4 Minds Are Better Than One - A Shared Save

[bcfc1]

March

Yeovil 2 (Fisher 79, Gobern 87)
Crewe 0

Jaaskelainen, Ward, Sheaf, Plummer, Hun (Ng), McGugan, Walker, Elder (Pickering), Preston, Bowery (Miller), Massey

The poor form continues as we struggle to play my style of football for 90 minutes. 2 late goals got them the win here. I will be making changes to the team in the next game.

Crewe 5 (Preston 13, Bowery 24, 33, 81, Flanagan 48)
Grimsby 1 (Davis 76pen)

Jaaskelainen, Ward, Sass-Davies, Plummer, Ng, Flanagan, Walker, Elder, Preston, Bowery*, Massey

Now that is how to break a bad run of form. We controlled the game from the off and could have scored even more. I hope this changes our form for the better now.

Morecombe 0
Crewe 1 (Preston 86)

Jaaskelainen, Ward, Sheaf, Plummer, Ng, Flanagan (Wintle), McGugan (Walker), Elder, Preston*, Bowery, Massey

Another win as we benefit from a late goal this time. Morecombe were hard to break down but we eventually got the win that we deserved.

Crewe 2 (Raynes 60, Preston 82)
Cheltenham 1 (Forster 65)

Jaaskelainen, Hunt*, Raynes, Plummer, Ng (Hunt), Flanagan, Walker (Wintle), Elder, Preston, Bowery, Massey

Another late winner here gives us the 3 points. This time it was down to Preston who has been very good on the wing for me in my stint.

Notts Co 0
Crewe 1 (Bowery 14)

Jaaskelainen, Ward, Raynes (Walker), Plummer, Ng (Hunt), Flanagan, McGugan, Pickering (Agyepong), Preston*, Bowery, Massey

My final game ends with a win as we get an early goal against play-off team Notts Co and then held on for the win. This is my last game in charge for the season and it was nice to finish off with a win and 4 match winning run as well.

Summary

Despite the blip during February and the start of March, we still sit top of the table and just 6 games away from playing in League 1. Lets hope by the time I am managing the team again that we are in their and can hold our own in that division.

Player of the month
Reece Flanagan

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League Table

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​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

April 2018

April 2018

So the other three lads had put us in prime position and now it was over to me to see us over the line. I would manage our final 6 games of the season, which included a mass of teams currently sitting mid table. Carlisle, Colchester, Bury were all sitting between 10th​ and 14th​. My games would also offer up two of the top 4 and bottom side Macclesfield!

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Just as the other lads have done, I decided to put my own stamp on the formation for my tenure here and we’ll be seeing out the season with a flat 4-4-2 and keeping things simple to try to secure that League Two title.

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Monday 2nd​ April 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League Two
Bury vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Sheaf, Ward, Hanley, Agyepong (Massey 68), McGugan (Walker 68), Green, Pickering, Bowery, Miller

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One thing that has been really interesting about this save is the way different managers favour different players. I have a couple of players straight into my starting lineup here that haven’t featured a lot this season for the other lads…. Thomas Agyepong only has 3 appearances, Harry Pickering only has 5 games to his name, and Elliott Ward and Raheem Hanley at the back have only 26 starts between the two of them. And it was one of those players, Harry Pickering who really impressed down the left wing and chipped in with a goal too! We won the game pretty comfortably and with Cambridge United only managing a draw it leaves us 4 points clear at the top with 5 games remaining! Not a bad way to kick off my stint!



And that win makes it a new record of 26 wins in a season for Crewe!

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Saturday 7th​ April 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League Two
Carlisle United vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Sheaf, Ward (Ng 74), Hanley, Agyepong, McGugan (Walker 74), Green, Pickering, Bowery (Porter 74), Miller

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When Carlisle were awarded a very soft penalty in the 89th​ minute, it looked like we’d been robbed of a point. But the lads showed true grit as they dug in and got themselves level in the 93rd​ through centre back, Ben Sheaf! A valuable point it proves to be as well because Cambridge United lost to Exeter, which means we stretch our lead at the top to 5 points with 4 games remaining.



Striker Shaun Miller who has 20 goals this season, will now miss the final few games after picking up an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the month!

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Saturday 14th​ April 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League Two
Crewe Alexandra vs Cambridge United
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Sheaf, Ward, Hanley (Plummer 74), Agyepong, Walker, Green, Pickering, Bowery (Preston 74), Porter

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A top of the table clash as 1st​ took on 2nd​ in a game that would have a huge impact on the title race! It was a tight, nervy affair in the first half and we were pretty poor as we went into the break at 1-0 down. But some calming words from Mason at half time seemed to settle the lads and they were incredible in the 2nd​ half as we went on to win the game easily in the end! A huge win which all but secures the League Two title for us! Chris Porter stepped in for the injured Shaun Miller and bagged himself 2 goals!



With that win against Cambridge United, we secure promotion to League One next season! Now, to try to complete a wonderful season by lifting the title.

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With promotion in the bag, the board have set the initial budgets for next year! We’ll have a whole £768 to spend on new players!!!

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With 3 games remaining, we have already set a new record points tally as well!

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Saturday 21st​ April 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League Two
Macclesfield Town vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Sheaf, Ward, Hanley (Plummer 38), Agyepong, Walker, Green, Pickering (Massey 66), Bowery, Porter (Preston 66)

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With Macclesfield well adrift at the bottom of the table and already relegated, we couldn’t of asked for a better fixture to attempt to wrap up the league title. Jordan Bowery capped off a wonderful season for him with four goals here to get us over the line…..he was incredible!



Championes, Championes, Ole, Ole, Ole!!!

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Ryan Mason is a hero in his first full season of football management!

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Saturday 28th​ April 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League Two
Crewe Alexandra vs Crawley Town
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Sheaf, Jacob, Hanley, Conlon, Walker, Green, Pickering, Bowery, Kalantari

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With the league title already won, I decided to give some of our youth prospects a run out here. In fact, we had no less than three 15 year olds in the squad, all of whom came through the youth intake this season – Jeff Jacob (CB), Joe Conlon (RW) and Arian Kalantari (ST). And although we threw away a 2 goal lead, all three youngsters gave good accounts of themselves, with Conlon and Kalantari getting assists on their debuts and then the magic moment as Conlon scored the winning goal!! The future looks bright!



What a debut it was for 15 year old Joe Conlon! A goal and an assist! The goal also makes him Crewe’s youngest ever goalscorer! What a prospect we could have on our hands here…

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An unbeaten month for me wraps up the league title with ease. I have to give all the credit to the other 3 lads involved in this story though as they did all the leg work this season….I just took the glory at the end

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Player of the Month
Thomas Agyepong

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I have to give my player of the month to one of the fringe players that I brought into the first 11. Agyepong repaid that faith with 4 excellent performances this month!


​

 

[Klippybo]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I cant wait to see how we get on next season. I have the graveyard shift transfer wise but have probably the most games.

Well done guys!!!

£768 budget though - **** off

 

[FM_TNSSO]

May 2018

May 2018

Saturday 5th​ May 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League Two
Colchester United vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Jaaskelainen, Hunt, Sheaf, Jacob (Ng 45), Hanley (Plummer 79), Conlon, Walker (McGugan 60), Green, Pickering, Bowery, Kalantari

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The three 15 year olds kept their place in the team for the final game of the season, and this time it was striker, Arian Kalantari that made the impact scoring his first senior goal for the club inside the opening 20 minutes. Jordan Bowery added a 2nd​ with his 26th​ goal in all competitions this season and it looked like we were on our way to a final day win! Colchester weren’t going down easily though and it was ‘game on’ when they pulled one back just after the half hour mark. A pretty drab second half played out and it looked like we were going to see the game out. Only a 91st​ minute Frank Nouble strike denied us a final day victory, although I keep my own personal unbeaten record intact.



So there it is, the final league table. What a first season we have had, winning the League Two title with ease, recording a whopping 96 points along the way! Not only that, but we had the 3rd​ best attack in the league behind MK Dons and Carlisle, and the 4th​ best defence as well!

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Wow, the prize money is really poor down at this level!

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The end of season awards throws up no real surprises I guess, as top goalscorer Jordan Bowery is voted the fan’s player of the season. Brad Walker got the young player of the season which is fully deserved (although he barely featured for me).

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The board are delighted with our collective performance as manager this season!

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19 year old striker, Owen Dale, has been on loan all season with Boston United and he’s impressed immensely, picking up the top goalscorer award for the league at the end of the season!

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Everton lift the FA Cup after beating their Merseyside rivals in the final.

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The commercial summary makes for good reading as everything is on the up!

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It’s Cambridge United who win the playoffs and will join us, Cheltenham and Northampton in League One next year.

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Brad Walker picks up the League Two player of the year, and we have no less than 5 players named in the League Two team of the year as well!

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[FM_TNSSO]

June 2018

June 2018

I make my first Summer signing, bringing in George Francomb from Crawley on a free transfer. Francomb is a versatile player who can play anywhere down the right and even step in and cover centre mid if needed. He was a prominent figure in Crawley’s team this season as they finished 6th​ in League Two and he can certainly do a job for us next year.

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Jake Wright quickly follows Francomb into the club as I snap up another free transfer. Wright is a big signing for us, coming in from Sheffield Utd, where he struggled to break into the first team this season. But for us, he could be one of our key players at the back, offering some great stats and plenty of experience!

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One area that I was keen to strengthen before the new season started was the left back role. So I’m pleased to have brought in Sean Kavanagh on a free from Fulham. The 24 year old Irish full back will definitely be the best option we have at the club for this position and I think he’s a great addition.

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My fourth Summer signing is 25 year old English striker Brandon Barnes, who has been playing his football in Australia for the past couple of years. He was available on a free and I quickly snapped him up. I know it’s a **** league, but you can’t deny his record in Australia….scoring an incredible 57 goals in 54 games!

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The fixture list for the upcoming League One season is released, and we kick off against Shrewsbury away. Our first game will be a tough one against one of the biggest teams in the league in Coventry City.

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The board send us their expectations for the upcoming season. It’s no surprise that they only want us to avoid relegation in the league. There’s no real expectations for the cup competitions either, so as long as we can stay away from that bottom 4, we should be able to keep them happy.

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The board also agreed to upgrade the youth recruitment at the club.

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We’ll invite Sheffield United to our ground for the first round of the Carabao Cup. A difficult, but winnable draw I think.

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Striker, Chris Porter, has retired from the game. Porter featured 23 times for us last season and scored 10 goals, so he will potentially be missed and I’m hoping new signing, Brandon Barnes can fill that void.

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Ryan Mason is rewarded with another new contract and a pay rise to £2,000 per week.

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[FM_TNSSO]

July 2018

July 2018

Now this could be the signing of the Summer for us. We lost Ben Sheaf at the end of his loan deal and he didn’t want to return to us for another season on loan. However, I think I’ve got someone even better in Arsenal youngster, Konstantinos Mavropanos! He is sure to be a solid addition to our back line this season.

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We also raid Arsenal for a backup keeper to Jaaskelainen for the upcoming season. 18 year old Joao Virginia will fill that role for us as he joins on a season long loan.

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Our 3rd​ loan signing is young striker, Rhian Brewster, who joins from Liverpool for the season. Brewster will be looking to make a name for himself as he is still to make a competitive appearance in senior football.

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We were limited on right wingers in the squad, so I’ve brought in Alex Macdonald on a free transfer as extra cover for this position. Macdonald played 25 games for Mansfield last season, and contributed to their campaign with 2 goals and 6 assists. Unlikely to be a first team regular for us this season, but certainly a decent fringe player to have in the squad.

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The other thing we were in desperate need of was a good right back. After searching the market, I’ve managed to bring in 22 year old Jamie Sterry on loan from Newcastle and he’s likely to slot straight into the first 11.

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England won the 2018 World Cup!

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Zak Vyner follows Jamie Sterry into the club on a season long loan and will probably be his backup to the right full back position. Although, I could still see him getting plenty of playing time as he can cover the centre back role as well. The squad is pretty big now and gives me and the other three lads plenty of options across any of the formations that we all like to play, and I’ve managed to keep us well within our wage budget still. That being said, Vyner is likely to be my final signing unless someone fantastic becomes available out of the blue.

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Pre season has gone OK so far. We beat two weaker sides very easily and turned in a very respectable performance against Celtic! The scoreline against Arsenal wasn’t an entirely fair reflection on the game as we held our own for large periods, but as Arsenal were playing a full strength first 11, they overpowered us going forward and took their chances better than we did.

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The season kicks off next month and we’ll play our first 4 league games before the month is out. We also have the first round of the Carabao Cup to play, but before all of that we’ll play two more friendlies. Gillingham were relegated last year, so will give us an indication of where we stand against the bottom end of League One opposition.

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[FM_TNSSO]

August 2018

August 2018

The group stage draw for the Checkatrade Trophy takes place and I think we’ve been handed a pretty easy group that we should be winning.

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New left back, Sean Kavanagh, picks broke his leg in one of the pre season matches, meaning he will miss 5 months of action! Absolutely gutting as he was definitely going to be a first team starter for me!

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I quickly address the left back situation, by bringing in Matic Paljk on loan from Swansea for the next 5 months.

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Saturday 11th​ August 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Shrewsbury Town vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, Francomb, Walker, Green, Pickering, Bowery (Brewster 64), Miller

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Well I was not expecting that! We started our League One campaign in emphatic style! This was actually quite a tight game based on the stats, but we looked absolutely incredible going forward and the quality of the chances we created showed with the fact we were able to convert no less than 7 of them into goals!!!



Tuesday 14th​ August 2018 (19:45)
Carabao Cup 1st​ RoundCrewe Alexandra vs Sheffield United
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, Francomb (Macdonald 45), Walker, Green, Pickering, Brewster, Miller (Bowery 45 (Sent off 69))

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Sheffield United bring us back down to earth with a bang as we crash out of the Carabao Cup at the 1st​ round stage. We were competitive for large periods, but they were just too strong for us in the end, and when we went down to 10 men, we were always going to be up against it.



Saturday 18th​ August 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Crewe Alexandra vs Coventry City
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk (Plummer 71), Francomb, Walker, Green (McGugan 63), Pickering, Brewster, Miller

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We dominated this game from start to finish, but it looked like we might be beaten! However, two late goals completely turned the game on it’s head and we take a deserved 3 points from our first home game in League One.



Saturday 25th​ August 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
AFC Wimbledon vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Plummer, Francomb, Walker, Doyle, Pickering, Brewster, Miller

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For the first time in the league this season, we were outplayed. However, we still managed to grab the win and maintain our 100% league record.



Injuries have hit us over the past couple of games and we have now lost Rhian Brewster, Matic Paljk and Paul Green as well as Sean Kavanagh. Hopefully, we can ride the storm with the rest of the squad and keep up our good form.

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At the end of August, it’s only us and Burton Albion that maintain 100% records in the league and due to our big win over Shrewsbury, we are top on goal difference. I couldn’t have wished to a better start to the season and the lads have been fantastic.

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Player of the Month
Shaun Miller

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Miller was an important member of the squad last year, scoring 18 league goals and he has started our League One campaign in cracking form!



September will be my last month in charge before I hand back to KLIPPY and it will be a busy one, with no less than 6 games! I really hope I can maintain our good form in the league and hand over with us in a good position.

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[FM_TNSSO]

September 2018

September 2018

We were crowned Manager of the Month for August after our perfect start to the league campaign.

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Saturday 1st​ September 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Cheltenham Town vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Plummer, Francomb, Walker, Doyle, Pickering, Barnes, Miller

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A tight game which could have gone either way and a draw is probably a fair result.



Tuesday 4th​ September 2018 (19:45)
Checkatrade Trophy Group BCrewe Alexandra vs Tranmere Rovers
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Vyner, Ng, Wright, Plummer, MacDonald, Walker, Doyle, Pickering, Barnes, Miller

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We really should have had this game won in 90 minutes, but at least we take the extra point for winning the shootout.



Saturday 15th​ September 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Charlton Athletic vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos (Ng 74), Wright, Paljk, Francomb (MacDonald 64), Walker, Green, Pickering, Bowery, Miller (Barnes 64)

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Our first league defeat of the season and my first league defeat during my stint as manager. It hurts as I felt we were good enough to get at least a draw out of this game and Charlton were certainly nothing special. It just wasn’t our day.



Tuesday 18th​ September 2018 (19:45)
Sky Bet League One
Crewe Alexandra vs Bristol Rovers
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright (Plummer 80), Paljk, Francomb, Walker, Green (McGugan 56), Pickering (MacDonald 3), Bowery, Miller

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We bounce back from defeat against Charlton immediately with a good home win against Rovers. We had majority of the possession and made it count by turning it into some real quality chances in front of goal. However, it still took two penalties for us to take all 3 points and we might have got away with another poor performance in front of goal for the strikers here.



Saturday 22nd​ September 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Crewe Alexandra vs Northampton Town
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright (Paljk 68), Plummer, Francomb, Walker (McGugan 68), Green, MacDonald, Bowery (Barnes 56), Miller

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Northampton have made a flying start to the campaign and were 2nd​ at kick off, so this is a good draw against one of the leading sides in the division. We’ll take it anyway! Jordan Bowery is starting to find the back of the net regularly again and looks like he is more than adept to scoring in this higher league.



Saturday 29th​ September 2018 (15:00)
Sky Bet League One
Bradford City vs Crewe Alexandra
Formation: 4-4-2
Lineup: Virginia, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, Francomb, McGugan, Green (Hanley 61), MacDonald, Bowery, Miller (Barnes 45)

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My final game in charge ends in another draw, but this one we were very lucky to get. Completely outclassed by Bradford and it felt like we were hanging on from the very first minute! But to our credit, we did hang on and take a very good point from a very tough away game.



So after 6 months in charge, my record across the back end of last season and the first part of this reads P: 16, W: 8, D: 6, L: 2. I’ll take that!! And as I hand over to KLIPPY, we are sitting just outside the playoffs in League One, but more importantly there is some distance between us and those dreaded relegation places. Hopefully, I have set a foundation on which the other lads can build on and this can be a successful campaign for us.

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Player of the Month
Jordan Bowery

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Bowery has scored in every game he has played this month and looks like he’ll have a huge part to play if we’re going to have any success at all this season.


​

 

[Klippybo]

DARIO GRADI - THE CREWE LEGEND


OCTOBER

v
​​Crewe Alexandra 2 (Paljk 25, Kalantari 90)
Bolton Wanderers 1 (Magennis 3)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos (Ward), Wright, Paljk, Francomb, Walker, Green (McGugan), MacDonald, Bowery, Miller (Kalantari)

I have no idea how we won this. Firstly Bolton are full of players valued between £1-3m, secondly they absolutely battered us 24 shots to 8 but Arian Kalantari (how is that for a Scottish name) scored a screamer from the edge of the area to give us the winner.

I kept the same formation as was used before but tweaked it a little regarding player roles. I got the result but not the performance.

--

v
​​Plymouth Argyle 1 (Stankovic 69)
Crewe Alexandra 2 (Bowery 35, Francomb 51)

Lineup -

Jaaskelainen, Sterry (Ng), Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, Francomb*, Walker, Green (Flanagan), MacDonald, Bowery, Miller (Brewster)​

Now here is a performance!!! Although the scoreline doesn't reflect the dominance that we had this was a top notch performance as we dominated from start to finish. Might stick with this formation!!!!

--

Checkatrade Trophy Group B
v
​​Carlisle United 1 (Mangan 41)
Crewe Alexandra 2 (Francomb 37, Bowery 82)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry (Ng), Ward, Wright, Paljk, Francomb*, McGugan, Green (Flanagan), MacDonald, Bowery, Miller (McNall)

Wasn't bothered about this game tbh but I am naturally pleased that we won and on hindsight it would be nice to win this as we hopefully progress so maybe I should take it more seriously. Francomb's goal was a beauty from long range.

