2015/16 Prediction League; Game 8 v Exeter City (home)

Div3North · 17-09-2015, 22:34

Accrington Stanley

V

Exeter City

Prediction League 2015/6; Game 8 v Exeter City (home)

Who said that Chimer and I have stats-itis? Stats are what made this Country Great!

Interesting, though, that he finished off the Brizzle Rovers thread with some goal numbers, because I’d done exactly the same exercise to open this thread with; it followed a conversation with a mate who supports Rovers, when I pointed out, in answer to his question about optimism this season, that we’d kept 3 clean sheets in 7

, including our last two

, and that no-one had scored more than one against us in a League game

.......expanding that theme gave me Chimer’s Proposition, viz that we, Bristol Rovers, Crawley and Newport have scored the fewest goals in the League (5), but that we and Wycombe have conceded the least number

(4 each) and we are one of only 9 sides with a positive GD

(+1) ................then ask yourself who is/are the form teams in League 2 over the last 5 games? If you do it by points won

, it’s Plymouth (12), followed by Leyton Orient, Morecambe, Oxford and Carlisle, all with 10; however, if you do it by “games since a defeat”

it’s us and Pompey

, each with a P5 W2 D3 L0 record ..........Makes you think! And I was the one who questioned where Morecambe’s goals were going to come from!

Five left in the summer; veteran CB Pat Baldwin (ex Colchester) – who I think, from memory, might be re-qualifying as a teacher – has gone to the non-Leagues with Weymouth; CB colleague Scot Bennett went to Notts County, and MFs Graham Rickard Cummins, an Irish born 27-year old who played for Cobh, Waterford and Cork before joining PNE (and being loaned to Rochdale), Liam Sercombe (25, who left his hometown team after 8 years) and James Clifford John (“Jimmy”) Keohane went to St Johnstone, Oxford and Woking respectively ........They signed up four from their own Academy, plus LW Lee Holmes from North End: ex Falkirk, Torquay and Posh GK Bobby Olejnik – 28 and born in Vienna; Brentford MF (bet you can’t name the current Brentford Manager!

) Emmanuel Oyeleke; Troy Brown, a CB from Cheltenham via Ipswich, Rotherham and Aldershot, plus the Welsh u21 team; and strikers Will Hoskins from Oxford (The Grecians are his 9th club at the age of 29) and Clinton Morrison – who must be drawing his pension by now

(ok, he’s 36) – from – ermmm – themselves, really, because after a stellar career at Palace, Brum, Coventry and Sheff Wed he joined Colchester, then played for Long Eaton United (3 games only), then signed for Exeter, then was released by Exeter, then re-signed for Exeter .......confused? You will be – stick around!

Exeter’s highest ever League position in their 91 years (1920 – 2003, and 2008 to date) was in 1932/3, when they finished runners-up in the old Third Division South – but only the Champs of North and South went up

; they’ve made the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup twice, in 1930-31 and 1980-81 (which, statistically, means they’ve 15 years to wait before it happens again

) ........in 1930/1 they lost 4-2 at home to Sunderland in a replay (three of the four ties went to replays that year, the exception being Everton’s 9-1 win over Southport

), and in 1980/1 they lost 2-0 at eventual winners Spurs (and three of that year’s four quarter final ties went to replays as well!

); they’ve also won the FA Devon St Luke’s Challenge Bowl eleven and a half times and been runners up 8 times

. Paul Tisdale is now the second longest serving FL manager, having been at St James’s Park for almost nine and a quarter years

; ahead of him in the list is Arsenal Winger (19 years on 1st October

), and behind him in the list are ...............anybody? .......MK Dons’ Karl Robinson, Walsall’s Dean Smith, and – starter for ten – Morecambe’s Jim Bentley .......Gareth Ainsworth, at not quite 3 years tenure, is actually 11th out of 92

...........and the Manager of Brentford is Marinus Dijkhuizen ........and 92nd on the list, having been in post 3 days, is one David Dunn

at Oldham ..........and they haven’t got a kit man listed, so I assume they all wash their own after the game!

In the last four seasons since they regained League status we’ve won three and lost five against them; the three wins have all been by the odd goal – 2-1 at home in 2008/09, 1-0 away in 2013/14 and 2-1 away last season, Tom “Oh I do Like to be Beside the Seaside” Aldred getting a 90th minute winner after Shay McCarten had cancelled out their opener; we’ve lost at home the last three times

, and conceded thee each time

, which is nine too many

..................P8 W3 D0 L5 F10 A15 for 9 points ..............this season (at home) they’ve beaten Yeovil 3-2, drawn 0-0 with York, whipped Leyton Orient 4-0 and snook past Hartlepool 1-0; away, they’ve lost 3-0 at Northampton and 2-1 at Wimbledon, and won just the once (2-1 at Dagenham); in the cups they did Swindon 2-1 away in the CapitalMyDearChap! Cup before going out 6-3 at Sunderland, and in the PaintyThingy they continued September’s run of clean sheets at home (4-0 and 1-0 as above) by beating Pompey 2-0. In the League, therefore, they’re 6th with a record of P7 W4 D1 L2 F11 A8 Pts 13; excluding Friendly Matches (which included a 2-0 home defeat by Fluminense’s u19 side - actually, the Grecians only beat three sides in pre-season, those being Weston-super-Mare, Bodmin Town and AFC St Austell!

), their “overall” record is P10 W6 D1 L3 .....but my guess is that it’s the away League record that matters most

.......P3 W1 L2 F3 A6 Pts3 ................Hold on to that thought!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 19th September. Last week’s win at the Memorial Ground didn’t impress the media

, Billy the Whizz’s goal being described as “a rare moment of quality as Accrington won a forgettable encounter against Bristol Rovers” (bitch!

); that said, it impressed us, which is more to the point (and Chimer and I got four points in the PL!

) ...........I think we can do this ok ........as long as someone can slip Wynonie’s pills into Exeter’s half-time Team cuppa!

Good luck to everyone!

…………. Keep the Faith!

……….. Keep practising penalties, lads!

..............And I thought Matt C only had four bookings (he wasn’t booked v Brizzle) - whoever said he had five! ……………. And thanks for playing!