2011 Prediction League; Game 31 Rotherham Utd (away)

Div3North · 12-02-2012, 00:25

Rotherham United

V

Accrington Stanley

Prediction League – Game 31; v Rotherham (away)

The Millers, you may like to know, are scoring, this season, an average of 1.6 goals per game

; they're also conceding an average of 1.6 goals per game

, which is maybe why one of the pre-season favourites for promotion in many minds currently languish in 12th place in the League – P28 W11 D7 L10 Pts 40. (When we met in September they were 2nd, on goal difference, behind Morecambe, with a record which read P7 W5 D1 L1) . Friday night’s 2-0 win at Southend brought a run of 3 consecutive losses to an end (home defeats 0-1 to Port Vale and 1-2 to Swindon, and a 3-2 reverse at the resurgent (?) Daggers), and the three before that brought a 3-0 win over the Bantams, a 1-0 reverse at Cheltenham, and a goalless nonsense at Macclesfield. Symptomatic of a season which includes not a single victory during October

(drew 3 lost 4), 10 defeats

(half at home) and an overall 40% win rate (including just 6 league wins in 21 games since September

) tells its own story ……….

They sold striker Chris Holroyd to North End (at the same time as we bade farewell to Proccie ), and have loaned another forward – 22 year old Marcus Marshall – to Macclesfield (the height of his career to date would presumably be the single first-team game he played while on Blackburn’s books). In came Chelsea keeper Rhys Taylor (who had a stand-out season on loan at Crewe last term), ‘seasoned pro’ Richard Naylor (34), a defender who played for Ipswich from 1996 to 2009, had a spell at Leeds, and joined Doncaster last summer, playing 11 times; his career stats start with 420+ games played …….. Also in on loan came Posh’s fullback Scott Griffiths (26), who hasn’t played for Darren Ferguson’s side in 20 months but has been on loan to Chesterfield and Crawley, Kieron Cadogan, a 21 year-old winger/midfielder from Palace, and Shaun Harrad (27), a striker with a CV which includes Burton (64 goals in his 6 years there), Northampton from Jan 2011 to August, and Bury from August last. He may have been available for loan because his goals tally at Bury has been none in eighteen games

, but he scored on his debut for the Millers on Friday, and bears watching ……….

They’re out of all the cups without making any great impression; they left the Carling in the first round (4-1 at home to Leicester) and the JPT (after a bye) in Round 2, 2-1 at home to the Blades; the FA Cup brought them some success

– not much, since it was a 2-1 win at Barrow

- but that success brought them a 2nd round tie at Shrewsbury, which they duly lost 2-1. They know where the net is, it must be said; 4 goals once (4-1 at Plymouth), 3 goals no less than 7 times (3 at home and 4 away), 2 goals 8 times, 1 goal ten times, and just six times they’ve fired blanks all game – but three of those six have been in their last 7 games

. They also leak at the back; worst was a 5-2 loss at Bristol Rovers (before Mark McGhee), but then in addition they’ve conceded 4 twice, 3 four times, 2 eight times, 1 ten times, and have kept just 7 clean sheets (of which three have also come in their last 7 games!)

Our record against them sort of stinks, really

; nine meetings, 5 defeats, 2 draws and just 2 wins; last time we beat them was at Fortress Crown on a Tuesday in March 2010, when goals from Michael Symes (now of Rochdale – what happened to “I want to sign for Bournemouth to be nearer my girlfriend”, Michael?

)) and Jimmy Ryan gave us all 3 points. The first game this season was a 1-1 draw, Big Sean getting our goal with a trademark free kick

. P9 F7 A12 Pts 8. Rubbish, lads

…….. Mind you, just wait till 100% Leam gets among them ……….

Leading scorers for Andy Scott’s side are strikers Lewis Grabban (24) – who was with Scott at Brentford, as well as playing for Palace and Millwall (who paid £150k for him back in 2008) – with 15, and Alex Revell (28) – ex Brighton, Southend and Leyton Orient - with 9; 23 year-old midfielder Gareth Evans, fresh from two seasons each at Macclesfield and Bradford City, has 6, and "legend"

Glenville Adam J Le Fallover

is still fourth on the list with 4 (plus 6 more at Reading – enough to make him joint top scorer there!). Eleven others have weighed in with one or two, and own goals make up the balance. For the record, Grabban, Revell and Evans all joined in the summer (as did the already-departed Holroyd).

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Tuesday 14th February. Will we be buzzing after the game? (St Valentine is also the patron saint of beekeeping ……

) Can Leam’s Lads continue the climb into the playoff places (or higher?) Will we concede 1.6 goals? Will we score 1.7 goals? Tight game? 11 goal thriller? Goalless draw? Who knows? Not me, that’s for sure ……… or Wynonie …….. or DaveNotinGermanyatthemoment

either ……..

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