2019/20 Prediction League; Game 22 v Doncaster Rovers (away)

[Div3North]

Doncaster Rovers

V

Accrington Stanley

2019/20 Prediction League; Game 22 v Doncaster Rovers (away)

Fantastic news yesterday morning that Morecambe have hurtled two points clear at the top of the League, ahead of Man City, Liverpool and all the rest …………… They’ve amassed 10 points (out of a possible 10) …………. in the British Hedgehog Preservation Society’s “Hedgehog Friendly Football League” (which doesn’t mean they play friendly games against- or worse, with – hedgehogs, but is to do with making your ground “hedgehog friendly”)………… at the speed that Morecambe generally play, an army of hedgehogs could safely cross the pitch during a game (one out-paced Kevin Ellison over a two-metre dash last week) ……… Point number ten was acquired by having a photo taken of a toy hedgehog in the arms of the Morecambe Mascot …………………. I mean, what can you say?

Now then; bet you didn’t know this …………………… In 1139 the second Treaty of Durham – a peace treaty between King Stephen of England and King David I of Scotland – (amongst other things) ceded Doncaster to the Scottish King, making it part of Scotland ……………. And it’s never been formally returned to England! I’ve been to Doncaster. It’s a dump. They can have it …….. and the good (?) news for DonnieDwellers is that, being part of Scottish Scotland, their First Minister and Political God is Nicola McSturgeon …………. More lumpfish than caviar, maybe…… And Deep Fried Mars Bars all round!

This week’s Starter for Ten, then; on 30th March 1946, Donnie played Stockport in a League 3 North Cup match; the game proved to be memorable; why?

It’s claimed that Donnie (the club) was formed in 1879 by one Albert Jenkins, a fitter at the local Great Northern Railway works, who gathered together some friends to play a match against the Yorkshire Institute for the Deaf and Dumb (What’s the BSL signing for “Over ‘ere, son, on me ‘ead”?) in September 1879. Jenkins’ side apparently took a commanding 4–0 lead but contrived to finish up with a 4–4 draw. Walking back from the game, they had a natter and decided to play more games and to call themselves Doncaster Rovers. Hmmmm ………………. . Very romantic, but I don’t know that I buy that one ………………

They were first elected to the Football League (Div 2) in 1901, as a replacement for New Brighton Tower; they managed to finish 7th, which ironically they’ve never bettered. They lasted two seasons in the league before being voted out in favour of Bradford City, having finished the season in the bottom three. They spent the next year in the Midland League, only managing 11th place out of 18, but were elected back to Division 2 anyway. This time they lasted until 1904–05, when they finished bottom with a record which read “W3 D2 L29”; that left them adrift by 12 points (they only won 8 points that year (2 for a win), which is still the worst-ever result over a season) …………. Although Southend (P21 W1 D4 L16) appear to be making a stab at taking the record off them!

After the Great War they re-formed, playing in the Midland League; they moved to Belle Vue (not the Manchester Speedway one), finished runners-up, and were elected to Div 3 North for 1923/24, replacing Stalybridge Celtic ……. Their first game back was a Goalless Desmond against Wigan Borough, which they drew nil-nil, neither side managing a score a goal …………… and no doubt, on that topic, you saw the report of Stoke v Reading last Saturday, where – never mind not managing to score - neither side managed to get a shot on target throughout the whole game!

Of the last 10 seasons they’ve had four in the Championship, five in League One and one (2016/17) in League Two; this is their third consecutive, and fifth of the last six, years in League One …………… they’ve finished 13th, 21st, 15th and 6th (with a 3rd place finish in League Two sandwiched in between), and an average points tally of 59 in the four “League One” years …………last year their record read P46 W20 D13 L13 GF76 GA58 for 73 points and 6th place before they were stuffed (seems appropriately Christmassy!) by Charlton 4-3 on pens after a DoubleDesmond on aggregate over the two legs in the semis …………….

Fourteen players departed in the summer (one to Tadcaster Albion of the Northern Premier League Division One North and one to Staveley Miners Welfare – which should have an apostrophe in it - and which began life as the Nag’s Head in a Sunday League in 1962 – who play in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division, which is Tier 9 – but you knew that already!); the rest went their separate ways; four became Free Agents; LB Tyler Garratt (known as Lesley) went to Stockport; Liam ‘Stoke’ Mandeville signed for TwistySpires United, who are currently 23rd in the Bananarama, above Chorley only on GD; LB Danny Askew went to the seaside – well, he meant to, but took a wrong turning and finished up in Fleetwood; Slovak GK Marko Marosi was sent to Coventry, and signed up; LMF Tommy Rowe turned down a new contract and headed west to Bristol Cities; MF Ali Crawford joined Bolton, and striker John Marquis signed on at Pompeii

They signed eight (the net loss being, perhaps, a sign pf the times); Spanish CMF Madger Gomes (Madger? Unusual name; I’ve heard of Badger, and – Round the Horne – Nadger, but not Madger (over the last 140 years, apparently, there have only been an average of 5 people named that per year) came over from Deportivo Alaves for £undisclosed; Brad Halliday left Cambridge for the coal heaps of Yarkshire; Sunderland supplied LB Reece James, also for £undisclosed; CB Alex Baptiste arrived from QPR; RW Jon Taylor from the Millers; Kwame Thomas left Free Agent FC for a hooped shirt; forward Rakesh Bingham departed Cheltenham (by Regency Carriage, I’d hope); and Harrison Myring left Leicester for pastures new ………..

