Even losing over 90 minutes is not enough to get Droylsden out of our consciousness.Hollywood will be lining up Bill Murray to play Dave Pace in Groundhog Day II. And here's a tenuous Boxing Day link:we play Luton Town, once home to a huge Vauxhall Motors plant, while they play Vauxhall Motors.At least someone on the visiting side should be able to offer advice about suspensions.
Luton Town were utterly nobbled by the various rulings that saw them docked thirty points this season. Some folk with long memories see that as fit punishment for the away-fan ban, the plastic pitch and David Evans, and they have a point about Evans, but did the punishment fit the football crime in this case?It certainly didn't fit the football criminals, who were on their bikes by the time the hammer came down.When we were docked nine points it was done on the eve of a promotion, and there's no argument with that, since it was done at a time when Darren Brown was still here (just) and we were profiting from his misdemeanours. Luton profited from the work of Bill Tomlins and his mates through promotion, but by the time it came to hand out the punishment, that profit had evaporated and The Hatters were back where they'd started. Far better, perhaps, to declare all the guilty individuals as unfit to be involved in football, and show some encouragement to the new owners at Luton.
The idea that a "club" should be punished for anything like this is one that needs to be looked at, since it is invariably the innocent followers of that club who suffer. Individuals need to be punished. When I was a nipper a richly-talented Luton player named Graham French** was sent down for settling an argument outside a pub with a sawn-off shotgun. Did they punish the pub? Of course not, and it'd be daft to suggest that they should. Unfortunately, the "club" doesn't answer back, whereas individuals can hire expensive silks to do their dirty work at FA tribunals.
Luton's squad was left in tatters by the fall-out to this affair, and most of their remaining decent players left. We profited from that by signing Alan Goodall and Darren Currie on frees.It'll surprise no-one from Bedfordshire to learn that Goodall will miss the Boxing Day game through suspension, but Currie has improved of late, I feel, and has a contribution to make. Jack Lester - sent off in frustration when we all thought we were on our way out of the Cup - should miss the game.
We may play Ward and Currie up front, since Darren has been pushed forward on occasions where changes have had to be made during games. I'd sooner see young Jordan Bowery given a full debut, though. I think it is essential to have one experienced player alongside Downes, since it seems to help lift his game. Aaron is a different player alongside Page (whose place is in doubt through a calf strain) than he was when paired with Janos last season. I'd expect no change in keeper or fullbacks. In midfield, Winter and Kerry formed the central pairing in our three-game winning run in October and although neither played in our last win against a surprisingly poor Vale side, It may be time to reunite them. Derek Niven is a week closer to a return to training. Wide midfield may be given a shake-up with the call-up of Lee Askham, who comes into the squad.
Luton are making a decent go of a Herculean task, but it seems as though the weight of that task causes inconsistency. Their last two league games show this; the benefit from a fine-looking draw at Wycombe was in many ways cancelled out by a home draw against Morecambe. But for the points deduction, they'd be one place below us. Rotherham currently occupy the first "safe" place and eighteen points separate them from Luton. If The Millers pull off survival then The Hatters will have to look to catch Grimsby, one place and one point higher than Rotherham at the moment.
Midfielder Keith Keane took a knock against Morecambe but is expected to play, although Kevin Nicholls may have to miss out, having only recently recovered from a knee injury. Middlesbrough Loanee Tom Craddock can continue up front after having his loan period extended.
If you can't get away from that festive trip to the In-laws you can at least take the laptop and follow the game on Spireites World.
**Scorer of the finest goal ever scored against Mansfield (and they're all a bit special, just for who they're against,) in September 1968. Picked up the ball on the edge of his own box and dribbled the length of the pitch before stroking it past the Stags' keeper.
