2012 Prediction League; Game 43 v York City (away)

Div3North · 05-04-2013, 11:53

York City

V

Accrington Stanley

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 43; v York City (away)

Of course, Sod’s Law said that Plymouth – needing to beat a hopelessly out-of-form York last Monday to aid their own survival – wouldn’t

……… and they didn’t, losing 2-0!

That was despite the fact that York – now managed by Nigel Worthington, following the sacking of Gary Mills – hadn’t won any of their previous 16 games

(8 draws, 8 defeats – not wholly surprising that Mills went West), and hadn’t even scored in 7 of the last 12 they’d played

……….. Who said anybody can beat anybody in League Two, and that this is going to the wire ……………

After 9 games of the season, at the end of September, they lay in a very comfortable 12th place, with 3 wins (Barnet and Oxford, both by 3-1, and Aldershot 2-0)and 4 draws (13 points) from those 9 games

; we, at the time, were 4th on 17, and out of the automatic promotion places only on goal difference (behind Fleetwood (+6 to +4) ………….. Anybody remember those heady moments?

They didn’t break any pots in the Cups; they’d already departed the Capon Cup 4-2 on pens at Doncaster after a 1-1 draw, and the Tinpot 4-0 at home to Coventry in Round 2, having dispatched Rotherham 1-0 away in the First Round; the FA Cup brought them the Marauding Wombles, with whom they could only manage a 1-1 draw at home and an extra-time 4-3 defeat away.

They’ve done some loan signings over the season, it must be said; some while back they acquired Burton defender and ex skipper John McGrath (32), and winger Alex Rodman (25) and (ex Minstermen) striker Michael Rankine (28), both from Aldershot ……….obviously the new Boss doesn’t fancy them

(or can’t afford them?

), because all three have just gone back home …….. Also out have gone 19 year-old defender Jameel Ible (released), PFA and TV Personality

defender Clark Carlisle (33) – who’s gone back to the Cobblers, and Lee Bullock (31) – a MF whom York only signed last summer (previous clubs include Cardiff, Hartlepool, Mansfield, Bury and Bradford City), but whose face perhaps didn’t fit on his return (he started at Bootham Crescent), shown by the fact that he was loaned out to Gateshead in the BSP very soon after arriving; of that move he said

"I wasn't getting a sniff at York, so there's no point me being sat in the stands"

…………. Which is probably fair comment. He left for Stockport (still in trouble themselves), who have also recently loan-signed Kieron Charnock (remember him?

) and Rotherham’s Danny Schofield (remember him as well?

)

In – to replace the departed

(as distinct from the Departed

) – have come a dressing-room full; Curtis Obeng (23), a 23 year-old FB, once of Wrexham, arrived from Swansea (but seems to have gone home again); Blackburn defender Jack O’Connell (18) has arrived on loan, as have Sunderland MF Adam Reed (21); Blades’ striker Richard Cresswell (now 35), who played for York back in the late 90s when they were still in the League (they dropped out in 2003/4); Ipswich MF Josh Carson (19), who has 4 caps for Northern Ireland – the first, at least, won when Nigel Worthington was the Manager

; and the Owls’ GK Arron Jameson (23) came in on emergency loan. They paid money

out to Derry City for the signature of striker David McDaid (22), recalled striker Tom Platt from a loan at Harrogate, and added ex Middlesbrough Futsal Club (no, not a miss-spelling

) player Ben Everson, another striker, currently unattached after his most recent spells at Icelandic clubs Tindastol

and Breidablick

…….. It does seem to me, with due respect – and we’ve been there ourselves – that the problem with a shed-load of loan signings is melding them into a team, and deciding then what your best side is …….. And at the end of a difficult season, with your future at stake, I’m not sure that a rag-bag of players thrown together is ever going to be greater than the sum of its parts ……….. The team dynamic matters hugely, and I don’t think you create one by signing up anybody who can still walk ………… We’ll see ………..

Their home record is W5 D7 L9 F22 A29; away, it’s W4 D11 L6 F22 A29; overall, P42 W9 D18 L15 F44 A58, leaving them 23rd, on 45 points …………and the teams immediately above and below them both have a game in hand

……… Their 18 draws is also the highest number in League Two, Fleetwood’s 15 being the only number anywhere near it

. Head to head we’re in negative territory – they came to our place in October and nicked the game 1-0, with an 83rd minute goal by Jason Walker ……….

perhaps we should even things up, d’you think?

Talk about a 6-pointer ……………..!

They have 50 goals in all in 47 games; leading scorers are Ashley Renaldo Chambers (23), a striker who’s been at Leicester, Wycombe and Grimsby, plus in the England set-up at u16 to u19 level, and with 2 caps for England C (who has 9 for the season to date); 29 year-old striker Jason Walker (see above, under “scored against us ….”

) – ex Greenock Morton, Morecambe (5 games), Barrow and Luton – also has 9; and MF Matty Blair (not related to Tony as far as I know ……..), who started out in non-League, ended up at York via Telford, Bedworth, and Kidderminster Harriers, and hit the winner in the BSP Play-off Final last May when they beat Luton 2-1, has 6.

As always, the deadline for entries is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm tomorrow, Saturday 6th April (first day of the new Tax Year

); this is dog-fight time

; who wants it most …….. A point is good, but 3 is masses better …… Go get ‘em, Lads

………. No point having cheaper season tickets to watch BSP games ………. We want to suffer the emotional roller-coaster of League Two, thank you very much

………….. Or possibly even League One!

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