We’ve met four times in the League; in August 2016 we won 3-2 at home (Rommy Bocu, Matty Pearson and Sean McMarmite); in Feb 2017 we drew 2-2 away (Shay McCarten and Jonathan Edwards); last season we did them twice – 1-0 at home (Offrande Zanzala) and 2-1 away (McConville and Smyth) ………….. 3 wins, one draw! Kieran Sadlier tops their goal scorer charts with 6 (League), with James Coppinger on four ……………. Their home record this season is P10 W5D3 L2 GF16 GA11, and away they’re on a surprising W1 D3 L3 GF10 GA8, giving an overall P17 W6 D6 L5 GF26 GA19 for 24 points and 14th place, 3 stops north of us on the LeagueTable Line ………………and their one away win explains there plus GD away from home, since they put Southend to the sword 7-1 – but since then they haven’t won a game (two draws – a Desmond against Burton and a half-Desmond against the PhoneyWombles, two defeats – 1-0 at Wycombe and 2-1 at the ProperWombles) ……… and it hasn’t escaped my notice that if we do beat them, they’ll be on 6-6-6 (the Devil’s Number!)

They’ve been at the Keepmoat Stadium since the end of 2006; famous ex-managers include Peter Doherty, Bill Leivers - the RB of the Man City team I watched when I was 10 (Cliff Sears was the LB, Bert Trautmann in goal, then it went Dave Ewing, Ken Barnes, Joe Hayes, Paddy Fagan, Billy McAdam, Ray Sambrook, and I can’t recall the others - plus Maurice Setters, Billy Bremner (twice), Dave Mackay, Kerry Dixon, Joe Kinnear and Paul Dickov …………… ex players of note include Charles Adolphus Williams (“Art alreet, me old flower?") ………. He played 171 times for Rovers in total, but scored only one goal, in a Second Division game away to Barnsley on 24 March 1956. In his own words,

"I were never a fancy player, but I could stop them buggers that were."

Then there were the likes of Alick Jeffrey, Harry Gregg (pre-Man U), Mike Elwiss (also PNE), Glynn and Ian Snodin, James Hayter, Matty Blair (wasn’t he once the Prime Minister?) and Billy Sharp …………….. their record League win was in Division 4 in 1964 (10-0 over Darlington); biggest number of appearances title is held by James Coppinger (646, 570 of them in the League); record goal scorer was Tom Keetley, who hit 180 between 1923 and 1929 (or 30 a season, six times in a row); record League defeat was 12-0 against Small Heath (later, Man U) in 1903; and they’ve won the Sheffield and Hallamshire County Cup six times, although not since 1985/86 …………

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 21st December ………………. They’re not at the level they were at last season, it must be said, whereas we’re unbeaten in four and, may I remind you, put seven past Bolton and four past Pompeii, added to which the Bishop of Wham has flown up the table of League goal scorers, now having 10, which makes him joint-5th, alongside Marcus Forss from the Wombles, and ahead of Madison, Ian Henderson, Ladapo, Norwood, Kayden Jackson and YFB ………….. we have the recent history …………….. we have the infra-structure ……………… “Can we build it? Yes we can!”

And the reason why the Stockport game lives on is that it was played under the “Play Till You Finish” system (where you did just that) ……….. except that nobody DID finish ……………. So it went on …………..and on ………………..and on ………………..and on ………….. eventually it lasted 203 minutes, and only stopped because the light went ………… and most of the players couldn’t stand up ……………… and Donnie won the coin-toss to hold the next match at their ground, and they won it 4-0……………..perhaps we can win 4-0 on Saturday? #whatdoyouthinkofitsofar

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

[accybeme]

2-0 donny

[MikeA]

3-1 Stanley, please.

There's a Stanley connection to that Stockport v Donny match. Les Cocker, playing for County, put the ball in the net but it was disallowed for handball.

[choirboy]

Donny 1-2 Stanley please.

[monkey hanger]

1 all draw but would be surprised if stanley didn,t win.

[AccyMad]

2 apiece each for me please

[cashman]

2-0 stanley.

[Div3North]

Originally Posted by MikeA

3-1 Stanley, please.

There's a Stanley connection to that Stockport v Donny match. Les Cocker, playing for County, put the ball in the net but it was disallowed for handball.

Thanks Mike

I knew about the handball, and Les Cocker's coaching career with Leeds and England, but I didn't know he'd played for the Stanley. In those days I lived in Essex!

[cashman]

Originally Posted by Div3North

Thanks Mike

I knew about the handball, and Les Cocker's coaching career with Leeds and England, but I didn't know he'd played for the Stanley. In those days I lived in Essex!

in the peel park days, he werent a bad player either.

[Stevie R]

2-1 to Stanley please

[Taypot]

Doncaster 3 Stanley 1

[Wynonie Harris]

5-1 to the Stanley please.

[VALAIRIAN]

2-1 to Donny

[DaveinGermany]

3-2 to the Stanley please D3N.

[ossy kid]

Donny 1 - 2 Stanley Please