2024/25 Prediction League Game 5 v Colchester United (home)

Div3North · 30-08-2024, 00:38

Accrington Stanley

v

Colchester United

2024/25 Prediction League Game 4 v Colchester United (home)

I wondered, as I mused long into the night, how the Famous Five (Savin, Pritchard, Nolan, Leigh and Longelo) who left us in the Summer, and some of whom some of us might not have wanted to go, were faring at their new employers ………..

Toby Savin – now of The Long Nosed Pointy Things in League One (aka Shrewsbury) – has played 90 mins in all three League games, and both Rounds of the EFL Cup; they lost 1-0 to Stevenage in the League, 4-1 to Posh and 1-0 to Huddersfield, and are currently bottom of Ligue Un with Nul Points …….. in the EFL Cup they beat Notts Co 4-3 on pens after a 1.5 Desmond, and lost 2-0 to Bolton in Round 2 (second goal by Charles Dean, or whatever he’s called)

Joe Pritchard at MK Dons played in the EFL game against Watford, being subbed off at half time, and hasn’t featured in any of the Leaue games so far

Tommy Leigh – also at the Plastic Wombles – played in the League games against Bradford City (which they lost 2-1) and was a 70th minute sub; he was also a sub for the second game against Colchester (which they lost 2-0), coming on after 84 mins, and also in the third game against Carlisle, entering the jolly old fray after 80 mins and not making any reported difference. In the 5-0 drubbing by Watford in the EFL Cup he played the first half but not the second half ………

Rosaire Longelo played the whole 90 mins against TwistySpires United in a Half-Desmond, 60 mins of the 4-0 defeat by Walsall (subbed off), and 72 mins of the Goalless Desmond against Crewe

Jack Nolan played 90 mins (and scored a reported “Wonder Goal”) against Carlisle, 81 mins of the 1-0 win at Morecambe (subbed) and 60 mins of the 0-0 at Fleetwood; he also played the first half of their 3-1 loss to Swansea, not reappearing after the interval

Queston (but not for Ten): which of our above-named ex stars do you think might not have moved (discounting any salary differential) had they known the foregoing? Joe may be injured (which, if so, would have a familiar ring), but I can neither confirm or deny …..

Starter for Ten, then; How many bald managers are there in this season’s Premier League (at the present time?)

I’ll tell you this: we underestimate Colchester at our peril ………… having spent most of last season trying to get themselves relegated (which they so nearly managed to do) they ended up in 22nd place ……… over the summer their Manager – DannyAndNickyCowley (like the BMW Mini car plant) really got bedded in ………. Four left; RW Jayden Fevrier and DMF Jay Mingi both went to Stockport (I enjoyed seeing Blackburn had trashed them 6-1 in the EFL Cup, only then to lose to managerless Blackpool 2-1 in Round Two), CB Connor Hall – no, not our ex) joined Portly Value, and AM Noah Chilvers slightly surprisingly joined Ross County ………… in came a whole new team, notably CBs Ben Goodliffe and Tom Flanagan from Sutton and Shrewsbury, GK Matt Macey from Pompey (there’s a limerick there, I think – (“ A fellow called Macey from Pompey” ….), AMF Jack Payne from Charlton and striker Lyle Taylor from Cambridge …….Taylor previously played for the Wombles, Charlton and Notts Forest, and in his day he was a huge handful – a bit like my very first girlfriend (but that’s another tale entirely) ………… they were 2-0 up in each of their first three games (but lost two of them, managing to beat Reading in the Cup) and were pick-pocketed by Harrogate 1-0 last Saturday when the stats had them streets ahead, and - so their fans claim – They Wuzz Robbed by Brentford this week in the EFL Round 2

Second Starter for Ten, then ……….. the record for the most games played by a newly-admitted Football League team before they conceded their first goal stands at three games, and is shared by three teams; Man City – then known as “Ardwick” – managed it in 1892/93 in their first three games: Liverpool also did it in 1893/94 in similar fashion ……… but who was the third and last League team to achieve it?

And it was rightly pointed out that we were the first team to concede ten League goals this season, although by some miracle we’re not 24th (or even 23rd) …… I have to say that I was a bit hacked off when I turned on my phone after the end of the Harrogate game to find that 3-2, which would have been my prediction had I not changed my mind – had become 3-3 deep in FergiTime (96th minute, as I recall) ……….. “Oh dear”, I said, “spiffing bad luck, What?” Or words to that effect. By the end of August last season I had 34 points from five games (2x10, 2x5 and 1x4) ………. This season I have one point with one game of the first five to go

Head to head is 5 wins, 2 draws and two defeats, and our first-ever game was the FA Cup 3rd Round match of 3rd February 2004, which finished goalless, and was also my first-ever Stanley game

Micky Cook is the current Colchester United record holder for most appearances, holding the record for appearances in both the league at 613, and in all competitions with 700 between 1969 and 1984: Mike Walker ranks in second with 524 appearances in all competitions, and Tony English third with 515. Tony Adcock holds the record for most goals in all competitions with 149, but Martyn King is the club's record league goal scorer with 132 goals. The U’s widest margin of victory in the league was a 9–1 win over Bradford City on 30 December 1961 at Layer Road: their highest losing margin came on 15 December 1988 when they were thrashed 8–0 at Leyton Orient (The U’s at the O’s)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00 pm on Saturday 31st August (soon be Autumn!) …………….. And there are six Baldicoots munching the old Prawn Butties: Pep Guardiola, Erik ten Hag, Enzo Maresca, Arne Slot, Nuno Espirito Santo and Sean Dyche …….. so I’m told ……….. and the third side to go through their three first-ever League games without conceding a goal – in 2001/02 – was Rushden ad Diamonds ……….. how transient is fame? And further to annoy, Ardwick and Liverpool both won their fourth games (even though they did concede), but R&D lost their fourth game 3-2 against Plymouth despite having been 2-0 up after 42 minutes played ………

Time for a win, me’thinks, but keep an eye out for a massive handful!

Good luck to everyone! …………… Gardez la Foi! ………… Et Merci d’avoir joue

MikeA · 30-08-2024, 05:30

3-2 Stanley, please

Watchdog · 30-08-2024, 05:44

We need a WIN so 2-1 to Accrington Stanley

pifco · 30-08-2024, 07:28

2 -1 to stanley

Div3North · 30-08-2024, 07:35

Errata

It’s Game 4, not Game 5 as in the header

Our first meeting was 3rd January 2004, not February

It was very late, and after 3+ hours I thought I’d lost the whole opener, which told me it was a ‘read only’ copy, at which I said a rude word