2021/22 Prediction League; Game 8 v Wigan Athletic (home)

[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

v

Wigan Athletic

2021/22 Prediction League Game 8; v The Platt Whazzers (home)


Tanzania, you might like to know, played Madagascar in a World Cup Round Two African qualifier at the Dar Es Salaam Stadium last week (7th September). The kick-off was a "hopeful punt forward" by the home side, which their striker Simon Msuva managed to latch onto just inside the Madagascan penalty area ........... four seconds on the clock, and Msuva was "felled on the edge of the box by the onrushing GK Melvin Adrien" and a penalty was awarded, converted by Erasto Edward Nyoni .......... Novatus Dismas Miroshi made it 2-0, but the visitors levelled through Njiva Rakotomarimalala (officially my favourite footballer's name of the week) and Thomas Fontaine, before Feisal Salum Abdallah struck the winner for Tanzania early in the second half

It's claimed as possibly the fastest penalty ever given, although that hasn't yet been confirmed .......... the fastest I've found was December 2016 in the FA Trophy First Round at Diva Victrix, when Witton Albion's Tolani Omotola was fouled by Chester FC's Blaine Hudson, the foul timed at 6.18 seconds ......... however, that wasn't officially recognised as the fastest-ever awarded penalty; Starter for Ten - why not?

And - just a warning - if a commentator's job comes free at Dundee's Dens Park, don't take it ........ their main strikers are called Mullen and McGowan, and the wingers are McMullan and McCowan, and "MullenMcMullenMcGowanMcCowan" beats "Red lorry, Yellow lorry" into a cocked hat ......... And on "the sound of names", your second Starter for Ten ...........Sweden knocked England out of the European Championship in 1992, and the winner was created and scored by Thomas Brolin and Martin Dahlin in tandem; as they "carved through the English defence", and in an unintended homage to Dolly Parton, the English TV commentator intoned, as the move flowed, "Brolin ...... Brolin ....... Dahlin .... Brolin" (sing it to yourself!) .......... But who was said commentator? And what other especially English sporting event did he commentate on from 1993 to 2004?

And as part of my symposium on the subject of "The old order changeth, yielding place to new" (from "Morte d'Arthur", by Alfred, Lord Tennyson) I offer you some of last week's League One results ......... Like - Ipswich 2 Bolton 5 .......... Plymouth 3 Sheff Wed 0 ........... Rotherham 2 Fleetwoof 4 ....... Charlton 1 Cheltenham 2 ....... Morecambe 3 Wombles 4 ...... there are only three sides in Ligue Un with more than three wins, and the other two are Slumberland and Wigan ........... Ipswich, Crewe and Donnie still haven't won .......... AFC Wombles are the highest scorers (15 in 7), and Ipswich have conceded 15 - 3 more than anyone (actually, AFC Wombles!) ......

Vegan Greenpeace top Ligue Ducks by two points from unbeaten Harrogate (who have a game in hand) and the Cobblers, and Sutton have now won two on the bounce (2-1 v Stevenage and 1-0 v Hartlepool), which puts them 15th on 8 points (2 points cover Colchester in 10th down to Brizzle in 22nd); Oldham are bottom - P7 W1 L6 GF4 GA14 Pts3 ............ And AFC Fylde lead the Bananarama North, where the bottom five teams include Southport, Hereford, Bradford (PA) and Darlington, and Kelty Hearts lead Scottish 2, and Wolfsburg lead the Bundesliga with the only 100% record, and Arbroath ("The Smokies", or "The Red Lichties" after the red light that used to guide fishing boats back from the North Sea to the Burgh's harbour - and I didn't know that's what red lights were for!) - who you last heard of beating Bon Accord 36-0 on 12th September 1885 - are lying a very creditable third in le Championnat d'Ecosse behind Inverness Cally Thistle and the Kilmarnock (aka The Callies and the Killies) ......... and the fans apparently still mix as they cross over ends at half time in Arbroath's ground (Gayfield Park), which is the closest to the sea in Britain - on stormy days the waves crash against the outside of the stadium walls - happy times!

Wolfsburg FC is, conveniently, based in Wolfsburg, which is a town built in 1938 to house workers at the Volkswagen Beetle factory (so nobody except my mate DaveinGermany has a hope in hell of finding them), play in a very fetching lime-green kit, and have only won the Bundesliga once (2008/09) ..... the full name of the club - quite snappily - is Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V...... and as far as I know they've never invaded Poland

The name Wigan has been dated back to at least the 7th century, and probably originally meant a "village" or "settlement". It has also been suggested that the name is Celtic, named after a person called Wigan. This may have been linked with 'Tre' (meaning homestead) to give an original name of Trewigan. The name of the town has been recorded variously as Wigan (in 1199), Wygayn (in 1240), and Wygan in numerous historical documents, thus proving conclusively that natives of Wigan can't spell, which is probably also why the Brigantes and the Romans both died out.

In the 1st century, the area was conquered by the Romans. There's very little evidence of prehistoric activity in the area, especially pre-Iron Age; however, Celtic names in the area around Wigan — such as Bryn, Makerfield and Ince —seems to indicate that the Celtic people of Britain were active in the area during the Iron Age

Soccer initially struggled to take hold in Wigan, with non-league clubs Wigan County (1897-1900) and Wigan Town (1905-1908) both folding within a few years of their creation. Wigan Borough emerged from amateur side Wigan United (1896-1914, 1919-1920), in 1920 and became the town's first club to play in the Football League in 1921, when they became founder members of the Football League Third Division North. The club - massively hit by the Great Depression - couldn't afford to play their players, and went out of business during season 1931/32 owing £30,000. They were replaced a year later by Wigan Athletic, the town's current club.

Latics were elected to the Football League in 1978 (the season when Trevor Francis became the first £1million English player), and finished a creditable 6th, 6 points off promotion. They eventually reached the PrawnButty League in 2005, and were Greasypoled in 2013; although they suffered further relegation in 2015, the club was promoted again in 2016, went down and up again, and finally succumbed (2019/20) to some very dubious accounting and financial practices, being regulated by a 12-point deduction, imposed for the offence of being screwed over by charlatans .......... in their day, they've been managed by Bryan Hamilton (twice), Larry the Lamb, aka Larry Lloyd, Bruce Rioch, Sam Barkas, Billy the Cook (for a short period in 1956), Ted Goodier, Ted NotQuiteSoGoodier (OK, I made him up), as well as ex-PNE star James Low ("Jimmy") Milne - who also managed PNE from 1961-1968 ............ Their highest-ever place in the pyramid was 10th in the Top Tier in 2005/06 (51 points, and above the likes of Man City and Everton)

They parted company with 15 in the summer, including Joe Dodoo to Donnie, a couple to Carlisle, one to Ipswich and one to Prescott Cables ..... but Leam stopped them from a second consecutive drop ...... 14 signed up, including GK Ben Amos from Charlton, Welsh RW Gwion Edwards from Ipswich, DM Tom Naylor and CB Jack Whatmough from Pompey, Sunderland's CF Charlie Wyke and CM Max Power from Sunderland, Rochdale striker Stephen Humphries, NI LW Jordan Jones from Rangers, and some more you won't know ..... and Leam Richardson was appointed full-time manager on 21st April 2021 (despite an invitation to join Le Serpent at Ipswich)

They lost their opening game 2-1 at the Stadium of Light, and since that they've beaten Rotherham (1-0), Charlton (2-0 away), Pompey 1-0 at home, Donnie 2-1 at home, and drawn 1-1 with Wycombe (also at home) ... in the EFL Cup they beat Hull away 8-7 on pens after a half-Desmond and Bolton at home 5-4 on pens after a Goalless Desmond, giving them Sunderland in Round 3 next week .......... in the Troffy they lost (on pens, 4-2, after a Goalless D) to Wolves u12s, and they've to go to Crewe and entertain Shrewsbury .......... Their P6 W4 D1 L1 GF8 GA4 gives them 13 points and second place; leading scorers in the League are Will Keane with 3 and Callum Lang with 2

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 18th September ... we did them 4-0 in the FL Trophy in November 2017, lost in the League 4-3 at the DW (which replaced Springfield Park of Great Fame) in December 2020 (Pritchard, Nottingham and Burgess) and won the return au Wham 3-1 in March 2021 (Burgess, Nottingham and Charles) ..... this one's a toughie - but most of them are toughies this season - so it's COYR! And in the words of Hill Street Blues' Sergeant Jablonski, "Let's go out there and do it to them before they do it to us" .......... Amen to that!

And the reason why Witton's 6.18 second penalty wouldn't have made the record books is, as A Spokesman for Guinness World Records explained,

"This isn't something we currently have a record for but is something we would monitor, however the FA Trophy would not qualify, as the level of play falls below our requirements for professional standardisable sport"

Snobby bugg*rs .......... and anyway, what's "standardisable sport" when it's at home?

And the 1992 DollyPartoning commentator on Sverige v England was the fantastic Mr Barry George Davies MBE, now some 83 years young, and still one of the best ever .... and his other particular 'event' (among a career covering all kinds of sports with style and knowledge) was the Boat Race!

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

[DaveinGermany]

2-0 to the Stanley please D3N.


As to VFL Wolfsburg, their ladies team (Der Wölfinnen) are a fair sight better than their male counterparts & most definitely better looking to boot!

• UEFA Women's Champions League: Winners: 2012–13, 2013–14. Runners up: 2015–16, 2017–18, 2019–20.
• Frauen-Bundesliga: Winners: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20.
• DFB Pokal: Winners: 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21.

As to Poland, Wolfsburg & VW did have a bit of a hand in the invasion of Poland.

https://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/w...uebelwagen.php

There you go folks, every day a school day on here & you get to learn something new.

[Shurm]

2-1 To Wigan

[cashman]

2-0 stanley

[Tommy McQueen]

Stanley 3 Wigan 1 plesse

[AccyMad]

2 - 1 to Stanley please

[Watchdog]

Accrington Stanley to win 2-1 please

[accytom18]

Accrington Stanley 1-1 Wigan Athletic

[Outback Ozzy]

Know Wolfsburg well from my Army days, when I used to watch Eintracht Braunschweig (whatever happened to them?). Anyhow, onto this Saturdays game:-
Stanley 2-Pie-eaters 1 for me please

[Div3North]

Originally Posted by Outback Ozzy

Know Wolfsburg well from my Army days, when I used to watch Eintracht Braunschweig (whatever happened to them?). Anyhow, onto this Saturdays game:-
Stanley 2-Pie-eaters 1 for me please

Braunschweig were top flight until 1985, and since then - except for season 2013/14 - they’ve alternated between tier 2 (Bundesliga 2) and tier 3 ..... relegated at the end of last season, now in tier 3 again

[ossy kid]

2-2 please

[Tom D]

1 0 win for Stanley please

[monkey hanger]

stanley 1 wigan 2.

[choirboy]

Stanley 2-1 Wigan for me please.

[Lord Stiffupperlip]

Stanley 1 - Wigan 1