From literal rags to worldwide fame. Yelizaveta's rise from the mud.

[Death Ball]

November 2018

Orr gets a three weeks injury in a Un20 friendly match.

Crawford comes complaining for his lack of first team football. His contract ran out. That meant something and he should know it. So I just try to encourage him to find another club.

He choses to leave the club a few days later. Hope he gets picked by one of the several clubs with interest in him soon.

This time I got the manager of the month award, as I was the only to win both matches.

Agnew is now happy with his time playing.

After yet another two weeks without league matches, we have a few players with fitness problems. Wilkie is back and Agnew is the other not fully fit. They're first but I'll try the usual system.
They start strong and dominating the match, so I change to the wide system. For some reason, Luke is not very fresh from the start and I don't know why. He's not injured, he didn't play the last U20 friendly, he should be fine. At any rate, the system change works and we begin to make chances until we go ahead. They change to a 4-2-4 and I'll keep things as they are.
In the second half a mistake by Mercer costs us the lead, as he is watching the players with the ball instead of his man, that gets free for a backdoor. However it was still a good play by them and Mercer had some justification to feel he shouldn't ignore the center. Agnew then makes a superb shot to get us ahead and then they get a great header from a bit of a messy play to make it 2-2. Sheering had the chance to win in the injury time, but he failed to run for it.
A draw against the leaders is never a bad result, more so if we've been the ones getting ahead.

McAusland is now the player asking for more first team football. He's been okay in his few appearances, so I will grant him his wish.

We face the bottom team with McAusland and Kevin Moon rotating in Luke and Slattery positions. We'll use the man marking system to deal with their fullbacks.
The first half could be improved. We get several chances, one goal, but Stranraer are too many times closer to score than is healthy.
Second half is the same but without goals. Gordon Smith sent over two great chances, not counting the third that he failed to get to the ball before the keeper. Last half hour was played with the wide system and the last ten minutes of that with a 4-5-1 to close the game.
We get into play off and close on the top teams, but I'm not completely happy, as I feel we should have got a bigger win.

Kevin Moon picked an injury that will keep him out for a month.

Another two week hiatus and now we face the second placed teams. A win would be huge.
We start well, with Quigley scoring from some pinball and Gordon Smith missing a sitter. Until Severn does something stupid and concedes.
Due to Severn poor outlook at half time talk he's coming out, so is McAusland because of a card. Quigley stays with his because then I'd run out of subs to change the match.
In the second half they get ahead with a good play, but we respond right away. Then with more than half an hour to play Quigley picks the second yellow, so I end having to bring Lithgow in for Gordon Smith and we drop Hopkirk to advanced midfield. He gets a penalty for Slattery to score when almost a quarter of hour to finish and then we manage to keep the result.
We got the huge win. We're now tied with Alloa and Forfar and six points behind Stenhousemuir.

 

[osullm]

Congrats on Manager of the Month award! You had a great October and November. Hopefully the defensive errors are finished up with and you can aim for promotion now!

 

[Death Ball]

Congrats on Manager of the Month award! You had a great October and November. Hopefully the defensive errors are finished up with and you can aim for promotion now!

If the next rounds are like the first but without throwing away two goal leads, then it should happen.

 

[Death Ball]

December 2018

Giving Agnew his chance at the first team was worth it as shown by him being second in the monthly player of the month award. Quigley got the second for the young player award. And I won the manager of the month for the second month in a row.

We get on the third round of one new cup, in which is the one I was asked to reach fourth round. I rotate the whole team to give everyone a chance to show what they're worth.
The first half is so bad that only Ferrie can pretend to have made any merit. And McAusland.
Second half and the first thing is Luke making a senselessly violent tackle to earn the second yellow and make moot the idea to go back to the starting system after I changed to a 4-3-3 early. It ends with a counter in which McAusland is, as asked, too forward and Ross Smith rightly covers for him, but gets passed and Lithgow just abandons his man to try cover a too narrow angle. I leave without a word.

We get just a few euros.

Back to the league, with fitness issues and the first choice eleven, except for Quigley who is suspended. Ross Smith takes his place as he was the centreback that didn't mess it up in the goal of the cup match.
As many matches, we start slow and pick up pace, with a couple of good or decent chances, missed by Gordon Smith.
Second half substitutions are conditioned by the fact we have a new league match in three days. I hate this competition's calendar, it's stupid. Huge needless breaks that have then to be compensated by gratuitous congestion. We don't get in the game any more and Ross Smith loses his man to leave Michael Rose to deal with two players of which he fails to get ball side of neither to seal our defeat.

We still have fitness issues when visiting the second to last team. Quigley and Gordon Smith aren't quite fit; but they return to make the starting team.
It's a quiet first half in which we look better. When I'm considering improvements for the attack, Gordon Smith gets a penalty that he himself converts. Then I apply the man marking and leave things as they are otherwise, since the team seems solid defensively.
Second half they go to a 4-4-2, start showing some threats, I change to wide system. Then Quigley tries to control the ball and gets it in the feet of a striker, that sends the ball back to the man he's marking well and Rose chases like a headless chicken, abandoning that striker so the ball goes back to him and he scores a great goal. Back to the 4-3-1-2 but no goals come.

We have a chance to get back into the promotion fight against the second placed team. We still have some fitness issues from the last break. I will use the man marking instructions, but instead of assigning their left back to Wilkie I will assign him to Gordon Smith, as they're using that 4-5-1 system.
First is the typical slow start to get into things as minutes pass. We get a goal after making some small change to stick to positions as they were getting too disorganized and Wilkie makes a poor control that keeps him from getting the pass to a lone striker.
McAusland ruins the match in the second half getting sent off with a second yellow card without a talking to. Smith gets a second goal; but then a poor clearance gives them the ball and Severn deals with the high shot by dropping to the ground, then they get the nth worldie long shot first time hit I'm better than Ronaldo goal and to end Mercer breaks an offside trap the other players had laid very well.
And coming up two matches more in six days. Wonderful calendar, it's either struggle to keep fitness or to fight tiredness. And Slattery got a twisted ankle.

One month without Slattery.

McAusland has been suspended for two matches and I warn him next time there will be a fine.

The day that transfer revenue retained has been decreased again to 5%, the board injects some cash.

We start a stretch of games away. Suspension and injury brings Luke and Moon back to the starting team and Huet is rotated in due to poor Mercer performances. Just before coming I made a team meeting to cheer the boys up, which seemed to work.
First half could have been so much better. We have the two best chances, but both Hopkirk and Gordon send the ball stupidly clear over the crossbar. With a small change of instructions (central midfield - defend) Luke has not picked a card yet.
Second half we don't get those chances, so I make some changes to the system and Sheerin gets a header in. Then the team seems to think again that when winning they can forget all about keeping shape and position so they give them the equalizer.
I'm so tired of these complacent bunch of idiots I left without a word to them.

