Accrington Web - 2016/17 Prediction League; Game 27 v Notts Count (home)

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Notts County

2016/17 Prediction League; Game 27 v Notts Co (home)

O’Sullivan to Carlisle, and Rhino to Tranmere, having played just four times for Pompey since he jumped ship ..............

So ............. while the cats were away at Middlesbrough in the Cup (“the visitors rarely threatened”, according to the BBC), the mice had a nibble at the League table; Notts County beat Crawley 2-1 and Newport beat Hartlepool 3-1, Crewe and Cheltenham drew 1 each a-piece all round, and Leyton Orient alone of our rivals for relegation obliged us, by losing 2-0 at the Stags ............then on Tuesday Cheltenham won 3-2 at Luton, and lo and behold we’re down to 21st again, with a record that reads P26 W6 D8 L12 GF24 GA35 and 26 points ............Notts County are below us with 26 from 28, Orient have 25 from 27 and Newport have 22 from 27; Cheltenham and Crewe each have 28 points, from 28 and 29 games respectively .........Notts County have W7 D5 and L16, scored 30 and conceded 51, but their 26 points are trumped by our less-bad GD, and we’ve got two games in hand – and a fat lot of good may that do us! Their GA column does them no favours, being the worst in the Division (Hartlepool have shipped 47, and Newport and Stevenage (despite their 13 new signings so far) have conceded 46 each ..............our GA isn’t that bad at 35 (11 have let more in than that, and Yeovil have the same number), but our GF – at 24 – is two worse than Crewe, with Oldham (16) and Coventry (23) in League One “bettering” our total scored (is there such a word as “worsering”?), and Wigan (also 24) in the Championship equalling it ........and they’re still all in the relegation spots!

We beat the County 2-0 at their place on 10th September (O’Sullivan of Carlisle scoring the first and Boco of the Wham the second) ...........five weeks after that, may I remind you all, we were in the playoff spots with a 2-1 win over Blackpool, and 19 points from 13 ...so the mathematicians will quickly see that we’ve taken seven points from our last 13. Actually, if you look at the “Dodgy Last Five”, Cheltenham have taken 10 points from their last 10, Orient 7/10 (but have lost four in a row), we have 6/10, Newport have 5/10 (but haven’t lost in their last three) and Notts Co have 4/10 .......... Five of their seven League wins have come away from home (Hartlepool 2-1, Crawley 3-1, Cheltenham 3-2, Exeter 2-0 and Pompey 2-1) with two at home – Leyton O 3-1, and Saturday’s victory over Crawley 2-1 .......... apart from the recent Crawley win, their last League success was 22nd October, and was the culmination of a run that actually saw them hit 6th, with 21 points from 14 games ......... “sic transit Gloria Swanson”, as My Old Granny used to say!

Their New Manager is Kevin Nolan, now registered as a player again; their New Owner as from late January is Alan Hardy – who wrote “Far From The Madding Crowd”, you’ll remember (a Lancashire Comedy) – and, following the lifting of their transfer embargo in late January - they were signing folk hand over fist, mostly on loan; defender Marc Bola (Arsenal), MF Jorge Grant (Notts Forest), defender Josh Clackstone (Hull), and forward Tahvon Campbell (The Baggies) joined ProperSigning Mark Yeates (Blackpool) into the club, it was rumoured they were in for Carlton Cole (which they weren’t), and ex Newcastle striker Shola Ameobi (35), who played with Kevin Nolan at Newcastle and was most recently at Fleetwood, is on trial at Meadow Lane (how embarrassing is that – “on trial” at his age!)

And hands up if you knew that York City are now propping up the Conference with 5 wins from 30 played ...........

On paper this is winnable, so we probably won’t, even though we need to; while reports of our impending demise are exaggerated, it’s never too early to start panicking .............. And I can’t tell you how pleased I am that Rangers didn’t pocket £3million for Josh McWindass after reportedly only coughing up £60k to us when they signed him #backtoharrogaterailwayathletic

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick off time, which is 3.00pm this Saturday, 4th February ...........we’re not the form team, certainly – that’s Exeter (26 points from10), Donnie (25/10), Colchester (23/10) and Wycombe (21/10) – but then, promotion may perhaps not be a viable task this season anyway; I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ll settle for Not Going Down ...........

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

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