Post-match statattack #2

Thursday's game was unremarkable from a stats point of view - no milestones that I could spot. So instead, as it was the 38th and final 11-a-side match of 2008, I thought I'd review the year's footy from a purely spoddy point of view. If you want tactical analysis of the plusses and minuses (why do I think plusses needs a double 's' but minuses only needs one 's'?), of a year's worth of Accies action, you've come to the wrong place. So... Played 38, won 8, drew 4, lost 26. Those are somewhat inevitable stats if you suffer a 20-match winless run (an unwanted club record, as was the soul-destroying run of 10 consecutive defeats within it) from 28 February to 4 September. Ah well. Goals for: 65. Against: 123. Biggest win: 9-0 vs Dads Army (the club's all-time biggest victory) on 24 February. Heaviest defeat: 1-11 vs Dolphin Riders, just 2 weeks after the biggest win - we only had 10 players, mind you, and one of them was lent to us by the oppo...

2008 goalscorers:

10: Billy Monckton

7: Keith Cumberbatch

6: Simon Mesner, Andy Thornes

5: Gary White

4: Steve Spurdens, Bobby Rauchenberg, Own Goal

3: David Rudd

2: Phil Caldwell, Andrew Dade, Perre Heath, Tremayne Macdonald

1: Jason Curtis, Alex Pisano, Jon Wong, Warren Crawford, Will Pointing, Neil Burden-Brown, Charlie Purvey, Mickael Lejeune

47 different players turned out for Effra in 2008, which tells its own story: another year when injuries (to Gary White, Luis Sandoval, Billy Monckton and Simon Mesner) decimated the squad and we once again hoped for new blood. Only 29 players were used in 2007, and I for one am hoping that next year will be a return to that kind of total. Of those 47 players, 8 were lent to us by oppo teams, which shows how many times we were desperate for numbers. Ho hum. Phil Caldwell tops the 2008 appearances list, playing in 36 of the 38 matches (and he was an unused sub for one of the other two games). The first XI based on most appearances made in 2008 would have been:

Anthony, Andrew D, Neill, Dave, Stuart, Phil, Andy T, Steve, Joe, Gary H, Simon

To make up the 2008 squad of 14 on appearances alone, the bench would be Neil G, Bobby and Luke. If I were a betting man I would say two or three of this year's triallists might make that list in 2009, plus a certain Club Man Of The Year now that he's back to full fitness.

Finally, other notable stats from 2008: Billy scored our 300th 11-a-side goal in the first game of the year and scored 4 times in the 9-0 win over Dads Army, the most ever goals in a single match by one player. A 1-0 defeat by Wycliffe FC was our 100th ever losing scoreline. Myself and my little brother notched up our 150th 11-a-side appearance this year, while Andy T, Neil G and Neill each played their 50th.

That is more than enough of that!