THE MATCH

THURSDAY 1ST JANUARY KO 12PM

v

LAST MATCH



A new year but the same old problems as we went down at Deepdale. It did take Preston until the 28th minute before they took the lead, Iorfa losing the ball near the touchline and Lewis played the ball into near our box and McCann skipped between two defenders and slotted past Charles. Charles made a fine double save before the returning Ismajic turned in the box and fired high into the net. It was 3-0 when Dobbin fired past Charles after a cross from the right. Cads had our only chance on target but was saved by there keeper. That's now 18 games without a win, our record is 20 games without a win, which will be comfortably beaten this season.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and we travel to the capital to lose, sorry take on QPR. QPR are sat in the middle of the table in 12th place, just 5 points off the playoff spots and 11 points above the relegation zone. I would be surprised to see them make the playoff and they should have enough about them to avoid a relegation scrap. They are managed Julien Stephan who has been in charge since June of 2025 after managing in France. There leading scorer is Burrell who has 9 goals and 3 assists so far this season.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 35
QPR 26
DRAW 20

CURRENT FORM

OWLS     L D D L L D                                                           

QPR        L L D W L W

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

SMUEL ALLISON
Andrew Fox and Hristo Karaivanov
Fourth Official: Ruebyn Ricardo

THE TEAM

Charles
Palmer McGhee Iorfa Otegbayo Amass
Thornton Ingelsson Bannan
McNeill Cadamarteri

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 Cadamarteri

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Owlkev 16
Imre 15
SCO 10
Washington 9
Maddix 8

BMPL

Stateside 10
Pei 0
Wereham -11
Southey -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Leeds v Man Utd
Derby v Wrexham
Middlesboro v Southampton
Doncaster v Luton
Cambridge v Grimsby

DADAH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

Not quite sure if it’s broken yet but the weekend will fix that.

Albion have not lost nine away games on the bounce for fifty years, the 1970’s, until today. Leicester away up next ……

I work with a blues fan, he is not the brightest spark, two years ago he keep saying that they were not in a relegation dogfight, even on the last Saturday he was in denial, they went down.
I am not that daft, we are in a relegation scrap, not a dogfight yet but heading that way, unless we find a solution and fast it will be a dogfight, we do not have the backers to break the bank like blues did to regain a championship place. I am worried, very worried.

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Badger gives you 2 points

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. However, if you do predict a draw and it's a match that won't be going to a replay, you can get a possible extra point by stating which of the two teams you think will eventually win.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  


At the end of the season, the winner of group 2 and the bottom of group 1 will swap places in what is commonly known as "promotion" and "relegation". It's something that most football fans will be familiar with, unless you're a fan of Liverpool or Arsenal or one of those other fashionable clubs.

The second placed player in group 2 will then have a play off with the player who finishes second from the bottom in group 1 to decide whether they will be going up, down or staying where they are.

We're going to have two seasons in one though, just to try and make it a bit more interesting and not so long drawn out. The first season will end on the Boxing Day fixtures, with the play offs being on the dates of the Twixtmas fixtures and the NYD fixtures.

The second season will start the following week, which is usually the FA Cup 3rd round, finishing on the last game of the League One season. Then another period of relegation/promotion play off games, taking in such fixtures as the EFL play offs, FA Cup Final, UEFA finals and such like.

Each group will have it's own set of fixtures. Both groups will have the Town games, with scorers to predict as before. Then it will be a split of League One fixtures and bonus matches, hopefully around ten, eleven or twelve games per Matchday.

The random badger is restricted to three goal scorers in any of the fixtures in your group.

Here's how that will appear at the end of the fixture list. All you have to do is fill in the blanks.......


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Any of those will score two points if correct. No minus points for getting it wrong.

Postponed matches will only count if the match is re-played before the next Matchday is under way. Abandoned matches will be awarded half the points for the score at the time of abandonment, so 1 point if you have the correct result, 2 points if you have the correct score.

Substitute or scorer in one of the Town games:- These will be only be allowed if you change them before the match involved has kicked off.

Prediction League Archive: https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=12830


So we now have a two legged Play Off between Lord Snooty and themaclad. The usual rules apply, but in the case of the match ending in a tie, we will have a tie breaker. That will be to predict the total number of corners in the two Huddersfield Town matches during the two legs. The closest wins. If it's still a tie, the winner will be the one who scored most points over the season, which in that case would be themaclad.



