Thursday 10th April

Crewe Alexandra v Cheltenham Town Kick-off 8:00pm

Friday 11th April
Notts County v Salford City Kick-off 7:45pm

Saturday 12th April

Doncaster Rovers v AFC Wimbledon Kick-off 12:30pm
Swindon Town v Bradford City Kick-off 12:30pm

3.00pm KIck-offs

Accrington Stanley v Tranmere Rovers
Barrow v Walsall
Chesterfield v Fleetwood Town
Gillingham v Milton Keynes Dons
Harrogate Town v Grimsby Town
Morecambe v Carlisle United
Newport County AFC v Colchester United
Port Vale v Bromley

THE MATCH

TUESDAY 8TH APRIL KO 7:45PM

v

LAST MATCH



Another game where we lost it in injury time, as Hull took all 3 points. We started slowly as Hull had a few chances, but Charles made a one decent save. We came more into the game as we approached halftime with Windass forcing a couple of saves. 0-0 at the break. Onto the second half and Windass forced another save from the Hull keeper. We had another chance with Charles but there keeper again made the save. The just as it looked like the game would end in a draw, a free kick was curled into the box and Hughes powered a header past Charles to take all 3 points.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and we travel over the Pennines to take on Blackburn. Blackburn were in the playoffs 7 games ago but have since lost 6 of those games over the last 6 weeks or so and are now on the same points as us and look likely to be in the Championship next season barring a miraculous turn in form for the last 6 games. They are managed by Valerian Ismael who used to manage Barnsley and has been in charge for 6 games, though the new manager bounce hasn't worked, drawing 1 and losing 5. There leading scorer is Andreas Wiemann who has 9 goals so far this season

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 62
BLACK 58
DRAW 39

CURRENT FORM

OWLS  L D L W W L                                                                      

BLACK L L L L L D   

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

WILL FINNIE
Sam Lewis and Hugh Gilroy
Fourth Official: Lewis Smith

THE TEAM

Charles
Iorfa Ihiekwe M Lowe Hatsuse
Bannan Charles
Gasama Windass Ingelsson
Pato

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-1 Gassama

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Imre 27
Maddix 23
SCO 22
Washington 20
Wereham 14

BMPL

Stateside 19
Owlkev 14
Southey 12
Pei 9

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Arsenal v Real Madrid
Derby v Burnley
Bolton v Rotherham
Chesterfield v Gillingham
Oldham v Woking

AAHHH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Here's the league tables with the combined points from both match thread and Prediction thread.
Results are coming in thick and fast over the next week's will be updating after every one comes in
Remember if points are tied the poster with the most points on the seasons predictions thread wins.

BML
SCO 25 +3+3+3+1+3+3+1 =45
Imre 31+3+3+3+3+1+1=45
Washington 20+3+3+3+3+3+3+1=39
Maddix 23+3+3+3+3+3 =38
Wereham 16+3+3 +3+1+1=27




BMPl
Owlskev 15+3+3+3+3+3+3+1+1 =35
Stateside 20+3+3+1+1+3+3 =34
Pieowl 10+3+3 +1 +3+1+3+3 =27
Southey 12 +3+3+3+3+3 =27

can you add it to important threads please charlie ..thanks .

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 13:

1. neonfoxinthebox = 241 pts
   
2. Baggiebob(BBB) = 220 pts
   
3. jjamez = 213 pts
   
4. Lord Snooty = 203 pts
   
5. themaclad = 200 pts
   
6. St Charles Owl = 196 pts
   

Saturday April 12th:
Burton v Town
Town scorers:
Burton scorers:

Wigan Athletic v Wrexham (12:30)
Bristol Rovers v Exeter City
Crawley Town v Leyton Orient
Lincoln City v Shrewsbury Town

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Championship:
Leeds United v Preston North End (12:30)
Sheffield Wednesday v Oxford United
West Bromwich Albion v Watford

Sunday:
EFL Trophy Final:
Birmingham City v Peterborough United (15:00)

Premier League:
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Tottenham Hotspur (14:00)
Newcastle United v Manchester United (16:30)

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

1. ritchiebaby = 241 pts
   
2. SHEP_HTAFC = 220 pts
   
3. theo_luddite = 218 pts
   
4. Devongone = 216 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 157 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 156 pts
   

Saturday April 12th:
Burton v Town
Town scorers:
Burton scorers:

Wycombe Wanderers v Stevenage (12:30)
Barnsley v Bolton Wanderers
Cambridge United v Charlton Athletic
Northampton Town v Reading
Stockport County v Rotherham United

