Back from spending yet more of my money - sorry, guys and gals (am I allowed to say that?) but only I can apply for funds - I'm going to do a big catch-up on the Junior Championships, currently being held in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. They only have the Semi-finals and Finals to play in both the Men's and Women's events, culminating in Saturday's Finals.

Only Scotland's men have qualified from the Home Nations for these Championships and are represented by James Craik (skip), Mark Watt, Blair Haswell, Niall Ryder and Angus Bryce (AB from my home ice rink). After losing their first 2 games against Italy and Russia, they really got going, winning the next 7 against Sweden, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, USA and Canada.

The upshot is that they lead after the round-robin games and play Switzerland in the Semi-finals tomorrow with Canada playing Germany in the other. The Women's Semi-finals are also tomorrow with Korea playing Japan and Canada playing Russia.

Yes Pembo it makes a little bit of sense, like the offside rule and VAR.

Saturday's best bet - Ebbsfleet away.

We spend most of our time not saying anything and deliberately covering stuff up, BUT when the time comes just to SHUT THE FCCKU UP we decide to go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like

er well we quite like you and here's the shortest contract in history to recognise the fact that we have no confidence in either ourselves or you.

What a belly-up club!

All we need now is the National League to announce it has finally got its act together just before the season ends and has decided to relegate four teams rather than the obvious three.

v



MACS MYSTIC FORM GUIDE

PNE 16 HULL 3

LAST TIME OUT

PNE 0 MILLWALL 1


Need to be better than we were last Saturday

HULL 4 SWANSEA 4

The Daily Telegraph described this as a Valentine's Day massacre of the defences, saw second half and astounded as to how bad both sides were at the back, Swansea's second goal typified the game no home defenders saw the Swans take the quick corner and nobody was near Routledge about 10 yards out as he scored CRIMINAL

LAST SEASON

PNE 1 HULL CITY 2


City were on a good run as we had run out of fit players.

Another home game before we take on the minnows of Albion and Fulham away next week, do not know what to expect from the Tigers, the side who I saw batter Fulham at the Cottage, the one who hammered us at the KC although our lack of one full back caused us major issues.
Or will City be as pourous as they were against Swansea last week, yes they did score four but Swansea were as bad at the back as Hull were.
Since we last met they have sold Bowen and Grosicki, and replaced them with Wilks and the man with the tatts Maddison, McCann seems to be bringing in ex Peterbrough men as he as Da Silva Lopes and Tafazoli.
Maddison is an odd sort, wand of a left foot can be devastating on his day but basically being given away as a free by the Posh.
Eaves said at trhe end of last weeks game they will have some players back from injury they need them.

Bad news for Hull we hopefully will have two full backs and a fullish squad to pick from need a win considering the two away games we have looming.
Billy Bodin is getting closer to a return, having been out since early January, but Tom Bayliss has undergone an operation on his ankle which looks set to end his season early.
Match Officials: Hull City Home

For the fourth time this season Preston North End will have Steve Martin as the match official, when we face Hull City at Deepdale on Saturday.
He has already refereed the opening day 1-0 defeat to Millwall, the 1-0 win at Birmingham City in September and the 3-2 Lancashire derby success over Blackburn Rovers in November.

Steve also had whistle for the Millwall away game last season as well, when Alex Neil’s men came out 3-1 winners, back in February at The Den.

That was one of the match official’s three games officiating both North End in 2018/19, the others being PNE’s wins at Nottingham Forest and at home to Ipswich Town – his last visit to PR1 back in April, when we ran out 4-0 winners.
Since coming onto the EFL lists back in 2012/13, the Staffordshire referee has officiated 14 North End games, at least one a season for all the years he has been on the league groupings.
His first game was a goalless draw against Leyton Orient back in March 2013, whilst other memorable games include our 3-0 win at Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup in 2014, a 3-0 home win over Cardiff City in 2016 and a 3-1 win at Oldham’s Boundary Park in 2014.

This campaign, he has officiated a total of 25 matches across the four divisions, issuing 61 yellow cards and two red cards. His only game in charge of Saturday’s visitors this season came in their 2-1 home defeat to Huddersfield Town last month.

The other members of the third team involved in Saturday’s game are assistants Jonathan Hunt and Andrew Fox and fourth official Wade Smith.

SMILIES/BALLS

 Bonus Ball
 Score Ball, Free to use Ball , play it on a game that you think both teams will score in !
 Gamball,

New Scoring System

Incorrect Result =  0 point
Incorrect Result (Bonus Ball) = -3 * Changed from -2
Incorrect Result (Gamball) = -3
[/color]
Score Ball = 1 added Point if both teams score.  !

Correct Result = +2 points
Correct Result (Bonus Ball) = +3
Correct Result (Gamball) = +5  * Changed from +4
Correct Score = + 4 points
Correct Score (Bonus Ball) = +6  
Correct Score (Gamball) = +10   * Changed from +8

As you can see the incorrect scoring has not really changed apart from a wrong Bonus this will be now scored at -3 instead of -2 the reason for this are the gains on the new Gamball scoring you will make (see below) in the hope this encourages you to use it most if not all of the time.

