Accrington Web - 2016/17 Prediction League; Game 2 v Barnet (away)

Barnet FC

Accrington Stanley

2016/17 Prediction League; Game 2 v Barnet (away)

I suppose, if your nickname is “The Bees” (supposedly because of apiaries (bee-hives) in the vicinity of their old (Underhill) ground), and you play in amber and black stripes, and you move to a new ground, some prat will suggest that you consider calling it “The Hive”; many of us might have wished they’d resisted the temptation as just being naff beyond belief, but they didn’t ……… so there we are!

Barnet were an amateur side from their formation until 1965 (they had two false starts under the names of New Barnet FC, Woodville FC, Barnet Avenue FC and Alston Works AFC – a team comprised of workers at a dental manufacturers, who were nicknamed “The Dentals”, not to be confused with “The Mentals”) before getting it sorted, and they played nigh on fifty years, man and boy, in the Athenian League (which they won seven times) ……… they also won the (then) prestigious FA Amateur Cup in 1947, beating Bishop Auckland 3-2. Semi-pro from 1965, they made the 3rd Round of the FA Cup in that same year, drawing PNE (who’d lost the previous season’s Final to the Hammers), going 2-0 down inside ten minutes, and then levelling the game, only to lose to a last minute OG! They wandered around between the Southern League, the Alliance Premier and the Conference, attracting players such as Jimmy Greaves (who scored 27 from midfield in one season despite being in the twilight of his career), Bob McNab and Terry Mancini; they finished second in the Conference three times in four years (86/87, 87/88 and 89/90) losing out - only one team went up from the Conference in those days - to Scarborough, Lincoln City and Darlington (and what happened to all three of those sides subsequently?), but eventually they went up into Division 4 in 1990/91, gaining promotion by winning the Conference for the first of their (record) three times (the others were 2004/05 and 2014/15). They started out with a 7-4 defeat to Crewe and a 5-5 draw (two and a half Desmonds!) against Brentford, and ended their first season in the playoff places, losing to Blackpool in the semis.

Lots of well known names have been associated with the club over the years; Barry Fry (to name but a few), Fat Stan Flashman, Ray Clemence, Alan Mullery, Tony Cottee, and four time manager Martin “Mad Dog” Allen …….. to be honest, I suspect “Mad Dog” might well feature in the job description. Famous managers, apart from those already mentioned (Fat Stan was never Manager, by the way), include John Still, Lawrie Sanchez, (Dutchman) Ulrich Landvreugd and (Dutchman) Edgar Davids – known by (Dutchman) Louis van Gaal as “The Pitbull”; I rest my case!

They finished last season in 15th place with 62 points from 46 games, winning 17, losing 18 and drawing the rest; 67 scored, 68 conceded ……… John Akinde ended the season as leading scorer, and Michael Gash was Player of the Month in September, which I mention only because that was the month that Coley was Manager of the Month; Chris Wilder – who obviously likes a challenge, having left Oxford for Northampton and Northampton for the Blades – won it three times in four months! Barnet’s record League win is 7-0 against Blackpool, their record (away) League defeat is also 7-0 (Crewe), their record (home) League defeat is 1-9 (against Posh – Barry Fry again!), and their Chairman is Anthony Kleanthous – something my wife has more than once told me to do!

Seven departed in the Summer; the best known was probably 34 year old GK Graham Stack (Reading, Plymouth, loads of loans, and Hibs), who signed on with the Kerala Blasters (no, not a cricket team!), although you may have heard of RB Andy Yiadom (not the most common surname, you might think), who went on a free to Barnsley, and/or striker Matthew Stevens, who joined Peterborough for £compensation (and I hope they get more than we got from Rangers!) ……. They signed two right wingers (as you do) – Exeter’s Alex Nicholls, and Jamal Campbell-Rice from the Blades; they also signed CM/RB Ryan Watson from Leicester, who apparently we had on loan in 2012, although he doesn’t seem to have featured much (or at all!) , and striker Jean-Louis Akpa-Akpro from the Shrews (plus Toulouse, Brussels, Grimsby, Rochdale and Tranmere) ……… all of them came free, like the toys in a McDonald’s Happy Meal! Final addition (so far) is Swansea GK Josh Vickers on a season-long loan

They started with a half-Desmond away to Cambridge, whose goal was scored by one Piero Mingoia (who also scored for the Academics (Cambridge!) yesterday in the EFL Cup as well); last night Barnet hoisted – sorry, typo, hosted - Millwall in the EFL Cup (which might once have been the Carling Cup, and all sorts of other names); that didn’t go thrillingly – Millwall stuffed them 4-0 in a “comprehensive” victory – their first goal being scored by Barnet striker John Akinde (see “leading scorer” above), who seems to have “sliced” a free kick past his own GK and to have been subbed on 55 mins, although I’m not suggesting the two things were connected …….. necessarily ………….. meanwhile, Mad Dog signed a contract extension at the end of July, but doesn’t actually know, or so he claims, how long it’s for …….. If you keep losing 4-0 at home, Martin (or may I call you “Dog”?) we all know exactly how long it’ll be for ……………

Head to head – League only – favours us, 7 to 4 with 5 draws; we haven’t lost to them in the League since January 2012, and in our time we’ve beaten them 3-1 and 3-2, whereas they’ve done us 2-0 (twice), 2-1, and 3-0 .......... last four have resulted in two wins for us and two draws ..........advantage Stanley, as it were!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 13th August. So; we opened with a 3-2 win (second time in 10 seasons, did I see somewhere?) which – to Chimer’s astonishment, apparently – got me 5 points, and left me alone on top of the 2016/17 PL Table ……except there isn’t a PL Table yet ……..shame! I did briefly toy with shortening the 2016/17 PL Season to just the one game and declaring the winner now, but I decided that might not be universally popular ………….. hmmmm! And then we dumped “Unfazed Bratfud” out of the EFL on their arses, 11 – 10 on pens, giving us the chance to Do It Unto the Unfazed Dingles in the next round. I couldn’t initially work out why two of each team took two penalties each, which should have meant 13 a-piece - 26 in all (which the BBC says it was, by the way!) - but apparently, Elliot Parish having been sent off, Bratfud get to nominate a “non penalty taker”, so that our best doesn’t get the advantage of shooting against their worst (and may I just point out that our very first (= “best”) penalty taker MISSED his first one, as did John O’Sullivan in ET, which would have simplified the whole process. We don’t do stuff easy, do we? Onward and upward!

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

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