[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

v

Dagenham and Redbridge

2014/15 Prediction League; Game 12 v Dagenham and Redbridge FC (home)


How fickle are the Gods of Football? The answer – if you’re a Football Manager anyway – is probably “very” …. Take Scunthorpe manager Russ Wilcox……. appointed just before last Christmas following the sacking of Brian Laws, his first 28 games were unbeaten , and the Iron ended the season promoted to League One . Come the new season – iffy start (2 wins and a draw from League 11 matches, and out of the Paintpot 2-1 to Notts County after beating Chesterfield 2-0 , and the CapitalMyDearChap! Cup 2-0 at Bristol City (after doing Blackburn 1-0 at Ewood in the First Round )) – 7 points, 23rd place and – yes, ok – a minus 14 GD (25 conceded ) - and out come the knives, and he’s gone. Toast. Unbuttered …….. Steve Davies, I note, hasn’t had the great heave-ho from Crewe (4 points, 24th) ………And if all Managers whose first dozen games garnered less points that the fans wanted got the push there and then, we’d change managers once a season ….. wouldn’t we DAV?

This week’s starter for 10, then; on 12th August 2014, Dagenham (and Redbridge) played Brentford in the CapitalOne Cup; after 90 mins it was 4-4; after 120 mins it was 6-6; and after 6 successful penalties in total (of which Brentford scored twice as many as the Daggers) – what happened to the goal nets from the game? Well, apparently the Cup Organisers paid tribute to “the historic match” by removing them from the ground (by agreement I assume ), and they’re supposedly now in the National Football Museum ………….How flipping sad is that?

They rationalised their squad (got rid of some!) in the summer; winger/striker Zavon Hines (25) – ex West Ham, Dingles and Bratfud, left in search of pastures new (and higher), but returned unfulfilled (and unsigned elsewhere) in August; out went, among others, Gavin Hoyte, a def aged 24, who was with Arsenal from 2007 to 2012, played but once (v the Blades in a 6-0 League Cup win), and is now at Gillingham on a free; personally, with a 100% record, six scored and a clean sheet, I’d have kept him , but then ………..; Zaire-born winger Medy Elito (24) and once of Colchester, signed for an undisclosed fee for VVV-Venlo in the Dutch Eerste Divisie; first choice GK Chris Lewington joined Colchester, and second choice GK Jordan Seabright – who only managed 8 appearances in two seasons - went Conference-side, joining Torquay; ex Womble and QPR defender Femi Ilesanmi went to York; Alex Osborn didn’t (he went to Ebbsfleet); and Luke Wilkinson, a 24 year-old defender once with Pompey, signed for another undisclosed fee for the Hatters; they must be Mad!

In came a shed-load of people you’ve never heard of; Christian Doidge from Carmarthen, Nathan Green from Tonbridge Angels and Frankie Raymond from Eastbourne, just for starters; former Leicester, York and Cambridge winger/striker Ashley Chambers (24) arrived with the milk ; ex Colchester GK Mark Cousins (27), who managed 58 games in 9 years at Layer Road (or wherever the hell they play now), arrived with the milkman (but that’s just a rumour); MF Joss “Please Don’t Bite Me” Labadie (24) – fresh from his 10-game ban for biting Chesterfield’s Ollie Banks – joined from Torquay (also at various times with the Baggies, Tranmere and Notts Co); Walsall and ex-Wolves forward Ashley Hemmings (23) signed; so did ex Trinidad and Tobago, Notts Co, Peterborough, Luton, Kettering, Wycombe and York MF Andre Bouchaud; and best of all – continuing a career which began in 1993, takes in 12 clubs plus loans (including Brizzle R, Norwich (twice!), Reading and Colchester), and has resulted in almost 250 League goals – Old Man River himself – 39 year old Jamie Cureton, Striker to the Gentry. Zimmer frames at 20 paces, anyone?

They’ve hit the dizzy heights of 19th in the League; P11 W3 D2 L6, for 11 points (two above the drop zone) and a GD of -5 – worse than ours! (Have you seen, by the way, that since they thrashed us, Shrewsbury can’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo? Scored about 2 goals in 73 matches, so they’ve loan-signed one Bobby Grant from Blackpool; their other former striker (one Terence Gornell ) is reputed (by the BBC) to want away from Cheltenham, and to have asked for a transfer; his goal in a 3-1 defeat to Bristol City was his first in almost a year, and there “has been interest”, but he turned down the move – wasn’t us, was it? ) Anyway, back to the matter in hand; their home record (the Daggers, that is), is 2 wins and 4 losses; away, they’ve won once (2-0 at Hartlepool, so that hardly counts, really ), drawn twice (1-1 at Cheltenham, for whom Terry Gornell didn’t get the goal, and 3-3 at Oxford, and lost twice …….Their interest in the Capricorn Cup ended as above (see Brentford, 6-6), and their run in the PaintPot Cup didn’t fare any better, losing 2-0 to Leyton Orient ………..Not a thrilling start, then!

Since they reached the League in 2007 we’ve played them 12 times, winning 3, drawing 4 and losing 5; two of those wins, though, were in 2007/8 (1-0 at home and 3-1 away), and we haven’t won any of the last five (D2 L3) , so it is really time we did something horrid to them, like beating them hands-down . So far they’ve played 13 games, and scored 20 (including the 6 against Brentford), conceding 27 (so their matches are averaging nearly 4 goals a game overall); leading scorers are Abu Ogogo, Ashley Hemmings and Luke Howell – all listed as midfielders – each of whom has three to his name, and Old Man Zimmer (Cureton) with five ……….it is a bit worrying if you’ve scored 30% of your goals for the season all in the one game; take that away and its 14 in 12 …………….

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time (and I wish, on that topic, that they’d stop piddling about with the Newport game date ), which is 3.00pm on Saturday, 11th October. The run can’t go on for ever, but are they up to halting The Coleman Express? I’m not so sure they are …………..

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