Twerton 11
Themaclad 8
A.A.A. 6
Amelia 6
Minizin 6
Zinman 2

After a decent first week the scoring dropped off a lot this week. A complete blank on the Gamball, just one player getting a point from the score all and 4 games ending with negative points didn’t help!! Twerton lead the way this week with 11 points, the only one in double figures as well. He only managed one CS but it was on his bonus!! Themaclad is in the top 2 again with 8 points, like Twerton he didn’t score on many games but hit the max on the Bonus.

AAA, Amelia and Minizin all scored 6 points. They all got there in different ways with AAA getting 2 CSs, Amelia just one and Minizin getting none!!

Bottom of the pack again is Zinman, he scored one less point this week as well. He missed on all his balls and ended with just 2 points. He really is giving other a head start!!

25 Themaclad
23 Minizin
17 A.A.A.
17 Twerton
14 Amelia
5 Zinman

Themaclad’s second week in the top 2 sees him take over solo possession of top spot. Minizin is 2 points behind, with a bit of a gap then to AAA and Twerton in 3rd and 4th. Amelia is three points back of them.

Zinman is now already 9 points adrift at the bottom and a healthy 20 points off top spot!! It’s early so plenty of time but he needs to pack his Speedos and get off the beach and back into training!!

Group B

Lady Jane 18
Derby 17
Snooty 13
Stairs 11
BBB 11
SCO 6
BaggieOne 3

If anyone is still reading this having got over the scary thought of me in Speedos, I'll rapidly move on to this week's Group B scores. A big improvement on last week's showing with the main difference being the contribution of the balls. Last week the 3 balls contributed minus 6 points in total, this week 26. Though the number of correct results was pretty much unchanged, Group B players were able to turn far more of them into correct scores.

Lady Jane heads the table with 18 points. She only scored on 4 matches but they included a full set of balls with a maximum from the gamball. Derby is just a point further back even though he only got 3 correct results - in his case they included maximums on both the main balls - LJ and Derby were the only players to score on all their balls. Snooty recovered from last week's poor showing by matching the week's best scores/results totals but failure to land the gamball held him back. Stairs and BBB both made double figures, Stairs landing a maximum bonus with BBB also scoring on this and the scoreball.

Not such a good week for SCO and BaggieOne - SCO got 2 correct scores but missed out on all his balls, while B1 had a week to forget with just 2 correct results, though at least his scoreball preventing him from equalling the week's lowest score across the 2 groups!

28 Lady Jane
24 Derby
20 Stairs
17 SCO
15 Snooty
14 BBB
14 BaggieOne

As the only player to hit double figures in both of the opening 2 weeks, Lady Jane sits on top of the early table - it helps when you start with 2 correct gamballs! Early days so no need for anyone to hit the panic button just yet.

For anyone worried about me, I can confirm that the Speedos are off and I've climbed into the lycra ready for the season - all I have to do is avoid any mirrors.

Saturday 31st August

Gillingham 0-1 Chesterfield
Port Vale 0-2 Doncaster
Accrington 0-3 Colchester
Bromley 2-1 Crewe
Carlisle 1-1 Tranmere
Grimsby 0-2 Bradford City
Harrogate 2-1 Barrow
Morecambe 0-3 Newport
Swindon 0-2 Notts County
Walsall 2-1 Cheltenham
Wimbledon 1-3 Fleetwood

Monday 2 September 2024
Salford City 0-2 MK Dons




League Table After Match day 3

Lord Snoots - 76
Devon - 74
Dancing - 60
SaltergateBorn - 49
Amelia - 41
Spireitematt - 38
St Charles - 30
Maclad - 21

Gamball:
Derby - Bristol City

Others:
Everton - Bournemouth
Ipswich - Fulham
Forest - Wolves
Cardiff - Middlesbrough
Coventry - Norwich
Millwall - Sheff Wed
Oxford - Preston
Plymouth - Stoke
Portsmouth - Sunderland

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 31ST AUGUST KO 3PM

v

LAST MATCH



It was back to back defeats as Leeds won fairly comfortably. From the moment Leeds took the the lead, they were never in any real danger of losing as we struggled to put any thing together and they always seemed a constant threat when they came forward. Leeds first goal was a flowing move for them, poor defending by us as Aaronson slotted past Beadle. There second goal just after halftime finished the game off as James was put through and finished well. Our best chance came to Bernard but he headed wide.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and a trip to the New Den to take on Millwall and our first 3pm KO of the season. The Lions haven't made the best of starts losing 2 and drawing 1 of there first 3 league games and they also lost at home Leyton Orient in the Carabao cup on Tuesday. We won here last season as we staved off relegation and similar result would do just nicely before the first international break of the season. They are managed by Neil Harris who took over last season and saw them survive just like ourselves.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 20
MILL 17
DRAWS 16

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              - L L W                                                            

MILL - D L L                                         

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

LEIGH DOUGHTY
Nigel Lugg & Mark Stevens
Fourth Official: James Linington

THE TEAM

Beadle
Valery Bernard Iorfa Johnson
Bannan Charles
Musaba Ingelsson Gassama
Ugbo

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Ugbo

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Wereham 7
Maddix 6
Imre 4
Washington 2
SCO 2

BMPL

Southey 6
Owlkev 4
Stateside 1
Pei 0

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Leicester v Villa
Portsmouth v Sunderland
Peterborough v Wrexham
Grimsby v Bradford
Boston v Yeovil

ADAAA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

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 3:

1. jjamez = 56 pts
   
2. themaclad = 56 pts
   
3. Baggiebob(BBB) = 54 pts
   
4. St Charles Owl = 54 pts
   
5. SHEP_HTAFC = 44 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 41 pts
   

Saturday 31st August:
Rotherham v Town (12:30)
Town scorers:
Rotherham scorers:

Blackpool v Wycombe Wanderers (12:30)
Birmingham City v Wigan Athletic
Bolton Wanderers v Exeter City
Bristol Rovers v Cambridge United
Crawley Town v Barnsley

Tuesday 3rd September:
Bristol Street Motors Trophy Northern Group F:
Doncaster v Town (19:00)
Town scorers:
Donny scorers:

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Championship:
Millwall v Sheffield Wednesday
Oxford United v Preston North End
West Bromwich Albion v Swansea City

Sunday:
Premier League:
Chelsea v Crystal Palace (13:30)
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur (13:30)

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

1. Devongone = 65 pts
   
2. neonfoxinthebox = 64 pts
   
3. theo_luddite = 55 pts
   
4. ritchiebaby = 46 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 41 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 37 pts
   

Saturday 31st August:
Rotherham v Town (12:30)
Town scorers:
Rotherham scorers:

Mansfield Town v Stockport County
Northampton Town v Burton Albion
Peterborough United v Wrexham
Reading v Charlton Athletic
Shrewsbury Town v Leyton Orient
Stevenage v Lincoln City

Tuesday 3rd September:
Bristol Street Motors Trophy Northern Group F:
Doncaster v Town (19:00)
Town scorers:
Donny scorers:

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
League Two:
Gillingham v Chesterfield (12:30)

Sunday:
Scottish Premiership:
Celtic v Rangers (12:30)
Kilmarnock v Hibernian (15:00)

Premier League:
Manchester United v Liverpool (16:00)

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

Huddersfield Town ride into Walsall looking to make it 5 wins from 5 when they meet in the League Cup second round tie. Town will be hoping to avoid saddlesore as they aim to progress to the third round in what seems to be years, in fact the last time they made it that far was in the first season in the Prem, when a second string side was knocked out by Crystal Palace. The furthest the club has ever got in the competition is the semi finals, which is no mean feat, but that was back in the 1967/68 season when they succumbed to Arsenal, otherwise there has been a couple of quarter final appearances, one in the 1982/83 season, again falling at the hands of Arsenal, the other in the 1999/2000 season when extra time was needed for the crazy gang of Wimbledon to progress.

Apparently we also made the third round in 2013/14 season where we lost away at Hull, Town fielded a side containing Danny Carr, Oscar Gobern and Jake Carroll, with Cristian Lopez being one of the players to come off the bench, current assistant manager Martin Paterson led the forward line that evening.
For those interested in who some of those I mentioned are or what they have achieved in their career, here's a bit of a low down for you;

