Accrington Web - 2015/16 Prediction League; Game 36 v Plymouth Argyle (home)

Accrington Stanley

Plymouth Argyle

2015/16 Prediction League; Game 36 v Plymouth (home)

Likely I’d be smiling quietly to myself if I were Derek Adams, manager of Plymouth, looking at the remaining fixtures .............for a side who’ve only lost 8 in the League all season (five at home and three away), they’ve been blessed by the run in they’ve been given ..............at home they’ve to play Hartlepool, York and Dagenham (22nd, 23rd and 24th) plus Luton (12th) and the Wombles (7th), and away they go to Orient (8th), Cambridge (13th), Exeter (14th) and Morecambe (18th), plus 4th placed Pompey; only three of their last 10 against top-10 sides, and they boast a mean defence, having conceded only 30 in their 35 games to date. It’s true that there are no easy games, and that several of the teams waiting for them are playing for their League status, and it’s also true that they’ve only won once in their last five (1-0 v Notts County), having drawn three (including a come-back Desmond at home to Oxford last time out) and lost one (1-0 at Barnet), but even with all that you’d be fancying your place at the Top Table, particularly with a six point cushion ...........

With an overall record to date of P35 W19 D8 L8 GF50 GA30 and 65 points, they’ve got the second highest number of wins (behind the Cobblers (whose Manager Chris Wilder has just won Manager of the Month – Player of the Month being Plymouth’s on-loan Bolton defender Oscar Threlkeld) with 24; also, a touch surprisingly, they’re the 10th highest scorers in the league, and the lowest in the top 8 .......................their away form – which is what we’re most concerned with – reads W9 D5 L3 (2-1 at Stevenage, 1-0 at Oxford and 1-0 at Barnet) F22 A12 ......we went to Home Park on 17th October and played them off the (Home) Park, winning possession by 58% to 42, shots 18 – 10, shots on target by 7 – 4 and corners by 9 – 5; we did everything but score, which unfortunately they did do, through a 64th minute goal by Reuben Reid ...We Wuz Robbed ..........

Nothing much happening in the transfer stakes; they’ve lost striker and former leading scorer Ryan Brunt for the season with a cruciate injury, and on-loan Hibs defender Jordan Forster for perhaps a month with a head injury, thought to be, but apparently not, a broken jaw, when he slid full-pelt into the advertising hoardings and knocked himself out ..................... Loans out consist of Deane Smalley (Oldham, Oxford and some loans) who went to Newport, and CM Lee Cox (25), who is back on loan for a second time at Stevenage; loans in are in similar numbers; in January the Pilgrims took Daniel Nardiello (now 33) on loan from Bury, and today they LoanSigned Chelsea MF Jordan Houghton (20), who’s possibly got a greater chance of Champions League football in the near future with Plymouth than he has with the Blues! Sack the Manager, I say ............ speaking of which, it appears that a tenure of three months, and a record of 6 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats isn’t good enough to keep you in a job these days – at least, not if you’re the rather unlucky Sean O’Driscoll, who departed Walsall on the 6th March with that record ......... I mean, hell’s teeth – what IS good enough to keep you in your job these days?

They took the lift to the basement at the end of 2010/11, finishing 23rd with 42 points from 46 games, and coming down with Swindon, Brizzle R and the Daggers; they were managed then by Peter Reid, who’d replaced Paul Mariner; Reid lasted about a month into the new season, being replaced by ex-Skipper Carl Fletcher, who was replaced by John Sheridan (see "now at Oldham"), who handed over the baton to Derek Adams ........and by the way, the last time they were promoted they were managed by Paul Sturrock, and the time before that by Neil Warnock .........

Head to head in the last five years shows one win to us (Sept 14, 1-0 at home), three to them (4-0 at home in Feb 2012, and 1-0 at home on the last two occasions we’ve met (Feb 15 and Oct 15 – see above under “We Wuz Robbed”) ..... the other five meetings have been drawn – one Desmond, two half-Desmonds, and two zero-Desmonds; the good news is that they’ve never beaten us at the WhamBam! under any of its various guises ...and long may it be so ................

Leading scorers are Jake Jervis (with whom we’ve had trouble before, I seem to remember), who has 11, and Ryan (Injured) Brunt, with 10; AM Graham Carey has 9; Reuben Reid has just six ........Billy Whizz still has 14 ½ !

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00 pip emma this Saturday, 12th March ...........No wins in four, and 12 points from the last 27 represents a slightly troubling dip in form which – if you please, Lads – we’d like you to address instanter; it’s certainly “Don’t panic Mr Mainwaring” time ........all we can hope, perhaps, is that they don’t like it up ‘em ..............

Good luck to everyone! ............... Keep the Faith! .............. and thanks for playing!

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