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

Sunday:
Premier League:
Chelsea v Ipswich Town (14:00)
Liverpool v West Ham United (14:00)

Scottish Premiership:
Hibernian v Dundee (14:30)

EFL Trophy Final:
Birmingham City v Peterborough United (15:00)

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

Gamball:
Cardiff - Stoke

Others:
Luton - Blackburn
Millwall - Middlesbrough
Portsmouth - Derby
QPR - Bristol City
WBA - Watford
Burton - Huddersfield
Barrow - Walsall
Wolves - Spurs
Newcastle - Man Utd

The winter of discontent has passed in West Yorkshire and has given way to a spring of resentment, towards Huddersfield Town and those at the forefront of the club. The main three in Nagle, Edwards and Cartwright have taken the brunt, and rightly so, they are the faces of the club, however the mire has started to encompass Kev's sidekick Dave, with Jon Worthington having gone from the second coming of the messiah, to a very naughty boy who has fallen into the Michael Duff trap of dour and insipid football. The players, having gotten used to a chorus of boos on many occasion this season, have now seen chants aimed towards them of 'you're not fit to wear the shirt'. Ironic really given the amount of injuries the side has had, meaning a lot of them actually haven't been fit to wear the shirt, and most of them when they have been fit to wear the shirt, actually haven't been fit to wear the shirt... its very much a penrose stairs sort of thing. Anyone into paradoxes, and I don't mean how America keep voting Trump and how to fix Town.



Does hope spring eternal? maybe according to those who chirp in the ear of Kev, but that is probably so they can keep each other in a job, it would be interesting to see what they get up to over the course of a week, however, it does feel like we could be a spin off series of Sunderland till I die, just without players on over 60k a week, we have had club staff getting into fights with supporters though, so we are well on the way in that sense!

How do you solve a puzzle like Town? well other than a bit of axe wielding, actually there is probably a lot of culling needed in the playing squad and a few other positions. The answer is probably increase revenue any which way you can and try and throw money at it, although we just seem intent on throwing good money after bad. But simplistically, it is remove people from positions they don't deserve, cut a lot of the players who are seeing their deals expire, try to move on those that are weighing the team down, get as good a deal as we can for stadium sponsorship and use whatever money we have to undergo yet another full rebuild. Simples.



Tuesdays defeat leaves Town in 8th, with a huge fight on their hands to finish in the top 6, sitting on 61 points, Bolton, the current incumbents meanwhile, are on 63 points with Stockport on 71 points in 5th. Town have registered just the sole win in their last 5 games, and taking that into account, could face dropping down to 10th fairly soon, with Leyton Orient having 59 points. Looking at the games we have left, Wycombe, Stockport, Leyton Orient will be fighting for their spots up the top of the league, whilst Mansfield and Exeter are probably just about safe, but will want to make sure of it, with Cambridge and Burton both fighting for their places in this league. Town meanwhile don't seem to have an ounce of fight left in them by and large, and it will remain that way whilst gutless players like Ben Wiles remain immune to being dropped. A stat from last nights TV coverage was that one trick pony Josh Koroma has scored 1 goal in his last 14 games or something like that. Either way, not acceptable if he is desiring a Championship contract, yet other team commentators seem to think he is a key player for us, they obviously haven't seen how many attacks end because of his reluctance to take a man on, instead slowing down and allowing defenders to get back. I find myself having a lot of other peeves with this side, goalkeepers reluctant to start a counter attack when catching the ball, every man back defending corners when some are close to being certified as midgets, Callum Marshall needlessly shoving players in the back when trying to apply pressure giving stupid fouls away, Evans not being able to control a ball half the time, and when he does firing a pass at the opposition, Wiles just being there is often enough for me too, I don't know, there's just something about him, he openly admitted he stopped trying last season and seems to have done the same again now and he did at Rotherham. Any more peeves? Sorensen not being able to beat a man with a cross or take his man on, throw ins being useless for the 10th season in a row, maybe longer. The list goes on and its becoming a rant rather than a match thread.

