Is it me or is it getting just a bit chilly now? Certainly feels like that for Darlo, still routed at the bottom of the table after today’s comprehensive 3-0 defeat, despite a goal-less first half.
And after all that new hope from last week’s first win of the season!
A cold, chill wind blew across the Come On Darlo Prediction League as well, with only four managers picking out that scoreline. Mind, they’re all happy as the proverbial pig in doo-doo as it’s seen them all creep into that top half of the table . . . in fact, they’re all within five points of each other. Gary Parle is top dog of this select group on 25 points in joint 44th, Dan Colton on 23 in joint 57th, Toby Corum’s second XI on 22 in joint 69th and Andy Ashmore on 20 in joint 84th place.
As you can imagine from this windswept landscape, the top lads remain in last week’s places, all on 41 points. Still on 39 points in joint fourth are Andrew Hodgson, Brian Main and Paul Johnson’s second XI . . . Robert Mitchum up there on his own in seventh with 38 and Carl Hankin on 37. Emma Davis, Ian Bonsall and Ryan Longmate on 36 make up the top 11 of the league.
Dave Brown and John Berry now find themselves vying for the Wooden Spoon Basement Spot on three points, which isn’t much behind Darlo’s actual total when you think about it.
Is it time to start dusting off those old Conference road maps? Probably not, there’s a load of ex-league teams down there now. Let’s hope we don’t need them.
Pete
Monday 26 October 2009
Friday 23 October 2009
Prediction League Match 13
Woohoo! Game 13 – unlucky for The Shrews – and it’s Darlo’s first win in the league.
But it looked anything like after only two minutes, when a lethargic defence allowed a header to go over the keeper’s head into the net. But the lads eventually clawed their way back into the game and a wonderful free kick from Devitt made the game all-square. Second half saw both teams go for the win, but it was Darlo who always had the edge, and so it proved when Thomas stabbed home the winner on the hour.
“Titanium Man” Steve Austin (cousin of “Stone Cold” and “The Ten Million Dollar Man”) returns to the top of the league after scoring eight points, joining Stephen Nicholson and Lance England on 41 points. And right now it’s so tight at the top as 17 teams are within ten points of top spot. Andrew Hodgson, Brian Main and Paul Johnson are grouped together two points back on 39.
A trio of max-scoring managers – Emma Davis, Ryan Longmate and Steve Gawthrop – are now handily placed on 33 points and within only one score of the leaders. Lyn Williams is only three back on 30, with John Berry’s third XI and Richard Tilly only two points behind this on 28.
Gary Woods and Terry McCann (how’s Arthur? - see team name!) have 23 points. Iain Cardwell, Lynne Pape and Mark Hathaway’s eight-pointers are just keeping them in touch with the top.
The remaining max-scorers are: David Sheppey, Richard Collin, Garry Mann and Raymond Percival.
Only four managers remain in the relegation zone of three points – Dave Brown, John Berry, Lee Dyas and Lemsip Opic – but plenty of time for them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps - just like Darlo?
Pete
But it looked anything like after only two minutes, when a lethargic defence allowed a header to go over the keeper’s head into the net. But the lads eventually clawed their way back into the game and a wonderful free kick from Devitt made the game all-square. Second half saw both teams go for the win, but it was Darlo who always had the edge, and so it proved when Thomas stabbed home the winner on the hour.
“Titanium Man” Steve Austin (cousin of “Stone Cold” and “The Ten Million Dollar Man”) returns to the top of the league after scoring eight points, joining Stephen Nicholson and Lance England on 41 points. And right now it’s so tight at the top as 17 teams are within ten points of top spot. Andrew Hodgson, Brian Main and Paul Johnson are grouped together two points back on 39.
A trio of max-scoring managers – Emma Davis, Ryan Longmate and Steve Gawthrop – are now handily placed on 33 points and within only one score of the leaders. Lyn Williams is only three back on 30, with John Berry’s third XI and Richard Tilly only two points behind this on 28.
Gary Woods and Terry McCann (how’s Arthur? - see team name!) have 23 points. Iain Cardwell, Lynne Pape and Mark Hathaway’s eight-pointers are just keeping them in touch with the top.
The remaining max-scorers are: David Sheppey, Richard Collin, Garry Mann and Raymond Percival.
Only four managers remain in the relegation zone of three points – Dave Brown, John Berry, Lee Dyas and Lemsip Opic – but plenty of time for them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps - just like Darlo?
Pete
Sunday 11 October 2009
Prediction League Match 12
As the disastrous start to the season shows no sign of abating, a whole new generation of football fans are growing up believing there is a team in the football league called "Darlington Nil".
Another blank scoresheet for The Quakers away at promotion-contenders Dagenham further confirms that the team are going to find goals hard to come by, never mind actual points. Perhaps the appointment of Steve Staunton as manager, with his assistant Kevin Richardson, will prove to be a turning point (please!).
A few more managers are getting the hang of this prediction malarky with quite a few eight-pointers. Two who will be most happy with theirs are Lance England and Stephen Nicholson, being the first to break the 40-point barrier (you can tell I’m getting desperate here by celebrating the 40-point barrier!). Both are on 41 points.
Brian Main is making them work hard for top spot and is in equal third place on 39, joining Paul Johnson’s second XI. Ian Bonsall is right in there on 33 points in joint eighth place.
Paul White and Peter Morris have moved on up together to joint 26th with 25 points, along with Mike Wells. David Munns has climbed some way out of the depths of the table to joint 107th spot with 14 points.
Other top scorers are: Adrian Pape, Andrew Hodgson, Andy Fairweather-Low, Damian Dickson, Dan Duryea, Gillian Percival, James Longstreet, John Scott, Lance Scotland, Richard Sole, Stephen Lander, The Duke and Toby Corum.
And it’s taken until the twelfth game of the season before all managers have scored points, which means a little group of eight now on three points – who will manage to break out of that little clique in the next few games?
Another of our mini-league’s is starting to take shape, well I call it a mini-league but there is a total of 25 managers vying for the title of Hayssen Sandiacre Mini-League Champion of the Come On Darlo Prediction League - they were going to get a trophy, but the engraving would have cost something like three squillion pounds!
Anyway, Anthony Leigh has got his grubby mitts on this potential trophy at the present time, leading the way with 34 points, just ahead of Ian Bonsall and Sue Oldham on 33. Kevin Kidger is within touching distance with his 28 points and Neil Danby is well in contention with 25. Malcolm Brett and Andy Fairweather-Low (didn’t realise singing was in the Job Spec) are close by on 22. Just a little further back is the trio of Gary Cooke (a winner of sorts last season), Mick Moriarty and Richard Tilly with 20, just edging Trevor Gretton and Ken Worthington with their 19s.
In the Scraping the Barrel section of this mini-league are Will Ellis with 16, Mark Lear on 15, Josh Slack and Les Clarke on 14, Elaine Battison and Mark O’Neil on 12, Jamie Molnar and Mick Spencer with 9, Stephen Curtis on 6. Tail End Charlies this week are Dave Brown and Lee Dyas with their hugely unimpressive 3 points.
And so back to Darlington FC, whichever team loses to them first this season are going to feel really down in the dumps - let’s hope it’s this Saturday against Shrewsbury.
Onwards and upwards!
Pete
Another blank scoresheet for The Quakers away at promotion-contenders Dagenham further confirms that the team are going to find goals hard to come by, never mind actual points. Perhaps the appointment of Steve Staunton as manager, with his assistant Kevin Richardson, will prove to be a turning point (please!).
A few more managers are getting the hang of this prediction malarky with quite a few eight-pointers. Two who will be most happy with theirs are Lance England and Stephen Nicholson, being the first to break the 40-point barrier (you can tell I’m getting desperate here by celebrating the 40-point barrier!). Both are on 41 points.
Brian Main is making them work hard for top spot and is in equal third place on 39, joining Paul Johnson’s second XI. Ian Bonsall is right in there on 33 points in joint eighth place.
Paul White and Peter Morris have moved on up together to joint 26th with 25 points, along with Mike Wells. David Munns has climbed some way out of the depths of the table to joint 107th spot with 14 points.
Other top scorers are: Adrian Pape, Andrew Hodgson, Andy Fairweather-Low, Damian Dickson, Dan Duryea, Gillian Percival, James Longstreet, John Scott, Lance Scotland, Richard Sole, Stephen Lander, The Duke and Toby Corum.
And it’s taken until the twelfth game of the season before all managers have scored points, which means a little group of eight now on three points – who will manage to break out of that little clique in the next few games?
Another of our mini-league’s is starting to take shape, well I call it a mini-league but there is a total of 25 managers vying for the title of Hayssen Sandiacre Mini-League Champion of the Come On Darlo Prediction League - they were going to get a trophy, but the engraving would have cost something like three squillion pounds!
Anyway, Anthony Leigh has got his grubby mitts on this potential trophy at the present time, leading the way with 34 points, just ahead of Ian Bonsall and Sue Oldham on 33. Kevin Kidger is within touching distance with his 28 points and Neil Danby is well in contention with 25. Malcolm Brett and Andy Fairweather-Low (didn’t realise singing was in the Job Spec) are close by on 22. Just a little further back is the trio of Gary Cooke (a winner of sorts last season), Mick Moriarty and Richard Tilly with 20, just edging Trevor Gretton and Ken Worthington with their 19s.
In the Scraping the Barrel section of this mini-league are Will Ellis with 16, Mark Lear on 15, Josh Slack and Les Clarke on 14, Elaine Battison and Mark O’Neil on 12, Jamie Molnar and Mick Spencer with 9, Stephen Curtis on 6. Tail End Charlies this week are Dave Brown and Lee Dyas with their hugely unimpressive 3 points.
And so back to Darlington FC, whichever team loses to them first this season are going to feel really down in the dumps - let’s hope it’s this Saturday against Shrewsbury.
Onwards and upwards!
Pete
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Prediction League Match 11
Ouch! This really hurts.
It’s at this point where I need to put out an urgent appeal – new expletives required for beginning of Come On Darlo emails. I’ve run out of them and all donations readily accepted, however all new expletives must not be rude (or is that an oxymoron . . . or can you have an oxymoron with only one word? . . . anyway, let’s not go there)
The lack of goals coupled with giving the opposition a head start in each game is now hurting The Quakers a great deal . . . an own goal being the team’s undoing, where they only began to play with some passion in the second half. This lack of goals (and points) is really hurting the Come on Darlo Prediction League whereby no-one had predicted quite the depths to which the club has sunk on the playing side . . . we all thought it might be tough, but not this tough. There’s 15 managers within one score of top spot . . . only five managers in total correctly predicted the 1-0 scoreline and only another nine managers predicted an away win.
The eight points have propelled the lucky five managers up the table . . . points being very tight as they are . . . Robert Mitchum has jumped to second place on 35 points, one behind Paul Johnson. Robert’s mate James Cagney is in 16th spot with 25 points and Sue Ashmore heads the Ashmore family (once again) in 31st place on 22 points. Lance Wales’ cry of "I Should Have More Points" (or is that pints?) has finally been answered and he is now on 19 in joint 55th. Deborah Dinsdale is the last of our max scorers on 14 in joint 89th place.
Other managers who predicted an away win (3 points) were: Boss Prawn, David Sheppey, Jayne Hathaway, Jeff Maughan, Lorraine Arscott, Malcolm Brett, Neil Danby, Sarah Bell, Toby Corum.
In the Lance Ireland Appreciation Society Mini League (Harborne branch), it’s the aforementioned Robert Mitchum leading the way in second place, but Lance England is only two points back on 33. Lance broken is next on 31 and Lance Alot on 30. Emma Davis is leading lady with 25 points in joint 18th place along with James Cagney, whilst Humphrey Bogart has 19 points, the same as another member of the Lance family (Wales) both on 19 points – joined there by Rhonda Fleming. Avril Dent is clinging on with 17 points. Richard Widmark has a healthy 15 points whilst Lorraine Arscott has a slightly less healthy 14 points; Dean Martin is feeling really blue with only 12 points. Toby Corum’s two teams wouldn’t combine to get him into top half at the moment, he’s on 12 and 6 points. Dan Duryea has a measly nine points, as has Dave Sheppey, Lisa Fletcher and Lance Scotland. This leaves only the man himself . . . oh dear, only six points and joint last in his own mini-league . . . I guess this is more ear-ache for me on the away trips!!! Come on Lance, you can do it!!!
Dave Brown and Lemsip Opic have now gone a quarter of the season without so much as a sniff of a point . . . 11 games without predicting one correct result, never mind a correct scoreline. Wonder if I’ll have to get several wooden spoons for the end of this season?
Onwards and . . . updwards?
Pete
www.darlotrustdsg.org.uk/predictionleague.pdf for the latest tables
It’s at this point where I need to put out an urgent appeal – new expletives required for beginning of Come On Darlo emails. I’ve run out of them and all donations readily accepted, however all new expletives must not be rude (or is that an oxymoron . . . or can you have an oxymoron with only one word? . . . anyway, let’s not go there)
The lack of goals coupled with giving the opposition a head start in each game is now hurting The Quakers a great deal . . . an own goal being the team’s undoing, where they only began to play with some passion in the second half. This lack of goals (and points) is really hurting the Come on Darlo Prediction League whereby no-one had predicted quite the depths to which the club has sunk on the playing side . . . we all thought it might be tough, but not this tough. There’s 15 managers within one score of top spot . . . only five managers in total correctly predicted the 1-0 scoreline and only another nine managers predicted an away win.
The eight points have propelled the lucky five managers up the table . . . points being very tight as they are . . . Robert Mitchum has jumped to second place on 35 points, one behind Paul Johnson. Robert’s mate James Cagney is in 16th spot with 25 points and Sue Ashmore heads the Ashmore family (once again) in 31st place on 22 points. Lance Wales’ cry of "I Should Have More Points" (or is that pints?) has finally been answered and he is now on 19 in joint 55th. Deborah Dinsdale is the last of our max scorers on 14 in joint 89th place.
Other managers who predicted an away win (3 points) were: Boss Prawn, David Sheppey, Jayne Hathaway, Jeff Maughan, Lorraine Arscott, Malcolm Brett, Neil Danby, Sarah Bell, Toby Corum.
In the Lance Ireland Appreciation Society Mini League (Harborne branch), it’s the aforementioned Robert Mitchum leading the way in second place, but Lance England is only two points back on 33. Lance broken is next on 31 and Lance Alot on 30. Emma Davis is leading lady with 25 points in joint 18th place along with James Cagney, whilst Humphrey Bogart has 19 points, the same as another member of the Lance family (Wales) both on 19 points – joined there by Rhonda Fleming. Avril Dent is clinging on with 17 points. Richard Widmark has a healthy 15 points whilst Lorraine Arscott has a slightly less healthy 14 points; Dean Martin is feeling really blue with only 12 points. Toby Corum’s two teams wouldn’t combine to get him into top half at the moment, he’s on 12 and 6 points. Dan Duryea has a measly nine points, as has Dave Sheppey, Lisa Fletcher and Lance Scotland. This leaves only the man himself . . . oh dear, only six points and joint last in his own mini-league . . . I guess this is more ear-ache for me on the away trips!!! Come on Lance, you can do it!!!
Dave Brown and Lemsip Opic have now gone a quarter of the season without so much as a sniff of a point . . . 11 games without predicting one correct result, never mind a correct scoreline. Wonder if I’ll have to get several wooden spoons for the end of this season?
Onwards and . . . updwards?
Pete
www.darlotrustdsg.org.uk/predictionleague.pdf for the latest tables
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)