Accrington Web - 2021/22 Game 28; v Sunderland (home)

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2021/22 Prediction League Game 28; v Wonderwall AFC (home)

With a return to action at the Theatre of Dreams by Man U defender Phil Jones after an absence (due to injury) of 712 days, you might wonder - as I did - what the longest recorded gap was between a player making successive appearances for their club ...

We'll start the bidding at 1,120 days: Celtic's John Kennedy had more than three years between successive appearances, playing in the Old Firm derby on 28 March 2004 before suffering a horror tackle on his international debut for Scotland three days later: he wouldn’t return to action until 22 April 2007 ........... next, 1,221 days, when because of an injury crisis, Gareth Ainsworth brought himself out of retirement to play in their Checkatrade Trophy game against Northampton on 30 August 2016, having hung up his boots at Adams Park on 27 April 2013 (perhaps not quite the same ....): and - started by a players' strike - Luis Milla played for Barcelona on 9th September 1984, but had to wait 1,455 days (four years less four days) for his next game ............. hugely patient? Maybe, but after 18 months he rejected new terms and joined Real Madrid instead ...........

But the winner, as far as I can find, on 2,925 days, is Chelsea defender Lewis Baker: he made his debut - briefly - in Chelsea's FA Cup win over Derby on 5th January 2014, and made his second Chelsea first-team appearance in their 5-1 FA Cup win over Chesterfield on Saturday 8th January 2022 ..... apparently he had several 'long term loans' in between ........... Now that IS patience!

And the Chelsea GK against TwistySpires Utd that day was one Marcus Bettinelli ...

So - Starter for Ten ..... following on from all that - what's the longest period between a player first signing a contract with a club and actually making their first-team debut for that club?

Step forward then ex Cardiff, Bristol City, Burnley and Villa GK Tom Heaton, who signed adult professional terms with Man U in 2005, left in 2010, returned on a new contract in July 2021, and came on to make his debut (proper debut, not a second one) on 8th December that year - to quite an ovation, it seems - as a 68th minute substitute for Dean Henderson, in the Champions' League game against Young Boys of Berne, no less (why isn't there an Old Boys of Berne, by the way? A bit ageist) ..... 17 years in all - although, to be fair, for eleven of those 17 he wasn't a Red Devil anyway .......... In his first spell with the club he apparently won an FA Youth Cup Winner's medal, and he also bagged a Winner's Gong in 2003/04 in the Manchester Senior Cup Final against Manchester City ..... and seemingly he didn't actually play a single minute in either competition!

And I imagine quite a lot of you looked at the stats for Bolton v Wycombe on Tuesday just gone ......YouKnowWho made his debut in a 2-0 home defeat (wonder if Trafford in goal might have changed things? Nah!) ......... as I read the stats, YKW won one free kick, gave two away, had a shot from outside the area blocked and a header inside the box saved ...... and that was pretty much it, really ..... not International form, even for Northern Ireland ......... Bolton are currently 18th in League One - P24 W7 D5 L12 GF30 GA37 for 26 points, three and some goals above the GreasyPole spots ...... no pressure then ............ and they're also the current worst-performing team in League One, having lost four on the run and earned one point from the last possible 15 .........Mwwwwahahahahaha!

So; this week's Starter for Ten ............ I recorded the passing recently of Burnley's inside forward Jimmy Robson, whose career spanned the years 1956 to 1973 ............ he played for four clubs, recording 455 games and 110 goals ........... but what was unusual - maybe unique - about the clubs he played for through those 17 years?

Among Tuesday's other League Un games was Sunderland 1 Lincoln 3, which gave the Imps back-to-back wins over Oxford and the Wearsiders (within four days); that's pretty good, but up to that point their record was W5 D7 L10 ........... The story of the game - apart from "Lincoln trash Sunderland at the Stadium of Light" - was Scottish striker Chris Maguire, who played for Sunderland from 2018 to the summer of 2021, when his contract wasn't renewed:

"On 7 July 2021, Maguire signed a two-year deal with Lincoln City, joining Imps manager Michael Appleton for a third time. He made his debut against Cambridge United, on 11 September 2021, coming off the bench in a 5-1 victory. On January 11th 2022 he scored a hat trick against his old club Sunderland"

It isn't in the report, but he also stuck it up Lee Johnson, his ex-Sunderland manager, on the touchline when he scored his first (and they don't like it up 'em) .......... and later in the game the aforementioned Lee Johnson was red-carded, as was Sunderland's Carl Winchester

Les Moggies Noirs are second in the table, level on points with Rotherham (50) but having played two games more; sitting in fourth are Wigan, who are five points behind Los Pussycatos Negros but have five games in hand ............ just saying, you understand ......... Their overall record is P26 W15 D5 L6 GF51 GA32; four of their six defeats saw them fail to trouble the scorers, and four of their six defeats have been on the road (Burton 1-0, Pompey 4-0, Rotherham 5-1 and the Owls 3-0), the Sheffield game being their last defeat before the Imps ....... of the eleven games in between, they won 6 and drew 5 .......... they won't win the FA Cup this season (Vivat 1973!), having lost 1-0 at home to the Stags, and their EFL cup competition came to a shuddering halt at Arsenal just before Christmas (5-1), as did their Troffy run, which was ended 1-0 by Oldham in Round 2. Leading scorers are Ross Stewrat - err, Stewart - with 18, Nathan Broadhead (7), Aiden O'Brien (5) and Leon Dajaku (on loan from Union Berlin) with four

They signed MF Nicky Gyimah from the Posh on 22nd December, and Linfield RB Trai Hume on 4th January (but I can't tell you anything about either), but having got rid of 17 last summer they've had nobody spare to sell or give away in the current window ........ at the moment the Window isn't a Thrilling Window - one or two Oldsters changing clubs - Burton striker Kane Hemmings to Tranmere and Hull striker Josh Magennis to Wigan being the most recent - but the fireworks haven't started (although the gazumping has, it appears ..........)

I imagine that most of you saw, at the beginning of December, the story about Wigan and ex Black Cats striker Charlie Wyke, who suffered a cardiac arrest in training, and whose life was saved by CPR by Leam Richardson (initially), and the Club Doctor, and then the medical staff at Liverpool Hoppitable, and I know we all wish him well ........... I hadn't seen - you may have - that in recognition of Leam's immediate efforts the Club, that same week, renamed their South Stand "The Leam Richardson Stand" ............. Touch of class, I thought ............. Shows the value of defibrillators and showing people how to use them ........... I'd personally throw away the key for anyone found stealing them, as - incredibly - some low-lives do ......

Head to head results since 2018/19? P6 (plus one in the League Cup, which we lost) ...... drawn two (2-2 and 3-3) and lost four ............ and in the 6 league games they've stuck 15 in our net, whereas we've managed seven in theirs ........... we last met in September, losing 2-1 (our goal by Michael Nottingham) ................ and while I was looking at the 11v11 stats for previous games between us I came across what is said to be our overall record (I presume, since 2006)

Games won: 305
Games drawn: 190
Games lost: 326
Goals for: 1083 (1.31 per game)
Goals against: 1181 (1.43 per game)

Don't swear it's right, but it's interesting - and better than I might have anticipated .....

And - for once - the View from the opposition Press ("The Chronicle")

Accrington Stanley send Sunderland a warning as Black Cats prepare for key clash

John Coleman has fired a warning to Sunderland ahead of their meeting with Accrington.

John Coleman has issued a warning to Sunderland that his Accrington Stanley side will look to adopt a more offensive approach when the sides meet on Saturday (every time we lose the ball we'll stick our tongues out at them). The Black Cats will be hoping to replace Rotherham at the top of the League One table but face a tough test on their travels at the Wham Stadium. The 11-game unbeaten run that took them towards the third-tier summit came to an end on Tuesday evening as Chris Maguire’s hat-trick earned Lincoln a 3-1 win. Lee Johnson will be desperate for his side to bounce back at the weekend but his opposite number has claimed that it will not be easy for Sunderland.

Speaking to Accrington’s official media channel, Coleman said:

“We played really well at their place earlier in the season, we had 23 shots and attacked them really well, the game could have gone either way.

“Six weeks ago we were leaking goals like a sieve and you couldn’t put your finger on it as we defended quite well in those games but we were getting punished for every mistake we made.

“We have had an upturn in form, not so much an upturn in performance, and had a little bit of luck along the way. We would like to be more offensive in our play" .Regardless of how well his side attack, Coleman is also abundantly aware of exactly how dangerous Sunderland can be.

“Our defence is not now watertight, we are always working on that, and we know the threat Sunderland will pose,” added the Accrington boss. “They even posed a threat on Tuesday night when down to ten men but what we have got to start focusing on is what we are going to do to teams, particularly at home and we have to put pressure on them and get them worrying about our players. We have good attacking players who can create and score goals and play some good football."

Deadline for entries is, as always, scheduled kick-off time, which is 3.00pm on Saturday 15th January 2022 ........ Have we turned the New Year with a feeling of optimism? Can we Do It to the Black Cats? Will we Do It to the Black Cats? Why ever not?

And on your Commenceur Pour Dix Points, Jimmy Robson's alliterative career took in Burnley (202 games). Blackpool (63), Barnsley (87) and Bury (103) .......... it may have happened before - four clubs all starting with the same initial letter - but I can't find it if it did .......

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

COYR!

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