Moving onto Mansfield, still managed by Nigel Clough, sit 17th on 47 points, 8 points clear of the drop zone. They were founded in 1897 as Mansfield Wesleyans, it would be nearly 40 years before they were able to join the football league and initially struggled to adapt to the increase in standard. They started to progress after World War II, avoiding the need to reapply for League status as the war finished, they started to climb the table and reached the 5th round of the FA Cup in 1950, but by the end of the 50's they had been relegated to the newly created fourth division. They got promoted a few seasons later, but this was tarnished by accusations and the eventual suspensions of two players for bribing opponents. Two seasons later, the club again narrowly missed out on promotion to the Second Division. The season after avoiding relegation due to a points deduction for Peterborough United, Mansfield made another headline-grabbing cup run. Mansfield beat First Division West Ham United 3–0 in the fifth round of the 1968–69 FA Cup, before narrowly losing to Leicester City in the quarter-finals. In 1971–72 Mansfield were relegated, again, to the Fourth Division. By 1976–77, the club was back in the Third Division, and despite the distraction of a 5–2 FA Cup defeat to Matlock Town, beat Wrexham to the Third Division title. The club went straight back down, and only a good run of form at the end of the 1978–79 season saved Mansfield from a double relegation. Mansfield won the Football League Trophy in front of 58,000 fans in May 1987, beating Bristol City on penalties after a 1–1 draw, with former Town manager Ian Greaves at the helm. However, the years that followed were inconsistent, with Mansfield becoming a "yo-yo" team between the Third and Fourth Divisions. In 2001–02, Mansfield were again promoted to the third tier of English football, beating Carlisle United to take third place from Cheltenham Town, who lost at Plymouth Argyle. A poor season in Division Two did not pick up even with the arrival of Keith Curle as manager, as the club was relegated straight back to the fourth tier of English football. In 2003–04, Mansfield beat Northampton Town in a penalty shoot-out in the Division Three play-off semi-finals, but lost to Town on penalties in the final.



They come in on the back of a 2-1 defeat at home to Charlton, better than what we did, they have won 13 games this season, including wins against Stockport and Bolton back in January, as well as drawing against Birmingham and the other fixture against Stockport. Survival was the aim of the game for the season in reality for the Stags after getting promoted from League Two last season, finishing third, having missed out in the play offs the season prior. In 2018–19, the Stags narrowly missed out on promotion on the final day of the season after a defeat to promotion rivals MK Dons. They lost in the play-off semi-finals to Newport County on penalties. In 2021–22, Mansfield reached the play-offs again but lost 3–0 to Port Vale in the final. This season marks the first time the Stags have played in the third tier of English Football since the 2002-2003 season, with the Stags spending time in non league along the way, having seen their 77 year stay in come to an end in 2008. That hiatus would last until they won the title in 2013, their time in the non league was bumpy to say the least, with the original owner attacked by fans upon relegation Following the club's relegation in 2008, Colin Hancock, then the chairman of Glapwell, emerged as the leading bidder as he agreed to purchase a controlling share of the Stags, Field Mill, and some land surrounding the stadium from Haslam. However, three businessmen who were also Mansfield Town fans, Andrew Perry, Andrew Saunders and Steve Middleton, bought the club from Keith Haslam for an undisclosed fee, but they were still renting the stadium from him. At the start of the 2010–11 season Mansfield were bought by John Radford. He and his wife brought Paul Cox to the club, with Cox leading Mansfield to the FA Cup 3rd round where a Luis Suarez goal knocked the stags out of the cup. He achieved promotion back to the football league and finished mid table in their first season back, he departed in 2014 by mutual consent and the club have had five permanent managers since then, including former Barnsley caretaker Adam Murray and ex Rotherham manager Steve Evans, until finding solidity and success under Clough who has been at the helm for over 200 games now.

Clough, obviously needs no real introduction, a famous father and a footballing career that saw him play over 300 games for Forest and represent clubs like Liverpool and Man City (before they were good), he also received 13 England caps, but didn't register a goal for the National side. He has forged his own managerial path, starting with a decade at the helm of Burton Albion between 1998 and 2009, he was in charge for over 700 games, the highlights of his first spell there being guiding them to the Conference Premier and holding a star studded Manchester United to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup at Old Trafford, although they lost the replay 5-0. In January 2009, Derby County came calling and the lure of returning to his fathers old stomping ground was too much to ignore. He spent nearly 4 years at Derby, becoming their longest serving manager in over a decade when he departed. He was unable to match his fathers success, only managing to keep Derby as a solid midtable club in the Championship, although at the time, the club wasn't as well funded, although his replacement Steve McLaren guided them further up the league. Less than a month later, Clough would be appointed manager of Sheffield United, the Blades were sat near the foot of League one, having failed to overcome the disappointment of losing the play off final a few seasons prior to Town. Clough guided them to an 11th place finish and the following season took the Blades to the FA Cup semi finals, but was unable to get promotion and was sacked at the end of the season.

