Accrington Web - 2011 Prediction League; Game 24 Barnet FC (home)

Accrington Stanley

Barnet FC

2011 Prediction League – Game 26; v Barnet (home)

Not all your loan / short term contract signings will necessarily stay; in the Bees’ case they quickly lost two of their summer signings – 34 year-old striker Jason Price (ex Carlisle, and loads of loan clubs) went to Morecambe (and proved quite a handful for Big Kev on Boxing Day :)), and 6’ 5” defender Exodus Geohaghon – who played last season for Posh, Rotherham, Shrewsbury and Port Vale – went to Darlington, who then loaned him to the Daggers; seven different clubs in a season and a half – makes you wonder, n’est-ce pas? They also released midfielder/winger Tommy Fraser (23) – formerly the skipper of Port Vale, from whom they signed him in January 2011 – who now plays for Whitehawk in Div One South of the Isthmian League; not sure whether that’s a great career move :o, but no doubt he’s got a plan ……..:p

Continuing the “more senior player” route, they signed Lloyd Owusu, also 34, on 12th September (ex Brentford, Blades and Adelaide Utd), only to loan him out very quickly to Hayes and Yeading; their other main criteria for signings seems to be “being French” :confused:, since they brought in Alassane N’Diaye (21) – a French midfielder from Palace (who had a (non-playing) loan spell at Southend cut short, reportedly due to a “training ground bust-up") – and, on loan, Cedric Baseya, a 6’ 5”, 23 year old striker of interesting pedigree from Reading, he having been on the books of Southampton, Crewe (on loan), AS Cherbourg, Lille and Le Havre, and having apparently grown an inch between signing for the Royals in September and joining the Bees ;) …….. After a 6-3 thumping against Burton, Lawrie Sanchez (“I’ve scored a goal in the Cup Final”) went a-hunting for new defenders (who could defend ……:)), and came back with Paul Downing (20) from the Baggies, Jack Saville (20) from the Saints, and Michael Hector (19), also from Reading, who has played League of Ireland games for Dundalk. The ‘set’ was completed by Gary Borrowdale (26) from QPR, with a “C” list CV – Coventry, Colchester, Charlton, Carlisle and Crystal Palace. Oh, and Brighton ……….. Not clear if he’s still registered – he didn’t sign the extension of his loan paperwork in time to re-register him to play against Bristol Rovers on 2nd January, but it may be sorted now.

They play the first leg of the Southern Area Final of the JPT against Swindon (at Underhill) on Tuesday – all credit to them for getting there :D, beating Colchester (3-1 away), Gillingham (by the same margin), Cheltenham (2-0 away) and Brentford 5-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the semi-final. They also made round 2 of the FA Cup, seeing off Southport 2-1 away with a late winner before going down to MK Dons 3-1 at home. In fact, they had a spell of 5 wins in 6 not so long back – trouble was that 4 of the wins were in Cup games.:(

Their last 5 in the League have resulted in one win (at home to the Pirates by 2-0), one draw (2-2 v Cheltenham) and 3 defeats – 1-0 at both Torquay and Crawley, and 3-0 at the (resurgent) Daggers :mad:. Since we drew 0-0 at Underhill they’ve played 18 in the League, winning 5, drawing 2 and losing 11; overall in the League they’re on 24 played, 6 wins, 5 draws and 13 defeats, scoring 28 and conceding 45; worse, their away record is P12 W2:o D2:o L8:eek: F11 A23.

Add in the Cup competitions (in which they’ve scored 14 goals in just 8 ties) and they’ve hit 42 goals in their 32 games; leading scorers are former Derby, MK Dons, Charlton and Millwall striker Izale McLeod (27) with 19 :D (best in League 2) – some suggestion that teams higher up the Leagues are thinking about him for the transfer window, although Justin Rhodes at Huddersfiled might top a lot of lists :D – with ex Chelmsford striker Ricky Holmes next (with 6), and three players each with 3 – Steve Kabba (Palace, Sheff Utd, and loan spells at both Oldham and Blackpool back in 2008/9), ex Swindon midfielder (1 start, 21 sub appearances) Mark Marshall (24), and Cameroonian defender Clovis Kamdjo – once of Cheltenham and Reading (don’t they get a lot of players from Reading? :o).

League meetings between us favour the Stanley – 5 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats over the years :D; if you add in the FA Cup Round 2 games in 2009, our record’s P13 W6 D4 L3 :). This year’s opener was goalless, last season we lost 2-0 (both scored by McLeod) at Underhill but won the return 3-1 with a hat trick from Jimmy Ryan, and the year before we drew 2-2 at Fortress Crown in the Cup (Bobby Grant and Michael Symes), won the replay 1-0 (Grant), did them 2-1 in the League away (Sunbeds and Billy Whizz) and completed the double 1-0 (Kee again)

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 14th January. Although they can score, a third of their goals have come in the Cups, they’ve only managed slightly over 1 goal a game in the League while conceding almost 2 a game, they haven’t scored in 3 of their last 5 in the League, and their away record stinks – 8 points from 12 games :eek:. We, on the other hand, are flying, and intend not to do an Icarus if we can avoid it ……… Half their goals from McLeod (give or take); we’ve got 16 different players on the scoresheet (not counting the OG on Friday). 24 points from our last 10 :) ……. Scoring for fun :) ……… against a team who can’t do it away :) ……….. sounds like a perfect situation for Wynonie and DiG to continue their modest predictions ……….. Go get ‘em, Lads! :D

Good luck to everyone ………… and thanks for playing!

:alright: