2017/18 Prediction League; Game 8 v Chesterfield (away)

Div3North · 13-09-2017, 15:20

Chesterfield

V

Accrington Stanley

2017/18 Prediction League; Game 8 v Chesterfield (away)

Dear Cashie ………… please do not predict that Chesterfield will never score against us in a Month of Sundays. Thank you. Yours sincerely, The PL Organisers, John Coleman, Andy Holt and all the Players …………..

Chesterfield ended last season rock bottom of League One on 9 wins, 10 draws and 27 defeats, with a GD of -35 (43 v 78) and 37 points (14 from safety if you take GD into account); this season (see below) they’ve won 1, drawn 2 and lost 4 (plus an EFL Cup game) and are 21st – one point above Cheltenham and Vegans United, and two above Hapless Port Vale (who are the only team they’ve defeated so far) ………… You’d have to say that the Spireites’ season seems to have peaked on 15th August when they played a friendly at Handsworth Parramore (a Sheffield side from the Northern Counties East League Premier Division who play at Worksop) and demolished them 5-1 …………. Come On You Blues!

To put some flesh on the bones of their record; at home they’ve lost 1-3 to Grimsby, beaten the NotVeryValiants 2-0, and drawn 0-0 with Coventry – W1 D1 L1 GF3 GA3 ………. Away, they drew last time out at Colchester (1-1), but before that they’d lost 0-2 at Notts Co, 1-4 at Newport and 1-5 at Crewe; they departed the EFL Cup 1-4 at the Owls in Round One …….. in the League, then, P7 W1 D2 L4 GF6 GA15 Pts5 …………… overall, 7 scored and 19 conceded in 8 games …………… I can see Kayden, Billy Whizz and others lining up to fill their boots already!

Eleventy billion players left as a result of the slide down the Greasy Pole of Oblivion; 3 went to non-League (FC United, Salford and Guiseley); four are free agents (= unemployed), including striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, DM Ritchie Humphreys and GK Thorsten Stuckmann; RB Paul McGinn MutuallyConsented to Partick Thistle (did he jump or was he pushed?); fellow RB Sadiq El Fitouri went to play for Al-Ahli in Tripoli; Angel Martinez went to be a CM for Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D., who play in the Spanish Second Division, Group 3 (don’t ask!); others were released – 12 in all – and some ended up at Oldham (Dan Gardner), Notts County (Dan Jones), Shrewsbury (Jon Nolan), Bury (Jay O’Shea) and Oxford (Charlie Raglan); LB Dion Donohue signed for Pompey for £undisclosed; and Ched Evans – remember him? – went back to the Blades for the same amount ………… or possibly more ……….or less ……… but still undisclosed!

Twelve signed on, three from non-League (including Gozie Ugwu from Woking) and nine optimists who thought the Derbyshire Grass was Greener (or else were out of work, or maybe both); included among them were seasoned veteran (= Owd Fart) GK Joe Anyon (Scunthorpe), RB Scott Wiseman (Scunthorpe too – they must have been having a BOGOF sale), striker Chris O’Grady (Seagulls), CM Robbie Weir (Orient), CM Jak McCourt (Cobblers) and Guyana-born LB Matthew Briggs from Colchester ………… despite (or maybe because of) which signings they’ve still lost 5 of 8 and conceded 19 times!

Last meeting between us was in the EFLTroffy in October 16 which we won 4-1 (by which time it was too late); last League meeting was March 2014 when we did them 3-1 at Fortress Wham (or Fortress Whateveritwasthen) ……… since we got back in the League it’s been 5 wins each with two draws, although they’ve put five past us once (5-2 in Nov 2010) and four twice (4-3 September 2012 and 4-2 March 2008) whereas we’ve only done four once (see (“EFLTroffy” above) ………. Our turn, maybe? Whad’you think Wynonie? What are the pills saying this weekend?

And by the way, Grimsby fluking a win at our place wasn’t Tuesday’s only odd result; I thought Barnet were going to Do It Unto Exeter (******!), and who’d have had money on Morecambe coming back from 2-0 down after 65 to earn a Desmond? Exeter are 6 wins out of 7; HPV (Hapless Port Vale) are 6 defeats out of 7; we manage to stay in the top three despite losing at home to a team we didn’t expect to lose to …………… suddenly there are 16 points covering first to 24th; much vaunted pre-season hot-shots Mansfield are 11th – drawing four out of seven doesn’t help you rise up the table, especially when you’re carrying the weight of that nice Mr Evans’s expectations, or the weight of Mr Evans himself – and Swindon are 14th; Kewley’s won a game (two, actually); The Vegans have a -10 GD and we’ve got +5; God’s in his Heaven and all’s right with the world!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time (don’t think I didn’t notice you posted at 19.46 hours (Nottingham Time) on Tuesday, Ange!) which is 3.00pm this Saturday, 16th September ………… W5 D1 L2 sounds so much better than W4 D1 L2, n’est-ce pas? And Special K's now joint second highest goal scorer on 5 (alongside Shaquile Coutlhirst (Barnet), Frank Nouble (Newport), Chris Porter (Crewe) and James Collins (Luton) – Reuben Reid of Exeter leading the list with a Len Goodman (“Seven”!) – and Billy Whizz is on 4 ….. Couple of hat tricks would do nicely, don’t you think? As long as we get ‘em!

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