Prediction League Game 47A; Stevenage(away - Playoff 1st leg)

Div3North · 10-05-2011, 00:09

Stevenage FC

V

Accrington Stanley

Prediction League – Game 47A; v Stevenage (away) – League Two Play-offs (first leg)

So; first, the facts; their home record is P23 W9 D11 L3 F37 A24 (notionally 38 points); our away record is P23 W3 D14 L6 F20 A31 (notionally 23 points); they’re favourites if you count just points and goals. BUT they only won 9 at home, we only lost 6 away

– different story ……….

Broaden it out and you find; we only lost 9 games out of 46 all season (19.56%) and won 18 (39.13%); they won 18 as well (39.13%) and lost 13 (28.26%); we scored 73 goals and conceded 55; they scored 62 and conceded 45. Amazing what you can do with numbers …………… our 9 defeats was bettered only by Chesterfield’s 8

; we were also second-best in the League in home results (15 wins

– apart from Chesterfield’s 16, no-one else got more than 13 (Crewe))

With Torquay losing 3-1 at Rotherham, and Gillingham losing by the same score at Chesterfield, Stevenage would have made the playoffs even if they’d lost to Bury (provided it wasn’t a Wynonie-like 8-0

); in fact, although they scored first after 8 minutes through Laird, and led again through Reid’s penalty on 19, they went behind in the final quarter to Schumacher’s second, only to level on 73 minutes for 3-3; I don’t think they had the luxury of rotating their squad like we did

(doesn’t that sound impressive!); and don’t forget that – if they hadn’t had a point deducted for playing an ineligible player – we’d have been playing Torquay rather than Stevenage No-Borough in our first ever play-off (they didn’t exist, as I remember, back in the 50s and 60s ………….)

There wasn’t huge amounts going on in the transfer and loan markets since we last them played in February; they spent a “club record fee” (undisclosed, so it could have been a couple of bags of nutty slack for all I know) on Newport County striker Craig Reid in January, loaning strikers Charlie Griffin and Yemi Odubade the other way, and they signed 22 year old Histon keeper Joe Welch on loan to the end of the season (with a view to a permanent move in the summer, although he hasn’t played for them yet), and reputed (BBC Sports website transfer page) Kenyan international Taiwo Atieno, a 25 year old striker who the club say is English born and who has previously played for at least 8 teams here – including Luton, Rochdale, Chester, Darlington and the Daggers – welcome back to Div 2, Daggers!

– signed until season-end (and some in the US).

Since we played them at the Lamex Stadium in February (coming away with a spectacular 2-2 draw

, courtesy of 2 goals in the last 3 minutes

from Terry Gornell (88) and Captain Marvel (90), to add to our 1-0 home win (Sean ‘Golden Boots’ McConville winning that one for us

) they’ve been on a bit of a run; 10 wins and 4 draws from 20 games, including 6 wins on the bounce (away 1-0 at Wycombe, 2-1 at Oxford, 2-0 at Burton and 4-0 at Macclesfield, and winning 2-1 against Lincoln (‘bye, Lincoln

) and 2-1 again against Bradford, both at home. Their recent form, though, must worry them; in their last 6 games they’ve lost 1-0 at Southend and 2-0 at Northampton, drawn 3-3 with Bury, 2-2 at Stockport (‘bye, Stockport

) and at home to Aldershot, and won just the once – 1-0 over Port Vale.

62 League goals plus 8 in the various cup competitions – the highlight being a 3-1 win over Newcastle in the FA Cup 3rd Round – but the goals have been shared, believe it or not, among 22 different players; yes, that does say 22! Midfielder John Mousinho, signed from Wycombe a year ago, has 7; our ex defender Mark Roberts (35 appearances for us in 07/08) has 6, as do another defender (Byron Harrison) and pre-Christmas loan signing Chris Holroyd, who scored his half dozen between September and December and then left to return to Brighton, then going on loan to Bury.

Our Conference history with them is just that – history; we lead the Bragging Rights League

by one win and one draw, and long may that continue ……

So, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen; the deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 6.30pm on Sunday 15th May. As mentioned, we’ve never lost to them in the Football League, and we all – I suspect – know what’s at stake, and what we need to do; but will we do it, and if we do – by what score? For fun only, of course, but get your bets down, and sharpen up your skills for next season

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