THE MATCH

SATURDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER KO 3:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



We finally got on the board as we managed a draw at Leeds. Both teams had there chances, Leeds a few more than us, but either shots went wide or the keepers made a save or two. Onto the 2nd half and again both teams had chances, Vasquez making a couple of saves, while Smith had a shot saved and then Paterson put one over the bar from a corner. Iorfa made a clumsy challenge in the box but the ref didn't give a penalty. Leeds had a chance to win it near the end but Vasquez made a comfortable save.

THE MATCH



Back home and Ipswich make the journey north. While we have made a poor start to the season, Ipswich have done the opposite, winning 4 of there first 5 games, just a 3-4 defeat to Leeds there only blemish. There squad is still basically the same with several additions made over the summer. They are managed by Kieran McKenna, who took over just under 2 years ago. Broadhead and Ladapo are there early leading scorers with 3 each. Be interesting to see if Ipswich can maintain there early form as the season drags on, if they can a playoff spot at the least should be within reach.

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 21
IPSWICH 20 
DRAWS 16

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                                        

IPSW               -                                                                              

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

JAMES LININGTON
Jonathan Hunt and Mark Russell
Fourth Official : Leigh Doughty

THE TEAM

Vasquez
Pato Diaby Iorfa Berrnard Plamer
Delgado Bannan Byers Windass
Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-3 Broadhead

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

55

ATTENDANCE

25689

BML LEAGUE

Maddix 2
Owlkev 1
Washington 1
Imre
SCO

BMPL

Stateside 1
Wereham 1
Pei -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Man Utd v Brighton
Cardiff v Swansea
Derby v Portsmouth
Wrexham v Grimsby
York City v Southend

AAHHA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Hibs have tempted one of the Australian A-League's top managers to sign a 3-year deal. Nick Montgomery, English by birth, played for Scotland Under-21s way back in 2003 and has proved himself at Central Coast Mariners, winning the A-League Championship this year.

Former Hibs' favourite, Jason Cummings was one of Montgomery's star players and maybe, just maybe, will finish up at Easter Road before long.  During his playing career, Montgomery has played alongside David Marshall, who will hopefully finish his career at Easter Road before long.

Montgomery brings with him Sergio Raimundo (assistant) and Miguel de Oliveira Miranda (goalkeeping coach) from the Mariners. SDG retains his role as first-team coach.

Down to the Southern League Premier South Division, Chesham United are clear at the top with seven wins out of seven. The Non-League Paper's report this week and pictures featured who else but Ricardo German, who grabbed a hat-trick and a star man award for them. What quirk prevented him making it somewhere? He was a good captain of our Junior side. He steps up and scores from the penalty spot no bother. He's physically strong, he's got a turn of pace, he's got a shot on him, he's a proven goal scorer, he can head the ball. What did we do to him, or did he do to himself? Chesterfield isn't the only place he's ended up failing ..... all the way to the Grenada international team so far, but he's got the ability and he could still do it much higher and full-time if he'd always translate his real self into performances on the pitch.

Go to National League South and leading the line for Maidstone United is Levi Amantchi, another young forward we developed almost to breaking point, then let go.

Over to our own league Mani Dieseruvwe proved himself last season at Halifax and is continuing in the same vein at Hartlepool. Always on the verge with us weren't you Mani?

Down to National North, whoever takes over the managerial reins at Darlo will be relying on Jacob Hazel to start scoring again to propel them up the table. Was it two brief appearances we gave you Jacob?

We seem good at coming up with goal scoring forwards. It's just that none of them get there for us. Jake Beesley even scored for Rochdale and Blackpool in the EFL, but never really made it on our voyage. Maybe, unlike John West, it's the fish we reject that stop us being the best.

Aside from all that, Derbyshire does seem to be doing rather well at football. Buxton 1-2 up at leaders Scunthorpe managed to get their match abandoned in the 95th minute for rain. Would someone have drowned if the ref' had played out the closing seconds? Nevertheless in National North their local rivals Alfreton sit just outside the play-offs after hammering Boston United 4-0, whilst far down south in the Southern League Central Premier, Mickleover, which used to be known for just one thing, now sit proudly top with a 100% record, and though Long Eaton are bottom they managed their first win on Saturday. Back in the Northern Prem' Matlock grabbed a 5-0 win to go above Ilkeston who crashed 1-2 at home to Worksop. Lot of teams going okay for a small county.

