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. Baggiebob(BBB) = 67 pts
   
2. SHEP_HTAFC = 56 pts
   
3. ritchiebaby = 47 pts
   
4. jjamez = 46 pts
   
5. neonfoxinthebox = 44 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 41 pts
   

Saturday August 23rd:
Town v Stevenage
Town scorers:
Stevenage scorers:

Luton Town v Cardiff City (12:30)
Mansfield Town v Leyton Orient
Northampton Town v Exeter City
Peterborough United v Bradford City
Plymouth Argyle v Blackpool
Port Vale v Doncaster Rovers

Tuesday 26th August:
EFL Cup rd 2:
Sunderland v Town
Town scorers:
Sunderland scorers:

Barnsley v Rotherham United
Bromley v Wycombe Wanderers
Wigan Athletic v Stockport County

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Championship:
West Bromwich Albion v Portsmouth

Premier League:
Arsenal v Leeds United (17:30)

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

1. themaclad = 64 pts
   
2. theo_luddite = 56 pts
   
3. Devongone = 51 pts
   
4. Amelia Chaffinch = 50 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 40 pts
   
6. St Charles Owl = 35 pts
   

Saturday August 23rd:
Town v Stevenage
Town scorers:
Stevenage scorers:

Rotherham United v Wigan Athletic (12:30)
AFC Wimbledon v Barnsley
Bolton Wanderers v Lincoln City
Stockport County v Burton Albion
Wycombe Wanderers v Reading

Tuesday 26th August:
EFL Cup rd 2:
Sunderland v Town
Town scorers:
Sunderland scorers:

Accrington Stanley v Doncaster Rovers
Preston North End v Wrexham
Stoke City v Bradford City
Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United (20:00)

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
League Two:
Harrogate Town v Chesterfield

Monday:
Premier League:
Newcastle United v Liverpool (20:00)

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

Huddersfield Town v Doncaster Rovers
Sky Bet League One
Tuesday August 19th - 19:45 ko
at the Accu Stadium

A brief history of Doncaster Rovers: formed in 1879 by a group of workers at the Great Northern Railway works in the town, they turned professional in 1885 and entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1887/88. They joined the Midland League in 1891 and were champions twice before they got elected into the Football League in 1901, replacing New Brighton Tower FC.

Their first season in the FL is still recorded as their best ever, finishing 7th in Division Two. They failed to gain re-election after finishing in the bottom three in their second season, getting replaced by Bradford City. They went back to the Midland League, but got re-elected back into the FL at the end of that season. It didn't last though and they were once again booted out at the end of that season, not to return until 1923/24 when they were elected into Division Three (North) to replace Stalybridge Celtic.

They won Div 3N in 1934/35, winning promotion to the Second Division. It was a two season stay up there, before they were relegated again.

After the war, they won Division 3N again in 1946/47, but were relegated straight away. In April 1949, they appointed Huddersfield Town's Peter Doherty as player/manager and this turned out to be their best signing ever as he not only won them the title, being top scorer in the 1949/50 season (30 goals in 39 games), but also gave them eight seasons in Division Two, their longest stay in that league.

He resigned in January 1958 after many disputes with the Board of Directors. The club were relegated at the end of that season and the year after to end up in the recently formed Divison 4 by 1960.

The next few decades saw them yo-yoing between the 3rd and the 4th until the nineties arrived and Ken Richardson took over, took them into administration and took them out of the league and almost took them out of existence.

With Richardson in prison after setting the stand at Belle Vue alight in an insurance scam, the club was bought out by a consortium in 1999 and in 2003, the club won the Conference League Play Off Final and promotion back into the Football League. This was with Dave Penney as manager and that Final was played at Stoke City's stadium against Dagenham & Redbridge. Rovers were 2-0 up through goals from Paul Green and Dave Morley, but the Daggers fought back to force extra time. This game was the only Play Off match in England to have been won by the Golden Goal method of next goal wins. It was Francis Tierney who scored it in the 111th minute to earn the Rovers promotion, with captain Paul Barnes, the ex Town striker, lifting the trophy.

Back in the EFL, they reached the quarter finals of the League Cup, defeating Manchester City and Aston Villa before losing to Arsenal on penalties. Penney resigned soon after and was replaced by Sean O'Driscoll.

On New Years Day 2007, Rovers moved into their new stadium, having Huddersfield Town in as the first opponents. Not a good day for us.

Later that season, they won the Football League Trophy in Cardiff. Once again they threw away a 2-0 lead, this time against Bristol Rovers after Jonathan Forte and Paul Heffernan had scored. Graeme Lee got the winner in the 110th minute for a 3-2 victory.

The following season, 2007/08, things got even better. They narrowly missed out on automatic promotion, but won their Play Off semi final 5-1 on aggregate against Southend United. This took them to the newly rebuilt Wembley Stadium for a showdown with the Champions of Europe, Leeds United, who were by now, a third division club.

A goal from James Hayter in the 47th minute (pictured below) gave Rovers the win against the biggest club in world football and promotion to the 2nd tier, now calling itself the Championship.

