[Div3North]

Plymouth Argyle

V


Accrington Stanley

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 30; v Plymouth Argyle (away)

You could argue that not a lot has happened since we played them at home on the 22nd December (a 1-1 draw, you’ll recall, James Beattie’s 52nd minute goal cancelling out their first half strike), and in many ways you’d be right – unless, of course, you’re Carl Fletcher, whose career as manager of the Pilgrims foundered on the rocks of dismissal, to be replaced by ex Oldham and Chesterfield Boss John Sheridan. In the four games between 22nd December and a change of Boss (think in terms of Barnsley, Rochdale etc etc) Plymouth had but 2 goals and one point – defeats by 2-1 at Bristol Rovers (who have a new manager) and 4-0 at Port Vale (who don’t, but who do have Plymouths ex-skipper and central defender Darren Purse), and a 1-0 home reverse at the hands / feet of Wycombe; their singleton point came against Torquay (1-1)

And in came Sheridan – with a record of 64 wins, 49 draws and 51 defeats in 164 games at Oldham, and 63 wins, 38 draws and 59 losses in 160 at Chesterfield - and what happened? They won – naturally - in his first game in charge , 2-1 against Morecambe – going two up in 16 minutes and holding on for the next 74 ……………..Did I mention “lucky”? Plymouth won having had 41% of the play , ONE corner , and 5 shots , of which two were on target; Morecambe lost having had 59% of play , 14 corners and 12 shots, 3 on target ………..New Manager Syndrome ………….. P5 W1 D1 L3 F4 A9 Pts 4 (for comparison purposes only, our record over the same period was P5 W1 L4 F3 A10 Pts3, and we haven’t scored in our last two …………..)

They’ve brought in some experience, to try and Park the Bus ; defender Anthony Charles (31) – 4 years at Aldershot (07 – 11), and with Crewe and Barnet also on the cv – rode into town from Northampton, and his new Compadre Guy “Tonto” Branston (34) trapped up from Bradford ..er Aldershot …..er Bristol Rovers – a straight swap for Purse, in many ways; Branston (guess his nickname? ) played at Home Park on loan back in 1998/9, and seems pleased to be back; he was also guilty of probably the worst bit of Boss-buttering-up ever; he said, of Sheridan;

• “I’ve got a lot of time for the gaffer; he doesn’t suffer fools gladly. I’m not a fool”

Nice of you to let us know, Guy ……………. Could’ve fooled me

Also new to the Green and White Army’s fans are Reading’s Chigozie Eze Ugwu (known to his mates as “Gozie”), a 19 year-old forward, and loan signing Rowan Murray, a Republic of Ireland u21 striker from Ipswich.

No recent departures, but they’re without striker Warren Feeney (31), who’s likely to be out for a couple of months with an ankle injury, and – just to demonstrate (after what he did to get Paul Rachubka red-carded at our place) that there is a God – that nice Nick Chadwick (30) got a 6 game ban – 3 for a red card after half an hour of their game at Port Vale on 5th January, and a further three for an “incident” in the opening minute of the same game ………… Nah nah nee nah nah!

They’ve added 4 goals since we last met, and their leading scorers haven’t changed that much; Paris Cowan-Hall (25), a striker from Woking, has 5; Conor Hourihane (21), a R of I u19 and u21 International (ex Sunderland and Ipswich – for neither of whom he played in the first team) has 4; and Warren Feeney has 3.

We’ve yet to beat them in the League ; a 2-2 draw away last season was followed by a 4-0 stuffing , and this season’s first game was another draw (1-1) ………… we don’t lose to them often, but when we do it’s spectacular ……

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 26th January. We’re due a win – no, we’re due a BIG SPECTACULAR win , and this would be a really, really good game to do it in ………. 6 pointers? You’d better believe it!

Good luck to everyone ………… and thanks for playing!