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Post by Sonic on Nov 1, 2006 0:49:19 GMT
As to age wise, my parents I don't think had come to Australia yet, and I was still 5 years away.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Nov 2, 2006 11:56:10 GMT
August 2007After opening with three wins for a pleasing start to August, it was time for the hard bit to arrive, with two cup games again Premiership Opposition, including a return game with Aberdeen that had gone so well in a friendly environment. With John Bruce injured, we were down to Wilson, Ollie Ryan and Jermaine Brown to play up front, as I had decided I wasn't sold on Scott Michie or Andy Rodgers who had been young and hopeful when I took over, but hadn't done anything amazing in my year with the club. Slade (not the group) had been useful last season and second-top scorer, but was 32 and injury prone. With this in mind, I sent out our one remaining scout in the hopes of finding another pure striker before the transfer window closed. The decision to search for cover up front proved to be prescient, when Ollie Ryan, who had had a great start for us, was kicked out of the game in the first minute by a nasty challenge from behind. Slade is on, but before he's fully up to speed, Dundee are ahead. Things get a bit hectic as Dundee look to double their advantage, but then it's a classic counter attack goal, as Lee Wilson is left in the clear and shoots across the goal and in off the far post. 1-1 at the half, becomes 1-1 at full time and it's yet another game with extra-time. But almost thankfully there are no penalties this time, as Dundee grab the winner on 111 minutes. The following week we stuck a very comfortable 2-0 on Berwick, who had won division three last year. Wilson grabbed both the goals, with a trademark neat finish on a throughball and then by converting a penalty. We'd stuck an injection in Ollie Ryan's knee, so that he could get through this game, in the hopes that John Bruce would be fit again following his injury, but Ryan was chopped down by Berwick Keeper Frank Talia and had to go off again and would, it turned out, now miss three weeks. The following wednesday it was time to head for Aberdeen, who were listed at 10-1 on to beat us. Which they did, although our performance was much better than in the 6-0 pre-season drubbing, even though the Dons played their full first team. The final score was 2-0, Aberdeen's second goal coming in the last minute when we were all forward looking for an equaliser. That was it for competitive games, as we were out of both cups and there was an international break too. I brought in a couple of young forwards on trials and played Stranraer in a friendly, beating them 3-2; my first ever win in a friendly. Trialist Alan Mangan celebrated his 21st birthday on 30 August with a contract offer from me, which he signed. Fellow trialist Kyle Suffuri was injured just eight minutes into the Stranraer game and so never really got his chance. So yes, we're top on goal difference and have the psychological edge too, having knocked Brechin out of the cup - somehow though, their manager won manager of the month. Something I intend to write to Moo's MP about.
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Post by Boony on Nov 2, 2006 12:06:00 GMT
That's a pretty table, s1ut. Unlucky that you didn't get a cup run, facing Premmie opposition early on isn't much fun.
Hamilton are that low down? I won the European Cup with them in CM0102...
KUTTOTLYLPWUTOTSKYPWTRWGOAYGLOIW :thumb:
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Post by Moo on Nov 2, 2006 12:17:31 GMT
Great start, s1utster. :thumb:
KUTBRIATW!
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Post by Boony on Nov 2, 2006 12:23:58 GMT
:checkit:
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Post by coffers on Nov 2, 2006 12:55:28 GMT
An excellent start. :thumb:
KUTGW!
