2015/16 Prediction League; Game 3 v Mansfield Town (home)

Div3North · 15-08-2015, 22:52

Accrington Stanley

V

Mansfield Town

Prediction League 2015/6; Game 3 v Mansfield Town (home)

Ah, right ………That wasn’t actually supposed to happen, really

; we’re pegged back by one of the promotion favourites in Fergie Time, then we hold a Championship (recent Premier) side for 120 mins

……We didn’t actually win either of those games, but we did well

……………. Mansfield started with a 1-1 draw at home to Carlisle, followed by a 4-1 trashing at the Owls in the CapOne

………we have Morecambe (not lost in blah blah ten seasons blah blah

) and should win it; Mansfield have Notts County away (and they started with 2-0 win at Sheringham Utd and then did Huddersfield 2-1)

……………..SO; we should beat Morecambe, and the Stags shouldn’t win at Meadow Lane …….. but they did, and we didn’t

. Once again we’ve started the season without a win in our first three ………….. as my older granddaughter used to say, “Oh, poo!”

; or was it “Oh, Pooh”?

Adam Murray (who was obviously so thrilled with his summer signings that he felt the need to register himself as a player

) shipped out at least 14 of last year’s squad. There were a couple he hadn’t perhaps wanted to go; Junior Brown, a 26-year old LW who played for Mickey Mellon at Fleetwood back in 2010, then went to Crewe, and has now signed for Shrewsbury, managed by ……………anybody? …….. Mickey Mellon

, and Leyton Orient came a-calling for striker Ollie Palmer (23), who they signed for £undisclosed

; Rakish Bingham (21) – once of Wigan – went to Hartlepool; Michael Raynes (27, CB) who signed from Oxford in January, moved on to Carlisle ……………others who left of whom you might have heard

(!) include Ricky Ravenhill (Doncaster, Darlington, Notts Co and Bradford City), who was on loan from Northampton but seems currently to be “resting”, GK Sascha Studer, forward Vadaine Oliver (see last year’s thread) who signed for York, and ex-Chelsea, Millwall, Carlisle and Bradford keeper Lenny Pidgeley (31), who was also there on loan, went back to Newport, and was released in the summer.

To replace them (!) they brought in half a train-load; picking some at random, they included ex Notts Forest, Notts Co, Kettering, Chesterfield, Walsall and Pompey striker Craig Westcarr (30); Crewe (and Wycombe, Rotherham, Coventry and Crawley) GK Scott Shearer (34), who will fight out ownership of the ‘keeper’s jersey with “Big Beast”

Brian Jensen (now 40

), who came from Crawley (most recently) as a player/coach; former Leicester and Burnley striker Adi Yussuff (23) came from Oxford (City, not Utd); defender Lee Collins (26) arrived on the milk train from Northampton, having started at Port Vale (his career, not the milk train

) ……….Adam Murray said of him;

“Lee has a vast amount of experience and is a great age” (actually, Adam, I wouldn’t call 26 “a great age” ………………96, maybe, but not 26

)

In addition, Chris Beardsley (31, striker) came back from Stevenage to sign for Mansfield for the third time

; winger Nathan Thomas (20) – ex Plymouth, recently Motherwell – joined …………Murray said of him;

“He’s a decent quick winger with a superb left foot, and he has a goal in him” (for that money I’d want more than “a goal”

)

(No, not finished yet!): Krystian Pearce (def, 25) came from Torquay, having Brum and Notts County on the CV – and while we’re on Brum, striker Matt Green (28) – part of the Mansfield Conference promotion side – also did his Prodigal Son routine, and is back at Field Mill ……….James Caton (once of Blackpool, on loan with us (briefly

), and Chester) has signed on the dotted on loan; and nearly last, but certainly not least, RB Nicky Hunt

turned us down for them, moved, and gets the chance to check out old haunts just 10 days in to the new season.

Last season we did the double over the Stags

– 1-0 at their place (Luke Joyce with a 10th min penalty) and 2-1 at ours (Conneely and Gornell in the second half); in 2013/14 we drew 1-1 at home and won 3-2 away

; in 2007/8 we won both games (1-0 home, 2-1 away

) and in 2006/7 we did them 3-2 at our place, and drew 2-2 away

…….played 8 W6 D2 L0 (although they did beat us 1-0 in the FA Cup in November 2006, when we were concentrating on the League

); the last time they won against us in the League was 25th March 1961, when we went down 4-1 at home – 54 years ago

-a much longer run than our measly 10 years unbeaten against Morecambe!

Oh, and by the way, our leading strikers have one each so far this season; Carlisle, though, have striker Jabo Ibhere

(32), who they signed from Colchester (also of Leyton Orient, Walsall and MK Dons), and in three games to date he has 6

(of their total of 8) goals; we may need to up our marking when Carlisle come to town!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm this Tuesday, 18th August. A win would be nice, methinks

; and there’s some irony in the fact that Someone Who Shall Be Nameless

got a point in the PL for his prediction of a 7-1 Stanley win over Morecambe whereas I got null points for my 2-0 win prediction ………….. perhaps I should suggest to my mate Chimer that we dock points for people who are more than 5 goals off either team’s score!

Good luck to everyone!

…………. Keep the Faith!

……….. Practice penalties AND not missing open goals!

……………. And thanks for playing!