Russell Martin says some clarity over his long-term future at Swansea City would "help the club move forward".

Martin is halfway through the three-year deal agreed when he took over at the Championship club.

Despite a miserable January transfer window and some inconsistent form, Swansea's head coach is open to the idea of signing a new contract.

"We are 18 months in now - I hope we get a lot longer to keep building it," Martin said.

"And I hope there's an understanding of the bigger picture and what's going on here.

"I really feel that if we are allowed time to build and to keep improving, we will be successful at some point."

Swansea are 12th in the second tier, five points adrift of the play-off places, ahead of Saturday's trip to Blackburn Rovers.

Martin's side were fourth after beating Cardiff City in October to make it seven wins in nine Championship games, but they have since managed only three victories in 15 league fixtures.

The mid-season transfer window ended in frustration as Swansea failed to make a signing despite plans to strengthen for a potential play-off push.

Martin was unhappy with Swansea's transfer failings and says there "would be a lot of things to understand" before any new contract is signed.

Nevertheless, he says he and his staff are keen to stay in Wales following initial talks over contract extensions last October.

"We enjoy it so much here and we love the people we're doing it with," Martin added.

"I know that my agent and Julian [Winter, chief executive] have had discussions previously. I don't think there's been a huge amount since.

"At some point people will want a bit more clarity on what's going to go on - I think that will be players more than anything.

"I think it would help to have more clarity and certainty in terms of recruitment ahead of the summer, but it's not my job to give myself a new contract, so we won't stress about it.

"Would we stay? There'd have to be a lot of things to understand, but we're really invested in a long-term project here.

"Would I like that to get sorted at some point? Of course. I think we all would. Would it help the club to move forward and carry on doing what we're doing and improve what we're doing? Yeah I think it would. But it's not up to me. We'll have to wait and see."

Swansea head to Blackburn for the first time since a 2-1 defeat in August 2021, which was Martin's first game in charge.

He says Swansea are now "so far ahead of where we were on that day" - but accepts they "still have a long way to go".

"The longer we can keep the group of young players together, the more chance we have of achieving something," Martin added.

"I know there's loads of frustration - we are frustrated as well because we feel we should be higher in the league than we are.

"But we also recognise the role some of the young players have had and how far they have come."

LAST TIME OUT



FORM GUIDE

Hull 10 PNE 6

https://www.wearehullcity.co.uk/

https://www.not606.com/forums/hull-city.41/

MANAGER

Liam Rosenior

Lads doing all right a tthe moment

Brighton & Hove Albion
Following his retirement from playing, Rosenior remained at Brighton, taking up the position of assistant coach with Brighton's under-23 team, which he combined with appearing as a pundit on Sky Sports.[19]

Derby County
On 10 July 2019, Rosenior was appointed as specialist first team coach to Phillip Cocu at Derby County.[20][21] He was appointed assistant manager of the club on 15 January 2021 following the appointment of Wayne Rooney as manager.[22]

Following Rooney's resignation on 24 June 2022, Rosenior took over as interim manager.[23] He was relieved of his duties as manager on 21 September 2022 while still employed by the club as Derby sought a permanent manager.[24] Following the appointment of Paul Warne, Rosenior left the club.[25]

Hull City
On 3 November 2022, Rosenior was appointed head coach at Hull City on a two-and-a-half year deal, returning to the club where he made 161 appearances between 2010 and 2015.[26]

Hull landmarks



You can actually walk across this (that's a no from me)

In The Dressing Room

Preston North End will be without Ben Whiteman and Ched Evans for this fixture, with both players serving their respective suspensions.

Whiteman is set to miss the next three matches, while Evans has two games remaining on his retrospective ban.

There are no fresh injury concerns for manager Ryan Lowe to worry about, with long-term absentee Emil Riis the only man expected to be sidelined.

A Look At Our Hosts


It’s been an up-and-down season so far for Hull City, having started the campaign strongly, before going through a tricky run of results which saw them drop towards the bottom of the division.

Since former Derby County coach Liam Rosenior was appointed as manager, though, it’s been much more of an upward curve.

They had lost just twice in 13 Championship matches heading into their game against Norwich City midweek, which saw them lose 3-1 at the home of the Canaries, so they’ll be looking for a reaction this weekend.

Going Head To Head


Games played: 65
PNE wins: 29
Draws: 15
Hull City wins: 21
Last victory: Hull City 0-1 PNE

One To Watch


Óscar Estupiñán is by far and away the Tigers’ top goalscorer so far this campaign, having netted 12 in the league, with defender Jacob Greaves sitting second on their list of scorers with four.

The Colombian striker joined the club in July 2022 and really hit the ground running, scoring seven goals in his first six games, and he was named the Championship Player of the Month for August as a result of that form.

A dry spell followed, netting just once in 14 matches, but he hit form once more after Christmas, scoring in four successive games, and he'll no doubt continue to be a key man moving forward.

Match Officials

Sam Allison will referee his first Championship fixture this weekend.

Allison – a firefighter and former semi-professional footballer – took charge of his first EFL game in the 2020/21 campaign, and he’s regularly officiated in League One and League Two ever since.

So far this campaign, Allison has been refereed 24 games, showing 73 yellow cards and four reds in that period.


MACS VIEW

Does this excitement ever end, East Yorkshire on a Saturday afternoon, will Mr Fantastic attacking football ever make a show or will we bore to death another bunch of home fans, suspect it will be the latter. City doing well at the moment after a coupe of iffy seasons, will be a tough test although if we start with 10 men we might actually make a go of it.
Coach setting off 30 minutes earlier than usual, possible a tour of down town Hessle and a quick stop in the land of Green Ginger.
Match blog probaly Sunday morning

So Saturday sees Town with their first game under new management, hoping for that bounce that sometimes comes with it. As usual Town have gone down the untried and untested route, appointing a young manager yet again. This time, following in the footsteps of fellow inexperienced managers such as David Wagner, Jan Siewert, Carlos Corberan, Danny Schofield and Mark Fotheringham, is 74 year old Neil Warnock. Okay he's not inexperienced, he's been a manager for as long as I've been alive, actually, scratch that he started in 1980 with Gainsborough Trinity, over 10 years before I was born, he was appointed Town manager for the first time in July 1993, still before I was born, and led Town to promotion to the first division via the play offs and left not long after.

Known for being the scourge of referees up and down the country, he's mostly known for his time as Sheffield United manager, where he spent 8 years, guiding them to the Premier League, he resigned when the Blades were relegated to take time out of football but it wasn't long before he rocked up at Crystal Palace and spent 3 years at the Eagles, but left when the club went into administration. He claimed Palace would be his last job in football, but a few months after leaving Selhurst Park, he appeared at Loftus Road as manager of QPR. His QPR side were promoted to the Premier League as Championship champions in 2011 and he was sacked in 2012 as the club battled relegation. He would then talk to Town about a return, but would end up down the road as Leeds manager and would last just over a year at Elland Road before being sacked. After over a year out of football he would return to Crystal Palace but that stint lasted just a few months and he would be sacked and go back to QPR as an advisor before becoming manager once again. It was just a short term deal until the end of the season and he would once again leave. There would be another short term contract, this time at Rotherham, as the Millers fought to stay in the Championship, they would go on an 11 game unbeaten streak to remain in the division, and despite wanting to manage still in the Championship and being wanted by the Rotherham board, he ultimately decided to leave. Following the Summer out, he would go abroad to manage Cardiff. He would win promotion to the Premier League with the Bluebirds in his second season, he was unable to keep them there and would leave the following season. Warnock was appointed manager of Middlesbrough, with the club only outside the Championship relegation zone on goal difference after 38 games, they finished 17th in the league. Although initially on a short-term contract, Warnock confirmed that he would continue as manager for the 2020–21 season. He equalled the record for the most games managed in English professional football at 1,601 with a 2–0 loss to Birmingham City. Three days later he broke the record in the next match, a 3–1 loss away to Luton Town. In November Warnock left Middlesbrough by mutual consent and announced his retirement from management after 42 years in the dugout.



Until Monday 13th February 2023 when he returned to Huddersfield after 30 years.


And what a job he has on his hands after that 'performance' against Stoke, I was going to write a bit about it, but if they can't be arsed then neither can I, there wasn't much to write about it either.




Season so far

Way back in the sun of July, Birmingham began the season away at recent play off semi-finalists Luton and held the hatters to a 0-0 draw in John Eustace's first game in charge. Goals from Scott Hogan and Przemyslaw Placheta gave Birmingham City their first win under new boss John Eustace as they beat us 2-1 at St Andrews, with Danny Ward scoring for Danny Schofield's Town side. Former Town loanee Danel Sinani was amongst the scorers as Norwich knocked Brum out of the league cup on penalties. Sinani and Jacob Sorensen both scored in the 45th minute before Jonathan Leko pulled one back for the visitors. Jonathan Tomkinson scored an own goal to send the tie to penalties, which the Canaries duly won. Cardiff City extended their unbeaten run over Birmingham to eight matches as they deservedly took three points in a one-sided 1-0 win in the Welsh capital. Cardiff led after a fast start when Jaden Philogene tapped home from close range on 16 minutes, finishing a sweeping Bluebirds attack. Back on home ground they welcomed Watford to the midlands and shared the spoils as Rey Manaj equalised after George Hall had given the Blue the lead. The Blues then welcomed the blues of Wigan to St Andrews and saw the visitors were soon reduced to 10 men as Joe Bennett received a straight red card, but it would be the visitors that grabbed the win despite their man disadvantage as Nathan Broadhead scored in the 82nd minute. A trip to New York was next on the cards and it would result in nil points yet again as experienced defender Richard Wood scored a brace, the Millers also missed a penalty which would have further compounded the misery for the Blues. Birmingham finished August off with a rematch against Norwich and took the lead midway through the second half thanks to Scott Hogan, but the Canaries managed to turn the game on its head, firstly Andrew Omobamidele scored an equaliser before Onel Hernandez scored in injury time to end a poor month for the Blues.



Maxime Colin's header earned Birmingham just their second league victory of the season, away at Preston, as they conceded their first goal of the Championship season and suffered their first defeat of the campaign. Scott Hogan's hat-trick swept Birmingham City past West Brom to a first victory at The Hawthorns in 18 years. Juninho Bacuna's defence-splitting pass teed up Hogan to fire Blues ahead before Jed Wallace ran on to Jayson Molumby's through-ball and slipped the ball past John Ruddy to level. Hogan scored again after another fine Bacuna assist to restore their lead and then toe-poked his third from an acute angle through the legs of goalkeeper David Button. Brandon Thomas-Asante's penalty gave the Baggies late hope after he was brought down by Dion Sanderson, but Blues held on for back-to-back wins. They rounded the month off with an entertaining 0-0 draw at home to 10 man Coventry who saw Gustavo Hamer sent off in the final minutes. October was a busy month for the Blues and they began by travelling to South Yorkshire to face Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. Oli McBurnie gave the hosts the lead in the 60th minute, but Troy Deeneys first goal of the season gave the Blues a share of the spoils. In a quick turn around, the Blues travelled further North to face Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. Chuba Akpom scored the only goal of the game to lift Boro out of the relegation places and climb above Birmingham. They returned home to face Bristol City and it was a return to winning ways in comprehensive fashion as they recorded a 3-0 win, with goals coming from a Auston Trusty brace, his first goals in English football and a goal from Wolves loanee Dion Sanderson. It was back to back victories for the Blues as they won 2-0 away at Hull in a game that was delayed due to one of the goals being too small. Troy Deeney scored from the spot before Bacuna scored his first goal of the season just after half time. Promotion chasing Burnley were next to visit St Andrews, and would take the lead through Johann Berg Gudmundsson but Scott Hogans first in goal in six games would spoil the party for the Clarets to leave the game 1-1. It would be another promotion chasing side next up for Birmingham as they headed to Lancashire to face Blackburn. Sam Gallagher put Rovers ahead before Adam Wharton scored his first goal for Blackburn, Hogan pulled one back for Brum but it wasn't enough to mount a comeback. The Blues finished the month off against second placed QPR and registered a shock result as they pulled off a 2-0 victory with goals coming from Trusty and Manny Longelo.