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Post by Sonic on Nov 3, 2006 1:07:03 GMT
I'd be scared S1ut about the season after winning that friendly, only good things have occurred after losing the rest Nice start, and prescience too
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Nov 4, 2006 12:47:33 GMT
September 2007September was a good month. September brought another manager of the month award, but, better than that, it brought the best thing I think I've ever seen in a CM/FM game to date. Now we're out of the cups, the months seem to start with giant gaps, so we played a kick around against our under 19s and beat them 3-0, before playing our first serious game of September on the 15th. The gap had allowed Ollie Ryan to get over his injuries and he scored the only goal of an away win in Peterhead, when he dived to head home Lee Wilson's near post cross. Another weekend brought another away win, in Cowdenbeath, as Wilson earned and scored a penalty and Ollie Ryan banked a cross in off a defender for an own goal and 2-0. Which brings us back home to Montrose, to face Ayr United. Ayr are bottom of the table and we were heavily fancied to win the game. Perhaps the most predictable results of this, was that Ayr came out tackling hard and trying to disturb our pace and rhythm. There was a bit of push and shove on 10 minutes, sorted out by strong words from the ref, but then on 29 minutes Ayr player Scott Wilson came through hard on his namesake Lee Wilson, forcing out captain out. This prompted a furious protest from our players, with the fans really getting whipped up too. Matt Brazier earned a yellow for carrying his protests a bit too far and the game after that got seriously... ummm.. tasty. The pressure finally blew the cap off the game in the 73rd minute, when Calum "Winds up the opposition" Watson fetched the ball for a throw in for Ayr and then kicked it away. Ayr defender Ryan Caddis takes exception to this and kicks Watson, which sets off a giant ruck on the sidelines featuring just about all the players. In the melee Ayr forward Adam Birchall punches Kris Brash and also earns a red card, leaving Ayr to play out the final 17 minutes with nine men. Oh, yeah.. there was a game of football either side of the fight and Ollie Ryan proved what a gem he is, by scoring two goals that were the mirror image of eachother - round the keeper to his right and slotting home on 33 minutes, then rounding the keeper to his left and rolling the ball in on 66. Inbetween he held the ball up, held... then dinked it through to the sprinting John Bruce for Bruce's first goal for the club. So, 1-0, then 2-0 and then 3-0... In our final game of the month we faced Hamilton Academicals, who were favourites, even though it was a home game for us. We deserved to win, Ollie Ryan scoring his sixth of the season and his fifth in the league in just 6(1) appearances. Hammy equalised in the 82nd minute though and we had to settle for a draw and only a four point lead at the top of the table. News of the month has to be Fat Sam Allardyce taking over at Rangers, after Le Guen left to go to HSV, after their manager went to Arsenal to replace Wenger who'd gone to Valencia. We also had a kid called Martin Nichol promoted to the youth team and it's fair to say he's doing ok, playing twice so far for the under 19s and scoring eight goals. September 2007September was a good month. September brought another manager of the month award, but, better than that, it brought the best thing I think I've ever seen in a CM/FM game to date. Now we're out of the cups, the months seem to start with giant gaps, so we played a kick around against our under 19s and beat them 3-0, before playing our first serious game of September on the 15th. The gap had allowed Ollie Ryan to get over his injuries and he scored the only goal of an away win in Peterhead, when he dived to head home Lee Wilson's near post cross. Another weekend brought another away win, in Cowdenbeath, as Wilson earned and scored a penalty and Ollie Ryan banked a cross in off a defender for an own goal and 2-0. Which brings us back home to Montrose, to face Ayr United. Ayr are bottom of the table and we were heavily fancied to win the game. Perhaps the most predictable results of this, was that Ayr came out tackling hard and trying to disturb our pace and rhythm. There was a bit of push and shove on 10 minutes, sorted out by strong words from the ref, but then on 29 minutes Ayr player Scott Wilson came through hard on his namesake Lee Wilson, forcing out captain out. This prompted a furious protest from our players, with the fans really getting whipped up too. Matt Brazier earned a yellow for carrying his protests a bit too far and the game after that got seriously... ummm.. tasty. The pressure finally blew the cap off the game in the 73rd minute, when Calum "Winds up the opposition" Watson fetched the ball for a throw in for Ayr and then kicked it away. Ayr defender Ryan Caddis takes exception to this and kicks Watson, which sets off a giant ruck on the sidelines featuring just about all the players. In the melee Ayr forward Adam Birchall punches Kris Brash and also earns a red card, leaving Ayr to play out the final 17 minutes with nine men. Oh, yeah.. there was a game of football either side of the fight and Ollie Ryan proved what a gem he is, by scoring two goals that were the mirror image of eachother - round the keeper to his right and slotting home on 33 minutes, then rounding the keeper to his left and rolling the ball in on 54. Inbetween he held the ball up, held... then dinked it through to the sprinting John Bruce for Bruce's first goal for the club. So, 1-0, then 2-0 and then 3-0... In our final game of the month we faced Hamilton Academicals, who were favourites, even though it was a home game for us. We deserved to win, Ollie Ryan scoring his sixth of the season and his fifth in the league in just 6(1) appearances. Hammy equalised in the 82nd minute though and we had to settle for a draw and only a four point lead at the top of the table. News of the month has to be Fat Sam Allardyce taking over at Rangers, after Le Guen left to go to HSV, after their manager went to Arsenal to replace Wenger who'd gone to Valencia. We also had a kid called Martin Nichol promoted to the youth team and it's fair to say he's doing ok, playing twice so far for the under 19s and scoring eight goals.
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Post by coffers on Nov 4, 2006 23:15:05 GMT
Class.
KUTNLW! :thumb: (Non Losing)
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Post by Sonic on Nov 6, 2006 1:57:21 GMT
That's hilarious. About time that winding up the opposition worked Good work on topping the table, and looking like getting a class youngster coming through too :thumb:
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Post by Boony on Nov 6, 2006 9:15:31 GMT
That's another fine month, s1ut. Keep up this topping the table business. You OAP, you. Scotland must be so east.
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Post by Moo on Nov 6, 2006 9:59:24 GMT
More North than East, Boony. Nice try....
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Post by Boony on Nov 6, 2006 10:01:51 GMT
Oops. I meant easy. :moop:
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Post by Sonic on Nov 6, 2006 22:54:26 GMT
That would make everyone so West, and South if they don't even have the game.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Nov 14, 2006 8:20:21 GMT
October and November 2007Note to self : Find man who creates Scottish fixtures lists and punch him in the cock. In October and November we have a total of six games across eight weeks, in December we have a total of seven games across four weeks. What a pantfish. In October, our first competitive game would be on the 20th, following a 0-0 friendly draw with Stenhousemuir as we hosted Brechin in a top-of-the-table clash and sent them home with a 2-0 defeat, thanks to a brace from Ollie Ryan. Our new three point lead quickly became a two point lead as we couldn't find a way past Stirling, for a 0-0 away and then tragedy of tragedy struck as we lost our first league game since the end of November last year. We went in at half time tied 1-1 with Raith, but they scored almost from the restart and then fell into a defensive formation and we couldn't find a way back. Fortunately, a Lee Wilson goal in the eighth minute was enough to lift us to 1-0 over Alloa, to avoid a three game run without a win. Another friendly, (3-0 over Dufftown) filled an 18 day gap between league games, before we beat the team that finished above us in the third last season; Berwick, 2-1. We closed out the month with a 1-0 over Peterhead, thanks to Greig Henslee's first goal of the season. December 2007A key month in any season, but perhaps especially so here as we'd had a small wobble in form, (a loss and a draw! Oh, woe!), which turned worse when we dropped a 0-1 at home to Cowdenbeath. allowing Brechin to open a point gap at the top. Suddenly our forwards aren't firing and I'm starting to see the comments about pressure again, from Lee Wilson, fullback Kris Brash and midfielder John Adam. We're just not supposed to be challenging for the title yet. What we need is an easy game and luckily, we have one, as we go on the road in the Scottish Cup, for a trip to face non-leaguers Tarff Rovers. I decide to include 17 year old Martin Nicholl in the squad, as he's now bagged 12 goals for the under 19s. Nichol comes on with us leading 2-0 thanks to goals from Wilson and Ryan and although he doesn't score, he swings in a nice far post cross for Wilson to head home his second and seal a 3-0 win. In the next round we're away to Motherwell, because no one likes cup runs anyway. :moop: Up next was a trip to Ayr, who famously went down to nine men the last time we played them. They managed to injure Lee Wilson again in this game, sending our main forward off with a badly gashed leg, but sadly no mass brawls or red cards followed. The game ended 1-1, thanks to a goal from John Adam and a penalty save from John Farquhar in the 79th minute. We enjoyed the 1-1 so much that we did it again the following week, at home to Stirling. Ronayne Benjamin grabbed his first goal for the club, coming on in place of the injured Henslee. Matt Brazier also limped out of this game and will miss as much as three months with a knee injury. So now we're not firing up front and half our midfield is out injured. In light of the injuries, our 0-0 at home to leaders Brechin the following week was a decent result. Especially as centre half Chris McLeod was forced out with a foot injury... The draw stopped Brechin from moving away from us at the top, but we were now four league games without a win, securing just three points from four games in December. Things didn't promise to get any better on Boxing Day, with a trip to title favourites Hamilton Academicals. Of