[Div3North]

Wigan Athletic

V

Accrington Stanley

UPDATE

2021/22 Prediction League Game 26; v The Pie Munchers (away)

Had I managed to do the thread opener for the Cheltenham game on Saturday, our Starter for Ten - and I'm not going to waste it - would have gone ......

"Who is Michael Gyasi, and why would he have been entitled last Saturday to feel "so krank wie ein Papagei" - which DaveinGermany will tell you is "sick as a parrot" auf Deutsch?

And this week's Starter for Ten; the annals of Aston Villa record that Ivo Stas scored a goal for them ........... he signed from Czech side Banik Ostrava in 1990, picked up an injury in his first training session at Villa Park, and in consequence, never played for Villa ............ so how can a player who never played for a team score for them?

And to give the away fans something to muse on as the wind and snow whistles round Springfield Park, another Sfor10: has anyone ever captained a British professional football team and also won an Oscar? (and if Chris Rock had cracked that "joke" about my wife, I'd have slapped him in the chops too, and probably kicked him in the nuts ...........)

You'll all know The Wigan Story ...... Spring Rolls Park, Dave Whelan, rivalry with Altrincham, Northern Soul, elected to the FL, won the FA Cup etc etc ....... so I won't bore you ......... Since we should have played them on 1st January (and not, as I said, 1st October - see the thread opener and the subsequent messages) they've ProperSigned six - striker Josh Magennis (bet he's not Irish! Ah, he is, so he is!) from Hell ...er, Hull; DMF Graham Shinnie (not sure if it's pronounced Shinny or Shiny); Jamaican CB Curtis Tilt from the Millers; Irish AMF Jamie McGrath from StHelenMirren; CMF Joe Adams from Eastleigh; and Irish CB Timi Sobowale from Real Monarch SLC, who is - unless you know better - the only former monarch playing in the EFL (Prince Andrew doesn't count, I believe) .... one short-term loan (Glen Rea) from Luton .......

They've been in the top four - mainly the top two - since the end of August; home record is W12 D4 L4 GF31 GA19, and away record is W12 D4 L2 GF36 GA16, giving them an overall record of P38 W24 D8 L6 GF67 GA35 for 80 points, a game in hand, and second place on GD behind Rotherhithe ....... interestingly, their six defeats include losing twice to Sheff Wed and twice to Sunderland plus once to the MK Dons and once to Lincoln ......... I need hardly remind anyone that they did us 4-1 at the Wham - one of seven sides who've scored four or more against us in the League this season, which must be a record of sorts, though not one we wanted

Deadline for entries is extended to scheduled kick off time today (5th April - Happy New Tax Year for tomorrow), which is 7.45pm ...... my best guess is that it's a case of how many they beat us by (start counting at 4) .......... leading scorers are Will Keane (16 in the League), Callum Lang (12 in the League, 15 in all) and James McLean (played by Bruce Willis in the film) who has 8 .......... you can stick with your previous entry (if you made one), change it (if you made one), or start all over afresh with a devastating insight (unless the VGF are after Leam, it won't be pretty!)

And for those who don't know, Michael Gyasi is a German/Ghanaian left winger, currently playing for Dover Athletic on loan from Kings Lynn ...... Dover started the current Bananarama season on -12 points because of perceived naughtiness in not playing all their games in the previous covid season, but courtesy of one win (1-0 against The Spitfires of Eastleigh - and I can see a TV serial on that topic imminently) and five draws (ignoring the 28 defeats) they're now on -4 points (and relegated), having scored 28 and conceded 82

They don't win many, as you'll see, don't The Soles ... (Dover? Soles? Dover soles? Gerrit? Oh suit yourselves!), and on 26th March they went to HollywoodWrexham .......... Wrexham went 2-0 up in 20, and Dover levelled by 28 mins ............. and then Gyasi struck, netting 3 times in 12 minutes (51 mins, 54 and 63) for an astonishing Dover 5-2 lead ............ and then Ollie Palmer got two back (5-4), and the board went up showing nine minutes of Fergie Time ....... and on 90+1 Jordan Davies equalised ............... and on 90+7 he scored again ...... 6-5 to Wrexham, another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, and a waste of a perfectly good hat trick ........ I'd have been as sick as a flock of parrots, if that had been me ...

And defender Ivo Stas may never have played for Aston Villa, but when he was at Banik Ostrava he played against Villa, and he contrived to score an Own Goal for Villa against his then employers; and as far as Oscar winning footballers are concerned, amateur player Neil Paterson (Buckie Thistle, Leith United and Dundee United) captained "The Terrors" (Dundee Utd, also known as the Tangerines, and whose fans are nicknamed "Arabs") in the 1936/37 season, and also won the 1959 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Room at the Top", which starred Laurence Harvey, Simone Signoret, Heather Sears, Prunella Scales, Donald Houston, Sir Donald Wolfit CBE and Wendy Craig ........ Bet you didn't know that!

COYR!

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