He would return to Burton, now in League One in December after Jimmy Flloyd Hasselbaink left to join QPR, his tenure this time was far shorter than his first but he guided Burton to the Championship for the first time in their history in his first season back, he kept them in the second tier for two seasons before they were relegated at the end of the 2018 season., he was unable to achieve a return to the second division and eventually departed the club in 2020 due to the financial pressure on the club from COVID. Later that year he would join Mansfield who were sitting near the foot of League Two, After a poor start to the 2021–22 season which had seen his side in the relegation zone in October, Mansfield would win a club record eleven consecutive home matches to finish the season strongly. They ultimately finished 7th, missing out on automatic promotion on the final game of the season. In the play-offs, Mansfield would beat Northampton Town before losing 3–0 in the play-off final against Port Vale. In the 2022–23 season, Mansfield missed out on a play-off finish on goal difference despite a win against Colchester United in the final game. At the beginning of the 2023–24 season, Mansfield went 19 games unbeaten and would end the season with promotion to League One.



In terms of head-to-head, there is obviously one game that stands out way back when in the old days, when the town was a league with two sides full of kids. But really, meetings between the two sides have been few and far between, with only 22 games over the course of time. The first meeting was a 0-0 draw in 1976 in the FA Cup, with Mansfield winning the replay 2-1. The sides would meet twice in the League Cup in 83, with Huddersfield winning both games, 2-1 in Nottinghamshire and 5-1 back in Yorkshire. The first league meeting would come in 88 in Division 3, with Mansfield winning the first game 1-0 before Town wonure 2-0, this would mark the first of a few seas the return fixtons where the sides would meet, Town would register the league double over the Stags the next season before the sides drew both games in the 90/91 season. The sides would have a season off before renewing acquaintances in 1992, in the newly named Division Two, with Town once again doing the league double. It would be another 5 years before the sides would meet again, this time it would be back in the League Cup, with Huddersfield winning the first game 3-2, before drawing the second game 1-1, three years later, Mansfield would knock Town out of the FA Cup with a 4-0 down at Field Mill. The sides would be back in league action in 2002/03 with Town winning away 2-0 and drawing 1-1 at home, but the sides would suffer the same fate as they were relegated into division 3. A 3-3 draw would come first, before Town capitulated in front of a bumper crowd, losing 3-1. Both sides missed out on automatic promotion and would have to go through the playoffs, with Town winning on penalties after a 0-0 draw. Two years later, Mansfield would get a little revenge as they knocked Town out of the league cup 2-0, it would be a further 18 years before the sides would meet again at a blustery One Call Stadium earlier this season, with Town winning 2-1 thanks to goals from Ben Wiles and Josh Koroma.



In terms of played for both, Mansfield have a few in their current squad, Lucas Akins came through the academy at Town and impressed manager Andy Ritchie in training, but once Ritchie left and was replaced by Stan Ternent, his opportunities dwindled, with Stan telling Akins he would be leaving at the end of the season having only made 5 appearances for the first team before heading to Scotland to play for Hamilton. He had two years in Scotland, including having a loan out at Partick Thistle, before moving back down South to join Tranmere. He had two seasons at Tranmere, making over 70 appearances before leaving to join Stevenage, there he would also make over 70 appearances and scoring 13 goals ahead of his first meet up with Nigel Clough at Burton. During his time at Burton, he would reach the Championship, making over 300 appearances in his 8 years at the club. He would leave Burton at the end of 2022 season and rejoin Clough at Mansfield. He has been there ever since and has made over 100 appearances for the club, although this could be his last season in football as he pled guilty to death by dangerous driving earlier this year, some 3 years after the incident. Also in their current squad is one Jordan Rhodes, who joined on loan from Blackpool in January, he has scored one goal for the club, and has been a bit of a part player, although he will likely be in the squad on saturday, we don't need his story, although, I would seriously have signed him in January considering how our current lot have been doing. In previous years they have had the likes of David Mirfin who played two seasons at the club at the end of his career, only making 12 appearances for the Stags, former Town loanee Krystian Pearce has also played for Mansfield, making 191 more appearances for the Stags than he did the Terriers...work that out. Another former Town loanee in Jordan Smith has been on the books of both sides, he failed to make an appearance for Town, but made 12 for Mansfield, he's currently playing up in Scotland at Hibernian. Another academy graduate Jimmy Spencer had a spell at Mansfield as he drifted down the footballing pyramid, he played 18 games for the Stags, Oscar Gobern likewise played in passing for Mansfield on his way down, Town also loaned striker Danny Carr to Mansfield where he only managed 4 games, but really there isn't much to talk about here.



In terms of team news, town may see the return of Spencer from a hamstring complaint, but I don't think there us many more to come back just yet, but will we see a new manager hidden in the stands somewhere? it wouldn't surprise me if someone hasn't planned to make the journey to the ground to see what is happening.