Prediction League Match 36

Well, wadda ya know! Darlo do the double over a team for the second time this season with a fantastic 2-0 away win at Shrewsbury.

Purcell scores his eighth goal in 15 games and surely must attract attention from other clubs at the end of the season; Diop completed the scoring towards the close.

And what turned out to be a reasonable footballing score (in the general scheme of the footballing world – not for Darlo, I concede) only three managers got maximum points. Anthony Leigh and Gary Cooke are joined at the hip, both moving up to joint 46th place with 66 points. Gary’s moniker of Two Spoons will not be changing to three or four anytime soon – he’s really getting the hang of this predicting scores malarky. Iain Cardwell has the backing of those Desert Rats, so who’s gonna argue with him as he moves up the table to 76th on 58 points.

Three-point scorers are: Darren Darvill, Garry Mann, Ian Bonsall, Jean Johnson, Jean Pepper, Kareem Marzouk, Kev Leatherbarrow, Lance Broken, Lee Dyas, Lisa Fletcher, Malcolm Cundick 1, Malcolm Cundick 3, Neil Danby, Neil Jordison, Paul Cutler, Raymond Percival, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum, Ryan Longmate and Steve Calvert 2.

For our leaders, it can only be their sense of fair play and wishing to make this an even contest as the reason that they simply refuse to run away with the league, giving everyone else the chance to catch up . . . either that, or they’re rubbish!

Carl Hankin still remains as the only centenarian, with 102 points; while Andrew Hodgson (97) just needs to dip his toe once more into the scoring pond to join him. The Taylor Twins are just hovering in the wings on 95 and 93, with a good friend Barbara Woodshed on 91. Robert Mitchum (yes, it’s really him) moves into sixth on 90 points.

And then there were three! As Raymond Percival and Lee Dyas “soared” away from the Gang of Five – leaving Malcolm Cundick, Lance Ireland and Richard Collin stranded at the foot of the table like the proverbial beached whale – lying there helpless while the tide goes out.

But will the new tide arrive in time to lift them off the beach? As luck would have it two of Malcolm Cundick’s three teams scored points this weekend . . . just not the one at the bottom of the league.

Ten games to go - 30 points - should be enough to keep us up.

Pete

Prediction League Match 35

Last one out, please turn out the lights! Darlo not even managing to raise a whimper as they plunge head-long towards non-league obscurity, after another home defeat, this time to Aldershot 2-1.

And after last week’s heroics of breaking the 100-point glass ceiling in the Come On Darlo Prediction League, I was kinda hoping we’d all “push on” and rack up the points . . . but no such luck. Only 15 managers predicted an away win, with neither the leaders or the laggers able to take advantage. So the top and bottom of the table stays the same.

Those who bucked the trend and scored eight points are: Chris Mackenzie, Gary Cooke, Lance Wales, Lyn Williams, Robert Mitchum, Sarah Bell and Sue Oldham. The best of the rest are: Adrian Pape, Andrew Ashmore, Dean Martin, John Berry, Martyn Cripps, Peter White, Richard Widmark and Sue Ashmore

Pete

Prize raffle winners

The winners of the Trust's grand prize raffle were drawn by Chris Moore, man-of-the-match, after the Barnet game.

1st Prize Hospitality Package v Hereford
Angela Taylor 0261

2nd Prize iPod Nano
G Bowe [claimed] 0306

3rd Prize £75 Shopping Voucher
Ian Taylor 0145

4th Prize Signed Shirt
Mark Smith 0350

5th Prize Two match tickets
Eric Galloway [claimed] 0118

Thanks to all those who bought tickets, which will help raise money for the work of the Trust.

Prediction League Match 34

And so the suffering goes on . . . with another defeat, this time 2-1 at the hands of Barnet . . . and even the Darlo goal was an o.g. It can’t belong now before our relegation is officially confirmed.

And according to our prediction league managers, this should have been an absolute home banker – but nothing is certain, just see Friday’s Cheltenham Gold Cup!

In the end, only three managers predicted the correct score . . . with only another 14 had the game down as an away win. So, not many points flying round the league, but there has been one momentous milestone – we’ve broken the 100-point barrier!

When I say “we”, I really mean Carl Hankin who has finally flopped over that particular line. Carl now has 102, ahead of Andrew Hodgson on 97 and the Taylor “twins” in thrid and fourth.

Lance "I Should Have More Points" Wales has achieved just that with his max score and now has 62 in joint 56th; Lynn Pape’s eight-pointer sees her on 61 in joint 59th; with that old crooner Dean Martin on 40 in joint 146th.

