2016/17 Prediction League; Game 5 v Morecambe (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

V

Morecambe FC

2016/17 Prediction League; Game 5 v Morecambe (home)


Top of the table? Ha! Hands up who thinks they’ll still be there come next May!

Ten players left the Globe in the summer, some of them to non-League (RB Shaun Beeley to Barrow, CBs Chris Doyle and Adam Dugdale to Southport and Eastleigh respectively), others to the Job Centre (five, including defender Alan Goodall (34, Rochdale (twice), Luton, Chesterfield, Stockport and Fleetwood) and CB Andy Parrish), and two to Carlisle – Stanley OB Jamie Devitt (where he promptly got red carded inside 30 minutes of the season opener at Pompey ), and striker Shaun Miller (ex Crewe, Blades and Coventry) ………

In came six, none of whom moved from further away than Oldham/Rochdale (which saves on bus fares ); showing why they’re fondly referred to as “Accrington Stanley Old Boys”, the Shrimps signed Dean Winnard and Liam Wakefield from us, to add to Peter Murphy and Lee Molyneux , and various others who’ve moved on again since ie Laurence Wilson, Jamie Devitt (see “sent off” above ) et al; they also ProperSigned Burnley GK Daniel Nizic and LB Luke Conlan; Rochdale LB Michael Rose (Chester, Hereford, Yeovil, Stockport, Swindon and Colchester and known as “Honeysuckle” to the fans – no he isn’t! ) and Oldham striker Rhys Turner. Through the loans list they added strikers Jack Dunn from Liverpool (see below under “hat trick”) and Cole Stockton from Tranmere (who currently top the Conference with 5 wins from 5, closely followed by the Daggers ……….) as well as Dingles’ CB Alex Whitmore ……….. Peter and Dean haven’t featured yet; Liam W has started all five games and has two yellow cards already and Lee Molyneux has started twice and been a utilised sub in the other 3 games …………..

Having made all those changes, the pre-season started rather swimmingly – wins at Bamber Bridge (3-0) and at home to Bury (4-0), and home draws against Blackburn (as in “bottom of the Championship with one point from four games and a GD of -7” ) and Burnley; at that stage it all suddenly went TU, with a 6-2 thrashing at FC Halifax Town (who currently top the National League North table with 11 points from five games, ahead of Harrogate Town on goal difference, and a raft of teams close behind, including AFC Fylde, Salford City and Darlington all on 10,and Stockport County nearby on 7 ) followed by a 4-1 home defeat by PNE (as in “next to bottom of the Championship” ).

After an opening-day 2-0 defeat at Grimsby (the Mariners’ only points to date, and did you see that Piero’s Cambridge are now bottom of the table? ), the Shrimps then beat Blackpool 2-1 and Pompey 2-0, both at home, and then they went to Yeovil (12th on P3 Pts4) last Saturday, where they snook (past tense of the verb “to sneak”) a win by the only goal in one, scored by Mr Ellison and made by Mr Molyneaux………… ; an astonishing First Round EFL Cup game at Rotherham finished 5-4 in their favour– one goal in the first half, five in the second half, and three in ET, with Kevin Whiner-Ellison and Jack Dunn (who hit a hat trick despite only coming on from the bench on 63 mins ) putting them 5-3 up before Jerry Yates made in 5-4 on 120 minutes; that gives them a home tie in Round Two against Bournemouth (bottom of the Premier League) on Wednesday, which shares (with us v Burnley) Sky Exposure ……………

They’ve been top before, of course; when JimboBentley was first appointed as manager (2011) they opened the season with 6 wins and two draws from 9 (conceding only five goals) to sit a-top League Two but – as is widely recorded – “a poor end to the season” saw them slip to 15th ................. and for yet another season they couldn’t beat us in the League ; indeed, they only managed that for the first time last August , at the 17th attempt (1-0 at theirs) .........and they couldn’t do it twice, since the return game finished as a Desmond (our goals courtesy of Josh McWindass)

Their new home colours are red and black stripes, with black shorts with a red stripe and black socks with red turnovers; their away kit seems to be black with a yellow sash, and looks like something out of the Peruvian Second Division (no offence, Wynonie) .............. they’ve only had three managers since 1994 (Jim Harvey and Sammy McIlroy being the others); they made the 3rd Round of the FA Cup in 1961/62, losing 1-0 at home to Weymouth (of the Southern League Premier Division – which at the time also included Oxford Utd, Cambridge Utd, Cheltenham Town and Yeovil!) but winning the Lancashire Combination and the Lancs Junior Cup to make up for their disappointment.................... and they also won the Lakeland Soft Drinks Cup three years in a row (1991/2 – 1993/4) ......... and they once had a manager called Ben Hatrick (1988) ....... apparently! No, really .............!

They don’t score zillions of goals, don’t Morecambe (5 in four League games), or concede many either (3 in 4); leading scorer overall is Jack Dunn, but three of his four were in the EFL Cup (not to be confused with the EFL Trophy! ) ..... although top (for now) they aren’t unbeaten; that honour belongs to Crawley (W2 D2), Crewe, Barnet and Carlisle (all on W1 D3); we’re currently 18th, having one point in our last three, and some people are starting to get worried (including, presumably, Frazer Shaw, who left today by MutualConsent, after a short but nonetheless fairly pointless stay).

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time (not one minute after scheduled kick off time! ), that being 3.00pm on Saturday 27th August. Oh to do a Burnley, you might think; to have 19% of the possession, three shots (two on target) and three corners and still to win the game ............. Oh to do anything, really; one league win (in the 90-somethingth minute), one draw, and two (unexpected?) losses ............... early days, of course ..... as it is for every team ................. but 46 points (ie one per game) might not be enough to keep us up - it wouldn’t have done in 2010/11 (Lincoln went down on 47), 2012/13 (when Barnet and Aldershot went down on 51 and 48) or 2013/14 when BrizzleRov went down with 50 .................so come on Lads, back to Winning Ways ................Eh? Thank you!

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

[DaveinGermany]

3-1 to the Stanley please D3N.

[cashman]

2-0 stanley fer me

[monkey hanger]

1 nil to morecambe.

[Outback Ozzy]

Got a bad feeling for this one 2-0 Morecambe please. Hope I am wrong though.

[smobile]

Even though Morecambe will be well up for it (being their cup final and all that), I still predict a 3-1 Stanley win.

[Revived Red]

A 1 - 1 draw please D3N.

PS Past tense of "sneak" is "sneaked". I have no idea how this horrible "snook" has snuck its way into the English language.

[AccyMad]

Please god we get our bragging rights back for this fixture this season, got everything crossed our lads will do us proud - 2 - 1 to Stanley please

[football19]

3-0 to Acci,Roche can't have four worldy games on a run?,two for Billy !!

[cashman]

Originally Posted by AccyMad

Please god

Ok di no problem.

[Tom D]

1-0 to Stanley please

[Stevie R]

2 each please

[mab]

Accrington Stanley 2 - 1 Morecambe Please for me

[LongLostSon]

Stanley 1 Morecambe 2 ( but take heart - haven't got one right so far this term ! )

[MikeA]

1-0 Accy, please.