--

v
Portsmouth 2 (Marriott 14, Pitman 33)
Crewe Alexandra 2 (Wright 8, Miller 44)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Ward, Wright, Paljk, Francomb, Walker, Green, Pickering (MacDonald), Bowery (Kalantari), Miller

We weren't at our best here but I am pleased that we avoided defeat. Pitman's goal was a screamer from distance.

--

v
Crewe Alexandra 4 (Miller 25, 37, Brewster 65, Pickering 90)
Rochdale 2 (Inman 2, 0'Hare 75)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos (Ward), Wright, Paljk, Francomb, Walker (Flanagan), Green (Rodgers), Pickering, Brewster, Miller*

Very impressive. Brewster even had a goal disallowed as we put in a really good performance. Mavropanos is flattering to deceive so far which is surprising as I thought he would be much better.

--

v
Peterborough United 3 (Dembele 7, Cooke 28, Kanu 41)
Crewe Alexandra 3 (Miller 42, 86, Brewster 88)

Lineup -

Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright (Ward), Paljk, Francomb, Walker, Green (Rodgers), Pickering, Brewster, Miller​

A game of 2 halves or maybe not - a game where we were **** for 85min and then all of a sudden we sparked into life and somehow clawed back a 2 goal deficit. I am liking this team!!!

--

v
​​Crewe Alexandra 3 (Brewster 11, Miller 32, 57)
Cambridge United 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Pickering, Francomb, Walker (Flanagan), Green, Barker, Brewster, Miller*

The Brewster-Miller partnership is blossoming as they tore Cambridge apart here. My new signing Brandon Barker made his debut and got an assist.

--

SUMMARY

What a month!!! Its tricky coming into a team that is a year down the line than when you left it but it was a buzz playing this month with new players and them all playing well. I stuck with the current formation and just tweaked a little things and it worked magnificently as we were unbeaten through the whole month.

I did manage to bring in a new player as I brought in Brandon Barker from Man City on a free transfer. Although he is our highest paid player at £3.5k a week I managed to get him to cancel all his yearly wage hikes, his minimum fee release clauses and his non-promotion release clause which will save us a bundle. He even managed to get an assist on his debut.
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Everything is fantastic - 2nd in the league with a game in hand - COME ON!!!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
SHAUN MILLER
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​​
--

LEAGUE TABLE
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[FM_TNSSO]

Nice work!!

 

[Klippybo]

NOVEMBER

​​v
​​Crewe Alexandra 4 (Miller 10, 61, 90pen, Kalantari 84)
Oxford United 3 (Shaughnessy 27, Oulare 90, Dickie 90)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry (Ng), Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, Francomb, Walker (Rodgers), Flanagan, Barker, Brewster (Kalantari), Miller*

The run continues but this should have been much more comfortable. After Miller completed his hat-trick in the last minute to make it 4-1 we inexplicably conceded 2 goals in stoppage time to make it much closer than it should have been.

--

v
​​Crewe Alexandra 3 (Bowery 8, Miller 73, Pickering 90)
Scunthorpe United 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry*, Mavropanos (Ward), Wright, Paljk, Francomb, Walker (McGugan), Green, Barker (Pickering), Bowery, Miller

Brewster had a knock so Bowery came in and scored immediately. Miller was not to be outdone and scored for the 7th game in a row and we are on a 12 game unbeaten run!!!!!

--

FA Cup 1st Round
https://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/club=2601110/profile/index.htmlv
​​Crewe Alexandra 2 (Miller 47, 53)
Oldham Athletic 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos (Ward), Wright, Paljk, MacDonald, Walker, Green (Wintle), Barker, Brewster, Miller*

Nothing to see here - we win, Brewster passes and Miller scores. On to the next game!!!

--

Checkatrade Trophy Group B
v
​​Crewe Alexandra 3 (Walker 45, Miller 72, Brewster 79)
Liverpool U23s 1 (Sturridge 24)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Ng (Raynes), Wright, Peljk, MacDonald, Walker*, Green, Barker, Brewster, Miller

Both sides were already through so this was a dead rubber but somehow we won despite Liverpool fielding Karius, Clyne, Gomez, Grujic, Wilson and Sturridge. Brewster scored against his parent club while Miller made it 9 games in a row for scoring.

--

v
​​Crewe Alexandra 3 (Miller 32, 71, MacDonald 61)
Southend United 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, MacDonald, Walker (Flanagan), Green (McGugan), Barker, Brewster (McNall), Miller*

10 games in a row for Miller as we go top of the league!!!!!

--

v
Walsall 0
Crewe Alexandra 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos*, Wright, Paljk, MacDonald, Walker, Green (McGugan), Barker (Pickering), McNall (Conlon), Miller

Our winning run and Miller's goalscoring run comes to an end but it could have been different as Paul Green missed a first half penalty.