So to the Gamball, the use of the Gamball was tactically not used in some cases last season as the gains we not considered to great compared to the losses, it's for this reason we have decided to change the scoring, The loss will stay the same at -3 but the reward will be a correct result will go up by one from 4 to 5 points and the correct score will go up by 2 from 8 to 10 points !!!
Just a reminder you DO NOT have to play the Gamball if you dont want too, the score will then be marked normal.  


Again the third from bottom of the premiership will play off against the third in the table from the Championship to keep even more excitement going, they will have to predict through all the Playoffs and the winner obviously takes their place in the Premier League the following season  

Beefy, Bomber, Zinman & SCO  


If you do not predict,...........
If in your league everyone scores above zero you will receive Zero points,
However if in your league the person with the lowest score is below Zero (eg -4) you will score -5 and receive your first strike, Remember 3 strikes and you're out.

All scores must be in before MIDDAY SATURDAY,(For The Early Kick Off If Applicable) If the early kick off is missed the rest of your predictions must reach us by 2.45pm or none will be counted.



* NEW & UPDATED 2018/19 PARTICIPANTS,

Premiership
                             
1/ Zinman
2/ ST Charles Owl
3/ Derby                            
4/ Bomber
5/ Sanjay
6/ Beefy                                                      
7/ AAA
8/ BBB 
9/ MattWBA
10/ MacLad                  
                           
Championship

1/ Joker
2/ Stairs
3/ MightyBrom
4/ Baggieone
5/ 4eva
6/ Amelia                          
7/ Twerton
8/ Snoots
9/ Lady Jane

                        
                             
I'm almost 100% sure Myself & the Scorers get the scores added up correctly, From time to time over the season we may get now and again get this wrong, SO IN THE EVENT OF ANY POINTS DISCREPANCIES can i ask all you guys to check your predictions and if you feel they are incorrect in anyway contact me Via PM within a week of the TABLES & SCORES being presented and they will be corrected the following week.
Anything later unless it is a Major error will NOT be corrected. It is as much your responsibility to check your scores as much as it is ours to try and score them correctly.
Beefy  

Saturday 22nd Feb

1/ Chelsea V Spurs 12:30
2/ Southampton V Aston Villa
3/ Leicester V Man City
4/ Birmingham V Sheff Wed
5/ ** Bristol City V WBA
6/ Stoke V Cardiff
7/ Swansea V Huddersfield
8/ Walsall V Port Vale

Sunday 23rd Feb

9/ Wolves V Norwich
10/ Arsenal V Everton

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51561933
So Rangers are fined £15k by the SFA for misdemeanours v Hibs and the Hoops in the space of 2 weeks but surely one must take into account their previous UEFA penalties as well???? They are clearly serial offenders and don't seem to "get it"!!!!!!!

It is interesting that Hibs have created this "huge match" with a gradual improvement in results and picking up vital pts. Now we have a home advantage to finally catch up with Livingston and poss push on to the next fight for 3rd or 4th place in the Scot Prem. Confidence is high and we have a good, positive momentum "ticking over" in a team that, at last, has a "goal threat". I think the challenge for JR is to try to strengthen our defence in some way. I notice they have just signed Efe Ambrose and it is, no doubt, to cover for the loss to injury of big Marv - that position is "key" to their season being so good. However, I think he is not match fit (never played for months!) but it is likely they'll play him! C'mon Hibs. Lets "push on" v a team that has a very poor away record!!

GGTTH

Well I'm fairly confident that Scotland will lose this 6 Nations match in Rome but will Gregor Townsend still be allowed to remain in his position after a period of utter negativity and failure from World Cup Japan onwards? IMO he has survived off that "miracle" at Twickenham last year when Scotland gave England a 31 pts start and then initiated the biggest 2nd half RU comeback of all time to retain the Calcutta Cup. That "honeymoon" is over and he must depart and give way to a more able and tactically astute coach who can move forward with this current group of players

I know some people have different views are Livermore, I have just listened to the express and star Albion podcast and they say Jake Livermore is captain fantastic and Bilic trusts him as his leader on the pitch. Another thing if you can find it on Twitter it shows just how much the Albion means to him , it shows his reaction when we took the lead for the second time against Forest now that’s passion.

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 22ND FEBRUARY 3:00PM KICK OFF

v

LAST MATCH



Well to no ones great surprise, we ended Readings 7 game win-less streak in true Wednesday style losing 0-3. I thought we started OK but it was Reading who took the lead with a simple through ball and decisive finish. Onto the 2nd half and a silly challenge by Urhoghide resulted in a 2nd yellow card and a red card. That was basically game over as Reading added a second although Dawson probably should have done better despite a slight deflection. Reading wrapped up the game in injury time when Iorfa gave a penalty away that was put away despite Dawson getting a hand to it.

