Accrington Web - 2018/19 Prediction League; Game 32 v Sunderland (away)

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Accrington Stanley

2018/19 Prediction League; Game 32 v The BlackMoggies (away)

Grateful thanks tonight to Walsall FC for very kindly losing 1-0 at home to the DesperateWombles, and thus remaining below us in 17th place; you’d have thought that with Millwall coming a-knocking in the 5th Round of the Cup on Saturday the ProperDesperateWombles would have had their minds elsewhere, and that - having lost five and drawn one of their last six - they’d be unlikely to add to their 3 away wins in the League this season (Fleetwood 1-0, Gillingham 1-0 and Wycombe 2-1), but a 48th minute sneak meant they crept up to only 6 points (and ten goals) behind 23rd placed Bratfud ................ and now they’re only seven points (and sixteen goals) from safety! Makes our problems look like small beer ............ And Blackpool took a point at Roker Park too (well I still call it Roker Park, cos I can’t get used to the Stadium of Sh1te – sorry, Light) courtesy of Armand Gnanduillet’s first half strike .................... That means that Sunderland have STILL only lost twice in the League, but they’ve also drawn 13 times, which is five more than any of the other top-seven teams, and the reason why, even with a game in hand, they can’t (yet) catch the top two – The Louts and the LambChops – even if they win their game in hand. Which is also one of our Games in Hand. As well. From which we need something to defy the Voodoo Gods of Relegation and their Greasy Pole .................... Seventeen more points – maybe 16 – should do it, and we’ve got 17 games still to play, so that’s a point a game .............which is fine, except that we’ve taken two points from our last 18, haven’t scored in six, and have won two of our last 15 (totalling 10 points from a possible 45 since mid October).................. if we take one point every three games, with 17 left, that’s just under six points which, added to our existing 36, means 42 and that we’ll get Regulated (The Greasy Pole of Regulation to League Two). Bugar!

The SoggyMoggies have been doing a bit in the transfer market; they ProperSigned MF Grant Leadbitter from Middlesbrough on a Free, plundered and sacked Wigan in early January for CM Max Power (who they’d had on loan since early August) paying £mindyourownbusiness; that sacking left the town in flames (which caused £3.00 worth of damage), and so – since it was already on fire – they went back a month later for Will Grigg, paying £nothingtodowithyou for his services ........... Wigan are looking a touch pillaged, I suspect ........... Loans of Burnley’s Jimmy Dunne, Celtic’s LW Lewis Morgan and Spurs’ striker Kazaiah Sterling demonstrate that they mean business ............. and, cutely, the exodus from Tyneside all went outside England (Brexit Rules OK!); strikers Andrew Nelson and Josh Maja (their leading scorer by a country mile with 15) left for Dundee and Bordeaux respectively, and CB Sam Brotherton – a Kiwi (but not Our Kiwi!) – joined USA second tier side North Carolina FC (once known, rather self-effacingly - as the Carolina RailHawks)

Their limited defeats in the League (Burton and Pompey, you’ll recall) are identical in number to their Cup defeats/exits; although they’ve reached the semi-final stage of the EFLTroffy (away to BrizzleRov on 5th March) they crashed out of the EFL Cup (the Milk Cup, I like to think of it as) 2-0 at home to the Owls, and the FA Cup 1-0 at home to Walsall in Round Two, after a half-Desmond at the BestScot Stadium ............... and of their 30 League games, only five have seen them score more than twice; but equally – and here’s a hint for your predictions this week – they’ve scored every time out. So far ..............

Form team this week is the Louts (5 wins out of five, although they’ve actually won 15 and drawn 4 of their last 19, and haven’t lost since 13th October, when Barnsley did them 3-2) ............ close behind are the self-same Barnsley (did you know they have their own style of lamb chop? Just thought I’d mention it - see above) with 13 points out of a possible 15, and Fleetwood, Scunthorpe and Plymouth with 10/15 .................. Sent to Bed with No Tea are Pompey, the Posh, Shrewsbury and the Stanley, each with 2 points from their last 5 games ................. as someone mentioned on the forum, and I’ve mentioned before, we’re almost rock-bottom in the “Goals Scored” League, with 27; the ProperWombles have 23, Brizzle have 30, and no-one else has fewer than 33 .............. and If You Don’t Score, You Won’t Win.

And on a sad note, RIP Fred Pickering – one time Most Expensive Player (£85,000 when Everton bought him in 1964 from Blackburn), England International, full-back turned striker – and the Leicester, Stoke and England Legend who was Gordon Banks .............. was The Save REALLY 49 years ago? Two giants of the game, albeit in a different era, and two men who made their mark, and will be remembered fondly for it

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Friday 15th February. It’s been a worrying few weeks, that it has! ............ No goals in six games is very concerning, but you’ll be happy to know that, by the Law of Averages, we’re just as likely not to score this week as we were last week – and we did! Not score, I mean. Oh pish! And possibly tush! Slightly to mis-quote Macbeth; “Is this a Greasy Pole I see before me?”

And we all know what happened to Macbeth! (Discuss)

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

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