League One side Fleetwood Town have appointed former Hibernian boss Lee Johnson as their manager.

The 42-year-old joins having been sacked by Hibs on 27 August, following a slow start to the Scottish season.

Johnson replaces Scott Brown, who left on 3 September after five defeats from their opening six league games.

"We are delighted to attract someone with the calibre and record of Lee Johnson - we see it as a real statement of intent," said CEO Steve Curwood.

"During the process, we made it clear we were looking for an experienced manager who can help take what we feel is a very good squad up the table, and help to develop the club as a whole."

Former Oldham, Barnsley, Bristol City and Sunderland boss Johnson took over at Hibs from Shaun Maloney in May 2022 and guided them to a fifth-placed finish in his first season in charge.

He also helped them secure a Uefa Conference League qualifying place, by virtue of Celtic also winning the Scottish Cup, however they were thrashed 5-0 by Premier League side Aston Villa in their play-off first leg.

Johnson - whose contract length has not been disclosed - joins a Fleetwood side short on confidence, with the club second from bottom of League One and having earned just one point from their first six League One games.

Analysis
BBC Radio Lancashire's Philip Gittins

Lee Johnson has already amassed more than 500 senior matches in football management.

He was named the youngest manager in the English Football League when he was handed the reins at Oldham Athletic aged 31 in March 2013.

Subsequent spells at Barnsley, Bristol City and Sunderland have seen him gain extensive managerial experience, particularly in League One, which has undoubtedly been a huge contributory factor in the decision to offer him the chance of steering Fleetwood out of troubled waters.

There are no two ways about it, having finished in a comfortable 13th position last term, and with Scott Brown handed a contract extension in the summer, there were grounds for optimism that a top-half finish was more than a distinct possibility for Town this time around.

But having secured a point on their opening-day trip to Carlisle, no further points have been accrued as a lack of goals and a propensity to self-destruct defensively has led to the precarious early league position.

One glance at the Fleetwood squad does at least offer grounds for optimism, with a healthy blend of youth and experience in situ.

With the combined talents and experience of seasoned campaigners such as Jayden Stockley, Josh Vela, Jay Lynch, Jack Marriott, Danny Mayor and Josh Earl allied to exciting young talents such as Will Johnson, Phoenix Patterson, Promise Omochere and Scott Robertson, there is absolutely no reason why the Cod Army should not feel confident that calmer waters lie ahead.

But as good as things look on paper, the key now - as a new dawn begins on the Fylde Coast - is for Johnson to find a winning blend from his underachieving squad that will lead to brighter days ahead.

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 = 94 pts
   
2. neonfoxinthebox = 93 pts
   
3. Baggiebob(BBB) = 82 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 81 pts
   
5. jjamez = 71 pts
   
6. themaclad = 67 pts
   

Friday 15th September:
Hull City v Coventry City
Southampton v Leicester City

Saturday 16th September:
Town v Rotherham
Town scorers:
Rotherham scorers:

Blackburn Rovers v Middlesbrough
Bristol City v West Bromwich Albion
Norwich City v Stoke City
Preston North End v Plymouth Argyle
Queens Park Rangers v Sunderland
Sheffield Wednesday v Ipswich Town
Watford v Birmingham City
Cardiff City v Swansea City (19:45)

Sunday 17th September:
Millwall v Leeds United (12:00)

Wednesday 20th September:
Town v Stoke
Town scorers:
Stoke scorers:

Bonus matches:
Champions League:
Tuesday:
Feyenoord v Celtic

Wednesday:
Bayern Munich v Manchester United

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

1. Lord Snooty = 98 pts
   
2. ritchiebaby = 81 pts
   
3. SHEP_HTAFC = 81 pts
   
4. Devongone = 74 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 69 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 67 pts
   