Now we visit the second place without either McAusland nor Brown, so Mercer has to play right. Moon is tired so the other Kevin takes his place. We're changing the man mark so it's Wilkie and Gordon charged with marking the fullbacks so we keep a 3v2 in midfied.
The first half is satisfying, considering we're playing the second team. We restrict them to a not so good chance. Granted, ours aren't much better, but are more. Keeping tight and close watch on their top assist giver is seeming to work, as well as telling them to be more disciplined.
Sigh. It all looked so well and then they found a chance to exploit Oyenuga's pace to get ahead. Then Gordon has two superb chances and he chooses the most stupid shot in the first as well as the second: when he has three quarters of goal free in near post he chooses to send it tight to the far post, then just outside the six yard box he just taps it ever so gently. At least this time their goal was properly earned and the players were good.

What a **** month. Very frustrated. If I wasn't strapped for cash, I'd just jump ship from this bunch of frustrating duck heads. Yeah, I know I should have sacked some of the strikers at summer and bring someone who can kick a ball consistently, but these guys don't earn that much money and there's no guarantee they'd find a team. I'm not sending anyone to financial trouble, unless they're the ones who choose to, like Crawford.

Luckily the teams in play off positions are not doing that much better, so a string of good results would bring us back to the fight.

She's got a small increase to her reputation with the new coaching course. A start spike. Every attribute has grown, except working with youngsters, Adaptability and level of discipline. Fitness has gone up only by one, and is the area she's worked the least in. I guess then that thw three that haven't changed may be because they're hard to increase or I don't do much of that, like perhaps fining players or being very critic in talks?

So next rounds haven't improved like last month, so it seems directo promotion won't happen and play offs are not so sure.

 

[Death Ball]

January 2019

Just a few days after the last match, all the midfield and Huet had to come off because of tiredness. Quigley is tired because the other centrebacks are tired as well from U20 match. We had just got through players not fit just to go straight on tired legs. I was going to bring Orr to sit Hopkirk, but tiredness just sends him to midfield. System tweaks include use channels and roam from position for Wilkie, use channels for Gordon and making Mercer wingback defend instead of fullback defend.
We have a first half that gives us the best result than any full match. At 2-0 I make things slower but keep scoring, some weak efforts, I think their starting keeper must be injured and they're playing with an outfield player or a fifteen year old that saves nothing. We concede once due to bad luck: Quigley tries to block but just gets a deflection that deceives Severn.
Second half is quieter. They get one more goal from a free kick and we fail to get shots on target.

McAusland is now happy with his first team time.

Since they did so well, I keep Orr upfront and Hopkirk in midfield, with Agnew returning. Moon gets back to the bench and all else is unchanged. They have both strikers affected by some type of injury so hopefully that's going to be a help.
You got to be kidding me. Brown gets a good cross that is shot at the keeper, one of those journalists and ignorant fans love to say "must be a goal" but aren't really challenging to the keeper, so fine for now, but I think it was Orr who gets the rebound and with the keeper in the ground and half goal in his side, sends the ball back to the keeper. Anyway things are not bad though they could be better. They only had a quarter chance and I had to sub Luke in for McAusland as he had picked an early yellow. Orr keeps being caught offside, which is the reason I stopped picking him.
Second half defence was doing well, but Hopkirk as the guy guarding the near six yard box corner just watched the ball as everyone except the defender that couldn't reach so we end losing, as when we start to look like we can get back Wilkie gets an injury and w'e're left with ten men.

Sigh. Wilkie is out for two months. Also McAusland will be suspended for the enxt match.

Ross Smith is unhappe with first team football. I'm not inclined to give it to him, but on the other hand our main problem is defense (second worse of the league) so I can as well give him the chance to come in and improve things.

Lithgow is out for a mont with injury.

Again playing the top team. Not the best time for that. Ross Smith starts as promised. With Wilkie injured and McCarthy not that good passing, Moon is given a run there.
The start is disastrous, with McAusland making a penalty. Small changes to the system and we almost get the ball to Orr for an easy tap in a few minutes before we get a penalty and then a second goal before the end, a good finish by Moon.
Gordon beats the goalkeeper but not the post to fail to get us a second goal lead. Then a lucky rebound gets the ball to their striker where Severn can't do anything to give them a morale boost. Then in what I think is more a mistake by Rose than Ross, they get the third. After that we seem to get things back to where they were but our third goal gets rightly disallowed for offside.
The commentarists are idiots. Stenhousemuir don't deserve this win. Their last goal was their only good chance, while ours were almost all good.

After playing top team, we play bottom. Then another needles two weeks break. Huet and Luke starts because of suspensions. Agnew is told not to take as much risks with passing is the other change.
We only get one goal lead in the first half as things seem to work well, but not quite as well the finishing.
Second half the defence falls asleep as customary to let them get their back and score; but Brown and Orr combine again to get the winning goal.
Not good letting them be this close to get points. Allison's chance has been too short.

Stirling sacked their manager and it seems it's rumoured they'll give me the job, but I don't see why would I take it. Nine points behind us and on route to the relegation play off, certainly not a job I want to take.

I'm informed a youth has had a great leap in mentality.

It turned to be another crappy month, though it could've been so much better.

Gordon is still in the fight for top goalscorer.

As usual, we keep losing money.

 

[Death Ball]

February 2019

After several offers to get Allison for free, we get one with a chance for some money, if not now, in the future. With the promise he has I wanted to keep him, but it's St Mirren, a much higher club that can be so much better for him, so I let him go.

In the deadline day we get an offer from Ross County to take Severn for free. Rejected, of course. That's all the transfer activity.

Hopkirk has won January's player of the month.

Hopkirk returns to striker position. Orr has scored, but been caught off side too many times.
Ross and Hopkirk make a poor first half. At half time Quigley comes in for Ross and Orr in for Slattery, bringing Hopkirk to midfield.
With little done after a good chance in the first half, I eventually turn to a 4-2-3-1 that improves things but fails to get results. Gordon misses an excelent chance to assist Orr during injury time. They got their keeper injured, but the substitute was as good as him.
This is a game we had to win.

Alloa has sacked his manager, Reid. With all the talk of me being sacked it makes it tempting to apply. The three favourites aren't considered to have that much of a chance to get it; looking at their jobs and past it would be silly for them to want it. If I wait to get sacked, then I may be unemployed longer than my finances allow me.

Fine, I go for it. The thought of losing this job is too scary. Sharing my house's rent is just to fill what I was lacking from my contribution to family's funds.

Luckily the board either didn't mind my application or hasn't learned of it. I make a new change to the system: I drop Moon for a more defensive central trio, Hopkirk moves behidn the strikers to give Orr a place in the starting eleven. Huet comes back, as does McAusland and we'll be playing structured.
The first half is good all in all. The players show a few problems adjusting to the changes to the system but manage to keep them in check and get us a goal. The main worry is the referee filling us of yellow cards and that Slattery, who I'd need to deal with any surprises, has made several mistakes.
In the second half Gordon and Orr miss two good chances, the first gets it deflected to the post and the later sends it too high, but Orr ends another good combination to score his second. Ross almost gave them a goal but otherwise they were well contained and just got a fair chance at goal that Severn saved well.

The board provide a new cash injection. Just enough to get positive balance. That means it's time to request a coaching course.

Severn gets an injury that will keep him out for a bit more than a week. At least we have a decent replacement.

Severn could be made to play, but I prefer to give Ferrie a chance and protect Severn from getting it worse. Agnew makes it back to starting team and otherwise all remains.
We almost concede early, but Ferrie is doing a fine job. We get into the game late as usual and Gordon gets a goal.
Since we give too many shots, I decided to bring Moon instead of Agnew, and then he misses a header in a corner to let them equalize. Changes are then needed to search for the win but Ross makes a late and needless tackle attempt that leaves Dangana alone again and Ferrie can't do nothing.
Ferrie deserves new chances despite the result.

Alloa offer me an interview, which I will take.

And they give me the job! I don't need to share my house. I'll help her to find someone to keep using my current house and search for the new one in the new city.

Has she lost a corner of a star reputation?

 

[osullm]

Yes the reputation has gone down slightly. Hopefully new job can lead to it rising again!

 

[Death Ball]

Alloa

There are some unhappy players that I'm told want to leave the club. I don't think I can talk to them yet, since in just a few hours is our match and I need to get them playing.

The report of the team I have tells me these things about the team: crossing is poor, scoring is poorer than East Fife and we have no depth and the squad is hard working with most of the goals coming from the left side.

The most used formation is a 4-4-2 so I may use it for today's match regardless of what I find, which seems to point to my 4-5-1 being a good choice.

I only have the assistant and a goalkeeper coach for training. I'll have to bring some people to the staff.

Finances are good. Should be well in the positive when I finish my current coaching course to start a new one.

Our tactics with be a simple 4-4-2 following what they have been playing up to this point, with width in the right side provided by the right fullback and then a 4-5-1 with the fullbacks tasked with providing the width.

That I think is as far as I can do before getting into the match.

 

[Death Ball]

March 2019

First match with the team just a few hours after arriving. I'll start with the 4-4-2 and we'll see how things go. I may change to the 4-5-1 for the second part. We have a few of our better players out injured.
Very quiet first half, though we apply some good pressure on them and keep them well under control. For the second half I will use the 4-5-1 without substitutions, as I picked the starting team to allow the change without need for subs.
Second half might have gone the same way, were not Hoggan deciding the role of a centreback when a ball is sent to a striker is to never move from his chosen position. I know I manage low level teams, but seriously this level of stupidity is ridiculous. Also the constant "I want to pass to 60 yards, let's pat it ever so softly. Now to 5 yards... MAXIMUM POWER!!". I go control, back to 4-4-2, Byrne gets an injury and I change to a 4-4-1, then with no strikers in the bench to a strikerless version of the 4-4-2... we get some chances, but with the kind of passing and fake dribbling (hey, take the ball if you refuse the gift then I'll keep it) none is really good. Wylde also got a knock but with no subs left I had to keep him.
Seriously, how can this team be this high in the table and East Fife so low? East Fife is much better.

We lose our only player really able to do some playmaking work for more than half a month.

Same starting eleven with McInroy in due to Byrne's injury. The system has been changed to have more players joining the attack. McInroy is now support but instructed to move forward whenever possible.
The changes seem to work. To them passing into space is added soon. We create more, though still not necessarily great chances, the best being tackled just before the shot. The second of such chances however is tackled into Gilmour and we reach half time ahead.
We begin very strong the second half, with several very good chances, one of which Biabi sends it at the keeper when that was the hardest thing to do. Near the end a good play and less than great keeping let's them draw level, but shortly after Moore takes his quality chance under the keeper to give us the win. From there I changed to a 4-1-4-1 to defend the result.

We get out youth intake today 7th March. We have a good group. I will be signing most of them.

A chance to go up to second position. I repeat the system from the past match, with the inclusion of Blair Malcolm in the right wing for his better pace than Gilmour's.
We get a good match going on, with plenty of chances and controlling it. Moore gets us ahead from a free kick before the referee refuses to give an offside the defence had pulled off masterfuly, but a nice pass by Moore gets Biabi in a great position to score.
I'll see how things go for the start of the second half, then I may make changes to defend the result.
Their change to 4-2-3-1 looks dangerous and they get to the area more often, so I swap to 4-1-4-1, which improves things clearly with some more chances. Then a well defended McGuffie makes it level because Munro was where he shouldn't. Back to 4-4-2 that gets a number of good chances and one great chance that are saved or sent at the keeper.
The good side is both Airdrie and Arbroath lost so we're not with more than a match into play offs.

Arbroath are fourth, getting a win would make our play offs position safer. Byrne is back from injury and will play, though he's a little out of shape. I'm liking their manager, he's the second ever that, when shaking hands, doesn't grab and hold for too long but lets it done in an instant.
We have an storming first half. The only bad thing of it is that our first goal, some minutes after Moore shot at the keeper an easy chance, came from an own goal and the rest could be blamed on that. A few minutes after that the same player who made the own goal made a penalty.
Second half changes nothing. I bring Hynd in because he earned chances in past matches and Gilmour and Pittman for fitness. We add two more goals, one by Hynd who may have earned to start next match.
We're now a match into play offs. Unfortunately, top spot is now too far.

Wait, excuse me? What knock during the match?

I placed an add for several positions and we now have all the coaching staff allowed.

Back to East Fife. They still have their sloppy run of missing out wins but they failed to compete against Stenhousemuir. McIlduff is back from his injury but quite rited, soe Hetterington starts.
We have some trouble getting the ball ahead, but have some nice chances, though Moore sends it to the post or was offside. Luke makes a strike that he never showed to be able to get ahead. I'm changing to 4-1-4-1.
We got the goal with a Curran free kick, but even less getting to their area, so after a long while we went back to the 4-4-2 but still no second goal.
The good side is the two teams behind lost their matches so we're six points ahead of fifth and four ahead of fourth.