Final Division One table for the 2025/26 season:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 432 pts
   
2. jjamez = 424 pts
   
3. neonfoxinthebox = 359 pts
   
4. ritchiebaby = 328 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 327 pts
   
6. SHEP_HTAFC = 171 pts
   

1. theo_luddite = 379 pts
   
2. themaclad = 369 pts
   
3. Devongone = 348 pts
   
4. St Charles Owl = 336 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 287 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 270 pts
   

Sunday 4th January:
Championship:
Bristol City v Preston North End

League One:
Town v Exeter
Town scorers:
Exeter scorers:

Bolton Wanderers v Northampton Town (12:00)
Lincoln City v Peterborough United (12:00)
Blackpool v Bradford City
Cardiff City v Wigan Athletic
Doncaster Rovers v Luton Town
Plymouth Argyle v Burton Albion
Port Vale v Barnsley
Reading v Stockport County
Rotherham United v Mansfield Town
Stevenage v Leyton Orient
Wycombe Wanderers v AFC Wimbledon


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Tick tock

Ever heard the one about the manager who became his own replacement?

No? Well, that's exactly what Adam Clayton has done at non-league Matlock Town.

The former Middlesbrough and Leeds United midfielder was let go on Saturday - and rehired as manager two days later.

Matlock Town 'owned' the bizarre situation when announcing Clayton's return on Monday, saying it "may well come as a surprise" considering they mutually agreed to part ways on Saturday.

However, the statement announcing his departure and social media posts relating to it from the club have been scrubbed from the internet.

A 3-0 defeat by Ossett United on Friday had cost the former Premier League player his first job in management, despite Matlock sitting third in the Northern Premier League Eastern Division table.

On Saturday it was said that results had "fallen short of the standards expected", despite Matlock losing just two of their past six matches across all competitions.

By Monday, Matlock owner David Hilton explained that Clayton had been released to pursue an opportunity with another club higher up the English football pyramid.

Hilton said the Gladiators had initially "decided to not allow those discussions" to take place until the end of the season, fearing it would "unsettle" the Derbyshire club, only to then release the manager to pursue the chance.

And when Clayton turned down the opportunity of a new start elsewhere, the 36-year-old is said to have "requested he be reinstated" so he could "finish what he had started".

"While the earlier decision was taken with the club's long-term welfare in mind, further reflection and continued dialogue highlighted the importance of stability, continuity, and a shared direction," Hilton said in a statement on the club website., external

Clayton, who started his professional career on the books at Manchester City, was still playing when he was elevated from midfielder to interim manager at Matlock last season.

Despite Matlock going on to be relegated last term, Clayton was given the job on a permanent basis and had the Gladiators within seven points of league leaders Redcar Athletic by the end of what can only be called his 'first spell' in charge.

THE MATCH

THURSDAY 1ST JANUARY KO 3PM

v

LAST MATCH



Our final game of 2025 ended with us getting a clean sheet and a point. Blackburn came close with a effort from the edge of the box that went just wide. Bannan came close with our best chance of the first half when he lobbed the keeper but the ball landed just wide of the net. Onto the 2nd half and Rovers came close but Charles steered it for a corner. Thornton had a effort blocked and Otegabyo steered wide. Blackburn had a great chance to take the lead but Ohashi somehow headed wide and Cantwell had another chance but saw his chance deflected wide.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Our first fixture of 2026 sees us travel over the Pennines to take on Preston. Preston are having a good season and currently lie in 7th place just 1 point out of the playoff race. They have a good chance as anyone in the top half of the table to make the playoffs and with maybe one or two additions in the transfer window they might just achieve that goal. They are managed by Paul Heckingbottom who has been in charge since August 2024. There leading scorer this season is Daniel Jebbison who has 5 goals so far this season.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 45
PREST 48
DRAW 26

CURRENT FORM

OWLS     D D L L D L                                                           

PREST    L D D W D D

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

GAVIN WARD
James Wilson and Ian Hussin
Fourth Official: Ollie Yates

THE TEAM

Charles
Palmer Cooper Iorfa Otegbayo Amass
Thornton Ingelsson Bannan
McNeill Cadamarteri

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

3-1 Cadamarteri

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Owlkev 16
Imre 15
SCO 10
Washington 9
Maddix 8

BMPL

Stateside 10
Pei 0
Wereham -11
Southey -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Sunderland v Man City
QPR v Norwich
Southampton v Millwall
Lincoln v Huddersfield
Cambridge v Walsall

AHHDA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

Lincoln City v Huddersfield Town
Sky Bet League One
Thursday January 1st - 15:00 ko
at the LNER Stadium

Huddersfield Town travel to Lincoln to Sincil Bank on Thursday afternoon for a game of football.

Will it be a happy start to the new year for the Terriers or will it be a shocking hangover from all that Christmas points gathering? Critics have suggested that our last three opponents have been poor and that Lee Grant won't be taken seriously until he beats one of the top sides in the division and currently standing second in the League One table makes the Imps appear to be one of those.

However, we have beaten them already this season in the Vertu Trophy and they looked anything but a good team as our second choice players beat them comprehensively.

