Accrington Web - 2018/19 Prediction League; Game 15 v Luton Town (away)

Luton Town FC

Accrington Stanley

2018/19 Prediction League; Game 15 v Luton (away)

Luton Town was, as you’ll all remember, the Best Team in League Two last season (according to RentaGob, their Manager), as shown by the fact that they finished second, five points behind the Champions, who were ...... oh yes, that’d be Us .................... Of the four promoted teams from last year’s Bargain Basement, Wycombe are currently 17th, Coventry are 10th, Luton are 7th – just outside the playoff places – and the Stanley are 4th, and in the playoff places (until Blunderland scored in the 58th minutes at Shrewsbury – well, our Old Boy Omar Beckles put through his own net - we were in the automatics!) ....................... Nathan Jones; mwahahahahaha!

Current League One form teams are League Leaders Pompey and the Stanley, each with 12 points from 15; The BlunderlandBlackMoggies have 11, and Luton, Barnsley, Coventry and Sarfend have 10 .............. Principal Numpties are BrizzleRov and Les Wombles (3/15), followed closely by the Iron, Bratfud and Plymouth with 4/15, and The Brickies have 5 (W1 D2 L2) ..... while we’re doing Form Teams, Vegan Greenpeace eventually lost their unbeaten record to Northampton last Saturday (2-1), and Macclesfield eventually won (against Carlisle, also 2-1), and Cambridge are greasing the Pole of Oblivion like good’uns – ONE point in 5 games ........ MK PretendDons, Vegan Greenpeace and Mansfield have each only lost once .............. in League One, all the teams now have a win (Plymouth have just the one, Oxford, Brizzle and Shrewsbury have two each), and every team has lost; there are three sides, though, which have only lost once each ........... Pompey, The Moggies, and .......... starter for ten ............. who else? (No cheating!)

Luton Town was formed in 1885 by combining Luton Town Wanderers and Excelsior; they’re known (as are their supporters) as “The Hatters” – and personally I’d Rather Be a Hatter Than a Gooner – which is a reference to the local hat-making industry of long ago, which specialised, so I understand, in straw plaiters or boaters; if it had been otherwise they’d have been nicknamed The Toppers, or, for those who know their hat-making, The Blockers ............ They started off local, but dipped their Little Piggies into the National Game by going professional and joining firstly the Southern League, and then – in 1897/98 - the predominantly northern-based Football League (Woolwich Arsenal were the only other Southern Softies in the League); in their first season they came 8th of 16, 30 games played, 30 points; they beat both Grimsby and Walsall 6-0 at home, Loughborough 7-0 and Lincoln 9-3, and although their record at Kenilworth Road was W10 D2 L3, their away record was W3 D2 L10 ........... next season (1898/99) they finished 15th of 18, with 23 points from 34 games, and in 1899/1900 they came second-bottom (17th) with just 18 points. One part of history records that financially their membership of the League was unviable and untenable – cost of travel and so on (the Railways were at it even then!) – and that they left the League and “it was arranged that they would re-join the Southern League for season 1900/01”, whereas the League table shows that they weren’t re-elected to Division Two (maybe they didn’t ask – that much isn’t clear)

After lots of yo-yoing, they reached the First Division in 1954/55 (losing the 1959 Cup Final to Notts Forest, you’ll recall) and again in 1973/74, and then finally in 1982 – who doesn’t remember David Pleat’s “Jig of Joy” at the end of 1982/83 when Raddi Antic scored the winner at Maine Road that sent City down in Luton’s stead? – and they stayed there until 1992 ..... after that it was Slippery Slope Time until – mixed with Humungous points-deductions for being naughty boys – they slid into the Bananarama in 2009, returning at the fifth attempt (three failed play-offs in four years) as Champions under John Still in 2014. You’ll all know about Joe Payne’s 10 goals in a game (still a record) and 55 in a season back in the mid-30s but ................. second starter for 10; Luton recorded a record (“Hatters, Hatters”) in 1974 in collaboration with which Bedfordshire-based comedy group?

