The story of a failed footballer

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We have been made evens favourites with the bookies to win this match against fellow League One side Alloa. It was the turn of another new signing, Josh Jeffries, to make his debut and he replaced Scott Linton in the only change from the last match. I was thinking I was being naive in keeping with the same team but those thoughts were put to bed by Steven Ross who converted from Lee Croft's cross to put us into the lead after twelve minutes. Ross doubled the tally twenty minutes later but unfortunately it was ruled offside. That wasn't the case immediately after the second half got under way as Ross once again found the net, inside thirty seconds, and this time it counted, 2-0! First it was Croft, then John Rooney and now it was debut boy Jeffries' turn to assist Ross as the big man grabbed his hat-trick just after an hour. The match fizzled out after that and it was 3-0 it finished. A good solid win against a league rival which bodes well for the season ahead.

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Our third game of the group in the Betfred cup was against Stenhousemuir who play in the division below us and shouldn't provide us with too great a challenge. How wrong could I be? Ten minutes of play and it's Stenhousemuir who take the lead! Grant Hamilton doubled that lead after an hour of play and what a shock this is. This should not be happening! We are dominating!! With the game nearing it's end we were given a lifeline when Josh Jeffries was fouled inside the box and Liam Caddis stepped up comfortably to convert the resulting penalty. We're going for it 2-3-2-3 is the formation, let's get that equaliser! Just a minute later and we have goal number two!! Super sub Greig Spence with the goal on his debut after some great work by Josh Jeffries once again It's 2-2 and we have four minutes to play... But a winning outcome can't be met in ninety minutes and the match goes to penalties. Liam Caddis steps up for the first penalty.. GOAL. Michael Dunlop for Stenny.. GOAL. Reece Hall-Johnson.. GOAL. Paul Nash.. GOAL. Greig Spence.. GOAL. Ross Meechan.. IT'S SAVED! Amadeusz Skrzyniarz might have won this for us. Lee Croft.. GOAL Bailey White.. IT'S SAVED, AMADEUSZ SKRZYNIARZ IS THE HERO AGAIN. What a game that was! That leaves the group table looking like this.

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@1magine good stuff mate keep it up Started to get a bit fed up over at neo as well as been warned for the same stuff.
 
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Knowing we needed a win from this game and that we were against tough opposition I thought we'd try spring a tactical surprise and changed our shape to a 4-1-3-1-1 and we'll look to counter a much stronger Partick Thistle side. Connor McManus was one of two changes we made to the side and it was a tactical one with him taking the place of right winger Lee Croft while Liam Caddis took the place of left winger Josh Jeffries. With nothing of any substance happening in the first half hour of the game Abdul Osman getting a red card around that time was a strange one as it was so needless but it puts us in a great position! Even more so given that we are currently playing better anyway. Despite that, once again, we went behind in spite of our superiority as Adebayo Azeez headed in from a long throw in. But no, hold up.. It's disallowed! YES! After a flurry of end to end action in the final stages of the match it was Thistle who struck the killer blow as Azeez got a goal that counted this time unfortunately for us and it looks like we are out. Or maybe not, Reece Hall-Johnson with the cross for Aaron McGowan who heads it at goal but it's saved by Tomas Cerny. He can't parry it though and it's Steven Ross who gets the rebound and makes it 1-1 in the ninetieth minute!! This one will go to penalties! Adebayo Azeez with the first penalty.. GOAL. Steven Ross.. IT'S SAVED!! Heartbreaking! Ziggy Gordon.. AND HE'S BALLOONED IT OVER THE BAR! Liam Caddis.. AND IT'S A GOAL WE'RE ALL LEVEL NOW! Steven Lawless.. GOAL. Ursene Mouanda.. GOAL! Callum Booth.. GOAL! John Rooney.. HE'S DRAGGED IT PAST THE POST!! David Amoo.. Goal. We are outtt.

