For the first time in forever, the board is pleased with me. That monster road win has a lot do with it, naturally.
Former player
Chris Peach, still making that money at $14.25k, now from Reading, takes time out to praise
Ryan Leggett, who has been hot lately after initially playing so poorly, we were hunting for potential replacements. Peach compares Leggett to
Hayden Johns, the New Zealander who played a wide variety of roles with us before playing a few seasons with FC Romania and unexpectedly retiring at 28.
1st @ AFC Stanground (14th)
G: Jordan Yorath
D: Lewis Page/Liam Nicell/Ian Penney/Ryan Leggett
DM: Paul Nisbet
M: Stuart Pearson/Chris Dickman
AM: Vernon Francis
ST: Gaz Wilson/Adam Cornell
This right here is what you call a classic trap game. Worst team in the league, on the road, after an emotional, inspiring win.
They pack in 3 DCs, 2 DMs, 2 WBs for 7 in the back, and have just an AML/AMR, and ST at the front. Craziest formation I've ever seen.
3 -
Pearson with the long ball to
Leggett on the wing. Header to
Francis just outside the box, and he passes it in, where a streaking
Cornell slots in the goal on his way out of bounds.
1-0
30 -
Nisbet hits a free kick line drive screamer that bounces off the post and in!
2-0
52 - Missed interception makes us give one up.
Sam Mitchell to AMC,
Francis sliding down to BBM and
Dickman off.
Attwood on for
Nicell, who has been trash in the second half.
2-1
63 -
Pearson is doing phenomenal ball-winning work today, and here he sends it to
Page for the pin-point pass to
Wilson. A pop-shot hits the net, and good thing, because I was just about to pull him.
3-1
7.5 for
Lewis Page and 8.3 for PotM
Paul Nisbet, though weirdly
Vernon Francis got signaled out by the announcers, despite a merely good 7.1 rating.
We're now 2 points ahead of both 2nd and 3rd, 6 points up on 4th and 7th with 7 matches left.
Oh, and this little gem pops up.
Be a damned shame to set the record and not promote.
I should also add with that last win, we've clinched non-relegation, so that's a nice bonus.
For the second year in a row, the Youth Candidates embarrass the U21s 0-2. But this time the only first team player to see any time was
Graham Carter, who had a lousy 6.1 game.
And rightfully so, because this is an absolute banner crop of youth players. So much so, that they're going to displace some starters. Granted, I said the same thing last year or a couple seasons ago, and only
Justin Cooper shook out long-term. But that's because everyone else got signed away.
1st vs Middleton Cheney (6th)
G: Jordan Yorath
D: Lewis Page/Jamie Hopkins/Kieran Wood (Youth pull)/Ryan Leggett
DM: Paul Nisbet
M: Justin Barron (Youth pull)/Chris Dickman
AM: Vernon Francis
ST: Gaz Wilson/Jason Porter (Youth pull)
Some other youth pulls probably could have taken lineup spots, but they were equal to what we already had, and in that case, I opted to leave the starters in for familiarity purposes.
16 -
Page dribbles all the way down the left wing and crosses near post.
Wilson wins the header, and secures the goal.
1-0
18 -
Wilson is laid out flat in the box on a tackle, and
Page fetches the loose ball. A kick back to
Dickman, and the long range strike powers in for his first goal of the year.
2-0
28 - Fucking awful job defending that corner, and their own youth pull gets a goal.
2-1
35 - We're awarded a PK, and
Wood is chosen to take it. He sinks it for the debut goal of his own!
3-1
49 - Despite being injured,
Wilson is playing on, and he takes the throw-in from
Page. An exchange of passes with
Francis later, he's beat the defense and struck his second goal of the game.
4-1
56 - We get *another* PK, and
Wilson stutter-steps to fake out the goalie. It works beautifully, and there's the hat trick!!!
5-1
88 - It's been a terrific debut for
Porter as well, but he's carted off with an injury, and
Cornell steps in the closing minutes.
Everyone scored a 7.3 or better, and
the whole defense was 7.7 or higher. 8+ guys were
Kieran Wood (8.0),
Lewis Page (8.4),
Chris Dickman (8.3),
Vernon Francis (8.3), and of course
Gaz Wilson, who had a virtuoso 9.6 performance!
Unfortunately, we're still just 2 points ahead of 2nd and 3rd, though we do have a 9 point cushion on 4th with 6 left. We're now assured of a Top 10 finish, by the way.
That PK goal made
Kieran Wood the youngest ever Thorney player to score, at 15 years, 289 days, smashing
Dean Ruddy's record by almost a year.
1st vs Wilmslow Albion (8th)
G: Jordan Yorath
D: Lewis Page/Jamie Hopkins/Kieran Wood (Youth pull)/Ryan Leggett
DM: Paul Nisbet
M: Justin Barron (Youth pull)/Chris Dickman
AM: Vernon Francis
ST: Gaz Wilson/Jason Porter (Youth pull)
Remember when Wilmslow Albion were the odds-on favorites to win the league? Well, they spent quite a lot of time as a relegation side in the early season, but have since fought their way back to 8th.
30 - That was a bullshit penalty, and that's twice now
Barron has fucked up this game. Off he goes for
Cooper. Ugh.
0-1
60 -
Dickman to
Francis. The cross to
Porter is an easy goal, but three defenders tackle the ball away.
Wilson is thankfully there on the loose ball for the rebound and puts it away. Time to get
Cornell in, as our younger striker is playing like ass.
1-1
It was an ugly, ugly game. But
Uppermill and
Nottinghamshire played each other today, and they got draws out of it as well, so with 5 games left, it's still a 2 point separation.
Gaz Wilson broke
Adam Cornell's old goal scoring record for Thorney of 12, now with 13 for the season.
The trade deadline makes me laugh, when a reporter asks if we're bringing in a left midfielder. I'm like Bro, have you seen our tactical setups. We don't use wingers!
A number of transfers are canceled at the deadline, including a young DC we were looking to bring in. That's fine, however.
Graham Carter and a couple unhappy youth guys sign to transfer out in June, which I'm cool with. They had no shot at ever advancing anywhere with us.
1st @ Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers Arborfield (13th)
G: Jordan Yorath
D: Lewis Page/Jamie Hopkins/Kieran Wood (Youth pull)/Ryan Leggett
DM: Paul Nisbet
M: Justin Cooper/Chris Dickman
AM: Vernon Francis
ST: Gaz Wilson/Jason Porter (Youth pull)
Both teams with a ton to play for. We're fighting to keep our promotion hopes alive, and they're trying their damnedest to get out of the drop zone. A win would keep us up top, and a win for them could get them as high as 10th.
Before the game,
Damien Stevens appears in the news again, this time to praise
Paul Nisbet. Whilst
Liam Nicell is a far superior player talent-wise to Nisbet as a BWM DM, I have a soft spot for Paul.
This is further validated in the pre-game presser, where a journalist believes Paul's going to leave for a higher level in the offseason. We just have to make sure we get to semi-pro status ASAP and lock both him and
Gaz Wilson down.
17 - WHAT HORSESHIT!
WILSON IS HURT AND THE FUCKER DOESN'T EVEN GET A YELLOW CARD!!!!
Porter goes over to AF, and
Cornell comes in.
34 -
Francis plays a gorgeous ball for
Porter in the box. The striker lays off to
Cornell, who shoots the ball off the legs of the defender, and the deflection bounces in. Nice pool shot!
1-0
54 -
Wood switches to DL, and youth pull
Chris Smith comes on for
Page, who has made a ton of mistakes.
Smith is actually a challenger to
Dickman in the BBM role, but I wanted to put him here, just in case I needed to make adjustments.
62 -
Wood heads it to
Porter, who fights past three defenders around him to lay off to
Francis for the unmarked score.
2-0
68 -
Leggett sends it for
Francis, who delivers to an open
Cornell in the box. Dribbling, waiting, picking spot, and angled shot goes in!
3-0
8.8 each for
Vernon Francis (PotM) and
Adam Cornell.
Jason Porter netted a 7.7, and three of our backline starters picked up 7.1 or better,
Wood showing the bulk of improvement after he moved to the DL spot.
With 4 games left, we *finally* get some separation. Not between 1st and 2nd - Uppermill won, but we're now 5 points clear of 3rd, as Nottinghamshire AFC lost. We also now can't finish any worse than 7th.
More chatter about our bruising, physical style of play. That's down to having a lot of aggressive players, but I'm fine with it. That's actually the way I played IRL as a kid, and it made me far better than what my meagre talent level would suggest.
Can we do it? Can we actually pull off the double promotion?
Martin Crawford, now retired, is another one who praises
Ryan Leggett to the media and compares him to
Hayden Johns. I'm really glad I stuck with him, though the only real reason I did was because we couldn't find a suitable upgrade.
1st vs Hurst (4th)
G: Jordan Yorath
D: Lewis Page/Jamie Hopkins/Kieran Wood (Youth pull)/Ryan Leggett
DM: Paul Nisbet
M: Justin Cooper/Chris Dickman
AM: Vernon Francis
ST: Gaz Wilson/Jason Porter (Youth pull)
A win, or even a draw, here knocks Hurst out of promotion for this season. Lose, and things suddenly get much tighter for everyone. Nottinghamshire AFC is away at 6th place King's Cliffe, whilst 2nd place Uppermill hosts 10th place Yarnton, whom we hammered 6-1 away.
38 -
Leggett is carried off, and
Dennis Betts, a youth pull challenger for his spot, makes a debut.
Everyone is looking really nervy at the half, so after some exploration, I get them to relax (or so I hope)! I switch to Standard, and Play Wide, to try and get some more shots going.
59 -
Cornell goes on for
Porter;
Dickman switches to BWM, and
Smith comes on at BBM. It's blowing all our subs early, but we need to do something.
67 - Fuckers took out
Dickman. Ugh. Down a man.
76 - SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT
0-1
87 -
Betts plays a long ball to
Francis, and upon receiving the cross,
Cornell walks it in the shorthanded goal.
1-1
3 games left. Hurst is now out of the picture. We're up by 2 points on 2nd still, and just 3 points up on 3rd.
Vernon Francis recorded his 11th assist, which broke the old Thorney season record of 10 set by
Ben Flynn, who shockingly retired at 22.
One of my backroom staff tells me we need just 3 points to win the league. I don't think they can math. 3 points guarantees us promotion, but not winning the whole thing.
1st @ Kirton Brickworks (12th)
G: Jordan Yorath
D: Lewis Page/Jamie Hopkins/Kieran Wood (Youth pull)/Ryan Leggett
DM: Paul Nisbet
M: Justin Cooper/Chris Dickman
AM: Vernon Francis
ST: Gaz Wilson/Jason Porter (Youth pull)
Oh shit. I did the math wrong. There's 26 games in this league, not 28! So this is the last game of the season! We really need to play for the draw.
AFC Stanground punched their automatic relegation ticket, by the way.
So we're 2 points ahead of 2nd, 3 ahead of third. I don't know who wins the tiebreaker between us and Nottinghamshire AFC, so I'd like to get the draw to make it a moot point.
Takeover talks again, on the eve of the biggest game of the year.
Adam Cornell gets love from
Phil Dean, who is making $14.25k at his second team in two years.
All we need to do is not lose. That's it. But you'll recall that we stuffed it up last year and backed into promotion. Will it be a repeat this season?...
Uppermill is hosting Long Sutton Athletic, who won our league last year. Nottinghamshire AFC plays at home vs Stamford Belvedere, and the opponents are ranked 8th and 6th respectively. On paper, we have the advantage, but the Brick dudes want to stay up, and have far more to play for.
Chris Dickman is freaked the fuck out. Everyone else is raring to go, and to prove they can finally win a colossal game.
12 -
Dickman dishes to
Leggett, who dribbles and passes to
Francis in the box. First power shot is pushed away, but the awesome veteran is right there to fire in his own rebound!!!
1-0
59 -
Porter moves to AF and
Cornell comes in as the DLF.
Wilson is tired, and both of our strikers are having a really bad day up front.
62 -
Smith comes in for
Hopkins, who just fucked up and gave away a goal, even though it looked offsides.
1-1
64 - HE WAS OFFSIDES, YOU ASS MAGGOT!!!!
1-2
The refs fucking gave them the game. But
Long Sutton Athletic destroys
Uppermill 4-0, and the answer of the tiebreaker is solved when
Nottinghamshire AFC wins 1-0 over
Stamford Belvedere and we're still #1.
THORNEY HAVE PULLED OFF THE DOUBLE PROMOTION AND WON THE LEAGUE!!!!! WE'RE FUCKING GOING SEMI-PRO, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!
FIRST TIME EVER I'VE TAKEN AN AMATEUR SIDE TO SEMIPRO!!!!