David Longwell is set to remain as interim head coach of AFC Fylde for the rest of the season.

Longwell stepped into the role along with goalkeeper coach Chris Neal after Kevin Phillips left the club last week.

Having won their first game at Altrincham on Saturday, the pair have been asked to take charge of the remaining 14 league games.

Fylde are currently 22nd in the National League, one point adrift of safety.

"I was brought in to provide support and I'm going to continue to do exactly that for the players," Longwell told the club's website, external.

Group A

Amelia 14
Themaclad 14
Zinman 13
A.A.A. 6
Twerton 4
Minizin 3

Well its fair to say this this week is a bit Jekyll and Hyde for the 6 participants!! The top 3 this week are separated by one points but all scored more than double of the bottom 3! Amelia and Themaclad lead the way with 14 points each. Amelia missed on the Gamball but scored on her Bonus and added 2 CSs as well. Themaclad was the only one to score positive points on the Gamball and he too had 2 CSs but missed on his bonus. Zinman is a single point behind, he actually scored on more games than the two above him including 3 CSs but he missed on both the Gamball and Bonus to keep his score down.

Big drop to AAA with 6 points, he missed on both his main balls but did manage one CS, whereas Twerton finished with only 4 points actually scored a CR on the Bonus but virtually nothing else and Minizin brings up the rear with just 3 points, missing on the Gamball and Bonus.

256 Themaclad
236 Minzin
236 Zinman
223 Twerton
185 A.A.A.
182 Amelia

So after a few weeks of Themaclad slowly being caught he finally increases his lead back to 20 points. Minizin has now been caught by the much older (and dare I say wiser??) Zin and they are now joint second. Twerton lost a bit of ground on them but is still within striking distance. Amelia's good form now sees her just 3 points behind AAA so the wooden spoon is now up for grabs!!!

Cheers
SCO

Group B

BBB 11
Derby 9
Stairs 9
SCO 8
Lady Jane 7
Snooty 6
BaggieOne 4

By pretty much any measure, this was an average week for Group B. 54 points scored (season's average is 56) and 24 correct predictions (average = 23.5).
For the 3rd week in a row, we saw just one correct gamball prediction though, for once, the bonus total was positive!

Just like last week it's BBB who sits on top of the table and, just like last week, he scored 11 points. He had 4 correct predictions, including his bonus, and 1 correct score and was the only player to achieve a double figure score. Derby and Stairs are 2 point back, Derby with 1 less correct prediction than BBB while Stairs failed to score a maximum on any of his 4 correct predictions.

SCO was the only player to predict a gamball draw but missed on his bonus and failed to nail a correct score. Lady Jane was the only player to get 2 correct scores but didn't get much else. Snooty actually matched BBB's correct scores/results but missed out on all the balls to leave him in 6th place, just ahead of BaggieOne who at least had the consolation of getting his bonus right.

224 Lady Jane
208 SCO
204 Derby
204 Stairs
183 BBB
178 Snooty
151 BaggieOne

A close fought week so just the one positional change sees BBB climb ahead of Snooty in 5th place. SCO gains one point on Lady Jane at the top - if the season lasted until November that rate may just see him catch her! Just 4 points separate 2nd and 4th in the battle to qualify for the play-offs.

Zin

Hibs continued their unbeaten run, extending it to 13 games, with their fine win against Celtic on Saturday. Unfortunately that positive mood was slightly dampened by both teams immediately above them both winning too.

One of these teams, Dundee United, are our hosts tomorrow night. The Tangerine Terrors, does that moniker still exist?, have stuttered recently but got back on track against Motherwell. Another fast start from Hibs will be required and it looks as though our stability and teamwork over the last 3 months is vital to our success.

United have the Premiership's top scorer in Sam Dalby, but can't be considered a one-man band. They don't lose many goals, so every chance must be taken. I'd love us to end the month on a high going into a vital few matches in March.

A mix of league and cup games this week plus a dip into League 2 as we have fewer interesting top tier fixtures to pick from.

Gamball:
Blackburn - Norwich

Others:
Preston - Burnley
Oxford - Coventry
Luton - Portsmouth
QPR - Sheff Utd
Stoke - Watford
Orient - Charlton
Stevenage - Huddersfield
Newcastle - Brighton
Man Utd - Fulham

Wigan Athletic v Huddersfield Town
Sky Bet League One
Tuesday February 25th - 19:45 ko
at the Brick Community Stadium

Huddersfield Town travel to Wigan to the Pile of Bricks Community Stadium on Tuesday evening for another re-arranged game of football.

