A shameless cut and past thread from the clubs website on our return to the Central League after a 10 year absence

Match Reports
Preston North End Reserves 1 Walsall Reserves 1


Brad Potts’ goal on the hour mark gave PNE a point in their first Central League game for a decade, against the Saddlers.

The Lilywhites, who saw a first half penalty from trialist Connor Wickham saved by visiting goalkeeper Jack Rose, dominated proceedings, but a third minute strike from a visiting trialist earned Walsall the draw.

Wickham partnered Josh Murphy in attack, supported by scorer Potts in an experienced side for the home team, in sweltering conditions at the Euxton training ground.



But it was the midland side that took the lead three minutes in, as one of the two trialists in Mat Sadler’s team – wearing No.8 - volleyed home from Danny Coogan’s cross to the back post from the right.

Wickham was a constant thorn in the Walsall side and he made a great run down the right, outpacing his full back, before his cut back towards Murphy was cut out. Moments later and the two combined in reverse, this time the Cardiff loanee going down the left before pulling a cross back to his strike partner, whose shot was blocked, Jamie Thomas following up, but firing inches wide from 18 yards.

On the 18-minute mark referee Nat Cox pointed to the penalty spot when the Walsall goalscorer fouled Brad Potts. Wickham fired low to keeper Rose’s right, but the stopper got down and pushed the ball away. North End were unlucky not to have a second spot kick seconds later, however, when Joe Rafferty was seemingly fouled by Noel Angafor, but this time the official waved away the strong shouts.

Murphy tested Rose again just before the half hour mark, cutting inside from the left and seeing his left-footed shot tipped over the bar and the Saddlers No.1 seemed to be the only defence between PNE and his goal in the closing stages of the half as he again denied Murphy, before the best save of the lot, clawing a shot from Adam O’Reilly out from the top left corner, after initial shots by Wickham and Murphy had been blocked.

Joe Rodwell-Grant replaced Murphy at half-time and was immediately into the game, shooting just wide of the right-hand post after running onto a Declan Rudd clearance and then pushing an effort just wide after a Thomas corner from the right, before another effort was deflected wide after he ran onto a well-directed Wickham flick on.

But on the hour mark the home side were deservedly level after good work from O’Reilly who breezed past his man down the left before finding Potts, who checked inside and caressed the ball into the bottom corner with his right foot.

Ethan Walker and Lewis Coulton replaced Lewis Leigh and Jack Baxter respectively in the final half hour and both were involved in further chances for North End.

Firstly Rodwell-Grant got down the right and drilled a ball back for Walker, only for his shot to fly just past the post and then Coulton did well from left back to find Potts, with Rose again the hero with a superb save.

And the Saddlers’ man of the match denied PNE the win when Rodwell-Grant was sent one-on-one through on goal in a left-hand channel; he drew the custodian and tried to put it across him into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal, but it was saved and the game ended all-square.

PNE line-up: Rudd, O’Reilly. Baxter (Coulton, 70), Rafferty, Huntington, Cunningham ©, Thomas, Potts, Wickham, Murphy (Rodwell-Grant, 60), Leigh (Walker, 58). Subs not used: Pradic, Lewis.

Referee: Mr N Cox

Attendance: 157

Gamball Game:
Coventry - Middlesbrough

Others:
Crystal Palace - Spurs
Leicester - Man City
Brentford - Brighton
Southampton - West Ham
Watford - Wolves
Reading - QPR
Plymouth - Sheff Wed
Nottingham Forest - Cardiff
Leeds - Liverpool

Just been watching highlights of the first day's stage of this year's Tour Of Britain. Wout van Aert won comfortably in an uphill sprint in Bodmin. There are numerous top riders in the field, not only van Aert, but also Alaphillippe, Cavendish, Greipel, Porte and more.

The race passes through the Scottish Borders on Saturday, but bowling commitments mean I'll miss it. It also misses out Yorkshire, the closest being Poynton near Stockport.

If I can catch the highlights, I will give a brief report of the day's main talking points.

2 points for a correct result
4 points for a correct score
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.


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.  

NEW FOR THIS SEASON: 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.
So last season's matches would've been Baggiebob(BBB) v theo_luddite and jjamez v St Charles Owl and would've given a bit more to play for towards the back end of the season.
The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

We now have an Appeals Committee set up, consisting of me, myself and I. All appeals must be made before the next Matchday kicks off.

