2019/20 Prediction League; Game 37 v Portsmouth FC (away)

[Div3North]

Portsmouth FC

V

Accrington Stanley

2019/20 Prediction League; Game 37 v Pompeii (away)

This week’s Starter for Ten; meteorologically speaking, what football-related risk connects Hull City, Carlisle United and Lincoln City?

This week’s second Starter for Ten; name the Stanley fan who lives a little over 270 miles from the Wham, who waited until the Stanley were playing in the City where he lives and then went on holiday, thus missing the game ………..

It was Eliza Doolittle, I think, who coined – or at least bastardized and repeated - the phrase, “In ‘ertford, ‘ereford and ‘ampshire, ‘urricanes ‘ardly ever ‘appen”; courtesy of Hurricanes Alice, Betty, Clara, Storms Dennis, Euan, Fred, George, ‘arry, Inigo and windy Joshua, that may no longer be strictly accurate, and Portsmouth is, of course, in ‘ampshire. But then ………. Hands up if you knew that Portus Adurni – which later became known as Portchester Castle - was a Roman fortress in the (Roman) province of Britannia, situated at the north end of what is now Portsmouth Harbour? Although there have been settlements in the area since before Roman times, Portsmouth is commonly regarded as having been founded in 1180 by John of Gisors (although it didn’t make it into the Doomsday Book) …………. However, Mr Gisors completely forgot to form a football team (see below).

Then in 1194, after his return from being held captive by Duke Leopold V of Austria, King Richard I (Coeur de Lion) set about summoning a fleet and an army to Portsmouth, which by then he’d nicked from the aforementioned Mr John (of Gisors). On 2 May 1194 the King gave Portsmouth its first Royal Charter, granting permission for the city to hold a fifteen-day annual fair, to run weekly markets (on Thursdays), to set up a local court to deal with minor matters, and gave them exemption from paying the annual tax or "farm" of £18 a year—instead the money was allocated to be used for local matters. Like founding a football team ……..

Portsmouth is also the only island city in the United Kingdom (situated on Portsea Island), and the only English city whose population density (number of people in each square mile, or cubic mile, or something) exceeds that of London. Bet you didn’t know that! Pompeii is also one of the home bases of the Fleet Air Arm – but not, as far as I can see, of the Not-Very Fleet Air Arm, nor the Ridiculously Slow Air Arm either – at HMNB ………….. it’s a City of 205,400 (205,398 when Mr and Mrs Chimer aren’t In Residence) ………. and it’s the place where one Adam Moleyns, an English bishop, lawyer, royal administrator and diplomat and one-time Lord Privy Seal (that was the man who sealed off the Privy if the Lord of the Manor needed to use it, leaving lots of locals with their legs crossed) died ……….. An active supporter of the unpopular Duke of Sussex (William de la Pole), Moleyns was lynched in Portsmouth by discontented unpaid soldiers on 9 January 1450 ………… Bet you didn’t know that either!

The “Portsmouth Football and Athletic Company” was formed at 12 High Street, Old Portsmouth – apparently – on 5th April 1898; the Directors were Messrs Brickwood, Bone, Oliver, Peters, Pink and Wiggington, known locally as Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb ………..the following year they started work on developing “a plot of former agricultural land”, which eventually became Fraternising Park (named, apparently, after the Fraternising Railway Station, Portsmouth obviously being a Very Friendly Place) …….. they were founder members of the Football League Third Division in 1920, and they added a South Stand to the ground in 1925, designed by Scottish-born Archibald Keir Leitch, a renowned football architect who designed and built over 20 stadiums in the UK and Ireland, including part or all of Bramall Lane, Anfield, Deepdale, Highbury, The Dell, Ewood, Craven Cottage and – most interestingly, Ibrox – his first commission in 1899……………. I say “most interestingly”, because in 1902 part of the wooden Ibrox terracing collapsed, allegedly due to the use of sub-standard pine in the construction, with 25 people being killed …… Leitch was at the game, and later it seems that he persuaded the Ibrox Directors to hire him to build the replacement stand! Talk about selling ice to the Eskimos! ……….

They finished last season in 4th place in League One, with 88 points from 46 games (level with Charlton but with a GD that was 1 goal worse than the Addicks - +32 plays +33) ….. they held first place in the table from Game 8 to Game 28, dropped to 2nd for one game, then third for 3 games, then 4th ……. If they hadn’t had a run of 3 defeats and five draws between 12th January and 2nd March (or had won any of the lost games and got one more draw, or won any two of the drawn games) they’d have gone up automatically in place of the LambChops. Instead they played Slumberland in the Playoff semis, and managed a goalless Desmond at home having lost the away leg 1-0 …….. the single goal at RokerPark (Happy Days!) was scored after 62 mins by a 31-year old Scottish player with two international caps back in 2011, who was playing with his eleventh different club, called Chris Maguire; he had one season at Bury, and reading his account of that year – the one where they were relegated (2017/18) - is a real eye-opener

