Accrington Web - 2018/19 Prediction League; Game 9 v AFC Wimbledon (home)

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AFC Wimbledon

2018/19 Prediction League; Game 9 v Wimbledon (home)

This time last week there were four sides in League One which had each lost only once in the League all season; Doncaster, Fleetwood, Blackpool and the Stanley .......................now there are eight sides with a singleton in the “defeated” column, as Posh, Barnsley, Sunderland and Walsall all simultaneously buggered up unbeaten starts – Posh 1-2 to Pompey, now the only team without a loss, Walsall spectacularly 1-4 at home to Donnie, The Black Cats 2-1 at Burton and Barnsley by the odd goal in one at Coventry ....... last week eight teams failed to trouble the scorers, five home and five away sides won, and there were two draws ............. we drew 1-1 for the fifth time in six games, and the words “came from behind to salvage a draw” are now engraved on Coley’s heart ................. we’ve conceded first in 7 of our 8 games – Brizzle being the only game where we’ve been first on the jolly old score sheet – but a 7-match unbeaten run isn’t to be sneezed at however you get there ............... but a zero GD isn’t good (us and Luton now), and having drawn more games than anyone else in our Division, and being the highest-placed side in League One to have won only twice, aren’t the ideal platform, perhaps, from which to strike for the Championship and Beyond ............... One unbeaten team (PompeyChimer Utd); Gillingham still King of the Numpties with one point from 15, closely followed by Chief Assistant Numpties in the form of BrizzleRov and Plymouth, each with 2/15, and Assistant Assistant Numpties Bratfud, Southend and the Wombles with 3/15 ................. Bratfud have lost their last four; we’ve drawn our last four (half-Desmonds partout); and our leading scorers are Rodney Whizz and Sean McPlayerOfTheSeason, each with three ................... four points cover form 10th (us) down to 20th (Gillingham); the bottom four (Bratfud, Brizzle, Oxfud and Plymouth) look a bit rocky .........................

It’s odd, isn’t it, how careers can go wrong; who remembers Golden Boots Ross McCormack – never out of the headlines, scoring for fun, signed for Villa two seasons ago for £12 million, played 20 times (3 goals), not played for them since August 17, spent last season at Melbourne City, and has just signed for Central Coast Mariners for the season, where among his possible teammates might be the Footballing Legend that is Usain Bolt (or is that “who is Usain Bolt”?)............. where did it all go wrong, Ross? And, on a similar topic, it’s been a year or three since Man City were called “a barely recognisable rabble”(which is a bit rich coming from Andy Townsend!); happy days! And is Arsenal Winger still on the Nash, has anyone heard?

Thirteen of the teams in League One have had new Managers in 2018, and so this week’s Starter for Ten reads, “Name the newly-appointed Managers of Crawley Town, Cheltenham and Blackpool” ................. Betcha can’t! And for a bonus point, who replaced Alan Stubbs at St Mirren? And why?

13 players left the Kingsmeadow ground over the summer; CB Darius Charles (shortly to get a telegram from the Queen, I believe) went to Wycombe, RB Barry Fuller to Gillingham, as did CMF Dean Parrett (who’s a pretty boy then?); Lyle Taylor (I think he’s got a brother called Tate, and a mother with a sweet tooth and a sense of humour) joined Charlton, Jonathan Meades (wasn’t he the All-Black Captain a few years back?) retired, stiker Jayden Antwi-Nyame signed for Free Agent FC, and so did LB Seth Owens, LMF Richard Pingling and RW Lloyd Sam; George Francomb - ex champion jockey – went to Crawley, and a couple more went to the Bananarama ......

In in their stead came Anthony Wordsworth, lonely as a cloud from Sarfend, James Hanson from the Blades, Terell Thomas from Wigan, Rod McDonald from Coventry, Scott Wagstaff from Gillingham, Mitchell Pinnock (bet he’s been called all sorts in his time!) from Dover, and Kosta Sparta (which sounds like Tesco’s new CheapAsChips Supermarket-cum-Coffee House), who arrived for free from Reading. Tesco, by the way, ought to be aware that visiting Americans aren’t going to shop at “Jack’s” (see today’s papers), given what “Jack’s” means in American - a bit like the old Vauxhall Nova, really, which never did sell in South America, possibly because “NoVa” means “won’t go” in Spanish) .............. Innit, Wyn?

Loans in include Tom King, a GK from Millwall – which is comforting, since he was Secretary of State for Defence from 1989-92; RB Tennai Roshame Watson wandered in from Reading; LB Ben Purrington caught the train from Rotherham (“’Owwwww mooch?”), and Donnie pitched in with Tyler Garratt (also a LB) ............... final loan is RW Jake Mario Jervis (Portsmouth, Ross County, Plymouth and Luton), who’s about 7’ 15” or some such as I recall, who moseyed in to Town until the end of May 2019.

Away from home this season the Wombles have done Fleetwood and Gillingham, both 1-0; they’ve drawn 0-0 at Barnsley, and they lost 3-0 at Burton; P4 W2 D1 L1 GF2 GA3 Pts 7 .............. after their first four away games they’ve kept 3 clean sheets. At home they’ve W0 D1 L3 ..... overall, P8 W2 D2 L4 GF6 GA11 for 8 points and 16th place ............ They departed the EFL Cup 1-3 against the Hammers, having done Pompey away 2-1 in Round One ......................... and in the EFLTroffy they did Charlton 4-2 on pens after a Desmond, but contrived to lose to Swansea u8s 1-0

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 22nd September ...................... Leading goal scorers last season were Lyle Taylor with 11 (8 in the League) and Cody McDonald with 7 (5 in the League), both of whom have left for Pastures New; the Wombles ended last season with 53 points from a record which read P46 W13 D14 L19 GF47 GA53 (at home, W8 D6 L9; away, W5 D8 L10) ..... their few League goals this campaign (6 in 8 games) may well spring from having lost their talisman in front of goal, but four clean sheets against three FTS belies their results and points, even though they have been hit for three goals three times in 8 matches .............. Walsall, Burton and Scunthorpe ............and if they can, we can; n’est-ce pas?

And for the record, Crawley are now managed by Gabriele Chioffi, Cheltenham by Michael Duff, and Blackpool by Terry McPhillips - who, who and who (in that order) ……….. and Alan Stubbs gave way at St Mirren in favour of Oran Kearney ….. and Hearts are five points clear, and Harrogate top the Bananarama …… and God's in His Heaven and all's right with the world …………. at least it would be, if we could just win at home ……. or even away!

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

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