THE MATCH



Next up a trip to St Andrews and Birmingham City, one of Monks old haunts. The Brummies are now on the same points as us but they are heading the right direction while we tumble towards oblivion. They haven't lost in the league since the 1st January a 2-3 loss to Wigan. They are managed by Pep Clotet who Monk blames for losing his job at Birmingham. Teenager Jude Bellingham is getting a lot off attention with quite a few big clubs keeping an eye on him, although rumours of £50 million bids seem ridiculous. We drew with these earlier in the season but I can only see another defeat the way things are going  

CURRENT FORM

OWLS               -                        

BIRM                -                              

THE BASTARD IN THE BLACK

JOHN BROOKS
Robert Hyde and Sam Lewis
Fourth Official : Oliver Langford

THE TEAM

Does it really matter, most of them seemed to have given up the fight. One thing for certain, Westwood & Hutch wont be playing.

Dawson
Odubajo Iorfa Borner Palmer
Windass Bannan Pelupessy Harris
FF Wickham

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

3-1 FF

POSS x FOULS

765

BML STANDINGS

SCO 17
Washington 16
Pei 16
Wereham 15
Imre 15
Stateside 10
Owlkev 10
Southey 7

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Bristol City v West Bromwich Albion
Charlton Athletic v Luton Town
Leeds United v Reading
Nottingham Forest v Queens Park Rangers
Preston North End v Hull City

AHHHH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC





One for Washington



The thread awaits the Meggo of Statesides choice.[/b]

Player Pts CS CR GB BB SB
Beefy 11 1 4 -3 3 1
Zinman 10 0 4 NP 3 1
Sanjay 9 1 3 -3 3 1
B.B.B. 9 2 3 -3 -3 0
A.A.A. 8 1 3 NP -3 1
Bomber 7 0 4 -3 3 1
Themaclad 5 1 1 5 -3 1
St Charles 5 0 3 -3 3 1
Derby 0 0 3 -3 -3 0

Well what do we have here?? I do believe that for the first time this season Beefy is topping the scores!! Is this finally the resurgence he has been promising for weeks now? Are we seeing the first shoots of spring coming out of the ground? Will Beefy actually put up a fight against relegation? No one knows for sure yet but for at least this week he is top of the pile!! He finished on 11 points but had Northampton held it he would have been 8 points higher and way ahead of the rest!! As it was he had to settle for scoring on 5 games and of course missing on the Gamball!!

Zinman takes 2nd spot with 10 points, this follows up on his top spot last week so he is showing some signs of being able to maybe escape relegation. 3rd spot goes to Sanjay on 9 points who picked up a third of his points with his Bonus


BBB missed on both his balls to cancel out the good job he did on the other games!! but still managed to pick 8 points along with AAA in joint 5th, nothing spectacular here, he just keeps trundling along in the middle of the pack!! Bomber is 6th on 7 points, he can't seem to predict a Correct Score these days and that is just holding him back in the chase for the title. Themaclad is in joint 8th as his up and down season continues, this week he was the only one to get positive points on the Gamball. St Charles also finished on 5 points, another lower end result for him and relegation is definitely staring him in the face!!! Last place this week goes to Derby, he managed 3 CR but missed on all his balls to cancel those points out and finish on zero points!! He and BBB were the only players this week to not pick up the scoreball point this week.

Not sure these results will see much change in the table!!!!

Cheers
SCO

   


Joker 23pts 3CS 6CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
BaggieOne 11pts 1CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
Twerton 11pts 1CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
Amelia 10pts 1CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
MightyBrom 8pts 1CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Stairs 8pts 0CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Snooty 3pts 0CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Lady Jane 2pts 0CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 0SB

Don't you just love a last minute goal? Spurs' at Villa made for a great start to Sunday and Walsall's on Saturday helped several of the Championship players to a respectable score (as well as screwing up Beefy's gamball prediction thereby saving us all from a week of posts about his rather overdue resurgence).

Last week it was Amelia scoring more than double the player in second, this week it was Joker's turn, reacting to the increasing competition for promotion. I will admit to checking the timing of his submission as he got the first 3 scores spot on (highly suspicious) but all seems to be ok. Those 3 correct scores were accompanied by a further 3 correct results and positives from all balls to give him 23 points and, by my calculation, lifting him back into the promotion places.

Something of a logjam under Joker as the next 6 players all got 4 correct results. BaggieOne and Twerton share 2nd place on 11 points achieved in identical fashion. Amelia, not enjoying Beefy's balls quite so much this week, is just a point further back due to a failure on the scoreball. Stairs and MightyBrom lie just 2 points further back, MightyB losing points from his gamball but getting the bonus correct, Stairs being the first of those with 4 correct results not to get a score right.

Snooty also got 4 correct predictions but was the only player this week to get both his gamball and bonus wrong and may not agree with my opening paragraph as that Walsall goal cost him 8 points. His mid season surge now seems well behind him but at least he didn't fall to the bottom this week. That honour falls, for the 3rd time in the last 4 weeks, to Lady Jane. On Saturday night she was on for a complete wipe out but was saved by 2 correct results on Sunday, including her bonus.

Zin

   

Cup tables to follow