Accrington Web - 2012 Prediction League; Game 28 v Aldershot Town (away)

Aldershot Town

Accrington Stanley

2012/13 Prediction League – Game 28: v Aldershot (away)

Yes, OK, we are in a bad patch, but we have a buffer in terms of points, aren’t the only team in a slump, and will get out of it :p. Keep the Faith! :D

We actually aren’t the worst team in League 2 currently anyway (judged over the last 10 League games) :); that (doubtful) honour belongs to Plymouth, who’ve won 1, drawn 3 and lost 6 of their last 10 :eek:, resulting in the departure from the club of Manager and legend GK Carl Fletcher, to be replaced by ex Chesterfield boss John Sheridan, he having been replaced by a certain well-known snake of our acquaintance :mad: ………. Over the last 10, Plymouth have picked up 6 points, Bristol Rovers (also with a new manager – ex Colchester boss John Ward (who had been going to Plymouth, it was rumoured, as Director of Football – isn’t it a small world? ;))) have 8, as have we; the Wombles and York each have 11, Torquay – after two consecutive play-offs – have 12, as have the Daggers (although they’ve lost 4 of their last 5); the Shots, Barnet (Edgar Davids now in sole charge) and Morecambe all have 13, and Wycombe (Gareth Ainsworth in the hot seat) have a spectacular 19.

I know there are lies, damned lies and statistics, but if you project that form over the rest of the season we still stay out of the bottom two :D…….. so that’s alright then :p. Statistics tell you nothing, of course; I don’t accept that this is Macclesfield Revisited either, though …….. Might I point out that we’re actually only 6 points behind the teams in 11th and 12th places in the table – they being Chesterfield and Rochdale ……. now how’s THAT for a coincidence? :o

Long term absentees through injury MF Craig Stanley (28) – Raith, Hereford, Morecambe, Bristol Rovers and Torquay – and CB Olly Lancashire (24 – Southampton, Grimsby and Walsall) still aren’t ready to come back; winger Alex Rodman (25) went on loan to York in November, and has extended that recently; more ‘finally’, on January 2nd Cameroonian striker Guy Madjo (28), whom they’d signed from Stevenage in January 2012 - since when he’d scored 8 in 23 games – left the club (presumably his contract being terminated by mutual consent), and on the following day 33 year-old defender Guy Branston, who joined from Bradford in the summer, played 5 games and then went on loan to the Pirates, also left on “mutual consent” terms; this, it should be said, is a man who’s had more clubs than Tiger Woods :D(19 and counting …………)

They signed Namibian international Oliver Hanjorge Rissole – sorry, Risser :D – from Swindon earlier this week; a defensive midfielder, and yet another “mutual consent” (whatever happened to “You’re sacked!” ?) departure, Risser (32) hasn’t played for Paulo di Pushover this season, but had a loan spell at Stevenage, when he played 13 games, scoring once. His career, interestingly – or perhaps it’s not - started at German side Spielvereinigung Eintracht Glas-Chemie Wirges :rolleyes: (“Give us an S, give us a P ….” :)), and includes spells at Hannover 96 (reserves – who are really a separate entity from the First team), Borussia Dortmund (reserves again), Lyn (Oslo), 6 games at Breidablik (who? :eek:) and a period at KuPS (Finland); after that, Swindon – even under P di C – must have been a doddle! Namibia – for whom he’s played 27 times so far – are currently ranked joint 121st in the world by FIFA – just behind Bahrain and slightly ahead of St Kitts and Nevis - which puts them about 10 places above England and a couple of hundred above Scotland :D:D:D. If anybody’s interested, by the way, Namibia appear to be playing a friendly against Morocco this Saturday night, KO 6.30, at Johannesburg; no doubt the highlights will be on the Football League Show later on ………… Very recently they appear to have acquired Macclesfield’s left-sided MF Anthony McNamee (29), who has also been at Watford, Swindon and Norwich ………….By the way – I was joking about Scotland; they’re actually a massively respectable 72nd, right behind Austria and Togo, and three places above Benin! :D

The Shots departed the League Cup (as Auntie Beeb insists on calling it) at Wolves (Dean Saunders!) 7-6 on penalties after a 1-1 draw; in the Tinpot they went to Devon twice, beating Exeter 4-3 on spot kicks after a goalless draw, and then losing 2-1 at Plymouth (currently, statistically, the Worst Team in the League - see above). They’ve had good results in the FA Cup though; Hendon were downed 2-1 at home; then Fleetwood were dumped out 3-2 at Highbury; then they beat Rotherham 3-1 at home – decent form for a team currently 4th from the bottom of League 2 – a bit like Bratfud beating Arsenal and then doing it unto Villa ………… All of that gets them a 4th Round tie at Middlesbrough on 26th Jan ; it's obviously not the glory tie they wanted, but decent money all the same ………… :)

If you believe in coincidences, you might want to be aware that Aldershot are in a ‘cycle’ at the moment; their results go ‘defeat, draw, win’ in that order, and have done for the last 9 matches; happily, their last result was a win (1-0 at Barnet on New Year’s Day), meaning that they’re due to lose their next game :D ……….It may not be scientific, but it seems to work ……… :p:o:p:o:p

Their home record is pants :D; W2 D3 L7 F9 A18; only the Wombles have a worse record at home (W2 D2 L8); no-one else has won as few as 2 games, and only 3 teams have lost 7 or more at home – the Shots, the Wombles and our good selves :o. Away, it’s a more respectable W4 D4 L5 F14 A20, giving them an overall total of P25 W6 D7 L12 F23 A38, for 25 points and 21st place; they head Wimbledon on goal difference, Plymouth by 1 point and Bristol Rovers by 3. They do, though, have 2 games in hand over Plymouth ………….. Their only home League wins have been on 18th September (1-0 over Barnet) and 15th December (4-2 against Coleydale – Result!) They aren’t due another win, I reckon, until 12th march or thereabouts …… Draws were two 0-0s – Morecambe and Wycombe – and a 2-2 against Bristol Rovers on Boxing Day ………

We’re ahead in the head-to-head over the last three years; having won 1 and lost 3 of our first 4 meetings (including losing to them at our place in their first game back in the League), we actually haven’t lost to them in the last five; in 2010/11 we drew 0-0 and 1-1’ in 11/12 we won 3-2 at home (Hessey, Coid and Barnett) and drew 0-0 away, and in September last we beat them 1-0 with an 89th minute winner from Podge – Peter Vincenti’s “congratulations (?)” getting him a red card.

They’ve hit 10 goals in 6 Cup games and 23 in 25 League games; 33 goals in 31 matches. Leading scorers are strikers Craig Reid (27) – ex Cheltenham, Newport and Stevenage (who paid a club record £90,000 for him) – with 10, and home-grown Danny Hylton (23) with 9; next on the (short) list is Spanish-born 23 year-old defender Daniel Lopez Ramos with 4 ………..

As always the deadline for entries is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3pm on Saturday 12th January. Is this a six-pointer or what? :) Is it going to get sweaty? :) Do we really, really need something out of this one? :)Yes, yes and yes, in that order …………:D What’s the score gonna be? Goodness knows ………..But I’d rather get 1 goal and 3 points than 3 goals and 1 point! It’s time to win ugly ……………..Or pretty ……………. Or bloody gorgeous! :D

Good luck to everybody …………………………and thanks for playing! :)

:alright: