Accrington Web - 2017/18 Prediction League; Game 3 v Mansfield Town (home)

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Mansfield Town

2017/18 Prediction League; Game 3 v Mansfield (home)

Well I did say, didn’t I …………………..

Whoever said that sliding down the Slippery Pole of Oblivion into the Conference was hard to follow up by instant promotion back to the League had a point; Hartlepool are currently 19th, with two points from 4 games; Leyton Orient lost 6-1 at Bromley on Tuesday, and have 6 points from 4 (11th, with a -3 GD); Tranmere are 14th (5 points); Macclesfield are 16th (also 5), Torquay are rock bottom (having flirted with the trap door last season as well) with 1 point and a -6 GD; on the plus side, the Daggers are 8th, and Aldershot are top (10 points); York are in Conference North, as are Stockport County and the new Darlington ...... and every time I see Gateshead, Bradford Park Avenue and Southport I’m suddenly 11 years old all over again ............... Happy days!

Mansfield, as you’ll have seen, were the Bookies’ pre-season favourites to win League Two this season, and if they do go up, it’ll apparently be the 10th time that that nice Mr Evans has won promotion during his ……….erm ……….’colourful’ career; as usual, he had a few words to say on the subject;

• “We’ve never hidden from it. I see all these managers hiding behind bushes. We’ve said we want to win promotion and we’ll do what we can, but we recognise every step of the way how difficult it will be.”

Well it will be if you hide behind bushes, that’s for sure …….. What a strange hobby …….. the sort of thing that could dog your whole career

Last season the Stags finished 12th, described elsewhere as “just outside the playoffs”, with a record of 17 wins, 15 draws and 14 defeats, 54 scored and 30 conceded, and 66 points – one place, one point and +2 goals above us; we drew 1-1 at ours in September, El Tel getting the goal, and then shared eight goals equally chez eux on St Valentine’s Day (ah, bless!), our goals coming from Omar Beckles, Shay McBradford and Billy Whizz (x2); we led 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3, only to drop two points in the 89th minute …….. rats!

They brought in 13 new players over the summer; unlucky for some - in this case, the 11 players they released to make room for them! Among the Dear Departed were The Beast (Danish-born GK Brian Palden Jensen, aged 42 and now with Crusaders – the Irish ones, not the Medieval Ones) and fellow GK Scott Shearer (now with Oxford) who played under Steve Evans – well, not under him, but you know what I mean – at Crawley in 2011/12 when they got promoted by winning 1-0 at our place on the last day of the season (the ba*tards) ……. Also on the Last Stagecoach Out Of Town were CB Lee Collins (now at Vegan United, aka FGR) and striker Matt Green (Lincoln), plus CF Yoann Arquin (clubless), MFs Ashley Josiah Hemmings (Boston United), Kevan Hurst (clubless), CB Corbin Shires (which is between Cheshires and Staffordshires, I think), who seems to have played once for the Stags in 3 years and is also clueless – sorry, “clubless” - and three others I doubt you’ll have heard of ……… And speaking of Vegan United, they lost their first FL game 0-2 last Saturday – at Mansfield!

In – ProperSigned – came Austrian GK Bobby Olejnik and ex Rochdale keeper Conrad Logan; Ipswich defender Paul Digby and Cobblers Zander Diamond (that’s not his full name, that’s his last Club, but that’s how it looks if you miss the apostrophe), Scunthorpe’s David Mirfin, Hayden White from the Posh, Johnny Hunt from Chester, MFs Paul Anderson (Cobblers – see “Zander Diamond” above), Will Atkinson from The Shrimpers (Southend, whose training ground is apparently called “The Boots and Laces Training Ground” – isn’t this educational?), Jacob Mellis from Bury (say “hi” to Tom Aldred for us next time you go back!), Omari Sterling-James from Solihull Moors (there are NO MOORS IN SOLIHULL!), ex-Posh striker Lee Angol (known to his mates as “Iron” …… Angol Iron? Get it?) and Argyle’s Jimmy Spencer (Huddersfield, Notts Co, Cambridge, and Morecambe and Northwich Victoria on loan) ……….. Evans’s view of his purchases was;

• “We’ve mainly recruited from a higher level. Lads that have done the distance and been successful. And those same lads will win us promotion”

We’ll discuss that in May, shall we Mr E?

They’ve already exited the EFL Cup in Round 1, 0-1 at home to Rochdale in front of 1457 spectators; in the EFLTroffy they’ve got Lincoln, Notts Co and Everton u23s (I know who my money’s on!) They’ve scored twice in both their League games – a Desmond at Crewe, and 2-0 against Dr Spock and the Greens (FGR) – and that’s enough for 2nd place in the table; only Coventry are 2 from 2; 14 of the other teams have won one game; 11 sides haven’t lost yet (4 of whom haven’t won yet either); two sides (Colchester and FGR) have one point, and three teams have lost both their games; neither of the Newbies (FGR and Lincoln) have won so far ............and all three of the “none from two” teams start with a “C” – being Cambridge, Crawley and Chesterfield ...............

Top of the scoring charts are Luton, who followed their 8 in game one with a zero in game 2; five sides have 5 goals scored (Coventry, Wycombe, us, Port Vale and Yeovil; every team has managed to score at least once; Coventry are the only team with two clean sheets in the League, but they got done 1-3 by Blackburn in the EarlySeasonPointless Cup ........... in case you needed to know; just shows what a very ‘even’ League it is this season!

Hands up if you knew this: in 1962/63 Mansfield won promotion back to the Third Division, having spent some time in the newly-formed Division Four; that promotion, though, was later tainted by prison terms and life-time suspensions (later altered) handed out to players Brian Phillips and Sammy Chapman and former player Jimmy Gault for being part of a match-fixing betting syndicate; who remembers Bronco Layne/Tony Kay? Over 50 years ago – can you credit that?

Famous ex-Managers include Man U’s Charlie Mitten, Raich Carter, Billy Bingham and Mick Jones; famous ex-players include Neville Chamberlain (oh yes he did!), Trevor Christie (didn’t he record “Amarillo”?), Brian Kilcline, “Busby Babe” Albert Scanlon, Johnnie Walker, several Grants, quite a few Bells and VAT 69 ...........ok, I made that bit up. Their record defeat was in March 1932 (1-7 at Reading), but they’d improved by Christmas, beating Rotherham 9-2 for their record win; they won the Third Division in 1976/77, the Fourth Division in 1974/75, the Conference in 2012/13 (with 95 points and a +40 GD from Kidderminster (although Newport won the playoffs)), and the Central Alliance in 1920; they also won the Football League Trophy in 1987, beating Brizzle Cities 5-4 on pens after a 1-1.

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 19th August ............. Whatever else you say, we’re scoring goals (8 in 3), and confidence levels are high; Mansfield are a good team, it seems, but so are we ............. Fortress Wham? Why not!

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

:alright::alright::alright: