They are on a good run, they are winning games, hard to keep that run going.

They have to win every game ...... Seems strange to say that but ....... One slip from them, a win for us and we're eight points in front with four games or less to go.

We can afford a little slip ...... 11 points, we can't be caught, three wins and a draw, they would still need five wins.
Rather be in our position than theirs ...... Still scary times though, beat Derby and I would say job done, that would be disheartening for the bees.

Come on you baggies ...... Leeds aren't home and hosed yet either.

THE MATCH

WEDNESDAY 8TH JULY 7:45PM KICK OFF

v

LAST MATCH



Back to back defeats in similar games. We were the better team in the first half but the same old problem when the chances came we couldn't put the ball in the back. Murphy had 2 chances when he blazed over and the keeper saved, then Da Cruz had a shot blocked then headed over on halftime. The early in the 2nd half Brewster drilled home from 6 yards with Swansea's first clear cut chance, then Reach gave away a penalty and Ayew slotted home. We pulled one back in injury time through Nuhiu but it was too little too late as Swansea held on for the win.

THE MATCH



Preston next up at Hillsborough. They are 6 points off the playoffs with only 5 games left and look set to remain in the Championship for another year. We lost to these earlier in the season when Odubajo gave away 2 penalties (whats new ) and we lost 2-1. They have a few decent player, with Daniel Johnson there leading scorer but he appears to be injured as hew wan't in there squad for the last game. They do have 1 thing in there favour, THEY HAVEN'T WON FOR 7 GAMES, so we all know what that means

CURRENT FORM

OWLS               -                                    

PRES               -                                    

THE BASTARD IN THE BLACK

TONY HARRINGTON
Shaun Hudson and Philip Dermott
Fourth Official: David Webb

THE TEAM

Think Nuhiu might get a start after scoring v Swansea and Harris may get a recall after Reach did bog all and gave a penalty away.

Wildsmith
Palmer Iorfa Borner
Murphy Lee Bannan Luongo Harris
Nuhiu Wickham

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Nuhiu

BML STANDINGS

SCO 20
Washington 18
Imre 17
Wereham 17
Pei 16
Owlkev 13
Stateside 11
Southey 8

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Millwall v Middlesbrough
West Bromwich Albion v Derby County
Birmingham City v Swansea City
Bristol City v Hull City
Wigan Athletic v Queens Park Rangers

HHADD

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC





One for Washington



The thread awaits the Meggo of Statesides choice.[/b]

Lee Johnson has been sacked as head coach of Bristol City.

The 39-year-old, who had been in the role since February 2016 and was the longest-serving manager in the Championship, departs following a run of four successive defeats.

The Robins are 12th after Saturday's loss to sixth-placed Cardiff City, who are now nine points above them.

Chief executive Mark Ashton said, while there had been some "special moments" under Johnson, "change" was needed.

"We recognise the huge amount of work that Lee has put in over the last four and a half years to move this club forward and we thank him for all his efforts," added Ashton.

"However, success in football is ultimately judged by results and league position and the board believes that a change of management is needed now for Bristol City."

Prior to this campaign, City had improved their league position in each season under Johnson, finishing eighth in 2018-19 having gone into the final day with an outside chance of reaching the play-offs.

They looked well set to challenge again this term and were three points off the top two after beating Derby County on 12 February, but a nine-game winless run - including seven defeats - either side of the coronavirus hiatus means they are now set for a mid-table finish.

Assistant head coach Dean Holden will take over in a caretaker capacity while the club searches for Johnson's successor.


Although they have failed to reach those heights again with him as head coach, he famously guided them to the Carabao Cup semi-finals in 2017-18, beating Manchester United in the last eight before eventually being edged out over two legs by Manchester City.

While he has overseen steady improvement throughout his reign, he also became known for leading his side on long winning and losing runs, prompting the tag 'streaky Johnson'.

During his first full season he set a new club record of eight successive league defeats, and then guided them to nine wins in a row in 2018-19.

His latest winless run now leaves the club searching for only their third manager since 2013.

THE MATCH

SUNDAY 5TH JULY 12:00PM KICK OFF

v

LAST MATCH



Our unbeaten start to the restart as we lost out to promotion chasing West Brom. We started the better but despite having several chances we didn't take them and we were punished when Obudajo conceded another penalty and Austin put it away. Onto the 2nd and we never really got going and Albion quickly added a second when Pereira headed in from a cross. Harris then hit the post for us before West Brom wrapped up the points when Pereira struck from a narrow angle. The scoreline was a little harsh but West Brom were just clinical on the night.

THE MATCH



Back on the road and a trip to Wales to play Swansea. The Swans are 4 points off the playoffs and will be looking to stay in touch with a win here. They have some decent players in Ayew, Grimes & Brewster. Steve Cooper is there manager but I don't know much about him. We lost here last season when Dross was in charge, weren't they happy times    

CURRENT FORM

OWLS               -                                

SWAN               -                                  

THE BASTARD IN THE BLACK

STEPHEN MARTIN
Mark Russell and Mark Pottage
Fourth Official: Christopher Sarginson

THE TEAM

Lees & Borner should be available, and Lee might get a recall back into midfield

Wildsmith
Lees Iorfa Borner
Murphy Lee Bannan Luongo Harris
Rhodes Wickham

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-1 Wickham

BML STANDINGS

SCO 20
Washington 18
Imre 17
Wereham 17
Pei 16
Owlkev 13
Stateside 10
Southey 8

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Burnley v Sheffield United
Newcastle United v West Ham United
Liverpool v Aston Villa
Southampton v Manchester City
Middlesbrough v Queens Park Rangers

HHHAH

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC





One for Washington



The thread awaits the Meggo of Statesides choice.[/b]

Having done this thread last season, will do another one with one significant change, the competition to follow will be the FA Vase when it eventually gets started.

v



HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (FORM GUIDE LAST 3 MATCHES MAX 15 POINTS TOWN 5)

Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Founded on 15 August 1908, it entered the Football League in 1910. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of English football.

Huddersfield became the first English club to win three successive English league titles in 1925–26. The first two league titles were won under manager and pioneer Herbert Chapman, who also led the team to an FA Cup win in 1922. They have been runners-up in the First Division thrice, and FA Cup runners-up four times. Town were the second team, after Blackpool, to have won all three divisional play-offs.

In the late 1950s, the club was managed by Bill Shankly, and featured Denis Law and Ray Wilson. Following relegation from the First Division in 1972, Huddersfield spent 45 years in the second, third and fourth tiers of English football, before returning to the top flight in 2017. They were relegated back to the Championship in 2019.

The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since 1994, which replaced their former home of Leeds Road. The club colours of blue and white stripes were adopted in 1916. Their nickname "The Terriers" was taken in 1969. Huddersfield's current emblem is based on the town's coat of arms. The team have a long-standing rivalry with local clubs Bradford City and Leeds United, with whom they contest the West Yorkshire derby.

LAST TIME OUT

BIRMINGHAM CITY 0 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 3



Good win for the Yorkshire side last night, much needed as they have been flirting close to the relegation zone since the return. A poor performance against the Pies at home which they lost followed by a defeat against Forest put a bit of pressure on the Cowley brothers however last night will have given them a boost was impressed with O'Brien last Sunday and youngster Smith-Rowe looked good in the time he was on the pitch.
Bacuna will be a miss following his old fashioned hack at a Forest player last Sunday however the danger man is Grant, only came on towards the end at Deepdale looked a handful.
If memory serves me right have conceded three on our previous three appearances in this part of Yorkshire

LAST MEETING

PRESTON NORTH END 3 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN 1



US FORM RATING 2

Rapidly getting towards last chance saloon in regards to the play offs, season seems to have tailed off since we hit top spot at Charlton

LAST TIME OUT

PRESTON NORTH END 0 WAYNE ROONEY 1



Our inability to crreate anything has been a bug bear in the last two matches usually leaving it to the last ten minutes to actually have a go.
Team wise have zero idea why Harrop does not start would like to know if Tom Bayliss and Jordan Storey are actually still alive.

This one may a be a bit tetchy on the side as Neil was not overly impressed by the antics of Danny Cowley, lose this and the good news is we will only have 18 days until the end of the season

Good news pubs are open on Saturday may need a social distancing gallon of ale to get through this one.

Finally here's a goal over Town that won us the cup



THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE

Darren Bond will take charge of a Lilywhites game for the first time since the Boxing Day draw with Leeds United, when he referee’s Saturday’s trip to another West Yorkshire side in Huddersfield Town.

Prior to the clash with the Peacocks, Darren had not taken charge of a North End game since 1st February 2019, when the game with Derby County ended goalless at Deepdale.

This will also be the Lancashire referee’s second Terriers clash of the season, having officiated their 2-2 draw with Blackburn in the first half of the season, but this is his first trip to the John Smith’s Stadium in 2019/20.

Last season, the Derby game was his second PNE game of the 2018/19 campaign, his first being the home clash with Reading back in mid-September.



The previous year Darren took charge of three PNE games. He was the match official in the club’s home draw against Millwall in September, our 2-1 win at Bristol City back in November 2017 and the 2-0 victory over Sunderland up at the Stadium of Light in March.

This will be his 29th game of this season, having issued 98 yellow cards and two reds in the 28 games so far refereed, his last being Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 home win over Bristol City on Wednesday night.

Although he had done numerous friendlies and other games involving Preston North End, the 2016/17 season was the first time the experienced official took charge of competitive fixtures involving the club, as he refereed the two home 1-1 draws with Burton Albion and Nottingham Forest.

The referee will be assisted by Steven Meredith and Nick Greenhalgh, with experienced referee Andy Haines as the fourth official.

Bolton Wanderers have named Barrow boss Ian Evatt as their new head coach.

The 38-year-old, who guided the Cumbrian side to League Two as National League champions, has signed a deal until the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

He will face his old side next season after Bolton went down from League One.

"Hopefully I can bring a brand and an identity that people will enjoy watching - attacking and scoring goals is what we all want to see," former Blackpool defender Evatt said.

He replaces Keith Hill at the University of Bolton Stadium after he left at the end of his contract on Tuesday.

Evatt spent two seasons at Barrow and took them back into the English Football League for the first time in 48 years after the National League season was curtailed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We want to be challenging and competing for promotion at the top of the division and to see a packed University of Bolton Stadium," Evatt added.

"The community and town is also very important to me. We will get out there and engage with them and make them proud of Bolton Wanderers."

Evatt will be joined in Greater Manchester by his assistant at Barrow, Peter Atherton.

They take over at a Bolton side who have suffered back-to-back relegations after starting this season with a 12-point deduction as a result of going into administration.

As part of the deal, Wanderers will not be able to approach any Barrow players under contract for two years.

Wigan Athletic have gone into administration, becoming the first English professional club to do so since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The English Football League has said Wigan will be deducted 12 points.

The sanction will be applied at the end of this season if the Latics, 14th in the Championship, finish outside the bottom three after 46 games.

Should Wigan finish in the relegation zone, the penalty will be applied during the 2020-21 season instead.

Wigan have won all three of their league games since the resumption of the Championship season on 20 June.

Paul Cook's side beat Stoke 3-0 at the DW Stadium on Tuesday to move eight points clear of the drop zone with six matches left to play.

Administration one month after change in ownership
Until 2018, the club was owned by Dave Whelan, who steered them from the fourth tier of English football to the Premier League in 2005, while they also won the FA Cup in 2013.

Whelan sold the club to Hong Kong-based International Entertainment Corporation in November 2018 and there was a further change of ownership in June when Next Leader Fund took control.

Paul Stanley, Gerald Krasner and Dean Watson of Begbies Traynor have been appointed as joint administrators.

Stanley said: "We understand that everybody connected with the club and the wider football world is seeking clarity on the future of Wigan Athletic.

"That's exactly what we are seeking to provide as we move through this process and we seek out interested parties to rescue this famous old club here in the region.

"It is a fast-moving situation and we will provide updates on key developments."

Krasner, a former chairman of Leeds United, added: "Our immediate objectives are to ensure the club completes all its fixtures this season and to urgently find interested parties to save Wigan Athletic FC and the jobs of the people who work for the club.

"Obviously the suspension of the Championship season due to Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the recent fortunes of the club.

"Wigan Athletic has been a focal point and source of pride for the town since 1932 and anyone who is interested in buying this historic sporting institution should contact the joint administrators directly."