Friday 9th April

Fulham v Wolves

Saturday 10th April

Palace v Chelsea
Blues v Stoke
Huddersfield v Rotherham
QPR v Sheff Wed

Sunday 11th April

Burnley v Newcastle
West Ham v Leicester
Spurs v Man Utd
Sheff Utd v Arsenal

Monday 12th April

Albion v Southampton  

Gledholt a town fan off twitter has become a member. Lets encourage him to comment. We're a great bunch, if a little depressed at times, come say hello. Welcome Gledholt!

WEEK          9   10    11   12  13  14   15   16  17   18   19  20   21  22  23  24
                                                                                                                        PTS                         BW
1 BBB        109(1) 129  155 158 163 173 186 196 205 208 215 235 254 250 254 264                                 26 20

2 MINIZIN  94  97/3 119/4 124(5) 129 141 164/4 180(2) 188 193 96(3) 213(2) 216 228 237 254                 23 22

3 SANJAY   74 88/7 110/5 138(2} 154 156/3 172/2 173/3) 178(4)181 187 197/5-203/4-212(3) 222 237        28 22

4 S/C         93 108/2 121 129(3)148 158/2 170/3) 170/4 181/3 190 197/2 209/3 203/4 201/5 208(4)224      23 19

5 BAGGIE1 55 67/16 92/14 94/15 96/16 102/15 125/12 142/11 155/9 170/6 183(5)197 205/3 207/4 207(5)220            BW 25 23

6 SILVER    63 67/15 97/10 110/12 119/9 122/10 147/7 149/8 150/11 156/12 162/11 181/8 181/9 201/5 201/7 219/6    BW 25 20

7 ZINMAN 88 92/4 121/3 127(4) 141 150 158(5) 168 169/6 169/7 171/8 178/9 183/8 190/7 202/6 212/7                     BW 29 13

8 BOMBER 73 87(9)97(10)99(13)110(11)122(10)130(11)138(12)146 157(8)166(10)172/12-177(11)182/12 191/11         211/8       BW 12 11

9 STAIRS  87 86/10 100/8 111(7) 123 139(6) 154 166 170(5) 171 178/6 189 186/7 189(8)192 208/9                             BW 16 15

10 SNOOTY 60 69(13)87/15 98(14)100(15)96(17)98 109(16)119 131(15)144/14 158 175/12 177/14 188/12 203/10         BW 18 15

11 DD   42 51(20)74(17)85(17)110(11)126(8)141 150(7)159 164/9 174(7)178(8)178/9 179/10 181/13 188/12             199/11      BW 25 23
12 AAA    74 80/12  97(10)104 115 117/12 137/10 144 158/8 162/10 171/8 182 189/6 185/9 185/14 198/12                       BW  20 17
13 JOKER  86 90(6)94(13)103(11)105(14)113/13 113/14 127(13) 131 141 146 169 174/14 184/10 192/8 192/13                   BW 23 14

13=SOM'T 82 80/11 98/9 107/8 123(7)129 138(9)145 155 161(11)162 175 175/12 184/10 192/8 192/13                            BW  18 16

15 DERBY 54 69(14)84(16)92 94(17)101(16)111(15)127(14)122(15)133(14)137(15)147 157 160 177 187
        BW   17 15

16 AMELIA 76 91(5)107(6)117 127 123(9)123(13)125(14)126 125(16)125(17)133 139(16)151 166 178                           BW   16 15

17 L/JANE  58 66(17)69(18)72(20)83(18)85(19)96(18)105(18)107(17)115 127(16)138 137 136 140 151 165                    BW  14 11

18 THEM     53 60(18)67(20)75(18)83 92 94(19)94(20)94(19)107 123(18) 130 133 134 143 162                                    BW  19 13

19 TWTON  49 51(19)69(18)73(19)79(20)84-89 -102(19)98(18)112-109-113(19)120(17)120(19)127 134                         BW  18 14

BW BEST WEEKS: IF YOU KNOW A BETTER SCORE(s) BEFORE WEEK 9 LET ME KNOW -TA

Not a lot of movement over 2 weeks. Somerset dropping from 8th to 13th. Amelia 13pt clear in the battle for the ladies title. Bomber from 11th to 8th. BBB retains 1st place for the 23rd consecutive week. Minizin 2nd for the 5th week.

Premier League

Player Pts CS CR GB BB SB
B.B.B. 9 1 5 -3 -3 1
St Charles 9 0 4 5 -3 1
Themaclad 8 1 2 -3 6 1
Amelia 5 1 3 -3 -3 1
Bomber 4 1 3 -3 -3 0
A.A.A. 4 0 3 NP -3 1
Twerton 1 1 1 -3 -3 1
Sanjay 0 0 3 -3 -3 0
Snooty -2 0 2 -3 -3 0
Derby -2 0 2 -3 -3 0

Poor week in the Premier League this week, and its all your own faults!!!  Oh ye of little faith is a phrase that comes to mind, where has all your faith in Big Dave gone??  Has Big Sam managed to eradicate all your memories of times past??  How on earth could I have been the only one to predict a Wednesday win this week?  Sure I know you all know I always predict an Owls win, but still!!!  Good job Zinman didn't pick the Chelsea game as one of the games, I reckon we would all have got that one wrong as well!!

So BBB rises back to the top of the league this week, alongside St Charles who both gained 9 points.  BBBs was on the back of good scoring across multiple games while SCOs was on the back of that one foolish win prediction for the Owls!!  In 3rd spot is a resurgent Themaclad with 8 points, he was the only one to get positive points on the Bonus and he managed a CS on that one!!  He is slowly closing in on those above him!

Amelia is 4th with 5 points just ahead of Bomber and AAA who ended on 4 points.  AAA saved himself 3 points by not playing the Gamball and Bomber was the only one of the top 7 to not get the Scoreball extra point.  Twerton finished on 1 point but that won't do his plight any good I fear.

In 8th place is Sanjay who didn't trouble the scorers this week, 3 CR predictions wiped out by getting negatives on his balls.  Snooty and Derby went one worse, just 2 CRs being not only cancelled out by the balls but pushing them into negative points on -2 each!!

BBB - 273
Sanjay - 237
St Charles - 233
Bomber - 215
AAA - 202
Lord Snooty - 201
Derby - 185
Amelia - 183
Themaclad - 170
Twerton - 135

Only one position change this week in the table but a further closing up of some gaps to put some late season pressure on players.  BBB extends his lead to 36 points, lets just give him the title now!!  Sanjay has nearly thrown his lead over SCO away in a single week and is now just 4 points ahead in 2nd.  Bomber is still 4th but AAA climbs back above Lord Snooty into 5th.  Derby now has Amelia breathing down his neck and Themaclads good form now sees him in striking distance of both of them!!  Twerton is gone!!!

Cheers
SCO


Championship

Somerset   15pts 2CS 7CR 0GB -3BB 0SB
Lady Jane   15pts 2CS 6CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Zinman      10pts 2CS 4CR 0GB -3BB 1SB
Joker          10pts 0CS 5CR 5GB -3BB 0SB
Silver           9pts 2CS 3CR -3GB 6BB 0SB
Stairs           7pts 0CS 5CR 0GB -3BB 0SB
BaggieOne    3pts 0CS 2CR -3GB 3BB 1SB
Minizin          0pts 0CS 3CR -3GB -3BB 0SB
DD               -2pts 0CS 2CR -3GB -3BB 0SB


Getting towards the end of the season and is the pressure beginning to tell? A bad week for some at the top of the league and this might just be the week that re-ignites some promotion hopes. A costly gamball selection, with just 1 player predicting that Big Dave's Wednesday (well, it works for Rooney and Lampard, so why not for a real legend?) would win. Bonuses also proved difficult to come by, suggesting that whoever chose this week's games knew what he was doing  .

Somerset unfortunately missed the last set of games but he came roaring back this week to head the table with 15 points from an impressive 7 correct results. He wisely avoided the gamball but was let down by his bonus selection.
He was joined at the top by an improving Lady Jane who may not be resigned to finishing bottom quite yet. 6 correct results for her but unfortunately one of them wasn't her gamball. Still, a positive bonus and scoreball made for a good return for the week.
Zinman and Joker made double figures although on Saturday night it was looking so much better for Zin. Sadly a Monday collapse (I blame having to work on what would have been a holiday weekend for most of you) denied him a chance to mount a real challenge at the top. Joker was held back by his failure to convert any of his 5 correct results into correct scores, but he did at least get the gamball result right.
In contrast Silver only got 3 correct predictions but got 2 of them spot on, including his bonus, to keep him close behind this week's leaders.

That leaves 3 players who should look away now. BaggieOne at least scraped into positive territory, grateful for a correct bonus prediction but his great run of form over weeks 15 to 21 seems a long time ago now. Minizin may have a big lead at the top of the table but a couple more weeks like this could change that. Zero points for him though at one point it looked like being even worse - under pressure! And then there is DD amassing minus 2 points from the week. Only 2 correct predictions and firing blanks with his balls may have cost him any chance of promotion.

Minizin 254
Silver 228
BaggieOne 223
Zinman 222
Stairs 215
Somerset 207
Joker 202
DD 197
Lady Jane 180

Minizin still has a healthy lead but may be starting to wobble. BaggieOne drops a place, replaced in the automatic promotion spot by Silver, with Zinman also gaining on the leaders. Stairs remains 5th with Somerset climbing to 6th. Joker stays 7th while DD is the week's big loser dropping 2 places and is now just 17 points above Lady Jane at the bottom (17 points being the the amount she made up on him this week).

Zin

Aldershot Town 2-0 Yeovil Town
Altrincham 1-4 FC Halifax Town
Boreham Wood 1-2 Wealdstone
Bromley 0-1 Dagenham & Redbridge
Eastleigh 2-0 Woking
King's Lynn Town 0-3 Chesterfield
Maidenhead United 5-1 Barnet
Torquay United 3-1 Weymouth
Wrexham 0-0 Stockport County
Hartlepool United 3-2 Notts County


League Table After Matchday 42
Lord Snoots = 430
Amelia = 366
Spireitematt = 334
Dancing = 312
Devon = 286
St Charles = 274

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.

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.  

Friday 9th April:
Watford v Reading

Saturday 10th April:
Town v Rotherham
Town scorers:
Rotherham scorers:

Millwall v Swansea City (12:30)
Barnsley v Middlesbrough
Birmingham City v Stoke City
AFC Bournemouth v Coventry City
Bristol City v Nottingham Forest
Cardiff City v Blackburn Rovers
Derby County v Norwich City
Preston North End v Brentford
Queens Park Rangers v Sheffield Wednesday
Wycombe Wanderers v Luton Town

Tuesday 13th April:
Town v Bournemouth (17:30)
Town scorers:
Bournemouth scorers:

Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea City (18:00)
Rotherham United v Queens Park Rangers (19:00)

Bonus matches:
Sunday:
Scottish Premiership:
Rangers v Hibernian (15:00)

Monday:
Premier League:
West Bromwich Albion v Southampton (18:00)

Table after Matchday 31:

1. Baggiebob(BBB) = 800 pts
   
2. jjamez = 791 pts
   
3. themaclad = 771 pts
   
4. St Charles Owl = 754 pts
   
5. theo_luddite = 754 pts
   
6. Lord Snooty = 740 pts
   
7. SHEP_HTAFC = 706 pts
   
8. neonfoxinthebox = 701 pts
   
9. ritchiebaby = 696 pts
   
10. Amelia Chaffinch = 584 pts
    
11. Beefy 1965 = 356 pts

LAST TIME OUT

BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 SWANSEA CITY 0



FORM GUIDE

SWANSEA 7 PNE 2

City not scored in their last three games

The Liberty Stadium (Welsh: Stadiwm Liberty) is a sports stadium and conferencing venue located in the Landore area of Swansea, Wales. The stadium is all-seated. It had an opening capacity of 20,750, making it the largest purpose-built venue in Swansea; minor layout changes have since increased this to 21,088. It is the home stadium of EFL Championship club Swansea City, who took full operational control of the stadium in 2018,[3] and the Ospreys rugby team. As a result of Swansea City's promotion, the stadium became the first Premier League ground in Wales. It is the third largest stadium in Wales – after the Millennium Stadium and the Cardiff City Stadium. In European competitions, the stadium is known as Swansea Stadium because of advertising rules.

When the match kick off it will be 28 years and 2 days since the Esha Ness non win in the Grand National, the day teh two Sheffield clubs met in the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley and North End played Swansea at the Old Vetch Field
7 am start  off in my old Rover Metro J894NFV 5 of us, stopped at Ross on Wye on the way down, and headed towards the Vetch, stuck in traffic on the main coastal road zero chance of actually making the kick off heard the immortal phrase on the radio The weather here in London is dull and grey but not as bad as the weather in the South West and Wales were the games at Torquay and Swansea have been called off. A 13 hour round trip for nothing oh how I laughed.