Saturday 16th September:
Town v Rotherham
Town scorers:
Rotherham scorers:

Tuesday 19th September:
Bristol City v Plymouth Argyle
Cardiff City v Coventry City
Preston North End v Birmingham City
Queens Park Rangers v Swansea City
Southampton v Ipswich Town
Sheffield Wednesday v Middlesbrough

Wednesday 20th September:
Town v Stoke
Town scorers:
Stoke scorers:

Blackburn Rovers v Sunderland
Hull City v Leeds United
Millwall v Rotherham United
Watford v West Bromwich Albion
Norwich City v Leicester City

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Scottish Premiership:
Kilmarnock v Hibernian

National League:
Ebbsfleet United v Chesterfield

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

This is becoming a very weird feeling indeed. I'm in my 50s and scotland have never skooshed a qualifying campaign like this!!!

Scotlands recent record is absolutely outstanding, something like 11 qualifiers we've won on the bounce now. If norway don't win midweek we have already made it to Germany.

Clarke is a terrific coach, he's even made Lyndon Dykes into an international player ffs..... i'm really surprised that some of the lower EPL or championship sides haven't tried for him as boss.

Gamball:
Huddersfield - Rotherham

Others:
Man Utd - Brighton
Blackburn - Middlesbrough
Bristol C - WBA
QPR - Sunderland
Sheff W - Ipswich
Cardiff - Swansea
Watford - Birmingham
Preston - Plymouth
Millwall - Leeds

League One club Charlton Athletic have appointed former Blackpool boss Michael Appleton as their new head coach.

He replaces Dean Holden, who was sacked on 27 August after the Addicks lost four of their first five league games at the start of the season.

The 47-year-old, who has also had stints managing Oxford United and Lincoln City among others, has agreed a two-year contract at The Valley.

Appleton becomes Charlton's fifth different boss in two and a half years.

The south-east London club are 16th in the table, six points off the play-offs and four points above the relegation zone, after six games of the campaign.

His first match in charge will be at Stevenage on Saturday, 16 September.

Charlton's technical director Andy Scott said Appleton has a "winning mentality" and is a coach "who knows what it takes to get a team promoted".

"Michael demonstrated very clearly that he would have the ability to take the current group and mould them into a successful team," Scott told the club website.

"He has worked at the very top level so he understands what high standards are required to win.

"He has had many positive and negative experiences as a manager that have shaped him into the coach that we believe will be the best person for the job.

Appleton had been out of work since being sacked by Blackpool, then in the Championship, in January, having won seven of his 29 games during what was his second spell in charge of the Tangerines.

Jason Pearce had been in charge of Charlton on an interim basis following Holden's departure, overseeing a 2-1 win over Fleetwood and a defeat at Crawley Town in the EFL Trophy.

Appleton looks to build 'winning mentality'
Charlton were taken over by SE7 Partners, a company headed by former Sunderland director Charlie Methven, in July and Appleton said he will "give everything to deliver success" for the club.

"I want us to develop a team that excites us all, that never gives up and that plays on the front foot," he added.

"I want my players to express themselves and feel comfortable in the way we aim to play. We want to build a winning mentality, starting immediately."

After a year with Portsmouth and spells with Blackpool and Blackburn Rovers, Appleton led Oxford United to automatic promotion from League Two in 2015-16, and then guided them to an eighth-placed finish in the third tier the following season.

He left Oxford in June 2017 to become Craig Shakespeare's assistant at Premier League Leicester City, and had a brief caretaker stint in charge of the Foxes in October 2017, winning both games.

Appleton then joined Lincoln City in September 2019, with the Imps losing 2-1 to Blackpool in the League One play-off final in 2020-21.

Charlton have spent six of the past seven seasons in League One, with their most recent campaign in the Championship coming when they finished 22nd in the table in 2019-20.

Anyone else been watching Boot Dreams on BBC? It's about a group of young players who are trying to have one last chance to get a professional contract in football at a club.

In episode 3 they played our youth team and they beat them 3-1 but our youth team were wearing mismatching shirts. The shirts seemed to be youth team shirts with shirts from different seasons.