Town don't seem to have any new injuries to worry about, but after opening the scoring against Northampton Town on Monday night, Joe Low was withdrawn at half time with Grant saying it was just precautionary after the defender had complained about a niggle.

Despite getting well and truly turned over by Town at the London and North Eastern Railway Stadium in the Trophy, Lincoln have a more than decent record at Sincil Bank, winning eight out of their eleven matches this season and losing only one. That one defeat was inflicted by Exeter City back in October.

With critics saying that Town have beaten nobody of any consequence, Lincoln have beaten Stockport County and Cardiff City over the festive period, as well as a 2-0 win at Barnsley on Monday.

Two teams in good form. Should be a crackerjack with lots of fireworks!

All images used in this thread are form Wikipedia.

A brief history of Lincoln City: formed in 1884 and nicknamed the Imps after a grotesque on a wall inside Lincoln Cathedral. They played at John O'Gaunts at first but moved into Sincil Bank in 1895 and have been there ever since. This was after they had been founder members of the Football League Second Division in 1892, where they stayed until 1908 when they failed to get re-elected.

They did get re-elected again, but then got elected out again before becoming founder members of the Football League's new Third Division (North) in 1921. They won Div 3(N) three times and spent nine seasons in the 1950s in Division Two, their most succesful spell. But that was followed by two succesive relegations and they dropped to Division 4 for the first time and stayed there for the next 14 years.

They went up with a record points total under the management of Graham Taylor, who would leave soon after to go do similar at Watford.

In the mid 80s, the Football League voted to give an automatic promotion place to a team from the newly formed Football Conference (now National League) with the first team promoted in 1987 being Scarborough under the management of local chiropodist Neil Warnock. Finishing bottom of the 4th Division and therefore the first team to be automatically relegated from the league were Lincoln City. Not without controversy though.

It was down to either the Imps or Torquay United on the final day. At Plainmoor, with Torquay 2-1 down against Crewe Alexandra, one of the Torquay players got bitten by a police dog, which led to a lot of injury time. Lincoln's game at Swansea had finished with a 2-0 defeat for the Imps but the as it stands table was still keeping them up. In the added on time though, with the Lincoln players and fans huddled around their transistor radios, Torquay scored the goal that saved them and doomed Lincoln to life outside of the Football League.

It didn't last long as they bounced straight back up again. They went up again in 1998, but came straight back down again. That was followed by five consecutive seasons of qualifying for the Play Offs, all of which they failed in.......

• 2002/03: Finishing 6th, they beat Scunthorpe United in the semi-finals, but lost the final against AFC Bournemouth in Cardiff.
  
  
• 2003/04: Finishing 7th, they were defeated by the mighty Huddersfield Town in the semi-finals.
  
  
• 2004/05: Finishing 6th, they again reached the final at the Millennium Stadium, losing 2-0 to Southend United.
  
  
• 2005/06: A 7th place finish led to a semi-final defeat against Grimsby Town.
  
  
• 2006/07: Finishing 5th, they were beaten in the semi-finals by Bristol Rovers (4-8 on aggregate).
  

The failure turned into a demise and by the end of 2010/11 they were dumped once more into the Conference. But then in May 2016, they took on a couple of school teachers, the brothers Danny and Nicky Cowley, whose legacy has put the club into the healthy position it still enjoys today.

They were only there for three seasons, before leaving to join Huddersfield Town in the Championship, but what a three seasons they were for Imps fans.

• 2016-17 (National League Champions & FA Cup Quarter-Finalists): In their first season, as a non-league side, the Cowleys led Lincoln to the National League title, securing promotion back to the EFL after a six-year absence. They also had an FA Cup run, becoming the first non-league team in over a century to reach the quarter-finals by defeating Ipswich Town, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Premier League side Burnley, before losing to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
  
  
• 2017-18 (EFL Trophy Winners & League Two Play-offs): In their first season back in the EFL, the Imps finished seventh in League Two, qualifying for the play-offs. They got beat at the semi final stage by Exeter City. They also won the club's first-ever major trophy by winning the EFL Checkatrade Trophy at Wembley, beating Shrewsbury Town 1-0 in the final, with a goal from Elliott Whitehouse.
  
  
• 2018-19 (League Two Champions): The success continued as the Cowleys guided the Imps to the League Two title, returning the club to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1999.
  

In the season after the Cowleys left, they ended the season back at Wembley in the Play Off Final, with Michael Appleton in charge. They had beaten slumbering giant Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate in the semis, before lining up against Blackpool at the national stadium. And they got off to a brilliant start when Ollie Turton, in his last game before moving to Huddersfield Town, put the ball into his own net in the first minute. But two goals from Kenny Dougall won the match for the Tangerines 2-1.

