Accrington Web - 2014 Prediction League; Game 15 v Newport County FC (away)

Newport County

Accrington Stanley

2014/15 Prediction League – Game 15; v Newport County (away)

The Exiles - or – if you prefer – the Ironsides (because of a steelworks based in Newport in those days, not a detective in a wheelchair :p), or the Port, or the County - were formed in 1912, and from then until 1920 played in the Southern League; in 1920/21, when the “new” Third Division was formed (actually, in effect, the Third Division South, since only Grimsby, Norwich and Northampton of the founder members were further north geographically than Luton! :eek:) they were among those Founders, finishing the inaugural season in 15th place with 37 points from 42 games …… Interestingly, of the original 22, only Merthyr (Tydfil) Town - who beat them 3-0 at Newport - are no longer in the League ……… 15th came off the back of a 4-1 win at Gillingham (who came last, but were re-elected, alongside Reading and Brentford – the new League was won by Crystal Palace), but also 5-1 defeats at Plymouth and Watford and a 5-0 drubbing :D (isn’t that a lovely, evocative word …..like “dubbin” :D) at Swindon.

And so they footled ;) – another evocative word - around the lower Leagues; in 1970/71 they created an unwanted record which they still hold – 4 draws and 21 defeats in their first 25 League games :confused:, plus, as the icing on the cake (probably on the bottom of the cake :rolleyes:) a record-equalling 6-1 humbling by non-League Barnet in the 1st Round of the FA Cup :o ………but it got better; in 1980 they won the Welsh Cup, which qualified them for the UEFA Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1980/81 where, having beaten two teams whose names I can neither pronounce nor spell :):), they met the (then) mighty East German side Carl Zeiss Jena in the Quarter Finals; the winner plays Benfica in the Semis. Disappointingly, a stunning 2-2 draw away was followed by a single-goal home defeat …..and inevitably it got worse; in 1988 they lost their League status :(, and in 1989 they went out of business :mad:. The Phoenix rose from the ashes, though, and they re-formed; they were treated, by the local Council, as a continuation of the same business, the consequence of which was that they weren’t allowed to play at Somerton Park :confused: (because of arrears of rent from 1988 etc) ……..hence “The Exiles”, as they played, for a while, at Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire, and, later, at Gloucester. In 2004/5 they made it to the Conference South; in 2010/11 they made it to the Conference Premier; they managed 9th and 19th place finishes before – in 2012/13 – their Centenary season – they hit the heights of 3rd place, dumped Grimsby out of the Playoff Semis :), and – to a lot of peoples’ surprise – Did It Unto Wrexham 2-0, to recover their League status 19 years quicker than we did ……..:D:D

Things you need to know about Newport County include; (1) their mascot is “Spytty the Dog” :confused::confused: – something to do with Bob Carolgees’s dog Spit, but more to do with Spytty Park in Newport – aka the Newport Stadium - where they played before moving to Rodney Parade (2) Spytty the Dog’s shirt number is K9 – ha ha very droll (not) :eek: (3) former managers include Jimmy Scoular, Colin Addison, Len Ashurst and Jimmy Mullen – names that those of my generation will instantly recall :), and former players include one John Aldridge (Liverpool FC) ;);) (4) when they won the Playoff Final in 2013 the club was apparently awarded the Freedom of the City of Newport :o:o in recognition of their achievements, which (a) goes to show how low the expectations of some people are (mind you, what do you expect of a nation which gave us Max Boyce and a chant of “Oggy Oggy Oggy” :D) and (b) allows them to herd their sheep over the Severn Bridge, or some such :confused::confused::D:D ………if they’ve got any sheep, of course! And no sheep jokes are necessary at this juncture, thank you very much …………:p:p:p

They did less business, I think, than just about every other team during the close season; Ryan Burge was released; David Pipe joined Forest Green Rovers, Aaron Amadi-Holloway went to Wycombe, and Harry Worley went to Stevenage. If you believe what you read, Mr Worley (a) is a chorister in his spare time; (b) made a guest appearance at Delboy’s wedding in “Only Fools and Horses”, singing “Old Shep” at Del’s wedding :confused:, and provided the voice-over for “Diesel” in “Thomas the Tank Engine” :eek: ………..Isn’t Wikipedia a fascinating place? If he plays at our place in April, I think we should all sing “Old Shep” every time he gets the ball ………Oh, and to show how authentic and reliable Wikipedia is, it says that Harry Worley “plays for Hertfordshire giants Stevenage” ……… Yeah, right! :D

In came defender Darren Jones (31), who has been, in his time, at Forest Green, Hereford and Aldershot, as well as being both a shrew :rolleyes: and a womble :D; Kevin Feely (21), an Irish-born defender with Bohemians and Charlton on the cv, plus loans at Carlisle and Wimbledon; MF Mark Byrne (25, also Irish), from Barnet via Notts Forest and a loan at Burton; and, perhaps most interestingly, Yan Klukowski, a 27-year-old MF who they picked up from Forest Green, but who has spent time with Bath, Chippenham, Ottawa Fury, the now-defunct Cape Cod Crusaders :o (“Na na na na Na na na na BATMAN” :D) of the USL Premier Development League – the 4th tier in the USA structure: the Western Mass Pioneers (who play in Ludlow, Massachusetts, and are also in the USL PDL) and Larkhill Athletic FC of the pithily-named Southern League Division One South and West ;), who play at the wonderfully-named “Plain Ham Ground” :) …….bet they don’t very often cut the mustard! :D:D:D On loan from Swansea are Welsh u21 international central defender Scott Tancock (20) and – yesterday – ex Wrexham defender Curtis Obeng (25),who signed for the Swans in January 2012, and had loan spells last season at York and Fleetwood. In addition, you probably all saw the The Big Beast (Jermaine Renee “Rene” Howe - who was once a Seagull (Eric Cantona eat your heart out!)) ruptured a thigh muscle back in August and is (probably) out for the season; although he’s given us trouble in the past, we wish him a quick and complete recovery ………:)

They didn’t achieve any great glory in the Cups; out of the WillCarling 3-1 at Reading, and out of the PaintPot 2-1 at home to the Blades. In the League, they lost their first three :rolleyes: – 2-0 to Wycombe, 3-2 at Morecambe and 1-0 at Mansfield - and at that time were 22nd, above the bottom team only on goal difference (they had -4, we had -6 :D:D) ……since then it’s got better, to be fair; they’ve won 4 of their last five :), and their last four at home :D, which gives them a home record of W4 D2 L1 – 14 of the 22 points which create their current 8th place …….since the loss in the first home game of the season, they’ve drawn 1-1 with both Burton and Cambridge, and beaten Northampton 3-2, the Wombles 4-1, York 3-1 and Southend on Tuesday night (1-0, aided by a penalty miss from the Shrimpers) …..for the record, they’ve also scored four times in the 90th minute, which has – as a minimum – turned one potential defeat into a draw, and one draw into a win :) ………Overall – if you ignore their first three games – its W6 D4 L1 of their last 11, the only loss being a single-goal reverse at a rather resurgent Oxford; including everything, it’s P14 W6 D4 L4 F17 A13; they’ve got 9 players with a single goal each (including Ismail Yakubu and Andy Sandell), three – defender Darren Jones, striker Aaron O’Connor, and 20-year old striker/loanee Joe Pigott (from Charlton) – with 2 each, and one – leading scorer Chris Zebroski – with four ………:cool:

Last season it was 4-1 to them at their place and 3-3 at ours :o; before that, in 1960/61 an Easter “double header” saw us win 3-1 away and draw 0-0 at home :), and the season before that we lost 2-1 away and drew 2-2 at home :o:o; projecting that forward, after 2-1, 3-1 and 4-1, this year’s away game should end 5-1, and since they won, then we did, then they did again, it’s our turn again – so, according to the numbers, this should be a 5-1 win to the Stanley :D:D (the home game, by the same method of calculation, will be 1-1 :o). You heard it here first! :p:p:p:p:p

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 25th October. Unless they’ve changed it back to Sunday again :eek:. They aren’t the form team, despite the stats above; that honour currently goes to Luton, who’ve won their last six :cool:, and seven of their last 8, which is likely why they’ve just sneaked in to 3rd place; Newport, though, are on a good run – but then, so are we …………14th? We’d have taken that five games in to the season, when we were bottom, with no wins and one point from our first five games :o:o ……………and we’ve won 6 of our last nine; if we keep that up for the rest of the season, we finish up on 83 points ………don’t we Wyn? :D:D And that, last season, would have got us 2nd place! ………………Keep taking the tablets! :):confused::):confused::)

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

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