Pompeii had a difficult start to this season, and after 7 games they had 6 points and were 20th; after 14 games they had 18 points and were still in the bottom half of the table …… but of their last 20 games they’ve won 13, drawn 2 and lost five (including a 4-1 drubbing at the Wham) ………. Home record is, rather worryingly, P17 W12 D5 L0 GF34 GA13, whereas away it’s P17 W5 D3 L9 GF17 GA21, giving them P34 W17 D8 L9 GF51 GA34 for 59 points (one of five teams – all of whom we still have to play – on 59 at the time I’m typing this) and 6th place ………….they’ve kept 13 clean sheets (nine of them at Fraternising Park) and failed to score seven times – once in a Goalless Desie, once 2-0 away at the Posh, and five times when they lost 1-0 away – Shrewsbury, Wycombe, Wombles, Coventry and Fleetwood

In the Transfer Window they ProperSigned Reeco Lee Hackett-Fairchild, a striker from Bromley (“There was a young striker from Bromley ………”) and LoanSigned Brummie LB Steve Seddon and LambChopCameron McGeehan, while RB Anton Walkes (an unfortunate name for a sportsperson) moved to Atlanta United, and Croatian GK Petar Durin went Durout by MutualThingy

The FA Cup saw them Doing It Unto Harrogate 2-1 away, Altrincham 2-1 at home, Fleetwood 2-1 away, and Barnsley 4-2 at home before, in Round 5, they succumbed to The Arsenal, 2-0 …….they managed the Third Round of the EFL Cup before the Saints stuffed them 4-0, and they’ve reached the Final of the Troffy again, having won it last season, where on 5th April we’re probably all hoping they can sink SalfordMoneyBags without trace ………. In the league they’ve scored (see above) 51 in 34; in the Cups, it’s GF30 GA 19 in 15 matches, giving them 81 goals in 49 games, or 1.65 goals per game …………. Leading scorers (League only) are Ronan Keating – no, sorry, Ronan Curtis - with 13, John Marquis (ex Donnie) with 11, Ellis Harrison with 7, and Ben Close and Marcus Harness with 6 each …….. good to know that some part of their strike force is in Close Harness, though …………..

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 14th March ………… as at now we’ve got 9 games left to play; the not-so-good news is that we play the teams who at this moment (before Tuesday’s games have finished) are lying 1st - Coventrary, 5th - Slumberland, 6th - Pompey, 7th - The Codheads, 8th - Wycombe, 9th - Donnie, 11th - Gillingham, 15th - Brizzle and 18th – MKDonuts …………. Don’t know about you, but I don’t necessarily see lots of points for us there; 5 at home (Donnie, Coventry, Fleetwood, Brizzle and Wycombe) and four away …………… happen we won’t need so many points to be ok, though!

Against that, DesperateStevenage in League Two have 3 wins (2-1 v Grimsby, 1-0 v Morecambe and 4-0 at Cambridge), 22 points, and are eight points and a lot of goals behind Macclesfield with a game in hand …… they got 5 points from their first 12 games and they’ve lost their last eight straight, but in their last 10 games – apart from Swindon (2nd) and Cheltenham (5th) - they play the teams who sit 14th, 15th, 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd! If they hit a run of form – flying pigs – they could pick up a few points ……… watch this space (but don’t hold your breath) ……… and could the Trannies be about to pull off a Miraculous Escape?

And the connection between Hull, Carlisle and Lincoln is that they’re three of MoneySuperMarket’s “Top Ten UK Flooding Hotspots” ……….. and the AbsentFan will, no doubt, identify himself in due course as my co-conspirator!

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

[AccyMad]

A very hopeful 1 - 1 draw for me please

[StanleyJosh]

4-0 Pompey please

[monkey hanger]

hopefully only portsmouth 2 stanley 0.

[cashman]

0-0 fer me.

[MikeA]

1-1 please

[Tom D]

1-0 win for stanley please

[Stevie R]

3-1 to Portsmouth please

[Chimer]

A couple of inaccuracies, m'learned friend ….. I am back, and having learned a vital hockey game I was expecting to have to play in has been conceded to us , I will be at Fraternising Park on Saturday . I just said I might not be able to sort out the table until after the Pompey game, given I'm now 3 sets of entries behind (and I'm never too keen to deal with defeats ).

Secondly, none of the Fleet, Not-Very Fleet or Ridiculously Slow Air Arm actually live here, as all naval aircraft flee their ships as soon as their (usually inland) home air stations come within flying range .

Being given that hockey game means that in a fortnight two teams with 100% records (P10 W10) will meet in the last game of the season (we don't play home and away in this league) - wouldn't the Premier League kill to be in that situation?

But aside from all that, Stanley will shake off the recent slump and win 2-1

[Div3North]

Welcome home, Your Hockeyship

You haven’t been anywhere Italian, I trust?

[Chimer]

Originally Posted by Div3North

Welcome home, Your Hockeyship

You haven’t been anywhere Italian, I trust?

Not unless you count an Italian restaurant in Colorado

[Watchdog]

2-2 draw please

[Wynonie Harris]

5-1 to the Stanley please.

[Div3North]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

5-1 to the Stanley please.

That’s my boy!

[Tommy McQueen]

Portsmouth 2 Stanley 1 please