As so often, it could've been a better month. Still, we've better margin to qualify for play offs and top spot was never a realistic target.

Balance has taken a big hit this month and a week.

 

[Death Ball]

April 2019

We lose Aidan Wilson, our centreback for the rest of the season to an injury in training. This can be disastrous as I think we don't have a trustworthy replacement. Because he was loaned, he's been recalled away.

Moore wins the player of March.

Without Wilson, Marr comes in as he's the less slow of the two choices we have left.
First half ends with them ahead because the defenders go the idea to take Murhead offside seconds after the pass to him was sent, thinking of closing him only after he had shot and then Taggart, beyond a third of the field chooses to send it to a corner when he had Marr close and was comfortable.
Second half sees some changes and we get one back, but their only counter is played very well.
At least we stay safe in play offs with likely two matches advantage.

We're against the fourth team, a win would be very big to end the season well. Despite the importance of the match, I'm going ahead and give young Darren Simpson a start in the match. He's nearly as good as Marr but faster. Hynd will start despite not being quite fit.
Simpson does some good pieces of defending and we're the closer to score from play, but it's from a free kick we get ahead.
Hynd makes it 2-0 early in the second half from a through ball. We move to 4-1-4-1 and they score from a bad defensive play from Taggart, that lets his mark leave him, but we still create a fair amount of chances, if not great and don't concede again. We got Taggart out with a knock though.

Taggart's injury is a small one and may be available for the next match.

The boards injects some cash, a week after cutting down the transfer revenue retained to 10%.

Wylde picks an injury in training, but luckily it's light and he'll be available for our next game.

Next is Darren Simpson, also a short time, but this time it's too late. I need to take training a bit down.

As expected, Simpson is the only one not to be back in time. Despite that, he'll be in the bench.
We have a commanding first half in which good goalkeeping prevents us from getting more than a single goal lead.
Second half they go aggressive, I change to 4-1-4-1. I am "forced" to bring Hetherington for Taggart, who tired too much and later he just stands in no mans land, leaving Marr to deal with two quick players and that ends with them drawing. That means we go back to 4-4-2 as they go 4-3-3 and more offensive, we again recover initiative with a lot of great chances and finally Malcolm picks his own rebound to win the match.
We should've won like 5-1. The two teams ahead won so third is our maximum possible position.

With three matches to go and seven points apart, I don't think winning would make top of the league realistic, even not considering Ayr are just one point behind them. The best for a win is that we may guarantee play offs. Simpson starts again, I changed him/Marr to the left and Hoggan because that places him behind Curran and so have more help and protection against mistakes from his youth or Marr's slow pace.
First half is frustrating. It opens with a saved free kick that Munro can't hold and everybody standing watch. Only Curran made an effort to get to it, but he was too far. We don't do much, but the little is better than Stenhousemuir, then at the end of the match Brown sends a rocket Munro would've saved if Taggart wasn't unfortunate to be just in the way.
With a card for Simpson, Marr will have a chance. Simpson has been good this first half, though, other than the first goal where almost all the team failed.
Second is only a imrpovement in that they don't score and we get an excellent chance during injury time, but still do little. I guess I should have removed the man marking instructions to free Moore for the offense. Marr was a bit worse than Simpson and in a couple of times he showed his lack of pace.

We are through to play offs by winning one match. Third too unless we lose the other by many goals or Forfar wins by many. In the plus side, we play the bottom two.

That cash injection made things right. I might even get a new course right after finishing the current one!

 

[Death Ball]

May 2019

Our scouts identified a potential transfer target for the right side of the field. Since Gilmour is ending his contract this month, I'm offering him one to come at the end of his contract.

We need a win, but playing against the bottom team and the U19 manager apparently not picking the subs I want, or not for enough time, I start with Pittman and Hetherington to get them ready for play offs.
Four superb chances, all sent tight to the keeper, least the post could jump to block it. Then Simpson chooses that best thing to do with a rival on top at the side of the area is stand still with the ball and hope the rival won't take it.
Second half starts well with a penalty won when it should've been an easy goal from the start. We keep having chances where the easiest thing to do is score, but nooooooo the ball has to be kicked near the keeper's body. Sending it far would be playing dirty.

I offer a contract to another target found by the scouts that look useful for the left side.

Caddis signs his contract.

And MacDonald does the same next day.

Hynd and Moore swap again, since Moore was doing poorly since I placed him as defensive forward, while Hynd had some good matches there. Marr in after Simpson bad game. Good news is Airdrie face Stenhousemuir, who are still battling for top spot.
First half could go better. We do a lot, keep most of the possession but don't seem able to quite shut them out. We end ahead, as Stenhousemuir does at half time. I'm tempted to make a change in formation, but the 4-1-4-1 hasn't worked that well in the past. Marr hasn't played too well, neither has Hynd. They got McCormack, a midfielder, sent out at the end of the first half.
In the second half they get a good free kick in, but it doesn't matter as Moore had proved me right with two more goals already, to which Malcolm later added one more.
Elsewhere, results aren't good: Forfar falls out of promotion, which is good as lately I kept losing against them, but that meant Stenhousemuir drops from the top and they're the really strongest side of the league. Ayr would've been a bit less tougher to beat, so I think there won't be promotion.

No reputation raise yet.

 

[Death Ball]

Playoffs

We'll begin the play offs with a two leg semifinal against Stenhousemuir. Two matches separated by two days, not the best.

They're going with a defensive formation. We keep to the 4-4-2 with Spence in for Hynd as he did well last match.
Good first half that we keep mostly quiet and with them getting only one good chance they blast over the bar, while we get a few and a goal. Then the referee starts showering us with cards.
Second half is almost a carbon copy, with Stenhousemuir making several more shots, but most being ridiculous efforts from almost the half line. Spence adds a second goal to give us a decent result for the second leg. My subs ended being to prevent second yellow cards, though perhaps I should have risked Malcolm's to give Hoggan a rest.

They come with a more offensive formation and we repeat ours, but with both centrebacks tired. I don't trust the two other centrebacks for this match. Simpson may come in for the second half if things go well the first.
First half sees Stenhousemuir being more dangerous than in the previous match, but Munro makes a good job to deny their chances, while in our side Byrne gets it in from a free kick and Moore is very close to adding a second. I won't sub centrebacks just yet, though assuming away goals count, they'd need to score four in the second half.
At the hour I make the change and turn to 4-1-4-1. They have only one great chance that is superbly tipped over by Munro in the last minutes, shortly after Hynd shots from long when he had two passes for easy chances. It ends like the first half and we qualify for the final!
The final will be against Livingston from Championship, that just beat Airdrie with a 3-2 in the total score.

Just a few days after the semifinals, we begin the finals. That means Curran is tired and Pittman comes in his place. Marr is also tired, but I don't want to risk another bad match from Simpson and prefer the more veteran defender.
They get too many shots and Marr shows his lack of pace in a play that makes Hoggan feel the need to leave his position and gives them the goal. There's been small changes, mainly pressing a little more and playing faster that seems to have improved things a bit. However, I don't want to be too adventurous and concede more goals so I'm not going to make too drastic changes.
Second half more closing down and stopping goalkeeper's distribution plus driubble less orders are issued. We begin to have plenty of chances missed when that was perhaps the harder thing, until Spence nails a tough pass to assist Hynd and get the equalizer.
We so could have won comfortably, but they also had a few great chances Munro saved brilliantly. So don't bring me the unjust result ****. How many legal goals did they score? One. How many did we score? One. What's the result? One to one. Just. Team will rest from training till the next leg in a few days.

They repeat formation. We have no tired players after the rest given. Front two swap and Hynd starts, Curran returns. We'll apply the instructions that worked second half of past match.
I started being so nervous I'm not sure if I said what I wanted. But they have started on fire. Wylde scored in the early minutes then we maintained the upper hand during all the first half, with them having very few chances to shoot and we converting our good chances to finish the half with a 4-0 that should seal the final!. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
Second half starts bad, with Munro wroingly placed after a weird and lucky header. Livingston started to hammer our goal, but Munro redeemed his mistake with some great saves. I probably should have changed to a more defensive system, like part of the stadium started to shout; but we were still reaching their area and I thought keeping it to get the fifth goal would be more important and likely to work than go all defensive in a way the players aren't familiar and might transmit him that I was unsecure in the result. It worked as we conceded no more goals thanks to a wonderful Munro. Instead Hynd scored the fifth during injury time.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!! PROMOTED! WOOOOOHOOOOO!! MADE IT!!!! WOWOWOWOWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

We got the budgets and paid bonus pay outs. Maybe now I can offer new contract to the unhappy players? Though right now I don't care!

Reputation increased by 5%.

Note on holidayed days: for now she's controlling all; but when DoF is had and with promise to do so I'll interpret he's going to be left transfers and such, so at that point she's likely to start taking holidays. If she can afford them.

 

[Death Ball]

Postseason 2019

According to the coaches, I need to sign players for the left side, done, look for players with high decision making statistics and more jumping. I need to make Munro and McIlduff deals permanent, if possible.

End of season club awards and such come in.

This team doesn't ask me about when to begin preseason.

We're losing income from prizes and sponsorships this season.

Chairman brings some money.

Among the end of season recommendations, we find a player that looks excellent for the left fullback position that we'll sign unless someone else comes in the last minute for him with a better offer.

He signs a few days later.

Did I release the assistant manager because he's B. Malcolm and I took him for the player that I want to release who starts instead of B. Malcolm the player?

Fans are only happy with the return of Calum Waters, who happens to have grown in Alloa.

With Munro released, we offer him a contract. He'll be the top earner, but we need a good keeper and seems we won't find much better than him.

Hibernian takes away one of our scouts.

I finish the course for the national A license, so time to ask for the continental C.

Reputation has increased by 5%.

They reject because "they need my presence in training". We¡re on holidays! Who am I supposed to train right now?

 

[Death Ball]

Summer and preseason 2019

Munro signs the contract.

St Johnstone, from the Premier, make an offer for our youth keeper Derek Willis. This is a chance for him to start a career in the top so I'm not going to deny it to him, I accept it.

Gary Irvine is my new assistant manager.

Increasing goal ambitions doesn't give me much more money, so I leave it at the minimum to avoid placing much presssure in the team. More so considering the many players wanting to leave and the offer that has already been placed for Taggart.

We get a new link, with Hearts. I'll look at the parent clubs for replacements of the players wanting to leave first, though I have the scouts already looking out for them.

The scouting range has been increased.

Good news: Taggart has rejected the move to Raith. They also did offer for Spence, but I asked more, they withdrew their offer and Spence got angry.

The first loan from Hearts arrive: David Stewart, who I hope will bring some impredictability to our play.

Next a free tranfer comes for midfield. He looks nothing like the scouts told me he'd be.

Dundee makes an offer for our youngster Faulds. I won't block him from progressing. I just ask them to loan him back for this season.

I tell the pitchman to leave the dimensions we were using.

To reinforce the centreback position, where we'll need at least two, first target is Stenhousemuir's young Lewis Waddell. Quite strong and not slow.

Frank Ross I tried to loan, but Aberdeen wouldn't accept it. So I offered to buy him. He may be the playmaker we need.

Steven Craig is the man I've chosen to offer a contract as a director of football. With the many positions we need to strengthen, I need someone to help.

Ross signs his contract. Then Craig does.

I leave bonuses as they're proposed. No sense taking prizes away from the players just to get a little money that is unlikely to make a difference to the season.

Waddell chose to go to Inverness CT, so we still need to sign two centrebacks.

The first match of the Scottish League Cup should've been a win for us, but Hoggan turned jelly when we were 2-0 ahead and let them score three goals, so we ended losing in penalties. Worse of all, Frank Ross picked a month long injury. Still, not bad considering it was against Falkirk, on the Premier division.

Second match is again facing a premier division team. But it is good, we draw it, though we should have won if the referee didn't wronly call offside to a play that let Spence on for an easy goal early in the match. Again we lose the penalties. And again we get a player injured.

Daniel Baur signs for us. He's a player chosen by Craig.

In the third cup match, Faulds gets a minot injury that will keep him out just for three days.

Aidan Wilson is the second centreback, signed by myself, with the idea of making him second choice.

In the last cup match, we lose Blair Malcolm for two months. Also, at the end they said we're through? What? We're second with Falkirk still to play two games. Something must be wrong.

Craig, why? I've added a few players to the loan list as they won't be playing this season and you reject the first one to come asking.

I'm pretty happy with the preseason, though we didn't try new systems, simply giving match time to players and having the new players know it.

We've got quite a large squad. Some need to go out on loans, others want to leave so we should still bring one or two right fullbacks.

Maybe too many new faces, with still a few more to come; but they seem to be getting along well with the system. We'll see once the season starts.

