Ponferradina: Ending cruel history

[Mike]

Thanks man. Certainly gonna be tougher this time round, but I hope I can keep everybody entertained (A)

 

[Death Ball]

Following and liking it.

 

[Paul LUFC Custus]

awsome start mate unluck bout the penaltys

 

[*Paul*]

Nice start and your Espanyol one was amazing. I'm sure this'll be the same.

 

[Pompey_Dan]

Nice start mate and great choice of team, always good to see a story with something different. Your Espanyol story was the best on site, and if this is just half as good it will be aweome! GL bud

 

[Mike]

Sorry about the lack of updates, couldn't get in to FM over the past week

SEPTEMBER

Away test for La Ponfe

View attachment 42666Lugo vs. Ponferradina View attachment 42671​

Yuri comes in for the injured de Paula. Ruben Vega scored, but in the process was carried off only after 9 minutes, and with no other strikers in the squad, a change of formation was needed. Lugo equalised on 35 minutes. After a really drab first half, it was important to go out attacking in the second. Unfortunately, it was as bad if not worse than the first, and the match ended one a piece.

FINAL SCORE: 1-1 DRAW​

Unfortunately, Ruben Vega’s injury has set him back 5-6 weeks. He pulled his hamstring after scoring the opener for La Ponfe.

Dale gets ready for more

View attachment 42671 Ponferradina vs. Zamora View attachment 42667​

After the first three games of the season, manager Michael Dale is sure to know what is to come from his team. Today’s match was even worse than the last, and if you ask any Ponfe fan, they’d all tell you how lucky they were to come away with the win today. It took 92 minutes for the deadlock to be broken, and even that was an own goal – an Edu Roldan header from a corner.

FINAL SCORE: 1-0 WIN



Confidence shows away from home

View attachment 42668 Palencia vs. Ponferradina View attachment 42671​

When Michael Dale came over to Spain he had changes in mind. He brought over his own tactic and intended to use it with La Ponfe, and it really showed today away at Palencia. Ponferradina, in their away strip, opened the scoring after 17 minutes when attacking midfielder Berodia (playing up top with Yuri) scored with a great curling strike. Palencia’s Alejandro equalised 10 minutes after the restart, then Dani Borreguero scored on the hour mark. Jose Zamora scored the winner 10 minutes from time.

FINAL SCORE: 3-1 WIN



Derby proves to be thriller

View attachment 42671 Ponferradina vs. Cultural Leonesa View attachment 42669​

With Ponferradina looking stronger by the match, and Cultural Leonesa coming off from a 4-2 win last week, this match was bound to be an entertainer, and so it was. Cultural’s Jito scored on 14 minutes, and Berodia equalised 5 minutes later. Gorka Garcia put the away side ahead 3 minutes later though, but Berodia scored again to bring the scores level on the half hour mark. Jito made sure Cultural would go into the break 3-2 up. With the favourites behind at this point, only words of encouragement were needed to bring the scores level, and Nacer Barazite did just that just after an hour played. Pablo Oliveira deserved a second yellow card 2 minutes from the end, and Berodia was carried off in the last minute.

FINAL SCORE: 3-3 DRAW​

Honours even

View attachment 42670 Barakaldo vs. Ponferradina View attachment 42671​

Much of the build up was talking about Ponferradina’s latest form (which admittedly has been nothing special). The game itself was a bore – Barakaldo’s number of fouls infuriated manager Wayne Thomas, yet it was the away side’s Juan Manuel Fuentes who saw a red card flashed at him for persistent fouling on 90 minutes.

FINAL SCORE: 0-0 DRAW​

Month overview and thoughts:

Not a too bad month – 3 draws and 2 wins. A pleasing point is that we’re still unbeaten in the league (set a new record for 6 games).

Really enjoyed the 3-3 Cultural thriller, although slightly disappointed not to win. Also the away match at Barakaldo should have been much, much better. The away win at Palencia proves grit and determination away from home, and was enjoyable to watch the 3-1 victory.