Those managers who got three points: Carl Hankin, Dan Duryea, David Munns, Gary Cooke, Karen Cardwell, Kevin Kidger, Lewis Raper, Martyn Walton, Robert Mitchum, Stephen James, Sue Ashmore, Toby Corum 1, Toby Corum 2 and Wayne Gibson.

No change in Dead Man’s Gulch – still any one from five on 20 points, with a host of managers just in front of that. Just more rainforests destroyed to get more wooden spoons.

Trust and club support level playing field

Darlington Football Club and the Supporters Trust are pleased to support the National Association of Disabled Supporters (NADS) 2010 Level Playing Field (LPF) Weeks of Action.

This disability awareness initiative promotes the need for an inclusive and equal experience for all fans and brings together all clubs belonging to the professional leagues. Over a period of two weeks, these clubs have the opportunity to show what they have achieved for disabled supporters.

Around 30,000 disabled fans attend league matches each season and with more than 10 million disabled people in the UK, NADS wants to see that figure grow. The challenges faced by disabled people are numerous and often unexpected and NADS works alongside the football family and government lobbying for continued improvements and sharing good practice where it exists.

Many people will imagine someone in a wheelchair when thinking of disability and around 1% of the population uses a wheelchair. However there are many types of disability, some more hidden, and each with specific access needs. This year’s campaign is focusing on ambulant disabled supporters. The term ‘ambulant disabled’ refers to people with a wide range of disabilities who are not regular wheelchair users. This could include, for example, people who have diabetes, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis or cancer. The facilities they require would vary depending on the specific effects of the illness or disability.

As part of the event, prior to their game against Barnet, the Darlington team were led out by 11 disabled mascots. Both the mascots and the players wore Level Playing Field T Shirts in support of the event. In addition, there was a football match at half-time between two disabled sides.

For more information about NADS, or to join them, you can go online to www.nads.org.uk, email info@nads.org.uk or call them on 0845 230 6237.

Prediction League Match 33

Oh bring this disastrous, horrible season to an end...please!

As it approaches the final stages, creeping towards what could be our last season in the league for a very long time, the results of successive regimes are there to be seen. But the 2-0 loss away at Northampton has seen a second big splurge of points scorers . . . but again not from our league leaders.

All that’s happened is this is turning into the closest prediction league of all time – with Carl Hankin creeping towards that century mark on 99 points, followed closely by Andrew Hodgson on 97. Dave and Tony Taylor still in close contention on 95 and 93, respectively. Barbara Woodshed has made most gains in fifth on 91 points with her second successive eight-pointer.

Role of Honour for our max scorers: Beth Taylor, Colin Wakefield, Dan Taylor, Dave Brown, David Alderson, David Munns, Ian Bonsall, James Longstreet, John Sainsbury, John Scott, Lance Scotland, Lemsip Opic, Lorraine Arscott, Luke Hewitson, Martin Cass, Martyn Cripps, Maureen Taylor, Michael Hunt, Neil Raper, Paul Dicko, Paul Johnson, Paul Soderman, Peter Ashmore, Richard Sole, Sam Taylor, Stephen Lander, Stephen Nicholson, Steve Austin, Steve Duffy, Terry McCann, Trevor Gretton and Troy Lacend.

Equally, in Relegation Alley, things are just as tight with the Famous Five of Raymond Percival, Richard Collin, Lance Ireland, Lee Dyas and Malcolm Cundick looking for a share of that wooden utensil – all on 20 points. Peter White is now showing as a contender with 22 points, along with Sarah Bell on 23.

Pete

Prediction League Match 32

Hallelujah! No, not the away point -I’m talking about the 1-1 proper football score! You know, the one where we don’t concede bucket-loads of goals after going 1-0 up?

And bucket-loads of points is what our managers scored in the Come On Darlo Prediction League. Because before the season started I’m sure we were all realistic (except Lance and Malcolm) on how few goals Darlo would score; what we didn’t do was look at the other side of the coin and see how many goals they would concede.

So, with this in mind, the Bury game was a proper football score! Such a shame then that the league’s Top Guns were Goosed and couldn’t Cruise to even three points between the first six! So that elusive 100-mark has still to be breached, with Carl Hankin closest on 96, Andrew Hodgson with 94, David Taylor on 92 and Tony Taylor hitting 90 points.

Susan Weston is gunning for these Mavericks and has flown her way to 80 points in seventh place. Paul Soderman is starting to show some form now, along with Kevin Kidger, both now on 70 points in 17th place. John Young scored a double with his teams (are you watching this Malcolm?) moving them both to relative “safety” (another word for obscurity, really). Chris Vallis has jumped to first-page league glory (another phrase for “slightly above average”) while Steve McGarvie has JUST escaped last-column league shame in 132nd spot.

