[Izulde]

If I'm being honest, I'm okay with not promoting. I'd rather see us keep building our money reserves and get a stadium in place. Except the board's bought into the media hype and expects us to win the Wearside Football League. Well shit.

We're going to need major upgrades at DR and AMC, then.

vs Atherstone Reserves (FA Cup Pre-qualifying 1st Round)
G: Martin Grice
D: Michael Ricketts/Lee Craig/Tom Clarkson/Jordan Street
M: Lloyd Edge/Joe Ward
AM: Patrick Lauber/Brian Haule/Billy Akrigg
ST: John Wigglesworth

He's awful at it, but Haule can nominally play the AMC, so he's in that spot now.

11 - 25 yard ball from Lauber to Haule, and a pristine pass into the box for Wigglesworth for the score! Hamlet gives a dramatic monologue about how our hot new young striker was offsides, but the ref ignores it. 1-0

21 - Our first competitive injury of the year sees Street out (by the way, the backline was my own devising - the assman was stupid in his selections). Black gets the call because I don't trust Morgan at all.

Brutal game so far. Three players taken out with injuries.

64 - Whatever. McDonnell for Ward. 1-1

85 - Double yellow for Craig. Strutt in at DC as we re-configure to keep a 4 man backline.

Truth be told, we were just damn unlucky today. Akrigg had a couple shots I thought sure would go in, and we didn't play poorly by any means. We lose Jordan Street for a month.

Patrick Lauber is appointed Captain and Garry Shephard Vice Captain on my assman's recommendations. Lauder's a long-term player (hopefully), so he's the better choice.

Transfer In - DLR Lewis Smith - 20 - 4/5
I dropped the pace and strength requirements way down to get this kid, so I wasn't getting all 15 and 16 year olds. My assman considers him our best right defender and it's not even close. 8/8 P/S, BTW.

@ Atherstone Reserves (FA Cup Pre-qualifying 1st Round)
G: Joe McLoughlin
D: Gareth Younie/Thomas Morgan/Tom Clarkson/Lewis Smith
M: Paul McDonnell/Joe Ward/Liam Bright
AM: Simon Bloor
S: Garry Shephard/John Wigglesworth

38 - Ward completely misreads a pass to him, and they score 0-1

I pull Ward's retarded ass for Edge at the half. Sad state of affairs when we have to lean so heavily on our U21s.

54 - Game's over. 0-2

62 - Strutt in for Morgan, who continues to play so poorly, I'm going to flat out cut him.

63 - Fucking pathetic. 0-3

73 - Wigglesworth PK. What a fucking waste. 1-3

82 - They're lollygagging and [b]Shephard[b] creates his own shot to give us a fighting chance. 2-3

No, I'm not going to be sympathetic this game. You guys fucking blew it like a needy crackwhore.

Transfer In: AMC/MC/ST Benn Minshull - 21 - 2/5
At long last, someone else who can play the AMC spot. Can also cover both attacking wings as needed, so this is a major find.

8th vs Liver Academy (14th)
G: Martin Grice
D: Michael Ricketts/Lee Craig/Nathan Black/Lewis Smith
M: Dean Strutt/Joe Ward
AM: Patrick Lauber/Benn Minshull/Billy Akrigg
ST: Brian Haule

1 - Smith on the wing with a cross to Haule, who heads it to Akrigg for the score. Amazeballs start! 1-0

15 - Akrigg wins the race for a loose ball and crosses it to Ward in the box. Lucky strike later, and we have a lucky double. 2-0

They're playing well, so I'll congratulate them on it and hope their form doesn't crash.

58 - Younie in for Craig, who to no one's surprise keeps making errors.

73 - Black to DR, Strutt to DC, and Bright in at MC, because Smith is wiped.

88 - Grice goal kicks to Akrigg, who hits a dribble pass into the box. Haule wins the foot race and pop shots it into the net! We've ourselves a real goalie controversy here. 3-0

7.5+
Billy Akrigg - 8.6
Brian Haule - 8.3
Joe Ward - 7.8
Michael Ricketts - 7.7
Chris Black - 7.5

The win jumps us up to 5th with 6 points. There's two promotion places, and there just also happen to be two unbeaten teams.

90 season ticket sales again. Not looking forward to board in a couple weeks. They're going to be mad we lost in the preliminary first round, as they expected us to make the first qualifying round.

But at least we're making headway in our chase for promotion.