2013 Prediction League; Game 30v Morecambe FC (home)

Div3North · 30-01-2014, 23:35

Accrington Stanley

V

Morecambe

2013/14 Prediction League; Game 30 v Morecambe (home)

Jim Bentley said, loud and clear, that he wanted to bring in some fresh faces in the transfer window; he’s brought in ………….Jamie Devitt (23), an Irish u21 winger (as we all remember

) from Snakefield, whom he joined last summer from Hull; on his cv – apart from us – he has Rotherham, Grimsby, Darlington, Shrewsbury and Bratfud. Big Jim said of his capture;

"Jamie can play in several forward positions and has two good feet” …

which - apart from the saving on the chiropody bill

- is good to know, since it probably means he can stand up, and maybe even run a little …………

Returning for a moment to a previous theme …………..I give you “Points won in their last 7 games by the teams in the bottom half of League Two”

, which goes:-

Exeter (15th) 4; Northampton (24th) and Wycombe (21st) 5; Hartlepool (14th) 7; Torquay (23rd) and Cheltenham (13th) 8; Bury (22nd, with another 250 players signed this week ) and Mansfield (19th) 9; Pompey (18th) and York (16th) 10; Brizzle Rovers (20th) 11; Stanley (17th) 12 – W3 D3 L1 (Fleetwood)………… Form team once again!

They were saying of us before the Cheltenham game, “haven’t won in five”; Morecambe haven’t won in five either (W1 D3 L1), although if Padraig Amond had converted the 37th minute penalty against Pompey on Saturday a 2-2 draw would have been a 3-2 win …..in fact, they’ve only won 3 of their last 13

(D4 L6), and currently sit 10th, with 38 points from 28 games – 8 points of the playoff places, and behind Newport and the Wombles on goal difference (+5 plays 0 plays -4) ………..a real change, and massive disappointment, after Nov 2nd, when - having played 15 - they were 5th on 25 points ………..Sic transit Gloria mundi!

Away from home they have a decent sounding record of 5 wins, two draws and 6 defeats, but the reality is that, in their last 5 away, they’ve won once (Mansfield, 2-1), drawn once (Torquay, 1-1) and lost three (1-0 at York, 2-0 at Scunthorpe and 3-0 at Oxford)

; failing to score has also been a feature of their season – 7 away League games without a goal (those three, plus Cheltenham (0-3), Northampton (0-0), Pompey (0-3) and Wycombe (0-1), plus two more at home, and three Cup games …….12 blank sheets out of a total of 32 matches

; not good!

(But it is funny, n'est-ce pas?)

Their Cup runs started with a flourish; a televised 1-0 home win over Wolves in the League Cup, followed by a televised 2-0 home loss to Newcastle Reserves

; it went downhill from there, though, losing 4-3 on penalties at home to Carlisle after a goalless 90 mins (or was it 120? I can’t remember), and a 3-0 home defeat by Southend in the First Round of the ProperCup; if you add their Cup results to their League games (P28 W10 D8 L10 GF33 GA37), you get 34 goals in 32 games; leading scorers are Padraig Amond (Podge to his mates) and Kevin Ellison (34), who – in a career going back to 1996 – has played for Southport, Chorley, Conwy, Altrincham, Leicester, Stockport, Lincoln, Chester (twice), Hull, Tranmere, Rotherham, Bradford City and Morecambe, with five and six-figure fees featuring more than once – each of whom has scored 7, and Jack Sampson (20), once of Bolton, who also played for us on loan in 2012, with 4.

By the law of averages, we’re going to lose to them at some stage

; let’s just hope it isn’t now! For the record, 13 League meetings, resulting in 4 draws and 9 wins for the Mighty Stanley; the most recent, keeping up the run, was by 2-1 away on 26th October, with a 19th minute penalty from Danny Webber and a 90th minute winner from Peter Murphy (where have I heard those words before?

) securing the points

Some talk in the local press of possible absentees from their squad; winger Marcus Marshall is “a serious doubt” with a knee problem; Jack Sampson has a split lip

, Andy Wright a broken nose

, Mark Hughes a hamstring

, and Andy Parrish is/was “ill”

…………..all of which sounds like the local paper wouldn’t know an injured footballer from a big girl’s blouse ………..

Deadline for entries, as you well know, is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 1st February; statistics, of course, prove nothing, but can’t lie; it could be a close game – they generally are, to be fair - but you’d be reasonably confident that we’d be reasonably confident; as I mentioned in October, if you’ve got the Evil Eye on someone, not much else matters , and it worked then!………….

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