2021/22 Prediction League Game 46; v AFC Wimbledon (away)

Div3North · 28-04-2022, 18:10

AFC Wimbledon

v

Accrington Stanley FC

2021/22 Prediction League Game 46; v Real Wombles

As I may have mentioned, I don't do Twitter, and now that Elongated Muskrat has bought it for £Obscene and might be letting Trump back in, I doubt I ever will ........ but I thought you should know about the leading nomination for Football Tweet of the Year, which came out a few days back ....

Arbroath (of Le Championnat Ecossais) have been jostling all season with Kilmarnock for the one automatic promotion place to The Scottish Premiership; last Saturday they travelled to Rugby Park to play the Killies; two games left, Killies one point ahead, and so if Arbroath could win, they'd be in the driving seat: they were last in the Top Division in 1974/75; if Kilmarnock won, they'd pinch the title, leaving Arbroath the Playoffs ..............

And the Red Lichties' fans went into overdrive when English striker James Craigen put them 1-0 up on 9 minutes - and there it stayed until the 78th minute, when Ash Taylor nicked an equaliser ............ and on 90 minutes Blair Alston poked the ball into the Arbroath net from 6" away, and the dream of Automatic Promotion popped like an overstretched soap bubble ..........

And the Arbroath Twitter admin people added a new tweet ............

it simply said, "F*ck"

It was quickly deleted .............

I promised you Possibly The Whole Truth about Arbroath's claim to fame, too .... they hold the World Record Score ..... Arbroath 36 Bon Accord 0 - one of the scores that all footie fans remember and treasure, along with England 4 West Germany 2, Spurs 13 Crewe Alex 2, and Accrington Stanley 7 Gillingham 4 ....... and reputedly, between five and seven other goals were disallowed that day for offside ............ But were you aware of Dundee Harp v Aberdeen Rovers, played on the very same day? Well, read on .....

In those days anybody could enter the Scottish Cup; I recorded before the parlous state of Bon Accord - no kit and short of players - and Aberdeen Rovers were somewhat the same ............. the report of the game reads thus:

"As with their fellow sacrificial lambs up the road in Arbroath, Aberdeen Rovers arrived in Dundee with a less than full strength complement of players, and were compelled to face Harp with just ten men. While Arbroath were filling their boots up the road, the Dundee team launched into their visitors with gusto. By half-time they were 16 goals to the good and Tom O’Kane must have been enjoying his debut.

The problem with such a deluge of goals – and even more followed after the break – is that inevitably maintaining an accurate score line becomes difficult. The fact that the home team hadn’t conceded was clear enough, but the tally at the other end was less so. It’s reported that the referee remarked to a club official how difficult it had been to keep up to speed with the rapidly rising number of goals, but had counted 37. As things would transpire, what probably seemed like a simple difference of opinion would later lead to a place in history being scorned when the club official disputed the figure, asserting it had been a mere 35, supported by a list of the individual goal scorers he had noted down.

His tally had included ten for the team captain, D’Arcy Junior, with D’Arcy Senior probably somewhat embarrassed to have merely bagged a single strike. McGirl was credited with a double hat-trick, while Murphy bagged five, Murray four, and Neill, Rock and Lees plundered a hat-trick each. The amended total was agreed and passed to the Harp secretary to telegraph to Scottish FA headquarters.

The difference seemed inconsequential at the time. Even in the early days of Scottish football when large winning margins were not that unusual in the oft unequal confrontations that took place, thoughts were that it may be a record tally. No-one knew of the ramifications at the time, but later it would become clear that the unknown club official’s intervention had in fact talked Dundee Harp out of the football record books.

Delighted with both his debut and his new team’s triumph, O’Kane offered to treat his teammates and club officials to supper at a local pub where, perhaps after the imbibing of a few glasses of beer, he hit on the idea of ramping up the celebrations by sending a telegram to his old club ribbing them about the score line and the success the club had enjoyed. In somewhat sensible tones, the telegram was dictated and sent.

Within an hour, Arbroath had replied in equally staid terms congratulating Harp on their success, but asserting that Arbroath had gone one better, and notched a 36-0 victory. The message was received with hilarity by the group who had, by now, been enjoying the beverages available for some time. No-one took it seriously that the response from 40 miles up the road may well have been accurate, rather than mere jest.