--

SUMMARY

Where to start??? We were amazing this month as we won every game bar the final one and even then we missed a penalty as we finish the month top of the table and through in both the FA Cup and the Checkatrade Trophy. My players are playing out of their skin but not just the 2 amazing strikers Miller and Brewster but also Barker, Sterry and Mavropanos have caught the eye.

Our performances are not going unnoticed as Wolves (Premier League), Aston Villa, Charlton, Norwich, Sunderland and Sheff Wed amongst others have been linked with offering me a new job but I haven't had any offers yet - not that I would accept them.

Also Ryan Colclough scored his 10th goal for Wigan so that brought an extra £100k into the club while Miller and Walker extended their contracts and took a pay cut at the same time. Finally I have managed to sign a new regen striker from DR Congo and he will join us towards the end of next month where he will be revealed and unleashed.

THE RAILWAYMEN ARE ON TRACK!!!!!!!
(Sorry lol)

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
SHAUN MILLER
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​​
--

LEAGUE TABLE
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[Klippybo]

DECEMBER

​​v
​​Crewe Alexandra 2 (Byrne 9og, Wright 56)
Wigan Athletic 1 (Grigg 77)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright*, Pickering, MacDonald, Walker (Flanagan), Green (McGugan), Barker, Brewster (McNall), Miller

Our first goal was a joke as the goalie let a pass-back go under his foot and into the net. Wigan had a man sent-off and then they improved and scored a goal typically.

--

v
Luton Town 1 (Ennis 22)
Crewe Alexandra 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk (Kavanagh), Francomb (MacDonald), Walker, Rodwell, Barker, Brewster, Miller

The long, long unbeaten run is over as Luton totally outplayed us. However Rhian Brewster missed a penalty which would have given us a point. Not a good debut for our new boy Jack Rodwell.

--

FA Cup 2nd Round
​​v
​​Rotherham United 2 (Newell 12, Yates 84)
Crewe Alexandra 2 (Miller 51, Brewster 65)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk (Kavanagh), Francomb, Walker (Green), Rodwell, Barker, Brewster, Miller

Yates goal was a sickener as not only does it mean that it halted our progress but it also means we have another game to play. I have postponed games due to international duty twice already so the games to play are building up!!!

--

Checkatrade Trophy North 2nd Round
v
​​Crewe Alexandra 3 (Brewster 6, 83, Miller 27)
Stoke City U23s 1 (Ings 7)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Ward, Wright, Paljk (Kavanagh), Francomb (MacDonald), Walker, Green (McGugan), Barker, Brewster*, Miller

A great win. Stoke played Ings, Imbula and Ince so they had a fairly strong side but we thumped them here to go through to play Liverpool U23s again!!!

--

v
​​Crewe Alexandra 4 (Miller 14, 43, 50, Mavropanos 20)
Shrewsbury Town 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, MacDonald, Walker, Rodwell, Barker, Brewster, Miller*

A perfect performance - apart from the fact that Brewster missed a penalty but this time Miller tucked away the rebound as he went on to score a fabulous hat-trick.

--

FA Cup 2nd Round Replay
v
​​Crewe Alexandra 1 (Miller 13)
Rotherham United 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry*, Mavropanos, Wright, Kavanagh (Pickering), MacDonald, Walker, Rodwell (Green), Barker, Brewster (Bowery), Miller

We did just enough to win this but it was a close run thing as Rotherham had chances to equalise right at the end. Bristol City are our opponents in the next round.

--

v
Coventry City 2 (Agbonlahor 30, Ogogo 72)
Crewe Alexandra 2 (Katumbi Chapwe 46, Brewster 80)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Kavanagh, MacDonald, Walker (McGugan), Rodwell, Barker (Pickering), Katumbi Chapwe, Miller (Brewster)

Coventry are in the midst of a relegation battle so I am disappointed not to beat them but having said that they were by far the better team on the day. My new regen striker, Ourdy Katumbi Chapwe, managed to get on the scoresheet on his debut which is encouraging.

--

v
​​Crewe Alexandra 2 (MacDonald 42, Waterfall 90og)
Burton Albion 0

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Kavanagh, MacDonald*, Walker (McGugan), Rodwell, Barker, Katumbi Chapwe (Brewster), Miller

When my current spell started Burton were running away with the league but we have swapped places since and beat them here thanks to 2 long range strikes from Alex MacDonald - the 2nd taking a wicked deflection before going in,

--

v
Blackpool 0
Crewe Alexandra 3 (Miller 5, 52, 58)

Lineup - Jaaskelainen, Sterry (Vyner), Ward, Wright, Kavanagh, MacDonald, Walker, Green (Wintle), Barker, Katumbi Chapwe, Miller*

We end 2018 with a nice away victory and Shaun Miller scored another hat-trick to end my 3 month spell in charge which is quite apt.

--

SUMMARY

December was a bit trickier than previous months and we suffered some set backs with defeat against Luton being the main set back. We didn't seem to batter teams so much but in the end we are 5pts clear at the top of League 1 and have progressed in both cup competitions.

