Group A

Minizin 17
A.A.A. 16
Zinman 12
BaggieOne 10
BaggieVicar 3
Twerton 0
B.B.B. -1
Stairs -4

A real Jekyll & Hyde week in Group A this week with half the group scoring 55 points while the bottom half only managing -2 of the 53 total points gained!! Interestingly out of the 15 weeks we are into this season this is the third week the total points scored has been 53, not sure how you would calculate the odds of that but no other weekly score has been repeated let alone appeared 3 times!!

So lets talk about that top 4 this week. Minizin becomes the first player this season to be last one week and jump to top spot the following week! This week he scored 17 points with a max on the bonus ball along with one other CS and 4 more CRs to boost his score. Like all bar 2 players he missed on the Gamball but even so it must feel good to bounce back after his worst week of the season last week. AAA is second with 16 points, he was one of the 2 players to score a CR on the Gamball and added a week's leading 2 CSs as well. Zinman is in the top 3 of Group A for the 4th week in a row with 12 points, like AAA he got a CR on the Gamball and also added one on the Bonus as well but did put his scoreball on the only 0-0 we saw costing him a point. Rounding out the double digit achievers in 4th is BaggieOne with 10 points, he has seen his form improve the last couple of weeks after a wretched 4 week run that saw him lose top spot.

And now we get to the bottom 4, BaggieVicar, Twerton, BBB and Stairs, who between them managed a grand total of -2 points!!!! The Vicar at least managed a positive score with 3 points after scoring on three games but missing on all his balls. Twerton didn't trouble the scorers with a big fat zero, but at least that sees him 3rd bottom this week because the remaining 2 ended with negative scores. BBB missed on his Gamball and Bonus but managed a CR on his scoreball game to sit at -1 for the week.

Stairs, if you are reading this you should now skip straight to Zinman's Group B writeup!!! Stairs set a couple of season records this week, unfortunately they are not the ones you want. He got all 10 predictions wrong, first player to achieve that this season and missed on his scoreball to end with -4, the lowest score of the season so far. Thankfully he did not put his scoreball on the same game as Zin or else he would have finished with the worst possible score of -5!!

177 Minizin
159 Stairs
149 BaggieOne
141 A.A.A.
138 Twerton
124 BaggieVicar
120 Zinman
114 B.B.B.

So after such a disjointed week in terms of scoring we see 6 positional changes this week!! Minizin goes back to the top of the table, I would say its down to his good week but Stairs nightmare week also helped him to create an 18 point lead in the end!!! Stairs retains second spot but is now only 10 points ahead of BaggieOne in third. AAAs good form sees him jump a place into 4th, dropping Twerton into 5th, now 3 points behind. Baggie Vicar stays where he is but the bottom two are now closer to him. Now we move onto the biggest news of the week - ZINMAN MOVES OFF THE BOTTOM FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON!!!!!!!. Unfortunately for BBB, that wooden spoon is now his to lose!!

Stats update - well not really, just here to say that we are generally crap at predicting the Bonus Ball but thats nothing new. The Bonus ball has been used once by each player in every week so it has been played 150 times so far (its compulsory so I am stating the bleedin' obvious there). There have only been 9 spot on predictions so far, thats only 6% and only 33 CRs (22%), so Group A has only scored on 28% of the Bonus balls played so far this season and with the negative score for an incorrect prediction only 3 (yes three) points in total have been scored on it!! And to think you lot get to choose which game to play it on!!!

Cheers
SCO

Group B

Themaclad 10
SCO 8
Amelia 7
4eva 5
Lady Jane 4
Derby 2
Snooty 2
Salop -2

Not such a good week for Group B with a total of just 36 points scored - the lowest return since week 3. Correct scores were rarer than an Albion shot on target - just 2 this week- and only one player was able to secure a positive gamball. As well as the gamball, the Bournemouth Chelsea game produced a negative total and nobody scored a thing on both the Bristol City and Ipswich games.

