2020/21 Prediction League; Game 10 v Plymouth Argyle (home)

Div3North · 07-02-2021, 10:00

Accrington Stanley

v

Argyle

2020/21 Prediction League Game 10; v HMS Plymouth (home)

Hands up if you even knew there was a ship called HMS Plymouth? Built for the Royal Navy in 1959 at Devonport Dockyard, she is/was a steel frigate; no longer in service, and currently laid up at the Vittoria Dock in Birkenhead (see - Scouse connection!) ...... described as "no longer in use as a floating museum" ........ or as a floating anything else, come to that ...

And why "Argyle" in the heading? Read the previous thread and you'll see that that was the original name of the club between 1886 and 1903!

And I may have solved our goal-scoring issue (if we still have one) ..... young Norwegian striker, currently playing in Germany ........ 20 years old ....... his Dad used to play for Man City ........ has a decent goal-scoring pedigree (20 in 27 games for Molde in Norway, 29 in 17 games for Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) - where Mozart was born, although he never played professionally as far as I know - and this season, 38 in 33 games for Borussia Dortmund; 87 goals in 77 games) ....... answers to the name of Erling Braut Haaland (son of Alf-Inge Haaland) ..... not sure if we could afford him, but might be worth asking. His Dad says he wants to play in England one day ....... so why not us?

And talking about Germany, which I wasn't, really; you'll all remember the (Roman) Empress Agripinna - sister of Caligula, wife of Claudius and mother of Nero? (Claudius was her uncle - her father's older brother - so they had to persuade the Senate to change the incest laws so they could marry- which sounds like something ex-President Trump would do!) ........ well ......... she 'founded' a city at the place of her birth; it was first called "Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium", then "The Colony" ....... and now it's the fourth-largest City in Germany, which retains its Roman roots and is known to us as Koln, otherwise Cologne ......... I never knew that!

Nothing new to tell you about Plymouth, or the history of the club, since we last played the Pilgrims on 30th January - so I was looking at "Famous People From Plymouth" instead (as you do) ..... they include the Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott ("Scott of the Antarctic"), politician Michael Foot, actor Donald Sinden, John Hawkins (a 16th-Century privateer (pirate, in other words)), Lt John Chard, officer- hero of the defence of Rourke's Drift (as played by Stanley Baker in the film "Zulu"), Wayne Sleep, and Olympic diver Tom Daley .....

And the Olympic connection started me thinking about the Olympics themselves, but the original ones, not the hyped version of the last 125 years (cos I'd seen a random article on t'internet)........... women weren't allowed to attend them, of course - at least, married women weren't (only men, boys and unmarried girls could attend, and if you were caught trying to sneak in, the punishment was apparently to be thrown off the side of a mountain); a Spartan Princess called Kyniska was the first woman to win an Olympic event (a crown of olive branches rather than a gold medal) even though she wasn't there, never mind taking part, because her team won the four horse chariot race, and it was owners, not racers, who were "the winners" ............. and did you know that the athletes competing in the Olympics did so in the, ermm, buff? Makes you even more surprised that impressionable unmarried young lasses were allowed in to sneak a peek whereas married ladies (who'd probably already sneaked a load of peeks) couldn't - maybe to avoid comparisons back at home afterwards, who knows? ......

I say "competed in the buff", but there was a minor exception to that ..... competitors were allowed a piece of string with which to - err - tie things down, to avoid things, as it were, waving around in the breeze (so to speak - and assuming there wasn't a cold wind, which might cause your string to slip off due to - errr - "shrinkage") ....... these days coaches would do tests and analyses to work out whether your performance was impacted or enhanced by which leg you tied - errm - "it" to - which wouldn't necessarily assist with the pole vault or the high jump though!

So; this week's Starter for Ten on the Ancient Olympics; it was possible, in ancient times, to win an Olympic event even if you were dead ............. True or False?

We played the Argyle, you'll remember, away on 30th January; they didn't play on Tuesday 2nd February, and yesterday they were at Pompey, where they snatched a draw from the jaws of victory, conceding on 86 mins, and then being stupid enough to do it again on 87 ... but even so their unbeaten run goes on (unlike Oxford, who crashed to a 3-2 defeat at Donnie). Argyle's last 9 have finished W4 D4 L1 (prior to that they lost six straight), their only defeat being by the aforementioned Oxford (who - until yesterday - hadn't lost in 13 in all competitions, and had won 9 on the bounce since 15th December) .. The Pilgrims have scored two in each of their last four games (Oxford's nine game winning run saw them score 26 and concede 7!)

They haven't ProperSigned anyone since we played a week back (not had time, really!) but they have LoanSigned CB Sam Woods from Palace ... and they've loaned out Frank Nouble to Colchester, from whom they signed him shortly before this season started (why sign someone, pay their wages, and then lend them to the team you signed them from?) Their leading scorer is also the League One leading scorer - 21-year old Welsh striker Luke Owen Jephcott with 16 (and The Wanderer has moved to joint 5th in the Division on 11, courtesy of his hat-trick against Brizzle) .....

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 5.30pm (according to the Beeb) on Tuesday 9th Feb ... and at the risk of turning into Donald Trump, what happened to our one "shot on target" today? We had one recorded at half time, and by the end of the game it had disappeared, and the Fraudulent Stats - we won that game, no doubt, but now it's being stolen from us - show that today we had 60% possession, 8 shots and no shots on target - so I'll be taking our case to the Supreme Court as soon as ............. and Hull had no shots on target today either, so - surprise, surprise - they lost 1-0 at Burton Albinos (who are still bottom of the table) ....... and you could (and someone did) win an Olympic event despite being dead; the someone was Arrichion of Phygalia, taking part in the "Pankration" ...

Pankration was introduced into the Olympics in 648 BC and was an empty-hand submission sport with scarcely any rules - very popular with the fans; the athletes used boxing and wrestling moves, and others such as kicking and holds, locks and chokes on the ground (a bit like a naked version of MMA, really); the word comes from the Greek word literally meaning "all of power" ... and in competition, the only way to win was, as the description suggests, to force a submission from your opponent (think Mick McManus)

Arry Boy ("Splash in on all over!") was actually the holder of the title at the time, having won in 572 and 568 BC; in a bout defending that title in 564 BC he was put in a choke hold, and as he was being strangled (nice!), he grabbed and dislocated his opponent’s toe (some versions give it as his ankle), which prompted the opponent to signal defeat by submitting; unfortunately, Arry was already brown bread. The Olympic judges gave the victory to Arry. Least they could do, really ..... I'm afraid I don't know what happened to his piece of string .... On the Stanley!

Good luck to everyone! ..... Stay Safe and Keep Well! ....And thanks for playing!

DaveinGermany · 07-02-2021, 10:35

2-0 to the Stanley please D3N.

The other thing about Köln is they have their very own Beer type "Kölsch", (a light Ale) & as such it can't be officialy brewed outside of the environs of Cologne.

Furthermore yours truly & a couple of other Troops on tour were escorted by the local Polizei to a pub from the Mungersdorfer stadium.

cashman · 07-02-2021, 10:48

2-1 stanley

AccyMad · 07-02-2021, 14:49

Well, as we've seen over the last 2 games, anything can happen on Tuesday but I'll stick with my gut instinct & predict a 3 - 2 win for Stanley please