[Div3North]

Accrington Stanley

V

Crewe Alexandra

2024/25 Prediction League Game 6 v Crewe Alexandra (home)


Stanley and Morecambe in the GreasyPole Places, I see ………….. come on Lads! We don’t want to follow Oldham and Rochdale now, do we?

Morecambe have played five and lost five, each by the odd goal in one (so have yet to score), and we’ve drawn two (should have won them both) and lost three – arguably against teams we might anticipate might beat us at least once a season …………. And hands up if you noticed that Harrogate PocketPickers ‘did’ top of the League Doncaster 2-0 last night! It’s some kind of karma, I suppose – especially because Donnie have failed to beat the Sulpherites in all five of their League meetings!

Starter for Ten, then ………. As you’ll well know, the method of deciding relegation places between teams who end the season on the same points total has been calculated various ways; goal difference, goals scored (briefly), goal average etc ……….but what, over the years, was the smallest margin ever to separate two teams, and by what (smallest) margin did the unlucky losers go down? Oh, and who were they?

Crewe – “The Railwaymen” have never won a Divisional League title, and only twice been runners-up; other promotions they’ve had have been through playoffs ….. they were relegated to League Two at the end of season 2012/22; they’ve been in existence for 148 seasons. Last season they were only out of the top seven (ie playoffs or better) for one week after the first six games of the campaign, and although they tried really, really hard to blow it by only winning two of their last 12 games, they ended the season in 6th place, behind Donnie by one goal (+5 to +4) …………. Ironically, they played Donnie in the Playoff Semis, losing 2-0 at home (you’ll remember Donnie’s end-of-season run) but winning the return 2-0; a goalless period of ET was followed by penalties, which Crewe won 4-3 …… and then them lost to Creepie Crawley ………….. by 2-0! Oh, the Voodoo Gods of Football!

In the summer, they released six out-of-contract players (including Courtney Baker-Richardson to Newport), sold LB Rio Adebisi to the Posh, and let GK Dave Richards go for free to Dundee Utd …………… Four loans in, none of them household names, and seven incoming, including Kane Hemmings (CF from Stevenage) and his now strike-partner Omar Bogle (from Newport), plus – for good measure – Irish CF Adrien Thibaut (there's a good old Irish name!) from Bradford Park Avenue (and there’s a name from the past) as back-up

Second Starter for Ten; in the history of the PrawnSandwichAndMarieRoseSauce League there have been lots of hat-tricks – 22 scored by the winning team since October 2022 alone; but how many hat-tricks have been scored in the PL by players on the losing side? And who did it twice in his career?

Currently they’re 14th in the table – two defeat (1-0 (hereinafter known as “a Morecambe”) at Barrow, and by 5-0 at home to TwistySpires United), a Goalless Desmond at home to Swindon, and two recent wins – 2-1 at Bromley, and – with some inevitability – 1-0 at home to Morecambe ………. A Morecambe against Morecambe ….. They’ve scored three goals and conceded seven (we’ve scored five and conceded an eye-watering 13 (Blackpool 11, Everton 10, Wolves 9, Sheff Wed 9, Cambridge 9 and Mansfield 9 being our competition for the Great Goal Giveaway); they lost 2-1 at the Millers in the Efl Cup, and beat Liverpool u7s by 5-0 and lost 4-1 to Blackpool in the Troffy)

On a point of information, we play Morecambe at home on 5th October …….
Can’t wait!

“One nil, one nil, one nil, one nil,
One nil, one nil, three points”

Or maybe not …….

Starter for Ten (again); Crewe’s First Foray into the FA Cup wasn’t a spectacular success …. It was in 1883, but who did they play, and what was the score?

Head to head is 9 wins to us, three draws and four losses (league only) …Last season we drew twice, and in 2009 – our first meeting post 2006 – we beat them 5-3, having gifted them two consolation goals late-ish on in an apparent attempt to lose from a 5-1 position. This is not to be repeated!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 14th September. BBC quoted an interview with JC – sorry, JD – which appeared to say that it’s ok to criticise the team as long as it’s done nicely (otherwise they may cry) ………… Could this be the first of Valairian’s “Sixteen More Wins”?

And the smallest margin ever to relegate a team was in the 1937/38 Division Two, when Newcastle (19th), Notts Forest (20th) and Barnsley all finished with 36 points ….. this was in the days of Goal Average; Newcastle managed 0.8793 (51 scored, 58 conceded), Notts Forest got 0.7833 (47 – 60) and Barnsley, with 50 scored and 64 let in, ended with 0.7813. and were relegated by 0.0020 of a goal …………… and there have been five hat-tricks by losing sides; Dion Dublin (Coventry) in a 4-3 loss to Sheff Wed in 1995/96; Roque Santa Cruz for Blackburn at Wigan in a 5-3 defeat; Dwight Yorke for Villa in a Monday Night Thrilla when Keegan’s Newcastle beat them 4-3 …………… and twice by Matt Le Tissier (a 4-3 loss at Oldham at the end of 92/93, which kept the Latics up and a 4-3 defeat to Notts Forest on the opening day of 1995/6) …….And Crewe’s first FA Cup experience led to a 10-0 loss to Queen’s Park in Glasgow

Good Luck to Everyone! …….Mantenere la Fede! …………… E Grazie per aver Giocato!