Since then they've had top half finishes in the League One table, but no more Play Offs.

Lincoln manager profile: Michael Skubala: Having stumbled upon success by appointing two PE teachers in the Cowley brothers, the Lincoln board decided to copy the idea by appointing another one in Skubala, who used to be a PE teacher at Lutterworth College. His coaching philosophy sounds similar to that of Lee Grant as in he's data driven with a focus on player development.

During his time at Lutterworth, he also held academy coaching roles at Coventry City and Nottingham Forest and was an assistant manager at non-league club Barwell. He became the director of football at Loughborough University before being headhunted by the FA.

Skubala also served as the head coach of the England national futsal team, leading them to their highest world ranking in two decades between 2017 and 2020. Futsal? What's that? A gloryfied version of five-a-side football.

In July 2022, Skubala was appointed head coach of the Leeds United U21s. In February 2023, following the sacking of Jesse Marsch, he was named the interim head coach for the senior team, taking charge of three Premier League matches. His short stint included a notable 2-2 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford. After Javi Gracia was appointed permanent manager, Skubala transitioned to a first-team coach role.

Skubala was appointed manager of Lincoln City in November 2023, following the sacking of Mark Kennedy. Since then he has been in charge of over a hundred games and has a win percentage of around 45%.

Club connections:

Lasse Sørensen, Sean Roughan and Joe Taylor from the current Town squad are all ex Lincoln players, leading the Imps fans to think that they have become a feeder club for the more illustrious club in West Yorkshire.

The best one that we stole off them came with the Cowleys and that was of course, Harry Toffolo. He'd started his career with Norwich City, but was sent out on many loans before making his breakthrough at Sincil Bank. He made 72 appearances for them, winning the League Two title and a place in the PFA team of the year.

At Leeds Road he made 99 appearances scoring 9 goals. He was just about to tap home his 10th goal, against Nottingham Forest at Wembley in the Championship Play Off Final in 2022, when instead of rolling the ball past the goalkeeper, he inexplicably took a dive for which he received a yellow card. What a strange thing to do!

Even stranger was him then joining Forest almost as the final whistle blew. Had he been already tapped up or was it just a corrupt referee denying us a clear cut penalty? I suppose we'll never know.

He made 57 appearances for the Florist in three seasons before his release in the summer. At which point, he headed over to America where he now plays for Charlotte FC in the MLS.

Lincoln in popular culture:

Tim Hart, one of the founder members of Steeleye Span was born in Lincoln in 1948.

All Around My Hat - Steeleye Span on YouTube

The pop/rock band The Casuals from Lincoln achieved commercial success in the late 1960s. Their single "Jesamine" reached number 2 on the charts in 1968.

Jesamine - The Casuals on YouTube

1. John In Grot Town
   
2. Hulls Calm Alarm
   
3. Ravi Could Banjo
   
4. Audi Scum Cat
   
5. Ely Mafia
   
6. Liam Chuffed
   
7. Edmond Quiz Opener
   
8. Elvis Wall
   
9. Adolescent Eli
   
10. Lent Rage
    

League One strugglers Port Vale have sacked manager Darren Moore after Friday's thrashing by Huddersfield Town left them seven points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Vale's 5-0 defeat by the Terriers was their seventh in their past nine league games and left them 10 points from safety after 21 matches.

The Valiants have not won a league game since beating Barnsley at Oakwell on 27 September - 12 matches ago.

"This has been a difficult decision and one we haven't taken lightly, but we believe now is the right moment to make a change," a club statement, external said.

"We have given the situation time and support to ensure we were doing everything to give this project the best possible chance of success, and while we truly hoped it would turn, we must act in what we believe is the best long-term interest of Port Vale."

Moore was appointed in February last year on a five-and-a-half year contract with the club also in the relegation zone in League One.

But only two wins in the 17 remaining games that season meant Vale were relegated back to League Two.

Although Moore took the club back up after finishing second in League Two last term, life back in the third tier has been tough.

After failing to win any of their first seven league games, three victories on the spin in September - against Exeter, Mansfield and the Tykes - hinted at a revival.

But Vale failed to build on that with the only successes in the past 14 games in all competitions coming in the last 32 of the EFL Trophy and first two rounds of the FA Cup.

Moore said he was "sorry" things did not work out this season.

"It has been a real privilege to manage Port Vale and to represent such a proud football club," he said.

"Earning promotion in our first season gave me memories that I will always keep in my heart, and I want to thank the players, staff and supporters for their backing during my time at Vale Park."

The club said a recruitment process would now take place with an announcement in due course.

First-team coach Jamie Smith will take charge of the team for their trip to Bradford City on Monday, 29 December (19:45 GMT).