Other fighter aces are: Alan Mooney, Dan Duryea, Emma Davis, Hannah Taylor, Jayne Hathaway, Lynne Pape, Malcolm Cundick, Martyn Cripps, Michael Hunt, Nick Walters, Paul Johnson, Peter Ashmore, Richard Collin, Sam Taylor, The Duke and Toby Corum.

Meanwhile, at the Fairy Swordfish School of Flying, Malcolm Cundick’s third XI scored a magnificent eight points to move them from the bottom of the league, to be replaced by...Malcolm Cundick’s second XI! To be fair, he has company in the shape of Lee Dyas, Lance Ireland, Richard Collin and Raymond Percival – all with 20 points. Peter White and Sarah Bell are showing for the first time this season...just the wrong end of the table, that’s all.

Pete

Prediction League Match 31

"Three-one, we always lose 3-1, we always lose 3-1, we always lose 3-1". Well that’s how it seems at the moment.

And those points lost against a "close" rival for the relegation places just confirm the predicament that Darlo find themselves in – with the uncertainty of non-league football to come now almost assured.

The dearth of points for Darlo is again mirrored in our managers’ lack of ability to predict these scores, with only two coming up trumps. Barbara Woodshed isn’t feeling “ruff” anyone after moving into fifth place with that max score and is now on 83 points. Princess Beth Taylor completes the line-up and now has 58 points in joint 51st place.

The scoring was SO sparse, I’ve included "all" the managers who achieved the correct result: Brian Main, Dan Taylor, David Munns, David Taylor, Dean Martin, Hannah Taylor, Ian Bonsall, James Cagney, James McNaughton, Jean Pepper, Lemsip Opic, Mark Stephenson, Martyn Walton, Maureen Taylor, Michael Hunt, Mick Spencer, Raymond Percival, Richard Sole, Richard Widmark, Sam Taylor, Simon Cowing, Stephen Lander, Steve Austin, Toby Corum, Tony Taylor, Troy Lacend.

Those 3 points for Dave and Tony Taylor, in third and fourth places respectively, have close the gap on leaders Carl Hankin on 96 and Andrew Hodgson on 94. Richard Sole is sixth with 81, whilst Stephen Nicholson and Adrian Pape are still in the race with 79.

Raymond Percival’s three points have hauled him out of the bottom three, leaving Malcolm Cundick staring down the potential barrel of a very unwanted hat-trick . . . all three of his teams in the relegation places!!! Still plenty of time (and competition) down there though!!! Richard Collin is sandwiched between Malcolm’s teams in 177th place with 17 points.

Pete

Prediction League Match 29

It’s been another day at the office for Darlo, losing 1-0 away at Bradford City in front of a crowd of over 11,000! But, in truth, The Quakers could feel hard done by as a very even game was settled by a first-half header. The lads had early and late chances to claim at least a point.

This weekend has seen plenty of points for our managers in the Come On Darlo Prediction League, with not only the Bradford game but the League Cup Final and the second cut-off point for Darlington’s league points tally.

OK, shall we start with how many points managers scored for correctly predicting that Darlo would have 15 points by this stage in the season?
Answer: None

And on to the next section: The 1-0 scoreline brought a host of eight-pointers: Abigail Robinson, Alan Mooney, Andrew Hodgson, Avril Dent, Barbara Woodshed, Beth Taylor, Chris Mackenzie, Colin Wakefield, Dan Taylor, Dave Woods, David Taylor, Gillian Percival, John Berry, Lance Broken, Les Clarke, Lorraine Arscott, Luke Hewitson, Matthew Ashmore, Neil Danby, Neil Raper, Peter Armstrong, Peter Ashmore, Rhonda Fleming, Sam Taylor, Steve Calvert, Sue Ashmore, Tony Taylor.

A good points day for the Taylor family, which is followed by an even better day on Sunday with Manchester United’s victory over Aston Villa giving 10 points to the following mangers: Barbara Woodshed, David Taylor, Maureen Taylor, Mick Moriarty, Richard Sole, Stephen Lander, Steve Austin, Tony Taylor.

Those big scores have had an effect on the leading positions at the top of the table, with Andrew Hodgson returning to lead the way on 94 points, just ahead of Carl Hankin on 93. But in close proximity in third and fourth, respectively, are David Taylor on 89 and Tony Taylor on 87 – both benefiting from those 18-point hauls . . . now in real contention for league table honours. Stephen Nicholson is now back in fifth on 79 with Richard Sole on 78.

Malcolm Cundick’s “glass half full” methodology continues to root him in last place, just behind Richard Collin and Raymond Percival on 17 points.

The points for the Chesterfield game were accidentally omitted, but have now been included with this update.

Pete