They had three seasons in the Championship, helped by the goals of Billy Sharp, who came on loan from Sheffield United before signing on full time. But after a poor start to the 2011/12 season, O'Driscoll resigned and was replaced by Dean Saunders, who got them relegated.

The 2012/13 season had incredible finish. Saunders had left the club and Brian Flynn had taken over as the Rovers headed to Griffin Park for the final game of the season against Brentford. The stakes couldn't have been higher. The winner wins promotion.

In the last minute of added on time, Brentford were awarded a penalty. Marcello Trotta stepped up and slammed it against the crossbar. The ball rebounded into play and Donny Rovers raced forward with it. James Coppinger scored to make it 1-0 with only seconds remaining and not only win them promotion, but also pip AFC Bournemouth to the League One title.

As is the norm with Doncaster Rovers though, success wasn't sustained and two relegations followed to see them back down in League Two by 2016. But with Darren Ferguson as new manager, they came straight back up to League one in the following season.

When Ferguson left, he was replaced by Grant McCann, who got them to the 2019 League One Play Offs, where they were beaten in the semis by Charlton Athletic on penalties.

They were relegated again in 2021, after managers with Town connections had been in charge. They were Andy Butler and Darren Moore, but it was Gary McSheffrey who was in the hot seat as they went down. He was replaced by another ex Town player and manager, Danny Schofield, who was sacked and replaced with the returning McCann in May 2023. He got them to the Play Offs again in 2024, but they were beaten by Crewe Alexandra in the semis.

That defeat didn't affect them though as they went on to win last season's League Two title, which brings them to Huddersfield this week for the first league visit to our ground since September 2013.

So that last match at the John McAccupharm Stadium was a 0-0 draw in 2013/14. The return match back at their place was a 2-0 win for the Rovers with Billy Sharp, of course, on target. David Cotterill got the second.

The first season together was in the 1950s after we had let Peter Doherty go and become the Doncaster player/manager. It led to our relegation and their promotion, so we met in Division Two in 1952/53. We were still the biggest club in Yorkshire at the time and a massive crowd of 27,614 crammed into the Belle Vue stadium. If you ever went there, you'll know that's one helluva squeeze! The game finished at 1-1 with Jimmy Watson scoring our goal.

He was on target again a week later as the teams met again at Leeds Road with Town winning 3-1. Jimmy Glazzard and Alistair Gunn scored the other two.

We went up that season, but when we came down again in 1956, Doherty's men did the double over Town sides led by Andy Beattie and then Bill Shankly.

We drifted apart for a few seasons. Only an FA Cup game in the whole of the sixties, won by Town by a Les Massie (pictured below) goal to nil in the 3rd round of 1965. We met up again in the seventies, down in the 4th Division and did the double over them in the first half of the season 1979/80 when we won the title. A 3-0 win at home in September with an Ian Holmes penalty and goals from David Cowling and Ian Robins, was followed at the end of December with a 2-1 win at Belle Vue. Brian Stanton scored our first before the legend Steve Kindon, a recent signing from Burnley, scored his first goal in the bright blue n white of Huddersfield Town.

We had a couple of seasons together in the eighties in the 3rd Division. The 1982/83 season being another Mick Buxton inspired promotion season, which had us scoring seven goals without reply over the two matches.

We played them in another promotion season in the nineties. That was under Neil Warnock, but we didn't play in the same league. They were on a fast downhill track when we played away in the FA Cup. Darren Bullock, Andy Booth, Ronnie Jepson and Iain Dunn scored for us in a 4-1 win, in the 94/95 season.

We had four seasons together in the 2000's, one of which was that opening game at the new Keepmoat Stadium. Donny won 3-0 in a diabolical Town performance which saw Adnan Ahmed and Pawel Abbott both sent off.

And finally, last season, we met in the Tinpot Trophy, which at the time of playing was known as the Bristol Street Motors Trophy. Ephraim Yeboah, an 18 year old on loan from Bristol City scored first for Rovers, before Danny Ward equalised in the second half. Town boss, Michael Duff, unimpressed with his under strength team's performance, brought on some subs, one of which, Ben Wiles, gave away a stupid penalty. Joe Ironside scored from the spot to give Rovers a 2-1 win.

1. Hedonic Sandfly
   
2. Dearer Moron
   
3. Panty Maestro
   
4. The Derry Poet
   
5. Ray Blunted
   
6. Email Fay
   

Here we go again, after a Harum Scarum european tie midweek in which we just prevailed (and we have to mention that Bowie strike as well) we head across to Livingston in the league cup. They have started the season well too and will no doubt be a tricky proposition going by our past games there.

A trip to ibrox awaits the winner, and from what's been seen so far absolutely nothing to fear. They are a really poor team already benefitting from ropey penalties to get results against the likes of dundee and alloa.

Again we have a tough trip to eastern europe to negotiate midweek, be understandable if the manager wants to rotate and give the likes of bowie and mcgrath a rest.

Well....all`s well that ends well, as they say. I must confess, though, that for the first part of that second half I was getting increasingly hot under the collar at our inability to make any headway against a 10- man team. The equalizer was on its way a long time before it actually arrived.

Am I missing something, but when your opponents are a man down doesn`t it make sense to play at a high tempo to get them running around tiring themselves out? Instead we started the second half at walking pace playing as though we were 4 or 5 up and were saving energy for the next game. That`s being a bit negative, I know, and overall I reckon we deserved the win. There were a lot of positives as well.

All credit to Rovers, they really came at us at the start of the second half. Some of their supporters seem to think that they`re already doomed to National League football next season, but I can`t see any chance of that at all myself. I reckon they are much too good for that and will be climbing the table soon. If it wasn`t for a glaring miss they could have been at least level at half-time.

The turning point in the end was obviously the red card. It was a soft one but to my (completely unbiased and impartial, obviously) eyes the ref was right. The defender had a tug at Dobs` shoulder to stop him getting ahead of him for what was a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Okay, he went down easily (as they all do these days), but there was no attempt to play the ball and he was the last man; so it has to be red, not yellow for me. I can understand the Rovers fans not being happy about it, though.

I can`t help but think that last season we would only have taken a point from the game. The really encouraging thing for me was the difference that the subs made when they came on. Suddenly we were moving the ball at speed, we were getting through and behind their defence and could have had a couple more easily. It shows the strength of the squad and gives the management the flexibility to change formation when the situation calls for it.

It was a frustrating game for Lee Bonis, but I reckon that once he breaks his duck we`re going to get a few goals out of him. Even without them, he`s pulling defences around with his running the channels and generally `putting himself about`. As it stands, though, it`s 6 goals scored and 6 different scorers. That`s got to be a good sign.

I`ve just seen the league table. That`s a good sign too, even at this early stage..
Puts my chuntering into perspective, dunnit.

I have looked up the last time we won our first 4 league games in a season, but I`m saying nowt. I reckon we`ll do very well to come away from Priestlands with 3 points and even I`m not prepared to tempt fate to that extent.

Gamball:
Norwich - Middlesbrough

Others:
Brentford - Villa
Burnley - Sunderland
Hull - Blackburn
Preston - Ipswich
Swansea - Watford
Sheff U - Millwall
Crystal Palace - Nottingham Forest
Everton - Brighton
Fulham - Man Utd

Bromley manager Andy Woodman has extended his contract with the League Two club until the summer of 2028.

Woodman has been in charge of the Ravens since March 2021 and guided them to promotion to the English Football League for the first time last year after winning the play-offs.

He also led the club to victory in the FA Trophy in 2022, when his side beat Wrexham 1-0 at Wembley.

After winning promotion to League Two, Woodman ensured Bromley were competitive in their first season in the EFL as they finished 11th in the fourth tier and reached the third round of the FA Cup, where they took the lead against Premier League Newcastle United before losing 3-1.

On Tuesday, he led the club to their first EFL Cup win when they beat relegated Premier League side Ipswich Town 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the first-round tie.

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 16TH AUGUST KO 3PM

v

LAST MATCH



The kids did us proud as they are saw off League One Bolton on penalties after a 3-3 draw in normal time. We took the lead early lead when one of the kids Sequeira belted one in from 25 yards. Bolton were then reduced to 10 men when McNeill was fouled when put through. Bolton did equalize though 10 mins later, defending could have been better but we quickly went back ahead when Ugbo finished well. 1-2 at HT. Onto the 2nd half and we had more of the ball although didn't create much but were keeping Bolton at arms length. Bolton made a few changes and started to look a threat and equalised when we couldn't clear the ball. Again we went down the other end and Johnson slid one past the keeper. We nearly held on for the win but Bolton levelled in injury time, though it was a good strike. Onto penalties and Charles made two save while we scored all four of ours, with Palmer scoring the winning pen.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Our first home game of the season sees us entertain Stoke. Stoke made a winning start to the season as they saw off Derby with 2 late goals and then beat Walsall on penalties. I don't see them troubling the playoff spots and they should be good enough to avoid the relegation scrap. They are managed by Mark Robins, who previously managed at Coventry and did a great job there. They have some decent players and two of there debutants, Mubama & Thomas, both scored against Derby.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 40
STOK 36
DRAW 25

CURRENT FORM

OWLS     L                                                             

STOKE    W

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

LEWIS SMITH
Alex James and Andrew Fox
Fourth Official : Aaron Bannister

THE TEAM

Charles
Valery Iorfa Otegbayo Palmer
Fusire Ingelsson Bannan
J Lowe Cadamarteri Ugbo

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-1 Cadamarteri

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

56

ATTENDANCE

21000

BML LEAGUE

SCO 1
Imre
Maddix
Washington
Owlkev

BMPL

Stateside
Wereham -12
Southey -12
Pei -12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Sunderland v West Ham
Millwall v Middlesboro
Cardiff v Rotherham
Barrow v Notts Co
Scunthorpe v Woking

DHHAH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC