FM 12 - Rise of the Spartans

[JonInMiddleGA]

July 21, 2012 (morning)
We'll be receiving $3k in money for an upcoming televised BSBP match. That's the good news. The bad news would be that it's our clash against rival Gateshead, who figure to beat us like the minnow in a big pond I feel like. And, speaking of likely beatdowns ...

July 12, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (BSBP) vs Blackpool (Championship) - Friendly

Hey, it's a nice payday (expected profit around $35k) and since the club bleeds money every month I figure I almost owe it to the board to take on something like this at least once a year. Pitchero Non-League fills me with confidence as they expect "a basketball scoreline"

We'll play defensive, put out the best lineup we can, hope to avoid getting embarrassed. My pre-game talk of "no pressure, we're huge underdogs, show 'em what you've got" relaxes the club ... and appears to have relaxed about half of them too much (Hartley, Sinclair, Antwi, Mole, Armstrong). Great, just great.

GK - Hartley
D - Martin - Jones - Antwi - Sinclair
MF - Matondo - Pook - Vipond - O'Connor
F - Armstrong - Mole
(Available subs: cast of thousands)

07:00 Antwi wins a header at midfield, knocks it on for Mole ... pass ahead to Armstrong is timed perfectly ... GK Halstead coming out, Armstrong lobs ... and Halstead leaps high to get his fingertips on a ball that none of our keepers would have even left the ground to attempt. It's a corner, which comes to nothing.

14:30 - Smith corner to the far post, Hill is there, Hartley had no chance (0-1)

19:30 - Bruna corner, plays it way out in the area to Powell, he puts the ball into an empty net on the far side. No idea why Hartley stayed glued to the near post for so long after the ball was in play. (0-2)

21:19 - Ince cross to Sutherland in the area, header bounces into the net (0-3)

36:14 - Sutherland battles with Jones in the box, nudges the ball forward ... and Hartley is too slow to react (0-4) Okay, that was bad. There are toddlers who could have come closer to a save there.

Halftime- Again my halftime speech seems to make things worse. I give 'em the whole "the purpose can be found in other areas" talk, and key players look disinterested, except for Sinclair who appears "in danger of losing discipline" ... Funny thing, we've outshot them 10-4, problem is that only 1 of ours was on target, all 4 of theirs were.

Sub Knight for Hartley, Groves for Vipond (50% fit), Chinthengah for Armstrong (5.8), Purvis for Sinclair, Mellish for Jones (4.9)

54:15 - After Pook intercepted poor pass by Blackpool, Chinthengah plays a simple pass to Mole, he steps into the arc and shoots ... GOAL ! (1-4) We finally put one on target & it shocked the keeper so much he was a step slow getting there

68:22 - Chinthengah is denied from the edge of the box ... rebound right back to him ... GOAL (2-4)

70:00 - Sub Janneh for Pook, Stamp for Mole, Dombaxe for Matondo, Sawyer for Antwi (Groves to DR, Purvis to DCR, Sawyer to LCM)

74:40 - Chinthengah with a corner ... Purvis header hits the crossbar

79:30 - Chinthengah with little run forward, Blackpool backs off ... he suddenly sees Stamp & hits him in stride with a pass ... into the area, shoots ... GOAL ! (3-4) I'm starting to think we might be learning a few things about this team from this game

83:30 - Sub Abraham for O'Connor, Christensen for Purvis

84:17 - Chinthengah with a corner ... to the next post ... Mellish is there ... GOAL !!! (4-4) He banked it in off the underside of the crossbar. In my wildest imagination I didn't think for a second that could happen.

89:00 - 2 mins of extra time
90:00 - Christensen takes a free kick from the right channel ... overshoots everybody, Sawyer gives chase but can't come up with it ... but tackles it away, works toward the area from wide left ... shoots, Ingham makes the save ... but bobbles it ... Martin clears it off the line
90:45 - Chin corner ... cleared out for a throw-in ...

Fulltime - Just wow. We outshot them 19-6, ended up with 51% of poss. Crossed quite well (27%), held our own in the air. And the comeback wasn't exactly what you'd think, they didn't start subbing seriously until after our second goal. Clearly a big difference between players playing hungry vs those who decided to show up & take their beating.

Chinthengah (MOM, 9.0, 1 goal, 3 assists) was amazing.
Mellish (8.0), Stamp (7.4), Groves (7.2), Knight (6.9) all stood out.
So did Jones (4.9), Vipond (5.7), Antwi (5.7), Sinclair (5.8), Armstrong (5.8) but not in a good way.

And there's this telling note from ass't coach Fell "Quite a few of the players are causing concerns in struggling to appear motivated to play for you"

And apparently some of them aren't, they mostly played in the 2nd half best I can figure.

[Wolfpack]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

July 19, 2012
Sometimes you have to trust the peop ... wait, I said that already.

We also picked up 17 y/o MF/ST Laste Dombaxe, an Angolan who came out of the Tottenham system.

Hopefully he avoids living up to the sound-alike last name he's got (though I'm sure it's not really pronounced like it seems to be spelled).

At least you didn't say "Laste Dombaxe out of Angola..."

[JonInMiddleGA]

July 22, 2012
Micheal Pearson has signed a contract extension, at $160/wk it seems like a reasonable move for depth.

That puts us at $9,104/wk with a budget of $9,970/wk.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Wolfpack

Hopefully he avoids living up to the sound-alike last name he's got (though I'm sure it's not really pronounced like it seems to be spelled).

At least you didn't say "Laste Dombaxe out of Angola..."

I'm glad it wasn't just me who was thinking along these lines. I can't say that the possible humor didn't have at least the slightest bit of impact on my decision to sign him.

[JonInMiddleGA]

July 23, 2012
We've added 18 y/o D/MF Theo Brown on a p.a. basis ($180 per). Lots of potential in this former Leicester prospect. Whether we can tap into it remains to be seen, but it's there.

July 24, 2012
Blyth at Ryton (Lower Div) - Friendly
GK - Knight
D - Slaughter - Williamson - Jones - Pearson
MF - Phillips - Harrison - Whiteley - Janneh
F - White - Aite-Ouakrim
(Available subs: cast of thousands)

I remind them that there's places up for grabs & to go impress me.
4-4-2 Standard

28:00 - Aite-Ouakrim was knocked on a challenge in the opening couple of minutes, his fitness is quite low, can't let him keep struggling with it.
Sub Christensen in

38:40 - Christensen chases down a long ball by Pearson in the right channel ... feeds into the area for White, his shot is blocked ... Harrison finds the rebound out top & fires ... GOAL ! (1-0) Nice follow on by a guy who had stupidly picked up a yellow card earlier, turns his day around neatly

45:00+ - Extra time, corner for Blundell ... goes to the far post for Flanagan, who heads it to the opposite post to draw level (1-1)

Halftime - A rather pedestrian outing thus far, 8-5 shot edge but only 49% poss. Our passing is rather sloppy (62%) and we're a little soft defensively.
Sub Hoy for Pearson, Sawyer for Janneh, switch to Attack to open the half

46:05 - Christensen with his back to the goal ... turns to find White entering the area ... Bang (2-1)

56:00 - Sub Musungu for Slaughter (Phillips to LD), Stamp for Harrison (White to LCM)

59:00 - Christensen takes a knock, Sub Rickard on
66:00 - Sub Robson for Whiteley (Rickard to MR), Smyth for White, Dalton for Knight, Kulsten for Phillips ... switch back to Standard
88:00 - Sherry gets a red card for leveling Robson from behind in the offensive third

Fulltime - 15-9 on shots, 51% of poss. just a rather blase performance although in fairness there weren't too many regulars out there against a lower division side. Jones is MOM (7.4) with a dominating performance in the air (7/8 headers won, 11 interceptions). Christensen was very productive (7.4, 2 assists) in his time at forward.

[JonInMiddleGA]

July 27, 2012 (morning)
18 y/o ST Billy Lobjoit is a pacy dribbler who could become useful if he improves in other areas to match those skills. He's been signed to a youth contract.

[Izulde]

I also caught the Laste Dombaxe out of Angola thing

[JonInMiddleGA]

July 27, 2012
Blyth vs Bradford City (L2) - Friendly
GK - Knight
D - Giddings - Antwi - Purvis - Sinclair
MF - Matondo - Morrison - Groves - Dombaxe
F - Mole - Armstrng
(Available subs: cast of thousands)

4-4-2 Defensive to start ... and once again, Fell notes that Pook & Mole are among the players having a hard time motivating themselves to play for me, Mole is also having issues about Armstrong being the captain. I'm starting to think he's going to be a pain in my ass this year.

40:45 - Groves with a pass to Mole in the area, shot is parried, Armstrong with the rebound & a half volley that goes high
41:40 - They banked a shot off the post, had Knight beaten but the woodwork saved him
Halftime - A fair half of work, outshooting them 8-4 with 54% of poss. Giddings took a knock before the break and Mole picked up a yellow card somewhere along the way but on the whole that wasn't too bad.
Sub Kulsten for Giddings (and stupidly accidentally failed to do a pep talk)

57:00 - Sub Seery for Antwi (knocked), White for Dombaxe, Breckin for Sinclair (Purvis to DR)

64:00 - Sub Stamp for Armstrong, Slaughter for Morrison, Brown for Matondo
74:00 - Sub Sheppard for Mole
80:00 - Sheppard is denied on a shot from just outside the box by a nice save

Fulltime - 12-6 shots edge, 52% of poss., Bradford appeared pretty content to let this one play out as it did. Not much to say but considering the overall talent gap I'm happy enough with the outcome. Not too pleased about some individual performances (Mole & Giddings 6.2, Sinclair 6.1) but we'll keep that to ourselves for now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

July 29, 2012
We've signed 18 y/o MF Mo Davies on a free from Aldershot. Fans are excited about the youngster who is advanced mentally and shows some offensive skills as well.
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We've also added 16 y/o GK prospect Rob Fry, who comes from the Ebbsfleet program. He's a long term project but ensures the presence of a regular keeper for the U18s for a while.

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We've had our loan offer for ML Nathan Lunscombe rejected by the player. Hartlepool was more than willing, he wasn't. Would have been a major addition offensively but oh well.
---
None of the four players we scouted based on the Northern Ireland Trial Day were even willing to consider signing with us. Enjoy sitting at home guys.
---

July 30, 2012
We've risked a switch, naming Frank Sinclair as captain & Graeme Armstrong as vice-captain. Hopefully Armstrong understands the move, I don't imagine anyone will take issue with Sinclair as captain though.

[JonInMiddleGA]

July 31, 2012
With the pre-season officially ending in less than a week, with a reserve friendly and a U18 friendly remaining, and with numerous players in need of improved match fitness, I decide it's time to deal with our trialists.

ST Darryn Stamp - Definitely want to keep him around, a veteran presence who played well. He's asking $450 p.a. & $450 goal bonus, I counter with $300/$350, he comes back with $375/$375, I counter $325/350 ... and he considers that "miles apart" and withdraws from talks. Touchy bastard isn't he?

D Ian Breckin - Didn't see as much of him as we should have frankly, but I like the veteran presence he could provide. He's asking $475/wk + $45 p.a. ... I counter with $350 + $80 p.a. ... he comes back with $425 + $80 ... I'll try once more, at $400 + $80 ... He's at $425 + $80 ... and we agree on $425 + $70 + 40% of any sell-on (I've yet to successfully sell a player)

MF Michael Pook - I'd love to keep the guy as he'd probably be very useful in at both CMF and MR but the whole "he's having trouble motivating himself to play for me" thing sticks in my craw. No offer

DR Will Salmon - His passing isn't really good enough for him to be as offensive as I like. No offer & we terminate his trial.

MF Marc Canham - Would like to keep him, one of the more talented guys with the squad at the moment ... but the whole "not motivated to play for me" thing is persistent. No offer.

MF Neil Barrett - See Canham, Marc above

DR Paul Robson - Arguably the best defender we've got and he played quite well at this level for Lincoln last season. But his asking price of $525 p.a. is beyond the pale. We offer $325 + $250 goal bonus and he immediately withdraws from talks. Figured as much but I wasn't going to pay him anything like that.

MF Steven Morrison - The rest of the staff isn't impressed with the 23 y/o veteran of the Welsh leagues, but I loved what I saw of him against quality competition vs Bradford. He's asking $250 p.a. + $230 goal bonus, I offer $200 p.a. + $250 goal ... he counters with $210 p.a. + $250 goal and I accept.

ST/MF Belal Aite-Ouakrim - A tough riddle for me. He's a better dribbler with better technique than nearly anyone we've got, better than average pace for us too. I like those qualities quite a bit. But his decision making (2) is awful, and nearly all aspects of his mental game are weak to downright very weak. When I see he's asking for $475 p.a. the decision is obvious. No offer.

DR Kevin Lee - Versatile player who could contribute at both D and MF but he's also another of those players who apparently thinks my stature as a coach is beneath their talents. No offer.

Final tally: 10 players in on trial, 2 end up signed (assuming they dot the i's as agreed), 2 end up walking away from the table, 6 end up without an offer for one reason or another.

[JonInMiddleGA]

July 31, 2012 (evening)

Our reserves trounced lower division side Wickham 4-1. After Hartley allowed a goal at 2', Mole drew us level at 22'. Young newcomer Billy Lobjoit (MOM 8.6) scored twice at 57' and 64', Matt Rickard sealed the win at 89'.

Peter Hoy (6.0) and Shaun Vipond (6.2) were disappointing while Sam Sawyer (7.5), Theo Brown (7.4), and Tamer Dalton (7.4) were standouts along with the scorers.
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August 1, 2012
Training report:
Good - Purvis (Aerobic), Martin (Strength), Taylor (Defending)
Bad - Vipond (Strength), Armstrong (Tactics), Kulsten (Ball Control)
Youth Good - Dalton (Strength), Robson (Strength), Sheppard (Strength)
Youth Bad - None

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The board is pleased with my leading of the team. The capture of Sinclair has been particularly pleasing. They are slightly disappointed with the departure of Wayne Buchanan. The club made a profit of $85.22k last month, mostly from season tickets.

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We've signed 19 y/o MF Trevor Mutero to a youth contract. Offensively good for his age (or for our club), defensively he's awful and his mental abilities are lacking at this point. The fans think I showed good vision and ambition with the signing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

August 2, 2012
Steven Morrison signed his p.a. deal as previously agreed

August 3, 2012
Ian Breckin signed his p.a. deal as previously agreed
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We talk to Darryn Stamp again, against my better judgement I offer him $375 p.a. + $375 goal bonus. We'll see what happens next.

[JonInMiddleGA]

August 3, 2012 (evening)
Blyth at Dalbeattie Star (South Scotland) - Friendly

Oops, forgot I had another friendly scheduled. Good thing, as we needed to trim up our match fitness.

GK - Hartley
D - Martin - Antwi - Mellish - Hoy
MF- Matondo - Morrison - Vipond - Whiteley
F - Chinthengah - Stamp
Subs available - Cast of thousands
4-4-2 Standard

Halftime - A nice save by Hartley just before the break kept things scoreless. Chinthengah & Whiteley have both picked up yellow cards. We've been outshot 6-4, mostly due to subpar passing (69%) that's given them 55% of poss.
Sub Phillips for Whiteley, Knight for Hartley, switch to Counter strategy

50:45 - Martin makes a nice tackle to start a counterattack ... long ball up to Chinthengah who works his way to the arc and fires ... GOAL ! (1-0)

53:00 - Sub D'Laryea for Hoy

60:30 - D'Laryea runs down a loose ball deep, wheels and fires a long pass ahead to Stamp ... he's in the right channel, crosses for Phillips near the far post ... steps into the box and shoots ... GOAL ! (2-0)

Sub Abraham for Vipond, White for Stamp, Kulsten for Martin, Slaughter for Chinthengah (Matondo to F)

70:00 - Sub Sawyer for Morrison, Breckin for Antwi, Groves for Matondo, switch to 5-4-1 Counter

89:00 - Nixon takes a long shot for DS ... a slow roller that takes a little skip & somehow gets past Knight and into the net (2-1)
Switch to Contain as we try to survive 4 mins of added time

Fulltime - Got a little dicey there at the end but worked out okay. But just okay. We outshot them 13-9 despite only 46% poss. Didn't pass well, especially from the backline. Did just enough to win.

Nice to see Phillips (MOM 8.1, 1 goal, 1 assist) have a good game, Chinthengah (7.4) scuffled quite a bit but the goal pushed his performance up, Antwi (7.0) played solid defense. Vipond had some awful moments in the first half but rallied (6.8).

[JonInMiddleGA]

August 4, 2012
Our U18s suffered a 2-0 loss at Durham City. Rhys Paul suffered an own goal at 21', and they scored on a penalty at 60'. Lots of 5.x ratings, only really good performances came from D Rory McKeever (6.8) and the GK's Dalton & Henly (both 6.7). Craig Cresswell also did well (6.7) after coming on at 60'.

The bigger loss came with injuries. We lose F Kaine Sheppard for 7-8 weeks to a broken arm and D Tommy Smyth for 4-5 weeks for a pulled hamstring.

[JonInMiddleGA]

August 5, 2012
Max Johnson has been griping to teammates about being transfer listed. Sorry kid, but I ain't paying a 3rd/4th string GK more than my #2 guy. Not gonna happen. I try to convince him to terminate his contract,he's horrified at the prospect.

Oh and now the little bitch goes on the radio to blast me for disrespecting him.

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Darryn Stamp, who left the club when his trial expired, has signed the p.a. offer I made to him earlier. We confirm it.

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August 6, 2012
We sign 18 y/o DR Callum Wilson to a youth contract. Good tackler & pitch-smart with pace. Has no offensive ability to speak of but should be a solid defender at some point, if he can improve his fitness level.
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In what could turn out to be much bigger news, we've signed 19 y/o GK Jack Dovey on a free after his Southampton contract expired. He actually projects as better than either of our veteran keepers and is here for $150/wk through 2014. His listed value is $140k, that's more than double our next most valuable player Jamie Mole ($45k)

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August 7, 2012
Physios tell me that D Tom Seery strained his wrist while doing too much in the weight room, he'll be out 2 weeks.
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August 8, 2012
We've signed 21 y/o GK Nathan McDonald to a 2 yr deal worth $180/wk. He was excellent last season for Braintree in BSBP (29 allowed in 30 g, with 12 shutouts). Options, this is about having options.

