Accrington Web - 2017/18 Prediction League; Game 39 v Mansfield Town (away)

Mansfield Town

Accrington Stanley

2017/18 Prediction League; Game 39 v Mansfield (away)

This week’s starter for 10; the first team to be relegated this season confirmed their fate this week; who was it, and what’s their current record which lost them their current status?

Also this week, the Accrington Stanley Roll of Honour pays homage to Portly Vale, for stamping on the toes of the Wycombe Pocketpickers by doing them over for a Goalless Desmond – especially valuable to the cause after they’d fettled Crawley 3-2 away on Wednesday last (Crawley are having the sort of Un-Purple patch that could well see Harry Kewell extradited back to the Convict Colonies any time soon, Crawley having lost 5-3 at home to Cheltenham on Saturday to follow 2-3 at home to Wycombe); also honoured are Morecambe - for services to Accrington Stanley by keeping Lincoln off the Green (gerrit? Lincoln Green? Oh suit yourselves!) with another G/D (Goalless Desmond) which keeps them 8th ..........that’s Lincoln who are 8th, not Morecambe: they wish!

Chesterfield are Mentioned in Despatches for Doing It unto Notts County on Sunday (3-1, with a penalty in the 90+8th minute) which puts them on 34 points from 37 games, just three behind John Laurie’s Grimsby (“Doomed! Doomed! We’re all Doomed!) with two games in hand. Grimsby haven’t won in EIGHTEEN (18) League games – five draws (goalless at Notts Co, and 1-1 at Colchester, and at home to Mansfield, Cheltenham and Portly) and 13 defeats, most recently 4-0 at Coventry ...........in those 18 runs-out they scored 7 times in total (one goal in each of seven games), and failed to land any fish in their opponents’ nets in the other 11 games, which is hardly worth putting your kit on for, in truth, and probably isn’t worth getting your kit off for either; ask Mariners’ Boss Michael NotSoJolley how he’s enjoying management at the moment – P4 D1 L3 GF2 GA10 Pts1! And Gary McSheffrey might be regretting his recent decision to sign for them ..................as might ex Posh FB Andrew Fox, who they signed from Swedish side AFC Eskilstuna.

However, this week’s Team Ennoblement goes to Vegan Greenpeace United for “Forest Green 2 Mansfield 0” , which probably wasn’t the result that the Stags were hoping for after a run of four consecutive 1-1 draws, thus giving them the princely return of four points from a possible 15

We met them chez nous on August 19th (game number 3), and courtesy of Special K on 10 and a “Billy Whizz 90+2” we took the points; then, they were pre-season favourites to go up; after those three games, the top seven were Swindon and Exeter (7 points), followed by Luton, Coventry, Carlisle, Us and Notts County (6) ............ Mansfield were 11th, The PocketPickers were 14th, Lincoln were 22nd, Colchester 23rd and Pointless Crawley 24th .............. “Pointless Crawley”, by the way, was their status, not their raison d’etre (or raison not to etre, if you will)

Current form sides (last five games) are the Stanley and Coventry (13 points), with Crewe on 10, Carlisle and Cheltenham on 9, and Wycombe, Notts Co, Lincoln and Exeter all on eight ........................... Detentions for Not Doing Your Homework are awarded to Grimsby (1 point), and Barnet, Vegan Greenpeace, PortlyVale and Yeovil, each with 4 ........ Six of the Best for the Funking Slackers (had to type that carefully!) of Luton - 6 points from 15 - and Mansfield (4 points from 15)

Limited activity in the Transfer Window; they LoanSigned the Owls’ AMF Matt Penney (of whom That Nice Mr Evans – then the manager at Field Mill – said,

"He plays very stylishly in either wide area after being developed at Wednesday as an attacking full-back," ..........................

..... just before he b*ggered off to his “dream job” at the Posh (actually – given the perks – I’d have thought his dream job would have been Boston United, but what do I know?) ............ they also signed Posh striker Ricky Miller (28), who might have been made available because he hadn’t scored in 13 games, which isn’t what strikers are supposed to be about, really, plus Swansea MF Adam King

Mansfield’s home form this season to date is W10 D8 L1 (Swindon, 1-3) and away it’s W6 D7 L6, giving them overall P38 W16 D15 L7 GF56 GA40 for 63 points and 7th place ............. they beat Shaw Lane and Guiseley (still firmly rooted at the foot of the Bananarama) in the FA Cup before losing in a replay 4-1 at home to Cardiff after a 0-0 away; in the EFL Cup they went down 0-1 at home to Rochdale in Round One, and in the EFLTroffy they made it through the group stage (W2 L1) but then went out 5-4 on penalties at Blackpool after a half-Desmond ...................and by the way, their 7 League defeats is matched only by Luton ................. and we inflicted one of those seven defeats on both of them! Second starter for ten this week; the Stanley has drawn only five of 37 this season; has anyone in League Two drawn fewer? If so, who?

Their leading scorers as of now are Danny Rose on 14 (the same as Special K) and Kane Hemmings (on loan from Oxford) with 11 .......... Billy Whizz still tops the pile with 21, with Mohammed Eisa (Cheltenham) on 20, Luton’s James Collins on 18 alongside Marc McNulty (Coventry), and You Fat Bastard on 17; Christian Doidge has 16 (but I think has been out for a few games), and so does Danny Hylton (also Luton)

So; the chips are down (but for those concerned about Food Hygiene, the fish is still up) ...... I’m not going to do a “last few games” analysis yet; let’s take it one game at a time, pray we haven’t lost our impetus and that our mojo hasn’t withered up and dropped off, and see if we can compound Mansfield’s misery with a win ........... and don’t forget that they had skipper Krystian Pearce sent off at Chez Vegans on Saturday, and that David Flitcroft will be under pressure because he hasn’t won yet for the Stags, leaving him on a nervy career figure of 99 wins (from 248); here’s hoping!

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Good Friday, 30th March; the fixtures pit Carlisle at Cheltenham, Luton at Colchester, Exeter at Lincoln, Coventry at Newport and Wycombe at Notts County .........and at the other end, Chesterfield are at PV and Grimsby host Stevenage ..............and the first side to be relegated this season (and I didn’t mention the EFL) is Brechin City, relegated from the Championship in Scotland with 4 draws and 25 losses in 29 games and a GD of -46; and Stanley’s 5 draws is beaten by Swindon, who have 19 wins, 16 defeats, and just 3 draws ............. so far!

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

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