League One Preview - Boxing Day

As Tranmere and the rest of the Sky Bet League One clubs move into the busy Christmas period, Henry Hudson gives us his look ahead to all the Boxing Day fixtures in the division......

On the day that shopping centres nationwide will be filled with over-enthusiastic shoppers that are overly-keen to find any kind of possible bargain, all twenty-four League One teams are in action on a day that could see big changes at both the top and bottom of the division.  Three different sides could finish the day top of the division and three sides could also fall into the relegation zone, including of course Tranmere Rovers.

After a Friday night home defeat to fellow strugglers Gillingham, Ronnie Moore lamented his own sides defending and was heavily critical of some of the players, stating  ‘We've got two guys who think they're footballers’, a quote that has been taken out of context somewhat as Moore was making reference to his centre-halves trying to be too clever on the ball, however, he was clearly furious with his team.

Shrewsbury manager Graham Turner can probably empathise with Moore as the Shrews have often been disappointing which has left them hovering dangerously above the trap-door along with Rovers.  Before a 2-0 defeat at home to Turner’s side, Tranmere had scored in each of the last eighteen meetings between the sides, however, Thursday’s hosts have the best defensive record in the bottom half of the division.

After an embarrassing home defeat to Crawley Town last Saturday, Leyton Orient are only top of the league on goal difference.  They travel to Kent to face Gillingham at the Priestfield Stadium, where the hosts are gradually pulling further away from the bottom four.  A point or more would guarantee that the Gills end the calendar year above the drop zone whilst a win for Orient would mean that ending 2013 on fifty points would be a real possibility.  Orient have only won once in their last nine visits to Medway.

One team that could well climb above Leyton Orient are Wolverhampton Wanderers.  They host strugglers Crewe Alexandra at Molineux in the first meeting between the clubs since 2006.  In theory, Wolves fans should not have to worry as it is the (joint) worst attack in the league playing away at the best defence in the league, however, Walsall and MK Dons have been victorious on their visits to the biggest stadium in League One and Crewe are unbeaten in three.  The Alex have failed to win any of their last five encounters with Wolves and their last win against them was in 2001 where Rob Hulse scored the winner.

Ryan Lowe will be looking to add to his excellent goal tally so far against Shrewsbury Town

The third team who could finish Boxing Day at the top of the division are Brentford if they beat Swindon Town and other results go their way.  Mark Warburton had never managed a senior side before and was recruited to the role of Brentford manager from within the club.  Recruiting new and inexperienced, managers from within a club has been in the news recently because of Tim Sherwood’s appointment as first-team manager at Tottenham which has drastically split opinion amongst the football community.

Personally, I think it is good for the game because if no board is willing to risk hiring managers with no experience; current young coaches aspiring to manage at the highest level have no chance!  Anyhow, Warburton has only managed two games and won both of them including an eye-catching 3-0 win at Deepdale last Saturday.  The visitors to Griffin Park are Swindon Town, who themselves could climb into the playoff positions with a victory. Of course, these teams played each other in last season’s playoffs and Brentford won a dramatic encounter on penalties.  Despite that victory, overall Swindon have the upper hand in this fixture.

From the top of the division to the very bottom and the underwhelming Bristol City who have been performing drastically below expectations thus far this season.  They have drawn ten games this season, more than any other team and they have a shameful two league victories to their name, less than any other side.  They host Walsall, who could leap into the playoff positions with a win at Ashton Gate.  In the first game between the sides since 2006, City’s veteran defender Louis Carey could surpass the clubs all-time appearance record if he is selected for his 646^th game.

A Yorkshire derby at Valley Parade between Bradford and Rotherham is an intriguing fixture as it sees two large groups of rival supporters roar their team on in a Premiership-standard stadium, an event that is not too regular in the third tier of English football, yet with the struggles of the likes of Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday, it could start becoming a more common event.  Rotherham have won the last five games between the two teams, winning the last four without conceding a single goal.

These two sides were promoted together last season and both have settled in well with good financial backing, after previous years of financial hardship that has seen them flirt with a drop to the abyss that is non-league.  Rotherham come into the game off the back of another feisty encounter with Wolverhampton Wanderers where they threw away a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3.  Bradford have not won a home game since September and have already lost against Rotherham this season in the FA Cup by three goals to nil.

Preston North End’s title challenge is beginning to fade as they struggle to keep pace with the leaders, despite their decent form of late; Saturdays 3-0 humiliation at home to Brentford was their first defeat in any competition since mid-October.  They make the trip to Carlisle who have only lost one home game since mid-September. Graham Kavanagh has made United difficult to beat at Brunton Park, albeit, not to resistant away from Cumbria.  Despite being generally the more successful team of the two sides in recent footballing history, Preston have failed to win any of the last five league meetings between the two clubs.

Neither Coventry or Peterborough should be getting too jolly on any Christmas wine as a midday kick off at Sixfields, the adopted home of Coventry City, does not give them long to sleep off any hangovers. T he Sky Blues early surge up the division that saw them wipe out their ten point deduction and make a charge for the playoffs has stalled of late and it appears that consolidating a midtable spot will be Steven Pressley’s main aim for the rest of the season.  The Posh have only one victory in seven versus Coventry but are currently in the playoff positions.

The former Away Terrace at Peterborough's London Road half demolished just a few weeks ago

On a somewhat irrelevant side note to this particular part of the preview, when watching the Football League Show last weekend, I noticed that Peterborough have demolished one of the standing terraces behind the goal (known as the Moy’s End) that housed three and-a-half thousand away supporters to make room for seating.  The standing terrace behind the main goal that holds home supporters is still standing mind and to public knowledge, there are no plans to destroy that.  Back to matters on the field, a point or more for United would mean that they will finish the calendar year in the playoff positions whilst Coventry are still ten points away from the top six.

Both Crawley and MK Dons enjoyed good results at the weekend; the former winning at league leaders Leyton Orient and the latter winning a second game on the spin against Port Vale.  In their last away day, the Dons achieved a surprise victory at Molineux against Wolves. Last season saw the first ever encounter between the two clubs in which the Dons failed to score a single goal.  MK Dons have an outside chance of a playoff place, as do Port Vale, who host relegation candidates Notts County. An away win could move County out of the relegation zone whilst a home victory could move the Vale within two points of a playoff place. Notts County have won three of the last four fixtures between these two sides and there last away game ended in a 4-0 victory at Colchester which even manager Shaun Derry was surprised about.

The team that County overcame, Colchester, host Graham Westley’s Stevenage. Stevenage currently occupy one of the relegation places but are only a win, or even a draw, away from safety. A win for Colchester could move up to 12^th position with a victory. These two teams have only played against each other four times in the history of football and Stevenage have failed to score in three of these. It must be added that the one time they did score was in a 6-1 thumping at the Colchester Community Stadium.

In the other game in the division, Sheffield United host Oldham Athletic. Oldham recently secured an FA Cup third round tie with Liverpool after winning a replay against Mansfield.   It will be the third year in succession that the sides have faced each other in the Football Association Cup.  It was not too long ago that Sheffield United were playing Liverpool in a league fixture but those Premiership days are nothing more than history now and it is the drop to the fourth tier of English football that the Blades have to worry about. On the subject of the top tier, this was once a Premiership game and in these four Premiership encounters, Oldham failed to win a single one. The more recent history between these teams tells a similar story; Oldham have won just one of their last seven against United.

Henry's Boxing Day League One Predictions:

Coventry City 0-0 Peterborough United

Brentford 0-1 Swindon Town

Carlisle United 0-2 Preston North End

Gillingham 0-0 Leyton Orient

Bradford 1-0 Rotherham

Bristol City 2-1 Walsall

Colchester 0-0 Stevenage

Crawley 0-0 MK Dons

Port Vale 1-0 Notts County

Sheffield United 3-0 Oldham

Shrewsbury 0-2 Tranmere

Wolves 1-0 Crewe