Accrington Web - 2013 Prediction League; Game 30v Morecambe FC (home)

Accrington Stanley

Morecambe

2013/14 Prediction League; Game 30 v Morecambe (home)

Jim Bentley said, loud and clear, that he wanted to bring in some fresh faces in the transfer window; he’s brought in ………….Jamie Devitt (23), an Irish u21 winger (as we all remember :)) from Snakefield, whom he joined last summer from Hull; on his cv – apart from us – he has Rotherham, Grimsby, Darlington, Shrewsbury and Bratfud. Big Jim said of his capture;

"Jamie can play in several forward positions and has two good feet” ;) …

which - apart from the saving on the chiropody bill :D - is good to know, since it probably means he can stand up, and maybe even run a little ………… :p

Returning for a moment to a previous theme …………..I give you “Points won in their last 7 games by the teams in the bottom half of League Two” :D:D:D, which goes:-

Exeter (15th) 4; Northampton (24th) and Wycombe (21st) 5; Hartlepool (14th) 7; Torquay (23rd) and Cheltenham (13th) 8; Bury (22nd, with another 250 players signed this week :confused::o) and Mansfield (19th) 9; Pompey (18th) and York (16th) 10; Brizzle Rovers (20th) 11; Stanley (17th) 12 – W3 D3 L1 (Fleetwood)………… Form team once again! :D:D:D

They were saying of us before the Cheltenham game, “haven’t won in five”; Morecambe haven’t won in five either (W1 D3 L1), although if Padraig Amond had converted the 37th minute penalty against Pompey on Saturday a 2-2 draw would have been a 3-2 win …..in fact, they’ve only won 3 of their last 13 :cool: (D4 L6), and currently sit 10th, with 38 points from 28 games – 8 points of the playoff places, and behind Newport and the Wombles on goal difference (+5 plays 0 plays -4) ………..a real change, and massive disappointment, after Nov 2nd, when - having played 15 - they were 5th on 25 points ………..Sic transit Gloria mundi! :p:p:p
Away from home they have a decent sounding record of 5 wins, two draws and 6 defeats, but the reality is that, in their last 5 away, they’ve won once (Mansfield, 2-1), drawn once (Torquay, 1-1) and lost three (1-0 at York, 2-0 at Scunthorpe and 3-0 at Oxford) ;); failing to score has also been a feature of their season – 7 away League games without a goal (those three, plus Cheltenham (0-3), Northampton (0-0), Pompey (0-3) and Wycombe (0-1), plus two more at home, and three Cup games …….12 blank sheets out of a total of 32 matches :eek:; not good! :D:D:D:D (But it is funny, n'est-ce pas?)

Their Cup runs started with a flourish; a televised 1-0 home win over Wolves in the League Cup, followed by a televised 2-0 home loss to Newcastle Reserves :rolleyes:; it went downhill from there, though, losing 4-3 on penalties at home to Carlisle after a goalless 90 mins (or was it 120? I can’t remember), and a 3-0 home defeat by Southend in the First Round of the ProperCup; if you add their Cup results to their League games (P28 W10 D8 L10 GF33 GA37), you get 34 goals in 32 games; leading scorers are Padraig Amond (Podge to his mates) and Kevin Ellison (34), who – in a career going back to 1996 – has played for Southport, Chorley, Conwy, Altrincham, Leicester, Stockport, Lincoln, Chester (twice), Hull, Tranmere, Rotherham, Bradford City and Morecambe, with five and six-figure fees featuring more than once – each of whom has scored 7, and Jack Sampson (20), once of Bolton, who also played for us on loan in 2012, with 4. :):)

By the law of averages, we’re going to lose to them at some stage :rolleyes:; let’s just hope it isn’t now! For the record, 13 League meetings, resulting in 4 draws and 9 wins for the Mighty Stanley; the most recent, keeping up the run, was by 2-1 away on 26th October, with a 19th minute penalty from Danny Webber and a 90th minute winner from Peter Murphy (where have I heard those words before? :D:p:D:p:D) securing the points

Some talk in the local press of possible absentees from their squad; winger Marcus Marshall is “a serious doubt” with a knee problem; Jack Sampson has a split lip :o, Andy Wright a broken nose :o:o, Mark Hughes a hamstring :), and Andy Parrish is/was “ill” :o:o:o:o …………..all of which sounds like the local paper wouldn’t know an injured footballer from a big girl’s blouse ………..:p:p:p:p:p

Deadline for entries, as you well know, is scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 1st February; statistics, of course, prove nothing, but can’t lie; it could be a close game – they generally are, to be fair - but you’d be reasonably confident that we’d be reasonably confident; as I mentioned in October, if you’ve got the Evil Eye on someone, not much else matters , and it worked then!…………. ;)

Good luck to everybody …………..Remember; passion overcomes logic! ………..Keep the Faith! ……………...and thanks for playing! :)

:iloveyou: