2013 Prediction League; Game 35 v Chesterfield (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

V

Chesterfield FC

2013/14 Prediction League – Game 35; v Chesterfield (home)

Paul Cook on the Stanley, and League Two generally ….

• “It’s a really good club in English football. I certainly hope they don’t get drawn into a relegation battle. I wish James and all his staff every success because it’s a difficult club to manage.

• “We’re going there to win a football match and we’re all very focused and determined to do that. We’re going to go and pick a very attacking team on Saturday, like we always do. We’re going to go and try to score some goals and win the game.

• “If you disrespect any team in this league the likelihood is you’ll get beat, we try our best not to. We haven’t got a great record at Accrington so we go there on Saturday fully focused.”

And who said (a) that anybody can beat anybody in our Division (6 points covers York in 11th place to Accie in 22nd ) and (b) it’s the sides in free-fall at this time of the season (having thought they were safe) who have the biggest problem and the hardest job – Torquay didn’t win in about 16 at the back end of last season, Aldershot slid late, and Barnet were relegated on the last day, having saved themselves on the same date twice before ………….so currently we have this; Newport, who are 11th, have just one victory in ten, 15th-placed Morecambe haven’t won at all in ten, and Exeter in 18th have one win from their last 11 games …………… There are actually only about eight teams truly “safe”, and several mid-table sides who could yet be in for a shock …………

Chesterfield (aka Accrington Stanley ‘A’ ) have Jimmy Ryan, Gary Roberts, Ian Dunbavin, Paul Cook and Leam Richardson, and until they let him go out on loan to Morecambe, they had Jamie Devitt as well; in fact, they haven’t done a lot of business during the season; forward Dan Gardner (23) arrived from FC Halifax; ex Rotherham MF Ollie Banks (20), who was playing non-league for FC United of Manchester and fitting kitchens , signed on; Gary McSheffrey (31) was released after his short- term contract, and joined Scunthorpe; a couple of loans from the Blades, and that’s about it …….. but it’s done them ok so far!

They went out of the Capital One 2-1 at Leeds in the First Round, and the FA Cup 3-1 at home to Southend in Round Two after dispatching Daventry 2-0 in Round One; as for the Paintpot, they saw off Mansfield 1-0, Rochdale 3-0, Oldham 6-5 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, and Fleetwood 3-2 in the Northern Area Final, winning 3-1 at Highbury but losing the second leg 1-0 at home; that sets up a Final against Peterborough , managed of course by Darren Ferguson – who played alongside Paul Cook for Wolves in 1994 …………. ............. Small (ish) world or what?

In the League they lie top – P34 W17 D11 L6 F55 A30 for 62 points; they beat us 1-0 on 7th September (a 47th minute goal from defender Tendayi Darikwa), and at the end of that game we had 1 point from 6 games, and they had 16 (W5 D1); they have 68 goals in all matches, shared among 13 players; leading scorers with 9 are Gary Roberts and Eoin Doyle, with Marc Richards on 8, Ollie Banks on 7, James O’Shea and Armand Granduillet with 6 each, and defender Darikwa on 5 – two more than Jimmy Ryan ………… Almost level pegging in games between us since 2006 – they have 5 wins, we have 4, with two draws; oddly, when we win, they don’t generally score (1-0, 1-0, 2-0 and 2-1 …………………..)

The deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 7th March 2014 – six months to the day since we last met. I doubt that anybody thinks we can do this - particularly since they've only lost twice on the road in the League (Southend 3-0 and Newport 3-2 ) – but, in truth, and on the stats, we could. Will we? That’s another question entirely ………………….

Good luck to everyone ………………remember; passion overcomes logic ………..Keep the faith ……………………. And thanks for playing!

[bdc]

3-1 to Chesterfield please

[sparkie]

2-1 stanley please

[Wynonie Harris]

4-1 to the Stanley please!

[ossy kid]

1-1 please

[accybeme]

Stanley 0 Chesterfield 2 please

[DaveinGermany]

3-1 to the Stanley please D3N.

[cashman]

1-0 to Stanley the snake will be bitten.

[smobile]

3-1 Stanley & the snake sent to the stands (or one of them small baskets)

[yerself]

Accrington Stanley 0 - 3 Chesterfield, please.

[Tommy McQueen]

Stanley 1 Chesterfield 1 please

[AccyMad]

In a way the pressure is on Chesterfield tomorrow, that might sound daft when they're in the position they are but not many gave us a cat in hell's chance when we played them on New Years Day 2013 & we beat them so ................ I'm gonna plump for a 1 nil win to Stanley

[LuSiVeCFC]

We lost at Wycombe too!

Edit ... *and* Morecambe ...

[mab]

Accrington Stanley 2 - 1 Chesterfield Please for me

[Revived Red]

Stanley 1 Snakefield 1 please D3N.