[JonInMiddleGA]

August 9, 2012
Our reserves beat Darlington's reserves 2-1 in a friendly. Lobjoit (7.2) put us in front at 14', they tied before the half. Michael Pearson (MOM 7.4) got the gamewinner in extra time. We played virtually two entire squads, one for 55 minutes, the other for the balance.

August 10, 2012
Our U18s lost at Ryton 1-0, on a goal in the 17th minute. Theo Brown (7.0) stood out nicely, while Billy Lobjoit (5.8) and Callum Wilson (6.0) made a different sort of impression.

[JonInMiddleGA]

August 11, 2012
Blyth (0-0-0) vs Darlington (0-0-0)

It's showtime.

Our first match in BSB Premier has arrived, with expected midtable club Darlington providing the opposition at Croft Park. We'll be cautious, start in 4-4-2 Defensive posture. Darlington are 4:6 favorties, we're 7:2 dogs.

The lineup isn't optimal, we've got to consider the short turnaround before the match at rival Gateshead.

GK: Knight
D: Slaughter - Jones - Purvis - D'Laryea
MF: Phillips - Morrison - Sawyer - Whiteley
F: Chinthengah - Stamp
Bench: (Antwi, Abraham, Mole, Groves, McDonald)

24:30 - Phillips corner to the far post, Sawyer heads it over
34:13 - Slaughter does a nice job of drawing a yellow card on James Gray. Who knew a handful of shirt could be so devastating?
41:42 - Bellamy gets free on the right side of the area but misses badly, lucky for us

Halftime - Not the most thrilling half, but we seem to have our legs under us a bit now. Outshot 6-4, only 45% poss, only 57% passing, just terrible in that regard from the back line. On the bright side, Whiteley & Stamp have disrupted their offense with timely tackles repeatedly.

We flip Purvis & D'Laryea, switch to Counter

50:00 - Gray has to come off for Darlington, injured on a challenge by Purvis
51:00 - Chinthengah was denied after a lovely pass into the area by Sawyer
52:00 - Phillips corner to the far post is headed into the ground by D'Laryea ... takes a high bounce & Jones gets his head on it but it goes inches over ... that would have been magnificent

62:00 - Sub Mole for Stamp
67:00 - Bridge-Wilkinson shot hits the crossbar, so close, Slaughter clears
67:30 - Chinthengah gets a yellow card
68:30 - Sub Groves for Whiteley
73:30 - Purvis takes a nasty knock & needs lengthy treatment
Sub Abraham for Purvis (Groves to DR), switch to Defensive
89:00 - 4 mins of extra time
92:50 - Gavin shoots from the arc, Knight can only block it, Morrison punts it into the cheap seats to clear

Fulltime - I tell the boys they were just unlucky today, almost true & it's seems to motivate them a bit. Shots ended up even at 12, we had 49% poss. Passing improved a little (65% total) in the half and we tackled particularly well. Our problem was putting only 1 shot on target all match. Still, it's a point against a decent club, for now I'll take that & especially with the makeshift lineup we put out today.

Knight 6.5
Slaughter 6.9, Jones 6.8, Purvis 6.7, D'Laryea 7.1
Phillips 6.8, Morrison 6.9, Sawyer 6.7, Whiteley 6.7
Chinthengah 6.5, Stamp 6.4
Subs: Groves 6.7, Mole 6.6, Abraham 6.6

August 11, 2012 (post-match)
Fell tells me that it seems some members of the squad - Mole & McDonald in particular - are finding it tough to motivate themselves with me as their head coach.

I admit to the press that I thought the result was pretty fair considering we rested a number of key players.

[JonInMiddleGA]

August 12, 2012
Final season ticket figures are in, 609 sold. That's up quite a bit over last year's total of 200.

[JonInMiddleGA]

August 11, 2012
Blyth (0-1-0) at Gateshead (1-0-0)

I've been dreading this game since the schedules were revealed. We're still trying to figure out where we fit into the BSBP picture, still struggling to work new players into the lineup, we get an away match on television against our biggest rival. I'm surprised that they aren't bigger favorites than 4:7, with us as 4:1 dogs, especially with them coming off a 3-2 win over Mansfield in their opener.

I'm not particularly thrilled with the lineup I finally settle on either. A couple of players making their official debut with us, another (Hartley) that I honestly just don't trust, star forwards who are either becoming a bit arrogant (Mole) or are prone to long droughts (Armstrong) and at least one other (White) who can put up some real stinkers. But those are the best players available for tonight, so that's how we'll roll.

GK: Hartley
D: Martin - Antwi - Sinclair - Groves
MF: Matondo - White - Vipond - O'Connor
F: Mole - Armstrong
Bench: (Giddings, Mellish Slaughter, Chinthengah, Dovey)

3:00 - Ashikodi gets a good chance one on one with Hartley, he turns the shot aside & Antwi kicks it clear
15:00 - Light steady rain now falling
17:30 - A cross into the area produces a shot by Turnbull that Hartley blocks, but Ashikodi is on the doorstep for a rebound goal (0-1)
30:00- We're getting mauled, outshot 7-1 so far and they've had 2:1 possession
33:00 - Baxter sends in a corner, it's headed & saved, the rebound comes off of our defender White's head & goes right onto the noggin of Clark just a couple of feet from the goal (0-2)
39:00 - We flip flop Mole & Armstrong up front, switch to Counter ('cause defensive sure ain't working)

Halftime - Ugh. Outshot 13-2, they've had 63% of poss. nearly half their crosses are completed to none of ours. 6 of our guys have ratings under 6 at the break. We're switching to our 4-4-2 Standard and I let the players know that I expect a much better showing in the 2nd half. (I don't actually expect it, but they seemed largely fired up by the speech ... except for a now stressed Matondo)

46:06 - Cross into the area from the deep right corner, Adubade is on it & puts it between the ankles of Hartley (0-3)

50:15 - Armstrong loses a footrace to the ball but takes it away from the defender & cracks a shot ... off the woodwork. So close.

60:00 - We now have 10 players with ratings under 6, including Antwi (4.9) who has been spectacularly awful. Sub Mellish for Antwi, Chinthengah for Armstrong

78:00 - Sub Slaughter on for Vipond (Groves to MF, Sinclair to RD)

Fulltime - Despite the terrible outcome I thought we handled things mentally pretty well. Physically we left a lot to be desired, outshot 21-6, only 39% of poss. I hope this was just a case of Gateshead being quite good this season and not a sign of what sort of manhandling we'll see all season. Easily the worst beating we've taken in my tenure and the numbers reflect that. I'm sure the fans will be blistering my arse for weeks after this one.

GK: Hartley 6.0
D: Martin 5.6, Antwi 4.9, Sinclair 6.0, Groves 5.6
MF: Matondo 5.7, White 6.5, Vipond 5.7, O'Connor 5.7
F: Mole 6.6, Armstrong 5.6
Subs: Mellish 6.9, Chinthengah 6.4, Slaughter N/A

Aug 14, 2012 (postmatch)
I put on a brave face for the media and tell them this will hurt for a few days but then we get back to work & back on track. The fans are, as expected, devastated by the result & I acknowledge that I know how much these rivalry matches mean to them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Aug 17, 2012
So I sit here trying to figure out what comes next. Look at the schedule. Look at the table. And realize that this might be a very revealing stretch for us one way or the other.

There are four teams in BSBP that haven't scored a goal in their first two matches. We're one, and our next two games are against two of the others. First up, Forest Green at home tomorrow, then a trip to Kidderminster next Saturday, then it's a Sat/Tue/Sat sequence against Wrexham/Grimsby/Kettering, all three of whom look like midtable sides.

If we could get maybe 8 points out of those 5 matches I'd be pretty satisfied I believe. If we get at least 5 then maybe we could scrap & claw our way into staying up. If we get 3 or, Heaven forbid, even less than that, then I'm not sure whether we've got the club to stay up here this year.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Aug 18, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s managed a 0-0 draw against Sheffield Utd youth. Considering we were outshot 7-3 I suppose a draw is the best we could hope for. D Callum Wilson (7.3, 11 interceptions) and D Theo Brown (7.3) were the highlights, MF Laste Dombaxe (6.2 & a yellow) and 2nd half sub ST Dennis Robson (6.1) were the lowlights.
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Aug 18, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (0-1-1, 20th) vs Forest Green (0-1-1, 21st)

Well this ought to be interesting ... or incredibly dull, one or the other. Neither club has scored this season, they've allowed four to our three. The Rovers are a Pick 'Em fave at Croft Park.

We're going 4-4-2 Standard here and we'll go with our best guess at a solid lineup. I initially planned to start Matondo & Groves in the MF but they're still a bit tired from the last match, so I adjust a little there.

GK: Knight
D: Giddings - Jones - Purvis - Sinclair
MF: Slaughter - Morrison - Whiteley - Vipond
F: O'Connor - Mole
Bench: (Matondo, Phillips, White, Sawyer, McDonald)

20:00 - We survive a corner thanks to a quick save by Knight ... but only for a moment as the rebound comes straight onto the head of Graham for a goal (0-1)

29:15 - Slaughter with a long throw into the area for O'Connor who loses a challenge ... Slaughter recovers the rebound and shoots ... off the near post

Halftime - We continue to struggle offensively, and the frustration is clearly getting to a number of players. Sinclair, Jones and O'Connor are "in danger of losing discpline" while Purvis & Vipond are "in danger of being booked". Meanwhile Whiteley & Morrison are both playing nervously. I tell the squad to show me something else in the 2nd half. I hope there's something different to see, being outshot 5-1 with only 33% poss. is pretty hard to watch. We have not handled their 5-4-1 at all, let's see how our own version of it fares.
Sub Matondo for Whiteley (knocked)

56:45 - Mole with a takeaway and a long run ... his shot is blocked & out for a corner .. Vipond hangs one up for Jones but his header is too high

61:00- Purvis loses the ball to Styche in our own end, Knight has to make a save to deny him

70:00 - Sub Phillips for Morrison (tired), White for Vipond (tired), switch to Attack strategy

81:15 - Matondo with a pass to Phillips at the left side of the arc ... he spots Mole across the area & feeds him ... holds off a defender & shoots ... GOAL (1-1) Finally, a shot to the far post ends our drought, despite the protests of the Rovers who claim Mole was offside, which upon viewing the replay I believe he was by about a step ... Switch to Standard

86:00 - Matondo is hurt & done for the day ... and we have no subs left so we'll have to try to survive this a man short .. go Defensive

89:00 - Three mins of extra time
91:00 - Switch to Contain

Fulltime - Eh, at least we got a point. And a goal, something I was starting to wonder about. I cautiously suggest to the team that we suffered a bit of bad luck today, certainly true on Slaughter's cracking shot. Outshot 9-4 and only 39% of poss tells me that our problems were considerably worse than "bad luck" but I'll keep that to myself for now. We did look better in the 2nd half after adjusting to match their 5-4-1.

GK: Knight 6.7
D: Giddings 6.8, Jones 7.1, Purvis 6.8, Sinclair 6.7
MF: Slaughter 6.3, Morrison 6.7, Whiteley 6.6, Vipond 6.0
F: O'Connor 6.6, Mole 7.2 & 1 goal
Subs: Phillps 6.9 & 1 assist, White 6.9, Matondo 6.8

Aug 18, 2012 (postmatch)
Nothing serious from the Matondo injury luckily

[JonInMiddleGA]

Aug 23, 2012
Our Reserves managed a 2-2 draw at Gateshead. GK Jack Dovey allowed an early goal at 3' but Matt Rickard brought us level at 36'. They went back in front at 55' but Lloyd Foot (MOM 7.8) evened things up at 86'. Hassan Janneh (6.0), Trevor Mutero (6.0) and Sam Christensen (6.1) all struggled, while Peter Hoy (6.9), Jack Abraham (6.9) and Adam Forster (6.9) all played well, as did subs Mo Davies (6.9) and Theo Brown (6.8).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Aug 25, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s have beaten Sheff Wed U18s 1-0 on the road. Billy Lobjoit scored at 6' and it held up, in part because Sheffield played a man short from 53' onward after Damian Hamsher picked up his 2nd yellow card. D Rhys Paul (7.7) stood out alongside MOM Lobjoit (8.3 & 1 goal). Not really a bad performance in the squad today.

Aug 25, 2012
Blyth (0-2-1, 20th) at Kidderminster (0-0-3, 24th)

Naturally we're underdogs on the road, 9:2 while the worst team in the league so far is a 1:2 favorite. I sure hope they're wrong.

We'll go 4-4-2 Standard, let's see how that goes.
GK: Hartley
D: Martin - Jones - Purvis - Groves
MF: Matondo - Morrison - White - Whiteley
F: Armstrong - Mole
Bench: Slaughter - Phillips - Chinthengah - Antwi - Dovey

12:00 - Armstrong picks up a slight knock but apparently has to come off for good. Sub Phillips on (Matondo to F)

20:23 - Casual passing just past midfield, sort of lulled the defense to sleep ... suddenly Matondo fires a 25 yard try that finds itself buried in the back of the net (1-0) Assist goes to Mole

23:15 - Arnold steals the box in the box & has an easy shot ... which he puts wide by a good 3 feet. We dodged a bullet big time.

28:55 - Mole outruns the field but is stoned on a 1-on-1 try
40:15 - Pinpoint pass downfield by Whiteley ... Mole loses it but gets it back for a shot that's turned round the post
42:04 - Matondo intercepts a horrible pass by their keeper but shoots it wide left by a couple of feet
Halftime - Pretty good showing thus far, could actually be up more. 6-3 shooting edge, 4 of those on target. Poss. is about even. We'll switch to Counter to open the half

53:23 - A long cross by Matondo to Whiteley ... robbed by the keeper on a header ... rebound back to Whiteley ... he's robbed again by a defender who clears the ball off the line for a corner

54:12 - Phillips hangs one up into the box ... Jones is there for a header GOAL !!! (2-0)

62:52 - Jones clears a long ball for Mole, keeper is too far out ... Mole missed by a mile

65:55 - Byrne with a corner try ... finds Matt for a header from just outside the box (2-1) It's a game again

75:00 - Sub Antwi for Whiteley (spent; Groves to RMF, Purvis to RD), Sub Slaughter for Morrison (tired), switch to Defensive

78:30 - Phillips with a long free kick into the area ... Antwi's header is too high
79:10 - Frear gets loose into our area ... shot goes high over the bar
82:00- Near disaster as Hartley completely misses a diving save attempt ... Groves is there to put it out of play
89:00 - 3 mins of time added

Fulltime - That'll do. 15-9 shot edge, 56% of poss, passing was better today (although still awful from the back line). 4 clear cut chances, 7 shots on target, only two goals but with our recent struggles it seems like ten.

Hartley 6.8
Martin 7.0, Jones 7.6 & 1 goal, Purvis 7.1, Groves 7.2
Matondo 7.3 & 1 goal, Morrison 6.8, White 6.9, Whiteley 6.8
Armstrong N/A, Mole 7.3 & 1 goal & 1 assist
Subs: Phillips 7.7, MOM, 1 assist, Antwi 6.9, Slaughter 6.6

Aug 25, 2012 (postmatch)
Graeme Armstrong will miss 3-4 weeks with a thigh strain suffered after awkwardly striking a ball during the match.

The win moves us up to 16th, not much breathing room but it's something.

The former captain, now vice-captain, may not be thrilled with my observation during the presser that his loss is a blow but it's not the end of the world.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Aug 31, 2012
We've signed 18 y/o MF Josh Greenhoff to a youth contract. Good teammate sort of kid who showed good passing ability & pace for his age during his time in the Scunthorpe system.

Sept 1, 2012
The transfer window has now closed, no bigger name moved than last year's English Player's Player of the Year Luka Modric, who exits Tottenham to join Real Madrid for a fee believed to be close to $61m. Meanwhile Man U spent around $49m to get MF Marek Hamsik for Serie A outfit Napoli.
--------
Training report
Good: Groves (aerobic), Kulsten (tactics), Rickard (Strength)
Bad: White (strength), Giddings (ball control), Martin (ball control)
Youth Good: Brown (strength), Henly (str) and Williamson (str)
Youth Bad: Watson (aerobic)
-----------
BSB Premier Player of the Month is Cambridge Utd's Ibrahim Atiku.
BSBP Young Player of the Month is Aldershot striker Eliot Richards
BSBP Manager of the Month is Aldershot's Ian Foster

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 1, 2012
Blyth (1-2-1, 16th) at Wrexham (2-1-1, 6th)

It'd be great just to steal a point here.They're 4:7 favorites at home, we're 4:1 dogs. Juggle the lineup a bit today, still trying to figure out who fits & who doesn't, I figure a game we're expected to lose is a good time to experiment a little. We'll start in a 4-4-2 Standard, as I'm starting to think that this group doesn't play well when they're scared, so we'll try not to act scared.

GK: Knight
D: Giddings, Jones, Antwi, Sinclair
MF: Matondo, Morrison, White, Vipond
F: Mole, Chinthengah
Bench: Slaughter, Phillips, Whiteley, Groves, McDonald

08:30 - Chinthengah needs some treatment after a hard challenge
10:30 - Antwi just missed a header after a nice floating free kick by Vipond
44:00 - Baxendale just poked in a header off a corner (0-1) Ball just seemed to float forever before going in
Halftime - Tough break there to end the half. My coaches are very unhappy, I'm not seeing the great anger frankly. We outshot 'em 5-4, they had 57% poss. but we've done pretty well in most areas except in the air where they're dominating us. We'll switch to Counter.

AND I JUST MADE A SHOCKING DISCOVERY ... GK David Knight was sent off in the 47th minute with a red card ... The report doesn't say why, I haven't the foggiest what actually happened there, only realized it when I was about to resume play and Fell pointed out that I didn't have a GK.

Sub McDonald for Antwi (5.9), sub Groves for Morrison (5.9) ... switch to what becomes a 4-3-2 Defensive

Match report now says "Knight caught the ball ... Knight passed it forward to Giddings ... Freekick to Wrexham ... Knight handled the ball ... Knight was shown the red card ... Blyth couldn't believe the card ...blah blah ... it didn't seem to be worthy of a red card ... protested furiously .. blah blah

52:30 - McDonald with a fairly acrobatic save that's quickly punted out for a corner which they misplay badly
73:00 - Switch to Counter
74:45 - Mole breaks the offside trap but is denied one-on-one
77:00 - Sub Phillips for Giddings
89:00 - 3 mins of added time
93:00 - Jones with a long ball for Mole ... he's in the channel ... it's tackled away
95:00 - Vipond goes down hard & is finished for the day ... and of course we're out of subs ... and now out of time

Fulltime - What a bizarre match. Amazing to have only lost by one. We actually outshot them 9-8, managed 47% poss. Quite remarkable, in every way but the result. I'm actually a little disappointed right now, I really thought we might just draw even.

Knight 6.7
Giddings 7.1, Jones 6.6, Antwi 5.9, Sinclair 6.8
Matondo 6.7, Morrison 5.9, White 6.5, Vipond 6.6
Mole 6.4, Chinthengah 6.8
Subs: McDonald 6.9, Groves 6.9, Phillips N/A

Sept 1, 2012 (postmatch)
We watch the replay to determine whether to appeal. I've watched it repeatedly, I see Knight lay the ball out to Giddings and then turn to head back to the goal ... suddenly there's a card. No clue. And I apparently hit the wrong damned button or something, I wanted to appeal but instead didn't appeal

Shaun Vipond will miss roughly two months after landing heavily during the match and suffering a sprained ankle.

And Wrexham's manager Andy Morrell is asked afterwards whether this win might give him the upper hand over me in the future. His response was that I'd probably think twice before making comments in the future. The comments in question? My remark that "Andy Morrell is one of the nicest people in soccer" from a couple of days earlier. WTF?

And then in an even more bizarre twist (glitch?) I go down to read my original comments and return to the item ready to blast Morrell but the item now reads "You have responded to Honey's request" (Honey being the name of the reporter) ... except that I didn't !

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 1, 2012 (evening)
Blyth (1-2-2, 18th) at Grimsby (3-1-1, 5th)

This looks like a tough one, on the road against a team that's been winning. They've got three players who've scored 2 goals each and could add to that against us, the one ray of hope might be how poorly they played last time out in a 5-1 loss at Mansfield.

We'll flip the lineup due to the short turnaround and show a different look (because we're thin on fit forwards) ... a 4-4-1-1 that we've been working on. Grimsby is a big 1:6 favorite, we're 10:1 dogs. We'll start out in a Standard mindset, maybe with their morale being down after the loss we can catch them early.

GK: Hartley
D: Martin - Jones - Mellish - Purvis
MF: Phillips - Slaughter - Sawyer - Whiteley
AMC - O'Connor
F: Mole
Bench: (McGovern, Abraham, Taylor, Groves, Dovey)

4:10 - Makofo runs into the area past several defenders, embarasses Mellish, crosses to Hatch on the right & that's an easy goal (0-1)
14:25 - Corner by Soares, Hatch's header bangs off the crossbar
19:45 - We dial our strategy back to Counter, we've been under pressure since the kickoff
32:00 - Makofo shoots wide .. we've been outshot 9-0 so far
39:15 - Hartley starts out on Hearn, changes his mind ... Purvis heads it to safety at the last moment
43:25 - Our first offensive zone highlight is a throw-in ... ball is worked to O'Connor ... who spots Mole beating the trap ... one-on-one against Young... GOAL !!! (1-1) Grimsby wants an offside call, none is forthcoming. We'll say that was perfectly timed by Mole and leave it at that.

Halftime - An undeserving score at the break, outshot 11-1, only 41% poss. But we're still in this thing. Purvis (6.8) has been pretty much the only effective defender, for that matter the only effective player until the quick goal sequence. We tweak a few roles but otherwise no changes, although we do remind Martin to be careful since he picked up a well-deserved yellow card early.

54:15 - Phillips with a corner into the area ... Jones just missed high
58:38 - Makofo outbattles Whiteley during a long run down the left side... centers a pass to Hatch ... header is just out of the reach of Hartley (1-2) Groan.
60:45 - O'Connor takes a neat pass from Mole down to the arc & shoots ... just wide left
62:00 - Sub Abraham for Sawyer (5.8), Groves for Mellish (5.9)
64:00 - Phillips centers a pass to Whiteley at the arc .. missed badly
72:10 - O'Connor spots Mole again, into the area and he puts it home ... but the flag was up, offside
77:50 - We're left screaming for a penalty after Mole gets roughed up on an aerial play in the area ... no call
79:00 - Sub McGovern for Martin (5.9, yellow, tiring)
80:00 - Mole needs treatment on the side after a rough challenge by Flynn
81:44 - Casual possession, we work the ball around to Whiteley at the arc ... he passes up a shot & instead plays it through to Abraham angling into the area from the right ... Young deflects the shot ... but it goes in GOAL !!! (2-2) ... we draw level with only ten men on the pitch
Switch to Defensive
89:00 - 3 mins added
90:45 - Hatch shoots long & wide ... Grimsby switches to a 4-3-3, apparently they want this one

Fulltime - We just flat out stole a point, and I'm happy with that. "Well done guys, you just proved many people wrong". Outshot 14-5, only 46% poss (but 51% in the 2nd half), only 61% passing, only 43% of headers won ... and we get a point anyway. 1st league goal for Abraham, league debut for McGovern, first league assist for Whiteley & O'Connor, and the first time ever playing in a new tactic.

Hartley 6.6
Martin 5.9, Jones 6.3, Mellish 5.9, Purvis 6.9
Phillips 6.2, Slaughter 6.8, Sawyer 5.9, Whiteley 6.9 & 1 assist
O'Connor 6.9 & 1 assist, Mole 7.3 & 1 goal
Subs: Abraham 7.4 & 1 goal, Groves 6.9, McGovern N/A
*Grimsby's Hatch was MOM with 2 goals and an 8.8 rating

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 5, 2012
Our U18s beat up Lewes 4-1, Trevor Mutero with a hat trick all in the final 20 minutes to win a game that was level at the half thanks to a 17' goal by Rory McKeever.

The win wasn't without cost, McKeever will be out 2 months with strained knee ligaments.

We add 17 y/o DL Reece Loudon on a youth contract. Natural pace with some good potential mental attributes. He spent four years in the Chelsea system. Fans are delighted by the signing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 7, 2012
We see where our former MF Chris Emms has agreed to terms with Colwyn Bay.

Sept 8, 2012
Our U18s lose to Gateshead 2-0, giving up goals at 81' and 88'. Looked like we just ran out of gas. Wilson, Brown,Davis (6.7's) all played well, Dombaxe (6.8) was even a bit better. Smyth (6.0) was disappointing, as were all our subs - Kaymaz & Watson (5.9) and Robson (6.0)
----
Whaddya know, we're favorites tomorrow at home against Kettering. Just 6:4 but still.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 8, 2012 (evening)
Blyth (1-3-2, 20th) vs Kettering (1-1-4, 21st)

This game feels very important to me. We've stayed above the relegation zone so far, we need at least a point to make sure that's true. And it's a very winnable match, one that could give us a little separation from the bottom of the table. They're not without talent, particular young ST Dominic Knowles (1 goal, 6.97 in 6 games)

Although we've got enough bodies to do otherwise, we'll try the 4-4-1-1 again. We'll also try starting in Attacking mindset, something we usually don't do. I hope I don't regret it. My speech is simple: I expect a win today.

GK: Knight
D: Giddings - Jones - Sinclair - Groves
MF: Matondo - White - Morrison - Janneh
AMC - O'Connor
F: Chinthengah
Bench: (Purvis, Phillips, Mole, Slaughter, McDonald)

10:00 - Chinthengah has a horrible try in the area from a brutal angle
27:30 - Awful call, a foul on Groves, that ends a threat
30:45 - Sinclair free kick, to Chinthengah at the point for a quick shot that's saved
34:45 - White with a blistering shot from the arc that's deflected & put out
36:49 - Sinclair with a header just over the bar after a free kick
45:00+ - White gets fouled hard, no call
Halftime - Well this is different. We've dominated play - 7-1 shots, 53% poss, passing & heading well - and have nothing to show for it. Players are almost too jacked up, with Chinthengah "in danger of being booked", our MF's mostly playing nervously, and Jones "looking intense" a note I've never seen before. I tell them we've just been unlucky so far ... and switch back to Standard to see if maybe that settles us down a bit.

52:00 - White launches a long shot high over the bar. Not a great decision
53:45 - Groves free kick from beyond the arc is just high
67:00 - They make a sub, so do we
Sub Purvis for Janneh (tiring, Groves to MR, Sinclair to DR), Philips for Chinthengah (White to F, Matondo to CMF)

72:00 - White runs across midfield and launches one from about a mile away .. actually forced the keeper to make a save
78:00 - Sub Mole for Morrison (White back to MF), I tell him to go make a difference
84:00 - Knowles has a little pop from the right of the area, goes wide badly
86:15 - Navarro's shot hits the crossbar ... whew
89:00 - 3 mins added time
90:55 - Mole with a great aerial pass to Groves ... his header floats over the bar. Nice idea by Mole there
92:27 - O'Connor picks out Phillips on the left side ... he has a try but it doesn't bend back quite enough
Fulltime - "That, simply put, was not good enough. We should have won that match", as a group they respond pretty well & most appear motivated by it. We outshot them 17-4 for crying out loud, but 10 of those shots were off-target, often badly. That's a couple of points we let slip away, no doubt about it. Giddings was MOM (8.0) and played his butt off.