Danny Carr- The Trinbagan international was plucked out of non league by Town from Dulwich Hamlet. He began his career at Reading but after being released without making a professional appearance for the Royals, made the move to Eastbourne Borough. He only played 3 games for the side in his sole season there and moved to Dulwich where he had a happier time, scoring 25 goals for the side and attracting the attention of clubs further up the pyramid. He had trials at Leeds, Liverpool and Charlton, before making the move to Town. He only made 2 appearances for the club and had a number of fruitless loans away and was ultimately released by the club. He would go on to have a short stay at Cambridge coupled with loans to Aldershot and Woking, but ended up back at Dulwich looking to find what had made him successful in the first place. He finished his time at Dulwich with a loan to Leatherhead before making a surprise move to Karlstad in Sweden, scoring 8 in 19 for the side earning him a move back closer to home as he joined Irish side Shamrock Rovers. He had two years at the Rovers, scoring 16 goals in his 57 appearances. This saw him called up to his national side as well as earn a move out into Europe once again, this time to Cyprus to play for Apollon Limassol, he would make 4 appearances for the Cypriot club, before heading back to Scandinavia to play for RoPS in Finland, interesting fact, they play their home games within the Artic Circle of Lapland and count Rudolph as one of their famous fans. He only stayed for 7 games before once again hopping onto a plane, and once again seeking a temperature rise, as this time he moved to Bengaluru United of India, it would once again be brief as England came a calling and he headed to Welling. Another brief stay ensued and he moved back to Shelbourne of Ireland, he made 27 appearances in a single season for them before moving to Sevenoaks last season. This season he will be turning out for Sheppey United in the Isthmian League at the ripe old age of 30.

Oscar Gobern- Probably the most recognisable of the players mentioned, with the midfielder making 71 appearances for Town over a 4 year stay at the club. He joined from Southampton, although the club paid more than they thought they would when the Saints took the transfer to a tribunal as he had come through their academy. He made 21 appearances for the Saints prior to joining Town, whilst at Town he had a short loan at Chesterfield before making a surprise move to QPR after a successful trial, he made a sole league cup appearance before going on loan to Doncaster and eventually signing for Mansfield but could only manage 9 appearances there before moving north of the border to Ross County, he would make no appearances there before moving south to Yeovil. He would be at the Glovers for just one season making 11 appearances before heading to Eastleigh for a season. He would make 44 appearances in a single season there before heading even further south to Dover, where he stayed for 2 years before moving to Havant and Waterloovile. Although he his now currently without a club and still probably most famous for his red card tackle whilst at Southampton.

Cristian Lopez- Now if you thought that Danny Carr had a journey man career, then you haven't seen anything yet. Although this guy did have quite a bit of success after leaving Town. He began his career at Alicante in Spain, a hotspot for Brits going to Benidorm. He would move to the capital to play 2 seasons at Real Madrid B scoring 10 goals for the side before leaving on loan to Valencia B. 11 goals in 16 games was enough for Los Che to turn that deal permanent and he would play a further season there scoring another 11 goals but in 31 games before moving to Atletico Baleares on the island of Mallorca. He would score 9 in 35 for the side in his single season there before being an exotic signing for Huddersfield. From memory he was as technical as we had expected given his background, but wasn't strong enough or quick enough for the English game, let alone the championship. He only made 2 appearances for Town before having loans at Shrewsbury and Northampton but could only muster one goal in a combined 8 games for the two sides. He would be released by Town and head back to his homeland to play for Burgos. His scoring touch was regained and he managed 13 goals in 36 games for the side before a surprise move to Romanian side CFR Cluj, there he scored 16 in 44 and would score in the Romanian League Cup final. He made the move to France after that to RC Lens, spending 2 years at the French side scoring 26 goals in 63 appearances, becoming a fan favourite, with the supporters campaigning for him to get a new deal, but instead he would move to fellow French side Angers. His season there would be a struggle as he would manage just a couple of goals in 19 appearances, eventually leaving the club to move to UAE side Hatta, he would score 5 goals in his season there before Spain came calling again in the form of Las Palmas, he would fail to find the back of the net in his 10 games there before leaving to join Cypriot club Aris, but would score once in 2 seasons before returning once again to Spain, bouncing around in the lower leagues.

For this game I'd expect a couple of changes, Herbie Kane and Brodie Spencer look likely to miss out with Kane missing saturdays game against Shrewsbury with a groin injury and looking likely to be out for a few weeks, Spencer came off with a shoulder injury and it has yet to be said as to the severity of it, but it would probably be most prudent to let him miss it regardless. Matty Pearson came on to replace him but he started against Morecambe, so it could lead to Lees starting, or maybe an appearance for Ollie Turton or Josh Ruffles. Chris Maxwell will likely start in between the sticks, Michal Helik only played 45 minutes in the last round, but that was possibly due to the tie being as good as over already. In midfield it would be nice to see Kasumu and Iorpenda get a run out, although the third midfield man will have to be one who played against Shrewsbury, personally i'd say Wiles, but reckon that Duff will go with Hogg. At wingbacks, i'd be expecting Headley and Sorensen to line up there, whilst like Snooty said in the Shrewsbury thread, it would be nice to see Healey and Koroma start up top. I would say it is highly unlikely that we see another through the door before the game and I'm unsure who else is in the squad that would be options, maybe Pat Jones or Kian Harratt, but i don't see where they fit other than the bench. Between now and the end of the window i personally see Ruffles leaving along with possible loans for the two other younger players mentioned.

Onto the hosts, the Saddlers, managed by the aptly named Matt err Sadler, have started their league two campaign fairly well, currently sitting third with two wins and one defeat. They lost on the weekend 1-0 away to Tranmere, prior to that they had started the season with a 1-0 win at home to Morecambe thanks to a goal from defender Taylor Allen, and a 4-0 win away at Swindon, with Allen once again being on the scoresheet along with experienced former Forest Green striker Jamille Matt, striker Josh Gordon and the evergreen Uncle Albert Adomah . In their round one tie they faced league one side Exeter at the Bescot Stadium, with the tie finishing 1-1 after 90 minutes, the west midland side winning 4-3 on penalties, with Jamie Jells scoring the goal for the league two side.
Once again i'm clueless on who to watch, but Jamille Matt has been around the block a few times and will know how to handle himself against our experienced/aging back line, Josh Gordon likewise has been around for a while, having played 130 games for the Saddlers, scoring 23 goals in that period, he is currently into his third stint with the club, having joined originally from Leicester back in 2018. After 3 years at the club he moved on to Barrow before heading to Burton Albion. He spent last season on loan at the Bescot Stadium before rejoining permanently this summer.

In order to get to the ground, you have a few different methods of driving to the ground, you can go down the M1 down to the A38 in Derby, then stick on the A38 until it becomes the A5127, then it is a few B roads until you arrive at your destination. If you go that way, enjoy going around the outskirts of Derby at that time! The other option would be to drive over the Pennines on the M62 and then down the M6 down to the A461 also known as Bescot Road, you will be able to follow that all the way to the ground, it is also the quickest of the two options by about half an hour, you will have to navigate Manchester but it should be reyt. Train is another option, but you might have to depart from Wakefield instead and head to Birmingham, before getting another train or bus into Walsall, which for a Tuesday night game, in a cup, when it is also on that new Sky Sports + thingy if it works, probably isn't worth it. If you do decide to go, then kudos to you, i think i might wait for the Brum or Wrecsam game.

Sorry for being brief and no piccywitches, i'll try to do it when i get on to my computer which might be tomorrow or Tuesday.

https://www.harrogatetownafc.com/



MANAGER

Simon Daniel Weaver (born 20 December 1977) is an English football manager and former player who is manager of League Two side Harrogate Town.

As a player he was a defender from 1996 until 2012 and notably played in the Football League for Lincoln City between 2002 and 2004, he also briefly played in the league for Doncaster Rovers, Macclesfield Town and Kidderminster Harriers. He also played at non-league level for Ilkeston Town, Nuneaton Borough, Scarborough, York City, Tamworth, Boston United, King's Lynn and Redditch United. In May 2009, he was appointed player/manager of Harrogate Town and led the team to first-ever promotions to the National League in 2018 and League Two in 2020, and is currently the longest-serving manager in the top four divisions.

IN AND OUT



STATS



STORY SO FAR



No previous

Culture

Montpellier Quarter
An imposing cenotaph is an important landmark in the centre of the town. Bettys are tea rooms established in 1919 owned by Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate – the same company that markets Yorkshire Tea. Bettys has a second tea room at the RHS Harlow Carr Gardens.[48]

The Mercer Art Gallery[49] is home to Harrogate district's art collection which consists of some 2,000 works of art, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection includes works by William Powell Frith, Atkinson Grimshaw, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Dame Laura Knight and Alan Davie.

The View

Very winnable game if we put our minds to it, possibly a few changes given the effort they put in on Saturday, the home side played the Plastics in the same competition, Plastics won 8-0
We have a target to beat, first of two new grounds in the same week.

Hibs welcome high-flying Dundee to Easter Road in a game that's perhaps come too quick for the Hibees.

SDG is on record as saying that he can't keep on picking players who are letting him down with mistake after mistake. That could apply to several players, but surely we don't have enough depth in the squad to make wholesale changes. Two games in and we have yet to score, but have leaked 5 goals. Dundee, on the other hand, have scored 5, losing 3 in the process. They also have the edge in confidence, allied to their undoubted willingness to attack.

Currently, I'd be delighted to come away with a point.