THE MATCH

SATURDAY 29TH MARCH KO 3PM

v

LAST MATCH



We narrowly lost the 2nd derby of the season as the Blunts won again 0-1. We started the brighter of the two and Smith had a good early chance with a header but Cooper saved well. Both teams had several chances but none of them troubled either keeper so we went in 0-0. Onto the 2nd half and it was the Blunts who took the lead when Brewster turned in a cross from clos range. We huffed and puffed for an equaliser, the closest we came was when Johnson's shot was saved but Ingelsson fired the rebound over the bar.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Back to normal football after the waste of time international break as we travel down to Wales to take on Cardiff. Cardiff have been struggling all season, hovering in or around the relegation zone and currently lie in 21st place, just 1 point outside the relegation zone but there are 7-8 teams who could end up being relegated. They are managed by Omer Riza who took charge in early December and has a 28% winning percentage. There leading scorer is Robinson with 12 goals so far this season

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 29
CARD 29
DRAW 19

CURRENT FORM

OWLS  L W W L L L                                                                      

CARD W L L L W D    

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

SAM ALLISON
Alex James and Bhupinder Singh
Fourth Official: Will Finnie

THE TEAM

Beadle
Iorfa Ihiekwe M Lowe Hatsuse
Bannan Charles
Gasama Windass Ingelsson
Pato

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Gassama

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Imre 27
SCO 22
Maddix 22
Washington 20
Wereham 14

BMPL

Stateside 17
Owlkev 14
Southey 12
Pei 8

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Norwich v WBA
Portsmouth v Blackburn
Blackpool v Bolton
Newport v Notts Co
Halifax v Hartlepool

AHHAH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Friday

Colchester 2-1 Grimsby
Tranmere 1-1 Cheltenham

Sat

Accrington 2-1 Bradford
Crewe 2-1 Port Vale
Barrow 0-1 Chesterfield
Bromley 2-0 Salford
Doncaster 1-1 Carlisle
Harrogate 1-0 Gillingham
MKD 1-2 Fleetwood
Morecambe 0-2 Swindon
Newport 1-1 Notts C
Walsall 2-2 Wimbledon

Shrewsbury Town have appointed Michael Appleton as their new head coach until the end of the season.

The 49-year-old former Manchester United midfielder replaces Gareth Ainsworth, who left to take over at League Two side Gillingham.

This will be the eighth appointment of Appleton's 14-year managerial career after spells at Portsmouth, Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers, Leicester City, Lincoln City, Oxford United, where he earned his first promotion, and Charlton Athletic.

He will work with assistant head coach Richard O'Donnell, who was also with him at Lincoln, Blackpool and Charlton.

Town director of football Micky Moore said: "It's been a difficult seven days.

"But once Gareth Ainsworth made the decision to leave, it was important we acted quickly to find the right man to guide us through the remainder of the season.

"I know the past few days have been difficult for supporters. Nobody likes confusion and uncertainty. But hopefully now, by making this quick appointment, we can all get behind Michael and Richard for the remaining nine games of the season."

Ainsworth was only in charge for four months, winning five and losing 12 of his 22 games.

Shrewsbury are 14 points from safety with nine games left.

Appleton's first game will be at League One leaders Birmingham City on Saturday, just as Ainsworth's was in November, when the bottom club stunned the table toppers to win 3-2.

Making his first public comments since his appointment, talking to the Kent club's in-house media team, he also revealed that the first contact with the Gills began long before he arrived in Shropshire in November.

"The last week has been crazy," he said. "Coming here was a huge decision.

"Last summer Gillingham approached me and [assistant] Richard Dobson when we were both out of work.

"We held out for something that didn't happen.

"It's a move that excites me because there's a plan in place for the next two seasons.

"And the bonus of living at home is big. Being away from home has been tough for me."

RIP John (shack) Lovett

An Albion striker for eight years in the late fifties and early sixties.

Funera at 1545hrsl on 28th March at Bretby Crematorium. Request family flowers only, (more info on Derby Telegraph)

Before my time, I was not born but he was part of the Albion family.
Once a baggies always a baggie.

Thoughts and best wishes go out to him and all his loved ones, his friends and acquaintances.

I just think we’ve signed a real gem of a player here. He’s good now but, assuming we can keep hold of him, I believe he’ll be outstanding

Gillingham are set to appoint Shrewsbury Town head coach Gareth Ainsworth as their new manager to replace John Coleman.

The Gills are 19th in League Two and only brought in Coleman in January on a deal until the end of the season.

The former Accrington Stanley boss has managed just two wins in his 14 games at the helm.

Former Wycombe Wanderers boss Ainsworth, 51, has only been in charge at Shrewsbury since November, taking over a side that was bottom of League One.

Having won five and lost 12 of his 22 games in charge, he is set to move down a division, with Shrewsbury still bottom and 14 points from safety with nine matches to play.

Ainsworth will become Gills' fifth different manager in 18 months after Neil Harris, Stephen Clemence, Mark Bonner and Coleman.

It's fair to say this news has well and truly caught the club by surprise.

Gareth Ainsworth had talked about wanting to build something special at Shrewsbury over a long period of time, as he did at Wycombe.

The constant message was he loved Shrewsbury and the short-term pain was worth it for the long-term gain.

BBC Radio Shropshire understands Shrewsbury fought tooth and nail to keep Ainsworth after being approached by Gillingham, to the extent he was offered a two -year extension no matter what league they are in.

They also tried to keep Ainsworth until the end of the season, but the release clause was triggered and now the decision has been made with the news expected to be confirmed imminently.

Reformed Nuneaton Town have begun their intended journey back to the top of English football's non-league pyramid by winning promotion at the first attempt.

Loyiso Recci, James Harrison and Louis Baker scored the goals in a 3-1 win at Kirby as they won the Midland Football League Division One with three games to spare.

It matches the achievements of Leicestershire side Quorn FC, who won the Northern Premier League Midlands title, and Robbie Savage's Macclesfield, who took the Northern Premier League Premier Division title with six games to spare, as the earliest teams to clinch promotion this season.

Nuneaton, who have 99 points, the highest anywhere in the country, while their tally of 118 goals from 39 games makes them joint top scorers in English football, along with Bury FC.

The achievements of joint managers Russell Dodd and Darren Acton in breezing through the league with only two defeats, having taken over with no players signed up, is also a happy short-term outcome to the journey the club have been on since running into major financial problems last season.

"It is nice to see so many smiles again," club legend Acton told BBC Sport. "This is only the beginning. I hope we can go onto even better things.

"This was just testament to the lads and how hard they've worked. And the support from the fans has been unbelievable. Without them this club wouldn't be possible."

Nuneaton Borough were originally formed in 1899, but reformed in 1937 and again in 1991, before being recreated as a phoenix club in 2008 after Borough were liquidated.

The club, founding members of the first national non-league in 1979, were allowed to resume playing under the old Boro name again but, after withdrawing from the Southern League Premier Division Central in January 2024, were wound up by His Majesty's Revenue & Customs.

But, after being placed back in the 10th tier, they have now overcome two challenges this season, moving the club back up a level, whilst also generating further funds to cover the costs of finding a home back in Nuneaton.

Currently on a two-year rental deal at nearby Bedworth United, they have generated £40,000, mostly off the back of surplus gate receipts from their above-average following.

"Everyone's played a part, the board, the volunteers, the players, the management, the kitman and the physio, but especially the fans," agreed Dodd. "They've been with us home and away. We're one family. The league title is for us all.

"When we got offered the job, we did not have one player. Within the month we built a squad of about 25 for pre-season training, which we reduced to 20. It was selection game-by-game until we found our settled team and formation.


"As the season continued we kept the good run of winning games. Only losing twice is a massive credit to the lads. Since we last lost we're on a 17-game winning streak. We have that winning mentality."

The club have already started feasibility studies for a ground back in Nuneaton - one with the potential to host crowds close to 1,000 at every home game.

The club expect to be placed in the United Counties League Premier next season rather than the Midland Football League Premier, but they will not find out until the allocations are announced by the Football Association in June.

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 11:

1. neonfoxinthebox = 197 pts
   
2. jjamez = 179 pts
   
3. Baggiebob(BBB) = 169 pts
   
4. themaclad = 164 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 156 pts
   
6. St Charles Owl = 146 pts
   

Saturday 29th March:
Charlton v Town
Town scorers:
Charlton scorers:

Tuesday 1st April:
Lincoln v Town
Town scorers:
Lincoln scorers:

Barnsley v Exeter City
Blackpool v Reading
Burton Albion v Leyton Orient
Cambridge United v Wrexham
Crawley Town v Peterborough United
Mansfield Town v Charlton Athletic
Northampton Town v Rotherham United
Stockport County v Stevenage
Wigan Athletic v Bolton Wanderers
Wycombe Wanderers v Shrewsbury Town
Bristol Rovers v Birmingham City (20:00)

Bonus matches:
FA Cup quarter finals:
Saturday:
Brighton & Hove Albion v Nottingham Forest (17:15)

Sunday:
Preston North End v Aston Villa (13:30)

Championship:
Saturday:
Cardiff City v Sheffield Wednesday
Norwich City v West Bromwich Albion

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

1. ritchiebaby = 199 pts
   
2. theo_luddite = 174 pts
   
3. Devongone = 172 pts
   
4. SHEP_HTAFC = 164 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 133 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 122 pts
   

Thursday 27th March:
Leyton Orient v Stevenage (20:00)

Saturday 29th March:
Charlton v Town
Town scorers:
Charlton scorers:

Stockport County v Burton Albion (12:30)
Birmingham City v Shrewsbury Town
Blackpool v Bolton Wanderers
Bristol Rovers v Mansfield Town
Cambridge United v Northampton Town
Exeter City v Wrexham
Reading v Peterborough United
Rotherham United v Crawley Town
Wigan Athletic v Barnsley
Wycombe Wanderers v Lincoln City

Tuesday 1st April:
Lincoln v Town
Town scorers:
Lincoln scorers:

Bonus matches:
FA Cup quarter finals:
Saturday:
Fulham v Crystal Palace (12:15)

Sunday:
AFC Bournemouth v Manchester City (16:30)

Scottish Premiership:
Saturday:
Hibernian v St. Johnstone

League Two:
Barrow v Chesterfield

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