Accrington Web - 2020/21 Prediction League; Game 20 v Doncaster Rovers (away)

Doncaster Rovers

Accrington Stanley

2020/21 Prediction League Game 20; v The Flatlanders

Update

I'm not, to be honest, a great lover of VAR; clear and obvious errors maybe, but I think the decision about whether your shoe-lace is nearer the goal than the defender is one for the Ref, frankly ........... now, cricket reviews are a different thing altogether .... in which context, did you see Virat Kohli's dismissal by Moeen Ali in the Second Test in Chennai?

From the BBC:

"Kohli was cheered to the crease by a 15,000-strong crowd; he failed to score off his first four deliveries; the fifth, tossed up outside off stump, tempted him into an ambitious cover drive.

The ball turned sharply, went between bat and pad. and clipped the top of middle and off stump. England celebrated. The crowd fell silent. And Kohli just stood there, a look of disbelief etched on his face as he glanced back at the bails on the ground and then looked pleadingly towards batting partner Rohit Sharma. The umpire even had to ask for the replay to be shown on the big screen before Kohli finally left the field."

Starter for Ten, then; before Kohli "failed to Walk the Walk", who was the last Utterly Famous Gentleman to do the same?

And I don't know who's seen this before, but it made me laugh (and I believe it was written by a lady);

The "offside rule" explained for women:

You're in a shoe shop, second in the queue for the till. Behind the shop assistant on the till is a pair of shoes which you have seen and which you must have. The female shopper in front of you has seen them also and is eyeing them with desire. Both of you have forgotten your purses. It would be rude to push in front of the first woman if you had no money to pay for the shoes. The shop assistant remains at the till waiting.

Your friend is trying on another pair of shoes at the back of the shop and sees your dilemma. She prepares to throw her purse to you. If she does so, you can catch the purse, then walk round the other shopper and buy the shoes! At a pinch she could throw the purse ahead of the other shopper and "whilst it is in flight" you could nip around the other shopper, catch the purse and buy the shoes!

BUT, you must always remember that until the purse has "actually been thrown", it would be plain wrong for you to be in front of the other shopper and you would be OFFSIDE!

And before you ask me, yes there was an HMS Doncaster ..... There's also an HMP Doncaster, but that's a horse of a totally different colour ......... His Majesty's Ship Doncaster was one of 32 minesweepers ordered in 1915, delivered to the Royal Navy in 1916, and sold in on 1922 . They were "paddlewheel coastal minesweeping sloops" and were reasonable sea-boats, but lost speed badly in a seaway when the paddle boxes tended to become choked with water. HMS Doncaster was delivered in June 1916, along with HMS Cheltenham, Goodwood, and Pontefract; HMS Ascot was the first of the class, delivered in January 1916, and was actually the last ship to be sunk in the First World War, on 10 November 1918, the day before the announcement of the armistice, having been torpedoed by UB-67 off the Farne Islands, where she lies at a depth of 60 metres, at 55°37′ N and 001°29′ W

This game should have been played on the Feast of Saint Stephen, of course, but wasn't; Donnie had won four of their previous five games up to then, losing only at home to Shrewsbury, and they then won the next five, giving them 27 points out of a possible 30 .............. but they've lost their last two - 3-1 at 15th-placed Fleetwoof on Tuesday, and 4-1 at Slumberland today (all four by Charlie Wyke, and all four assisted by Aiden McGeady) ..... that said, they're a force at home (W9 D2 L2 GF25 GA13 - defeated by The Shrews (see above) on 22nd December and CrewedAlex 2-1 on 24th October) and not bad on the road (W6 D1 L5 GF18 GA17), which gives them an overall current record of P25 W15 D3 L7 GF43 GA30 for 48 points and 5th place, level on points with Pompey, and one point behind the Posh and the Hulk, with a game in hand on the Two Peas, and three in hand on the Pod ......... and Hull did manage two shots on target today at home to the MKDonuts, but they forgot to score again, making three games in a row ...

They ProperSigned Trinidad and Tobago CMF John Bostock from Toulouse and striker Omar Bogle from Charlton during January, and LoanSigned GK Ellery Balcombe from Brentford (Josef Bursik was recalled by Stoke, and seems to have the gloves there - 15 League appearances), LW Elliot Simoes from The LambChops, and Celtic's DMF Scott Robertson

If you missed it, the game's gone back by 24 hours (to give Mab time to get his entry in!) and so the deadline for entries (which is, as always, scheduled kick-off time) is 7.00pm on WEDNESDAY 17TH FEBRUARY

And apparently the last Famous Gentleman BK (Before Kohli) to refuse to walk having been clean bowled (ie with his bails lying akimbo on the ground) was one William Gilbert Grace MRCS LRCP; the legend is that Grace once said, when given out LBW, "they came to see me bat, not to see you umpire".

And he played 22 Tests (36 innings - 2 x Not Out), scoring 1098 runs for a Test average of 32.3 - which surprised me, because it leaves him outside the top-60 English batsmen of all time ......

Good luck to everyone! ....... Change your prediction or stick with the Christmassy one! ............... Stay safe and keep well! ..... And thanks for playing!

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