course, no one had told the Accies that they were favourites and they languished in mid-table, but that meant little, as they played us off the park earlier this year. The good news is, they played us off the park again on Boxing Day, taking the lead through a Nicky Maynard effort from 25 yards, but then making a terrible hash of clearing a corner and allowing Ollie Ryan to grab his first goal for almost 500 minutes. His normal partner in crime, Lee Wilson, was back from injury, but his confidence is in tatters, as he just can't handle the pressure of being in the top two of the Scottish second division. The pussy. As a result, Wilson started the game on the bench, but got on in the 75th minutes. His first action was to fall over a leg in the area to win a penalty, but he then displayed his lack of confidence for everyone, as he blasted the ball over the top. Only Slightly pissed off at this chance to grab a late lead on a team listed as 3-1 on to beat us, I sat and watched us fail to break down the Accie defence for a while longer, before I got bored and stuck on Jermaine Brown in the 89th minute, in place of scorer, Ryan. The first thing that happened after Brown came on was that we won a corner. The second thing, was John Adam collected the ball and blasted it goalwards, it hit the keeper and landed at Brown's feet, allowing him to tap into an empty net! With 92 minutes gone there was no way back for the Accies and we'd stolen a vital win, made more important when Brechin could only draw, allowing us to claw back two points on the chase for the top. Three days after Boxing Day, we were off to Raith - the team that had been the first to puncture our air of invincibility and, with the collection of niggling injuries we'd picked up, really make us unstable. For the first time since we'd stumbled on the CHARGE! idea we made a serious tactical change, going narrow in midfield, with a DM and three MCs, two orthodox forwards and a more controlled pace. Perhaps predictably this resulted in a cagey start to the game, with the teams still scoreless at half time, although both had had good chances and pulled a pair of really good saves from each keeper. Up front for us, we had Ollie Ryan, who had forgotten his earlier non-stop scoring form and Andrew Mangan, who we'd taken on trial earlier this year and signed on his birthday, then consigned to the reserves. With Ryan and Wilson totally lacking confidence, kiddie Nicholl still a bit lightweight for the big game and John bruce never really turning in the sort of performances I expect, I'd pulled Mangan back out of the stiffs and stuck him on from the start. At the half he was having a decent game, so I told him he could make the difference and he went out and did just that, using his 18 pace to blow by a defender and then sidefooting home from the narrowest of angles. Raith answered almost immediately with a headed goal and then by kicking Mangan off the park, with a nasty challenge from behind. This brought on Lee Wilson. From the free kick earned by Mangan's foul, Wilson rolled the ball to Ryan on the edge of the area and he was immediately chopped down and... penalty! Wilson had missed one just a few days before, so I was nervous as he ran up here, but he cooly slotted it low to the keeper's right and Raith could find no way back! Better news came after the game, when we were told that Brechin had lost away from home, meaning that despite a few less polished performances, we'd gone back to the top.
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Post by Sonic on Nov 14, 2006 8:35:16 GMT
That's some couple of months you've played through, very entertaining :thumb:
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Post by coffers on Nov 14, 2006 8:53:11 GMT
Winter Wobbles came early but you are still top, so that's not to be sniffed at.
KUTGW! :thumb:
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Post by Boony on Nov 14, 2006 9:13:40 GMT
Top is good, s1ut. I like your goals against column. Keep it up, big boy :thumb:
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Post by Moo on Nov 14, 2006 9:23:42 GMT
Yes.
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Nov 14, 2006 9:49:23 GMT
That was bloody hard work though. December took me about as long to get through as any other six months, as I was constantly trying new players who didn't have a moany morale arrow, trying to cover for a series of injuries, a loss of confidence from some very key players and come up with a new tactic that suits the players, but still works.