November began with former manager Gary Rowett visiting St Andrews as his Millwall side played out a 0-0 draw with the hosts. Brum would then head to the Potteries to face Stoke and took an early lead through Hogan before Harlee Dean made it two. Lewis Baker pulled one back from the spot to make it a nervy finish, but the Blues held on. Hogan scored early once again as Swansea visited St Andrews before Oliver Ntcham and Matt Grimes pulled the Swans ahead, a late Deeney goal saved Birmingham and shared the points between the two. The Blues' last game of November finished with the Black Cats of Sunderland leaving with 3 points as Ellis Simms and Amad Diallo put the visitors ahead, Lukas Jutkiewicz gave Blues hope on 78 minutes with his first goal in almost a year, but Sunderland survived late home pressure. The post World Cup period began with a 0-0 draw away at a rainy Blackpool before the Blues edged past Reading in a 5 goal thriller. A Troy Deeney brace put Birmingham 2-0 up inside 20 minutes before Tahith Chong scored his first of the season to make it 3, but Reading threatened a late comeback as Lucas Joao scored with 10 minutes to go and Tom Ince scored in injury time but the Blues held on. Burnley restored their lead at the top of the Championship to three points as they deservedly beat a resolute Birmingham City. Anass Zaroury and Connor Roberts, who both played in the World Cup, scored first-half goals, supplemented by an injury-time third from Nathan Tella ahead of Oscar Estupinan's late goal giving struggling Hull City a narrow win at Birmingham City to end the year.



Matt Crooks scored two goals and set up Chuba Akpom as Middlesbrough beat Birmingham City 3-1 to start the year, Chong scored no more than a consolation goal for the Blues. Bristol City won their first match at Ashton Gate since October with a 4-2 victory over Birmingham City. Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring after 17 minutes, using his chest to put the ball into an empty net, before Nahki Wells doubled the lead four minutes later. A Troy Deeney penalty narrowed the deficit before half-time after Tahith Chong was brought down in the box. But Mark Sykes scored two second-half goals for the Robins and despite Reda Khadra pulling another goal back with 14 minutes to go, it could not stop the Blues falling to a fourth straight defeat. Championship side Birmingham City were given a scare in their FA Cup third-round tie as they needed two second-half goals to come from behind and beat League One strugglers Forest Green. The fired-up hosts led 1-0 at the break after a flying start brought a stunning early strike from Ben Stevenson. But recalled striker Lukas Jutkiewicz levelled straight after the break. And new man Kevin Long hit his first goal since arriving from Burnley to book a fourth-round tie at Blackburn. Preston North End struck twice in six minutes in the first half to pile the misery on Birmingham City, who lost their fifth Championship game in a row. The visitors led early on through Ryan Ledson's strike from the edge of the box and they doubled their lead through Alan Browne's header soon after. Birmingham offered little in the way of response for much of the game, with fans going on to protest against the club's ownership as they headed for another defeat. Lukas Jutkiewicz got them off the mark with seven minutes remaining as he headed home from Maxime Colin's cross but they could not find an equaliser. The FA Cup was next, Reda Khadra gave Blues an early lead, with Bradley Dack then levelling before Joe Rankin-Costello put Rovers 2-1 up. Substitute Jordan James sent the tie to a replay. The replay went to extra time before a Trusty own goal was able to split the two sides, sending Birmingham out of the cup and leaving them winless in January. Birmingham City ended their run of five straight Championship defeats as Auston Trusty's 97th-minute header won a remarkable 4-3 thriller at Swansea. The Blues led through Scott Hogan's penalty before goals by Joel Piroe and Liam Cullen put Swansea City in front. Tahith Chong equalised for Blues before keeper John Ruddy's error allowed Piroe to add a second but Lukas Jutkiewicz's brave diving header levelled it again in the 90th minute and the Blues then found a winner when Trusty headed home Hannibal Mejbri's corner. Mejbri scored the first and made the second as Birmingham City made it back-to-back Championship victories by comfortably winning the West Midlands derby against West Bromwich Albion. The on-loan Manchester United midfielder's superbly taken low curling 10th-minute free-kick earned the Tunisian his first senior goal. He then swung over the left-wing corner from which Polish midfielder Krystian Bielik also claimed his first goal for the club seven minutes into the second half. Last time out the Blues suffered a late collapse in defeat at home to Cardiff, Perry Ng and Callum Robinson both scoring in the final ten minutes.



It was a relatively quite January window for Birmingham as they only welcomed Kevin Long in from Burnley, Manny Longelo on loan from West Ham and Reda Khadra on loan from Brighton after the winger had spent the first half of the season on loan at Sheffield United. It was even quieter in the departures column, as Przemyslaw Placheta returned to Norwich after his loan spell and Jonathan Leko left to join MK Dons near the foot of League One. 

Ones to watch

Juninho Bacuna- The mercurial midfielder always had flashes of brilliance in him, as well as streaks of naivety and petulance. He seems to have calmed down a little bit since his time at the John Smiths and it is fairly standard for him to produce something against us. The Curacao international joined Town from FC Groningen of Holland back in the Summer before our second season in the Premier League. He wasn't used too much by Wagner early on, but worked his way into a poor side by the time Siewert took over. Had a decent campaign back in the Championship and scored some crucial goals before moving north of the border to Rangers. He didn't last long at Rangers and was soon back in England to play in the midlands. 



Scott Hogan- The former Halifax striker is the top scorer for the Blues this season with 10 goals. He made his name at Rochdale before moving on to further success at Brentford. His good form there saw him get a move to Villa Park to play for Aston Villa, but he struggled to make the step up and found himself on the periphery, eventually going out on loan to the likes of Sheffield United and Stoke before a loan spell at Birmingham turned into a permanent move. Has struggled with injuries in the last few seasons, but always seems to do something against Town.

Hannibal Mejbri- Creator in chief for Birmingham since joining from Manchester United, the fiery youngster has registered 6 assists this season and scored a free kick against Carlos' West Brom a couple of games ago. Often deployed at the tip of a diamond, the Tunisian midfielder has picked up 10 yellows so can be easily rattled, something Warnock will be well aware off, Bacuna has 8 yellows and we know about his temperment.



team news

Town will be without Will Boyle after he was sent off against Stoke, Matty Pearson limped off and could be a doubt for Saturday. Duane Holmes remains absent, as does Danny Ward most likely, Kamberi has dropped off the face of the earth alongside Ben Jackson, Jordan Rhodes could be back in contention after missing Wednesdays game through illness.

It doesn't seem as if there are major problems for Birmingham for the weekend, Troy Deeney could return to the line up in place of former Town loanee Lukas Jutkwisjvke. Former Halifax and Barnsley man Marc Roberts is due to return to training this week but Saturday could be too soon, Kevin Long will return from illness, but Reda Khadra will miss out, younger brother of Jude Bellingham, Jobe is also out.

Its very even between the two sides really, with Town having won 43 of the meetings, with Birmingham winning 40, there has been 35 draws between the sides. Last season the two sides drew at the John Smiths Stadium 0-0, whilst Town won 2-0 away at St Andrews, Levi Colwill scored a goal on his birthday with Lewis O'Brien grabbing the second, tapping into an unguarded net. The game also saw Birmingham revert to their old name of Small Heath Alliance for one game in ode to Peaky Blinders or something.


anagrams

1) A Known Relic
2) Just Each One
3) Imbue Bum Ear
4) Orally Tip Historian
5) A Bored Fjord

Aldershot 1-3 Wrexham
Altrincham 0-2 Woking
Bromley 2-1 Dorking
Eastleigh 2-0 Maidenhead United
Oldham 2-1 Maidstone United
Scunthorpe 2-1 Dag & Red
Solihull Moors 0-2 Chesterfield
Southend 3-2 Gateshead
Torquay 0-3 Barnet
Wealdstone 2-1 York
Yeovil 1-5 Notts County
Boreham Wood 0-2 Halifax


League Table After Matchday 41
Devon - 754
St Charles Owl - 666
Lord Snoots - 660
Spireitematt - 650
SaltergateBorn - 647
Amelia - 583
Dancing - 573

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 18TH FEBRUARY KO 3:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



So after 2 tough games, where we picked up an excellent 4 points, it was nice to get a pretty straightforward win. We got off to the perfect start when Bannan finished well after a pull back in the opening minutes. We didn't have long to wait for the 2nd Windass forcing the ball home from close range. Dawson had to save well to keep the 2 goal advantage going into halftime. Onto the second half which was uneventful as Morecombe went fairly defensive, but we did manage to get a 3rd just before the end as FDB went on a run and crossed for Windass to flick home from close range.

THE MATCH



Next up and the Donuts make the journey north. After making the playoffs last year, this year has been a struggle for the Dons. They did lose there best player Scott Twine and haven't been able to replace him with there top scorers being Will Grigg & Mo Eisa with 6 goals each. The Dons are now managed by Mark Jackson who has only been in charge since December and his remit will be pretty simple, keep the Dons in League One. There last game didn't go well getting thrashed 5-0 by in form Bolton.

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 5
DONUTS 2
DRAWS 6

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                        

DONUTS          -                                                 

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

SCOTT OLDHAM
Blake Antrobus and Ravel Cheosiaua
Fourth Official : Garreth Rhodes

THE TEAM

Dawson
Palmer Iorfa Flint
Hunt Bannan Byers Vaulks Johnson
Windass Smith

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

3-1 Smith

ATTENDANCE

23432

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

BML LEAGUE

Owlskev 25
Stateside 21
Imre 19
Wash 17
SCO 15
Maddix 14
Peiowl 12

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Brighton v Fulham
Luton v Burnley
Wycombe v Bolton
Stockport v Stevenage
Yeovil v Notts Co

HADAA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

WEREHAM




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Premier League

Stairs          18pts 4CS 6CR 0GB -3BB 1SB
Sanjay        11pts 3CS 3CR -3GB 6BB 0SB
Zinman        7pts 2CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Blue Baggie  5pts 2CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Derby          5pts 1CS 4CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Minizin          1pt 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Snooty          1pt  0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
SCO            -1pt 1CS 1CR -3GB -3BB 1SB

Well it seems that Sanjay is the only one to take any notice of what I say (including myself!) After last week's wipeout on the bonus we came close to repeating the effort but were saved by Sanjay's maximum. Unfortunately we were even worse with the gamball with nobody predicting a draw and only Stairs avoiding a loss from it. The scoreball fared better with Sanjay again the odd one out as the only player not to score from it.

Stairs is the clear winner this week thanks to his normal gamball avoidance plus 6 correct results with 4 of them being spot-on. Sanjay only scored on 3 games but made sure of double figures by getting the scores exactly right on all of them, including his bonus.

The rest are all trailing some way behind. Zinman at least improved on recent performances to claim 3rd place 2 points ahead of Blue Baggie and Derby. Minizin's recent good run which had included 4 consecutive positive gamballs came to a crashing halt as he, along with Snooty, only managed a single point but they were still clear of SCO who had a week to forget, becoming this week's minusman. Wednesday's recent winning run coming to an end, probably due to him playing the bonus on them, wouldn't have helped his mood!

Minizin 215
Derby 203
Zinman 197
Stairs 192
Snooty 177
Blue 169
Sanjay 147
SCO 145

2 positional changes this week as Stair's high scoring week propels him above Snooty and within touching distance of 3rd place. At the foot of the table Sanjay and SCO swop places again as they battle (well, one of them) to avoid the drop.

Now, any chance we can get our balls working properly this week?

Zin


Championship

Twerton 18pts 3CS 3CR -3GB 6BB 1SB
AAA 10pts 1CS 2CR NPGB 3BB 1SB
Lady Jane 7pts 1CS 1CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
BaggieOne 7pts 1CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Themaclad 3pts 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Dingle 1pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
BBB 1pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Amelia 0pts 0CS 1CR -3GB 3BB 0SB

Another poor week for most in the Championship, the Gamball was almost a wipeout and the Bonus wasn't much better!!  The vast majority of the points, 36 out of 47, came from just two games - Fulham's win over Forest and the draw between Palace & Brighton.

