2013 Prediction League; Game 24 v Fleetwood Town (away)

Div3North · 30-12-2013, 16:23

Fleetwood Town

V

Accrington Stanley

2013/14 Prediction League – Game 24; v Fleetwood (away)

If you consider League games between us over the last two seasons, we have the edge

; last season we beat them 3-1 at Highbury (Beattie , Miller and Boco - currently warming the Home Park bench), and on 26th November last we did them again

, 2-0 at the ScoreFirst (Danny Webber (pen) and Kayode Odejayi ); they won at our place in March 3-0, with a hat-trick from Tubby Jon – a Lancashire version of You Fat Bastard, really, so presumably “Tha’ Fat Bastad”

…………… 6 points to us, 3 to them.

No squad changes since Nov 26th (they’d only have had two days anyway before the window closed

); Graham Alexander and Mark Roberts have had a deal to say about all sorts; they’ve departed the FA Cup, 1-0 at Burton after a 1-1 at Highbury, Billy Kee scoring both Burton’s goals, the equaliser in the first leg coming in the 90th minute, but they did beat Rotherham 2-1 in the Northern Semi Final of the PaintPot, which gives them a trip to Wembley if they can do it unto Chesterfield in the two-legged Northern Final

. I imagine the residents of Fleetwood are looking forward to a trip to Wembley ………..I wonder how the residents of Wembley would fancy a trip to Fleetwood?

When we beat them at the end of November they lay 5th

in League Two , with 31 points from 18 games – two points behind Oxford and Chesterfield, and one point behind Southend and Rochdale; now they’re 8th

, with 35 points from 22 games – 6 points behind Chesterfield, Scunthorpe and Burton ……… They’ve played four in the league since losing to us – drawing 1-1 with Oxford, winning 2-1 at Rochdale, and losing 2-0 to Cheltenham and 1-0 at Morecambe (their Sunday game at Wycombe was postponed (at 2.40pm) because of an overnight frozen pitch, the team and their fans having been allowed to travel with no warning of the potential problem and the under-soil heating not having been switched on, by all accounts); that return – four points from their last 5 games (including playing us) – is, together with Mansfield and York, the second-worst in the League

, beaten only by the Wombles with 3

…………In fact, if you go back over The Cod Army’s last 11 in the League, their record's 4 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats

– 13 points from 11 games

– and if that’s promotion form, my name’s Akinfenwa!

They won’t have forgotten, I guess, and I certainly haven’t, that they fell away quite badly in the second half of last season; history may well be about to repeat itself ……..

For comparison purposes, since our recovery started we’ve won 6, drawn 5 and lost 2 of our 13 games

; 23 points in 13, if repeated over the whole season, is 81 points, and that’s automatic promotion form

…………no real wonder that we’re disappointed not to have beaten Southend, who lie 6th in the table ……….If Kayodi’s back on 1st Jan, and available for this game alongside some of the other 5 strikers who sat on Sunday’s bench (

?

?), anything could happen ……..

Their 29 games – 21 League, 8 Cup – have resulted in 49 goals, spread among the team; AMF Antoni Sarcevic (21, ex Chester) has 8; Jamaican-born ex Kidderminster Harrier striker Jamille Matt (22) and strike-partner David Ball (23, Swindon, Peterborough and Rochdale) have 7 a-piece; Gareth Evans – Macclesfield, Bradford and Rotherham - has 5, as has ex Notts County MF Jeff Hughes; 7 others – including Tha’ Fat Bastad

- have 4, 3, 2 or 1 each ………….

Deadline is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on New Year’s Day (1st January 2014, for those who are too “newt” to remember

); hard to call, this, but they’ve only managed six goals in their last seven and 4 points from the last 15 on offer

; bookies make it 8-13 The Cod Army, 14-5 the draw, and 4-1 us to win …………….. I’d have to say, all things considered, that 4-1 might be worth a couple of quid; eh Graham?

Good luck to everyone …………… Remember; passion overcomes logic ……………..Keep the Faith! ……….….and thanks for playing!

And it's a Happy New Year from me, and a Happy New Year from him ...............