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After some fine form in recent weeks we go into our first Irn-Bru cup match of the season filled with confidence as we get set to face League Two side Annan. We have been alternating between two tactics as well as making some tweaks here and there and for this match we've decided that the 4-5-1 assymetric shape is the most ideally suited for this fixture. After returning from injury, John Rooney returns to the line up in place of Sean Ellis despite Ellis having a blinder and scoring in the last match. Ursene Mouanda also returns to the line up in place of Liam Caddis in the centre defensive midfield position. It didn't take long for Rooney to justify his selection as he scored on the seventh minute after a great through ball by Steven Ross to make it 1-0 Clyde. For the next half hour it was more of an end to end battle between the sides but Annan's Willie Robertson second booking resulted in a red card which puts his team in all sorts of trouble. It was Rooney's turn to set up Ross next and he played a well timed through ball for Ross which the forward sweetly placed into the top right hand corner of the goal from twenty-five yards to make it 2-0 going into half time. The second half hadn't long started when John Rooney had to be replaced through injury and it was Sean Ellis who came on for him. Greig Spence came on for Steven Ross at the same time as we went for the double substitution. For the second time in his three sub appearances to date Spence scored once again after a fine ball from Josh Jeffries and this was turning into a real breeze. So much of a breeze infact that we were able to take control of the match without intent for the next half hour as we settled for a 3-0 win. With Rooney and Ross linking up so well in this match as well as a couple of other occasions so far this season I was looking forward to seeing the two continue that well into the season ahead. Those aspirations were shattered soon enough though as it was bad news on the injury front for Rooney who will face three months out with a torn hamstring. It's a real shame as he was playing well and had two goals and three assists in six games however I am confident that we have the ability in the squad to cope in his absence. After getting the second round out of the way we were handed a tough third round tie with St. Mirren who we would love to get revenge over.
 
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June - August review

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It was a pretty hectic summer for us as after failing to gain promotion our chairman John Alexander decided to make the club semi-professional in order to cut costs. That brought about some tough times as we were then unable to go after our original targets when it hit the first of July as those players no longer wanted to join us as they didn't want to play part-time football. By that point we had already made six signings and so we weren't quite desperate although our ambition was definitely forced lower as we looked to bring in more players. In the end we settled on four more signings and all four were brought in as cover for the first team rather than starting players. We also had an influx of players on trial to help us through our pre-season which allowed is to keep the team fresh and look at new additions in our seven friendlies. Of the seven friendlies I was most pleased about our performances against the Old Firm as we pulled off a shock by beating Celtic as well as running Rangers close. Three wins, three losses and a draw isn't the best but, looking at our opposition, we actually played really well in our games. The fact we were able to hold our own against superior opponent's gave me great confidence going forward. I will hold my hands up and admit that we, I, got it very, very wrong in our first competitive match of the season as we were thumped by Falkirk in the Betfred league cup. Having said that, the match was fairly even on paper it was just our dreadful end product that continuously let us down. That end product was soon rediscovered though as we proceeded to score eighteen goals in our next eight games. Our Betfred league cup campaign didn't go too great as we failed to beat all but one of four sides in our group. Yet, if we had managed to beat Partick Thistle on penalties in that last match we would have went through to the next round so we quickly moved on from that disappointment! Our Irn-Bru challenge cup campaign got off to a much better start as we sailed through to the third round courtesy of an easy win over Annan in the second and we will face St. Mirren next in the competition. Our league form got off to an absolutely cracking start as we saw off the challenge of four opponents on the bounce to go top of the table. As we looked to break our record of five wins on the spin Queens Park brought us back down to earth with a well fought victory. I was pretty gutted to see Yaw Osei score against us as we had him on trial for a long time last year but couldn't get a work permit for a permanent deal for him. Somehow Queens Park managed to get one but it is what it is, I wish him the best. I was pleasantly surprised with the Ladbrokes League One manager of the month award for August. It was just my second time winning the award and I was happy enough to pick it up as it gave me a little boost. Steven Ross was named third in the player of the month award too and he has started the season well with eight goals in ten games. The only real grievance we've had in the first couple of months of the season is losing both John Rooney and Stevie Smith to three and two month injuries respectively. Like I've previously mentioned though, we have the squad to cope with their absence, particularly Smith as he's third choice back up anyway.

