Prediction League Game 26; v Bury (home)

Div3North · 04-01-2011, 12:37

Accrington Stanley

V

Bury

Prediction League – Game 26; v Bury (home)

It’s probably fair to say that 9th October at Gigg Lane wasn’t the pinnacle of our season; going 2-0 down on 45 to two strikes from Ryan Lowe, and eventually losing 3-0

with only 9 men standing at the end (Proccie and Bateson being red-carded on 75 mins and 82 mins respectively

), continued our iffy record against our friends from Bury (P9 W1 D2 L6 in the League, but a perfect 1 and 0 record, as the Yanks love saying, in Cup competitions

).

Since then, though, and despite being in the Playoff places, it hasn’t been all plain sailing for them either; since the beginning of November they’ve played 10 games in all competitions, of which they’ve won 3, drawn 1 and lost 6 – the wins being against Exeter in the 1st Round of the Cup by 2-0, and by 3-1 away at Burton and 5-0 away at Lincoln in the League, and the defeats including being knocked out of the JPT 1-0 by Tranmere and the FA Cup 2-1 by the Posh. In the League, since they played us, their record is W5 D1 L4, but they haven’t won in their last 4 – a draw at home to Macclesfield on New Year’s Day and 3 defeats, including Monday’s 1-0 loss at Bradford (where we, you’ll remember, got a point!

)

The 13 games they’ve played since beating us have resulted in 35 goals of which they’ve scored 21 and conceded 14; in all they’ve hit the net 41 times in 26 games. In the League they’ve scored 5 twice (Gillingham at home and Lincoln away), 4 twice (Morecambe and Torquay, both away), and 3 three times – against us, and away to Aldershot and Burton; when they score 2 they don’t lose (they've won all their games bar the 2-2 with Macc); they’ve lost just once when they've scored a single goal (Posh in the Cup); it follows that if they score a goal at all, they don’t lose – apart from Peterborough, they haven’t been beaten when they’ve scored. Their leading scorers are Ryan Lowe (of course) with 14, Mike Jones and on-loan Nicholas Ajose with 6 each, and Schumacher and Sodje with 3 each; for the record, Tom Lees and Andy Bishop have 2 each, and David Worrall one.

Their League record to date is P21 W10 D5 L6 F38 A25 for 35 points and 5th place; their away record is a rather scary P11 W7 D1 L3 F24 A13 – far and away the best in the Division. Currently we lie 6 points off the relegation places (managerless Barnet (who sacked Mark Stimson over the New Year), Hereford and Lincoln all having 19 points but a much worse goal difference than ours); by the same token, we’re only 8 points off the Playoffs!

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 8th January. We’re the form team of the two – four points over New Year against their 1 – but is our defence good enough to stop them scoring (see above what happens if we don’t!)? 0-0? 7-5 – the scores we each put up against (now high-flying) Gillingham? Dodgy draw? Triumphant start to New Year to continue? Your guess; your chance to soar up the PL table!

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