Knight 6.7
Giddings (MOM, 8.0), Jones 6.9, Sinclair 7.2, Groves 7.3
Matondo 6.8, White 6.3, Morrison 6.9, Janneh 6.7
O'Connor 6.6, Chinthengah 6.1
Subs: Purvis/Phillips 6.7, Mole N/A

Sept 8, 2012 (postmatch)
I praise Giddings to the media, avoid anything that would get me into trouble regarding the no-call on White's shot.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 9, 2012
So a stretch of matches that I identified as very important before they started has come to a close. At the time I said 8 points would be a very good sign, 5 points might indicate we had a chance to survive, anything less would be troubling. We end up getting 6 points in the stretch, a win over Kidderminster on the road, three draws and a tough 1-0 loss to Wrexham. It seems clear to me that we're going to be scuffling all season, every point will be a fight but on the bright side we do appear to have some fight in us. Our inability to score consistently - just 5 goals in 7 matches - is killing us at the moment.

We're sitting 19th now with 7 points, one ahead of 20th place Lincoln (who has a match in hand) one behind three teams in 16th-18th. The relegation zone includes Kettering (5 pts), Ebbsfleet (4 pts), Kidderminster (1 pt) and Braintree (0 pts).

In addition to the offensive woes, we really need to be getting much much better performance from some of the veterans we signed at,for us, high cost.
D Will Antwi (5.9 in 3g) is $325/wk, D Ian Dreckin & D Peter Hoy haven't gotten to match fitness enough to make an appearance but are soaking up $425/wk & $275/wk respectively. That's over 10% of our total salary budget that are giving us absolutely nothing

And $1250/wk are tied up in Armstrong & Vipond who are both injured and weren't playing well at all before that.

In short, roughly a quarter of our budget is being wasted but I've seen nothing that would give me any reason to believe we'd be able to move any of them.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 11, 2012
I move Ian Breckin to the Reserves, hoping simply to get him match fit, and he's none to happy about it. I try to explain that I just need him to prove himself there & he'll get first team action & he's righteously offended. I try to explain that I meant no offense & he seems satisifed for the moment. The game really needs an option that lets you talk about Fitness being the reason for a move. He's set as eligibile for Reserve until match fit but isn't being selected, I'll take control of the Reserves and see if that lets me get him in there
----
Our efforts to move GK Max Johnson before his contract expires at the end of the year continue to be fruitless unfortunately.

----
Sept 12, 2012
An interesting situation has developed with a youngster on the Hartlepool Reserves. We've tried multiple times to convince 19 y/o ST Callum Hassan to join us, Hartlepool is more than willing but Hassan has steadfastly refused. I get word that Braintree is trying to loan him in so we quickly try again. Hartlepool accepts both offers so now Hassan has some decisions to make.

----
We do end up with control of the Reserves I swear I've tried in the past but it didn't let me actually run them. I'll spare you the details, the match ends with a 1-1 draw against Scunthorpe Reserves, thanks to a controversial extra time goal by Taylor after a well played long ball from Forster. The match was educational for me in a way, I learned that we have virtually no help forthcoming from the front seven at the reserve level. Maybe in the youth but not among true reserves. Kieran Gonzalez was outstanding in goal, facing 17 shots (to our 4) and making more far more actual saves than I'm accustomed to seeing. Most importantly, those veteran defenders may have taken a step toward playing their way into match shape.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 13, 2012
Hartlepool's Callum Hassan has agreed to join Braintree on loan. Fuck that sumbitch.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 15, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s lost 2-1 on the road against Leeds. Tamer Dalton gave up two goals in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half, wasting an early goal by Theo Brown (7.4). Feast or famine kind of day, with 6 players rating 6.8 or higher, 6 players rating 6.0 or lower.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 15, 2012 (evening)
Blyth (1-4-2, 18th) at York (4-0-3, 6th)

This is likely to be a tough one. They're simply appear to be more talented than we are. Compounding my concern is that we don't usually fare well against teams who run more diverse tactics, and their 4-1-2-2-1 is certainly that. We'll stick with the 4-4-1-1, at least it shows them something other than the ol' 4-4-2. Probably try to Counter, at least we might get a break and score while not being entirely overwhelmed. They're 1:6 faves & we're 10:1 dogs, most likely for good reason

GK: Hartley
D: Martin, Jones, Purvis, Sinclair
MF: Phillips, Matondo, Whiteley, Groves
AMC - O'Connor
F: Mole
Bench: (Sawyer, Slaughter, Stamp, White, McDonald)

16:55 - Moke dribbles down the right channel, launches a cross toward the far post ... it's in. (0-1) A complete fluke of a goal, was just an awful pass.

26:12 - Moke flattens Phillips at the edge of the area on a throw-in ... penalty given ... Mole steps up ... buries it ! (1-1) Powered it right through the keeper's hands

30:15 - McLaughlin plays a pass ahead to Walker coming into the area ... Purvis is very late to challenge ... bang (1-2)

41:15 - Yellow card to Sinclair for tripping

Halftime - Lots of red flags about players looking ill-disciplined, in danger of being booked, etc. I calmly tell the club we've been unlucky so far & to a man they appear relaxed, motivated, some even appeared to have gained confidence. I'm not at all sure what to do with that particular note, first time I've seen in en masse like that though. We'll switch to Standard, see if we can get forward a little more. Outshot 6-2 despite poss. being virtually even. 10 fouls so far is indeed a bit much, we need to calm down & play more professionally.

52:30 - Lund puts one into the side netting, luckily for us. Could easily have scored there
59:15 - Groves free kick floats a little too much, right to the keeper in traffic
60:00 - McLaughlin's close range effort is parried by Hartley, withstanding heavy pressure there
63:30 - They rattle a shot off the crossbar
69:00- Switch to 4-4-2 Standard ... Sub White for Whiteley (6.0), Sub Stamp for Sinclair (5.0 & a yellow), O'Connor to RMF, Groves to RD
85:00 - Switch to Attack
85:12 - Groves freekick again whistles over the bar
89:00 - 3 mins of injury time

Fulltime - Closer than expected frankly, we just don't have the offensive firepower to do much sometimes. I praise their effort since, well, we didn't quit or get embarrassed. Club responds well to that, although I do speak privately with a couple of players to let them know I was not happy with their individual performance, which seemed to fire them up (except for Hartley, who I don't think gives a crap about much other than playing time & getting paid). For the day, we were outshot 11-4 and ended up with just 44% poss. We also passed like crap (61%) and had a tough time defending them in the air.

Hartley 5.3 *his mistake on the errant cross dented his rating badly)
Martin 6.7, Jones 6.9, Purvis 6.9, Sinclair 5.2
Phillips 6.9 & 1 assist, Matondo 6.8, Whiteley 6.0, Groves 6.8
O'Connor 6.8, Mole (7.1 & 1 goal)
Subs: Stamp 6.9, White 6.6

Sept 15, 2012 (postmatch)
Kettering jumps over us in the table, we're down to 20th again, with Lincoln just 1 pt behind us, Kidderminster & Ebbsfleet 3 back, Braintree 4 back after getting their first win of the year in a 4-3 slugfest with Tamworth. Same score btw as Kettering's shocking win over Aldershot (currently 2nd place club)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 18, 2012
Our reserves managed a 2-0 win over FC Halifax reserves. A flat first half looked much better after young Billy Lobjoit was subbed in and put us in front at 68'. Lloyd Foot headed home some insurance just three minutes later. Quite a few strong outing, disappointing to see Ian Breckin - the captain for the match of all things - get sent off for a stupid foul worthy of the red card he received. Glen Taylor also had a tough night (5.9)
----

Lincoln managed a draw against Wrexham, meaning that we're now 21st and in the relegation zone based on GD (we're -4, they're -2).
----------

We've signed an interesting prospect, 18 y/o MF Reece Hands, who was available on a free out of the Blackburn system. He's a playmaking CMF who has some remarkable (for us) rating. Came to us for two years at just $150/wk and is considered by the staff as our second best MF behind only Matondo. Got to get him into match shape ASAP.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 22, 2012
Blyth (1-4-3, 21st) vs Histon (3-3-2, 12th)

Although we're obviously not favorites here (13:8 dogs actually), this is a match where I'd really like to come away with at least a point. We're at home, we know them from last season in BSBN, we're 1-1 lifetime against them, we need to get something. This starts a 3 games in 8 days stretch, with a roadtrip in the middle & an uphill battle against unbeaten league leader Dag & Red at the end.

We stick with the 4-4-1-1 Standard today.

