[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

v

Shrewsbury Town

2014 Prediction League; Game 34 v Shrewsbury (home)


As we have Carlisle and Tranmere as our nemeses in Cup competitions , so this season Shrewsbury have had theirs; on Tuesday 2nd September they lost away to their bogey team in the 1st Round of the FLT; on Saturday 6th December in the 2nd Round of the FA Cup (having seen off Walsall 1-0 at home after a Desmond in the Midlands) they lost by the same score, again away, to the same opponents; this week’s starter for 10, then, is (a) who is the bogey team and (b) what was the score each time? The answer, for those members of the Idle WMC (it’s a real place ) is (a) PNE and (b) 1-0 .............well fancy that!

Town were formed, according to the History Fairies , in 1886, following the demise of the Shropshire Wanderers and, a bit later, the Castle Blues. The latter, it seems, were Not Gentlemen , and were, indeed, Violent Ruffians ; the former – an amateur side – were the doyens of the FA Cup in the 1870s. They have the distinction – if that’s what it be – of being the only side ever to be knocked out of the FA Cup on the toss of a coin (1873/4, having played two goalless draws against Sheffield) ...the next season they got to the Semi-Finals, only to lose 1-0 to Old Etonians (who, of course, WERE Gentlemen ). The Shrews eventually gained a place in the Football League in 1950, finishing their first season (50/51) 20th in Div3North, with 37 points from 42 games; New Brighton lost their place in the League that year, replaced by Workington Town, who themselves got the boot some years later. Somebody obviously re-located Shrewsbury over the summer of 1951 , because their next season was spent in Div3South, where they came ..........have a guess ...............20th with 36 points from 42 games. They went up occasionally, and down occasionally; they had lots of well-known names pass through their team sheets (Joe Hart perhaps the most recent); Graham Turner came, stayed, left, came back, and did a not half bad job for them . In 2002/3 they went down to the Conference, their last game being a 2-1 defeat by Scunthorpe who – curiously – had been their very first League opponents 53 years earlier .....

Their stay in the conference was short; at the end of 2003/4 season they’d made the playoffs, where they beat Barnet on penalties after a drawn game; in the Final, at Stoke, they met Aldershot; that finished 1-1 after extra time, and when Luke Rogers blazed his penalty over the bar it didn’t look good, but GK Scott Howie saved three Aldershot penalties, and they were back.

Their biggest ever win, by the way, was against Mold Alyn Stars in the First Round of the Welsh FA Cup in 1894 (or thereabouts), the game ending 21-0 .......they’ve also beaten Gillingham 7-0, which I only mention because I know someone else who put 7 past Gillingham ..........and I was there!

They released MF David McAllister (26) – once of Sheff Utd – who signed for Stevenage, and Anthony Griffiths – also a MF, but much older (28) – who has 8 clubs on the cv - mainly Port Vale, from whom Shrewsbury signed him last summer; he played 228 minutes for the Shrews, and moved (after a MutualConsent) to Carlisle, which is no way to treat a Montserrat international ............I imagine; in on loan have come Sunderland striker Mikael Mandron (20) – cover for the injured Andy Mangan – who was on loan at Fleetwood last season (Mandron, not Mangan), plus Fleetwood and ex Blackpool MF Keith Southern (33) who, when he left Blackpool last summer “nearly signed for Shrewsbury” but didn’t but now has; they also brought in Liverpool wing-back Connor Randall (19 - at Anfield since he was 8) .........Finally they ProperSigned – to Oxford’s disappointment – striker Tyrone Barnett (29 – Macclesfield, AFC Telford, Crawley, Posh (any bets on their new manager being another backroom bloke no-one’s heard of? ) and Oxford (on loan))

Their current League record is P33 W18 D7 L8 GF47 GA24 for 61 points and 2nd place; only Wycombe (5) and Luton (7) have lost fewer games ; only Burton (19) have won more ...............HOWEVER; at home, they’ve won 13, drawn 3 and lost just 1 (their last match, 2-1 to Northampton); they’ve scored 33 at home and conceded 8 ; they’ve picked up 42 of their 61 points at Gay Meadow (which is how I prefer to remember it! ) ...........away? Different story; scored just 14 ; won 5 (York 1-0, Newport 1-0, Oxford 2-0, Daggers 2-1, and Carlisle 2-1), drawn 4 and lost 7 ; 19 points on the road in 16 games ...............Their last ten have been a defeat and a draw, followed by 5 wins and a draw out of six, followed by two consecutive 2-1 losses (at Tranmere and at home to the Cobblers) .......on a slide? Maybe; BUT; they’ve scored 54 in 41 games, conceding 30; they’ve scored three goals three times, four goals once (when they larruped us in August 4-0 ) and five goals once (v Bury at home) ............ Most worrying stat is their record of clean sheets; 20 out of 41 games!

Mickey Mellon was appointed last May as Manager, and his best bit of business was probably persuading James Collins – who first joined them in January 2011 from Villa, then moving to Paulo di Pushover’s Swindon, before he went to Hibs (who were relegated) - to return to the Greenhous ; or it might have been picking up Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro (30 – Rochdale, Grimsby and Tranmere). Collins is leading scorer (15), Injured Mangan has 10 (I’ll bet he won’t be back anytime yet, and he’s probably bet on that too ), and Jean-Louis has 6.

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kickoff time, which is 7.45pm on Tuesday 3rd March........... We’ve recently beaten 1st and 5th, and lost to 4th and 6th; Shrewsbury are 2nd; they don’t concede, we don’t score; hmmm.

By the way Wynonie, how was the hat? Lightly poached, with a little seasoning, a few chips and a nice Chardonnay?

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