2015/16 Prediction League; Game 28 v Exeter City (away)

Div3North · 21-01-2016, 22:22

Exeter City

V

Accrington Stanley

2015/16 Prediction League; Game 28 v Exeter City (away)

It’s all in the stats, really; Stanley had 19 shots (7 on target)

and 8 corners; Hartlepool had 7 shots (3 on target) and 4 corners ……….the result, in no small measure, was determined by that – Stanley 3 Pool 1 …….and the welcome return of footie

to the WhamBamThankYouMa’am Stadium ….who said, “If you don’t shoot, you won’t score”? Probably Bill Shankly!

Talking of stats, two more managers have gone

; Mark Robbins departed the Iron (to focus for a while on the ironing

, mayhap!), and Ian Hendon left Leyton Orient on Monday after four wins in 21

, following a cracking start to the season (5 and 0 in their first five), he having only been there since May 2015. Temporarily he was replaced by Andy Hessenthaler (ex Gillingham), but today the Os have appointed ex Bolton, Newcastle and Hammers MF Kevin Nolan

(33) as player-manager on a 2 ½ year contract …………..Kevin is apparently the second youngest manager in the League (Gary Caldwell at Wigan is younger), and he has no previous managerial experience (hope he’s got his badges!) ………you can only wish him luck.

Of 92 League and PL sides, 36 (yes, thirty-six!

) managers have left their jobs one way or another in the first five months of the season – five in the PL, 11 each in the Championship and in League One, and nine in League Two; that’s a strike rate of almost 40%

….the by-product of that astounding lack of longevity is that Exeter’s Paul Tisdale, appointed on 26th June 2006, is now the second-longest continuously-serving manager (behind Arsenal Winger, who can give him 10 years), Morecambe’s Jim Bentley is fourth in the list (13th May 2011), and our own Coley – who came back, fatted calf-wise

, in September 2014 (17 months ago, give or take a smidge) – is now 30th out of 92

; sixty-two clubs (or a few less, since some clubs have changed their managers like most people change their undies

) have therefore changed the hand on the tiller in 17 months ………………..astonishing!

We whapped The Grecian 2000s 4-2 at our place on 19th September

, having been four up through Windass (2), Mingoia and Billy Whizz; their record in the League since then hasn’t been thrilling; in October they won 1, drew 3 and lost 2, in November they won 2 and drew 2, in December lost 3, and in January so far they’ve managed one win, one draw and a loss. In their last six League fixtures they won 3-1 at Leyton Orient (see “Ian Hendon sacked” above), drew with Morecambe (away) with a half-Desmond, and lost the other four

– 3-0 at Oxford, and three times at home

(2-1 to the Daggers, 2-0 to the Wombles, and 3-2 to Luton) …………..P6 W1 D1 L4 GF7 GA12 Pts 4, which is relegation form, frankly ……………..overall in the League they sit 14th, with a record that reads P26 W9 D7 L10 GF35 GA39 and 34 points; they’re above Crawley on GD (-4 plays -12) and a point behind Morecambe…....in the FA Cup they beat Didcot Town

3-0 away and Port Vale 2-0 at home, before managing a full Desmond at home to Liverpool u12s

(whose side featured just 3 players who had played more than 4 first team games each) ….. The replay, however, was a let-down ……or more accurately a let-in

, with three unanswered goals going in Booby Olejnik’s net. Paul Tisdale (see “second-longest serving manager but running out of time” above) said, phlegmatically;

• “We have to be realistic, it was a big challenge. I knew I had to pace the team. We couldn't overdo it too early. We didn't get to grips with the game in the first 20 minutes.”

………………..or, it might be argued, in the last 70 either!

The squad has hardly changed at all since the season began, which must be mainly finances (although the Liverpool games should make them £decentmoney, which is going to be spent on the ground, apparently); they loaned out a couple of fringe players to non-League (Truro, and Hayes & Yeading, which are the places they went, not the players’ names), and they recently LoanSigned Jayden Stockley (who played 10 for us on loan, scoring 3 goals, in 2011/12) from Bournemouth. Their leading scorers are striker Tom Nichols (22, and last season’s highest scorer, having come through the ranks in Devon) with 11, David Wheeler (25, Lewes and Staines Town) with 7, and 28-year old striker Alex Nicholls (once of Walsall and the Cobblers) with 5; both Wheeler and Tom Nichols are out of contract at the end of the season (sound familiar?

), and Tisdale seems resigned to the possibility that they may leave – compensation for Nichols, nothing for Wheeler ………… Nichols, it seems, is being linked with The Posh ...............

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 23rd January; our away form is excellent

(W6 D3 L3, which is 5th in the Division, and with the third-best GD on the road (+9, bettered only by Plymouth (+11) and Oxford (+10)

); Exeter’s current home form is, frankly, tosh

(lost their last three

in an overall pattern showing W4 D5 L4, which is 17th best in the League); we might just be on to something here! If you can cross it, cross it!

Good luck to everybody!

.............. Keep the Faith!

................ And thanks for playing!