2015/16 Prediction League; Game 2 v Morecambe (away)

Div3North · 13-08-2015, 22:39

Morecambe FC

V

Accrington Stanley

2015/16 Prediction League; Game 2 v Morecambe (away)

It’s not easy being a footballer, is it

; ups and downs, and Tales of the Unexpected abound, and you never know what’s coming next …….Take Peter “95thMinuteEqualizer” Murphy

; leaves us last summer for Wycombe; started like a train there, scoring for fun

, and then his season tailed off to the subs bench; moved to the Shrimps to rejoin (or just miss) loads of other Stanley Old Boys (Podge, who went to Grimsby and scored on his debut

; Laurie Wilson; Jamie Devitt; Lee Molyneux, whose sojourn at Tranmere was about as good as his sojourn at Crewe

; on Thursday last week Murph was made Morecambe captain; 8 minutes into his competitive debut at Hartlepool on Saturday he suffered a grade three tear of his medial collateral ligament in his right knee, and he’s sidelined for 3 months!

Good luck Peter – hope you’re soon mended. But watch out for the pies!

That said, it isn’t necessarily a lot of fun being a supporter either; Morecambe had a good season last year (until they ran out of steam a bit, as often they do); some half-decent signings, maybe; to a lot of people’s surprise they released Padraig Amond

(see “Grimsby” above), and suddenly 5’ 5” “striker” – who’s at that point elevated to being the Great White Hope

- Jack Redshaw is transferred to Blackpool for £unknown; Paul Mullin isn’t scoring; Kevin Ellison is the Shrimps’ best bet at 66-1 to top the League Two goal scoring list

, and new signing Tom Barkhuizen (ex Blackpool – at least he’s moving the sensible way!) is 100-1 …….and you wonder where the goals might come from (as do we – cos’ they don’t come from penalties over the top, past the post, or too near the keeper!

). Hmmmmmmm; hands up who fancies we might get at least four points from them again this year?

Out went Podge (see “Grimsby” above – who also signed ex Blackburn Rovers, Rotherham and Bury winger Marcus Marshall (25) from the Shrimps, presumably so that he and Podge could share the driving); also no longer Beside the Seaside are Ryan Willams (24, MF, who’s played for most of the teams along the coast of North Wales

) went to BrentfordoftheChampionship (who got a right smacking (4-0 at home) by League Two Oxford on Tuesday night

); def Mark Hughes (28, once of Northampton, Walsall, Bury, us on loan

, and North Queensland Fury), who joined Stevenage as Teddy Sheringham’s first signing; 22 year-old forward Jack Sampson (Bolton, us on loan

– is there a pattern developing here?) went to Macclesfield, MF Andy Wright (30 – ex Cape Cod Crusaders (no, seriously!

), Grimsby and the Iron) to Southport, and 25 year-old GK Andreas Andrea James Arestidou (who was actually born in Lambeth, and was apparently a Demon Bowler at Lancaster Royal Grammar School) wandered off into the night with his red-spotted hanky on a stick over his shoulder, but has since – this week - signed as cover for Fleetwood ………

In came Barkhuizen, Murphy and Molyneux (sounds like a firm of Undertakers

), plus Aaron Wildig (23, MF, once of Cardiff) who joined from Shrewsbury, 6’ 4” Scouse-born defender Adam Dugdale from Tranmere via Crewe, Droylsden, Southport, Barrow, us on loan

(2006) and Telford; ex Crewe and Blades striker Shaun Miller (27) from Coventry (I think he’s supposed to be the answer to the question “Where are the goals going to come from this season?” which – since he only got one in 23 games for Coventry, York and Crawley last season - may be a tad optimistic

) and – on loan – Jack Ryan from Preston, who is not to be confused with the (fictional) President of the USA as played by Harrison Ford in various movies ….by the way, I did like the car sticker which proclaimed

“Monica Lewinsky’s ex-boyfriend’s Wife for President of the USA” …………

I also liked the line in the (rather blinkered) match report by the bloke from Luton on their forum which referred to our defence as being,

“three nightclub bouncers at the back, with a goalkeeper the height of a street lamp.

It’s fair to say that their season hasn’t started thrillingly well

; they lost on Saturday to a seemingly resurgent Hartlepool (2-0, with goals by ‘veteran’ Billy Paynter (31) on his Pools’ debut – his 100th league goal in a career involving Port Vale, Hull, Southend, Swindon, Leeds , Doncaster and Carlisle - and Rakish Bingham (ex Mansfield, and once on loan at Falkirk)), and then on Tuesday they entertained Nigel Adkins’ Blades (which sounds like a Dancing on Ice Formation Team

), losing 1-0 at home to a 92nd minute Neil Collins goal in the CapOneCup. After us they play Wycombe at home (who started with a 3-0 win over York and a 1-0 defeat by Fulham in the Capone), Pompey away (they started with a 3-0 win over the Daggers and a 2-1 Cup win against Derby), and a home game against Notts County, who opened up with a 2-0 win at Sheringham United

(Stevenage, to those who missed the news) ……hard to see where the points are coming from there, since those three sides are all in the top 7, and none of them conceded a goal last weekend ……..early doors, I know that, but maybe a little worrying (?)

I haven’t forgotten that since they reached League Two blah blah we’ve never lost to them blah blah eighteen attempts blah blah blah

. It will, by the laws of nature and statistics, happen one day

………. Not sure it’ll happen just now, though

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 15th August. We’ve scored three in our two games, and could reasonably be said to have been a little unfortunate not to have two wins under our belts

; comments – home and abroad (apart from Tony Cottee, I understand

) – suggest that we’re playing some good stuff; optimism is high, morale seems high, and Morecambe might be worrying a little ………good time for this game to happen, you’d think. Go for it, Wynonie!

And for those – like me – who didn’t know, the Poor Man’s Version of the Football League Show (minus Manesh

, but with “all the goals”) is now on Channel Five at 9.00pm on a Saturday ……….. And James Gray

scored Wrexham’s 3rd with a penalty in a 3-1 win over Torquay on Tuesday, and Rob Atkinson

got Guiseley’s only goal in a 1-0 win over Altrincham ............. Happy Days!

Good luck to everyone

…….. Keep the Faith!

……… Practice taking penalties!

….. and thanks for playing!