Friday 10th September:
Birmingham City v Derby County

Saturday 11th September:
Stoke v Town
Town scorers:
Stoke scorers:

Blackburn Rovers v Luton Town
Blackpool v Fulham
AFC Bournemouth v Barnsley
Bristol City v Preston North End
Coventry City v Middlesbrough
Reading v Queens Park Rangers
Sheffield United v Peterborough United
Swansea City v Hull City
West Bromwich Albion v Millwall

Sunday 12th September:
Nottingham Forest v Cardiff City (14:30)

Tuesday 14th September:
Blackpool v Town
Town scorers:
Blackpool scorers:

Blackburn Rovers v Hull City
AFC Bournemouth v Queens Park Rangers
Sheffield United v Preston North End
Reading v Peterborough United
West Bromwich Albion v Derby County

Wednesday 15th September:
Birmingham City v Fulham
Bristol City v Luton Town
Coventry City v Cardiff City
Nottingham Forest v Middlesbrough
Stoke City v Barnsley
Swansea City v Millwall

Bonus match:
Sunday:
Scottish Premiership:
Heart of Midlothian v Hibernian (12:00)

Table after Matchday 6:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 146 pts
   
2. jjamez = 139 pts
   
3. SHEP_HTAFC = 131 pts
   
4. St Charles Owl = 127 pts
   
5. theo_luddite = 126 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 125 pts
   
7. neonfoxinthebox = 123 pts
   
8. Amelia Chaffinch = 109 pts
   
9. WakeyTerrier = 109 pts
   
10. themaclad = 101 pts
    
11. ritchiebaby = 91 pts

Next stop Vienna and oh how I'd like to see Scotland register a win to scupper Austria's World Cup hopes in this group (note they still have a chance to reach a "back door" play-off final match). However, we don't score goals and I suspect Steve Clarke will play a "tight game" against them, even though they lost five goals to Israel in a bizarre match that saw every Israeli shot on goal converted and against previous goal stats for Israel that show they don't score that many goals. I reckon Clarke will make changes for this match. Keep the middle of the defence as it is, but I think O'Donnell will replace Paterson. Up top, he'll keep Dykes as his "target man" with Adams alongside him. I must say that Dykes is becoming a "tough watch" in these games. I just hope he improves a tad compared to previous games. I see Clarke going for a 0-1 win due to the fact we scorn goal opps and don't have a prolific striker, not for a long time! IMO a draw wouldn't be the "end of the world" when one studies our remaining fixtures in this group. I also see our final match v Denmark at Hampden Park providing a poss valuable 3 pts due to Denmark arriving in Glasgow as confirmed group winners and their manager fielding his "second string" as nowt to play for any more.

95mins with 1 left we concede. Not only did it bugger up my score prediction but it ended our 100% record. OK we won a point and all others failed to get wins but its so annoying because we had it in the bag.

The only person to blame for that loss was the manager. To instruct the team to start time wasting and running the clock down with 13 minutes of normal time (19 minutes with added on time) to go was lunacy. We have done it before and held on but sooner or later it was going to bite us in the balls and yesterday it did. We had them on the ropes but made no attempt to add a third even when they pushed for an equaliser and left gaps at the back. We had 2 fast strikers on the pitch but instead of going for goal they went for the corner flag and stayed there.

Cant fault the team, they did what was needed but sooner or later we were going to do something rash and end up paying for it. That was Miller going for the ball, completely missing it and leaving their winger an open run on goal with a short cross to some great big lump of a no 9 who always does us Michael bloody Cheek.

Not too despondent but I think somebody needs to change his ideas. Run down extra time or the last few minutes OK but he knew that there would be a minimum of 5 minutes added so why try and hold on for so long. It was frustrating to watch and I think everyone knew what was coming.

Dover next then Barnet who both seem to have improved. There's no easy ride in this league.

Well Saturday's match at Hampden should see Scotland "leaping out the traps" to carry on with their more positive form in the 2nd half v Denmark. John McGinn and O'Donnell "returning to the fold". Hopefully McGinn's mid presence will make a difference v a team that previously lost 0-2 to Austria. Unbeaten Denmark deservedly 7 pts ahead of Scotland in this WC group. Therefore all we can do is try to chase for the playoff 2nd place. Note we've hardly won a match in the last nine fixtures!!! We need to start winning again. If an unforeseen defeat unfolds tomorrow, I think that will be another "hammer blow" to the reputation of Scottish footie. Lets pray that won't happen. Also a draw will be just as damaging.

Altrincham 2-0 Dover Athletic
Boreham Wood 1-1 Stockport County
Chesterfield 2-0 Bromley
Dagenham & Redbridge 4-1 Wealdstone
Eastleigh 1-2 King's Lynn Town
Grimsby Town 3-1 Barnet
Maidenhead United 2-0 Torquay United
Notts County 1-1 Aldershot Town
Solihull Moors 0-1 Weymouth
Southend United 1-1 Wrexham
Yeovil Town 1-1 FC Halifax Town


League Table After Matchday 3

Amelia = 50
Spireitematt = 42
Dancing = 38
St Charles = 32
Devon = 28
Lord Snoots = 26

Had to watch it.

Wrexham are a mid-table EFL Division One side ambitious for the play-offs. Notts County are an ambitious EFL Division Two team chasing promotion. That's how good they look to me.

In the first half Wrexham looked dangerous every time they crossed the halfway line. County's centre backs looked very good too. Hyde and Mullin are a very dangerous combo for Wrexham and with Jamie Jones firing shots from midfield they are a real handful. Their current problem is they are stuck on the REPEAT button. Hyde's okay in the air, heads well, but he isn't a giant and Wrexham crossed all night and and hurled throw-ins into the six yard box. Throughout the first half the keeper Slocombe and the centre backs Rawlinson and Cameron looked rock solid for Notts County ....... and Wrexham though powerful and clearly a very good side, lacked that creative spark. Up front for County Wootton and Kairo Mitchell threatened on several pacey breaks. And it began to strike me that Wrexham had two problems. The more Tozer threw in the better County learned to be at dealing with it, AND the man Wrexham really needed in the middle to flick on Tozer's impressive throw was Tozer himself, but he proved to be unable to be in two places at once.

Now Wrexham have spent a lot of money, but one position they don't seem to have considered is the Keeper and I think in a league where a lot of big defenders come up for dead balls you need a top keeper. Lainton ain't bad, but he isn't top notch. And when Notts County broke out and fired in a excellent cross to Wootton, who was in the clear, I could imagine the keeper thinking, "SHHHIIITTTT!" That was all he got right. His position wasn't right, Wootton's header pretty much perfect and Lainton's response was that of a desperate man. He needed more spring, slightly better position and most of all he needed to be going for the ball with his top hand, the left, not his right. His approach almost never works on a ball of that height. Had he got everything right, whether the header was stoppable is questionable, but he didn't get everything right. There are sides in this football who will test him and he'll fail IMO.

Unfortunately come the second half Slocombe threw in his one mistake of the game when faced with a much lower and shorter cross in, than earlier, and he was seriously indecisive and came only halfway. Mullin showed what a good striker he is by nipping in and getting his head to the ball. 1-1, two goals and for all the good play, both involved errors.

My conclusion is both sides look good enough for the EFL. I did get an impression that Wrexham thought they only had to stay alive with this team for that to happen, because when Notts scored Wrexham were absent. And they can't afford that. Most of the time they are dynamic and will thrash one or two sides who are off their game. County are a sound outfit who'll keep working too. To beat Wrexham attack down the left and break fast whenever they put their all into the long-throw (it's dangerous, but it also strands their best defender!), County? just keep tight, stop them scoring and take advantage when they make a mistake, which they will, both full backs, both ex-Chesterfield, are vulnerable and give the ball away in dangerous positions if challenged. Win a ball high and drag the central defenders across.

Premier League

Silver 18pts 3CS 4CR 10GB -3BB 1SB
Derby 16pts 2CS 4CR 10GB -3BB 1SB
SCO 15pts 2CS 4CR 10GB -3BB 0SB
Minizin 14pts 1CS 5CR 0GB 3BB 1SB
BaggieOne 14pts 1CS 4CR 10GB -3BB 1SB
BBB 9pts 2CS 5CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Snooty 7pts 0CS 4CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Sanjay 5pts 0CS 5CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
AAA 0pts No submission


Ok, so this week was a bit tougher than the earlier gentle introduction to the season. In contrast to last week, nobody managed to hit the magic 20 point mark, though someone would have if he'd only been a tiny bit braver. Bonuses were hard to come by with only 2 of you getting it right. AAA went AWOL this week, hopefully just a case of forgetfulness. The gamball played a big part in the week's standings though it would have been different if Chelsea had kept 11 men on the pitch (guess who had a Chelsea win prediction?)

Silver maintained his good start to the season to head this week's table. Only 4 correct results but turning 3 of them, including the gamball, into correct scores certainly helps! Silver has been reluctant to play the gamball in previous week but it certainly paid off for him this week. Derby has also started the season well and another good week saw him in 2nd place just 2 points behind Silver. SCO was the only person to miss out on the scoreball point leaving him in 3rd spot after yet another correct gamball prediction.

Minizin missed out on top spot by choosing not to play the gamball for the first time. He correctly got the score spot on but will those 6 points thrown away come back to haunt him? BaggieOne was braver and collected another maximum from his gamball.

With 5 correct results and 2 correct scores, BBB actually had the best prediction record this week. Unfortunately he had a bad day with his balls losing out on both the gamball and bonus to leave him adrift of the leaders despite a successful week. Snooty and Sanjay bring up the rear of the table, neither securing an exact score and both getting the gamball wrong. Snooty was at least able to welcome the extra bonus points having had faith in Huddersfield.


SCO 68
Silver 59
Derby 53
Minizin 53
BBB 44
Snooty 39
BaggieOne 35
Sanjay 32
AAA 16

SCO is still seting a blistering pace at the top - he's now collected 25 points from the gamball but I can confidently predict that this won't continue (and for confirmation of my prediction success just look at the table below!) Silver has adjusted well to life in the Premiership and isnt far behind SCO. Similarly good starts for Derby and Minizin, Derby the second player to score on every gamball so far and Minizin currently the top scorer from his bonus with 3 correct predictions including 1 maximum.

A break this week, so I get to find something else to do at work next Monday!

Zin


Championship

Blue Baggie 24pts 3CS 4CR 10GB -3BB 1SB
Salop 12pts 2CS 3CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Twerton 11pts 1CS 3CR 5GB -3BB 1SB
Dingle 10pts 2CS 1CR -3GB 6BB 1SB
Themaclad 7pts 1CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Stairs 4pts 0CS 3CR NPGB -3BB 1SB
Zinman 3pts 1CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 1SB
Amelia 1pts 0CS 2CR NPGB -3BB 0SB
Lady Jane 0pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB

So Zin decided to throw a bunch of much more difficult games to predict and on the whole it worked. This week produced the least overall points so far this season but when you get through this report you might see Zin himself probably regrets doing that now!!

Clear leader this week is Blue Baggie who was way ahead of everyone else with 24 points. He got a spot on Gamball and backed that up with 6 other scoring games. Had it not been for L**ds inability to win at Burnley he would have posted the first 30 point haul!! Salop continues his solid start to the season in 2nd place with 12 points scoring on half the games. Twerton is in the top 3 again with 11 points and was the only other player to score positive points on the Gamball.

Dingle is 4th with 10 points, he missed the Gamball for the first time but made up for this with a spot on Bonus. Themadclad ended with 7 points in 5th, he played the Gamball for the first time and probably regrets it now!! Our leader going into these games, Stairs, is 6th with 4 points, with him finishing 20 points behind Blue I think his time at the top of the table just came to an end.

The bottom three this week were the same bottom three last week, but last week they amassed 40 points between them whereas this week they only got a total of 4!! Zinman took most of them in 7th with 3 points, he played the Gamball and of course got it wrong and then backed that up by missing on the bonus as well. Amelia gained a single point in 8th, not CSs and not a single point from any of the balls!! Lady Jane posted the lowest score of the season so far and our first zero, one to forget for her!!

61 - Blue Baggie
44 - Dingle Dingle
43 - Stairs
42 - Salop
33 - Themaclad
32 - Twerton
26 - Zinman
20 - Lady Jane
18 - Amelia

Blue Baggie jumps into first place on an impressive 61 points and opens up a large 17 point gap over Dingle Dingle in 2nd spot. Stairs drops 2 places to 3rd, closely followed by Salop who remains 4th. Themaclad and Twerton continue to improve in 5th and 6th. Zinman dropped into the bottom 3 and the ladies still occupy the bottom two places with Lady Jane holding a slender lead over Amelia, who is just 43 points behind the leader!!!!!

Cheers
SCO