As Not Actually The Best Team in League Two last year, they released six of their Not Quite The Best Squad in the summer; Jordan Cook went to Grimsby, Scott Cuthbert to Stevenage, Lawson D’Ath (who sounds like the Villain in an Agatha Christie novel) went to MKD, Johnny Mullins went to Cheltenham, and Olly Lee was awarded a Free Transfer to Hearts ....... In came four – Andrew Shinnie from Brum, Sonny Bradley from Plymouth, Kazenga LuaLua (I’m still trying to work out if all the LuaLuas are related or not) from the BlackMoggies, and one Matty Pearson from Barnsley .... some loans – 3 out (including 8 foot 11 inch striker Jake Jervis – well he looks like he is! – to the Wombles) and 2 in – Eunan O’Kane from Leeds (who sadly broke his leg in mid-September, and is now back at Leeds – and we wish him well), and Jorge Grant – who scored shed-loads for Notts County on loan from Notts Forest last year – who joined from, oddly enough, Notts Forest .........

After three games of the season they had one point, and lay 22nd .......... of their next nine they won 5, drew three and lost one; then Barnsley rained on their parade, winning 3-2, and today they beat Walsall 2-0 .......... P14 W6 D4 L4 GF21 GA18 for 24 points and 7th place (see above). At home it’s 5 wins and two draws, away it’s 1 win, 2 draws and four defeats ......... it should be said that the losses were at Pompey, the Brickies, Donnie and Barnsley – currently 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th (they got a home draw with the Black Cats in game 3) ............... So they only lose to teams above them in the table ...............and we’re above them in the table (just sayin’)

They went out of the EFL Cup 1-0 at the Baggies, and in the Troffy they’re top of their group with 2 wins, and will go through to the knockout ......... In the FA Cup draw on Monday they’re Ball Number 24; we’re Number One! Their leading scorers, by the way, are James Collins and Elliott Lee, both with four, followed by Danny Hylton (who was injured, has missed quite a few games, and was subbed either on or off in their last two games), Jorge Grant (see “shed-loads, above), Matty Pearson and Harry Cornick – who must have left the Band – who each have two .............. Our leading scorers are Billy Whizz and Sean McSkipper, each with 6; League One leader scorers have 9 (Matt Godden (Posh - that's his club, not him!), Ian Henderson (Rochdale), Josh Maja (BlackMoggies) and John Marquis (Donnie)

Head to head has us with three wins, four draws, and four wins for them; most recent game was 10th March chez eux when we did them 2-1 to consolidate our promotion charge with – as I recall it – a Billy Whizz Special .......

Best known Managers would be Alec Stock, Sam Bartram, David Pleat (twice), Joe Kinnear, Mike Newell (sometimes for the wrong reasons – PC he wasn’t!) and John Still ................Famous ex players include Joe Payne, Sid Owen (before he was in Eastenders), George Cummins, Billy Bingham, Bruce Rioch, Malcolm McDonald, John Aston, the Futcher Brothers and Brian Horton ................ While on the subject of Joe Payne, your third starter for ten; in 1937 Joe Payne scored twice for England against Finland; how many caps did he win in all?

Their most capped player was Mal Donaghy , who won 58 caps for Northern Ireland while a Luton player, so he did! Biggest win in the FA Cup was 15-0 against Great Yarmouth Town in November 1914; biggest league win was 12-0 against Brizzle in 1936 (see “Joe Payne – 10 goals in a game” above); heaviest League defeat (so far) was 9-0 by Small Heath in 1898 – and it’s a good thing that Large Heath wasn’t playing!; most expensive signing was Lars Elstrup in 1989 from Odense Boldklub (£850,000)

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 7.45pm on Tuesday 23rd October .............. Well, ‘pon my jolly old soul; five wins in six, two defeats in 14, our highest ever place in the Football Pyramid, a GD of +5, and no sign of the bubble bursting ............. bet we draw Guiseley in the First Round of the FA Cup again on Monday! I just think it’s very nice to be a WaitingRose, having spent so many years being a Lidl ....... And the third team currently with only one defeat in League One is Blackpool (in 13th); “Hatters, Hatters” in 1974 was a collaboration between Luton and The Barron Knights; and Marksman Joe Payne only won that one England cap, against Finland ............... makes you wonder!

Good luck to everyone! ................. Keep the Faith! ............ Don’t be a Lidl, be a Waitrose! ............. And thanks for playing!

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