2016/17 Prediction League; Game 10 v Mansfield (home)

Div3North · 25-09-2016, 22:02

Accrington Stanley

V

Mansfield Town

2016/17 Prediction League; Game 10 v Mansfield (home)

I’m currently trying to work out how concerned we should be that we’re hosting (how did that get to read “hoisin” – bloody predictive texting!) a team which hasn’t scored a single goal in their last five games, four of which have been in front of their own fans; zero-Desmonds at Hartlepool and at home to Cambridge (hooray for their first win yesterday........ I suppose), and 0-1 home League defeats by Barnet and Grimsby (17th and 12th respectively), plus a 2-0 home defeat by Donnie in the English Defence League Trophy; they did win three of their first five in the League (3-2 at Newport (23rd), 1-0 at home to Yeovil (19th) and 2-1 at Clapton (14th), but only drew at home to Cheltenham (22nd) and lost 0-2 at Plymouth (1st), as well as going down 1-3 to a dreadful Blackburn side in the Effing League Cup ......... pull that together, and overall it’s P11 W3 D3 L5 GF8 GA13, in the League it’s P9 W3 D3 L3 GF7 GA8 for 12 points and 13th place, at home it’s W1 D2 L4, away it’s W2 D1 L1, it’s 3 clean sheets, and 6 games out of 11 where they haven’t scored ........................ and in the only two matches they’ve had against teams above them in the League (Grimsby and Plymouth) they’ve ended goalless and pointless ..................Now then; does the Law of Averages say that they’re suddenly going to pull it together and stuff us? Or does it say that we will Do It Unto Them Right Royally ................ well, I saw the “highlights” – a generous mis-description, I have to say – of their game against Grimsby on the TV, and if they do us over I will – metaphorically, of course – show mi bum in Burton’s window ..............

We last met on 2nd January at the Mill Pond – sorry, Field Mill (now the “One Call Stadium”, which sounds like a poor man’s PPI firm) – and won by the best of five; 3-2; never behind, Piero, Billy Whizz, and Lord Terence Gornell got the goals; since they came back into the League by winning the Conference in 2012/13 we’ve met six times, winning five and drawing one; if you add in the seasons before they got regulated to the Conference you can make that record eight wins and two draws, their only win over us being in the FA Cup in 2006 (1-0); the ten League games have given up 30 goals, including our three wins by 3-2, and – of course – we did the double last season

They shed a few from their squad in the summer, as everyone does; MF Matty Blair moved on to Doncaster, Reginald Everard ShutthatDoor Lambe (MF, 25) bleated about leaving, and gambolled up the M6 to (still undefeated) Carlisle, CB Ryan Tafazolli got all Poshed up for the new season, and 31-year old striker Craig Naptali Westcarr – once of Notts Forest, Cambridge, Kettering, Notts County, Chesterfield and Walsall – left, and seemingly joined Alfreton – currently mid-table in the Conference North (where AFC Fylde, owing to the postponement of their Stockport game, are off the top in 3rd, and former giant-killers Altrincham are at risk of another relegation)

They brought in a marquee signing - well, a three-man tent signing – in 6’ 4”, 35 year old striker Darius Henderson (ex Reading, Gills, Watford, Blades, Millwall, Notts Forest, Leyton Orient and Scunthorpe); they added Rochdale CB Rhys Bennett, MF Ashley Hemmings from the Daggers (who now top the Conference again), Irish CF Patrick Hoban from Oxford, Kevan Hurst, a winger from Southend, Bury’s Danny Rose, George Taft from Burton (not to be confused with George Raft from Hollywood), and MF Oscar Gobern (Southampton, Huddersfield and QPR)

They once – 1962/63 – scored 108 goals in a season, which actually only got them 4th place in Div 4, but did get them promoted (on goal difference, which was +39) over Gillingham; famous (!) managers include Charlie Mitten, a one-time Man U winger (1946 – 50), before joining Independiente Santa Fe (in Bogota, Columbia – alongside Neil Franklin), which – plus his salary and signing on fee - earned him the nickname “The Bogota Bandit”, Raich Carter – an inside forward (remember them?) with Sunderland, Derby and Hull, an England international, and a County cricketer with Derbyshire, Billy Bingham, Carleton Palmer, Peter Shirtliff (you have to type that one carefully!) and Keith Curlew; famous players include Aidy Boothroyd, Neville Chamberlain (although he couldn’t play during Prime Minister’s Questions on a Wednesday) and – by the way – one George Bytheway (you couldn’t make it up, could you?); biggest ever win was a 9-2 home thrashing of Rotherham in December 1932; oh, and in December 2010 the Stags were locked out of the ground over unpaid rent .................and after five games without scoring, I imagine the home fans wish that could happen again! It’s actually 451 minutes since they scored – the 89th minute of the Leyton Orient game ....

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Tuesday 27th September; after three successive wins we’re up to 10th, with 14 points from 9 games ............ but 16 points (and a few goals) would get us 3rd place – and three points covers 12th (Grimsby) to 19th (Yeovil), and six points covers 3rd to 19th inclusive. The Stags have the lowest total of League goals score (7 in 9, alongside Wycombe (21st) and Cambridge (bottom), but the only sides to have conceded fewer League goals than their 8 are Plymouth and Pompey, each with 7................. Wins in our last three, logic and statistics suggest we shouldn’t have massive trouble with this game – but when did logic or statistics ever win a football match?

Good luck to everyone! ...........Keep the Faith! .......... And thanks for playing!