We got a quite good balance right now.

 

[Death Ball]

August 2019

We get a loan offer for McClair, Craig doesn't reject it this time.

Falkirk won their two remaining league cup games, so we're out as expected.

Season starts with what I think is our best eleven minus the injured Ross.
We play a very good first half, but their goalkeeper shows why in his time he was expected to make it to the top with several great saves. And the once we beat him it hits the post. Wilson gets a yellow card again from a hard tackle that looks so close to a two feet tackle.
We get the goal in the second half, where we kept the dominance, though a couple of players didn't perform too well. Then Ross Draper got space and sent a rocket to the corner of the goal that Munro couldn't possibly reach, which is so very annoying.
Despite missing the win, it's very encouraging to have been superior in play in our first match in the Championship.

Mugabi signs the contract I offered to him and he will most likely become our first choice centreback.

We'll get some money from a past transfer that was sold by his new team.

Just as we sign Mugabi, Wilson is out for a month with hernia.

Craig has made an offer to bring Brendan Cronin at the end of his contract. He insists he's on to be a star. I confirm the deal.

We finish the transfer deals with the arrival of Richard Brindley to be our right fullback. Possibly starting ahead of Taggart, though I must not forget we have a very promising youngster in Jordan Barbour, who should have some game time.

Calum Waters gets also an injury. It's short, but it happens right before the match.

And then Darren Simpson is out for a month. I'm lowering the training intensity.

We have Harry Paton on loan by Craig's initiative. He looks useful and he can play all sides of midfield so I'm fine with the signing and expect to use him.

Our first match away is against the favourite to finish second in the league. I let my assistant make the initial pick of players and I just adjust a little, setting Hoggan to the right instead of Marr and Hetherington comes into the bench instead of Ross Lyon to have a leftback.
We were playing so well, having the more good chances, though the best wall well saved by Munro. Then Mugabi taps the ball into our goal from point blank range. And he keeps making hard tackles.
Second half is similar, we again concede, this time from a series of lucky bounces that make impossible for Munro to react. We have more good chances saved. Hynd does get one back but not enough time to get a second after that.
Another match to get a lot of optimism as we were competitive again, this time against the second best team of the division. It stings a lot that the two goals came from stupid mistake and freak bounces.

After playing the second best team, we go against the top one. Ross is back from injury and starts despite not being fully fit. Our squad is too big right now and nobody wants the players that want out. On top of that, Craig keeps making offers for new players.
We have an excellent first half. We miss a few great chances early, but this time there aren't defensive mistakes and Hynd and Faulds do find the net.
Second half they turn to a 4-3-3 with a defensive midfielder. It does nothing for them, only makes it a bit harder to break them down, but still we have a few chances, not as good as the first half and no goals happen. They lost a man to injury for the last quarter hour.
This is great! We've beaten the top team being better during all the match.

Craig brings a left winger, which is something we don't need, though at least he's versatile.

We have an increase to the transfer revenue retained.

Four days after the previous match and three before the next, then a whole two weeks break. Championship still has that ridiculous kind of calendar.
Another good half. We score twice, they once from a good play and got so close to get a third before we got the second. Problem is we're getting a lot of yellow cards.
Second half I didn't make a third sub as I was holding it in case of a red card. It's an annoying second half because they draw level with a lot of luck as the shot by Baird bounced off a defender and that made Munro miss the save. We should've won.
In the positive side, we've competed not only with top teams in bad form but against teams that have started well, which is encouraging.

We face another team that was once in the top division. They are close ahead of us. Slight rotation and Ross is in the bench to come in the second half to get fitness back.
Not a bad first half. We look the better team, but not enough to get ahead. We get two yellow cards: Taggart early and Wylde later.
In the second things remain the same, with them getting many shots, which is worrying, though none is really threatening. Until Faulds assists Wylde and they change to a 3-4-3 that we deal with with more ease and Moore makes the final 2-0.
The bad thing is Pittman picked a head injury that forced him out.

Ehm, he jumps, bumps heads with rival, both are in the ground and his injury is a broken leg. Out for the season. Now I'm glad Craig has brought so many players.

A very nice set of results for our first season in the division.

Nice to see two of our players there among the top three for two categories, though it's very soon to think they're going to end there.

 

[Death Ball]

September 2019

Wylde is chosen in third place for player of the month and myself for manager of the month.

In deadline day, Dundee United come with an offer for Jordan Barbour, our U19 player who I plan to use as replacement for the right back position to Taggart. I can't get him loaned back and I don't know what to do. I think we need him, but it's a bigger club and I'm sure he'd like to go there and there he'd have the best chance to reach for success. A look at the Premiership says they're last and likely to get down here. That tips it to reject it.

The transfer window finally ends, after several offers by Dundee, one bigger than the previous, with a final of €22K. Barbour isn't angry.

The player who wanted out have acknowledged my attempts to sell them and are willing to give me more time to try. Except Spence... he has asked to withdraw the transfer listing, which I've happily done.

I use a heavily rotated side for the Imbru cup match against a lower division team.
We finish the match in the first half with three goals.
In the second, when near the end, I bring Faulds off due to a light injury.

Waters gets food poisoned before the next league match. Good thing I playe dhim in the cup.

Brindley finally makes it to the starting team. Wilson is still a bit tired so he'll be on the bench.
We have too many troubles doing anything, and it's like we're likely to lose, even after a few tweaks to play faster and dribble less. Until Spence assists Hynd for a great shot. Then as the half is about to end, Mugabi deflects the ball to our goal.
Second half is better for us, though we don't get good chances, the only being disallowed for offside by Spence.
I'm not too unhappy. Seeing how the game went, I think without the own goal in half time, they'd have come far more aggressive and I think they would've turned it around completely. So I still see it as winning one point rather than having lost two.

We get to our first match against the other promoted team. This is one of the matches that from the start were marked as must win.
We start poorly, with Wilson letting them a goal with his poor defending, helped by Munro being asleep. Small changes improve things and the half time comes with both teams level. We can win this, but McDonald is playing poorly and I didn't bring Waters.
Second half is same only in the start, except with a more general and worse series of defensive stupidity.

And now it's the time to play against the team that is at the top of the table. Still we go with the same starting team.
So far this match is much better than the other. No defensive mistakes. We get to their area, but the best chance is cancelled by an unjustifiable offside call for a player that took no part of it.
We go behind early in the second half with a bit of bad luck, but nothing to complain about our defence this time. To complain is the many good attacks the referee denies us with stupid offside calls from players that take no part whatsoever. However, Spence gets two balls to their net the referee can't find a way to call offside. He doesn't see any offside when they get all people offside but the one receiving the ball though. Luckily in the nick of time, a good play ends with Caddis scoring a nice cross. I try to close off the game for the injury time with a change of formation and we end winning despite the referee.
Great result. They weren't top, seems they had already been overtaken by Hibernian.

