2012 Prediction League; Game 7 v Chesterfield (away)

Div3North · 15-09-2012, 18:11

Chesterfield FC

V

Accrington Stanley

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 7; v Chesterfield (away)

Everybody knows that Chesterfield won the Football League Trophy (aka the JPT – or the Tinpot Trophy to its friends

) last season, beating Oldham 3-1 on aggregate in the Northern Area Semis before doing it copiously unto Paulo’s Swindon 2-0 in the Final; your starter for 10: -

Which team won the first ever FL Trophy (then, without sponsors, called the Associate Members’ Cup) in 1983/4?

Need a clue? They finished 17th in Division 3 that year, put Man U out of the FA Cup 2-0 in Round 3

, and their then manager went on to manage Portsmouth, Southampton and Spurs, but not England …………..

Yup, Bournemouth; Harry Redknapp’s Bournemouth, that is, not Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic; AFC Bournemouth, who beat Hull 2-1.

(Supplementary question; what record is held by Bournemouth’s James Hayter? Answer – quickest hat trick (he came on after 86 minutes against Wrexham when the Cherries were already 3-0 up, and hit 3 in 2 minutes 17 seconds) …………………………… But you knew that, didn’t you?)

In May 2010 the Spireites left Saltergate on a high, beating – oddly – Bournemouth 2-1, with a 96th minute goal from Derek Niven; they played two seasons (10/11 and 11/12) at the b2net Stadium, but now play at the Proact Stadium; they haven’t moved again, just changed its name ……

In 2010/11 they went up to League One as champions, heading the table from 16th October through to the end of the season

, and finishing with a record of 24 wins, 14 draws and just 8 defeats, scoring 85 and conceding 51 (+34) for 86 points; however - proving once again Einstein’s Second Umbrella Theorem

(what goes up must come down

) - they lasted one season, and ended 23rd (above just one side - Coley’s Rochdale) with a record that read P46 W10 D12 L24 F55 A81 (42 points)

After winning the FL Trophy and being relegated in the same season, this summer was always going to be fun; manager John Sheridan, an ex Sheff Wed and Republic of Ireland midfielder, had a right old clear-out, releasing 10

; GK Greg Fleming (25), formerly of Gretna, Oldham and Galway (but not all at the same time) joined Grimsby; so did CB Simon Ford (30) who went up and down with Chesterfield and then back to where he started, and defensive MF Derek Niven (28) – he of the last Saltergate goal – whose cv includes Stenhousemuir, Gordon Brown’s

Raith Rovers, Bolton and the Cobblers; CB Gregor Robertson (Notts Forest, Rotherham) went to Crewe; Dean Morgan, a 28 year old striker / winger went to Wycombe (if you draw a line from Milton Keynes to Colchester, he’s played for most sides south of it, Wycombe being his 12th); RB Jamie Lowry (28) went to Plymouth; RB Dan Gray (22) – how many right backs did they have?) – signed for Lincoln, having had loans at Alfreton and Macclesfield (did you see they’re joint top of the Conference, by the way, behind Newport on goal difference?

); Aussie CB Aaron Downes (27), born in Mudgee, New South Wales – well somebody had to be

– left the club after 12 years and trapped up at Torquay (where new Boss Martin Ling said of him,

“He needs someone to take a punt, and that is the right word for a player who has suffered two cruciates”. Yes ………. Absolutely ……You what?

29 year old French MF Jimmy Domenique Jacky Juan (“Oh, you are a Juan!”) went back home to France to sign for League Two side FC Chamois Niortais (do they play in soft leather shorts?

); and Noel Alexandre “Alex” Mendy (28), who played for FC Versailles in France, and three Czech teams whose names I can’t even spell

, never mind pronounce, left Derbyshire for Germany (the old Eastern bit) to join FC Hansa Rostock (who last played in the Bundesliga in 2007/8, and whose ex players include Finland’s Jari Litmanen, once of Liverpool); sadly for Wor’ Alex, Hansa were relegated to German Div 3 at the end of last season.