I strengthened the squad by bringing in 2 new players on a free. Jack Rodwell joined from Reading while I managed to bring in a great looking regen striker, Ourdy Katumbi Chapwe, on a pre-contract and he got a goal on his debut. Both of these players will raise the standards at the club and should we get to the Championship, should be able to compete at that level.
View attachment 40542
View attachment 40541

Over and out - Hampus its over to you!!!!

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
SHAUN MILLER
​​View attachment 40540

--

LEAGUE TABLE
View attachment 40539
​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Good work!! Could we make it back to back titles and promotions!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

With everything going swimmingly I decided to change nothing about the formation for my first game and see what happened.

View attachment 40250

We won 4-0. The goals came from a penalty, a free kick and two corners. That’s despite us having no special corner or free kick tactic… something must be going right!

And the next game was almost as easy.

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Then next up was a fortunate win against Scunthorpe.

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3 wins out of 3! It's great inheriting a squad that is in incredible form and has amazing morale.

Meanwhile I tried to get our 2 star loanees to sign up for another season. Mavropanos declined whereas Jamie Sterry will be here next season.

View attachment 40247

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I also brought in Josh DaSilva on loan from Arsenal. He adds quality to centre midfield and more importantly costs us nothing. He also turned out to be our only signing of the transfer window.

View attachment 40245

We did have a £45,000 bid accepted from Oxford for Jordan Bowery. However it made no sense to strengthen a promotion rival even if it does mean he’ll leave on a free in the summer.

After those transfers we were unfortunately knocked out of the FA Cup by Bristol City. Despite being in ridiculous form they were just too good for us on the day and showed that there’s a big step up to be made next season if we get promotion again.

View attachment 40244

Our collective good form however means after just a season and a half we’re already being linked with Premier League jobs!

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And on the back of our good form the board decided to organise a fan day for our game against Cheltenham so we could show the people of Crewe what we were made of.

View attachment 40242

So of course we lost 2-0, of course.

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2 days later we faced Liverpool under 23s in the Checkatrade which, I have to confess, I did not care one bit about.

View attachment 40240

We ended up losing on penalties to a Liverpool u23 side containing well known youngsters Loris Karius, Sebastian Rudy, Eran Zahavi (just signed for £27m), Alex Oxlade Chamberlain and Luan…

That meant we had lost 3 in a row in all competitions but we were back to winning ways in our final game of January against Bristol Rovers.

View attachment 40239

Shaun Miller just won’t stop scoring! Not bad for a League Two standard player

So after an up-and-down month here’s the League One table… We’re still 6 points clear!

View attachment 40238

And with 7 goals in 5 games, Rhian Brewster was unsurprisingly the League One player of the month.

View attachment 40237​

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

Our first game of February was against midtable Charlton at home.

View attachment 40006

Uh oh. The bottlejob is becoming more and more a possibility. That was our third match in a row lost at home.

Sterry and Mavropanos have averaged 6.48 and 6.38 in the last 5 games… they’re 2 of our best players!

View attachment 40004

I was quite thankful our next game was away after our recent poor home form.

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Wow. Whereas we probably deserved to lose against Charlton this one was hard to take. We had had twice as many shots and they killed us with a goal at the end as we tried to find the equaliser.

February could not have got off to a worse start. We were still top but Burton and Bradford were right back up there with us.

View attachment 40002

The fans were calling for tactical change and I agreed with them. We’d lost 5 of our last 6 games with the 4-4-2.

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And who was our next game against? Bradford of course.

Do me proud 5-3-2.

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What a result! It was only ruined by the fact that Brandon Barker picked up an injury and will be out for 6 weeks. He played a 7.6 in an unfamiliar mezzala role against Bradford.

View attachment 39998

Our next game 3 days later was a real tough one away against Bolton

View attachment 39997

We chucked away a 2-goal lead but I would’ve taken a draw before the game as they are a side full of Championship talent.

To prove that the 5-3-2 was working we needed to beat bottom of the table Plymouth comfortably in our next game.

View attachment 39996

A win and a clean sheet is what we needed. Elsewhere Bradford beat Burton meaning that we’re 8 points better off with 12 games remaining.

View attachment 39995

What could possibly go wrong from here?​

 

[Klippybo]

Cant believe the 4-4-2 formation (which I wasn't going to continue with but we kept on winning so didn't change it) just collapsed like that. Well done on the recovery though!!!!

 

[Hampus Silverholt]

March started off with our youth intake. It was described in the inbox as a golden generation but that remains to be seen. Still, there's a few tasty players in there and the players from last years intake are improving rapidly as well

View attachment 39991

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We had a favourable fixture list in March and our first game was away against Cambridge

View attachment 39986

Not the result we wanted against a side that were 18th ​. At this stage I’m concentrating more on the gap between us and third than I am on our performances.

View attachment 39985

Next up was Portsmouth and we stuck with the 5-3-2 with Barker’s continued absence.

View attachment 39984

The win was far more comfortable than it seems as Portsmouth only had one shot on target all game… yet still scored twice. Burton and Bradford also both won their games.

A tough test against 6th​ placed Rochdale was our next match.