Mr Inconsistent followed up his negative score last week with a table topping 10 points. Themaclad had 4 correct results, the best performance this week and one of the 2 correct scores. He was also one of 4 players to correctly predict his bonus to just scrape into double figures. SCO was the only player to gain points from the gamball and matched Themaclad's single correct score to secure second place, one point ahead of Amelia. She only predicted 3 correct results but one of them being her bonus was enough to secure 3rd spot.

Not much positive to say about the rest. 4eva and Lady Jane both had 2 correct predictions but were helped by one of them being the bonus. 4eva also scored from his scoreball. Derby and Snooty scored on 1 more game than the pair above them but missed out on all their balls to leave them with just 2 points. Bottom spot was reserved for Salop, continuing his poor season with just 1 correct prediction and no correct balls for his 2nd negative score of the season.

150 4eva
124 SCO
118 Snooty
116 Themaclad
115 Lady Jane
107 Amelia
100 Derby
89 Salop

A low scoring week so limited movement in the overall table. 4eva maintains a comfortable lead at the top with SCO edging ahead of Snooty to take 2nd place on his own. Themaclad climbs above Lady Jane while Derby becomes the 7th player to hit the 100 point mark (at least for this week!)

I thought I'd take a look at the current form table as my extra for this week. 4eva has accelerated away from the pack, securing 77 points in the last 6 weeks, 24 more than Amelia who got almost half of her recent points in one week! As they seem to have been all season, Themaclad and SCO are together with 50 points while, somewhat surprisingly given the overall table (and this week's performance) Salop is in 5th spot. The current struggler is Lady Jane with just 38 points over the last 6 weeks.

Zin

Pretty much as bad as it could be, I reckon.

Wigan home hello Mr Lowe welcome back

THE MATCH

TUESDAY 9TH DECEMBER KO 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH



Well it looked like we were heading for another defeat before mother nature intervened and the match was abandoned. There weren't many chances in the game, Cooper flicked a header wide and Cads had a chance early in the 2nd half which the keeper saved. Blackburn had taken the lead in the first half when Ohashi scored from close range. Ohashi was also denied by the returning Charles early in the 2nd half too. The conditions deteriorated and the surface became unplayable and the ref eventually abandoned the game in the 2nd half.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and another away trip as we journey south to take on Watford. Watford have made an Ok start to the season and currently lie in 13th place in the table, just 3 points off a playoff spot and a fairly comfortable 10 points above the relegation zone. Could they make a playoff push, with the standard of the Championship this season they definitely have a chance. They are managed by Javi Gracia who took over on the 8th October, he previously managed Watford for about 20 months 7 years ago. There leading scorer is Louza who has 6 goals and 4 assists so far this season.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 16
WATF 25
DRAW 12

CURRENT FORM

OWLS    L L L L D D                                                             

WATF W L D W D D

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

DEAN WHITESTONE
George Byrne and Andrew Fox
Fourth Official: Stephen Martin

THE TEAM

Charles
Fusire Cooper Iorfa M Lowe Amass
Valery Ingelsson Bannan
McNeill Cadamarteri

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 McNeill

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Owlkev 10
Maddix 8
Imre 6
SCO 4
Washington 3

BMPL

Stateside 6
Pei -3
Wereham -11
Southey -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Preston v Coventry
QPR V Birmingham
Port Vale v Bradford
Stevenage v Cardiff
Cambridge v Chesterfield

AAADD

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

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

Division One table after Matchday 19:

1. jjamez = 352 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 350 pts
   
3. neonfoxinthebox = 299 pts
   
4. Lord Snooty = 261 pts
   
5. ritchiebaby = 260 pts
   
6. SHEP_HTAFC = 137 pts
   

Friday 12th December:
Championship:
West Bromwich Albion v Sheffield United (20:00)

Saturday 13th December:
League One:
Town v Wigan (12:30)
Town scorers:
Wigan scorers:

Barnsley v Leyton Orient
Blackpool v Lincoln City
Bolton Wanderers v Exeter City
Bradford City v Reading
Burton Albion v Wycombe Wanderers
Stockport County v Stevenage

Sunday 14th December:
Premier League:
Sunderland v Newcastle United (14:00)
West Ham United v Aston Villa (14:00)

