2021/22 Prediction League Game 28; v Morecambe FC (home)

Div3North · 27-01-2022, 21:54

Accrington Stanley FC

v

Morecambe FC

2021/22 Prediction League Game 30; v The Eden of the North (home)

Remember the game that finished Vegan Greenpeace Utd 5 Oldham NotVeryAthletic 5 a few weeks back? ...... got me thinking .....

Some clubs of course are famous for their miserly and parsimonious (parsonsnoseious = Ducks' Arse?) defences - boring boring 1-0 Arsenal, and Leeds Utd of the 1970s being just two; some are famous for their goalscoring exploits; some just keep (or kept) on hitting the record books .......

There was recently a question on t'interweb from a Mr McDougall ("Graded Grains Make Finer Flour" - although I think that might have been Mr Homepride ....) asking:

“What is the largest combined goals tally for two teams drawing both their fixtures against each other in a season? I presume there are examples of say 3-3 and 4-4 but are there any really big tallies where they just got two points?”

Good question, my Floury Friend ........

Turns out that Arsenal v Leicester in 1929/30 might be a contender; April 18th (Good Friday) 1930 - a half Desmond at Highbury in front of 46,700 fans: the Gunners' previous game (12th April) had been an 8-1 blunting of the Blades (gerrit?): the return Leicester game on Easter Monday at Flibberty Street ..... 3-1 to Leicester Fosse (no, not really) at half time, 6-6 at the final whistle ...... and Arsenal had a goal disallowed as well! And centre forward David Halliday scored four of Arsenal's six on a Day to Remember ....

His "Day to Remember" became a "Day to Forget" though; his "reward" for those exploits was to not be picked for the FA Cup Final on the following Saturday (which Arsenal won 2-0 against Huddersfield) ...... in fact - get this - Halliday never played for Arsenal's First XI again ............ Although he did, later on, manage Leicester City!

But 6-6 + 1-1 doesn't crack it, I'm afraid .......... wind forward to 1960, and the two games between Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough ...... (and this is the same Charlton Athletic who beat Huddersfield 7-6 on 21st December 1957 having been 5-1 down with 27 minutes left and no Fergie Time, Johnny Summers scoring five of the Addicks' goals) ........... At Middlesbrough, Un Desmond ............ at Charlton on 22nd October 1960, it finished Charlton 6 Middlesbrough 6 ............ seven of those goals in a seventeen minute spell, Charlton's sixth scored on 89 mins by - who else - Johnny Summers .......... 8-8 on aggregate, two points each ................ and your first Starter for Ten; one of the Middlesbrough forwards scored a hat-trick in that 6-6 game ...... but who was it?

Actually, it turned out that 1960 hadn't finished with Charlton: quite remarkable really, but not draws, were the Christmas fixtures between Charlton and Plymouth on 26th December at the Valley and 27th at Home Park: so, your Second Starter for Ten ......... what was "remarkable" about the Charlton v Plymouth matches on 26th and 27th December 1960?

Ah, Morecambe .............. do the local CID actually still have a knee-trembler round the back of the Pub with someone who turns out to be a murder suspect (and still keep their job!)? Will the Eden of the North actually get built, or will it go the way of Crinkley Bottom?

The club was founded in 1920 and played in the Lancashire Combination, where they remained for the next 48 years; they joined the newly formed Northern Premier League in 1968 and under the stewardship of Jim Harvey, a second-place finish in the 1994–95 NPL Premier Division season saw them promoted into the Conference (now Le Bananarama). Having been beaten in the 2003 and 2006 play-off semi-finals (by The Dagenham Girl Pipers on pens in 2003, and by Hereford 3-2 in 2006), Sammy McIlroy led the club to promotion into the Football League with victory in the 2007 play-off final, doing Exeter 2-1 (Gary Thompson and Danny Carlton with the goals); since then, they've only finished in the top ten of League Two twice, reaching the play-off semi-finals after fourth-place finishes in 2009–10 and 2020–21; they went up, as you well know, in 2020/21

