Accrington Web - Prediction League Game 14; Cheltenham (home)

Accrington Stanley

Cheltenham Town

Prediction League – Game 14; v Cheltenham (home)

In the close season the Robins released or free transferred ten players; best known names probably Barry Hayles (still without a club last I heard) and Justin Richards, now scoring for fun for Port Vale. They brought in – like everyone else – an equal shed full (eleven), including winger Brian (“Junior”) Smikle, who previously played for boss Mark Yates when he was at Kidderminster, and who stuck in 12 goals last year and 9 the year before; striker Jeff Goulding, who came on a free from Bournemouth, having scored 4 goals in 46 games over the previous two seasons; 19 year old defender Danny Andrew, who has the distinction of having played a total of 25 games for four different clubs last season (Peterborough, Tamworth, Kidderminster and Cheltenham); 23 year old striker Wes Thomas who cost £5k from the Daggers; former Irish u21 midfielder JJ (John) Melligan, back for a second spell, having spent 3 years there from 2004 to 2007, followed by 2 ½ years at Leyton Orient and 6 months at Dundalk, and defender Steve Elliott – 32 next week – whose career includes 7 years at Derby and 6 at Bristol Rovers, plus 28 games for Blackpool in 2003/4.

They came down to League 2 at the end of the 2008/9 season, having finished 23rd (above only Hereford), with 39 points from 46 games, and a goal difference of -40 (51 scored, a massive 91 conceded). Last season wasn’t thrilling for them either, eventually dodging the drop to the Blue Square Premier (ie the Conference) by 4 points, finishing 22nd with 48 points, and a better – though still negative – goal difference of -17 (F54 A71). We played them at home in October 09 and played them off the park, thumping them 4-0 (and they were lucky to get nil!), our goals coming from Chris Turner, Phil the Tan (from the spot), and two from Bobby Grant; when we went to the Abbey Business Stadium (Whaddon Road to you) on the last day of last season we came home with a point, Chris Turner once again being our scorer. Those who were at Fortress Crown in October will remember that just before demolishing the Robins we’d done Crewe 5-3 – the good times were really rolling!

Cheltenham’s League record this season shows them having played 13, with 5 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats; goals tally is 17 scored, 22 conceded; more interestingly, perhaps, is that their away record is W1 D1 L4 GF 9 GA 16. They currently stand 10th on 18 points, while we’re 14th on 16 points; the mathematicians amongst you will have worked out that if we beat them, we leapfrog them in the table, so tight is League 2 (4 points cover 8th to 20th inclusive). Their away successes were a 2-0 win at Aldershot and a 1-1 draw at Gillingham; their less spectacular away form includes a 6-4 hammering at Rotherham (officially the second-best result in League 2 this year, immediately behind our 7-4 record breaker), 3-1 defeats at Barnet and Bradford City (both currently in the bottom 5 in the table), and a 3-0 loss at Chesterfield. Out of both the Carling (2-1 at Brentford) and the JPT (2-0 at home to Plymouth) in the first rounds, their overall record so far in P15 W5 D3 L7 F18 A26. Of their 18 goals, Wes Thomas has 7, Jeff Goulding 3, Shaun Jeffers and Frankie Artus two each, and four others have one apiece.

The deadline for entries is, as ever, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 30th October. Another draw? (Did you realise that we’ve already drawn as many games this season as we drew in the whole of last season?) Another 7-4? (Especially for Wynonie, and all the others who missed the last one?). A flukey 1-0? Have a guess; doesn’t cost you anything ………

Good luck to everyone ………… and thanks for playing!

:signntme: