I use this to try to keep reasonably fit now I am officially an old git.

There is a group called West Bromwich Albion. I am now the second member

Our campaign commences (and in accordance with time-honoured custom, probably concludes) against Derby tonight. All weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth can be wept, wailed and gnashed on this thread.

Group A

B.B.B. 26
Stairs 25
BaggieOne 22
Twerton 19
A.A.A. 14
Minizin 11
BaggieVicar 10
Zinman 6

Excellent scoring week for most in Group A in the first week of the season!! Top scoring match was the Gamball game which saw 27 points won. 6 other games produced double figures and thanks to Twerton playing his scoreball on the Wycombe game that single point made all the games positive.

BBB leads the way this week with 26 points (that score matches the highest score from Group A for all of last season!!). He was the only one to get a correct score on the Gamball, backed that up with a max on the Bonus and scored on 8 of the 10 games!! Just behind him is Stairs, he too scored on 8 games to get to 25 points with 3 CSs but only managed CRs on his balls. BaggieOne rounds out the top three with a fine 22 points, he was one CS behind Stairs in the end.

Twerton is 4th with 19 points, he got 3 CSs but was one of 2 players who missed on the Gamball. AAA was 5th with 14 points, Minizin ended with 10 and BaggieVicar had a solid debut and rounded out those scoring in double figures with 10 points.

Only one player failed to get into double figures and that was Zinman. Last season he gave everyone a head start and it appears his 6 point haul this week is seeing the same pattern again!!

So 133 points scored in total, I predict it might be a while before that gets beaten but lets see if this from can be maintained!!

Cheers
SCO

Group B

Themaclad 22
4eva 16
SCO 14
Lady Jane 12
Derby 9
Salop 2
Snooty 0

And they're off! Fast out of the stalls is Themaclad setting a hot early pace with 22 points - 6 correct results including 4 correct scores, one of which was his bonus. 4eva, returning after a long lay-off, is hot in pursuit - 16 points matching Themac's 6 correct results but only 2 (only!?) correct scores. SCO takes third place, just one fewer correct results stopping him from matching 4eva.

Normally, scoring from the gamball would put you amongst the leaders but not this week. Lady Jane and Derby were the only players in Group B to predict a Stoke win but mid table is the most they achieve, largely down to missing out on their bonus balls. Derby was also the only player to fail to predict a correct score.

Salop has also been missing for a couple of seasons but unlike 4eva, he stumbled out of the stalls before deciding to graze on the turf. Just 2 correct results and he learnt the hard way that missing out on all the balls will hurt you. Meanwhile Lord Snooty failed to make the starting line and so starts a week behind everyone else. Fortunately there's a very long time to go!

Early for stats but every fixture provided a positive score and once again late goals at both Stoke and Southampton had a dramatic impact on the scores.

Zin

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 2:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 43 pts
   
2. ritchiebaby = 37 pts
   
3. SHEP_HTAFC = 34 pts
   
4. jjamez = 28 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 25 pts
   
6. neonfoxinthebox = 24 pts
   

Saturday 16th August:
Blackpool v Town
Town scorers:
Blackpool scorers:

Tuesday 19th August:
Town v Doncaster
Town scorers:
Donny scorers:

AFC Wimbledon v Cardiff City
Luton Town v Wigan Athletic
Mansfield Town v Blackpool
Northampton Town v Lincoln City
Peterborough United v Barnsley
Plymouth Argyle v Leyton Orient
Port Vale v Stevenage
Rotherham United v Burton Albion
Stockport County v Bradford City
Wycombe Wanderers v Exeter City

Wednesday 20th August:
Bolton Wanderers v Reading

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Championship:
Wrexham v West Bromwich Albion (12:30)

Sunday:
Scottish League Cup 2nd rd:
Livingston v Hibernian (15:00)

Premier League:
Manchester United v Arsenal (16:30)

Monday:
Leeds United v Everton

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

1. themaclad = 42 pts
   
2. Devongone = 39 pts
   
3. theo_luddite = 34 pts
   
4. Amelia Chaffinch = 30 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 18 pts
   
6. St Charles Owl = 17 pts
   

Saturday 16th August:
Blackpool v Town
Town scorers:
Blackpool scorers:

Burton Albion v Port Vale (12:30)
Exeter City v Mansfield Town (12:30)
Barnsley v Bolton Wanderers
Bradford City v Luton Town
Cardiff City v Rotherham United
Doncaster Rovers v Wycombe Wanderers
Leyton Orient v Stockport County
Lincoln City v Plymouth Argyle
Reading v AFC Wimbledon
Stevenage v Northampton Town
Wigan Athletic v Peterborough United

Tuesday 19th August:
Town v Doncaster
Town scorers:
Donny scorers:

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Premier League:
Aston Villa v Newcastle United (12:30)

Championship:
Preston North End v Leicester City
Sheffield Wednesday v Stoke City

League Two:
Chesterfield v Bristol Rovers (12:30)

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

Just heading off to our first home game of the season, taking my nephew to his first hibs game today!
Its a lovely day for it and we are going into this game on a real high after our 2-0 conference league win in Belgrade.

Hopefully another 3 points to keep the momentum up and spirits high.

I only listened to the match on the radio and watched the highlights this morning and I know it`s difficult to get an accurate overall picture from that, but that seemed to be quite a comfortable win for us. Hopefully a foretaste of things to come.

Interestingly, the stats say we had `only` 56.3% possession, which is quite low for us over the past few years; it`s usual been 65 – 70%. I`ve always been skeptical about possession stats as an indicator of performance – a team can have 99% possession but if they do bugger all with it, it`s not a lot of good. I suppose this match might suggest that there`s some truth in that – which is nice.

I do wonder whether we might find our away games a bit easier than our home games this season, as we seemed to do at times last year. Given that the odds on us going up this year seem to be getting shorter by the day (4/1 to win the league, evens to go up this morning) I reckon that most teams are going to come to our place with the intention of frustrating us as much as possible and then hitting us on the break. To be fair, MK Dons may well have the same problem and at least we have a few flair players up front now (Dobra, Markanday, Berry for instance) who might be able to open them up without our midfield having to bomb forward and leave gaps behind. Is that wishful thinking on my part? Probably, but I`m going to stick with it for now.

Anyway, that`s 2 wins and 2 clean sheets in our first 2 league games. For any other stats nerds out there (guilty as charged, m`lud) I believe that`s the first time we`ve done that in an EFL season since 2013, which was the year we last won this division. We won 2-0 at Bury (I went to that one) and 2-0 against Cheltenham at our place. Good omen? Hope so.

Okay, I seem to remember that we also did it in our first year in the National League - 1-0 at Ebbsfleet and 3-0 against Aldershot, I think – but I`m trying to erase the memory of those dark years from my mind. So that doesn`t count.

Gamball:
Wrexham - WBA

Others:
Aston Villa - Newcastle
Sunderland - West Ham
Derby - Coventry
Portsmouth - Norwich
Blackburn - Birmingham
Millwall - Middlesbrough
Sheff Wed - Stoke
Swansea - Sheff Utd
Man Utd - Arsenal

I can't promise to do this every week but I'll try to keep Babble up to date with the National League with I hope others chipping in and chirpring up from time to time too.

National League Results Aug 9th

Altrincham 3-2 Aldershot Town
Boreham Wood 0-2 Rochdale
Boston Utd v Morecambe Match Postponed
Brackley Town 1-0 Eastleigh.
Braintree Town 3-0 FC Halifax.
Gateshead 0-3 Southend United
Solihull Moors 2-2 Forest Green Rovers.
Tamworth 1-2 Scunthorpe United.
Wealdstone 2-0 Truro City
Woking 0-2 Carlisle United
Yeovil Town 0-0 Hartlepool United
York City 2-2 Sutton Utd

Despite Brackley Town winning their first game at this level after six unsuccessful attempts to reach it, Mark Hughes managing in non-league and grabbing a good win at Woking, and Hartlepool's Chairman Raj Sin gh having written to all fellow National League clubs asking them to refuse boardroom access to broadcaster and former club President Jeff Stelling, the most telling and sad news has to be the postponed match due to the "crisis" at Morecambe. Boston played a National League Cup game instead.

Former EFL clubs scrambling to regain that status this season look to be setting the tone for the season. Southend cruised to a 0-3 victory after the long journey up to Gateshead, bringing on Andrew Dallas their new loan signing when the scoring was complete. Neil Ardley's high hopes for his Woking outfit were rather crushed by an impressive Carlisle side. Rochdale flattened Luke Garrard's hopes at Boreham Wood with two Emmanuel Dieseruvwe goals announcing his move from Hartlepool, and Scunthorpe celebrated having fought their way back to this level with Danny Whitehall scoring and starring at Tamworth. Twenty Three efforts on goal and nineteen corners saw Robbie Savage's Forest Green still only draw away at Solihull, but goals from substitutes Christain Doidge and Nick Houghton may be signs of even further game domination to come, whilst York City could not capitalise on an early strike form last season's 33-goal star Ollie Pearce slumping to a 2-2 at home due to a late Sutton Utd goal from Brandon Njoku. Yeovil and Hartlepool played out a goalless draw in a game in which there were as many yellow cards over all as shots on target from either side. Halifax, under new management, crashed at self-proclaimed pub team Braintree, under new management too, and Altrincham with Kahrel Reddin being appropriately red-hot proved too strong for Aldershot. Newly promoted Truro who are going to face some long trips (on cold Tuesday nights especially) only managed three shots at Wealdstone and went down 2-0, whilst Brackley deserved their opening win at home to Eastleigh in a game they dominated 1-0.

NationaL League North results Aug 9th

AFC Fylde 3 - 2 Oxford City
Bedford Town 2 - 2 Alfreton Town
Buxton 2 - 1 Radcliffe
Chester 3 - 2 Peterborough Sports
Curzon Ashton 1 - 1 Leamington
Darlington 2 - 3 Chorley
Kidderminster Harriers 1 - 0 Scarborough Athletic
King's Lynn Town 1 - 1 AFC Telford United
Macclesfield 3 - 1 Worksop Town
Merthyr Town 2 - 0 Southport
South Shields 1 - 0 Marine
Spennymoor Town 2 - 0 Hereford

Successful substitutions always earn praise for the manager concerned so when Jon Ustabasi came on just before half time to pull back Fylde's deficit to Oxford City to just 2-1 that change had already succeeded. When immediately in the second half he equalised hope was growing and former Plymouth favourite Danny Mayor obliged with a a curling winner. At Chester a first half substitution also changed the course of the game, coming on at 1-1 against Peterborough Sports it took Dylan Mottley-Henry just five minutes to score, but a minute later his creaky defence conceded again. Nine minutes into the second half he scored what proved to be the winner - just shows what a few games for Chesterfield can do for a player. Makes the cynical wonder why the subs didn't start. Two goals from the travelled Tyrone Marsh might have been enough to give Bedford the points in their new campaign but goals from man of the match Siya Ligendsa and Fewster ensured Alfreton Town shared the points.

Luke Brennan and Connor Kirby scored to give Buxton a 2-1 win over Radcliffe at Silverlands. A debut goal from Miro Pais ensured Leamington a 1-1 draw at Curzon Ashton and Chorley overcame a late arrival at Darlington to win 2-3, despite going down to ten men when Lalkovic was red-carded. But geographically Merthyr were the stars celebrating surprise northern roots with a deserved home win 2-0 against Southport in front of a crowd of over 1,800. Despite a late flurry from Scarborough, title favourites Kidderminster Harriers found a 12th minute goal from Reece Devine was sufficient for a 1-0 home win.

Macclesfield showed that losing Robbie Savage doesn't mean they've lost their fight. Despite going behind to Worksop following a finger-tip goalkeeping save to keep out a Jordan Burrow sizzler which was tapped in by Starcenko, the Silkmen kept a home crowd of over 3,000 happy running out 3-1 winners. Glen Taylor was as usual on the mark for Spennymoor as they eased past Hereford 2-0. Michael Gyasi demonstrated brute strength and some crazy dribbling as well as the ability to score, but the new era in King's Lynn still only opened with a 1-1 draw against AFC Telford. Weathering a Marine storm South Shields were able to gain a 1-0 win when Dan Ward applied the finish to a blistering counter-attck.

[u]National League South Results Aug 9th[u]

Chelmsford City 1 - 0 Horsham
Chippenham Town 2 - 2 Dorking Wanderers
Dagenham & Redbridge 0 - 2 Ebbsfleet United
Dover Athletic 2 - 3 AFC Totton
Farnborough 1 - 1 Eastbourne Borough
Hampton & Richmond Borough 0 - 0 Salisbury
Hemel Hempstead Town 1 - 1 Maidstone United
Hornchurch 3 - 2 Weston-super-Mare
Maidenhead United 1 - 2 Chesham United
Tonbridge Angels 0 - 0 Slough Town
Torquay United 3 - 1 Enfield Town
Worthing 1 - 1 Bath City

Though draws were very much the order of the day throughout the division Chelmsford, with only two survivors from last season's squad after a summer of change managed to avoid that fate, thanks to one of the lucky two, Harry Barbrook, netting his first for the club to down Horsham 1-0. Better things may be on the cards for Chelmsford having now signed Lyle Taylor, formerly of Forest and Birmingham City. The battle of the newly-promoted sides saw AFC Totton run out winners 2-3 at Dover Ath, but two goals from George Nikaj and the late pressure they exerted on Totton suggest better may be to come from Whites. The relegation derby saw Ebbsfleet ease to a 0-2 win at Dagenham, but with a combination of Andy Carroll as minority shareholder and player and impending new Qatari ownership better times might not be far off for the Daggers. Weston Super Mare, after a week in which the town was made made to sound like Desolation Row in a newspaper article, fell to a late Nathan Bertram-Cooper winner at a Hornchurch side boasting Josh Hare and Angelo Balanta in their ranks. 3-2 suggested plenty of entertainment was on offer, as it was at relegated Maidenhead, who went down 1-2 to Chesham for whom Callum Adebiyi was the best of several impressive performers. Torquay, last season's runners-up, rather cruised it at home to Enfield 3-1, with the addition of the experienced Louis Dennis suggesting that this season they might just go one better.

Clever combination between Billy Clifford, who impressed throughout, and Rakish Bingham saw Farnborough come back to draw at home against Eastbourne. The presence of these players in their line-up together with the experienced Dom Poleon and Kai Jennings too could make Farnborough serious contenders. Alfie Rutherford grabbed a late equaliser for Dorking to grab a 2-2 draw at Chippenham. Hampton and Richmond and Salisbury ended in a stalemate 0-0. A 92nd-minute equaliser saw Hemel Hempstead grab a 1-1 home draw against Maidstone Utd, whilst Slough's superiority at Tonbridge Angels didn't make the scoresheet and they must have been disappointed to finish 0-0, whilst another late equaliser saw Bath snatch a point at ten-man Worthing, for whom Joel Colbran was given a straight red for a 35th minute high tackle.