2012 Prediction League; Game 42 v Burton Albion FC (home)

Div3North · 30-03-2013, 20:46

Accrington Stanley

V

Burton Albion

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 42; v Burton Albion (home)

So how’s this as an entry for the Forum’s “Impossible Headlines” thread:

“Pope hits hat-trick on Good Friday”

Conjures up some images does that one!

……………………….. But he did – Tom (Port Vale FC), not Francis (Vatican City FC), of course …………

If Burton’s away form matched their home form, they’d be 2 points off winning the League Two title

………… At home – even with today’s potentially expensive 1-0 defeat to Snakefield

– they’re on 14 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses (second only to the Cobblers – who finally did us a favour yesterday, beating Torquay 1-0 late on

) – who stand at 16–2–3, and ahead of Cheltenham on 12–6-2) ………… away, though, they have the 16th best record in the Division

(yes, that does say 16th!

), with 5 wins, 6 draws and nine losses ……. actually, our away record is better than theirs!

…………. And while they’ve scored more at home than anyone else (43 scored, 21 conceded

), away they’ve got just 18 (only Chesterfield and Barnet with 16, and Torquay with 15, have scored fewer

) whilst conceding 31 ……….

Put all that together, and their season record to date is P40 W19 D9 L12 F61 A52, giving them 66 points, and 4th place – 2 points behind the Cobblers. Of their last 10 games they’ve won 6, drawn 2 and lost 2

…………….. Their last eight away, though, have brought two wins only (at Aldershot (2-1) and Fleetwood (4-0)), 1-1 draws at Oxford, Wimbledon and Dagenham, and defeats at York (3-0), Northampton 1-0 and Bristol Rovers (3-0)

…….. And that, by the way, was York’s last League win

…………They haven’t got three points in their last 16 attempts (8 draws, 8 losses), which is mainly why they’re now adrift at the bottom of the table ……………..

There’s been some activity in the markets since we met shortly before Christmas; in on loan have come ex Rotherham, Tranmere and Shrewsbury defender Ian Sharps (32); Burnley forward Alex McDonald (22) - who you may recall marauding through our defence at will last season in Plymouth’s 4-0 win at the Interlink Frazer Bird Soiled First Something or other Stadium (love it!

) - has signed for the rest of the season (did you see, by the way, that Kevin Long’s now in Burnley’s first-team squad, and has just signed a new contract through to 2015?); MF Lee Fowler (29) – once of Donnie, Coventry, Wales u21s, Wrexham and Fleetwood – signed for Donnie again, but within no time flat was on loan at Forest Green, and is now on loan at Burton – and good luck too him, given the personal battles he’s had over the years; and finally, they hooked up with former Shrewsbury, Stanley, Cherries and Orient striker Michael Symes (now with his 11th different club), now 29, who signed in January; interestingly, his last boss, Russell Slade at Leyton O, said of him,

“Michael is a clever front man with good technical ability and a natural finisher. I think he can achieve more than he has done in his career to date with the ability he's got and I'm sure he can show that for us here."

Now where have I heard that before ....................?

Out went striker Justin Donovan Richards (32) – one of Port Vale’s “Richards and Richards Show” of a few years back

– who signed for Oxford despite having scored no goals at all during a loan spell there; former skipper and MF John McGrath (32) – ex Aston Villa and Tamworth – left after 6 years, on loan to York (that’s P16 W0 D8 L8 next-to-bottom-of-League-Two York

); and winger Cleveland Kenneth Wayne Taylor (29), once of Bolton, the Iron, Carlisle, Brentford and St Johnstone, has gone to Grimsby – who, if they don’t buck up, are going to drop out of the Playoffs in the BSP

………. Barrow and Stockport, you’ll have seen, are both in the bottom 4 of the BSP; and who do we know who went from us to Stockport, then to Barrow ……………..?

Unlucky or what?

For their Cup runs this season, can I refer you to the home thread, but suffice it to say that of their 7 ties, 6 were away, one at home – and they drew that, so had to replay away; two were settled on penalties (5-4 win and 10-9 defeat); and they beat the Blades, Leicester and Crewe on their travels, losing to Coventry, Leicester and Bradford.

14 goals in their Cup games, 61 in the League; leading scorers are DR of Congo International MF Jacques Ilonda Maghoma (25), once with Spurs Academy, with 14; striker Calvin Zola (27) – Newcastle, Oldham, Tranmere and Crewe (where they used to reckon that he couldn’t hit the floor with his hat

) – has 13, as does “stocky forward”

Billy Kee (ex Leicester, Stanley, Torquay) – just turned 22, and recently signed up to a new 3 year contract; defender Zander Diamond, striker Matthew Patterson, and MF Lee Bell each have 4, and the aforementioned Michael “My girlfriend likes it in Bournemouth” Symes

has 3; 6 others have 2 or 1 to their names ………..

Head to head, we’re ahead ……….. P7 W4 D1 L2; last season we did the double (2-1 at home – goals from Deano and Burnley’s Wes Fletcher, who’s just gone on loan to Yeovil – and 2-0 away, Kev McIntyre and an OG giving us the points; this season we lost 1-0 at their place on a Sunday just before Christmas, Billy the Pieman scoring after 10 minutes ………………

The deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm this Easter Monday, 1st April. All Fools Day? Don’t even think about it!

We have the bit between our teeth and clear blue water between us and the bottom two

………. Look at the table, and you’ll see that 8 points still cover the bottom 10 sides

; Wycombe 49; Dagenham, Rochdale and Wimbledon 48; Torquay, Plymouth and Stanley 46; Barnet 45; York 42; Aldershot 41; Rochdale, Plymouth and Aldershot have a game in hand, Wycombe have two ………. And on Monday Barnet go to Wimbledon, Rochdale go to Exeter, Bradford got to Torquay, and Plymouth go to York ……….Oh my!

Good luck to everybody ……………….. Keep the Faith!

………… and thanks for playing!