And the Terriers go there once again, as a club in crisis. Difficult to understand as we are still in fifth place in the League One table and only nine points off an automatic promotion spot. But the low quality football being served up by Mike Dufflecoat and his merry men is driving supporters to despair. The performance against Peterborough United on Saturday was unacceptable on so many levels that even I came close to booing the team off.

The injury list is a great excuse to have for all this, but is it really? Not in my opinion. It's all down to the recruitment team. Taking on unfit players in the hope that they will come good is like building your house on sand. I say recruitment team, I mean Mark Cartwright of course. How he kept his job after overseeing a disastrous relegation, is beyond belief.

So which of our current bunch of crocks will be available for this game on Tuesday night? Listening to Paul Ogden after the game on BBC Radio Leeds, as he was waiting to interview Dufflecoat, Radinio Balker walked past him, smiling but carrying a large ice pack. No way will he play. When the Head Coach did appear, almost an hour after the final whistle, he told us the news that Tom Lees was out for the rest of the season and that Nigel Lonwijk came off because he was "cramping up" and it was Nigel himself asking to come off, which led to confusion on the touchline as the fourth official had indicated that Jonathan Hogg was coming off.

A crazy state of affairs. Nowt against the lad, but can you imagine Peter Jackson, Andy Morrison or Peter Clarke asking to come off because they were cramping up?

So we finished the game with Ollie Turton and David Kasumu at centre back.

Thankfully Brodie Spencer will be available after his two match suspension, but who will be at centre back alongside him? Loick Ayina? I doubt it after Dufflecoat didn't trust him on Saturday to come on. Hopefully a fully fit Lonwijk, but probably knowing our luck he won't be and we'll get Turton or Josh Ruffels.

As for the Latics, they had a creditable draw on Saturday, down at second placed Wycombe Wanderers, but by the sound of things, goalkeeper Sam Tickle won that point for them.

This has all the signs of another low quality, bore-fest with probably just the one goal in it. Let's hope I'm wrong and Town turn up and tonk them ten-nil. Not gonna happen though, is it!?

Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 14 wins to Wigan's 11, with 8 draws.

I can't recall many good games between these two clubs. They tend to be desparately dull. The one we played at the John Smith's in December being yet another one. Ollie Turton scoring his first Town goal was the only good part of the game, as I recall.

The first time we met was back in the 1973/74 FA Cup 1st round when the Latics were still a non league club. We beat them 2-0 with both goals coming from young Bob Newton, who had just turned 18 the day before.

They got elected into the Football League in 1978, in place of Southport and so with us being in Division 4 at the time, we were one of their first league opponents when they came to Leeds Road and came away with a point in a 1-1 draw. Paul Bielby scored ours from the penalty spot.

The following season we did the double over them. My first visit to Springfield Park saw us win 2-1 in the promotion season of 79/80, with Ian Holmes and Peter Fletcher scoring. We'd done the double over them before October was out as they came to our place and got spanked 4-0. Fletch scored twice in that one with Brian Stanton and David Cowling adding the others to take us top of the 4th Division table.

Looking down the list of results on Soccerbase, it's very hard to spot anything else interesting. They pumped us at the Galpharm in the FA Cup back in 2013 when they were a Premier League side and had current boss, Shaun Maloney in the line up. But then there's a lot of 0-0's and 1-0's with probably the most memorable being the late winner from Nahki Wells at the JJB in the 2016/17 promotion season.

The most recent season we had together was 2022/23 when they did the double over us despite getting relegated. The 2-1 home win I seem to remember was one of the most miserable evenings watching football I've ever had. Here's hoping we don't suffer such like again on Tuesday.

1. Flaking Drippers
   
2. Handel Wave
   
3. Unholy Seaman
   
4. Norbert Atomizer
   
5. Beans Town
   
6. Arrowing Is War
   
7. Be More Froggy
   
8. Her TV Eve
   
9. Ignacio Swan
   
10. Waring Pie
    

Tuesday 25th February

Bromley v Bradford City. Kick-off at 7:45pm
Cheltenham Town v Walsall. Kick-off at 7:45pm
Gillingham v Fleetwood Town. Kick-off at 7:45pm
Tranmere Rovers v Accrington Stanley. Kick-off at 7:45pm

Thursday 27th February

Barrow v Carlisle United. Kick-off at 8pm

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 7:

1. neonfoxinthebox = 127 pts
   
2. jjamez = 114 pts
   
3. Baggiebob(BBB) = 93 pts
   
4. themaclad = 84 pts
   
5. St Charles Owl = 83 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 79 pts
   

Saturday 1st March:
Stevenage v Town
Town scorers:
Stevenage scorers:

Tuesday 4th March:
Town v Wrexham
Town scorers:
Wrexham scorers:

Blackpool v Peterborough United
Bolton Wanderers v Birmingham City
Cambridge United v Stevenage
Charlton Athletic v Barnsley
Lincoln City v Crawley Town
Mansfield Town v Wigan Athletic
Northampton Town v Stockport County
Rotherham United v Leyton Orient
Shrewsbury Town v Bristol Rovers
Reading v Exeter City (20:00)
Wycombe Wanderers v Burton Albion (20:00)

Bonus matches:
Friday:
Championship:
Sheffield Wednesday v Sunderland (20:00)

Saturday:
Leeds United v West Bromwich Albion (12:30)

FA Cup:
Preston North End v Burnley (12:15)
AFC Bournemouth v Wolverhampton Wanderers

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

1. ritchiebaby = 136 pts
   
2. Devongone = 113 pts
   
3. SHEP_HTAFC = 112 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 102 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 85 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 69 pts
   

Saturday 1st March:
Stevenage v Town
Town scorers:
Stevenage scorers:

Birmingham City v Wycombe Wanderers (12:30)
Wrexham v Bolton Wanderers (12:30)
Barnsley v Lincoln City
Bristol Rovers v Rotherham United
Burton Albion v Mansfield Town
Crawley Town v Cambridge United
Exeter City v Northampton Town
Leyton Orient v Charlton Athletic
Peterborough United v Shrewsbury Town
Stockport County v Blackpool
Wigan Athletic v Reading

Tuesday 4th March:
Town v Wrexham
Town scorers:
Wrexham scorers:

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
FA Cup:
Crystal Palace v Millwall (12:15)

League Two:
Chesterfield v Crewe Alexandra

Sunday:
Scottish Premiership:
Hibernian v Hearts (12:30)

FA Cup:
Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion (13:45)

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

It feels like its been a while since we last met in Yorkshire, but on Saturday, Huddersfield welcome a rival from yesteryear to the John Smiths Stadium in the form of Darren Ferguson's Peterborough United. The old rivalry stemming from when the two sides used to butt heads the last time Town were in this division, with both sides often chasing the same players like Craig Mackail-Smith, who rejected us to sign for them, and for a good few seasons the two sides often battled in and around the playoffs. Peterborough would gain promotion to the Championship at Towns expense over at Old Trafford but more on that in a bit, Town would gain their revenge a couple of seasons later, when they conspired to relegate the Posh back to League One. In more recent times that rivalry has somewhat died down with the two sides going in different directions until reuniting once again this season.

I'd say still managed by Darren Ferguson, but this is probably his 12th stint as manager of the club, he got them promoted against us and was manager of the side when we condemned them to relegation in his second spell as manager. His first spell in charge came in 2006 and lasted until 2009, having recorded back to back promotions from League Two to the Championship, only to return in 2010, for the aforementioned promotion against us. He left for the second time in 2015, to be replaced by David Robertson until Graham Westley was appointed as full time manager. He didn't last the season and Robertson was back at the helm until Grant McCann came in as boss, another who seemed to bounce back to Peterborough often enough. His first stint lasted a year and a bit until Steve Evans came in to show them what football should look like, he failed and once again owner Darragh MacAnthony wielded his axe and sent out an SOS to Ferguson. He was in charge during the COVID years and got them promoted back to the Championship in 2021, with Jonson Clarke-Harris bagging 31 goals in the league that season. The next season, Clarke-Harris couldn't match his goalscoring feat and Ferguson was once again sacked and replaced by McCann for his second stint in charge. That season Town drew 1-1 in Peterborough with Danny Ward scoring, whilst Tom Lees bagged a brace in a 3-0 win in Yorkshire. Incidentally, it was the last time the sides met until this campaign. McCann remained as manager until the January of 2023, when, once again, he was sacked by MacAnthony and replaced in the dugout, Ferguson who came in for his fourth spell in charge and has been at the helm ever since. So maybe not the 12th spell as I said, but close enough.



This season, the Posh were largely expected to be in and around the play offs, but have been disappointing so far this term and currently sit in 20th, 2 points above the drop zone. With one win in their last 5, they have been on the receiving end of a few chastising defeats, including a 3-1 loss to fellow strugglers Bristol Rovers and a 5-1 defeat away at Lincoln. I'm not going to go into what has happened since we last played them as it was the first game of season, however, discipline seems to be a bit of an issue with 3 players being sent off since boxing day, but Town hardly ever do well against 11 men, let alone 10. Town meanwhile should, should being the key word, be looking to capitalise on the two recent away wins and looking to keep the pressure on the automatic chasing teams. Whilst the performances against Barnsley and Shrewsbury haven't been great, they have yielded the right results, Wycombe are currently 8 points ahead, which is a fair whack considering they don't seem to lose many and often get awarded late penalties, it still only takes them to have a run of form similar to what we have just had for them to get drawn back in. Wrexham have had recent form similar to ours and have come back to only 3 points ahead, whilst Stockport are the form side at the moment and whilst only 2 points ahead of Town, they have come from behind to get to where they are, obviously not fazed by the loss of Louie Barry. Town do have to play all three once again plus the surging Leyton Orient and Charlton, Wrexham, Wycombe and Orient all have to come here, whilst Town still have to travel to Charlton and Stockport. Orient is the last game of the season which could be tantalizing and nervy, but there's still a few twists and turns to come before then.

It is fair to say that Peterborough have been under achieving this season considering some of the players they have at their disposal, the likes of Ricky-Jade Jones, Kwame Poku, Archie Collins and Hector Kyprianou, all of whom have been highly sought after in recent transfer windows, with Jones attracting interest from Cardiff in the last window and captain Kyprianou rumoured to have been close to a move to Cardiff's rivals Swansea. The Posh managed to keep hold of the two for now but may find it a struggle come summer, as they found out last year when talented youngsters Harrison Burrows and Ronnie Edwards both departed for decent money to Sheffield United and Southampton respectively. Whilst Poku is expected to be out injured for a couple more weeks, manager Ferguson hoping to have him for the last dozen games, stating he felt that he was the best player in the league, typical Ferguson delusion considering the quality in Birmingham's squad alone. The rest are the ones to look out for, coupled with former Chelsea youth Malik Mothersille, who once had a trial with us. Collins and Kyprianou both operate in the centre of midfield, both offering energy and robustness much like David Kasumu, Mothersille offers a pacy option usually from the left flank, whilst Jones is arguably one of the quickest players in Europe let alone England, still quite raw in what he does, he causes trouble with pace alone, but maybe hasn't quite got the end product sorted just yet, he still has 7 goals this term and will need to be watched, especially if he gets isolated up against Tom Lees, to make things worse, Brodie Spencer will be missing once again, meaning the backline pace will have to be Sorensen and Balker, they also possess a bit of height at the back so it does make it confusing as to why they are where they are.



In their current squad they have 3 former town players in the form of current number one Jed Steer, who had a loan spell here the season before Danny ward helped us to promotion I believe, their number two Nicholas Bilokapic, the Australian joined them last season when town surprisingly sold him when he initially thought he was going on loan. However, maybe we kept the right Australian keeper in Chapman. Bilokapic definitely had potential, but he has lost his place this term after a few costly blunders. The final member that has been at town is Donay O'brien-brady, who never made a professional appearance for town and was released, joining Peterborough after a trial. Going slightly further back, Ramoney Critchlow was part of the Peterborough side, another who was tipped highly at Town, he suddenly made the move away and it looked like the right move when he became a feature of their backline, but for one reason or another he found himself exiled, even dropping into non league for a loan at Dagenham and Redbridge, in January he returned to Bradford City where he had had a loan whilst on Towns books. Towns highly desired striker Joe Taylor hails from Peterborough and had a 2 year spell at the club but failed to score before moving to Luton, where he also failed to score, but had impressive loans at Colchester and Lincoln which caught Mark Cartwrights eye, taking up to January to get him through the door, he will once again be missing Saturday through injury with his return expected sometime next month. Midfielder Reece Brown had three separate loan spells at Peterborough from Town, making 56 appearances for the Posh, he failed to make a league appearance for Town, another questionable signing that we have made, although this one came when we had just been relegated from the Premier League. Another midfielder that seemed to have promise or that was the reason we signed him was Kyle Dempsey, the versatile player was used in a few different roles by David Wagner before being loaned to Fleetwood. He would sign permanently for the west coast club and had a short loan at Peterborough before heading south to Gillingham, he is currently injured at Bolton.



Harry Toffolo had a short loan early in his career at Peterborough as did journeyman striker Liam Dickinson. Goalkeeper Paul Rachubka had a short loan, making 4 appearances for the Posh in 2006 when he deputised from Town. If you want to go further back, Aidy Boothroyd finished his career at Peterborough, having started it at Town, even further back, Ian Bennett played for the Posh, before I was even born, and he was still playing well into my time as a fan for us. Iain Dunn had a short stay at Peterborough before he made a home in Huddersfield and if anyone can add any more please feel free to do so.



In terms of head to heads, 29 meetings in total, with Town winning 12, drawing 7 and losing 10. The first meeting was back in 1957 when Town would beat the Posh 3-1 in the FA Cup 4th round. The first league meeting would take place nearly 20 years later when the Posh did the league double over Town in the old Division Three, winning both games 2-1. It would be 4 years later when Town registered their first league victory, this time in Division 4. Over a decade later and the sides would meet again in Division three, with Peterborough once again coming out on top, beating Town in the play offs to boot. Town would get promoted the following season and the sides would reacquaint themselves in Division Two, but Peterborough would once again prove to be a bogey side. In the mid 90's Town would again knock Posh out of the FA Cup in the 4th round but would not face up until after the turn of the century when both sides were in Division Two. Town would go on a streak against Posh, winning 2-1 and 3-1 in the 2001/02 season, a year later the two sides would trade 1-0 victories as Town were relegated. In the 04/05 season Town would do a 2-1 double over Peterborough as they dropped down, with the sides then not meeting for a further 3 years, when Town succumbed 4-0 down at London Road, there was a slight bounce back as Town won 1-0 at home with Lee Clark now at the helm, the Posh would get promoted that season as Town missed out on the playoffs but a season later Peterborough would drop from the Championship and Town would lose in the playoffs against Millwall to meet once again. Posh would win 4-2 down at London Road before a 1-1 at the John Smiths thanks to a last minute Jack Hunt equaliser, this was either side of a 3-2 win in the Johnstones Paint trophy, despite Town trying to throw away a 3 goal lead. The end of the season finished in tears for Town as the sides met at Old Trafford in the Playoff final, with Lee Clark opting to bench the prolific Jordan Rhodes in favour of playing Benik Afobe as the lone striker. It would be 0-0 up to the 78th minute before 3 goals in 7 minutes for Peterborough blindsided Town, at 1-0 down, instead of bringing a goal machine on, Clark elected to bring Cadamarteri on, it would be 2-0 before Alan Lee and Rhodes were thrown on in a desperate attempt to rescue something. Cue a lot of believe shirts being tossed away and Peterborough owner MacAnthony saying we could shove them up our arses at their victory parade.



They would survive the next season and Town would obviously get promoted at Wembley against Sheffield United, the season back in the Championship saw Town lose heavily at London Road 3-1 before drawing 2-2 at the John Smiths. That season would see Town and Barnsley play keep ball as both sides survived and sent Peterborough down. It would be nearly a decade before the sides met again, Town would endure the Premier League, Peterborough League One, the game at London Road would end 1-1 with Danny Ward scoring for Carlos Corberans side, the game at the John Smith's would finish 3-0 with Danel Sinani and Tom Lees scoring inside the first 10 minutes with Lees grabbing a second late on, Peterborough would get relegated that season and Town would fail to turn up at Wembley and ultimately join Peterborough two seasons later. The first game of the season saw Town win 2-0 thanks to goals from Ben Wiles and Anthony Evans, both of whom would be most welcome scorers come Saturday.



With regards to team news, Town have an extensive list of players out, with Herbie Kane now joining them for 8 weeks. He won't be alone and will have Mikel Miller, Rhys Healey, Danny Ward, Matty Pearson, Joe Taylor, Ruben Rooskens and Tom Iorpenda for company. Brodie Spencer is still suspended but Nigel Lonwijk is set to return to the squad after being out with the rare muscle injury, although it is probably too much to expect him to start. Radinho Balker picked up a few knocks on Tuesday night, but it seems as though he will be good to go for another game in quick succession, not that he has much choice in the matter considering how threadbare we are at the moment. Peterborough will be without Kwame Poku and will be looking to register a rare away win having registered just two all season, both coming at the end of August when they beat Exeter and Shrewsbury.