ll have seen – his girlfriend must have moved back up North again!

); recent loan signings are Ben Reeves (21), a MF from Southampton, and Canadian-born Northern Irish u21 striker Caolan Lavery (20) – ex Ipswich – who joined from the Owls.

Bought and paid for are Mickey Spillane (23), yet another MF, this time a Republic of Ireland u21 international, who counts Norwich, Luton and Brentford among his previous employers and who signed from the Daggers, for whom he had 4 in 24 this season, and finally Marc Laird (26), who is a ……..care to guess? ……yes, a MF out of Man City Youth via Millwall and Leyton Orient.

It’s a little-known fact, but nonetheless true, that Southend Utd are one of very few sides who have a 100% success rate against Man U in meetings between them …………..

Well alright, meeting …….

On 7th November 2006 (a date engraved on many hearts in that part of Essex) they unceremoniously dumped Sir Alex’s Lads – Ronaldo et al - out of the FA Cup (1-0) in the Fourth Round, the goal coming from a “curled free kick” by Freddie Eastwood ………. The other thing that you might not have known about them is that their former managers include the great Bobby Moore

(from 1984 to 86), Arthur Rowley

(aka “The Gunner”, a reference to his shooting power) whose career lasted 619 games, during which he scored an astonishing 434 goals – including 44 in 42 games for Leicester (1956/7) and 38 in 43 for Shrewsbury (58/59), and David Jack

(those under 50 might need to look him up) who played between 1919 and 1934 for Plymouth, Bolton and Arsenal, was the first man to score at the old Wembley Stadium (I’m talking about goals, by the way!

), was the first player in the world to attract a transfer fee of £10,000

, and managed them between 1934 and 1940, before managing Middlesbrough from 1944 to 1952; Legends all …………………

If you’re interested, on a different topic, Paul Sturrock’s son Blair (who he signed everywhere he managed, more or less) now plays for Bishop’s Stortford in the BSN …………… Just thought you might want to know ….

They’ve already played 11 ties in the various Cup competitions, including one in the Capon Cup (losing 4-0 at Peterborough) and 5 in the FA Cup, counting the two replays, involving a 3-0 win over Stockport, a 3-2 penalty shoot-out win over Bury in the home replay after two 1-1 draws, and a 2-all draw at home to Brentford, losing the return fixture 2-1 away …………. But it’s in the Tinpot that they’ve had their best run; the Wombles were seen off 2-1, the Daggers 2-0 and Brentford 2-1, all at home, and then they went to Oxford, drew 3-3 and took the shoot-out 5-3; that gave them Leyton Orient in the Southern Area Final, and they won Wednesday’s away leg 1-0, although at the cost of MF Michael Timlin’s broken leg, which will end his season.

Their home form in the League is 6 wins, 4 draws and 4 defeats, with 18 scored and 12 conceded; away, it’s 7 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses, 25 scored and 17 conceded; overall, P29 W13 D7 L9 F43 A29 for 46 points and 5th place (by goal difference) over Rotherham and Exeter (+14 (third best in the League) against +5 and +3 respectively). They’ve only lost 3 of their last 14 in the League

; curiously the three defeats were in consecutive games, and in a two-week spell over New Year – 2-0 away at Burton, 1-0 at home to Gillingham and 3-0 at Exeter

; noting that they didn’t score in any of those games, they then turned it round, winning their 3 most recent fixtures (all by 1-0) at Chesterfield, away at Oxford and away, as above, at L.O.in the Tinpot; they’ve kept 9 clean sheets in League games - it was actually eight games ago that they played a League game where both sides scored ……….. (Hint, Lads; get the first goal and we’ve cracked it!

)

Leading scorers for their 57 goals in total are striker Gavin Tomlin (29), who they got from the Daggers, and who also has Brentford, Yeovil and the Gills on his cv, with 15

; on-loan, Zaire-born Watford striker Britt Assombalonga (19) has 12

; ex Millers (Bury, Macclesfield, Morecambe and Halifax) defender Ryan Cresswell (25) has 8, and so does Barry Corr (27), an Irish striker who previously played for Sturrock at Swindon, and has also been at Sheff Wed, Exeter and Bristol City ……….6 other players have between 1 and 4 goals each ……….They’ve hit 4 twice (Torquay and the Wombles, both away) and three no less than eight times!

You might be surprised at our head-to-head since they were relegated at the end of 2009/10 – 23rd, with 43 points in 46 games (above Stockport, and accompanied by Wycombe and Gillingham, both of whom had gone up the season before); actually, it’s P5 W2 D2 L1 F8 A6; a 3-1 home win and a 1-1 draw in 10/11; our only defeat came at home last season (2-1, our goal from Proccie), and the away game was drawn 2-2 (Jamie Devitt (currently at Grimsby) and Podge; our season-opener this season was at their place, and we won that 1-0, the goal from loan signing Karl Sheppard.

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 9th February. Time for our fortunes to change, methinks, and no better opponents to face than the team we beat to start off our season

…… We’re not scoring many (!

), but they’ve scored 0, 0, 0, 1, 1 and 1 in their last 6 in all competitions, so they can’t say much

……………. I think we’d all settle for a repeat of the season-opener 1-0 win ………… wouldn’t we?

Good luck to everyone

…………….. Keep the Faith ………………

and thanks for playing!