It turned out to be another good month.

I can ask for a coaching course.

 

[Death Ball]

October 2019

Byrne twists an ankle in training and will be out for nearly a month.

We visit the bottom team. Ross starts and I hope he'll soon become the first choice there. Faulds also starts before he loses match fitness.
What a frustrating first half. We keep getting the strikers, specially Hynd in the best positions and he keeps hitting them off. So he won't play the second half. We should be five goals up.
Second half is a copy but with some less chances and Wylde scoring when he's offside. I'm going to kill Hynd.

A new round of the league cup is a visit to a lower league team. Our side is as rotated as it can considering fitness.
A disappointing first half. We go up, but nobody shows any reason to make it into the first team.
Second half is a little better, though I still think we should have done better.
Only Grant Adam has done anything to consider him foir the league matches.

Caddis starts ahead of Malcolm due to his excellent dribbling in past matches. Moore and Spencer up top for their better form in the last five matches played.
We could improve upon the first half, but it's not been bad. We've been getting into the match, having the better chances, but we're letting too much space between the lines in defence.
I set the defensive line higher, but it doesn't work right, with them taking more advantage of the space behind. The post saves us and in the counter Spence assists Hynd to give us the win.

They were top until they didn't win the last match and now they're second. Brindley starts as he's match fit and Biabi starts too to have a chance despite his poor show in the cup because Moore has not played well and I'll give him a chance along Hynd.
First half is quite infuriating because of the defenders. It's like they just forget everything and spend the time chasing like headless chickens after everybody. They gift them three goals, even after some changes to remind them they're not in a school yard. But midfield and attack work well, also when I make some changes in shape to be more fluid and we get them back. Which is very annoying, as with a working defenders we might have the match almost decided in our favour. They got a red card with the 3-3 already in the score.
After showing Martin the red card, the referee seems to become too happy to be showing cards. There aren't any more warnings, most fouls become cards. We lose Caddis after placing him in Curran's place to avoid Curran's double yellow and he goes on.
Good things to take after the defence ruined the win: the team works well with a fluid shape, Ross finally had a good game.

Very nice not seeing any defeat this month.

Our balance has dropped quite a bit.

 

[Death Ball]

November 2019

I get the third place in October's manager of the month.

We have three matches in a week, so rotation is needed, though most of the team is still the starting one.
The match started very well, but then it turned it into the same defensive **** than Hibernian was. All the damned defence moving to the bloddy same side BEHIND the ball carrier so they have every other player and their grandma unmarked.
Second half is little different. Maybe it could've been better, but Mugabi makes sure to get a second yellow to make things harder, then the players show their workrate, that strength of the squad, by just shambling about whenever the ball was in the middle between them and a rival. They didn't really try.
It is tremendously annoying to see players not even trying and that when I make them practice attacking plays against a team with "many defensive vulnerabilities" they turn to be unable to reach their area.

Most of the team is rotated due to fixture congestion. We go back to a centerback pairing from the past season, with Darren Simpson instead of Marr as I want to give him his chance to earn more starts and better development.
Ross gets a warning and a card in seven minutes, so he's off, I don't want another match with ten players. FFRSSFRGX Four goals given and I don't know if it's worse than the previous matches. In past matches they just chased the ball carried en masse like headless chickens. In this match, not even that, they just don't give a ****. Cross behind? Let's stand still or run away from the ball's path! Cross just two feet high? Not even try to jump.
No more ******** in defence, once the match has been ruined in the first half. We get a goal but yet let a second go when Stewart, with the ball rolling at his feet, just lets it pass to the keeper.

Out of the frustration I have a look at available spots and there's one for Paraguay NT that would let me get some savings.

With so many incompetence in defence, I change to the 4-5-1 in the hopes a deeper midfielder will let the centrebacks keep their heads.
It's a good first half, the first good half in some time. We're the team that makes it look closer to goal, but that means nothing, we need to get the goals.
We keep it up, until Mugabi reacts to a cross by moving away from the ball path. I wouldn't be so angry if it hadn't started when in a corner, they had their only forward man in the left half of the pitch and our three players standing back (both fullbacks and Curran) were all bunched in the right half.

Off the league for the next league cup round against another team from our division. We rotate again for fitness and giving chances to players. We beat them with the 4-4-2 before, but never looked like we'd do, so I keep the 4-5-1. Tweaks will be done through the match. One thing I could do with the 4-4-2 and why we've had so many stupid defensive plays is I began to give instructions to focus on enemy players, so I think in coming matches I may go back to the 4-4-2.
We have a decent first half. We get a fast goal by Biabi, we have some more chances and, though Inverness also has chances of their own, they aren't too threatening. They get a good header from a free kick, but Grant Adam made a good save.
We double the lead in the second half, good shot by Moore. They get one back without terrible mistakes by us, though a defender could've closed down the goalscorer better. Moore then seals it from a pass by Ross.
Grant Adam has had a good match and I'm seriously thinking he may become our first choice.

As a consequence of that match, something that gives it a sour taste happens: Inverness sack Freedman. I'm third favourite to be sacked, but with odds that say it's unlikely I'll be sacked. I'm second to take Inverness seat, but with Burchill in a better league I think it would make me favourite to take it. Despite getting annoyed by the defence this month I don't think I'd do well applying. Were they to come, then maybe I could consider it, but I seriously doubt it as they're five points behind, at the edge of relegation playoff.

I do small changes from the cup match. Mugabi isn't present because he's tired from international duty.
Nice first half, though not the best. We don't do much but we do limit their chances. Biabi missed an obvious assist and trying to shoot ended missing the chance for a goal.
In the second half, that started the same, I changed wingers and first thing to happen is Caddis assisting Spence for the winner. They changed to a 3-4-3 and started to create some danger, a simple instruction to keep the ball dealt with it well enough.

UK is going out of the EU, but seems nothing will change.

While the Challenge Cup semifinal against Hibernian is far in the future, we play the Scottish cup. Barbour gets his chance within a rotated squad. Munro is now our cup keeper.
We do almost nothing the first half, which is disappointing. On a good note, Barbour takes well to the criticism I dedicate them at half time.
Waters almost gift them a goal. Then with some changes to be more offensive we have some chances, but their keeper deals with them well. In injury time Simpson shows off to Waters he's better at gifting goals.

What a bad month we've had. It's like being Movember made defenders think charity is to be made in the field with goals for the rivals.

Despite that, we're still not far from play offs and comfortably away from relegation. Needless to say I won't take Inverness offer. Unless they offer me a huge amount of money.

Balance keeps falling down.

 

[Death Ball]

December 2019

We seem to be paired a lot against the team in second place. We go back to the starting team of the last league match, with Mugabi in Marr's place.
The first half is rather good, with a few woodwork hits that leave our advantage at one goal. They pose no threat but twice are close to get a goal from lucky bounces.
I have no words for the second half. First Wilson, when a corner is in order, shoots the ball into their striker to have it limp to our goal from a tight andgle, then Caddis with the ball one ball's diameter away from the goal line and a third into the goal hits the post.

I am trying to go back to the 4-4-2 and see if without any man marking it improves. Also because the 4-5-1 didn't work against Brechin and Ayr are bottom of the league.
First half is a piece of ****, we go down because the player who should've intercepted the corner wasn't there, then a defender picks a bounce off the keeper and clears weakly to the feet of their striker. So I changed formation and somehow the set piece instructions got screwed and the player I have in near six yard box, who would've intercepted the pass, was set to go back instead. These kinds of screw ups with set pieces has been going in for a long time and it's one of the most annoying things.
Second half they went more defensive and though we got to their area, our passing or finishing wasn't good enough to make good chances.

We get short injury and flu for Ross and Spence before the first match in a series of congested fixtures.

Against the bottom team we go back to the 4-5-1 since the poor defensive plays of the previous match. I am considering trying a three man defence system.
There is little done in this first half. For the second I'll keep things as they are and then may change to the 4-4-2.
Things improve, with Biabi missing an easy chance. I change to a 4-2-3-1 that leaves us a bit exposed to counter attacks but it eventually pays off, so I go back to the 4-5-1 only to have Wilson in injury time to leave his man watching the ball carrier be already marked.

Again against the bottom team. It seems like we either play the second or the tenth placed team at any given time. Some rotation is made and Munro returns to goal.
Not a good first half, we do nothing and they keep coming. To make things worse the referee makes up a penalty, but luckily Munro saved it.
Second half the tweaks work and we begin to threaten their goal but again the finishing let us down. I'm so tired of drawing.
Also, they played with a new manager.

There is some rotation as this match comes three days after the previous and three days before the next.
We start bad as we concede a goal when Mugabi is beaten. I think he could've done better but it's not a mistake to blame him. I change some things: be more offensive, set Paton to move forward more and with Stewart and Biabi we end the first half comfortably ahead.
We keep the domination in the second half, though they do get a fair amount of shots from bad positions, however ours, despite being good positions, end up weak and saved. I'm very happy that every shot was on target.

We now do play against the team at the top to close the month and the year. I don't change all the team from past match.
They started strong, a few changes to stop dribbling and play faster improve things. They don't have good chances, the few we have are and Cooper gets one in their net.
In the second half they score from a corner, Byrne missing his header, but that was the only thing of note they did and therefore, not enough, since earlier Biabi had made our second goal.
Very happy with this match. We beat the top team and still got most of our shots on target. It also brings us back to promotion play offs, unless Morton win their match by more than five goals.

Lyon wants more first team football and rightly so, but we have his positions well covered so I don't see him having any. When I tell him that perhaps selling him would be the best choice he backs down.

That poor start we'll regret when the season ends for sure.

Very close to negative balance.

 

[Death Ball]

January 2020

Director of football brings Brendan Cronin, who will be moved to the U20 team. I've asked him to sign a right winger that has been recommended and would really upgrade our squad. Regardless I think we could try to sell off some players.

In a target review I increase it to avoid relegation battle as we have a comfortable advantage and it may help bringing that winger.

Dundee is back to making offers for Barbour.

The winger signs the contract offered by the director of football. Good news. Fans are obviously happy.

Mingledi starts right away, though he's very short of match sharpness.
Biabi gets a knock very early, it didn't look too good so I bring Hynd in his place. We do very little, just keeping them from making good chances.
In the second we're better defensively as they can only pull one poor shot. But we have luck when in the last five minutes, a long ball is sent to Mingledi who I had set as striker and that forced their keeper to come out of the area, with Mingledi close pressure was enough he made a bad clearance to Byrne's feet to score from forty yards away. Then we had a few more chances as they opened up trying in vain to get a goal.
Mingledi did very little apart from that chase that led to the poor clearance, but did show when he gets up to competitive speed he'll be worth every penny and more we pay him.

Biabi pulled a hamstring during the match and will be out for three weeks.

Craig makes a loan for Ipswich's Josh O'Neil, a good one if we were to get Taggart out, but nobody wants him.

He also brought a data analyst, as I've left backroom staff to him, and now I have a lot more information before and after the matches.

The retained revenue from transfers is lowered again.

My application for Paraguay got rejected.

MacDonald starts to keep fit and Hynd siubstitutes the injured Biabi.
We're the best of the first half but not by enough. The referee is card happy and shows three to each team.
Second half was a repeat, we had some more chances, but still failed to convert them. Not too bad a result, but a missed opportunity to make two matches difference between us and outside the play off spots.

O'Neil chose to go to Carlisle.

Munro gets a flu a few days before the third and last match of January.

Craig has got sealed Olumide Durojaiye for next season.

And then we lose Curran for the rest of the season.

After thousand offers for Barbour, Dundee now wants Milne. Rejected too, he's another very promising youngster I'm not giving to a team that looks about to come down. What? Whoops, they've recovering and now don't look like coming down.

Hetherington will be the one coming in for Curran and Ross Lyon, who asked for more first team football will have his chance to earn some starts.
Again we fail to get our chances in, but this time we let them have a goal by Wilson not quite marking Oyenuga right.
Sigh. Second half we have chances to score three, but nobody can kick a ball. This time we properly gift them a goal as the defenders who could make the cross reception impossible just backed away.

I'm playing a friendly in the week of break. Now it's Aberdeen who wants Barbour. Now I can't just reject it. I'll try to get something more than they offer. I get a 30% of future benefits.

Board invests some money into the team.

Taggart twists a knee and is out for almost two months.

I accept an offer from Dundee for Barbour and this time I negotiate to add 50% of future benefits.

Dundee makes an offer that's quite acceptable from the start for Milne, so I let him off as Dundee aren't going down and it's a step up for him.

Ross Lyon returns asking for first team. Now without Curran I can give him some time.

The next day Guiseley asks him on loan, so time to consider it.