Leading the pack this week was Twerton with his highest score of the season of 18 points!!  He scored on 6 games, got a spot on Bonus and 3 CSs, unfortunately he missed on the Gamball but a great week!!  AAA is 2nd with 10 points, only scored on 3 games but wisely didn't play the Gamball so saved points there.

Lady Jane and her Auto promotion spot challenger BaggieOne were joint 3rd with 7 points.  LJ was the only one to get positive points on the Gamball but BaggieOne managed to score on one more game to stay with her.  Themaclad is 5th with 3 points, missed on his big balls but did manage a CS.

The bottom three only got 2 points between them.  Dingle's stuttering form saw him manage only a single point, same as BBB, they both got there the same way missed on the main balls, got 3 CRs to cancel that points deficit out and added the Scoreball to give them each a solitary point!!  Amelia unfortunately only scored on one game but at least it was her Bonus, she was the only one to miss on her scoreball as she was the one to pick the only game that ended 0-0!!

232 Dingle
217 Lady Jane
212 BaggieOne
199 AAA
180 BBB
155 Themaclad
135 Twerton
123 Amelia

Only one positional change this week at the bottom of the table.  Dingle's lead shrinks a bit, now down to 15 points and now in the zone where one bad week for him and a good one for LJ could possibly see it disappear completely!!  BaggieOne is still just 5 behind LJ.  AAA closed the gap a little on the top 3 but BBB is being left behind by him now.

Themaclad is firmly stuck in no man's land but if Twerton can repeat this weeks form then you never know!!  Amelia lost serious ground to Twerton today and as he overtakes her she drops back to the bottom!!

Stat for you, so far we have had 230 games to predict, so in total 1,840 predictions in the Championship and one sure way to boost your points outside of the Balls is to turn a Correct Result into a Correct Score and double your points on those games!!  So how often do we see that??  Well this season in the Championship so far we have seen 143 Correct Score predictions - so a measly 8% of the games predicted!!!  The leader in this category is AAA with 25 (11%) followed by Twerton with 21 (9%), BaggieOne and Dingle with 18 each (8% each).  At the other end Amelia has the least with just 12 (5%).  I will openly add that I believe there is a certain player in the PL who only has 4% in this category !!

Cheers
SCO

Hibs finally back at ER Stadium facing a Killie side that will no doubt provide a stuffy defence (a la Derek McInnes style of coaching) for Hibs forwards to attempt to break down and score goals. They should have a reasonable chance of achieving that goal on Saturday and continuing with another win and more positive momentum to build on in the weeks ahead. C'mon Hibs!

GGTTH

Gamball:
Newcastle - Liverpool

Others:
Brighton - Fulham
Aston Villa - Arsenal
Everton - Leeds
Millwall - Sheff U
Blackpool - Stoke
Huddersfield - Birmingham
Rotherham - Coventry
Wigan - Norwich
Watford - WBA

2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score      
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.

Friday 17th February:
Cardiff City v Reading

Saturday 18th February:
Town v Birmingham
Town scorers:
Brummie scorers:

Millwall v Sheffield United (12:30)
Blackburn Rovers v Swansea City
Blackpool v Stoke City
Hull City v Preston North End
Luton Town v Burnley
Middlesbrough v Queens Park Rangers
Rotherham United v Coventry City
Sunderland v Bristol City
Wigan Athletic v Norwich City

Monday 20th February:
Watford v West Bromwich Albion

Tuesday 21st February:
Blackburn Rovers v Blackpool
Millwall v Burnley
Norwich City v Birmingham City
Rotherham United v Sunderland
Swansea City v Stoke City

Table after Matchday 26:

1. jjamez = 640 pts
   
2. theo_luddite = 580 pts
   
3. themaclad = 574 pts
   
4. Baggiebob(BBB) = 567 pts
   
5. neonfoxinthebox = 550 pts
   
6. St Charles Owl = 536 pts
   
7. Lord Snooty = 529 pts
   
8. ritchiebaby = 519 pts
   
9. SHEP_HTAFC = 496 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 472 pts
    
11. Devongone = 454 pts
    
12. WakeyTerrier = 171 pts