2021/22 Prediction League; Game 25 v Shrewsbury Town (Away)

[Div3North]

Shrewsbury Town

v

Accrington Stanley FC

2021/22 Prediction League Game 25; v The Soricidae - The Return (away)


I'll tell you what: this is already a season of three halves, and there's still half a season to go ............ We've just equalled our best run in the League so far this year, in that between games 2 & 6 (inclusive) we won four and lost one of five, and between games 19 & 23 inclusive we've just done the same thing ..... in between those two runs we had a spell where we took just 9 points from 12 games, and we lost our season opener ....... 33 points from 23 games, and solidly 10th, has a good ring to it ...... and the games against Wigan, Sheff Wed, Bolton and Rotherham have all seen crowds at the Wham in excess of 4,500 .... and nine of our ten wins have been by one goal ......... and we've triumphed 1-0 six times ....... and it's a bit sweaty at times ...... innit? Anyway, COYR!

And in the fore-shortened Boxing Day fixture lists, you may have noticed that one team lost not only their first League game of the season, but their first League game ever ............. Starter for Ten, then; who is fallible after all, and who did they lose to on Sunday?

The End-of-the-Year awards are all around us at this time (the End of the Year): I wondered if anyone saw these (from the Guardian - which I don't read, but I saw online) .... Copyright Guardian Newspapers (or whoever)

THE SAM KERR AWARD FOR DOING SAM KERR-TYPE THINGS

When a (presumably) drunken lout stormed the Kingsmeadow pitch during the Women’s Cup match between Chelsea and Juventus, he got more than the selfie he bargained for. Sam Kerr, the flamin’ Chelsea and Matildas striker, barged him to the ground in the style of a rolling maul. Hurrah for Sam? No, referee Sara Persson waved a yellow card .... and it later turned out that the invader wasn't even eligible for arrest, due to the antiquated Football (Offences) Act 1991 not including women’s football in the definition of a “designed match”.

THE PREMIER AWARD FOR VAR-RELATED NONSENSE

Award here goes to Martin Atkinson and his video assistant referee Darren England for their collective VAR shocker during Manchester United’s league win away at West Ham. Sawn in half by Aaron Wan-Bissaka in United’s penalty area, not only did the Hammers' Tomas Soucek not get a penalty, but he was actually penalised for a foul himself. Later in the game, Cristiano Ronaldo was denied a clear penalty after being fouled by Vladimir Coufal, then another less obvious spot-kick moments before West Ham galloped up field and didn’t initially get a penalty of their own for a blatant Luke Shaw handball. That decision was at least overturned in the time it took David Moyes to send Mark Noble off the bench to take the crucial spot-kick with his first and only (and the last) kick of the game. He missed.

THE IMMODIUM AWARD FOR GETTING CAUGHT SHORT AT AN INOPPORTUNE MOMENT (AND BRAGGING ABOUT IT TO BOOT)

Scottish co-commentator Bobby Bulloch was late back for the second half of a match between Hamilton and Ross County and apologised to viewers, saying he “went away for a wee jobby at half-time”. "The Accies Suits" were suit-ably (gerrit?) unimpressed by Bulloch’s “very poor attempt at humour” and announced they “didn’t find this funny and the person will not be used again”.

THE GUY FAWKES AWARD FOR SUPPORTING THE NATIONAL TEAM

Team England were in a major final for the first time since the launch of the Mk2 Ford Cortina, and there was of course only one way for the country to celebrate. Across the nation, pubs were filled from breakfast time and in London itself, Leicester Square was full of those who chose to kill their pre-match nerves by tramping on broken bottles, singing about the second world war and hoofing the jazz salt.

One b@nter merchant upped the ante on “no pyro, no party” by thrusting a lit flare betwixt his buttocks. “I’d been on the p1ss since half eight in the morning and had had at least 20 cans of Strongbow,” howled Charlie Perry, a roofer from Sunbury-on-Thames, with “Benidorm Bunters” tattooed on one of his buttocks. “It was the biggest day of my life.”

And if the "Biggest Day of your Life" involves shoving a lit flare up your ar$e, my view is that you shouldn't be allowed out on your own .......

A short-lived Shrewsbury Town (sometimes simply reported as "Shrewsbury") FC, won both the Birmingham Senior Cup and Shropshire Senior Cup in the 1877-78 season, and was captained by John Hawley Edwards: the club disbanded late in 1879.

The Pointy-Nosed Furry Things as we know them were formed in 1886, following the failure of firstly Shropshire Wanderers, and later Castle Blues: the Blues were a rough team, leading to their demise after several games were marred by violence .... the new team hoped to be as successful but without the notoriety. Press reports differ as to the date and place where the new club was formed, The Eddowes Shropshire Journal of 26 May 1886 reporting the birth of the club at The Lion Hotel, Wyle Cop, Shrewsbury, whereas The Shrewsbury Chronicle reported the club being formed at the Turf Hotel, Claremont Hill, Shrewsbury. They footled around playing friendlies and the like, joined a minor League, changed to another one, and a move to the Midland Champions League in 1937–38 saw the club enjoy one of its most successful seasons, winning a league and cup treble: the Shrews were league champions, scoring 111 goals, and in addition, the Welsh Cup was won following a replay, the team enjoyed a run in the FA Cup, and they won the Shropshire Senior Cup.

After a sequence of good seasons in post-war years, Shrewsbury were admitted, alongside Scunthorpe United, to the old Division 3 (North) in 1950 following the decision to expand from 88 to 92 clubs. They've been mainly in the bottom two divisions since, although in 1978/79 they won the old Third Division (third tier) title with 61 points (2 for a win - 21 wins and 19 draws), one point ahead of also-promoted Watford and Swansea, and sealing promotion at the Gay Meadow (in the days when you could have a Gay Meadow without upsetting anyone) with a 4-1 home win over Exeter, spending ten years in the Second Division and only losing that place in 1988/89, winning eight and drawing 18 over that season, to finish 22nd, above Birmingham and Walsall, but five points and a lot of goals behind Hull ....... they've never been back, despite reaching the League One Playoff Final in 2017/18, which they lost 2-1 aet to Rotherham

Managed now by Steve Cotterill, they play - if you're not up to date - at the New Meadow (aka Montgomery Waters Meadow, formerly the Greenhous Meadow); Aaron Wilbraham (ex Stockpot County) is Asst Manager, and The Big Beast (Brian Jensen) is GK coach .......... and by the way, talking about stopping goals (second Starter for Ten), what, in football terms, is a "Coccodrillo"?

Mickey Brown holds the club record for most appearances, accumulated during three spells. Centre half turned centre forward Alf Wood scored 5 goals in the 7–1 victory against Blackburn Rovers in 1971 and became the first player since Dixie Dean to score four headed goals in one match. Michael Jackson managed the club (through the medium of a medium, I suppose) from January 2014 to the end of the season (they were relegated) .......... and they've had 14 managers in the last 20 years

They ended last season in 17th place, with a record of P46 W13 D15 L18 GF50 GA57 and 54 points ............ 12 players left, including CF Leon Clarke (Wolves, The Owls and GoK who else) to Brizzle, Bolton-born Grenadan international MF (3 caps) Oliver Norburn to The Posh, CB Ro-Shaun Williams to Donnie, striker Curtis Main to St HelenMirren, and RB Donald Love to SalfordMoneybags ..... In came six new players - well, technically, six pre-owned (ie second-hand) players - comprising Slovakian GK Marko Maroši from Coventry, Jamaican MF Elliott Bennett from Blackburn, LB Luke Leahy from Brizzle, CB Matthew Pennington from Everton, LB George Nurse from Bristol City, and striker Ryan Bowman from Exeter- 3 on frees, three for £MYOB

The Vegan Gods of Voodoo Football haven't been overly kind to the WaterVoles; they lost their first four games, have won six at home but only one away (and that was Boxing Day, when they smacked Fleetwood's metaphorical backside 3-0), and are currently 18th, which is the best placed they've been all season ...... home form is a respectable W6 D2 L3 GF16 GA12; away, it's W1 D2 L9 GF9 GA17, giving them a pair of overalls reading P23 W7 D4 L12 GF25 GA29 and 25 points ........ they're five points plus some goals above the GreasyPole places, but have played one more than some of the sides below them, so bums may well be squeaky ........... home wins against Gillingham, the Wombles, the MK Donuts, Cambridge, Charlton and Cheltenham (only two of whom are in the top half of the table), and away at Highbury (currently 19th)

Head to head favours them overall, but in League One we've won 3, drawn two and lost two ......... last time out Joel Mumbongo's goal gave us the points in a 1-0 win (and I agree with Coley - 1-0s win titles ("Boring Boring Arsenal") ... The Voles' leading scorers are Daniel Udoh and Ryan Bowman with nine each .... oh, and having beaten Stratford Town 5-1 and Carlisle 2-1 in the FA Cup, they're at Liverpool in Round 3 on the 8th January, although they went out of the EFL Cup 2-0 at home to Rochdale in Round 2, and didn't get out of their Group in the Troffy (rather like Scotland in every World Cup and Euros since the dawn of time)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Wednesday (Wednesday? We don't play on Wednesday!) 29th December ...... Wigan are in the driving seat at the moment - third, but with two in hand on Rotherham and Slumberland|: would be good if we could put it up them on Saturday, because they don't like it up 'em, Mr Mainwaring, they do not like it up 'em ............ Referee is one Neil Hair, who doesn't seem to lash yellow cards around, and hasn't sent anyone off that I can find this season ("Kick him over the stand!")

And the team which has finally tasted defeat (at the 17th attempt) is Scottish League Two leaders Kelty Hearts - promoted to the SFL last season - who went down 5-1 at Annan Athletic ......... and a "coccodrillo" - pioneered in an Inter Milan v Barcelona CL game in 2018 by Inter's Marcelo Brozovic - involves a defender whose team are facing a free kick near their goal lying down on the floor behind the defensive wall with his back to the ball to block the shot that creeps under the jumping wall - a la Peter Cavanagh ...... also know as a "draught excluder", I'm informed .....

Good luck to everyone! ............ Keep the Faith! ,,,,,,,,,, And thanks for playing! ....... And a Happy 2022 to One and All!

COYR!

[andyd]

Stanley 1-1 Shrewsbury.

[DaveinGermany]

2-1 to the Stanley please D3N.

[AccyMad]

2 - 1 to our boys in red please

[MikeA]

1-0 Stanley, please

[LongLostSon]

Stanley 2 Shrews 0

[Tommy McQueen]

Shrewsbury 1 Stanley 1 please

[Shurm]

2-1 to stanley

[cashman]

1-1 fer me.

[Watchdog]

1-0 Stanley win please

[choirboy]

Stanley 2-1 Shrozebury for me please.

[Outback Ozzy]

2-1 Shrewsbury, bit of reverse psychology as my last 2-1 for a team against Stanley ended up with me scoring a single point for Stanley 1 but the team getting 3 points. Here's hoping anyway

[Taypot]

2-2 for me

[stanleyhouse]

Shrewsbury 0 Stanley 1

[Stevie R]

1 each please