THE APL PREDICTION LEAGUE & PREVIEW –
ScunthorpeWell its taken me long enough, but the Checkatrade Trophy is a load of bollocks. The night before we played Chelsea, Leicester fielded a team of 6 people over the age of 21 in an under 21’s side which amounted to over £45m worth of talent, and last Wednesday Chelsea had a £35m striker, and a £10m full back, that’s without the others taken into account, and an international keeper in his 30’s.....it’s a joke of a tournament intended to nurture young British talent, and it is failing miserably, my only hope is the final has least one of the U21 sides in it to show what a bloody farce it is.
Fast forwarding to next year....no, not next season, has anyone seen the run in we have lined up in April, Blackburn, Wigan, Doncaster, Southend, Scunthorpe, and then Shrewsbury in the next and last game of the season, if we are lurking at the bottom end of the table by then, it could get very nervy.
Just a reminder, with Christmas and the New Year creeping ever closer, there will be a limited service in the APL, and there will be at times multiple threads running, because of the limited times between games.....so be careful.
So, with the snow falling relentlessly outside with nothing more to amuse me than watching cars from the bedroom window attempting to climb a small hill outside the house, let’s look at Scunthorpe.
SCUNTHORPE – THE STORY SO FARScunny have been on a great run lately and currently sit in 5th place in the table with a record of
PLAYED 21, WON 11, DRAWN 5, LOST 5, GF 26 & GA 15, with 38 points to their name.
Their results in the league in chronological order are as follows.
Scunthorpe 1 KFC Chicken 1
Rochdale 1 Scunthorpe 1
Scunthorpe 1 Oxford 0
Plymouth 0 Scunthorpe 4
Bury 0 Scunthorpe 1
Scunthorpe 0 Blackpool 0
Scunthorpe 0 Blackburn 1
Doncaster 0 Scunthorpe 1
Scunthorpe 2 Portsmouth 0
Gillingham 0 Scunthorpe 0
Shrewsbury 2 Scunthorpe 0
Scunthorpe 1 Wigan 2
Rotherham 2 Scunthorpe 0
Scunthorpe 1 Fleetwood 1
Scunthorpe 2 Peterborough 1
Oldham 2 Scunthorpe 3
Scunthorpe 1 Bristol Rovers 0
Northampton 0 Scunthorpe 3
Bradford 1 Scunthorpe 2
Scunthorpe 2 Charlton 0
Walsall 1 Scunthorpe 0
THE MANAGERGraham Alexander born in Coventry aged 46 years.
He began his senior career with Scunthorpe United in 1990 playing 159 games after representing the Iron at youth level. He has also had spells at Luton Town (152), Preston (354), Burnley (154) before returning to Preston (12) and hanging up his boots in 2012. He played a total of 837 senior games scoring 107 goals from the position of right back or defensive midfielder; he also played a total of 40 games for Scotland.
This is his second full time post, previously he was the caretaker manager at Preston for 5 games, then onto Fleetwood for three seasons before being sacked for a poor start to the league campaign, he then took over at Scunthorpe on March 22nd, 2016 and has been in charge for nearly 100 games.
His career stats show a 43.86 %-win ratio, but at Scunthorpe it is 52.00 %.
His all-time managerial record is,
Games 245, Won 107, Drawn 58 and Lost 80.
THE STADIUMI don’t know why but the Dons faithful always seem to enjoy a trip to the 9,088 capacity Glanford Park (
Sat Nav – DN15 8TD) a 292-mile round trip from Stadium MK.
Away fans are housed in the South Stand at one end, this is all seated and can house 1,678 supporters. If demand requires it, then extra seats can be made available in the south corner of the West Stand. Although there are a couple of supporting pillars in this stand, the view is generally okay.
The ground is very easy to find on the edge of town, leave the M180 at Junction 3 and take the M181 for Scunthorpe. At the end of this motorway, you will see the ground on your right. Turn right at the first roundabout onto the A18 and right again into the large car park at the ground, which costs about £3.
Scunthorpe is generally a friendly place to visit, where you can have decent banter and a good day out.
The railway station is about 2 miles from the ground, but a free bus service is available right outside the station, a return service runs 10 minutes after the final whistle.
At Glanford Park itself is the Iron Bar which admits visiting supporters, I went in there a couple of seasons ago and the banter with the home lads was good. Otherwise near to the ground there is 'The Old Farmhouse' pub, which also allows in away fans providing though that they are not wearing team colours. There is another pub near the ground called the Berkeley, which is also popular with away supporters. To find this Sam Smiths pub go past the ground (or park there first) and follow the main road towards Scunthorpe and it is on the left-hand corner of the first roundabout you reach.
If coming by train, then the Honest Lawyer on Oswald Road is well worth a visit.
FORMER PLAYERSSir Ian Botham, Kevin Keegan, Ray Clemence & Peter Beagrie.
FORMER MANAGERSMark Robins, Nigel Adkins, Allan Clarke are probably about the best known of the 41 managers in their history.
FAMOUS FANSir Ian Botham is reputed to be a die hard Scunny fan, although he has been known to claim he supports Sunderland, or Chelsea, or Rangers, four club wanker.
MATCHDAY MASCOTScunny Bunny & Scunny Honey Bunny.
SHOOTERS BOOTSJosh Morris with 8 goals so far in all competitions.
CURRENT MATCH ODDSScunthorpe
19/20 (Betfair) Draw
5/2 (Stan James) MK Dons
7/2 (Coral)
LAST TIME ROUNDSaturday 14th April 2017 – MK Dons 0 Scunthorpe 1
Team – Nicholls, Lewington, Walsh, GB Williams, Baldock, Barnes, O’Keefe, Rasulo (Agard), Upson, Brittain (Reeves), Muirhead (Thomas-Asante).
Unused Subs – Martin, Downing, Potter, Tilney,
Goals – Toney 29’
Referee – Graham Horwood (No cards)
Attendance – 9,274
League Position at time – Dons 12th, Scunthorpe 5th.
HEAD 2 HEAD – League Only.
2016/17 – MK Dons 0 Scunthorpe 1
2016/17 – Scunthorpe 2 MK Dons 1 (Agard)
2014/15 – MK Dons 2 Scunthorpe 0 (Grigg 2)
2014/15 – Scunthorpe 1 MK Dons 1 (McFadzean)
2012/13 – MK Dons 0 Scunthorpe 1
2012/13 – Scunthorpe 0 MK Dons 3 (Chadwick 2, Smith)
2011/12 – Scunthorpe 0 MK Dons 3 (Powell, Bowditch, Williams)
2011/12 – MK Dons 0 Scunthorpe 0
2008/09 – Scunthorpe 0 MK Dons 1 (Chadwick)
2008/09 – MK Dons 0 Scunthorpe 2
2005/06 – Scunthorpe 2 MK Dons 0
2005/06 - MK Dons 1 Scunthorpe 0 (Platt)
In the 2008/09 season we lost on penalties to Scunthorpe in the playoffs after a 1-1 draw at their place and a 0-0 draw at home.
YOU’VE GOT NO HISTORYScunthorpe were promoted to League 1 as Runners Up in League 2 a couple of seasons ago, they have also twice won a play-off final in 1998/99 and in 2008/09.
Scunthorpe were formed in 1899, ten years later they merged with Lindsey United to become not unsurprisingly Scunthorpe & Lindsey Utd.
In 1950 Scunthorpe United as they were now known were elected into the Football League ahead of Workington Town and Wigan Athletic.
Scunthorpe Utd was the first club in England to build a cantilever stand, 4 years before Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.
In 1988 United were the 1st English Club in the modern era to move to a new purpose built stadium, Glanford Park.
The Old Show Ground venue was declared unsafe in the light of findings from the Bradford City fire, and a total refurbishment update was deemed to be cost prohibitive.
The ground was sold to Safeway (now Sainsbury’s) and a plaque was laid where the old centre spot was, just in front of the deli counter.
PREDICTION TIMEOk you know the format, all predictions to beat the 1-hour deadline, anything late will have to be declared void. Own goals are not allowed for predictions, if the first Don’s goal is an own goal that part of the competition will be declared void also.
Changes to your prediction are not allowed after the 1-hour deadline has expired.All the usual rules apply.
Make those predictions clear, see you at Scunny.
WellDonExampleScunthorpe 2 MK Dons 0
MKDFGS – No Dons Scorer
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