The opponent: Scunthorpe United
Here we are the last regular game of the season which for me has gone as fast as any season I can remember. There have been some up’s. Portsmouth away springs to mind, Tranmere too, even Shrewsbury and their pwoper nawty lads was fun. At home, the run over the festive period springs to mind and a couple of other quick to forget wins. The downs? Where would I start? Well I won’t. We will all have our own opinions of where it all went wrong, what could have been done differently and whose fault everything is. To be honest I am not too sure it did go wrong. Yes, everything could have been done so much differently but at the start of the season I would have taken the play offs with a game to spare every day of the week. What happens in the next few weeks could make us or break us some say, who knows, but either way, if the last 9 or so months is anything to go by then the play offs should be another rollercoaster of emotions!
Scunthorpe, named in 2005 as the British town with the most unattractive name, are today’s hosts. Scunthorpe was close to the epicentre (this was centred at Ludford, near Louth) of one of the largest earthquakes experienced in the British Isles on 27 February 2008, with a magnitude of 5.2. Significant shocks were felt in Scunthorpe and the surrounding North Lincolnshire area. The main 10-second quake, which struck at 00:56 GMT at a depth of 9.6 mi (15.4 km), was the biggest recorded example since one with a magnitude of 5.4 struck north Wales in 1984. This is allegedly the most exciting thing to have ever happened in the history of North Lincolnshire.
One of the most famous sons to ever claim Scunthorpe as their home is former the England manager and pundit Graham Taylor. Other fairly well known faces from the area are Buzzcocks guitarist Howard Devoto, Golfer Tony Jacklin and all round annoying late night talk show host, Ian Collins.
What are they saying about us? – re: Swindon will field strong side
“We have 8 first team players who are garbage,so guess it's anyone's game..”
http://boards.footymad.net/forum.php?tno=460&fid=12&sty=2&act=1&mid=2112834068Scunthorpe Last 6 – WLLDWL (Currently 21st in League 1, needing victory today to have any hope of survival).
The Threat – Karl Hawley is about all they have with 10 goals in 39 games. I think the main threat they are likely to possess today is the willpower they have to get the 3 points that they need to give themselves even the slightest chance of survival.
The irrelevant stats – The Irons home form plays a large part in the position they currently find themselves in. In the 22 times they have played at Glanford Park this season they have won 6, drawn 6 and lost 10.
A Warm Welcome To – Left back Callum Kennedy (how much better has his replacement been?) signed for Scunthorpe when we released him last month.
Head to Head – In the 19 previous encounters between us, we have won 7, drawn 7 and lost 5.
The Odds – Scunthorpe 9/5 Draw 5/2 Swindon 13/8 There could be some goals in this, even if we are playing Curly Withers and Don Rogers upfront. 2-2 looks good at 16-1. All odds from Bet Victor.
The Son Says – Once I explained to him the importance of a win for Scunthorpe he decided we would win 3-0.
The Prediction – Ok, we have made the play offs so what kind of a team will we put out? Injuries will obviously play a big part in KMac’s selections but I still think we will have enough to win 2-1.
And Finally – In 1996 there was controversy when AOL's obscenity filter (among others) refused to accept the name of the town due to its inclusion of the embedded word CUNT, which the filter rejected as obscene. Some online forums such as Ultimate Guitar forums (which has recently been resolved) display the name as S****horpe, while Fark.com would display it as Scoonthorpe. This form of censorship overreach is known in the computing world as the Scunthorpe problem