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Ahead of our third round tie with St. Mirren in the Irn-Bru league cup we were given the news that the winners of this match will face either Hearts under 20's or Arbroath. We were the favourites going into the match which is no doubt down to our home advantage. After the injuries to Steven Ross and Greig Spence we were inspired to tip into the trialist market once again and we brought in seven players, four of which are starting today. Julian Faubert slots in for Reece Hall-Johnson at right back as he's been poor recently while Ian Black and Scott Robinson are much stronger players in the centre of midfield and they've taken the places of Josh Jeffries and Liam Caddis. The position that we had no choice but to change was upfront and lower league prolific hitman Rory McAllister was given the nod up front ahead of Rory Loy but the latter does make the bench. After an extremely boring first half which resulted in just four shots, all by us, we replaced McAllister with Loy going on in his place for the second half. That move almost paid off as Loy was played through on goal by Scott Robinson but he smashed his effort off the bar and it was swiftly cleared away by the Buddies defence. We did get the goal we needed though and it was Loy who forced the goal as his shot just outside the box was deflected off of Craig Barr and past the hapless Reece Willison in the St. Mirren goal. That goal five minutes from time ensured that it was us who made it through to the next round where we will face Arbroath.

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Monthly review

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September continued as August ended; in defeat. It was a defeat to recently relegated Dunfermline but once against it was entirely undeserved as the stats show. We weren't helped by Dunfermline injuring Steven Ross just after half time and then injuring his replacement Greig Spence! Worse news quickly followed as we were dealt the absolutely crushing blow that Steven Ross will face five or six months out with a damaged Achilles tendon. Worse still, our back up Greig Spence was also ruled out for four or five weeks with a groin strain. So in the space of four matches we've lost three vital players in Rooney, Ross and Spence. The consequences of that could be monumental and it could put a real end to our promotion aspirations this season. We had to make our move to bring in some replacement's fast and we were able to strengthen the squad in time for our next match by bringing in seven players on trial. Right back/right winger Julian Faubert, midfielders Ian Black, Scott Robinson, Ross Forbes, Darren Lyon as well as strikers Rory Loy and Rory McAllister. Four of those players were handed a debut against St. Mirren and it was just McAllister who failed to impress out of the four and his half time replacement Loy didn't fare much better either. Still, we got the win courtesy of Loy's deflected effort and that was enough to see us through to the next round where Abroath lay in wait. After playing slightly better than McAllister in the St. Mirren game it was Loy who started upfront against Brechin. The first half of that match was looking like it was heading for a stalemate when controversy ensued as Lee Croft, whilst on a booking, appeared to trip up a defender in the oppositions box and toe poke the ball past the Brechin 'keeper. The home side were in uproar protesting that it should've been a foul and Croft should have been sent off but the ref was having none of it and the goal stood. Croft continued to impress and he struck the second goal of the match just shy of the hour mark. Just as we were going into the final fifteen of the match looking like we'd won the game two nil Brechin struck two goals in four minutes to level in dramatic fashion. A real kick in the teeth that result. After an impressive performance against Brechin it was a real blow to lose Croft for around five weeks through an abdominal strain. Our injury worries further mounted when Pat Kanyuka was ruled out for two months with a lower back stress fracture and Josh Jeffries was also out for ten days after suffering concussion against Brechin. We were depleted to the point that Jeffries had to sit on the bench for the Dumbarton match although he didn't have to come on. After going down 1-0 to Dumbarton not a change of formation, mentality nor a red card for the away side was inspiration enough for us to find a way back into the match despite our eighteen shots to their four. We are lost without Steven Ross up front and to a lesser extent John Rooney too. With Loy having played the maximum amount of games in the league as a trialist it was Rory McAllister's turn to start upfront again but, once again, he flattered to deceive. We bombarded the Stranraer goal with twenty shots and dominated once again but our players just can't score and it's becoming very obvious that we've rode our luck by having Steven Ross to rely on at all times. Despite failing to impress we had to bring in Loy and McAllister on non-contract's as there is quite literally no better alternatives in the free market willing to sign. Julian Faubert has also joined us on a non-contract basis while Ian Black signs on with us for the rest of the season. Greig Spence has also made his return from injury and will be available for our first match in October against Alloa.

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We named an unchanged team for this match and as favourites for the tie we should really be seeing off the challenge of league two Arbroath. We got the game off to a flier as Greig Spence smashed in the opening goal of the game from Aaron McGowan's cross. After a coming together from a corner we were awarded a penalty in the twentieth minute after a foul by Martin Scott on Connor McManus. Sean Ellis steps up.. GOAL! After a defensive mix up by the Arbroath defence Spence nicked in to bag his second of the game and in our third in thirty-five minutes. It was twenty-five minutes before we were able to see another goal in this one and unfortunately it was against us as The Red lichties pulled one back through Allan Smith. That was ultimately the last goal of the game and it was a comfortable win for us which has seen us paired with Dunfermline in the quarter final.

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Monthly review​

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After just one win in five games it was time to change things up once again and that meant a switch back to 4-1-3-1-1 against Alloa. As well as that, Aaron McGowan was switched from left back to right back and Scott Linton was given his chance to shine at left back whilst Josh MacDonald replaced Gary McKenzie at the centre of defence too. Ian Black, Theo Wharton and Connor McManus were paired up in a midfield three with Sean Ellis getting his chance just ahead of them in the '10' role. Greig Spence also made his return from injury but failed to score on his comeback and it was McManus with the goal that ensured we bounced back up to third in the league. As we got Spence and Stevie Smith back from injury we then had to contend with an injury to our back up keeper, Mark McMillan, and Josh Jeffries having to miss a week out with food poisoning. McMillan will be out for five weeks with a twisted ankle which leaves us short of a back up goalkeeper for that period of time. We were able to overcome Arbroath in the Irn-Bru challenge cup and what was a comfortable win for us courtesy of a double from Spence and a penalty by Sean Ellis. That win sent us through to the next round where we were paired with Dunfermline in the quarter final. We went into the second half of the game against East Fife down by a goal yet dominating the match and so we went into the second half with a much more attacking mentality looking to break them down. We soon got our reward as Scott Linton's long throw in was nodded on by Quade Taylor who found his centre defensive partner Josh MacDonald who tied the game level. Unfortunately we were unable to beat the side sitting ahead of us in the league table when we should have. As a manager looking to progress in my career and build a good team here I am constantly looking to improve my team and I was ecstatic to be able to bring in Phil Bardsley, Jay McEveley, Joey Barton and Fraser Aird as all four have been or still are international players. As we can only feature two trialists per league match we played Bardsley and Barton and the latter certainly impressed as he scored a free kick to give us the lead! Our lead didn't last long though, two minutes to be exact, as Ursene Mouanda gave away a penalty which was dispatched expertly. Despite being the superior team throughout we once again failed to make it count and succumbed to another draw which leaves us in third place going into November. After a combined ten games without scoring I decided to release Rory McAllister and Rory Loy as there displays were far beyond an acceptable level. As well as those two, Pat Kanyuka and Stevie Smith were also released. With a bit more leeway in wage we were able to bring in Barton, McEveley and Bardsley permanently with the available funds.

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We were the underdogs going into this match and our poor recent form is the reasoning behind that. If I wasn't expected to reach the final of this competition I would say I wasn't fussed about the outcome of that match. With us struggling in the league though the last thing I can afford is to go out of the cup and leave my position as manager in a perilous state. Like the story of our entire season thus far we once again conceded despite our superiority in the match. Michael Paton put Dunfermline 1-0 up after thirty-seven minutes. Just minutes into the second half Scott Linton then goes and gets himself sent off for picking up a silly second booking and now we are really in trouble. Fortunately Dunfermline didn't go on to score again. Unfortunately neither did we and now we are out.
 
