2014/15 Prediction League - Game 39 v Newport County (home)

Div3North · 26-03-2015, 00:45

Accrington Stanley

V

Newport County AFC

2014/15 Prediction League; Game 39 v Newport County (home)

I suspect that March – if you’re ex Millwall, Wycombe, Torquay, Brizzle R and Cheltenham striker Chris Zebroski (7 goals in 33 this season) – is/was a month to forget; having had well-publicised personal issues in the past, he managed to get himself sent off at Stevenage on 7th March

, and appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court on the 11th charged with attempted robbery and assault

; not, perhaps, the best of preparations for a push for the playoffs – not sure where his focus will be, but maybe not on the footie

............. And just today (Wednesday) the Big Beast

– Rene Howe (ex Posh, Torquay and Burton) – has left the Ironsides by mutual consent (having scored none in 15 games this season – a shadow of his former self), owing to the serious illness of his wife

. Although both have a history of causing us problems when we’ve played them, I know that everyone will wish them both well moving on ...............

From the dizzy heights of European football in the early 1980s

, they hit the skids later that decade

; consecutive relegations in 1987 (to 4th Division) and 1988 (to the Conference with just 25 points

) were followed by bankruptcy in 1989 (debts of £330,000, which seems like spare change these days

); after 29 games they were expelled from the Conference

, and – although re-formed in June of that year as Newport AFC (they re-took the name Newport County AFC in 1999) – they spent 25 years in the NonLeagueWilderness

– the Hellenic League (four Divisions below the Football League), then the Southern League, then – on reorganisation in 2004/5 – the Conference South. In 2010 they made it to the Conference Premier, finishing 9th, then 19th; then they got a new Chairman (Les Scadding) who just happens to be a Euromillions Lottery winner

, and – as Delboy used to say – “The world’s your Lobster”

; they were promoted back to ProperFootball

through the Conference Playoffs in 2013, having done Grimsby in the Semis and Wrexham (2-0) in the first All-Welsh Final. Isn’t it. Look you. Eisteddfod . That gained them the Freedom of the City of Newport (herding sheep over bridges, that sort of thing .....

)

Justin Edinburgh took them up, and then he moved on in February to Gillingham (W4 D4 L2

); Jimmy Dack took over, to become the 21st Manager at Priestfield in 30 years

(some of them more than once) ......they actually had 3 in 1987, 4 in 1988, and another one in 1989

; did you also know that, back in the 70s and 80s, Frank Carson

was a Director and VP? Why would an Irishman be VP of a Welsh Club? Unless it’s because he’s an Irishman! Or maybe it was the way he told 'em!

Limited involvement in the transfer market; they signed Peterborough GK Joe Day (24) for a new club record fee of £undisclosed

(the previous record was twenty grand

paid for Christian Jolley, who came in January 2013 and had his contract paid up in Jan 2015, joining Grimsby instead), and that led directly to the departure (on loan, but don’t buy a return ticket

) of GK Lenny Pidgeley (30) to Mansfield; Swindon’s striker Miles Storey (21) – who was at Pompey earlier this season, and was destined for Northampton before it all went wrong (see the Northampton thread for the story of Storey

) – came in on loan, and was the only striker to have scored for them in 2015 when last I looked ............

We met at their place on 25th October; Sean Maguire (congratulations on your call-up to the RoI u21 squad against Andorra on 26th March, Sean

) got ours, and then-loanee Joe Pigott (now with Southend from parent club Charlton) equalised 10 minutes later.

Their overall League record is P38 W16 D10 L12 GF43 GA42 for 58 points and 7th place, behind Luton on goal difference (+8 plays +1)

............but that, believe me, doesn’t tell the whole story; of their last 13, they’ve won three

, drawn three

, and lost seven

, scoring just 7 and conceding 17 (in 7 of those 13 they failed to trouble the scorer)

; away (which is perhaps the most relevant) they’ve lost at Cambridge (4-0), Northampton (3-0), the Wombles (2-0) and Stevenage (2-1); they drew 0-0 at Plymouth; and they beat Wycombe 2-1 and Burton 1-0 (their only other win in this spell was at home to Luton 1-0; if you’re only going to win three, I suppose the teams lying 1st, 3rd and 6th is pretty reasonable

, although 12 points from 13 games isn’t

) ...........Apparently Mr Dack was targeting 6 wins from their last 11 games; that’s now five from eight, and not looking good .......

Reading did them 3-1 in the Carling; Swindon did them 2-1 in the PaintyThingy; and Luton did them 4-2 in the FA Cup; all in the First Rounds; but you guessed that, I suspect. In total, then, 47 goals in 41 games; leading scorers are striker Aaron O’Connor (31) – once of Mansfield, Rushden and Diamonds and Luton – who has 9; Chris Zebroski has 7; and MF Yan Klukowski (28), whose career this side of the Atlantic mostly featured Forest Green, has 6.

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm this Friday, 27th March. The table would say we’re likely to lose

; half the entries in the Prediction League will probably say we’re likely to lose (especially those who could still win the PL, which number doesn’t include me!

); but (a) our level of performance against the “better” teams in the League

and (b) their last 13 results

, say different. Maybe. Isn’t it. Now there’s lovely ..... Look you

Good luck to everyone ..........Keep the Faith and Buy a Brick

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