They signed 5, plus 3 on loan; most noticeable new arrivals were striker Marc Richards (30), whose career started at Ewood (although he never played a League game for them) and featured Northampton, Barnsley and Port Vale, where he scored 67 in 181; defender Terrell Forbes (now 31), who has 400+ games under his belt, mainly with QPR (114), Yeovil (163) and Orient (63);and GK Richard O’Donnell (23), who arrived from Hillsborough, where he played 15 times in 6 seasons (wish I could get a job like that – working just under 4 hours a year

); Huddersfield have just loaned them defender Liam Ridehalgh (21) and MF Chris Atkinson (20)

Having had a mass clear-out, and with A Vote of Confidence in his locker from last March - Chesterfield FC’s owner Dave Allen saying:-

“John Sheridan’s job is safe even if we get relegated this year”

- Sheridan was then sacked four games in to the new season by the self-same Dave Allen

; and may your God go with you ……………….

; mind you, he gave this explanation as to why:

“This isn’t just about the four games this season; there’s a bigger picture here” …………….so that’s alright then ………

They started the season with a 2-1 defeat at home by Tranmere in the Capon Cup, all the goals in extra time, but did beat Oldham 2-1 in the JPT to earn a second round tie away at the Keepmoat against Doncaster; they lost 1-0 at the Wombles in their opening League game; that was followed by more draws than we ever managed consecutively, even at our best, as I recall

; 1-1 at home to Rochdale and to Rotherham, 1-1 at Gillingham, and 2-2 at York; today they won their first in the League, beating what must be a worried Wycombe – 4 points from 5 games, and 20th place

– by 3-1; during that little run they snitched a 90th minute equaliser against Rochdale, held the lead in all three of the other games, in none of which they managed to score later than the 41st minute, and had a 2-0 lead by 20 mins today ……….Hold out to half time, lads, and you’ve probably cracked it

; Jack Lester has three, Craig Westcarr has two, Sam Hird has two too; new-boy Chris Atkinson has one, as has Danny Whittaker; one own goal, nothing for Marc Richards, and one from Jordan Bowery, a 20 year old striker who came through the ranks, making his debut in 2008, who they’ve just sold to Aston Villa for – would you believe - £554,400.00

…………(“Keep the change”)

; (doesn’t it make you want to spit!) You’ll have gathered from that that they’re not scoring barrow-loads of goals – 8 in 6 in the League, 11 in 8 all told, cups included; overall in the League, P6 W1 D4 L1 F8 A7 Pts 7 for 16th place – 11 places behind us!

Our record is ok against them, basically; in 07/08 – after they came down to League Two the last time – we won 2-1 at home, but lost 4-2 away (despite being 2-0 up courtesy of PNE fans’ favourite midfielder

); 08/09 saw us draw 1-1 away (Jimmy Ryan), and win 1-0 at home, with a cracker of a volley from Bobby IronDale-Grant ; the year after we lost 1-0 away but won 2-0 at home, two goals by Billy Kee; and in 10/11 we got stuffed at their place (5-2, goals from Lord Sunbeds of Rochdale and Sean McBarrowforamonth ) but got a 2-2 draw at Fortress Crown, conceding twice in the last three minutes after Sean Mc and Terry Gornell had given us a winning lead which we somehow let slip

….P8 W3 D2 L3 F12 A14 …….the bit I’m not so keen on is the ‘losses’ column, where 4-2 and 5-2 don’t look that pretty …………..

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Tuesday 18th September. Despite everything they’re no push-overs (nor pull-overs either

), and this could be tricky; they’re suffering from relegation hangover (and no manager!) – let’s hope they keep the first, and don’t fix the second; how often does a team win to impress the new Boss? Low score draw? High score draw? Record victory? Humiliating defeat? That’s for us to know and them to find out ………………….. We’ve had a 9-1 from Cashy and a 5-1 from Wynonie – well, the Voices really

– already this season ………….Let’s see ……….. And don’t forget; Keep the Faith!

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