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Monthly review

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Having signed Joey Barton, Phil Bardsley and Jay McEveley permanently all three were given their debut's together against Elgin City and Fraser Aird was handed his first trial performance too. Our goalscoring problems continued though as we failed to score against Elgin City and we even failed to score the penalty we were awarded with five minutes left to play!! For some bizarre reason Jay McEveley decided to step up and hit the spot kick and that just isn't on. He wasn't even on the list of penalty takers! Not the best way to start off at a new club Jay. With Greig Spence not quite leading the line the way we need him to we are going to try John Rooney upfront after his return from injury. We started with a different tactic against Queens Park that allowed us to start Dario Zanetta, our new trialist, on the left wing while playing others in their best positions too. It didn't work though and Yaw Osei once again scored on his return against us as he outpaced our slow defence to score an easy goal to put his new side 1-0 up. Not too long afterwards it was 2-0 to Queens Park and we had to make some tactical changes. Our changes were irrelevant though and Osei made it 3-0 late on to compound our misery. That display was our worst of the season by far, there's no comparison to be made, that was dreadful. That result meant we dropped down to fifth in the league and remarkably sat level on points with three sides above us while Stranraer remained just six points. Our bad run extended into the Irn-Bru challenge cup match against Dunfermline and as a result we were sent crashing out of the competition after a limp display led to a 1-0 defeat. In between the Dunfermline matches Fraser Aird completed a permanent transfer with us and has signed a two year deal. With Rooney failing to impress upfront either we gave Spence his time to shine once again. Dario Zanetta had a dreadful last game in the 3-0 defeat to Queens Park but he was given another chance against Dunfermline and had to make it count. We played a standard 4-5-1 with a defensive midfielder and wingers as we continue to search out a winning formula this season. Our midfield had a bit of an aggressive touch to it as it featured both Ian Black and Joey Barton alongside one another! We played soooo well against Dunfermline in that second match and Canadian duo Aird and Zanetta linked up to put us in front and we looked set for the win right up until the eighty-ninth minute when Phil Bardsley committed a foul in the box and gave away a penalty which Dunfermline promptly scored. We were excellent that game, our defending and tackling in particular was pleasing and then, in the last minute, we go ahead and ruin it. We now enter December on a six game winless streak and our first game of the month is a William Hill Scottish cup tie with Ladbrokes Championship side Kilmarnock. Should be fun.

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Monthly review​

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Our six game win less streak was extended by a further game as we were knocked out of the William Hill Scottish cup by Kilmarnock. It was pretty devastating to lose that game as we pretty much matched them for the entire game but we just don't have a killer instinct at the moment. Thankfully we were able to turn things around in the league against Brechin as we ended our five game win less streak in the competition. I believe that the change of shape we worked on in the lead up to that game and then used was the reasoning behind that. Makeshift striker John Rooney had a superb man of the match display in his new deep lying forward role and he set up his strike partner Greig Spence for the goal. Through the week I brought everyone in our squad into my office to speak about their recent performances and they were all given a warning. As well as that we had a team meeting and the squad as a whole were told they'd done okay so far but had to take it up a notch the rest of the season and to their credit each and every single member of our squad reacted positively to the criticism. We weren't able to take that positivity into the next match and secure a win however a draw against Dumbarton ensured we stayed ahead of them by a point in the league. Stranraer lost their match one the day against Dunfermline which meant we moved a point closer to them and were just five points behind. The squad were given a boost when Steven Ross completed the recovery phase of his injury and begun his rehabilitation in training with the lads. I look forward to seeing him back in action as he remains our top goalscorer on eight goals. We expect to have him back in the squad for our match against Queens Park on the twelth of January. Unfortunately once again despite bombarding the Alloa goalkeeper with shots we just couldn't get the goals we needed to get something from that game. To give you an indication of how close this league is, we dropped from second place in the league way down to sixth after that one. Greig Spence picked up an injury in that game against Alloa which meant that we had no available strikers available to play top of the table Stranraer. As we didn't even have one proven striker never mind two we decided to revert back to our 4-5-1 asymmetric formation against Stranraer. It worked superbly and after an end to end battle for the majority of the match John Rooney fired in the winning goal from a superb drilled ball across goal by Fraser Aird on the right wing. A great way to finish a very up and down month and hopefully we can push on from this one now.

