https://www.wba.co.uk/news/bilkul-footba...cDne6hWYbk

AFC Fylde 2-0 Barnet
Bromley 1-2 Chesterfield
Ebbsfleet United 2-1 Eastleigh
FC Halifax Town 2-0 Woking
Hartlepool United 1-1 Boreham Wood
Kidderminster Harriers 0-2 Dorking Wanderers
Maidenhead United 1-2 Oldham Athletic
Oxford City 0-2 Southend United
Rochdale 1-1 Solihull Moors
Wealdstone 1-3 Gateshead
York City 1-3 Dagenham & Redbridge
Aldershot Town 0-2 Altrincham

League Table After Matchday 37

Spireitematt - 680
SaltergateBorn - 669
Amelia - 578
Lord Snoots - 544
Dancing - 534
St Charles - 524
Devon - 467

Zinman 13
B.B.B. 12
Stairs 12
Blue B 11
Derby 7
Lady J 7
Minizin 3
Dingle 2

Another poor week in the PL. A complete washout on the Gamball, as well as the QPR v Norwich and Boro v Bristol C games adding to the scoring woes!! Zinman found some form for the first time in a few weeks and is top place this week with 13 points, scoring on his Bonus and 5 other games. Just a single point behind are in form BBB and Stairs, BBB got a max on his Bonus, a rare feet for him!! Blue Baggie finished on 11 points, no CSs kept his score down.

Derby and Lady Jane both ended with 7 points, Derby missed on his bonus while LJ only scored on 3 games. Minizin is bottom of the players predicting with just 3 points, he missed on the bonus and had no CSs.

Dingle has now missed two weeks of predictions.

312 Zinman
310 Blue Baggie
268 Derby
267 BBB
262 Minizin
243 Stairs
204 Dingle
194 Lady Jane

A couple of changes this week, Zinman takes back top spot on his own, and now leads by 2 points over BlueB. BBB has now climbed into 4th spot above Minizin and is now just one point behind Derby for third place. Just 6 points separate the three of them. The bottom three are the same but LJ is closing in on the absent Dingle.

Championship

Themaclad 17
Sanjay 16
AAA 16
Snooty 16
Twerton 11
SCO 11
BsggieOne 7

Quite a contrast to the Premiership as the Championship players racked up their second highest points total of the season. Only one player failed to register a correct score and there was a decent return from the balls. Interesting stat on the bonus - in the first 18 weeks of the season, 11 of them returned a negative total on the bonus ball. Of the last 7 weeks we haven't seen a single negative bonus ball total - finally it seems we're learning how to play it!

Very tight at the top with just 1 point separating the top 4. Themaclad has that extra point - 6 correct results of which 2 were correct scores though he was let down by his gamball. Sanjay, AAA and Snooty share 2nd place all scoring 16 points by different methods. AAA would have been top had he played the gamball, missing out on 2 extra points through his caution.

Twerton and SCO are a few points back but still in double figures. Twerton was let down by his balls while SCO shared the week's lowest return of 4 correct results. BaggieOne occupies the bottom spot - strangely he was one of the 2 players to score from the gamball but failed to back that up with much more, losing out on the bonus and the only player not to get a correct score.

258 SCO
252 Twerton
243 AAA
234 Snooty
219 Themaclad
211 BaggieOne
178 Sanjay

With a close week's scoring, unsurprisingly there's not much change in the overall standings, though for the third week in a row Themaclad and BaggieOne swop places.

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 17TH FEBRUARY KO 3:00PM

v

LAST MATCH



No surprises as we went down to the league leaders. The game was all but over after 4 minutes, Beadle playing a suicidal pass and Leicester got possession and Fatawu scored with an open net. Leicester continued to dominate and it was only a matter of time until the second came along, Owls fan Vardy slotting past Beadle. Onto the 2nd half and we showed a bit more going forward, more due to Leicester taking the foot off the pedal imo. We had several chances, there keeper making a couple of saves but Leicester saw the game out as they continued there march back to the PL.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Next up and a tip to Millwall. Another must win for us as we look to try and escape the relegation zone. Millwall have been struggling of late, no wins in there last 5 and are just 4 points above the relegation zone. Joe Edwards is there head coach, who took over in November and promptly won his first game, 0-4 at Hillsborough. There leading scorer is Zian Fleming who has 6 goals and 5 assists so far this season.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 19
MILL 17
DRAWS 16 

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                                                                    

MILL                -                                                                    

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

GEOFF ELTRINGHAM
Shaun Hudson & Graham Kane
Fourth Official: Daniel Middleton

THE TEAM

Beadle
Palmer Ihiekwe Bernard Johnson
Musaba M Diaby Vaulks Bannan Gassama
Cadamarteri