Pre-season, Stephen Robinson was named manager, replacing Derek Adams, who got them into League One and then beggared off to Bratfud. After two games they were in the playoff places, but it wasn't to last ....... for playing staff changes, see the thread for the first game between us (the 3-3 draw (Colby with two and Butcher with the other) ......... in the January Window (which needs some windolene, if you ask me) they acquired French DMF Ousmane Fane from UiTM Football Club, which is a professional team based in Shah Alam, Selangor in Malaysia (and UiTM's selection of players is somewhat unique, in that the players, including foreign players, must undertake undergraduate courses in UiTM in order to be selected for the squad.) .... on loan they got CB Jacob Bedeau from Burnley (and Adam Phillips as well, earlier in the season) plus GK Trevor Carson from Dundee Utd .......... Monsieur Carson is approaching 34, but it isn't clear from which direction ......

Their current home record is W5 D4 L6 GF23 GA26; away, it's W2 D2 L8 GF15 GA27; overall, then, it's P27 W7 D6 L14 GF38 GA53 for 27 points and 21st place, which is in the Le Brun et Le Pew (as in "Pepe Le Pew") .......... 53 conceded is the worst in League Uno by 4 from last-place Donnie, 5 from Fleetwoof and 7 from Cheltenham ...... seven wins - only two on the road - is better than Gillingham (3 wins all told), Crewe and Donnie (5) and equal with Fleetwoof, and the SmallPrawns have lost 4-3 at home to the Wombles and away to the Chairboys, drawn 3-3 with us, lost 5-0 at Slumberland, 4-0 at home to the MK Donuts, and conceded three on three other occasions - away at Burton, Oxford and Cheltenham (which accounts for 29 goals conceded in 8 games) .......... their leading scorer is Cole Stockton with 17 in the League, one fewer than Rod Stewart ....... sorry, Ross Stewart ..... at the Stadium of Light

Speaking of which, and regardless of any progress with the young man from Sheff Wednesday, I think I've found us a striker, he being Solihull Moors' Andrew Dallas, once of Cambridge, who last week scored all five of the Solihull goals in a 5-0 demolition of Dover Athletic (and was subbed on 54 minutes) ,,,,,,,, Dover, by the way, prop up the Bananarama, and won their first game on Tuesday this week, at the 25th attempt ........... Stockpot are currently top of the aforesaid Bananarama on 48 points, one point ahead of TwistySpires United (who have a game in hand) ........ Gateshead are three points clear in the NLN, and Dorking Wanderers top the NLS ...........

"Dorking Wanderers? Who are dey?"
"Fazackerley!"

......... and Kelty Hearts lost for the second time in the League (2-0 at Elgin) although they did dump SPL side (and current Cup holders) St Johnstone out of the Scottish Cup this week ......... and Fort William of the Highland League still have just the one point from their 18 games so far - plus a GD of -76 (19 scored, 95 conceded - slightly over 5 a game!)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 29th January (soon be Easter!) ....... our head-to-head record shows 14 wins to us, 7 draws, and three wins to them, one of which was in the Johnstone's P1ssPot Trophy, so doesn't count ........... Chimer - Hello, Chris! - pointed out that we haven't won in four (which is right), but his glass is obviously half empty, because we've only lost twice in our last 9 (15 points won) .......... my glass is half full, therefore ....... except I can't remember where the *%!£&* I put it (Hello Kiwi!)

And the 6-6 Middlesbrough hat-trick hero of 1960 was Brian Howard Clough-Obe ......... sorry, Brian Howard Clough OBE ........ His career involved six years at Middlesbrough and four at Sunderland, before an ACL injury ended his exploits; 251 goals in 274 starts (3rd most prolific), and two England caps in 1959 (Wales on 17th October and Sweden on 28th) ........... and the rest you know!

And the Christmas fixtures between Charlton and Plywood in 1960 finished Charlton 6 Plymouth 4 on Boxing Day, and the next day's return leg ended Plymouth 6 Charlton 4 ....... just two points each, despite scoring 10 goals each over the two games, albeit for a win and a defeat each rather than a pair of drawers ...... never happened before or since ........

Unless you know something I don't!

?????

Mwahahahahahahaha!

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

COYR!