THE MATCH

TUESDAY 3RD OCTOBER KO 8:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



It only took 5 minutes for Sunderland to score and the game was well and truly over after 8 minutes when we gave one of the best players in the league the freedom of the pitch to waltz through our defence. It was soon 0-3 when Clarke tucked away a penalty after a tug on Bellingham and thoughts of another hammering in Sheffield looked on the cards. Thankfully Sunderland weren't that bothered to add to the score-line in 2nd half and the game petered out into a 0-3 defeat. Despite being 0-3 down, Xisco sticked with his 541, instead of maybe putting 2 or 3 up top and try to have a go.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI & XISCO, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Defeat number 8 will be coming at West Brom as we make the journey south on Tuesday night. The Baggies currently lie in 8th place and won 0-4 at league leaders Preston at the weekend. They are managed by Carlos Corberan who was one of the assistants to Bielsa when he managed Leeds. I expect the Baggies to be up there come the end of the season as they have some decent players, Swift (who is there top scorer), Diagana, Phillips, Mowatt and Wallace.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI & XISCO, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 53
WBA 38
DRAWS 28

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                                        

WBA               -                                                                              

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

JOHN BUSBY
Richard Wild and Shaun Hudson
Fourth Official : Andrew Kitchen

THE TEAM

Vasquez
Palmer Diaby Famewo Berrnard Pato
Buckley Byers Bannan Musaba
Gregory

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

3-1 Gregory

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

55

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Washington 4
Maddix 2
Owlkev 1
Imre
SCO

BMPL

Stateside 2
Wereham 2
Pei -11

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Luton v Burnley
Stoke v Southampton
Blackpool v Derby
Notts Co v Swindon
Southend v Oxford City

HAAHH

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 Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

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. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

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.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

1. St Charles Owl = 174 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 154 pts
   
3. neonfoxinthebox = 147 pts
   
4. jjamez = 145 pts
   
5. theo_luddite = 132 pts
   
6. themaclad = 125 pts
   

Friday 6th October:
Birmingham City v West Bromwich Albion

Saturday 7th October:
Sheff Weds v Town
Town scorers:
Weds scorers:

Ipswich Town v Preston North End
Leeds United v Bristol City
Plymouth Argyle v Swansea City
Queens Park Rangers v Blackburn Rovers
Southampton v Rotherham United

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Premier League:
Burnley v Chelsea
Fulham v Sheffield United
Crystal Palace v Nottingham Forest (17:30)

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

1. Lord Snooty = 143 pts
   
2. ritchiebaby = 129 pts
   
3. SHEP_HTAFC = 127 pts
   
4. WakeyTerrier = 117 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 112 pts
   
6. Devongone = 110 pts
   

Saturday 7th October:
Sheff Weds v Town
Town scorers:
Weds scorers:

Sunderland v Middlesbrough (12:30)
Cardiff City v Watford
Coventry City v Norwich City
Leicester City v Stoke City
Millwall v Hull City

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Premier League:
Luton Town v Tottenham Hotspur (12:30)

Scottish Premiership:
Heart of Midlothian v Hibernian

National League:
Boreham Wood v Chesterfield
Ebbsfleet United v FC Halifax Town

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

Birmingham City v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Tuesday October 3rd - 19:45 ko
at St Andrew's

Huddersfield Town travel to Birmingham to St Andrew's on Tuesday night for Game Three of the new Darren Moore era. That's three games in eight days, with the first two ending in one all draws, adding to the three match unbeaten run at the conclusion of the Neil Warnock era, to make it a run of five games unbeaten.

We have ten points so far this season from the first nine games, which is two points less than this midweek's opponents. Those opponents, like ourselves, are under new ownership from the good old US of A. Their new owners are Tom Wagner and what the BBC website describes as "high profile" Tom Brady. According to Wikipedia he is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons.

They were both present at St Andrews when the takeover was completed in time for their home game with the Leeds Urinals, a game they won with a late winner from former Town player Lukas Jutkiewicz (I still struggle to spell his name correctly ). They followed that with another couple of wins, which took them upto the dizzy heights of 3rd place after four games. They have only taken two more points in the next five matches though and so don't come into this one in the greatest of form.

No team news yet, but worryingly Yuta Nakayama limped off injured on Saturday. Let's hope that when Big D holds his press conference on Monday, he has some good news on that front.