The results make it seem fairly serene, but every bloody day it was something else and then once Ryan stopped scoring and Wilson's confidence went because he couldn't handle the pressure, we were suddenly short of goals. It didn't help that the opposiing managers kept saying "We'll have to watch out for Wilson, he's better than Pele" which only made the pressure he felt worse.
Every week I had to tell three or four players "No pressure today son" and then pat them on the head. Poor John Farquhar has been playing above his level for about a year now, but pretty much every week for the past two months I have to say to him "I expect a performance!" and "You can make the difference!" just so that when the bunch of cowering ninnies in front of him part like Hornet and a Diet Book, he's had the "They-ull nevar tek oor freedom!" team talk.
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Post by Boony on Nov 14, 2006 9:53:31 GMT
You're definitely earning your money, then, s1ut. Sounds like you know exactly how to manage this bunch of lily-livered pansies. Are you employing a leafy branch?
KUTFAWTFUPOCDW :thumb: forging a winning team from useless piles of cow dung
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Post by Mr Bismarck's Electric Donkey on Nov 16, 2006 18:00:53 GMT
January 2008Ok, this is getting seriously hard now. Managing, or balancing the players is taking up all my time and on the pitch we've gone from well-oiled 911, to a slightly creaky 924. The badge on the back is still the same, but we don't have a turbo any more and you have to wring necks to get anything like the same performance. We open the month with a distinctly sedate 0-0 away to Alloa and follow it up with the expected loss in the cup to Motherwell. At home to Berwick we come back from 1-0 down to lead 2-1 thanks to two Lee Wilson goals, but then allow an equaliser and the draws just keep on coming with a 1-1 away to Peterhead, thanks to a goal from Jermaine Brown. Those draws keep seeing us go top, then second, then top, as Brechin's form is worse than ours, recently. The real trouble now seems to be Cowdenbeath who are on a run of four straight wins and undefeated in seven - they've broken from the peloton and hunted us down and we just happen to play them, right now, while they're flying and we're... well... not. I decide that we need to shake things up right now. None of our forwards are doing anything, with Ollie Ryan especially disappointing after his early successes. It's now been more than four hours since Ryan scored. So we come out 4-1-2-2-1, utilising Jermaine Brown as a right winger and Ronayne Benjamin on the left, with Henslee and Robert Smith in the middle and John Adam playing DMC, in front of a flat back four. This seems to work as Brown scores his second in two weeks, on just 44 seconds, meeting a far post Benjamin cross with a neat side-footed volley. The lead lasts a whopping 41 minutes, before Cowdenbeath find a way back, with a header from a corner, but the division's form side are held to 1-1, even though Henslee is sent off for two yellows and we're unbeaten in nine league games, even though we've only two wins in that spell. The week after we make it three wins in ten, as Benjamin continues to enjoy the new formation with his third goal in three games, in a 1-0 win over bottom side Ayr that's much more one-sided that the scoreline suggests. Still top then, thanks to our draw with Cowdenbeath which halted their charge - without that they would be top now. We need to find our form and our goals, if we're to avoid the playoffs. We also need to deal with something of an injury crisis too, as Ronayne Benjamin will be out for a month with a back strain and Greig Henslee is gone too with a bruised shin. This means we've no natural left-sided midfielders fit, a problem made worse because central midfielder Lee Brazier, who can play on the left, is still recovering from the knee injury suffered in December.
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Post by coffers on Nov 16, 2006 18:05:01 GMT
Nice update, even if the form was up and down. That table looks useful too. KUTGW! :thumb:
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Post by Sonic on Nov 17, 2006 0:09:31 GMT
It is a nice table, with only the for column a bit lighter than your liking I bet.
:thumb:
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Post by Moo on Nov 17, 2006 8:45:19 GMT
Good stuff, s1ut. Any sort of unbeaten run is a good one, but as you say, the lack of wins is a concern. Still though, I've tried to put a fiver on you getting promotion down at Ladbrokes, but they said that all bets were off, as it's a done deal.
I thought that harsh.
[/hex]
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