[Izulde]

vs Laverstock & Ford (18th)
G: Louis Deen
D: Jake Smeeton/Nick Hunter/Luke Wright/Josh Stevenson
MC: Lee Clough/Josh Hanratty
AMLR: Dale Berquez/Nana Mensah
ST: Lewis Griffin/Nathan Chambers

5 - Griffin intercepts a pass out of the defense and steps forward to strike a 20 yarder! He and Mensah are two guys teams have really been after. 1-0

20 - Terrific interception by Stevenson, who jacks it to midfield and Chambers. Pressure, so the outlet pass back to Hanratty. Longball returns to Chambers, and our Frenchman with the English name drives into the box, pauses, and crosses to Griffin for the header. Nice debut assist. 2-0

34 - Deen cracks a kick all the way down the pitch to Mensah. It's on to Chambers just outside the half circle, and he passes to Griffin in the box for his hat trick!!!! 3-0

52 - BS callback of a goal, and because Chambers is tired and lost possession twice on this series, he takes a breather, Assombalonga coming in

57 - Parrott in for Hunter

64 - Stevenson with the midfield interception. He passes to Assombalonga just outside the half-circle. Defender closes in, so he quickly passes into the box, where Berquez has his man beat, and there's our loanee's first ever Blues goal!!! 4-0

74 - Backline got sloppy there 4-1

75 - Clough to Griffin to Assombalonga during the ensuing kickoff, and the 29 year old strikes a 38 yarder that thunders in for the immediate answer!!! 5-1

Everyone had a 7.0 or better, with a lot of 7.6s. Our 8+ guys were all strikers: PotM Lewis Griffin (9.7), [b]Nathan Chambers with a 8.2 debut, and Chris Assombalonga with an 8.1 off the bench.

Transfer In - DLCR Gregory Harte (19) - Barbadian - From Hampton & Richmond
He could be a starter right now at either DL or DC, but I think it's going to be DL to take advantage of his 15 Teamwork and 11 Strength. Plus, Jake Smeeton is 34 years old, so it'd be nice to get some young blood in here. Harte is dual-citizenship, and I'm excited to have him at this lower level than he's played before. Might shift to DC, as we've feelers out on some other DL guys. He's also 6'3, 180, and Nathan Chambers is 6'2, 169. We're trying to build a tall team here for sure.

@ Bosham (12th)
G: Louis Deen
D: Jake Smeeton/Gregory Harte/Nick Hunter/Josh Stevenson
MC: Lee Clough/Josh Hanratty
AMLR: Dale Berquez/Nana Mensah
ST: Lewis Griffin/Nathan Chambers

I changed my mind after seeing that Smeeton is our primary set pieces guy, and we really need him on the field for that.

54 - Hudson for Stevenson; Assombalonga for Chambers

Frankly unlucky not to win this one, I think. But at least teams are continuing to have issues beating our 4-2-4 setup, despite my struggles to bring in better talent to such a low reputation team.

vs Montpelier Villa (5th)
G: Louis Deen
D: Jake Smeeton/Gregory Harte/Nick Hunter/Josh Stevenson
MC: Lee Clough/Josh Hanratty
AMLR: Roger Barnes/Nana Mensah
ST: Lewis Griffin/Nathan Chambers

16 - Smeeton throws in to Barnes, gets it back, and hammers it down the left flank to Griffin. He kicks it back and center to Barnes, who beautifully crosses to charging Chambers, and our Frenchman has his first Roses goal at last!!! 1-0

49 - Assombalonga replaces tired Chambers, and sucky Mensah is pulled for Hudson

59 - I forgot fluke goals are a thing. FML. 1-1

With five games left, we're mathematically assured of staying up. That may not seem like a huge deal, but when the previous manager got fired, they were sitting 12th (currently 6th). The Blues' high position this season has been 4th, which is still reachable, but would need some help.

Youth Pulls
We're still a low enough level team that youth pulls actually matter. So much so that we sign almost the whole package other than two guys because of how many are 4* potential.

@ Liphook United (9th)
G: Louis Deen
D: Jake Smeeton/Gregory Harte/Nick Hunter/Josh Stevenson
MC: Nana Mensah/Josh Hanratty
AMLR: Roger Barnes/Dean Hudson
ST: Lewis Griffin/Nathan Chambers

Lee Clough is out with injury, which will be a pretty damn big miss.

5 - No shit not the start we had planned 0-1

11 - Thanks for the own goal gift! 1-1

17 - Sigh. 1-2

Assombalonga goes in for exhausted Chambers at half.

58 - Hunter replaces Wright

76 - Teams have finally figured out our scheme 1-3

First loss of my tenure, and the Blues' first loss in nine games (they were on a three game unbeaten streak when I arrived). We collapse to 8th.

In anticipation of all the youth signings, I go through and purge everyone who isn't 4* potential or higher on the B and C teams.

Transfer In - AMLC/MLC Lee Walsh (18) - Irish - From Metrogas
11 Flair, 15 Acceleration, 12 Pace. The ginger-hair is hella raw, with the worst Work Ethic and Teamwork combination I've ever seen. But his quickness and speed intrigue me enough that I'm going to give him a shot at starting. 6'2, 167.

Transfer In - DR Michael Francis (22) - Grenadian - From Desborough
15 Flair, 12 Work Rate, 10 Stamina. Easily our best defender and with room to grow besides. He also has 6 youth caps for the Grenadian national team, though like the other guys we've signed not named Nathan Chambers, he's dual citizenship.

Josh Stevenson and Mark Parrott join the purge, and as soon as I find upgrades, Jake Smeeton and Josh Hanratty will join them - Smeeton's set piece specialty be damned.

We sign a 14/14 Scouting upgrade to start scouring our scouting range, and ink a Turkish-English Head of Youth Development with 17 Working with Youngsters, 12 JPA/10 JPP. He favors the 4-4-2 Longball, so we'll see how he does. First time I can recall actually signing one of these guys.

Lee Clough is appointed team captain, with Chris Assombalonga taking the vice band.

Josh Hanratty earns a stay by virtue of tutoring Roger Barnes.

vs Billingshurst (2nd)
G: Chris Cadmore (Youth pull)
D: Jake Smeeton/Gregory Harte/Nick Hunter/Michael Francis
MC: Lee Clough/Josh Hanratty
AMLR: Lee Walsh/Nana Mensah
ST: Lewis Griffin/Nathan Chambers

8 - Francis picks up a cleared corner and wings out to Mensah. Cross, and Griffin gallops past the defender to head it in 1-0

24 - Horrible corner clearance 1-1

Assombalonga for Chambers at the break

56 - Wright for Harte

60 - We're ass on set pieces 1-2

82 - Un.fucking.believable. 1-3

Aaand now we're down to 11th.

See, here's the problem: Any other configuration we put together just involves shuffling players around because we can't bring in the type of talent necessary to make other formations work.

Loan In - AML/ST Nathan Sheppard (21)
So he's only here for 3 games. His Physical attributes are on point - Only Stamina (6) is less than 10. He's thinking of leaving Bedford FC when his contract is up, but I doubt we'll be able to get him. And that turns out our only deadline move.

@ AFC Roffey Club (12th)
G: Chris Cadmore (Youth pull)
D: Jake Smeeton/Gregory Harte/Nick Hunter/Michael Francis
MC: Lee Clough/Josh Hanratty
AMLR: Nathan Sheppard/Dean Hudson
ST: Lewis Griffin/Nathan Chambers

Nana Mensah is pretty much done for the season. Might come back for our last game, but that's about it.

11 - Bleh 0-1

50 - After blowing a wide open shot, Chambers is off for Assombalonga; Munslow, an original, replaces Hanratty

61 - Sheppard runs down a loose ball and cracks a power cross that Assombalonga heads in to equalize 1-1

We didn't play great, but we were expected to lose, so whatever.

Board isn't thrilled, but I'm not in danger, either. Hard to make improvements this late in the season, especially when it's tough to get signings. I'm not sure if I'll stick around or not.