2019/20 Prediction League; Game 5 v Fleetwood Town (away)

Div3North · 15-08-2019, 00:26

Fleetwood Town

V

Accrington Stanley

2019/20 Prediction League; Game 5 v Fleetwood (away)

According to the Papers, one Joseph Anthony Barton (36) of Widnes has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident in the tunnel at Oakwell on 13th April at the end of the Barnsley Lamb Chops’ game against Fleetwood Mac, where the LambChops’ Manager (German-born Daniel Stendel) was allegedly “left with blood pouring from his face” ..................... Mr Barton tweeted “hours after the game”

• “With regards to the alleged incident on Saturday following our game against Barnsley, I emphatically deny all the allegations made”

... which – since it’s unlikely that he could at that stage have known “all the allegations made” – is getting your defence up and running at the earliest moment ................ he’s due at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court on 9th October ............. watch this space ................ At the moment I only know two things; (1) he’s innocent under the law until proven guilty, and (2) if the Jury work at that his initials spell the word “JAB” he may have some explaining to do!

Out of interest I went back to see how The Worst Team in Britain had been doing recently; I think you’ll know that after 840 days they – Fort William FC - finally won a Match (in the Pat Munro North of Scotland Cup) against fellow Highland League side Nairn County (winning 5-2, what’s more) .............. the League picture isn’t a lot brighter yet, although their shirts are nice (better than their football), and they’re conceding fewer goals (some weeks) – although that’s relative ........they lost 6-0 at Brora Rangers, then 1-4 against Inverurie Loco Works FC (I’m praying the “loco” is trains, not attitude), and then 2-0 at Strathspey, whereas Keith lost 8-2 to Buckie Thistle – but what can you expect if Keith’s the only one playing? Crowds, apparently, have been really good (I might have been tempted to go but for the fact that it’s a 610 mile, 12 ½ hour round trip) ......... “The Fort” are still bottom of the League, but three other teams have also got nul points, and Keith have (Keith has?) conceded more goals than them – 16 plays 12 ....... as their hashtag says, #MonTheFort – which is clever, because it could be “Come on ....”, or it could be “Man”, pronounced in Scottish ......

Anyway – back to The Greatest Hits of Fleetwood Mac (excluding Joey Barton and any alleged assault) ............... The current club dates from 1997, but two earlier incarnations go back to 1908; the Original Fishermen’s Friends won the Lancashire Combination (who remembers that? And the Cheshire League? And the Central League (reserve sides)?) in 1924, and three times on the run in 1932, 33 and 34 – and their GK in the 1932 side was one Frank Swift .......... they did 60 years in their Combinations, then joined the Northern Premier League in 1968 – in effect, then, the fifth tier – and that level (with different entities between 1976 and 1997) was their best position until they bought – sorry, until they won – promotion to the EFL in 2011/12, with Jamie Vardy up front and a 29-game unbeaten run ......

They’ve been in League One since 2013/14, when they won the Bananarama Playoff Final, beating Burton Albion 1-0 ............... they finished 10th, 19th, and then 4th in 2016/17, when they brought in 20 new players and let twenty others move on!, but Bratfud beat them 1-0 over two (probably fairly boring) legs of the Playoff Semis (although Millwall went up )............. in 2017/18 they finished 14th, and last season it was 11th, with a record which read P46 W16 D13 L17 GF58 GA52 and 61 points; they beat two non-league sides in the FA Cup and then lost 3-2 at home to the Wombles, beat Crewe 4-3 on pens after a half-Desmond in the EFL Cup and then got a 4-0 stuffing at Leicester in Round 2, and didn’t survive the group stages of the Troffy, finishing bottom with 1 point for losing a game, but only on pens (to Leicester u11s) ............ we took a point chez eux in mid-September, with a half Desmond (goal by Sean McC), but they did us by the odd goal in one at ours at the end of March

Six left in the summer, including one Joe Maguire (who’d been on loan at Crawley the season before), GK Paul Jones (ex of Manfred Mann) who went to keep goal for the Owls, striker Ashley Nadesan (to Crawley), CB Lewis Baines to Chorley (who got a right pasting by Solihull Moors, 6-1 at home, which put Solihull on top of the Bananarama and Chorley in the bottom four, alongside Dagenham, Chesterfield and Ebbsfleet), and two to Free Agency ............. Seven signed on, most notably Ched Evans from the Blades, Lincoln keeper Matt Gilks (once of Rochdale, Blackpool, Wigan and Any Old Iron, LB Danny Andrew from Donnie (and did you see that Donnie also sold John Marquis, their talisman striker, to Pompey), MF Josh Morris from Scunnie, Paul Coutts – a Scottish Merchant Banker (I think that was what they said) from the Blades (again), and CB Peter Clarke from the Latics .....

Two wins out of two – 3-1 at the Disappointing Posh, and 2-1 against the Wombles at home; a 1-0 defeat by Notts Forest in the EFL Cup (and what a shame we missed out on the Dingles.......................) P2 W2 GF5 GA2 Pts 6, and they’re (temporarily) 3rd, behind Blackpool and Lincoln on GD (+4 plays +4 plays +3, but The Oranges have scored five (conceding one, whereas the Lemons have four in the credit column and none in the debit) .... Leading scorer is Josh Morris, with 40% of their total goals (or, to put it another way, two)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 24th August ......... by which time I’ll be back home, but too late to start the thread ............... Their season has started quite well, our has started quite not (well) ............. one goal in our two games, and none from open play; 15 shots at Lincoln, 4 on target; 10 shots against the Moggies, 2 on target - one of which you’d guess was the penalty (they had 20, 8 on target) tells its own story ...............and speaking of penalties, did you see that Liverpool and Chelsea shared a Desmond in Istanbul in the Super Cup? And then that French Lady Ref apparently gave NINE penalties .....NINE!............In one game! ........ and Liverpool won 5-4; maybe we can do the same? Maybe she’d come and referee for us? N’est-ce pas? Not to mention Sacre Bleu! (avec frites!)

Just looked at the clock; "time for bed", said Zebedee ........... Good luck to everyone!............... Keep the Faith! ..............And thanks for playing!