Back to the present time City seem to have gone off the boil losing at Birminfham on Friday they were slightly unlucky with the winning penalty as Danda slipped but it was a penalty unlike the first one which they gave away which was soft to say the least.

They had been cruising until recent weeks and it looks as if it is the play offs again given the top two show no sig of blowing up

FAMOUS SWANSEA CITIZEN

Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) was a Welsh comedian, actor and singer. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme The Goon Show (1951–1960), playing many characters, but most notably, Neddie Seagoon. An accomplished tenor, he also appeared in musicals and films – notably as Mr Bumble in Oliver! (1968) – and, in his later years, was a presenter of television shows incorporating hymns and other devotional songs.

As Harry is dead and also the game is behind closed doors Harry will not be at the game

Last time we won in Swansea was 29/8/1961

Team News
Skipper Alan Browne sits out his final match of his three game ban for his red card against Middlesbrough last month.

Frankie McAvoy said after Friday’s game that Greg Cunningham was set to miss the game as well, with Declan Rudd and Patrick Bauer ruled out for the season.

Steve Cooper is without US international Paul Arriola, who has returned to parent club DC United after a recurrence of his thigh injury that will rule him out for the rest of the season.

The Swans boss had top scorer Andre Ayew and Conor Hourihane (on the bench) back from injury for the clash against the Blues and Marc Guehi went straight back into the side after international duty.

Liam Cullen looks likely to remain sidelined, although he is is making good progress in his rehab following an ankle injury.

Match Officials
The Easter Monday match official is Select Group One referee Peter Bankes, who is now a regular in the Premier League.

His last PNE game was way back in November 2018, when he took charge against Deepdale for a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough.

He has twice been to the Liberty Stadium this season, however, a goalless draw with AFC Bournemouth in December and their 3-1 Emirates FA Cup loss to Premier League leaders Manchester City in February.

Before the aforementioned Boro game, Peter’s last game as referee for PNE was the 2017/18 Gentry Day at at Bolton Wanderers. As well as the win at the Macron Stadium, he also took charge of the last two clashes with Aston Villa at Deepdale, our FA Cup third round victory over Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe Wanderers at Adams Park back in January 2017 and the 1-1 draw with Barnsley in September 2017.

Other games in the past have included Leeds United at Elland Road in April 2017, the 2014/15 season’s 3-2 home win over Port Vale in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and the 2015/16 1-0 defeat of Hull City 1-0 just after Christmas.

This is his seventh year on the officials’ list and he also took charge of our win at Chesterfield in February 2015, when Joe Garner scored twice on his return from a period out injured.

The assistants on Monday afternoon will be Nick Greenhalgh and James Mainwaring , with Sam Allison acting as fourth official.

FRANKIE SAYS

Preston North End’s interim head coach Frankie McAvoy has stressed the need to keep looking forward as his team head to Swansea City on Easter Monday.

The Scot’s Lilywhites picked up a point with a late, late equaliser against table-toppers Norwich City at Deepdale on Friday and he now wants to build on that against the high-flying Swans at the Liberty Stadium.

The side faced Steve Cooper’s men right back on the opening day of the season, in September 2020, but Frankie says this is not relevant to now: “It seems like a long time ago,” he told iFollow PNE.

“We lost the game 1-0, but it is in the past and the most important thing is to look forward to the game that is coming up.

“Let’s concentrate on the here and now; let’s look at the squad of players to make sure we assess everyone that played against Norwich and get the right team, the right personnel and the right shape on the pitch.”

Looking back at the Good Friday draw, he felt there was plenty to work on: “After reflection, when everyone looks back on it, the positive was that we got a draw,” he continued.

“I thought in terms of our game-plan and how we wanted to put our stamp on it, we created some good goalscoring opportunities, I thought – in the main – we got balls into the box, I thought we tried pretty hard to set off the press, to try and win the ball back early and go and hurt them, so I am happy with some aspects in terms of some good link up play, we were quick to move it and create opportunities, but defensively, we provided need to tidy up things going forward.

“If we are going to play two up top, we have to get that structure behind it correct. Yesterday we played the 4-1-3-2 and at times we were probably too open and Norwich had a good few opportunities and chances to score, so they are areas we can look to try and improve on, but all in all, I am delighted for the group, it is a good point and a building block, so let’s go and try and take it forward into the next games.”

And he stressed that it will be the same mantra ringing in the team’s ears when they head to South Wales, that they must concentrate on themselves: “It has to be the same message. We were very mindful of Norwich – they are a good team – and I thought the best way to create opportunities was the way we set up.

“On reflection, they caused us problems when they broke the first part of the press, so I need to look at what’s the best way going forward for each of the games.

“I thought there were some good parts and it is just a case of getting the structure, to give us the best platform to try and win the game.”

And after his first game as the man at the helm, what were Frankie’s thoughts on the experience as a whole?

“It is totally different to being a No.2 compared to being the guy that is at the forefront of it,” he admitted.

“I now understand the pressure that Alex was under and the pressures that everybody else is under and Alex used to say that you didn’t understand the pressure until you were under it too and he was 100 per cent right.

“It is pressure, but you have to deal with situations as they are. You don’t realise how much there is to do, but you have to make it as enjoyable as you can for yourself and that’s the bit that I will try do better going forward.

“The first game was Norwich, which we knew was going to be difficult, but the task that we set as a group was to try and come away with a result, that box is ticked and now we have to focus on Swansea, that is our biggest focus now and trying to tidy up the bits we didn’t do so well against Norwich and try and work better on the bits that we did do well as well, lots to look forward to on Saturday and Sunday, to be ready for Monday.”

The players returned to Euxton on Saturday morning, retaining the smiles on their faces that they had when they left PR1 on Friday evening and the interim head coach believes this is an important factor.

“It is massive. Confidence is a big thing within the group and you saw the togetherness that they have got and that is what I have tried to instil in them.

“There is a great camaraderie about them, a mutual trust and friendship about the group and they need to stay strong. When you have that, it gives you something to build on.

We have to make sure that our mindset is a positive one, every if we go a goal down, the mindset should be to keep going, keep working, try and create goalscoring opportunities and if we take them, then you never know what will happen in a game,” he added.

MACS VIEW

Strangely actually feel we may get something from this game the bonus of a point from the last kick off the game whilst City lost to virtually the last kick off the game on Friday.
Fair play to Cooper for not blaming teh penalty decision, misfiring at teh moment are the Swans still a tough game in an area were we have not won for nearly 60 years, however the celebrations after the goal show the squad is together.
Again missing out on the trek to South Wales third season on the trot maybe next year.

THE MATCH

MONDAY 5TH APRIL 5:30PM

v

LAST MATCH



Normal service resumed as we scored the winning goal for Watford and apart from a couple of Rhodes chances never really looked like equalizing, terrible for a team apparently trying to stay in the Championship. It was a game of not many chances, so we decided to win the match for Watford, with Lees turning into his own net from a cross. Rhodes had a good chance in the 2nd half but fired over from the corner of the 6 yard box. Darren Moore missed the game due to Covid. Brum won in the evening to put another nail in the coffin, 7pts adrift with only 8 games left.

THE MATCH



Next up Cardiff who are battling for a play off spot, they are 5 points adrift, but will make up that gap when they beat us. Big Mick is in charge and got off to a great start but have stumbled recently winning only 1 of there last 5. They have some good players, Moore, Bacuna, Flint and Big Mick seems to have got them playing but will it be enough to get them into the playoffs?

CURRENT FORM

OWLS               -                                   

CARD                -                                                            

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

DAVID WEBB
Jonathan Hunt and Wade Smith
Fourth Official : Stephen Martin

THE TEAM

Apparently he plays 4231

Westwood
Palmer Lees Urhoghide Penney
Bannan Hutch
Harris Windass Reach
Rhodes

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Rhodes

BML STANDINGS

Owlkev 13
Stateside 12
Washington 10
Pei 7
SCO 7
Imre 6
Wereham 5
Maddix 4

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Blackburn Rovers v AFC Bournemouth
Coventry City v Bristol City
Luton Town v Barnsley
Nottingham Forest v Queens Park Rangers
Reading v Derby County

AAAHH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Have a good one, everyone.
One miracle yesterday at Stamford Bridge, a greater one we celebrate today.