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Monthly review

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Our fellow promotion hopefuls East Fife were the team we faced in our first game of the year 2019 and we got the year off to the best possible start with a tremendous 4-0 victory. We gave Steven Ross a start one game ahead of schedule and he led a three man front line in a 4-3-3 formation. He is a great omen for us and although he didn't get on the score sheet he did manage to set one up before being replaced by Josh Jeffries at half time. Despite playing three up front it was central midfielder Fraser Aird that grabbed the most goals in the game as he continued his fantastic form. I must be garnering a bit of a reputation as a tactical tinker man these days as we changed our name again during the build up to the Queens Park match. With a full squad available to choose from, the return of the excellent Steven Ross and the addition of Dario Zanetta we were able to try a 4-2-3-1 shape for the first time. Funnily enough Queens Park also played the same formation although their '2' were in defensive midfield and their '3' were played narrowly which seemed to prevent us playing with the freedom we wanted to. We can have no complaints about drawing with them as they far the much better side on the day. The Peterhead game completely turned on it's head when they were awarded a penalty and proceeded to miss it. From that point on we went overload as we looked searched out the win and when the home side had a player sent off for two bookings our chances of that increased despite there being just five minutes left to play. Sensing an opportunity I instructed the lads to go 3-2-3-2 and sent Greig Spence on upfront and sacrificed Phil Bardsley in defence. It was an inspired sub as on the ninety-second minute Fraser Aird ran down the wing before whipping in a low ball across goal for the waiting Spence who was once again our super sub. We really look like we've turned a corner these past few weeks and that last match means we've went four games unbeaten for the first time since early November and even then that was two wins and four draws in six matches. With a two week break to refresh the bodies and minds we hope that it does us some good as we look to continue our recent form into February.

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Transfer roundup
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We've had a busy season in terms of transfers, in total we've now signed nineteen players while there is still a good couple of months left of the season and I wouldn't rule out any further additions. Of those nineteen additions we've since let five of them go again; Rory Loy and Rory McAllister couldn't net in ten games between them so were subsequently let go. After signing Fraser Aird, Phil Bardsley, Jay McEveley and Dario Zanetta; Julian Faubert, Steven Smith and Lee Croft went way down in the pecking order and with a combined weekly wage of around £2k we made the decision to let them all leave. Pat Kanyuka was another player we let leave the club on a free transfer as we just had so many better options at the club. The only players that managed to depart to another club were full backs Scott Linton and Ewan McNeil. Much like the others, Linton and McNeil weren't even second choice never mind first and so it, again, made sense to allow them to leave which cleared up about another £1k in wages. Allowing those players to leave has knocked our weekly wage budget down ever so slightly to £17k per week which is still fairly high which means promotion is a must this season. Despite cutting down on our wages we have actually still managed to bring players in and although the new additions are of a much higher calibre they are also on much less wages.


