[Div3North]

Luton Town

V

Accrington Stanley

2015/16 Prediction League; Game 41 v Luton Town (away)


By my calculation, the Daggers can only possibly get 49 points (if they win all their remaining games) and York can only get 47 – and they have to play Wycombe, Pompey, BrizzleR and us in their final 6 matches; it follows therefore with an elegant inevitability that 15th placed Barnet (51 points) are now mathematically safe from relegation, as are all the sides North of them (in the League, not geographically) ............. so it’s now 2 from 9 for the trapdoor; just thought you might like to know that!

We opened the season with a home game against the Hatters; we were coasting nicely – 1-0, with a 61st minute goal from Hamish McW - only to concede a 92nd minute equaliser to a Craig Mackail-Smith shot which “cannoned off Jonathan Smith’s back into the net” ...............that was the third draw in five meetings – 2008/9, 2014/5, and this season; we won 2-1 at Kenilworth Road in 2008, lost there 2-0 last season, and we've drawn all three home games (a Desmond, a half-Desmond, and a zero-Desmond). Our turn, mi’thinks.

Their Cup ventures made Round 2 in each tournament; in the Carling they did BristolsC 3-1 at home, then lost 8-7 on a penalty shoot out to Stoke after a 1-1; in the PaintyThingy they did Leyton Hewitt - sorry, Orient, 2-1 at home, then went out by the same score at the Gills; in the FA Cup they won 2-1 at Crawley, then lost 2-0 at the Posh ..............9 goals in 6 games, which – at 1.5 goals per game – is better than their League scoring rate of 4 goals every three games (1.33 – except that (until we have goal-line technology) you can’t score .33 of a goal ................their League form pans out at P39 W15 D8 L16 GF52 GA52 (GD0) for 53 points ......... at home, P19 W5 (Mansfield, Wombles, Barnet, Hartlepool and Morecambe) D5 (Oxford 2-2, York, Yeovil and Clapton O all 1-1, and Cambridge 0-0), and L9 (including Brizzle, Pompey, Plymouth, Northants and Wycombe) ..........They’ve scored 3 goals seven times (including in consecutive home games against Carlisle and Northampton, each of which they managed to lose 3-4!) and four goals once (at Hartlepool back in October), and they’re on their third manager of the season, with Andy Awful as Caretaker following John Still when the latter was made to walk the plank, to be replaced by Nathan Jones, formerly the First Team coach at Brighton ................ In their last 10 games they’ve won 6 and lost 4, with three of those four losses coming in their last four games and five of the last six ending 1-0 (or 0-1!)

They brought in Derby GK Jonathan Mitchell (21) on 5th March, to replace Mark Tyler, now 38; Tyler’s career began in 1994 at Posh, for whom he played 486 times in 15 years before joining Luton (where he played 297 more), but he’s gone back to the East as player-coach ....... Derby then recalled Mitchell after a month, and Luton retaliated by recalling GK Craig King (18, no senior appearances) from Bishop’s Stortford ....... Nathan Jones said of Mitchell, “We think Jonathan is one of the best young goalkeepers around”, so you can imagine how chuffed he is .....or isn’t! ............CB Mark O’Brien (who joined from Derby last summer, but hasn’t played since November) has gone on loan to Southport; RofI u21 international defender Glen Rea (21) has joined on loan from Brighton (where Nathan Jones was first team coach for 2+ years)

Their principal scorers – from a forward line which includes Craig Makhail-Smith (32), who went to Brighton from Dagenham and Peterborough, and signed for Luton on a free, plus Northern Ireland striker Josh McQuoid (26, Cherries twice, Millwall) – are ex Chelsea and Norwich forward Cameron McGeehan (who cost Chelsea £80,000.00 as a TEN YEAR OLD!) and 21 year-old former Ipswich striker Jack Marriott, each of whom has 13 to his name ....

Deadline for entries is, as always, is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 9th April ............there are no easy games at this point in the season; Luton’ve still got to play Dagenham, Oxford, Carlisle, Newport, Northampton and Exeter; we’ve got Morecambe, Hartlepool, York, Wycombe and Stevenage .........GD could be critical too, come the end of the season; BrizzleR are on +24 (64 v 40); Plymouth are on +20 (57 v 37); we’re on +19 (64 v 45) .........we’re joint third highest scorers in Division 4 ........... York (75) and Morecambe (71) have the most porous defences.

Coley made an interesting point on the fishy;

• “We have still not got into the automatic spots this season. I think we are the only team in the top 10 who have not been in the top three so if we get into it at this stage, it might bode well for us. We might hit it at the right time and stay there”

Amen to that, John ........... then he added

• “I think if we do get promoted this season, it will be a far greater achievement than if Northampton, Oxford or Plymouth get promoted, just because of the resources we have compared to them.”

Go get ‘em, lads!

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