Thanks Liam, hope your liking it as much as I'm enjoying chronicling my FM game.
The 25th came along and the busy end of season schedule leading into winter caught up with us. There can be no excuses other than we just didn’t turn up for this game. Outplayed and outclassed for the duration, we went down heavily 4-1 at home. To compound matters Kursk, Shinnik and Ural and KamAZ all won taking the last promotion place to a 5 horse race. Torpedo Moscow having wrapped up the title 2 months ago. With 4 games to go Kursk and Shinnik were level on 75 points, we sat in 4th on 74 with Ural and KamAZ on 72 and 71 points respectively. Things needed to improve and fast especially as our next game was home to Shinnik in 7 days time
After some pre match mind games the day arrived and this would be our biggest test yet. From the whistle this was a true battle royal. Both teams hit the ground running and it was end to end stuff with the midfield acting out another war in the middle of the pitch. Chances went begging at both ends until the 39th minute when once again the player of the moment Bornosuzov ran down the wing, cut back inside made the defender believe he was going to square it then let it loose from his left foot giving the keeper no chance. The 5360 crowd went beserk. At half time they were told to do it for the fans and kill the game off yet the game carried on in the same vane as before with both sides wasting too many good chances. On the 72nd minute Testimetanu received his marching orders for a second offence which was shame on his 25th appearance for the club. I started to get tense and the players were getting very nervy, passes going awry all over the park. Then the ref evened things up on 86 by sending off Mamaev for his second booking. From there Shinnik went all out for an equalizer while we went all out to hang on. And hang on we did, a valuable 1-0 win with one game left to play. All that remained was to see what else happened to the teams around us. Kursk had won, KamAZ could only draw, and to make it even more tense Ural also managed a good home win. The league table stood
PWDLGfGaGdPts
Torpedo Moscow413603028826+62111
Avangard Kursk412406117047+23 78
Terek Grozny412308107045+25 77
Shinnik412306127137+34 75
Ural412306126140+21 75
We had to win in our final game away to Mordovia, there were other options. We had to win and hope other results went our way. It was still possible and even if we didn’t make it, its still been a good season and we can build to ensure promotion next time round. Mordovia had been relegated 8 games ago, so as long as we were professional in our approach we just had to keep our fingers crossed. When I checked the fixture list I was sure someone was smiling on me. Kursk had a dangerous away game for their last game of the season away to Shinnik. I could almost see the finishing line and was sure fate would see us through. We would find out in 3 days. The day of the final match came and that morning the press were circulating. We had bettered all expectations for the season but the chairman was growing restless thinking of the big time once more and the press picked up on my nervousness. Vladimir did his best to diffuse the media frenzy but they knew the team was skitty going into this match. After all, the 3 games I had taken charge of against clubs in the drop zone we had not looked convincing. I hoped that the players either did not pick up my bad vibes or better yet, used it to motivate themselves. Varlamov had just returned from injury and was making noise within the camp. I’m glad he picked up the mantle to get the players in the right frame of mind. I certainly wasn’t and it gave me time to think and contemplate. Did I risk him from the start though? After deliberation on the journey to Mordovia’s ground I discussed this with Vladimir and we decided to risk him from the off. Once we were in front we could take him off safe with the win in the bag. The starting eleven was decided and once at the ground the team sheet was given to the officials. There was no turning back now. The boys were up for it. Right from the start we hustled and harried them. We barely gave them time to get into any kind of rhythm at all and after 4 minutes the constant pressure made Savochkin put the ball past his won keeper. Dream start. This continued for the rest of the half though to their credit Mordovia did manage to compose themselves some. After missing his 12th chance I was about ready to sub Asildarov who was terribly short of confidence in front of goal when up he popped to send a rare header into the top corner on 42 minutes. The final few minutes were played at the same tempo as before and Mordovia were lucky to keep the score line at 2-0. The traveling fans chanted the clubs anthem and as I shook the players hands as they went into the changing rooms I looked at Vladimir for any news from the other games. Shinnik were 1-0 up at home to Kursk courtesy of a 14th minute strike from Kiselev. We both walked back through the tunnel just as the crowd erupted as news of the other matches started to filter through. As it stood right now, we were up. The lads were told to keep pushing and not let their performance drop, I wanted the kursk fans to know we were hammering our opposition. In an uneventful second period neither team could keep up their momentum and it turned into a sloppy affair. I was disappointed with our second half performance but was mindful that maybe they had half their thoughts on another game which was of equal importance to our own. A convincing 2-0 and our job was done. All we could do now, was to sit and wait. The news came through that Kursk had leveled through Piyok in the 77th minute and were throwing caution to the wind to get a winner away to Shinnik. On 88 minutes they had hit the post, a snatched shot glanced away from the keeper onto the woodwork. Then we heard the cheer we were waiting for. Shinnick got the winner in injury time from Kudryashov to make sure of our promotion. I made a mental note to send the players and manager of Shinnik some very large bottles of champagne when the jubilations had died down. Only 150 fans had made the trip on a bitterly cold day but they sang like they were 15,000 in number. Against the grain I told the team they had performed sensationally and on the long trip back to Grozny I dreamt of what the Russian Premier division might be like.
And got carried away with the last paragraph heh, didnt realise how big it was till I saw it in here but noted for future posts. Thx 
KUTGW! 
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