2011 Prediction League; Game 33 - Swindon Town (away)

Div3North · 22-02-2012, 22:23

Swindon Town

V

Accrington Stanley

Prediction League – Game 33; v SwindonTown (away)

Happen you might think – and if you did, happen I might agree with you – that now is not a thrillingly good time to be going to Swindon

; lost our last three

, not scored in 5 ¼ hours of football

, not replied to the last nine goals we’ve conceded

, and not playing as well as we were……………..

But then again; is there any reason to be downhearted?

None at all – keep the faith

. We fear no-one in this League!

Big Bad Paolo (“Thank you for banishing me to the stands”) didn’t entirely keep the faith with all his summer signings; Leon Clarke came in from QPR, fell out with the Boss after 11 days of his 2 year contract, was out on loan after 3 weeks at Chesterfield (where he did well), and was exchanged for Charlton striker Paul Benson (32) in January

; Alberto Commezzi, a 32 year-old Italian defender, played only five times and has had his contract cancelled after 7 months; Ibrahim Atiku, a Ghanaian midfielder, never played at all and left after 3 months of a 2 year deal; rumour seems to be that Algerian striker Mehdi Kerrouche (26) – who has 8 in 18 games – is being frozen out; and Czech Republic striker Lukas Magera (29) – 18 games, 9 from the bench, and one goal – has gone back to Banik Ostrava on loan. “Over ‘ere son, on me ‘ead!”. Add Michael Timlin and Elliot Benyon, both of whom have gone to Southend (Benyon having been signed from Torquay in January 11), and you’ve got an authentic clear-out.

Spaces in the dressing room mean new signings; as well as Benson the Robins have brought in winger Luke Rooney (21) from Gillingham for a six-figure fee, Palace’s keeper Wes Fotheringham (just 20) – who was on loan from September and kept 9 clean sheets in 15, and ex Foxes midfielder Lee Cox (21) from Inverness Caledonian Thistle; Daniel Boateng, Arsenal’s reserve team skipper (a 19 year old defender) and 20 year old Ipswich striker Ronan Murray (wasn’t he part of Take That?

) – who got 2 in 10 in a previous loan spell - complete the picture.

Modest as ever, Paolo has just described his team as “far away better” than their League Two promotion rivals

. Maybe, on the stats, he’s got an argument; home record is 11 wins, two draws and one defeat

– to Oxford on a Sunday in August by 2-1, and the away record is W8 D2 L6 F21 A15; overall, played 30, won 19, drawn 4 and lost 7, scored 52 and conceded 23

(scoring 31 of them at home and conceding just 8). They’ve put 4 past Barnet at home without reply, Huddersfield in the FA Cup (4-1 – maybe that’s why Lee Clark got sacked in favour of Simon Grayson?

) and away at Southend (also 4-1); they also tanked Crawley 3-0 at home on St Valentine’s Day, to complete a 3-0 double over them for the season

, have also managed 3 against Morecambe, Crewe, Hereford and Rotherham, all at the County Ground, and have failed to score just half a dozen times – only once since October (at Torquay on Boxing Day).

Nineteen players have scored for them, including Magera (1), Christian Montano (1 – against us) who’s now on loan at Notts County for the second time this season, Jake Jervis – now at PNE – with 5 (one against us), Rooney with 1, Murray with 2, Benson with 4 and Welsh u21 midfielder Billy Bodin with 2. Top of the pile are 22 year old striker Matt Ritchie (ex Portsmouth, Daggers and Notts Co) with 10, Mehdi Kerrouche (see above) and Alan Connell (29), a striker whose cv covers Bournemouth, Brentford, Hereford and Torquay before he spent last season at Grimsby, both with 8, and Raffaele De Vita (ex Livingstone, and for 4 years part of Blackburn’s Youth set-up) with 6

Our record against them isn’t thrilling either; in 06/07 we drew 1-1 at home (Andy Todd), and lost 2-0 away; they went up to League One, coming down again last season. This season we lost to them at Fortress Crown by 2-0; played 3, no wins, one draw, two losses, scored 1, conceded 5. Hmmmm!

Currently they top the table, with 61 points from 30 games; Cheltenham and Southend are 2 and 3 on 60 and 59, but both have played two more than Swindon; having dropped two points by drawing at home to Morecambe tonight, Crawley are 5th on 56 from 29

……….Ah bless! What a shame ……

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 25th February. On the numbers you maybe wouldn’t fancy us

……. But then, I bet Crawley thought they’d do Morecambe – so there!

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