Monday 15th December:
Scottish Premiership:
Rangers v Hibernian

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

1. theo_luddite = 317 pts
   
2. themaclad = 309 pts
   
3. Devongone = 300 pts
   
4. St Charles Owl = 262 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 237 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 232 pts
   

Saturday 13th December:
Championship:
Oxford United v Preston North End (12:30)

League One:
Town v Wigan (12:30)
Town scorers:
Wigan scorers:

AFC Wimbledon v Mansfield Town (12:30)
Cardiff City v Doncaster Rovers
Luton Town v Port Vale
Peterborough United v Northampton Town
Plymouth Argyle v Rotherham United

League Two:
Chesterfield v Barnet

Sunday 14th December:
Scottish League Cup Final:
St. Mirren v Celtic (15:30)

Premier League:
Brentford v Leeds United (16:30)

Monday 15th December:
Championship:
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby County (20:00)

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

Tonda Eckert has targeted a promotion challenge after being appointed Southampton's permanent head coach on a contract to 2027.

The Championship side have won four of their five games since the 32-year-old German took charge on an interim basis at the start of November.

That run has helped the team climb to 14th in the table, five points off the play-off places.

"I think that we've had a great start and now it is up to us to continue," said Eckert.

"We go all in; there is no other way. I don't shy away from being ambitious to say that we want to play for promotion, whatever that is going to look like in the end. We will go for every single point there is to take."

Eckert had been Southampton's under-21s head coach and took over the first team when Will Still was sacked after just five months in charge.

Southampton, relegated from the Premier League last season, made a poor start to this campaign.

But they won their first four games under Eckert, beating QPR, Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton and Leicester, before losing 3-2 at Millwall last Saturday.

Southampton technical director Johannes Spors said of Eckert: "His empathy for the playing group and the clarity with which he communicates his ideas have been central to the team's improvement since he took charge.

"The great results he has achieved in that time, not just in terms of performances and points, but also in the way he has brought together players and supporters, has shown everyone what he is capable of achieving."

Eckert has never previously had experience as a first-team manager but has been assistant manager at Barnsley and Genoa.

Hartlepool United have appointed interim manager Nicky Featherstone as their new permanent boss on a deal until the end of the season.

The 37-year-old won four of his eight games after being placed in charge following Simon Grayson's sacking.

"It is a tremendous honour to be appointed manager of this football club, Pools means a huge amount to me," he told the club website., external

Featherstone made 415 league appearances across more than a decade as a player for Pools, with the last one coming against Boston in September.

"We spoke to a wide range of candidates including experienced EFL managers but Nicky's leadership and understanding of the club made him the standout choice," said Hartlepool head of football operations Joe Monks.

"Nicky is a club legend with a genuine connection to our supporters."

Featherstone has helped Hartlepool climb to eighth in the National League, one place and two points outside the play-off places.

They host mid-table Yeovil on Saturday.

There's a lot of stones to be drawn, guarded and taken out before the Finals in Denmark, but the long and winding road starts in Lohja, Finland on Sunday 7th to Saturday 13th December with the Women's B Championships, where the top 3 teams will qualify for the Finals.

The 22-team field is split into three groups where they will play a round robin within their group. The top two teams in each group plus the two third ranked teams with the better Draw Shot Challenge qualify for the quarter-finals. Then, teams will be ranked 1-8 to decide the quarter-final matchups.
Group A: Australia, England, Estonia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Romania, Türkiye
Group B: Chinese Taipei, Hungary, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, United States
Group C: Brazil, Czechia, Finland, Hong Kong China, Latvia, Scotland, Spain

England are represented by Lina Opel - still only 15 - (4th and Vice Skip), Marianna Ward (3rd and Skip), Anna MacDougall (2nd), Helena Keggell (1st) with Chloe McNaughton as Alternate and play their first game against Estonia at 12 noon on Sunday, then at the same time against Australia on Monday.

Scotland's hopes rest with Katie Archibald - no not the multi-medalled saddlesore one, but the up-and-coming junior - (Skip), Alex McMillan (3rd), Hannah Young (2nd), Lillia Clarke (Lead) and Cara Thomson (Alternate). They play Spain in their opening game on Sunday at 7am. Their second game is against Brazil on Monday at 5pm.