Prediction League Game 35; Lincoln City (away)

Div3North · 28-02-2011, 00:15

Lincoln City

V

Accrington Stanley

Prediction League – Game 35; v Lincoln (away)

Chris Sutton out, Steve Tilson (ex Southend) in as manager, and he rang the changes big style in and around the transfer window; out (on loan to AFC Wimbledon) went Drewe Broughton (who was only signed in the summer from Rotherham, played in 20 games and scored none), defender Moses Swaibu (released) and experienced 29 year old midfielder Scott Kerr, who signed for York after 6 years and 249 games at Sincil Bank. He bought Ghanaian striker Ali Fuseini from Millwall (6 starts so far, no goals), ex Southend striker Scott Spencer (3 sub appearances only), midfielder Luke Howell, who had been on loan from the MK Dons (1 goal in 18) and 23 year old Congolese central defender Patrick Kanyuka (once of Swindon, but more recently of two Romanian clubs, latterly FC Cluj), who has 4 appearances, but three of them from the bench.

More interesting, perhaps, are the loan signings; Trevor Carson (22), Sunderland’s reserve keeper, on loan to the 23rd April; he’s unseated Joe Anyon (also a ‘last-summer signing’, from Port Vale), and although he hasn’t played for the Sunderland first team, he’s played 10 games since arriving, and had a call-up to the full Northern Ireland squad last season (but so did Billy Whizz while he was with us); defender Gavin Hoyte (20, brother of Justin), on a season-long loan from Arsenal – he’s played for England at u17, u18, u19 and u20, and made his Premier League debut in Nov 08 against Man City; Reading (and ex-Arsenal Academy) full back Julian Kelly; and ex Colchester and Notts County defender Stephen Hunt (26), who was a regular in the County promotion season, but fell out of favour this year, making only a handful of starts; he’s loaned until 19th March, and so far has played 18, scoring once.

Their home record is P16 W5 D3 L8 F13 A24; very beatable

. Overall in the League they lie 16th, with 38 points from 31 games (W11 D5 L15 F34 A50); add five cup games (a 1-0 over Nuneaton in Round 1 of the FA Cup being about the height of it

) and their total goals scored leaps to 40 from 36 games (61 conceded, and it’s your goals against and goal difference columns which will always kill you …………..

)

They have the strangest sequences of results in matches; since they lost to us at Fortress Crown, their results have been;

In the 9 games starting with the 3-0 defeat at our places, they won 1, drew 3 and lost 5
They then won their next 3
In the next 6, they managed a 2-2 draw at Hereford, and lost the other five (including a 5-0 home defeat by Bury and a 4-3 home (replay) FA Cup exit to Hereford)
Their next 5 games ended in 5 consecutive wins
Their most recent five games have resulted in a 2-0 win at home against Morecambe, a 2-2 draw at Aldershot, and defeats at home by Shrewsbury (5-1) and Chesterfield (2-0), and – last time out – by 4-2 at struggling Barnet.

Against us, they hold the whip hand; of 9 games, we’ve won 2, drawn 1 and lost 6; my excuse is that several of those games have been on strange nights, in that we’ve lost at their place twice on a Friday night and once on a Tuesday, and one of the losses at our place was also on a Tuesday; if you only count “proper” football days (ie Saturday, 3pm kickoff), it’s honours even

. Current bragging rights rest with us, after we comprehensively demolished them 3-0 back in September (alright, I know it was a Friday night match!

), with goals from Sean McConville on 15, and a Terry Gornell double on 19 and 60.

They’re not a high-scoring outfit; their best result in terms of goals scored is a 4-3 win at Stockport, followed by a 3-1 win at home to Hereford and a 3-4 reverse, also at home to Hereford, in a Cup replay. Four goals once all season; three goals twice; two nine times, one twelve times, and goalless twelve times, although, to be fair, only once in their last 15 matches. Leading scorers are midfielder Ashley Grimes (a product of Man U’s Academy before joining Bolton, and now at Millwall, who have loaned him for the season) with 13 (one in three of their total); Mustapha Carayol, another midfielder who signed last season from Torquay, Celtic loan striker Ben Hutchinson (who only managed 6 sub appearances for the Bhoys in 2 seasons, mainly through injury), and 30 year old Grenada international striker Delroy Facey (now with his 13th club), each of whom has 4. Ex Walsall midfielder Josh O’Keefe has 3 (in 28 games), four other players have 2 each, and four more have one apiece. Back in the summer, the ‘golden pairing’ was Drewe Broughton (0 in 20 games and shipped out) and Delroy Facey (4 in 30); not a thumping success ……………

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 5th March . We’re on a roll, they’re in a hole; Craney’s banging them in from distance, they’re struggling to hit the net more than occasionally (11 goals in their last 8 games); their top four scorers have a total of 25, our top four – Terry, Sunbeds, Sean and Jimmy – have a total of 32; we’ve won 3 on the bounce, they’ve taken 1 point from the last 9; it’s got “win” all over it ……….. Hasn’t it! ………? ……….!!! ………….?

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