Tickets:

ADULT – £24.50
SENIOR – £19
16-22 YEARS – £19
UNDER 16 – £5.50



Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 44 wins to City's 40, with 35 draws.

119 games. Our most played opponent. And I still haven't been there.

Going back to the start of our Football League life, we broke our club scoring record twice against Birmingham. The first season, 1910/11, we set the record with a 7-1 win. James Macauley got a hat trick in that one.

Then three seasons later, we went and beat that by winning 7-0 at Leeds Road. This time Thomas Elliott scored a hat trick. He's on the front row, second from the left on this old photo of the 13/14 squad.

Quote:
A thrilled Warnock praise his side's spirit and commitment.

"I loved it when Etienne Camara got blood on his face," he added. "You have to go through things like that. You have to make sacrifices but the rewards are greater.

"Every one the fans have gone home happy, and every one of the players now believes. That's a big thing and that's why I am in the game and why I came back. I owed Huddersfield something because I didn't really want to leave when I left but it was something I couldn't tolerate.

"It's not all young'uns. Yes young'uns are good [but] experience does count for a bit."

October the 3rd down the ages: How did we get on in previous matches played on this date?

Nottingham Forest were our opponents in a League Cup 2nd round 2nd leg match at Leeds Road, on this date in 1989. They were still managed by Leeds reject Brian Clough and were the League Cup holders, not the shower of shite they are nowadays.

Town were still in the 3rd Division, managed by ex Republic of Ireland manager Eoin Hand (pictured below) and we earned ourselves a decent chance of winning the tie with the giant tree trunks by drawing the first leg at the City Ground with Ken O'Doherty scoring.

Forest scored first through Tommy Gaynor, but then Craig Maskell equalised just before half time. Future Town player Gary Crosby, gave Forest the lead after the break and then Nigel Clough, who had been taunted by the Town fans throughout the first half, scored an absolute screamer to shut them up and surely close the match at 4-2 on aggregate.

But no! Back came Hand's heroes. First Maskell netted direct from a 20 yard free kick and then Mike Cecere unbelievably levelled it up at 3-3 slotting home in front of the Cowshed after Maskell had set him up. The game went to extra time, but we couldn't get the winner and sadly, the rules of the competition at the time had Forest going through on the away goals rule instead of the excitement of a penalty shoot out. 

Cheltenham have appointed former Port Vale, Bristol Rovers and Walsall boss Darrell Clarke as their new head coach on a two-year contract.

Clarke was most recently sacked by Port Vale in April, having guided the club to promotion to League One in 2021-22.

The 45-year-old succeeds Wade Elliott who left the Robins last week following a winless start to the season.

Cheltenham are bottom of League One and have yet to score a goal in their first nine league games this season.

Clarke takes over the Gloucestershire club in the midst of a poor run that has seen them take only one point this season so far and go more than 13-and-a-half hours without scoring a goal, setting a new English Football League record.

Assistant manager Kevin Russell, who has been in caretaker charge, will remain in place for the trip to Lincoln on Saturday.

Clarke spent four-and-a-half years at Bristol Rovers, with the club winning successive promotions from the National League to League One.

He joined the Saddlers in May 2019 before leaving to join Port Vale in May 2021.

Eastleigh have appointed Richard Hill as their manager for a third time following his interim spell in charge.

Hill was placed in temporary charge alongside Jason Bristow following the sacking of Lee Bradbury on 26 August.

The Spitfires have taken 11 points from their seven National League games since, with three wins and two draws.

The 60-year-old managed the club between 2012-2015 and led them to the fifth tier for the first time, before returning in 2017.

A club statement said the process took longer than hoped due to "the volume of interviews" but that Hill gives "the best chance of success".

"Having assembled a team that won promotion to the National League he subsequently led Eastleigh to their highest ever league finish.

"The team played some of the most exciting football ever witnessed at the Silverlake and his team gave us many memorable matches.

"A vital part of this success was the fans and the unity between the players, staff and fans alike. Future success will undoubtedly require the same unity and feeling of togetherness which as a board we are committed to deliver."

Eastleigh, who were winless this season under Bradbury, are now up to 15th in the table and face FC Halifax Town away on Saturday.

After a good result at Kilmarnock on the sh*te pitch the draw paired up the JT's with favourites sevco at Hampdump.