Ponferradina Player of the Month

View attachment 42659​

Juan Manuel Fuentes gets the award this time. Despite being sent off in the last game of the month, he’s shown what quality can come from a 31-year-old left full back. Created two goals from his position and has a 73% pass completion ratio.

End-of-month league table

View attachment 42658

Results

View attachment 42657​

 

[bcfc]

Let the unbeaten run long continue (K)

 

[Jake]

3-3, seems fair, wouldnt want to see you lose too many points but my la cultu boys cant let their fans down. ive had no time for my story either, im halfway through writng and update that ive been doinf gor about 3 days, keep getting distracted!

doing well so far, goal difference very healthy!

viva la cultu

 

[Finn]

Wow nice layout man! Good luck! Good loan signing in Nacer Barazite too

 

[Mike]

Let the unbeaten run long continue (K)

I hope so (A) 3 wins and 3 draws, not too bad.

3-3, seems fair, wouldnt want to see you lose too many points but my la cultu boys cant let
their fans down. ive had no time for my story either, im halfway through writng and update that ive been doinf
gor about 3 days, keep getting distracted!

doing well so far, goal difference very healthy!

viva la cultu

It was a brilliant match, and to be fair I was outplayed, especially in the fist half. I'd never go down to arch
rivals in a match like that

Position could be healthier. Good wins such as the opener and away to Palencia's helped me but I'm also conceding
too many (3-3 vs Cultural).

Viva La Ponfe!

Wow nice layout man! Good luck! Good loan signing in Nacer Barazite too

Thanks man. Barazite is playing for me at AML as an Inside Forward and is... amazing! :'(


Thanks for all the nice comments Hopefully I can update regularly without losing interest in FM (A)

 

[Mike]

OCTOBER

Yet another away draw

View attachment 42826 Lemona vs. Ponferradina View attachment 42833​

Nacer Barazite got the visitors off to a sensational start by scoring a screamer from the edge of the area on 9 minutes. Less than 5 minutes later, the score was 1-1 thanks to an Eneko goal from a corner. Barazite put La Ponfe ahead with 15 minutes to go, but Lemona equalised again with only 4 minutes to spare.

FINAL SCORE: 2-2 DRAW​

Back to winning ways

View attachment 42833 Ponferradina vs. Pontevedra View attachment 42828​

Wayne Thomas had revealed that in order to push for that eluded promotion spot, his side were to win a lot of their up and coming games, starting with this one. After only 10 minutes, the home side were 1-0 after a fantastic strike from Fernando Fajarado. 5 minutes before the break, winger Teo equalised for La Ponfe. Ruben Vega looked delighted when he scored after returning from a 6 week injury. He scored with quarter of an hour left on the clock.

FINAL SCORE: 2-1 WIN​

Thrilling end to drab match

View attachment 42833 Ponferradina vs. Sestao View attachment 42829​

Ponferradina left it until the last 20 minutes to make a breakthrough today. Dani Borreguero opened the scoring on 72 minutes with a well-taken first-time shot from outside the area. Dutchman Nacer Barazite scored again only 5 minutes later to close the scoring. The only down-side to the match was Pablo Oliveira’s injury 10 minutes before the break.

FINAL SCORE: 2-0 WIN​

Away form proves costly

View attachment 42827 Montaneros vs. Ponferradina View attachment 42833​

Top scorer Ruben Vega adds another one to the tally with a superbly taken goal from 10 yards to give Ponferradina a 1-0 lead at the break. The home side came out the stronger in the second half, and within a minute of the restart they had equalised, and held the score at 1-1 until the final whistle. Ponferradina’s away results must improve if they are to get promoted this season.

FINAL SCORE: 1-1 DRAW​

Spanish Federation Cup Preliminary Round Draw:

Ponferradina vs. Leganes



Month overview and thoughts:

Still no defeat means 10 games without a loss since the start of the season. Pleased we’re scoring more than we’re conceding, yet we can’t seem to punish home sides when playing away.

Have a nice draw for the cup, should be looking to test them heavily. Hopefully more success will follow.

Ponferradina Player of the Month

View attachment 42832​

Nacer Barazite without a doubt has impressed the most this month. Has scored three times in four games which for a winger is superb; strikers will be pleased with that form. Has deserved his 2 Man of the Match awards with more to come hopefully, and has a great Last 5 Games rating of 7.34.

End-of-month league table

View attachment 42831

Results

View attachment 42830​

 

[Ben]

Best layout I have seen on the site, undoubtedly, good results, brilliant story mate. Well done on recent results and good luck

 

[Mike]

Thanks man, I try to make the stories as easy to read as possible. I'd like to cut down on the amount of draws I'm getting, as you can see by the table I'm top, but I have 5 wins and 5 draws. If I can just find one more away goal I should be comfortably fighting for promotion.

 

[Ben]

Yeah mate it is a very good story so far. And yep you are getting a lot of draws but I am sure you will sort that out

 

[-Hoops]

Im following mate, love these stories. Would like to do one myself but never can gather the patience.

 

[Mike]

NOVEMBER​

Homesick Ponferradina get stuffed

View attachment 44752 Bilbao Athletic vs. Ponferradina View attachment 44750​

It was a match to forget for all involved with Ponferradina. After only 7 minutes, Isma Lopez had given the home side a 1-0 lead. Ponferradina were the favourites going into this match, but were shocked when they went 2-0 down after a Perez penalty. After half an hour Yuri scored his first goal for the away side to bring the scores to 2-1. What happened after half time seemed unreal as there was 4 more goals scored – and 3 of them were from Bilbao. Barazite got the only reply as another Perez goal and a brace from Arkaitz killed off La Ponfe.

FINAL SCORE: 5-2 LOSS​

This consequently ends Ponferradina’s 11 match unbeaten run.

Bounce-back Ability

View attachment 44750 Ponferradina vs. Celta ‘B’ View attachment 44753​

Ponferradina looked unbalanced throughout their 2-1 win over Celta today. Centre back Jano had scored after quarter of an hour, but right on half time Toni equalised for Celta’s ‘B’ team. Wayne Thomas had been angry with their performances of late and he certainly showed his emotions at half time. On the hour mark, winger Teo had scored that crucial goal to take them into the lead, and it stayed 2-1 until the end.

FINAL SCORE: 2-1 WIN​

Confidence continues in cup​

View attachment 44750 Ponferradina vs. Leganes View attachment 44757​

From the recent poor performances, it was important for Ponferradina to catch a victory. Ruben Vega returned to scoring fashion with two clinical strikes before half time. These were the only goals in the match, yet Leganes had more shots than the home side.

FINAL SCORE: 2-0 WIN​

Away form continues

View attachment 44754 Eibar vs. Ponferradina View attachment 44750​

Ponferradina’s poor away form continued tonight but this time against Eibar. This was really a top-of-the-league clash and neither team took advantage. The away side put in a decent performance but were kept to only 6 shots all night. La Ponfe’s goalkeeper Alejandro put in a stunning 8.4-rated display, and deserved his Man of the Match award.

FINAL SCORE: 0-0 DRAW​

Ponferradina progress despite poor performance

View attachment 44757 Leganes vs. Ponferradina View attachment 44750​

Ponferradina go through to the next round of the cup despite a bad performance, yet again away from home. Leganes were 1-0 up at half time, and even scored a second 10 minutes after the break, but Oscar de Paula’s goal 8 minutes from time was enough to see his team through.

FINAL SCORE: 2-1 LOSS; PONFERRADINA WIN 3-2 ON AGGREGATE​

Rumours, rumours, rumours...

In an intense Backroom meeting, it is rumoured that Ponferradina manager Wayne Thomas is going to bid for ex-Fulham star Facundo Sava. It is not yet known if this is true, but there’s certainly a chance of it happening.

Spanish Federation Cup

The draw for the First Round took place today, and Ponferradina have been paired with Gimnastica of 2B1. La Ponfe will play away first.

Rumours? Nah...

It emerged today that Wayne Thomas’ alleged interest in Facundo Sava is true. Ponferradina’s manager publicly stated that he’d love to bring the Argentine to Spain. He also said that the money was there, and it was just a case of tempting him with a move to such a small side.

