2015/16 Prediction League; Game 24 v Northampton Town (away)

Div3North · 26-12-2015, 22:53

Northampton Town

V

Accrington Stanley

Prediction League 2015/6; Game 24 v Northampton Town (away)

Seems like a lifetime ago since we drew 1-1 with the Cobblers at our place

.......... seems like a lifetime ago since we played a League game at home, come to that

(actually Nov 14th v Newport (a Desmond, you may remember), and that’s our only home game since 24th October)

..........8th now

, still with 36 points from 20, but we’ve got games in hand over everyone in the division – 1 against Morecambe and Hartlepool, and two or three against everyone else. You may have lost sight – I had – of the fact that we’re unbeaten in our last 6

in the League (W4 D2); Northampton – until last Saturday – had won 7 and drawn 1 of their previous 8 League games, and despite all the hoo-haa about winding up petitions and so on, had hit the top of the League

– a position that they lost, to Manager Chris Wilder’s disgust, by conceding a winning goal at home to Pompey from their own corner!

• Northampton Town manager Chris Wilder has labelled the second goal his side conceded in their 2-1 defeat by Portsmouth as a "scandal. Saturday's loss saw the Cobblers drop below Plymouth to second in League Two.
• "There is no way they should score from our corner but we did not organise ourselves properly," Wilder told BBC Radio Northampton.

Make a note of that, please lads ......!

No developments in the transfer market over the season; they brought in a couple of loanee defenders in September (Shaun Brisley from the Posh and Darnell Furlong from QPR) but they’ve gone back ......Them apart, the only other signing is the new Chairman/owner – Kelvin Thomas

, who replaced David Cardoza at the end of November .............and the kit Manager continues to be Pat Weston

.......and the Academy Physio is Anders Braastad; Swedish massage ............very nice!

They’ve scored 38 (joint second highest, after Pompey’s 41) and conceded 28; only Carlisle (37) of the current top 8 have let in more (we’ve shipped a measly 23!

) In the Cups they’ve done ok; the Capone saw them beat Blackpool 3-0 before succumbing 4-1 at Newcastle; in the PaintyThingy they did Colchester 3-2 (Colchester have just lost their 8th League game in a row

, by the way, and have conceded 57 in 23

, which is 18 more than anyone else!

) but then lost 2-0 at Millwall, and in the FA Cup they took out Coventry 2-1 away before sneaking past Northwich Vics 3-2, having given then a 2-goal start and almost screwing it up!

They play MK Dons at Sixfields in Round Three ....... P6 GF12 GA11, to add to their League form which is P22 W13 D4 L5 GF38 GA28 ..............28 games, 50 scored, 39 let in .............3rd in the League, and with only three League defeats since August

– all by 2-1

; at home to the Daggers and Pompey; away to Cambridge ..........Leading scorers are strikers Marc Richards (33) – in his second spell there, but also of Barnsley, Port vale and Chesterfield – with 13 in all competitions; Dominic Calvert-Lewin (18, on loan from the Blades) who has 8; and Samuel Tobias Hoskins (22, Southampton and Yeovil) with 6 ...........

Head-to-head is 7 wins to them, three draws and three to us

; ours are by 3-1 (April 11 at home), 2-1 at home (March 12) and 5-4 away

(September 14) .....in that spell they’ve put four past us three times, and five once .......in 13 games we’ve scored 14, they’ve almost doubled that with 27 .....and our cause hasn’t been helped by failing to hit the net at all in 7 of the 13 matches

......THAT might be a disgrace!

They’re 13/10 with the bookies; we’re 15/8; the draw’s 13/5 ..........but what do they know? I bet we weren’t short odds to win 5-4 there last season!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Monday 28th December .............soon be Christmas!

Dagenham (13 from 23), Yeovil (the same) and York (15/22) continue to be tailed off, and Hartlepool and Newport – both on 20, from 21 and 23 respectively - have a little cushion on the way up to Stevenage in 19th place on 26 points. York were due to host Northampton today, and could have done themselves and us a favour if they’d played and won

; sadly that game was one of the many that went down because of the weather; respect to York, though, for this:-

• “ ...... while the Bootham Crescent regulars were forced to miss out on their pies and sausage rolls, the League Two strugglers made sure the food did not go to waste. They tweeted to say that all the food that could not be kept until their next home game would be donated to local charity Harrogate Homeless Project.”

Fingers, toes and anything else crossed that Monday’s game happens

; how nice if we could win it

, and how much nicer if Wynonie could get 5 points

by repeating his modest

and reasoned

forecast for the Carlisle game as his prediction for this one .... Johnnie Walker indeed

.......... I remember the episode of “Yes, Prime Minister” as well ..............

Good luck to everyone!

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

............. May the Rains cease before Noah has to get out his hammer again!

................ A Happy and Peaceful New Year to you all!

........... And thanks for playing!