Over the course of the season we have had constant bids in for Ursene Mouanda, Steven Ross, Quade Taylor and Josh MacDonald. All from the same teams really, Dundee United have come in with bids as high as £40k for Mouanda, Ross and Taylor while Kilmarnock have continued to bid for all three players as well. MacDonald also had some interest from Kilmarnock while Queen of the South have also bid for a couple of them. I don't know what they're drinking over in Dumfries though as we had to reject the exact same bid from the club four times in a row on deadline day!! Put simply, although we could use the transfer revenue to help ease money issues we really need to get promoted this year and we really need our main players for that. Each club were given the same feedback as we quoted them £250k for each player. Realistically the only player who could potentially be worth anywhere near that amount is Steven Ross but to us all four of them are worth it. Summer signings Aaron McGowan and Reece Hall-Johnson were another couple of players we were tempted to sell to clear up some £3k+ in wages but in the ended up we decided against it. Both players are in rotation at both full back positions with Jay McEveley and Phil Bardsley and while we shopped around for players we could replace them with on less wages we were unable to find anyone suitable.
 
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Monthly roundup
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After a fortnight's break I was glad we were back to action against Elgin City. Despite being on a decent run we didn't want to rest on our laurels and so we changed things up with a switch to a 4-3-3 narrow formation and went with an attacking mentality. We ended up playing out a very tough game with Elgin as they went 1-0 up before we bounced back to go 3-1 up only for them to then pull one back with five minutes to play and scare the life out of us! Thankfully, we managed to ward off wave after wave of attack and secure a vital victory which ensured we kept within touching distance of Stranraer. As we got the news that Jay McEveley and Steven Ross would be out for around five weeks each before our match against Dunfermline I certainly didn't expect us to get a positive result. It wasn't the best of news but we were able to hold out for a 0-0 draw which was respectable enough, even more so given that Stranraer drew too. We played with the 4-3-3 formation all month and the mixed results of that decision continued as we fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Brechin. However we bounced back superbly in our final match of the month and it was a match that turned into a real spectacle after an eighty-four minute borefest. With the game looking like it was heading for a 0-0 scoreline I feared for our chances in the match as Josh MacDonald got himself sent off after picking up his second booking with five minutes left to play. After going down to ten men I switched us to 4-3-2 and looked to play with a counter attacking philosophy and it worked a treat as we managed to win 2-0! Lonsana Doumbouya is a striker we brought in on trial following Steven Ross' injury and he got off to the perfect start for us with a goal on his debut. As Stranraer have failed to win any of their last three matches we are going into March just one point behind them. Could we actually win the league?

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Monthly roundup​

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We were brought crashing back down to earth in our first game of March as we were outclassed by Alloa and subsequently beaten. That result meant we slipped down to third place in the league. So much for our title ambitions huh? It was a blessing that we had top of the table Stranraer up next as we could bounce back with a win against a team which makes a difference to our standing! Having had success with our 4-1-3-1-1 against Stranraer in our previous win over them we went with the same tactic and got the same win! We were able to play Steven Ross up top and John Rooney behind him for the first time in a long time and I was happy to see them linking up well once again. It was the latter that got our goal and it came in the first minute from a superb 30-yard free kick, a really great goal worth winning any match. Winning that match was a lifeline to our title chances as we drew level on points with Stranraer however Alloa went top with a two point gap over us which was a bit of a blow. Much like what we done against Stranraer, we elected to use a previous winning formula against our next opponent's East Fife and that was a 4-3-3 which helped us to a 4-0 last time. This time it was slightly closer but the result was the same nevertheless! When East Fife opened the scoring on the third minute it didn't look like that was going to be the case but McEveley marked his return from injury with a penalty which was followed up by Steven Ross' double. It really was fantastic to see Ross back among the goals and with a great big smile on his face! We have really missed his influence this season. Lonsana Doumbouya also played his last game in that match and aside from the one goal he scored for us he was pretty unimpressive in his three games and so we weren't too fussed. Our final match of the month was our best yet as we emphatically beat Peterhead 5-2!! We were actually 5-0 up as Ross once again was causing riots to the opposition defence and oh how glad I am that my main man is back. Ross was rewarded with his fine form with the March player of the month award whilst I was rewarded with another new contract. So with the final six games of the season approaching how does the table look? Preettttyyy gooooddd.

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