Alaves can’t resist home storm

View attachment 44750 Ponferradina vs. Alaves View attachment 44751​

Nobody would think that Alaves would come here to concede goals. But that’s what they did. Centre back Jano scored 5 minutes before half time and Ruben Vega scored 2 minutes later to put the home side 2-0 up at half time. 5 minutes after the break, Oscar De Paula scored and another 2 mintues later an own goal from Mikel Pagola put the side 4-0 up. Jose Zamora and another from Vega sealed the win in style.

FINAL SCORE: 6-0 WIN​

Confidence shows away from home

View attachment 44755 Gimnastica vs. Ponferradina View attachment 44750​

With Ponferradina on such a terrible run of form away from home, it was important for them to keep their heads up and grind out a victory today. They did just that as Vega, De Paula and Salas all got on the scoresheet before Jose Maria’s consolation penalty secured a 3-1 win.

FINAL SCORE: 3-1 WIN​

Facundo Sava set for La Ponfe?

With Ponferradina’s initial bid of £22K for the striker accepted, all the Spanish team needs to do now is tempt him with a contract offer he won’t refuse.

Ponferradina set to sign Sava

The contract offered by Ponferradina was enough to tempt Facundo Sava away from Quilmes, and he will join up with the Spaniards on Saturday, 2nd January 2010.

Away blues over

View attachment 44756 Izarra vs. Ponferradina View attachment 44750​

Ponferradina finally scored a win away from home in the league with a fantastic display of football at Izarra. Within 5 minutes Jano had scored a fantastic header to go 1-0 up early on. Dani Borreguero’s penalty on 75 minutes ended Izarra hopes of staging a comeback, and Ponferradina went home happy with a decent result.

FINAL SCORE: 2-0 WIN​

Month overview and thoughts:

Not so much to be disappointed about. The away match at Bilbao at the start of the month was deserved – we got spanked by a team much, much better than us. Other than that I think we had a pretty comfortable month, including that 6-0 win over Alaves.

At this stage, we are average little over 2 goals a game and we have a healthy goal difference of +17, but we concede too many – a team in 15th place have conceded the same amount as we have.

Glad to get the away win as well, and hopefully it will be a massive boost for morale and hope to see more good performances away from home.

Ponferradina Player of the Month

View attachment 44760​

It was a tough decision as perhaps 4 players could have been given the award, but I chose Ruben Vega once again as he’s proving he is worth his first team position. Came back from injury with a bang, and has scored 5 goals in as many games with an outstanding 7.88 rating for those.

End-of-month league table

View attachment 44758

Results

View attachment 44759​

 

[Nick.]

well done Mike. Fantastic layout and results to match. Well done & good luck

 

[Mike]

DECEMBER​

La Ponfe make hard work of easy game

View attachment 46985 Ponferradina vs. Ferrol View attachment 46980​

Going into this match you’d have thought Ferrol to give in to the outstanding Ponferradina – their home form has been faultless this season. The first half was mostly Ferrol; attacking, defending, and playing Ponferradina off the park. With Wayne Thomas telling his boys to relax at half time, it was only a matter of time before the goals would come. Less than 10 minutes after the restart, Ruben Vega adds to his tally to put the home side into the lead, and on the hour mark, Jano scored to make it 2-0. 12 minutes from the end, Nacer Barazite completed the scoring with a coolly slotted finish from 12 yards. Both Barazite and Jano deserved the Man of the Match award (both had ratings of 9.0) but the Dutchman prevailed and went home with the champagne.

FINAL SCORE: 3-0 WIN​

Through to next round

View attachment 46985 Ponferradina vs. Gimnastica View attachment 46981​

Ruben Vega scored the only goal after 4 minutes to send Ponferradina through to the next round.

FINAL SCORE: 1-0 WIN; PONFERRADINA WIN 4-1 ON AGGREGATE

Away doesn’t seem so bad now!

View attachment 46982 Mirandes vs. Ponferradina View attachment 46985​

Ponferradina have now gone without defeat away from home for 3 games, all victories. They fielded a full eleven today with the return of full back Juan Manuel Fentes. Dani Borreguero scored the opener for the away side after just 8 minutes, but Pablo Infante cacelled out the first goal a minute after half-time. Oscar De Paula’s goal on the hour mark was enough to be the winner.

FINAL SCORE: 2-1 WIN​

After being told by the media in the post-match press conference that Pontevedra had slipped up, manager Wayne Thomas had this to say:

“It is now my intention to go full-on for the league. We now sit at top after their [Potevedra] draw and it puts us in the good position. We had a good game today against a good Mirandes side, in fact I was quite surprised they didn’t pose a big threat to us. Thankfully we were able to take advantage of that, and take advantage of Pontevedra’s draw. Hopefully the boys will be all fired up for the next half of the season as I certainly am!”

Disappointing performance, good result.

View attachment 46979 Compostela vs. Ponferradina View attachment 46985​

Ponferradina will be disappointed with conceding 2 goals against Compostela today. They had good spells of football, but also very bad ones. Teo scored two and Vistor Salas scored a 90th minute goal to end Compstela hopes of an upset. They scored a consolation 2 minutes later.

FINAL SCORE: 3-2 WIN​

Month overview and thoughts:

Well, 4 wins out of 4 is always pleasing, and as we sit at the top of the table, I’m becoming more and more confident of the side winning the league.

Outstanding performances from Teo and Dani Borreguero have been a pleasure to watch, and I can only hope for them to give the same amount of effort for the coming months.

Ponferradina Player of the Month

View attachment 46986​

Barazite continues to improve and impress, Teo and Salas have both excelled over the month, but this time the award goes to Dani Borreguero. Despite losing a bit of pace and touch, he has scored 2 goals in his past 5 games which isn’t bad at all for an Anchor man. Hopefully this can continue through to the end of the season.

End-of-month league table

View attachment 46984

Results

View attachment 46983​

 

[bcfc]

Still going strong,

Amazing result vs Alaves

Keep it up (K)

 

[Mike]

I only wish I had more results like that. Some performances are disappointing of late, but as long as we concede less than we score, I'm not too fussed

MID-SEASON UPDATE​

Overall

Well, the new year is upon us and already things are looking good for Ponferradina: 1st place in the league after 18 games and 20 to go, the signing of former Premier League player Facundo Sava, and of course the 49 goals scored, but truthfully there are many departments in the game where we are lacking – the balance between defending and attacking, the amount of possession given away, and the need to become complacent against the ‘smaller’ clubs.

League

We are currently sitting at the top of the pile only on goals scored: Pontevedra have the same goal difference, only we have scored and conceded two more than them. We’ve managed to score 40 goals in 18 games which proves our attacking presence, and it’s on average 2.2 goals every game. As opposed to the goals, we have conceded 18 (a goal a game on average) – if the table was sorted to least amount of goals scored we’d be 6th, which is slightly disappointing. Also I feel we are drawing too many, and that number is six. Nevertheless, a good first half-season with Ponferradina in the league.

Cups

Disappointed with the Spanish Cup after being knocked out in the First Round by fellow Division B1 club Eibar. The game did end with penalties though, which really is a lottery, so I may feel a little hard done by.
The Federation Cup has been pleasing, progressing through two rounds after defeating Leganes (3-2 aggregate score) and Gimnastic (4-1). We have been drawn against lower league opposition, but I expect UD Merida to come out attacking. Hopefully we can progress further.

Players

My players have been fantastic. That’s really all I can say about them as a whole. Individually, the ‘stand-out’ players are Ruben Vega, Nacer Barazite, Dani Borreguero and Jano. Vega has scored 13 goals in 18 appearances whilst Barazite has 7 in 22. He also has 7 assists to his name. Jano is actually our 3rd top scorer, and a towering centre back with that. He has 6 goals. Dani Borreguero has thoroughly impressed and is still rising to the challenge of the league being a 34 year old. Morale is high and the side are becoming more and more confident each week.