Premier League

Derby        15pts 0CS 5CR 5GB 3BB 1SB
Blue Baggie 14pts 0CS 5CR 5GB 3BB 0SB
Minizin        12pts 1CS 5CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
SCO            12pts 0CS 4CR 5GB 3BB 0SB
Stairs          11pts 0CS 5CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
Snooty          7pts 2CS 4CR -3GB 0BB 0SB
Zinman        6pts 0CS 3CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Sanjay          0pts 0CS 1CR 0GB 0BB 0SB

For once the gamball proved to be more predictable and this match provided over 35% of this week's total score. Only 2 players missed out with one of those  choosing not to play it. Correct scores and scoreballs proved difficult but overall it was a decent return.

Derby sits on top of the week's table, scoring on 5 games without getting a maximum but helped by a full set of balls. Blue is in second place with a similar breakdown as Derby, only missing out on his scoreball keeps him a single point off top spot. Minizin was 1 of only 2 players to predict a correct score but was held back by a poor bonus selection to sit in 3rd place together with SCO, scoring his highest return since week 9 thanks to positives from the gamball and bonus.

Stairs also reached double figures and also now has a positive overall return from his gamball! He played it for the first time since the first week of the season and must have started to regret it 10 minutes into the Albion match - will this positive experience encourage the gambler in him or will he now return to his previous approach?

A bit of a gap to Snooty on 7 points. He got the week's high of 2 correct scores but was the only player to lose points on the gamball and also saw acorrect bonus cancelled out by his second carried over ball. Zinman's recent good run came to a halt though he was grateful that he changed his policy of not playing the gamball on an Albion game while Sanjay had a torrid week, only scoring on 1 game though he can at least console himself that it would have been much worse if he'd played the gamball!

Zinman 177
Derby 169
Minizin 167
Snooty 148
Stairs 144
Blue Baggie 129
Sanjay 121
SCO 116

Zinman's lead at the top is cut as Derby swops places with Minizin to move to just 8 points behind the leader. The only other positional change sees Blue move ahead of Sanjay with SCO also closing the gap at the foot of the table.
Looking at people's balls, Snooty is now on a 5 week losing streak with his gamball though Blue remains the lowest scorer from it. Derby, Zinman, Minizin, Sanjay and now Stairs(!) are all in positive gamball territory. Stairs and Derby are negative with their bonuses, and will shortly be joined by Zinman if his 3 week negative streak continues. Snooty may struggle with his gamball but he sits on top of the scoreball table with 13 points. 

Zin


Championship

BaggieOne 20pts 2CS 3CR 5GB 6BB 1SB
AAA 19pts 2CS 4CR NPGB 6BB 1SB
BBB 16pts 2CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Twerton 15pts 1CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
Dingle 8pts 0CS 4CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Lady Jane 8pts 1CS 3CR -3GB 3BB 0SB
Amelia 4pts 0CS 2CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Themaclad 1pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB


It appears that Zinman has simply gone soft during the stormy weather he has been living through in not sunny California!!  He has always prided himself on picking tough Gamball's but who thought WBA at Luton was ever going to be anything but a Baggie win, even Twerton got it right!!!  BaggieOne returns tot he top of the table this week matching his highest total of the season with 20 points.  He got a spot on Bonus, a CR on the Gamball and the Scoreball as well, that is how you play with your balls!!!  AAA is proving equally proficient with his balls, well the ones that he choses to play with!  He was just a point behind BaggieOne but would have been 2 ahead had he not bottled the Gamball.  BBB is in third on 16 points, still no CS on the Gamball but he must be pleased with the CR he got on it, now if he could get results on both balls he would start improving.

Twerton continues his good form in 4th with 15 points, like BBB he scored on the Gamball but missed on the Bonus.  The top two in the league going into these fixtures, Dingle and Lady Jane continue with their poor or just mediocre form finishing with 8 points each. Both missed on one ball each but at least LJ got one CS in her games. 

Amelia is 7th with just 4 points, she started off with a nice CR on the Gamball but wasn't able to back that up with much else.  Themaclad continues his rollercoaster ride, top then middle and now bottom of the pile!!  He only scored on 3 games and missed on both the big balls, that will leave you with low points and in his case it amounted to just one this week.

197 Dingle
179 BaggieOne
171 Lady Jane
156 AAA
154 BBB
128 Themaclad
114 Twerton
109 Amelia

After a few week of no positional changes, this week we see 6 of the 8 players changing places!!  Dingle retains top spot but his lead is once against shrinking, now down to 18 points.  His nearest challenger is now BaggieOne who moved above Lady Jane in the fight for the auto promotion spot.  AAA has moved above BBB into 4th place, the alphabet Gods will approve of that new order!!!  He is now just 15 points off the playoff spot.

The bottom three are now a bit adrift of the rest, not that they will give up but that mountain is getting steeper!!  Themaclad is now 26 points behind BBB and is being hunted down by a resurgent Twerton, who not only finally brought up his century but is just 14 points behind now.  Maybe more crucially he is off the bottom for the first time since week 7, dumping a struggling Amelia back into that wooden spoon spot!!

Cheers
SCO

McCarthy installed in the hot seat at Doomfield

Title says it all. Pumping of the highest order.

FORM GUIDE

BRUM 3 PNE 5

LAST TIME OUT



The Blues payed in the cup against Forest Green won 2-1 but needed keeper Neil Ethridge to do this



In The Dressing Room

Manager Ryan Lowe is hoping there could be a few players returning from injury in Saturday's game.

Ben Whiteman, Ched Evans and Brad Potts will all play some part in training on Thursday, and their progress will be monitored ahead of the visit to Birmingham.

Sean Maguire is back in full training and should be available for selection, with Emil Riis and Lewis Leigh now the only two longer-term absentees.

A Look At Our Hosts

Birmingham City, sat 18th in the Championship, head into the weekend following four successive defeats in the league, however they did come out on top on Tuesday night in their FA Cup third round replay against Forest Green Rovers.

Head coach John Eustace – in his first season at St. Andrew’s – opted to make five changes for the 2-1 victory, but it was only after a switch to a back four in the second half that their success came.

He admitted after the match that he may look at that formation moving forward, having played a 3-5-2 for the majority of the Championship campaign so far.

Going Head To Head


Games played: 102
PNE wins: 40
Draws: 25
Birmingham City wins: 37
Last victory: Birmingham City 0-1 PNE, 20th January 2021

One To Watch

Birmingham City’s main source of goals this season has been forward Scott Hogan, who has netted nine in his 22 league matches.

The experienced Championship forward, who has 12 caps for Republic of Ireland, is on track to have his best campaign since 2016/17, when he scored 14 times in just 25 games for Brentford.

Hogan has recently been missing with a hamstring injury and Blues’ form dipped in his absence, but he made his return to action last weekend and will be hoping for a clear run now until the end of the season.

Match Officials

Rebecca Welch will make history this weekend, becoming the first female referee to take charge of a Championship fixture.

Welch, who was the main official for an EFL fixture for the first time in July 2021, boasts vast experience in the women’s game, having officiated at the Euros, in the Champions League and in World Cup qualifiers.

So far this season, Welch has refereed 11 matches, showing 32 yellow cards, and there has tended to be plenty of goals in those games too, with a combined total of 37 being scored.

https://www.bcfc.com/

https://wewilljourneyon.proboards.com/

MACS VIEWS

A week on from that shocker last Saturday, off to St Andrew's on that wonderful M6, what delays will we get this time, surely we cannot play as badly as we did last week, hopefully Lowe will get the formation right.
Been a few times to St Andrew's last seasons 0-0 was a shocker, we seem to have had a few of those since the Covid restart, occasionally have seen them win there.
Like us they are going through a tough time, off the pitch, appear to be rudderless and are struggling a bit on it, won't be easy never is there but we need 100% improvement on last weeks gash

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 21ST JANUARY KO 3:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



Our winning streak continued as we dug out a hard fought win at Wycombe. We got off to a good start, Vaulks picking the ball up from Pato and then firing one in from 30 yards. Pato had a chance to make it two but saw his effort saved. Onto the 2nd half and a Windass free kick was cleared off the line. Wycombe huffed and puffed for an equalizer but our defence held out and with Plymouth & Ipswich drawing we pulled within 3 of Plymouth and moved 4 ahead of Ipswich.

THE MATCH



Next up and the first of back to back home games v Fleetwood (league & cup). Fleetwood are dwelling in the bottom half of the table, just 5 points above the relegation zone. There main dangers are Gomes (5) and Rooney (4). Fleetwood have scored in every away game this season and have lost just 3 of 13 of those away games. Scot Brown is there manager who used to play for Celtic before turning to manage Fleetwood. We have won all 3 games we have played v Fleetwood

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 3
FLEET 0
DRAWS 0

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                      

FLEET              -                                           

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

SIMON MATHER
Ian Smedley and Chris Isherwood
Fourth Official : Graeme Fyvie

THE TEAM

Dawson
Palmer Iorfa James
Hunt Adeniran Byers FDB Johnson
Windass Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

2-1 Smith

ATTENDANCE

23112

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

BML LEAGUE

Imre 19
Owlskev 19
Stateside 18
Wash 16
SCO 15
Peiowl 12
Maddix 9

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Leicester v Brighton
Bristol C v Blackburn
Oxford v Ipswich
Hartlepool v Rochdale
Chesterfield v Notts Co

ADAHD

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

WEREHAM




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Nadal injured and loses

This is the latest revelation from most MM sources and how depressing it is although it will be unsurprising to most people in this country.
And this announcement coinciding with the meeting of the world's wealthy elites in Davos, a group of people most of whom I'm damn sure will not be bothered at all re what happens to our planet or how we find a proper economic model to eradicate food banks in wealthy countries like the one we live in. Why is the existence of food banks being normalised in the minds of future generations of kids in this country? A recent Oxfam report revealed new wealth of $42T for the top 1% while 880M people going hungry globally!!? Some of these hungry people are resident in this country!! What is the solution? A "wealth tax" is the obvious one, but such a fiscal policy will be "fought tooth n nail" by politicians who are effectively empowered by wealthy people/influencers donating money to political parties that ensure their interests and money are secure. Therefore, nothing ever changes in a radical sense other than the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer". Hmmmmm!!!?? The world is changing, but clearly not for the better where globalisation has manifestly failed in the past 30 years!! In Davos, the debate will no doubt centre on re-globalisation where power and wealth is held by a few people while value created globally is mostly creamed off by those relatively few people, incl billionaires and wealthy corporations etc. SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE EVENTUALLY THOUGH - JUST A CASE OF WHEN DOES THE MOMENT ARRIVE WHEN GOOD PEOPLE WHO CARE FINALLY SAY ENOUGH!!! The economic tools have always been available out there to re-distribute wealth more fairly. However, that natural recourse has been sadly resisted by too many governments like the one currently offending here with impunity. We can already see there are good people out there protesting against the erosion of their human and working rights - a clash of two different ideologies with one closely linked to this wealthy influencing fraternity in a position that will become totally untenable in the long term.

Gamball:
Coventry - Norwich

Others:
Liverpool - Chelsea
Bournemouth - Nottingham Forest
Leicester - Brighton
Southampton - Aston Villa
Birmingham - Preston
Blackpool - Huddersfield
QPR - Swansea
Stoke - Reading
Sunderland - Middlesbrough