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-1 Gassama

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Imre 19
Washington 17
Maddix 13
Owlkev 12
SCO 6

BMPL

Wereham 7
Stateside 6
Pei -2
Southey -15

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Fulham v Aston Villa
Stoke v Coventry
Derby v Stevenage
Wrexham v Notts Co
Bromley v Chesterfield

AADHA

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE

PEIOWL




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Gamball:
Birmingham - Sunderland

Fulham - Aston Villa
Nottingham Forest - West Ham
Plymouth - Leeds
Huddersfield - Hull
Rotherham - Watford
Stoke - Coventry
Swansea - Ipswich
Cheltenham - Big Dave's Port Vale
Luton - Man Utd

Love is in the air as Huddersfield welcome Sunderland to the John Smiths Stadium. Although, will that love spread between the fans and will Sunderland show how much they care for us by gifting us 3 points? nah I somewhat doubt they will be feeling that charitable, the ref meanwhile may decide to sent a few anonymous cards to players, especially a lovely red one.

Town come into the game after letting a 2-0 lead slip away at much fancied Southampton, it was a shock to the system to me, let alone anyone else when i saw not only had we scored, but twice. The shock wasn't as apparent when the Saints pulled it back after halftime, but it soon came back when we grabbed a third of the game, by the time it got to 5-3, I had run out of shock and was just accepting that we had actually given it a good go, something that we seem to have struggled in doing all season on the road. But hey ho, plenty of positives moving forward for Worthington or whoever takes the hot seat, and plenty of things to build on too. Will the new man be in place by Wednesday, highly unlikely, the club seem to be peddling Worthington in charge, the odds list is underwhelming and the prices don't seem to be moving any more. Michael Duff is still unfortunately the favourite, whilst Paul Heckingbottom is still on the list. Paolo Bianco is also still on the list, despite a fan admitting that they randomly made it up, journalist Alan Nixon is also still running with it despite being given that information, I suppose you hardly want to lose face in these matters. Other merry go round managers are also on the list, but the longer this goes on the more it seems like it is someone who wont be on the betting list and someone we have had to do more due diligence and put hard yards in to get them into the dugout. Lets hope it is worth it in the end.

Having caught up on the highlights through the new Unrestricted series that Town are doing on Youtube, I am actually looking forward to Wednesdays game, now one swallow doesn't make a summer, but as mentioned the positive aspects of play will soon bring feet through the turnstiles and bums back on seats, although you'd hope there would be more jumping off them than under Moore.



As for opponents, there has been a bit of change since we last met on a Wednesday night back in November. As Town registered one of their few wins under Moore with goals coming from Michal Helik and Delano Burgzorg, it also saw the end of Tony Mowbrays reign as Sunderland boss. He wouldn't be out of the game for too long, with many Town fans being open to him replacing Moore on many occasions, however, it is back to the Midlands he went and rocked up at Birmingham. Replacing him at the Stadium of Light is Michael Beale, who joined fresh off of a ill fated stint in Bonny Scotland at the Ranger of Glasgow. Its fair to say his current job is going a tad bit better as they currently sit just outside of the play off places and have registered wins against the likes of Leeds, Hull and West Brom. The former QPR boss as won two, lost two and drawn one in his last five games, which puts them fairly stable in the form charts. Looking at the form charts, Millwall, Stoke, Swansea and Birmingham are the ones to look out for as they continue to sink down the league, one would say that Rotherham are as good as gone, but those four teams will be looking perilously over their shoulders, especially if they continue in similar vein over the next few weeks. At the other end, outside of the top three, Coventry, Sunderland and Norwich are possibly the ones to look out for, whilst Coventry currently hold a play off place, the other two will be hoping to continue and come round the outside to finish in the the shootout, and we all know one American/German manager who has fond experiences of the playoffs!



Going back to Sunderland and the one to really look out for is former Leeds man Jack Clarke. The winger joined Sunderland originally on loan from Tottingham Hotspurs before making the permanent switch to the North East. He had endured a torturous few years where form abandoned him and he really did look like dropping down the leagues, but he found his feet as a Black Cat and this season has so far scored 14 goals and notched 4 assists, even having to be deployed as an auxiliary striker at times, this has lead to a number of Premier League teams and Italian side Lazio casting envious glances in his direction. Also acting as a bright star for the Black Cats is young Jobe Bellingham, who's elder brother, Jude, had his shirt retired at Brum after moving to German side Borussia Dortmund, Jude now plays his football in Spain for minnows Madrid. Jobe, is tipped to go to a similar level as his brother and it came as a real shock when Birmingham allowed him to leave. After a bit of a settling period in the North East, he has since started to look the part, grabbing 5 goals and 1 assist. It is thought that one of the brothers' parents lives with each of them to make sure that their feet stay firmly grounded away from the football pitch. Oh how some other footballers could have done with that eh?



Moving on to team news, Town will be without Rhys Healey, his groin injury picked up against Sheffield Wednesday is worse than first thought and he will be out for a longer time frame. Michal Helik should be back with the squad, although a start may be too soon for him, the same could be said about Danny Ward and Delano Burgzorg who have both returned to the training pitch. Jaheim Headley remains out along with the other long term absentees. Brodie Spencer should be fit to start having come off at the weekend with cramp.

Sunderland have a relatively fit squad to pick from and it wouldn't surprise if there is few changes made to their starting xi with maybe Bellingham coming back into the side after scoring at the weekend, he's likely to operate behind lone striker Nazarii Rusyn. He joined the club in the Summer from Zorya of Ukraine and has taken a while to fully settle into English football, having only played 16 games this season so far. January was a rather quiet transfer window for the new manager, with only a handful of new signings coming through the door. Hungarian international Callum Styles joined on loan from Barnsley, whilst defender Leo Hjelde joined from fellow Yorkshire side Leeds, Romaine Mundle was the final signing as he joined the club from Belgian side Standard Liege, the young winger began his career in London at Spurs before moving to the continent, he came in to replace the outgoing Alex Pritchard who downed tools in order to force through a move to Birmingham. Elsewhere, Jewison Bennette moved on loan to Greek side Aris, whilst Jay Matete moved on loan to Oxford.



When it comes to head to heads, I was surprised at how often the two sides had actually met over the years, although a lot of those were before I was born, with only 10 coming after JJ. Town have 25 of the meetings with 27 draws and 38 Sunderland wins. Last season Town lost at the John Smiths 2-0, whilst they managed to nab a point with a 1-1 draw in the return fixture. Prior to that, the last meeting between the two sides was back in 2003 when Town traveled to the North East and won 4-2 in the league cup, a number of home grown players scored that night, including future Black Cat Jon Stead. Stead spent 2 years at Sunderland and only managed 2 goals for the club as his scoring touch deserted him, before he moved back to Yorkshire to play for Neil Warnocks Sheffield United.



Other players to have shared the love of the shirt of both clubs, include luminaries such as the poison dwarf, keeper Steve Harper, striker Fraizer Campbell, former captain Dean Whitehead, ex Town stopper and goalkeeping coach Nick Colgan and Tommy Miller. Danny Simpson also played for both clubs as did fellow full back Dan Smith, he had a loan spell at the start of his career at Town, just like Kevin Kyle, both came to Town for short spells from Sunderland. We seem to have a fair few keepers in common, as Joe Murphy also enjoyed spells at both clubs, I say that, he only made 9 appearances combined, all 9 at Town... As for the dug out, well Lee Clark famously played for Sunderland and managed Town, whilst Steve Bruce lists Sunderland as one of his many clubs, as does Simon Grayson.

Port Vale have appointed Darren Moore as their new manager.

The 49-year-old former West Bromwich Albion, Doncaster Rovers Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday boss has signed a five-and-a-half-year contract.

Moore succeeds Andy Crosby, who was sacked last week after a run of just one win in eight games.

"We identified Darren as out primary target to come in and galvanise and energise the club," said Vale director of football David Flitcroft.

"Following extensive conversations, it's clear to the board that he has a plan of how he wants to lead the club from the very front.

Moore added: "Our immediate aim is securing the club's League One status between now and the end of this season whilst putting the foundations in place to create a clear footballing identity.

"The contract is a long-term commitment, a testament to the long-term vision of the club."

Following Saturday's 2-2 home draw with Stevenage, Vale remain in the relegation zone in 20th place, but level on points with the side above them, Charlton Athletic.

Danny Searle has been given the Ebbsfleet United manager's job.

Searle was handed the job on an interim basis after the sacking of Dennis Kutrieb a fortnight ago.

With assistant Anwar Uddin also appointed, Searle has overseen draws against leaders Chesterfield and promotion hopefuls Oldham.

A club statement said "performances against Oldham Athletic and Chesterfield are an excellent platform" to build from.

Searle is a former assistant head coach at Czech club Banik Ostrava and has worked at Waterford, Witham Town and Aldershot after receiving a degree in football management from Liverpool University.

Kutrieb was sacked on January 29 after a run of two wins in nine league games had left The Fleet in the relegation zone.

The club statement added: "The Uefa pro-licensed coach is fully up to speed with the Fleet squad and has already made great strides at the Kuflink Stadium as the team head into the final third of the league season".

Ebbsfleet are currently 23rd in the National League table, five points above bottom-placed Oxford City.