Sometime later, O’Kane travelled back to his Arbroath home by train, and arriving at the station fell into conversation with a local police officer. A discussion about the number goals scored at a particular game ensued, and it quickly became clear to the returning O’Kane that the local Bobby wasn’t referring to his game but the one at Gayfield Park. When, with the terrible fact dropping on him like a wet blanket, he was told that the final score had been Arbroath 36-0 Bon Accord, he realised that the telegram received back in Dundee had been accurate.

The following day, O’Kane returned to Dundee and tracked down the Harp club officials, insisting they should contact the referee and tell him that they had made a mistake and his tally of 37 was correct. It was a forlorn quest. When the referee was contacted, it quickly became clear that with the result had been lodged with the FA and nothing could be done to change the matter. The record belonged to Arbroath – and would stay that way."

Time for a Starter for Ten, methinks: Arsenal's "Invincibles" went 49 games unbeaten, and Celtic managed 69 ........... but the acknowledged longest unbeaten run in European football since the war is 104 games (1986/89). Which team holds that record?

Scunthorpe - relegated to the Bananarama alongside Oldham (although I do think that un-abandoning an abandoned game and playing out the last 13 minutes is a tad sneaky) - have only won 4 league games so far this season; The Wombles have won 6; and Barnsley have won 6 ........ Barnsley FC were relegated from Le Championnat a few days ago; the Club is owned by the same company which owns Nancy in French Ligue 2, and Nancy were (was?) relegated around the same time as well .......... never rains, does it? With the club having managed 6 wins in all, the LambChops' Manager Poya Asbaghi was mintsauced, having been at Oakwell since November 2021 and having won 5 of 27; other recent Managerial Defenestrations include David Artell at Crewe, Mark Cooper at Barrow and Mark Robinson at the Wombles ...

It's fair to say that AFC FurryCreatures haven't had a good season ........ they haven't won in 26 games (13 draws, 13 losses) and last won in December, 2-0 at ........... where was it, now ....... ah yes! The Wham ......... They got to the 3rd Round of the EFL Cup and lost to Arsenal, 3-0, and they got to the 3rd Round of the FA Cup and lost 3-0 to Boreham Wood; they didn't get out of the Troffy Group .......... Such is life, if the Vegan Gods of Football have you on the Prongs of their Forks ........ away wins at Accie (see above) and Lincoln, Morecambe (4-3) and Donnie; home wins against Oxford and Crewe

And I can't remember a bigger half-time turn-around than in the three League One games on Tuesday; Wigan cruising, Rotherham winning at Slumberland and Fleetwood Doing it unto the Owls ........... and then, on 90 mins, it's all still to play for again ......... Wigan at the Shrews, need to win to be certain of top spot (and they've drawn three and lost two of their last five), but one point should get them Auto, subject to any cricket scores (37-0, for example); Rotherham 87 points, +35 GD, 68 scored) are at Gillingham, and the Donuts (86 points, +29 GD and 73 scored) are at Plywood Argyle ........ No easy games in League One!

Posh, Barnsley and Derby coming down; Vegan Greenpeace, Exeter and two others from six to join them, the six being The Cobblers, Portly Value, The Stags, Brizzle, Sutton and Swindon ......... two games left (they end next weekend), and five points cover third to eighth ......... Bananarama's tight; 44 games in total - Stockport on 85 (39 games), HollywoodWrexham (81/40), FC Halifax Town 77/40, Solihull Moors 75/40, Notts Co, Chesterfield and Grimsby in the outside lanes (73, 73 and 72): The Daggers are next, but on 66

Deadline for entries is, as it always has been, scheduled kick-off time, which is 12.30pm on Saturday 30th April .......... Looks like the line-up in League One next season is going to be as strong as ever: if we can keep our squad and add another GK, three strikers and a bus, we might just do ok .......... Here's to it!

And 104 unbeaten matches was the run put together by "State Sponsored" Romanian side Steaua Bucharest, a side featuring the likes of George Hagi, Dan Petrescu, Gheorghe Popescu and Ilie Dumitrescu ............. Between 1985 and 1989 they won five League titles and four Romanian Cups ........... European Starter for Ten, then; in the middle of that run (1987/88), why were Steaua grateful to Politchnic Timisora (who were GreasyPoled at the end of the season)?

Been a blast: we've managed twelve years, and 541 games; Mon Dieu!

And Steaua were grateful to Timisora because they (The Poly) were the only side to defeat Dinamo Bucharest in the League that season, allowing Steaua to win the title by a single point

Good luck to everyone! ............. Keep the Faith! ............ And thank you so very, very much for playing!

COYR!