2013 Prediction League; Game 33 v Torquay Utd (away)

Div3North · 21-02-2014, 00:57

Torquay Utd

V

Accrington Stanley

2013/14 Prediction League – Game 33; v Torquay (away)

This isn’t, perhaps, a good point of the season to be lying 23rd in the League; P30, lost half of them, won just 7 and drawn 8 ……..Scored an average of one goal a game, and a goal difference of -16 (GF30 GA46). It leaves you two points and 10 goals worse off than the team above you (Wycombe), having played the same games – effectively, then, 3 points behind. That’s bad enough, but having lost three of your last four (including a 2-1 defeat at home to the one team below you, who you could have cut adrift), and with only 11 points from your last 10 games, and having shed your manager as well (the new man’s lost 60% of his (few) games in charge), you’d be swallowing hard every time you looked at the League table ……………..They dropped out of the League in 2006/7; they could be about to see history repeat itself

We beat the Gulls, you’ll remember, 2-1 at home on 23rd November, with two headed goals from Kal Naismith (42 and 74).

Since then they’ve managed away wins against Pompey (1-0), the Daggers (by the same score),and the Wombles (2-0); at home, they’ve beaten Southend (in their “rocky” patch), yet again, 1-0 ………… Their other 5 home games have seen three 1-1 draws (Plymouth, Brizzle and Morecambe), and defeats by the Cobblers as above (why did Wilder take the job there?) and by 3-1 to Exeter…………It hasn’t been a laugh-a-minute in the Cup competitions either; out of all three without scoring in the First Rounds

(1-0 at Swindon in the League Cup, 5-3 on pens at home to Pompey after a goalless draw in the FLT, and 2-0 at home to Rochdale in the FA Cup) ….and after us, their next three are Burton (home), Hartlepool (away) and Fleetwood (home) …………..23rd plays 5th, 9th and 6th

………and as if all that wasn’t enough, this (today)

“The Football Association has confirmed it is investigating alleged incidents in Torquay's defeat by Chesterfield on Saturday, amid claims Spireites players were bitten during the match.”

They released Damien Mozika (26), an ex Scunthorpe, Bury and Chester MF whom they signed last summer on non-contract terms, and ex Youth-team skipper (CB) Kirtys MacKenzie (20); they re-signed Danny Stevens (W, 27), who was released in the summer by Alan Knill after 6 seasons and 200+ games at Plainmoor; they signed a defender, 20 year-old Shaun Cooke, once of Bournemouth and Crawley and twice of Pompey; they’ve loaned in Millwall’s u21 Republic of Ireland (5 in 8 games) striker Aiden O’Brien (20) - didn’t he used to train racehorses? – as well as Man U MF Jack Rudge (19), who’s been at the Theatre of Dreams since 2001 (so he must have been 6!

), and Bolton – formerly Millwall – striker Conor Wilkinson (19). They also, of course, got rid of boss Alan Knill (and ignored Martin Ling’s expressed interest in coming back as Manager – bad idea, Martin, given how you left last time!

); they replaced him with former player (MF, F) Christian (Chris) Hargreaves, who played for 21 seasons (1989 – 2010), running up well over 600 games for Grimsby, Hull, Plymouth, Northampton, Brentford and Oxford, as well as Torquay themselves; he’ll be remembered, among other things, for scoring the first goal in their 2009 Conference Playoff Final win over Cambridge (2-0)

………when eventually he wins a game at home, he’ll probably be remembered for that too

………….Hope he’s got the right badges!

Leading scorers of their 30 goals in 33 games are MF Jordan Chappell (5), defender Aaron Downes (4), defender Krystian Pearce (3) and – eventually – striker Karl Hawley (also 3); pants! And will people please start spelling first names correctly, not phonetically, 'cos I can't keep up ......Kirtys? I ask you .....

We lead the head to head; 2006/7 saw us win twice, 2-0 away and 1-0 at home, as they went down; in 2009/10 we won 4-2 at home but lost 2-1 away; 2010/11 saw a goalless draw away and a win by the odd goal in one at our ‘ouse, in 2011/12 we lost 1-0 away, but won 3-1 at home; last season we travelled more in hope than expectation, and lost 3-1, Podge getting the goal, and then contrived to manage just a goalless draw at home; November’s 2-1 victory I’ve referred to above; P11 W5 D2 L4 F15 A10 Pts17 …………. Could be better ………….but it could be worse!

This could reasonably be classed as a 6-pointer, even though we’re currently 5 points, 3 places and 9 goals better off than them. 6-pointers, by definition, need to be won ……………Go get ‘em, lads!

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