I quite fancy Hearts in this one to cause an upset. I take it that the match winner against Killie, Alex Lowry, will not be eligible to play against his parent club which is a shame?

In the other semi, Aberdeen and Hibs are drawn together which, with both sides striding to get to better form, should be a tight game.

Still leaves the possibility of a re run of the 2012 Scottish Cup Final with Hearts and Hibs meeting at the National Stadium............a game that either makes you feel ecstatic or gives you nightmares depending which side of the City your club is based.

Games are due to take place on the weekend of November 4th / 5th where I expect the Hearts v sevco game to take place on the Sunday.

Good luck to both Edinburgh Clubs.

Premier League

B.B.B. 6
Stairs 5
Lady Jane 5
Minizin 3
Dingle 3
Derby 1
Zinman 1
Blue B -1

Well it would certainly appear that after lasts week points fest Zinman absolutely ****** us with this set of fixtures!!!  Last week the PL amassed 152 points, this week that dropped to a measly 23!!!  For the accountants out there that is a staggering 85% drop!!  And it didn't stop with just the total score, of the 8 players in the PL, 5 of them recorded their lowest score of the season, including the first negative score.  The Rotherham v PNE match recorded the lowest scoring game of the season with a -9 total on it, courtesy of three incorrect Bonus Balls, and no other players scoring on it on that one, plus we also saw negative points on 3 other games as well!! And lets not get started on the balls, 7 incorrect Gamballs, 7 incorrect Bonus Balls and only 3 correct scores across the 80 predictions, and they were all on one game!! 

Not much to say about the individual performances but lets highlight BBB being top for the first time this season, albeit with just 6 points!!  He was the only one to score positive points on the Gamball but not much else to add to this score.  Stairs and Lady Jane were a point behind, with Minizin and Dingle a further 2 points back.  Lady Jane would have ended joint top this week but she put her scoreball on the 0-0 draw at Palace!! Dingle deserves a mention as the only player to score points on the Bonus by picking a L**ds win. 

Derby and Zinman ended with 1 solitary point (I would have liked to have given Zin a negative score after these games but couldn't bring myself to do it!!) and after a good recent run Blue Baggie recorded the first negative score this season in the PL with -1!!

106 Stairs
92 Minizin
89 Derby
77 Blue Baggie
77 Zinman
70 BBB
61 Lady Jane
56 Dingle

No real changes in position except for Zinman going joint 4th.  No movement due to only a 7 point spread in the scores and those at the top suffering as much as those in the bottom half.

The total points from balls in the PL now stands at 164.  No surprise that Stairs, Derby and Minizin occupy the top three spots in the table and are in the top 4 in terms of points gained from balls, Stairs has 34 points, Derby 33, Zinman 26 and Minizin 24.  Down the other end the one with the fewest points from the balls is BBB with just 8 in total, Dingle has 16 and LJ has 21. 

The outlier with ball play is Blue Baggie, he is sitting ok in 4th in the league but is down near the bottom when it comes to ball play with only 14% of his points coming from balls compared to 32% for Stairs, 33% for Zinman, 34% for LJ and even 28% for the bottom of the table Dingle!  To me that maybe shows he is a better predictor overall but those bonus points do add up and make a difference, and this is shown when you look at who scores on the most games where we see Blue top of that with a record 10 games scoring points last week and he was the one who held the previous record at 8 games, he just needs to choose his games better to play his balls on. Of course I could be wrong especially when you take into account that Blue also has the lowest scoring games/week record with 2 positive scores in weeks 3 and 7, a record he shares with Dingle who only had 2 scoring games in weeks 5 and 7.

In terms of the individual balls Zinman leads the way on the Gamball with 17 points, Stairs is best on the Bonus with 21 points and he is joint top with Dingle on the Scoreball with 5 points.  No surprise either that Stairs is second only to Derby with correct scores, Derby has 9 and Stairs has 8, this equates to 13% of games predicted for Derby and 11% for Stairs.

Cheers
SCO

Championship

AAA          9pts
Themaclad  8
Snooty      6
BaggieOne  6
Twerton      5
SCO          3
Sanjay      3

After last week's easy set of fixtures, it seems I reverted to type by choosing some rather less predictable games. Surprisingly, nobody scored a maximum on the gamball(!), the bonus ball was a complete wipe out and 3 fixtures returned negative totals; Albion's draw blew 2 bonus balls with only 1 player predicting a draw, nobody saw Everton winning at Brentford and Wolves draw at Luton got 1 correct score but blew 2 more bonuses. Unsurprisingly this was the lowest scoring week so far with, for the first time this season, nobody reaching double figures.

AAA heads the table despite losing a gamball point thanks to 2 correct scores from his 4orrect predictions.Themaclad had the samescores/predictions breakdown as AAA but sits a point back as he lost out on his scoreball, the only player to get zero points from that ball.

Snooty and BaggieOne are together on 6 points with both of them also the only players to gain from the gamball which was one of Snooty's only 2 correct predictions. Apoint further back is Twerton while SCO and Sanjay sit at the foot of the table with just 3 points. The last 2 both played their scoreball on a nil nil draw meaning that their balls managed to lose them 5 points each.

Twerton 77
AAA 75
SCO 71
BaggieOne 69
Snooty 68
Themaclad 59
Sanjay 43

Given the relatively small spread of scores there isn't mach positional change in the table this week with just AAA climbing into 2nd ahead of SCO. Twerton's early season form has deserted him, collecting just 15 points in the last 3 weeks, and his lead is down to just 2 points as the pack closes in. Sanjay remains some way behind the rest of the league and the reason lies in some stats.....

Our bottom 2 are really suffering with their balls - Sanjay now has a total of zero points from the 3 balls, with Themaclad gaining 2. In contrast Twerton still leads this particular table with 32 points. Sanjay also stands out in terms of correct scores. While he's in line with everyone for correct result predictions, he has 25 so far with everyone between 25 and 30, his failure to land correct results stands out. Sanjay has turned just 8% of his correct predictions in to correct scores, half the percentage of the next lowest and a clear contrast to Snooty who is up to 32%.

Zin lays down the gauntlet to SCO for some Premiership statting!

Zin

(28-09-2023, 21:46)St Charles Owl Wrote: Zin lays down the gauntlet to SCO for some Premiership statting!

Hibs have another home game and could complete an unbeaten September with a win over Dundee. Maybe I'm getting carried away with the Montgomery Effect, but the noticeable improvement is all down to him, plus the players' new found enthusiasm, commitment and belief.

Not only has he instilled his own work ethic into his players, but also his positive style and attitude. He's also shown he's willing to promote younger players into the first team squad, making them believe that he's starting with an open mind about them. Now the team is looking more confident and the bench is looking stronger.

As for Dundee, Josh Mulligan lost his red card appeal and will miss the game. But Dundee have already proved they will fight on to the bitter end, so they should not be discounted. Let's not give them a chance to do the Edinburgh double.

I expect a hard game, but surely (hopefully) Hibs' attacking flair will win the day.

Owner David Hilton has withdrawn funding for Scunthorpe United, who will play games away from Glanford Park because of a land dispute.

Having already put the club up for sale, a statement said Hilton feels his position is "untenable", and is "actively seeking a way out".

The National League North club say they will leave Glanford Park after hosting Brackley on 7 October.

They said they will play home games 16 miles away at Gainsborough Trinity.

However, Gainsborough have since said Scunthorpe's statement was issued "without the knowledge or consent" of the club.

"Whilst the club has always been clear that any requests from Scunthorpe United to play fixtures at the KAL Group Stadium would be considered, this would always have to be done by due process which would involve both clubs and the ground owner," they said.

Glanford Park remains the property of former owner Peter Swann through land owners Coolsilk, while a trial is currently scheduled for January which will look at the validity of a sub-tenancy to use the venue.

"We can confirm that numerous parties have made contact with the club with a view to taking over, but faced with stadium issues, numerous litigation proceedings and winding up petitions no potential purchasers are looking to move forward," the Scunthorpe statement continued in relation to new ownership.

"This includes the consortium of local business people and supporters. The chairman and remaining board members have now set out a plan in order to very quickly make the club sustainable.

"An outside company will be bought in to work closely with the club's creditors to try and ensure all are paid in a timely and professional manner."

Hilton, who only took over from Swann in January, has developed a difficult relationship with supporters since taking on the ownership.

He sought to move training to Ilkeston as a cost-cutting measure, only to backtrack after supporter complaints.

It was also confirmed earlier this month that a winding-up petition was to be issued by His Majesty's Revenue & Customs.


Apparently the owner has called the fans Spastics, ain't going to end well