View attachment 39983

Jordan Bowery! He may be 4th​ choice striker but that goal could prove to be massive, particularly as Burton and Bradford won’t drop any points!

We also had to postpone two league matches in the international break as both our first and second choice goalkeepers were on international duty (along with other first team players Brewster and Paljk).

View attachment 39982

This meant that there were only two more games left in March. The first was at home to Peterborough, Ryan Mason’s 100th​ game in management!

View attachment 39981

View attachment 39980

We picked up another important win, which left us 7 unbeaten in the league. Burton, however, once again won meaning that there were still only 6 points separating us from the playoffs.

The last game of my stint was away against Oxford

View attachment 39979

Well that was underwhelming. That was the first time we failed to score using the 5-3-2 and it may be a good time to change things up with Brandon Barker coming back from injury.

Thankfully we’re still top but Burton and Bradford are breathing down our neck.

View attachment 39978

And it just so happens that our last game of the season is away against Burton…

View attachment 39977

7 games to get us promoted...no pressure bcfc!​

 

[bcfc1]

7 games to get us promoted...no pressure bcfc!
​

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I hope to get the end of the season done tomorrow so we won't have to wait too long to see what happens.

 

[bcfc1]

April

I have decided to bring in a new tactic and I am trying to play with a 433 with a narrow 3 man midfield. We have a lot of midfielders so this should allow us to play a lot of those while also keeping Barker and Brewster on the wings.

Crewe 2 (Brewster 17pen, 41)
Luton 1 (Collins 61)

Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk (Kavanagh), Rodwell, Walker, Dasilva, Brewster*, Barker (Pickering), Katumbi Chapwe (Miller)

This was a very nice start to my second stint as manager. The last 15/20 minutes were a bit nervous as they pushed for an equaliser but we held on to get the first 3 points of my stint. The tactic looked pretty good as well as it kept us compact when defending but gave us width when attacking.

Crewe 0
Walsall 1 (Edwards 23)

Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, Rodwell (Flanagan), Walker, Dasilva, Brewster, Katumbi Chapwe (Miller), Barker

I am disappointed with this result as we played really well and deserved to get something from this game. Walsall won the game from a corner as we didn’t defend it well enough and then just couldn’t create a good enough chance to get back into it. This brings Bradford and Burton closer to us which is a problem but we do have a game in hand.

Southend 1 (Hopper 6)
Crewe 4 (Rodwell 14, Brewster 42, Mavropanos 43, Katumbi Chapwe 48)

Jaaskelainen, Sterry (Ng), Mavropanos*, Wright, Paljk (Kavanagh), Rodwell, Walker, Dasilva, Brewster (Francomb), Katumbi Chapwe, Barker

A really good win here in our game in hand means we can extend our lead at the top of the table. We are very close to gaining automatic promotion and just a couple more wins will secure that.

Rotherham 1 (De Paula 13)
Crewe 5 (Dasilva 19, Brewster 25, 90, Walker 47, 79)

Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, Rodwell (Flanagan), Walker* (McGugan), Dasilva (Francomb), Brewster, Katumbi Chapwe, Barker

Another very good win here. This tactic can certainly score goals but this is my 4th​ game and we have yet to keep a clean sheet. If we can change that in the next game then we could guarantee a top 2 finish and start looking to the high life of the Championship.

Wigan 1 (Jacobs 55)
Crewe 1 (Barker 57)

Jaaskelainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk (Kavanagh), Rodwell, Walker*, Dasilva, Brewster, Katumbi Chapwe (Miller), Barker

Again we concede a goal and it costs us 2 points here. Wigan had a late penalty that they hit the post with so we ended up pretty lucky with that point. We have just 2 games left and a 5 point gap on 3rd​ so unless we absolutely through it away, we should now have Championship football.

Crewe 1 (Brewster 9)
Blackpool 4 (Grot 42, 56, Zakuani 47, McLaughlin 68)

Jaasklenainen, Sterry, Mavropanos, Wright, Paljk, Rodwell (Flanagan), Walker (McGugan), Dasilva, Brewster, Katumbi Chapwe, Barker (Pickering)

I said before that we would have to absolutely throw it away for us to not get promoted and we are giving that a good attempt here. After taking an early lead, I was expecting us to pull away but they got 2 goals either side of half time and then they were able to run away with it.

Summary

A very mixed month where we were able to pick up some important points including winning our game in hand, but we also lost 2 games which meant we haven’t been able to secure our top two finish. We have just one game left of the season and it is going to be a winner takes all against 2nd​ place Burton. A draw will be enough for us but if we are to lose then Burton would definitely finish above us and also give Bradford the chance to finish above us as well.

Transfers

I was able to bring in a player as well as we signed Diego Poyet on a free transfer. He looks to be a very good DM or CM with his only weakness being his lack of speed. I am hoping to try and build our team early for next season and Poyet is the first piece of it.

View attachment 39482

Player of the Month
Brad Walker

View attachment 39481

League Table

View attachment 39479
​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Wow, you couldn't write it.....that tight at the top and we have Burton on the final day! I believe in you.....you got this!