2014/15 Prediction League - Game 26 v Tranmere Rovers (away)

Div3North · 16-01-2015, 00:32

Tranmere Rovers

V

Accrington Stanley

2014/15 Prediction League; Game 26 v Tranmere (away)

Good luck Will Hatfield ...........Not sure you got the breaks your talent and enthusiasm deserved

. Good luck Lee – the man with one leg and a wand

, according to some; if you score the winner against us in the 94th minute with a free-kick, we’ll all be hacked off big time

..........But we’ll still remember you for the season before last!

Tranmere joined the Central League in 1919, replacing the (expelled) Leeds City Reserves, and – by something of a fortuitous happenstance

– were one of four teams from that League invited to be founder members of Div 3 North ............Starter for 10; name the forward (they didn’t have “strikers” in those days

) who made his debut for Tranmere in 1924 aged 16 years 355 days, scored 27 goals in 30 games that season, and was sold to Everton for £3,000

(I kid you not!) where, in season 1927/28, he scored 60 (yes sixty) goals ................Could only be, couldn’t it? Dixie Dean

..........While we’re on goals, they hold the record still for winning the League game which had the greatest total of goals (13-4

, against Oldham on Boxing Day 1935, nine of their goals coming from Bunny Bell) .............Also in 1935 they won the Welsh Cup, beating Chester 1-0 (who the hell moved Wales?)

We met last on 6th September 2014 at the ScoreFirst; we had one point from 5 games (a draw with Luton); they’d just ended Morecambe’s unbeaten run

. We went one up on 8 mins – James Gray (remember James Gray? Used to play for us?

) with a penalty. Then we went 2-1 down to two goals from Aboulai Bell-Baggie (two of the three he’s got this year, although he’s now available for transfer) ...Then James Gray (78) and Kal Naismith (82) popped up with the goods; first win – up three places, and off and running

.....the attendance that day was 2151, and that night Oxford and Exeter were propping up the table.

Micky Adams arrived on 16th October – four weeks after resigning at Port Vale; he replaced the untested Rob Edwards (now at Cheltenham with Paul Buckle) .....he’s managed 7 clubs, two of them (Brighton and Port Vale) twice, and he’s had good success, winning promotions with Fulham, Brighton, Leicester and Port Vale ..... after they beat the Daggers on 13th December to move out of the bottom two, Adams made his position clear:

• "It's nice to put pressure on others. It's a relief. When you're at the bottom with the dead men you feel the pressure and people lose jobs. It's nice to put that pressure on others now instead of just having to feel it ourselves."

As you’ll all surely know, they’re back in the bottom two

........and next week they play Hartlepool!

Five “available for transfer”, including ex Skelmersdale, Plymouth, Fleetwood, Macclesfield and Rochdale striker George Donnelly (26) and the afore-mentioned Mr Bell-Baggie (22), a winger with four caps for Sierra Leone

; out have gone defender Danny Woodards (31) after his 6-month contract expired – a summer signing from Brizzle Rovers that didn’t work out – and also Guy Madjo (30), formerly of Crawley, Shrewsbury and Macclesfield, signed on a 2 month contract in November, and not re-signed, having made but 3 sub appearances

. In, recently, have come Moly, released by Crewe after 6 starts in 18 months

and loans we-know-where, LW/LB Rob Taylor (29, Redditch, Nuneaton, Port Vale – where he was managed by – guess who? – Micky Adams,) who signed from Vale for Mansfield in Summer 14 but has moved for £undisclosed; MF Steve Jennings (30, ex PV, managed there by Guess Who), and Rory Donnelly (22), a striker from Swansea. Isn’t he. Look you. Eisteddfod.

They did quite respectably in the Cups; out of the Carling at home to Stuart Pearce’s Notts Forest (is he still there?) 1-0; in the PaintyThingy they did Carlisle at home, 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1, then Bury (2-1 away), before they went out 5-4 on penalties to Walsall after a 2-2 draw at home; in the FA Cup they did Brizzle Rovers 1-0 and Oxford 2-0 before Swansea did them 6-2

(all at home); perhaps that’s why Swansea lent them Donnelly – feeling guilty!

In the League, it’s P24 W5 D8 L11 GF23 GA30, for 23 points and 23rd place; they’re one point behind Carlisle (whose GD is -17 to their -7), and 6 ahead of Hartlepool (-25) ..........the five wins have been at Wycombe (2-0) and home to Morecambe (2-1), both in August, when they stood 11th, with 7 points from 5 games; 3-1 over Pompey (home) on 29th November, at which time they were 23rd with 15 from 19; and 1-0 at the Daggers and 2-1 against Northampton, both in December. In fact, of the teams down at the bottom, they’re the form side

; their last 6 have resulted in three wins (as above), two draws (0-0 at Morecambe and 1-1 against Cambridge), and a single defeat (2-0 at Burton) .........that’s 11 points from 6 games, compared to York’s 8, Carlisle’s 6, and the 5s that Hartlepool, Dagenham, Mansfield and Cheltenham have managed. On that form they may well avoid the Conference, where – as you may have seen – Barnet are romping away (62 points from 30, with a +35 GD), pursued by Bristol Rovers (56), Macc (51), and Grimsby and Eastleigh (47 each)

23 League goals in 24, plus 10 in the Cups in 7 ties; 33 in 31 .........Leading goalscorers are21-year old home-grown MF Max Power (who sounds like a brand of sports drink

) with 10; 20 year old striker Cole Stockton – also a product of their Youth system – has 6; Abdoulai Bell-Baggie has, as mentioned, 3 – as does one Kayode Odejayi, whose most productive season (goals-wise) was the one he spent with us (8 in 32)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 17th January. Even without Moly – and we clearly weren’t looking to buy him

– and Will (who probably wouldn’t have been in the squad

), this is winnable. Or draw-able. Or postpone-able, if the weather doesn’t improve ........We never had this much weather when I were a lad

; personally, I blame UKIP

......Any road up – get your entries in, Ladies and Gentlemen, and let’s see what LifeWithoutLee’sWand

actually looks like ..........

Good luck to everyone!

.............Keep the Faith!

.........and thanks for playing!