GK: Knight
D: Giddings, Jones, Antwi, Groves
MF: Slaughter, Matondo, Sawyer, Abraham
AMC - Morrison
F: Mole
Bench: (Purvis, Hands, Chinthengah, O'Connor, Dovey)

9:00 - Corner cross to the far post ... Pearson goes up high in the air & knocks home a Histon goal (0-1)
12:15 - Jones header off a cross just misses high
35:00- Switch to Attacking
38:30 - Mole & their keeper Stadelman battle high in the air in the box ... the keeper barely wins it

Halftime - Outshot 5-1, I think the word "garbage" coach Fell used is pretty apt. Just an unspirited outing thus far. We switch to 4-4-2 Standard, moving Matondo forward.

65:00- Sub Purvis for Abraham (tiring), Sub Chinthengah for Mole (5.9) ... Groves to MFR with Purvis to RD

75:00 - Sub Hands for Morrison (tiring)
81:00 - Switch to Attacking
82:00 - Loose ball in the area ... Hands steps up and fires ... GOAL !!! (1-0) ... Slaughter's pass toward the box hit a defender & Hands pounced on the opportunity
85:00 - Switch to Standard, after a near disaster in an own end
89:00 - 3 mins of added time

Fulltime - Talk about squeaking out a point. Yikes. We were flat as a pancake for nearly the entire match, my gamble on Hands paid dividends for sure. Eventually outshot them 8-6, poss. nearly equal (49%) but that was just poor soccer. Bad passing by both, laughable crossing by both, ugly balls in the air, ugly tackling. Looked like a youth league or a beer league rather than actual paid professionals.

Knight 6.7
Giddings 6.8, Jones 6.8, Antwi 6.8, Groves 6.6
Slaughter 7.0 & 1 assist, Matondo 6.5, Sawyer 6.9, Abraham 6.0
Morrison 6.6, Mole 5.9
Subs: Hands 7.3 & 1 goal, Purvis 6.9, Chinthengah 6.8

Sept 22, 2012 (postmatch)
Our fifth straight match without a win but the point moves us clear for the moment, by GD over Stockport (-4 vs -6).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 23, 2012
Uh oh. Ass't mgr Fell says it's time for a team meeting to try to boost morale. Surely this one will go better than the last one.

"I really want to ensure that our heads don't drop, things haven't been going our way but we've got the ability in this team to change our fortunes"
Everybody's morale takes a jump.

Both captain Sinclair & vice-captain Armstrong (as well as Sawyer) appear inspired & motivated but ... well, last time I let a player speak it was a mess. Morale is up so let's just end this meeting now. (33 players reacted well, 0 players reacted badly)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 25, 2012
Blyth (1-5-3, 20th) at Bath (3-3-3, 13th)
They're 1:2 faves, we're 9:2 dogs. I'd love to see us end the winless streak right here, moreso because we aren't likely to do it in our next match against the unbeaten league leaders. Back to the 4-4-2, Counter strat to open

GK: Hartley
D: Martin, Jones, Sinclair, Purvis
MF: Phillips, White, Hands, Whiteley
F: O'Connor, Mole
Bench: (Slaughter, Matondo, Chinthengah, Loudon,McDonald)

3:15 - Hartley punches out a clear cut chance right on top of him
17:30 - Whiteley takes our first shot, a no-chance affair from long range
28:30 - O'Connor on a jaunt down the left side, feeds Mole just outside the box .. his half-volley misses. Blown chance right there
31:50 - We've picked up a couple of yellows already, one for Purvis & one for Hands ... they've picked up a couple, but the important thing is that they've both gone to Lee Phillips ... he's sent off & we've got a man advantage now. We switch to Standard.

Halftime - Outshot 3-2 but poss. is going our way (60%). Have to take advantage of the situation. We'll try Control for a bit

56:30 - Sinclair gets a yellow for tripping deep in our own end
59:00- Switch to Attack
61:30 - Fine save on a Sinclair header
78:00 - Whiteley shoots wide
Sub Matondo for Hands, Chinthengah for Whiteley (O'Connor to RMF)
80:00 - Chinthengah rattles on off the crossbar from long range
87:30 - A lob by Bath hits our crossbar, Purvis is there to clear the rebound
89:30 - Christie gets free in the area ... and scores (0-1)
90:00 - 3 mins added, switch to Overload

Fulltime - Unfrigging believable. That's our situation in a nutshell: even with a man advantage, we're not good enough offensively to score a damned goal. Meanwhile my assistants are ecstatic, apparently because we played a midtable side close. Umm, guys? We were up a man for over half the match.
Outshot 8-4 despite 58% poss. We coudn't cross, we didn't tackle well. Screw it, I just tell them they were unlucky & they seem happy enough with that. Me? I'm seething. I'm not real thrilled with our 6 yellow cards either.

Hartley 6.8
Martin 6.9, Jones (MOM) 7.5, Sinclair 6.6, Purvis 6.8
Phillips 6.7, White 6.5, Hands 6.8, Whiteley 6.8
O'Connor 6.8, Mole 6.8
Subs: Matondo/Chinthengah N/A

Sept 25, 2012 (postmatch)
The failure to get even a point here drops up back to 21st, now a point behind both Newport Co and Lincoln, tied with Stockport. Ebbsfleet are three back of us now, Braintree is 5 back in last & have fired their manager. Oh, and we've been fined $1.2k for failing to control our players during the match.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 28,2012
We've added some help, a 3 month loan of Hartlepool's MF Jordan Richards. I don't expect him to be a difference maker, but at least he gives us another option at RMF. An unspectacular 19 y/o but we'll take any help we can get I suppose.
--------
I have a word with Graeme Armstrong, who I'm told seems to be slacking off in training. I tell him to step it up, he says that's unfair, I point out which one of us picks the team. He apologizes if he spoke out of turn.
----
Dag & Red are 1:2 favorites at Croft Park tomorrow, we're 9:2 dogs. They did lose for the first time all season, 2-1 vs Mansfield and fell into 2nd place behind Aldershot on GD.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 29, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s get a 1-1 draw vs Grimsby. We gave up a goal a 4', Kaine Sheppard drew us level at 82'. More notable than the result is the injury report. Laste Dombaxe will be out up to 2 months to recover from strained ankle ligaments.

Sept 29, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1-5-4, 21st) vs Dag & Red (9-0-1, 2nd)
This could get ugly. They've got two players - MF's Matthew Saunders & Peter Gain - that have combined for 8 goals already. We have 7 for the season as a team. They've got 9 players with an avg rtg of 7.0 or better. We have none in the lineup today, only three on our entire roster & two of those (D'Laryea & Hands) have 3 appearances between them (Giddings is the third)

We still have to play the match regardless, we'll open 4-4-2 Counter. Since I have pretty much zero expectations here, we'll see some odd names in the lineup, with McDonald getting his first league start in goal & Hoy making his first team debut. I figure "why not?".

GK: McDonald
D: Kulsten, Jones, Hoy, Groves
MF: Slaughter, Matondo, White, O'Connor
F: Mole, Armstrong
Bench: (Sinclair, Richards, Chinthengah, Taylor, Knight)

22:00 - Only one official shot so far, that by D&R in the opening minutes
33:20 - McDonald makes a sliding save with his feet but the rebound is poke home by Talbot (0-1) The ball ricocheted off our defender Hoy otherwise we might have survived that unblemished

Halftime - Rather amazing that things are this close. Outshot 7-1, but with 47% poss. We're passing okay, heading okay, tackling better than they are ... so of course my coaches are outraged by our garbage play. WTF? Are they watching the same game I am? I just tell the club we can still win today. We shuffle the deck a bit, try to get Hoy (5.8) to be more productive. He goes to RD, Groves to CMF, Slaughter to LCD. We switch to Standard.

50:00- O'Connor takes a knock & needs to come off. Sub Sinclair on at DR. Hoy back to RCD, Slaughter to LMF, Groves to RMF

54:15 - Long throw-in by D&R into the area ... Groves takes it away from Talbot but can't control it ... Talbot steps into the loose ball & shoots [b](0-2)/b]

60:29 - Armstrong & White work the ol' give-and-go ... Armstrong is free in the area and shoots ... GOAL ! (1-2) A slight hint of life perhaps?

62:10 - Or not. Ilesammi with a long cross to Shroot ... his header easily beats McDonald (1-3)

72:00 - Sub Taylor for Mole (5.7), shift White to F, sub Richards for Hoy (5.3)
75:00 - Switch to Attacking

Fulltime - Hard to win with only 3 shots while giving up 15. Didn't complete a single cross all day. Coaches are gravely disappointed, I'm just surprised it wasn't worse. I cautiously express my unhappiness with the performance, but make sure to tell the strikers I thought they did well.

McDonald 6.5
Kulsten 6.7, Jones 6.1, Hoy 5.3, Groves 6.0
Slaughter 5.7, Matondo 6.0, White 7.1 & 1 assist, O'Connor 6.5
Mole 5.7, Armstrong 7.2 & 1 goal
Subs: Taylor 6.7, Richards 6.6, Sinclair 6.1

Sept 29, 2012 (postmatch)
The longest winless streak of my career continues, and with it our slide down the table. 22nd now, a point behind three clubs, only two points ahead of Braintree and three up on Ebbsfleet.
--
O'Connor will be out 4-5 weeks with a pulled hamstring. Limits our ability to use the 4-4-1-1
----
Lincoln has fired their manager

[JonInMiddleGA]

Sept 30, 2012
The contract of GK Max Johnson has expired and we release him on a free. That actually gets us back under our wage budget by a whopping $270 (he made $325/wk)

Oct 1, 2012
Training report
Good - David Knight (handling), Jason White (tactics), Adam Forster (aerobic)
Bad - Armstrong, Giddings, Martin (all ball control)
Youth Good - Rhys Paul (tactics), Mo Davies (strength)

Tamworth ST Jean-Paul Marna is BSBP Player of the Month with 8 goals in 7 apperances
Aldershot centre-back Angus MacDonald is BSBP Young Player of the Month
Mansfield boss Paul Cox is BSBP Manger of the Month (won 6 of last 7)

Board remains satisfied with my coaching of the team, underlined by fan happiness about Kidderminster win, muted by the fans disappointment about the loss to Gateshead. We lost just over $28k last month.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 2, 2012
Our reserves lose at Middlesborough Reserves 2-0. Outshot 17-4, it looked a lot like a first team match. 5 players with ratings under 6.0, only Liam McGovern (7.0) really stood out positively.

-----
Oct 3, 2012
MF Nathan Luscombe joins Stockport on loan. He's a Hartlepool prospect that rejected our loan attempts more times than I care to count. Fuck him too.
-------
MFR Niall Thompson joins us on a part-time contract for $20/wk through next season. Fans are delighted with our acquisition of the 19 y/o former Torquay prospect
---

Oct 5, 2012
Youngster Reece Loudon will be out 2 weeks to recover from a strained wrist suffered during weight training
----

Oct 6, 2012
21 y/o MF Nathaniel Weddeburn joins Blyth on a p.a. basis for $375. He can play both in the middle & on the left side, at both MF & D. He spent the last four season moving between 3 League 2 clubs, originally a Stoke prospect.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 6, 2012 (morning)
We bring in Scottish strike Lee Peacock on trial. The 35 y/o is in the final stage of his career but might have enough guile to help our anemic offense. We shall see.
----
Our U18s lose to Hartlepool 1-0 on the road.
----
Oct 6, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1-5-5, 22nd) vs Hayes & Yeading (4-3-4, 13th)

Pure midtable club for us on the road. They feature a pair of dangerous strikers that have been prolific (7 goals & 5 goals). They're 1:6 faves, we're 10:1 dogs.

GK: Knight
D: Giddings, Jones, Antwi, Sinclair
MF: Phillips, Hands, Whiteley, Richards
F: Mole, Chinthengah
Bench: (Purvis, Groves, Armstrong, White, Dovey)

4:00 - Phillips fouls Christophe in the area ... that's a penalty ... which turns into a goal (0-1)
16:00 -Switch to Standard
17:45 - Cadmore snags a loose ball in the area & bangs it home (0-2) Phillips failed to control that one
45:00 - Jones gives up an own goal while battling Ademeno
Halftime - Probably the worst half I've seen from us. Outshot 11-0, only 41% poss. Did little to nothing right. "Show me something else". Morale as bad as I've ever see it. Let's attack, see what happens next.

64:00 - I've seen enough. Sub Groves for Philips (5.4), shift Giddings to LMF
66:20 - Jones punts one deep ... Mole gives chase & catches up ... his lob from high in the area ... floats in! (1-3)
Sub Armstrong for Chinthengah (5.6)
74:00 - Sub Purvis for Richards

Fulltime - Sigh. Maybe we're just not good enough to be up here. Outshot 18-2. Just annihilated really. Only positive was that most of the players did improve in the 2nd half vs the awful 1st half.

Knight 6.1
Giddings 6.8, Jones 6.8 & 1 assist, Antwi 6.7, Sinclair 6.6
Phillips 5.4, Hands 6.6, Whiteley 6.5, Richards 5.9
Mole 7.3 & 1 goal, Chinthengah 5.6
Subs: Purvis 6.9, Groves/Armstrong 6.5

Oct 6, 2012 (postmatch)
We're still 22nd, now 2 pts back of the nearest teams ahead and only 2 pts in front of the teams behind.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 7, 2012
We sign 19 y/o ST Adam Drury to a youth contract. Not a lot there for now, some potential though.
----
Oct 10, 2012
Our reserves drew SheffU 3-3, tying the game while a man short after Wedderburn picked up a stupid red card.in the final ten minutes. Billy Lobjoit (8.8) was MOM with a pair of goals including the equalizer. We were outshot 18-8 but the individual effort by Lobjoit made the difference.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 12, 2012
RD Nathan D'Laryea agrees to terms with BSBN side Stalybridge and exits Blyth after appearing in one league match this year. He had remained on a p.a. basis after playing in 22 games last year. We wish him well.
----

MF Shaun Vipond has returned to full training after missing 6 weeks with an ankle sprain.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 13, 2012
Our U18s lost at West Ham U 6-1. WHU only shot 8 time, 7 of those on target, 6 went into the net. Jonathan Henly was thoroughly shelled and yet managed a 6.0 rating. The backline was horrific, most of the rest were worse. Trevor Mutero (7.4) provided the lone highlight with a goal that close us to within 3-1 at 36'. They would scored again before the half & added two more in the final 45 minutes.
----
I see where Callaum Hassan has finished his loan to Braintree & returns to Hartlepool. He played in 2 matches with a 6.8 rating.

[Poli]

Read page 1 last night. I'm not ready for this.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Poli

Read page 1 last night. I'm not ready for this.

You'll do fine. Just be patient with what feels like a steep learning curve because, well, I think it is a pretty steep curve.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 13, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1-5-6, 22nd) vs Braintree (2-0-10, 23rd)

Relegation battle time. If we can't beat these guys I'm starting to wonder if we're ever going to win again. Thing is, we're actually underdogs here & deservedly so. They're 4:6 faves, we're 7:2 dogs. Keep an eye on the ref, he's averaging 7 yellows per match so far this season. We'll be starting in a 4-4-2 Standard, then hope to quickly react to the situations that arise.

GK: Knight
D: Martin, Jones, Sinclair, Groves
MF: Slaughter, Matondo, White, Richards
F: Armstrong, Mole
Bench: (Purvis, Hands, Stamp, Giddings, Dovey)

1:15 - Groves free kick from the point cracks off the crossbar ... hope that isn't a bad omen
4:40 - Slaughter with a nice tackle for a turnover ... loose ball to Matondo ... pass to Slaughter who shoots from the top of the area ... GOAL !!!(1-0) his first goal for us in league play
23:45 - Marks into the area, with room ... Knight lunges and makes the grab
31:00 - Groves with a free kick ... lobs it into the area for Mole .. he goes up and the header is in !(2-0)
40:00 - Richards takes flight down the right sideline ... lifts a pass ahead to Mole on the break ... quick touch and a shot from the right side of the area ... GOAL ! (3-0)

Halftime - Well that's an improvement. We've actually been outshot 7-6 but 4 of ours were on target to their 2. We need to be doing a lot of things better - heading, tackling, passing - but the results have been fine. Keep it going boys.

53:15 - Slaughter with a long throw-in to the area ... Mole is there but the keeper denies his quick shot
Switch to Counter
54:30 - Martin clears a dangerous situation off the line
71:00 - Sub Hands for Armstrong (move Matondo forward), Sub Purvis for Richards (move Groves to MR, Sinclair to RD), Switch to Defensive
78:30 - Mole with a nice cross to the left side of the area for Slaughter ... he's clattered by Junior Osborne ... Penalty ! They protest to no avail. Cards however remain in the pocket, could have been Osborne's second yellow but wasn't.
79:15 - Mole calmly steps up for the penalty ... and airmails it high into the stands
83:00 - Sub Giddings for Matondo (yellow card)

Fulltime - Not exactly a work of art but it's surely a relief. Outshot 12-9, we got just enough at the right moments to win comfortably. I suspect we'll be hearing from the league about the 4 yellow cards though.

Knight 7.5
Martin 7.3, Jones 8.0, Sinclair 7.1, Groves(MOM) 8.0 & 1 assist
Slaughter 7.9 & 1 goal,Matondo 7.2 & 1 assist,White 6.8,Richards 7.2&1 assist
Armstrong 6.3, Mole 7.6 & 2 goals
Subs: Purvis 6.7, Hands 6.6, Giddings N/A

Oct 13, 2012 (postmatch)
The win improves my mood but not our place in the table. Still stuck in the drop zone, 21st with 11 pts, ahead of Stockport on GD but still trailing Welling & Lincoln by 2 points. Lincoln stunned Dag & Red (2nd) 3-1 to remain in front of us, Welling lost to slip back a bit

Only 3 days to enjoy this, with a trip to Salisbury (9th) followed by a match at home against Welling (19th) a week from today.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Oct 14, 2012
FA Cup draw for the Fourth Qualifying Round took place this morning. We get {drumroll please} a home match against Weston-super-Mare from the Southern Premier league. So far they've beaten Bitton at home (2-1) and Frome on the road (3-0) to reach this round. They appear to be about even with us defensively, we should have more talent offensively. To meet board expectations we have to win at least this match, but we should be rested. It's scheduled for Sat 10/27, a week after the Welling league match.