retired_hern1001

Later that week

“Hello Chris” chairman Lousada said upon entering my office, exhaling cigarette smoke as he spoke. I gave him an disapproving look, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Afternoon sir. What brings you here?” I asked him.

“I was walking in town today and everyone congratulate me on team good play. I think to tell you this” he said, beaming with pride. “I think you do good job here, my friend. I hope for it to continue long time.”

“Well, thank you sir. We do try our best. I’ll tell the players of your praise” I answered while waving away a gust of cigarette smoke.

The chairman left again and I told the players of his words at the next training session. There were smiles of joy and you could see the pride on their faces. There were guys devoted to their club and they’d strife to keep the club on their winning ways.

Their first opportunity came on the following Sunday, at Dragoes Sandinenses. Chalana missed the game, which gave Bino a chance to play himself into the team. Also returning was Bruno Mendes, although his stay on the pitch was distinctly short on 43 minutes when he was handed his second yellow card. At that point in the game though, Esmoriz had already established a two goal lead. Jefferson had opened the scoring with a close range toe-poke and Ruca scored from the penalty spot after a foul on the same player. The game slowed up slightly after Mendes’ dismissal and it gave the home side a chance to get back into the game. Oliveria made the most of a defensive error by Ruca and beat Ricardo, who was well off his line from 40 yards out. Their revival was short lived though as Jefferson, clearly growing in confidence after getting his first goal of the season, finished off a good passing move with a placed shot. Rui Lage scored an own goal to give the home side a slightly flattered second goal, but by that time, the game had long gone. Three more points in the bag.

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After that win, Esmoriz sat proudly atop of the league table and also were the only team yet to drop any points. But the odds were stacked against Brown’s side to keep their unbeaten status against 2nd placed Sanjoanense. The bookies offered 10/1 on an Esmoriz victory in their league encounter, the last game of October. Sanjoanense were also unbeaten, but they had dropped two valuable points the previous weekend. For some strange reason, Bruno Mendes had not received a suspension for his sending off, so he was free to play in midfield, alongside the returning Chalana. But neither he nor the rest of the Esmoriz team made much of an impact as Sanjoanense dominated the game first to last. But even despite their domination, they had difficulty scoring, mainly thanks to Ricardo’s outstanding performance in goal. In the end, it was fluke that got them ahead. The cross came in from the right and Jo tried to head it in, but his timing was all wrong. It hit his back and looped over Ricardo into the net. Despite that, Esmoriz seemed unfazed and a quick turnaround from chasing the ball to having possession led to a well taken goal by Rui Sá on the stroke of halftime. The second half was more of the same and a poor backpass right after the break gifted Sanjoanense their second goal, Quim Pedro slotting home easily. Despite their best efforts, the guests didn’t manage to beat Ricardo again, but it still ended Esmoriz’ unbeaten run.

retired_jgirl87

Slow and steady in posting terms, but the quality remains excellent. KUTGW mate. :thup:

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Cheers Spav

November 2005

Some of the squad were slightly dejected after the loss against Sanjoanense, but Brown quickly made it clear that they shouldn’t look back on what could have been, but instead focus on what might be. The squad clearly took heart from those words and in their next game, Esmoriz quickly recovered their winning ways. Ribeira Brava were the opponents and they hardly got a whiff. Jefferson scored the first goal, after fifteen minutes, heading home Rui Sá’s cross. Despite dominating the game for much of the second half, Esmoriz couldn’t double the margin. It wasn’t until Miki came on, much to Martin’s pleasure, that the second goal came. The young striker had only been on the pitch for nine minutes when he rifled his shot into the top corner, delighting the crowd of 1048 people in the process. The result was even more enjoyable when news filtered through that Sanjoanense had dropped two valuable points at Fiães, meaning that Esmoriz were back on top of the league.

We had an extra week off due an international weekend, so with a fully fit team, we travelled the short distance across to Paredes. The break hadn’t done us much good though, as we seemed to have lost our rhythm. The home side were all over us and plenty of chances fell to their dangerous frontmen, Ricardo and Rafael. When the smoke had cleared after 90 minutes, both had two goals to their name in an empathic 4-1 victory. Filipe was the only one to do something back for us, but that didn’t happen until the 86th minute of the match, at which point we were already three down. With our tail between our legs, we scurried back to Esmoriz. At least we’d have the luck of champions going for us as our nearest rivals lost as well, meaning the top six teams were now only separated by five points.

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We had to get our act back together and we’d have to do it quickly, as our next game would be one of the most important games of the year for Esmoriz and their supporters. The trip to their hated rivals Espinho. At this level, there isn’t as much media build up to a game, but instead, it happens between the two rival sets of supporters. In the week leading up to the game, the penalty spots at the Estadio Comendador Manuel Violas mysteriously disappeared, most likely removed by Esmoriz supporters. Similar incidents happened throughout the week, including the removal of both goals from our training ground. By the time Sunday came, both camps were ready to take each other’s heads off.

The Espinho stadium is located beautifully, almost on the beach, and a cool sea breeze swept over the ground as we took to the pitch. Despite the heavy loss of the previous week, I had decided to field an unchanged XI for this key match. If we were going to get anything from this game though, we’d have to show massive improvement on the previous week. Between Martin, Nick and myself, we’d figured out the best way to counter Espinho. We agreed on letting them have possession for most of the game and sitting back, luring for the counter attack. Or as the Italians would call it, Cattenaccio. The players had naturally followed the news throughout the week and they were keen to continue the battle that the supporters had started. Referee Paulo Silva handed out no less than nine yellow cards, including four in the first twelve minutes. As we let Espinho have most of the possession, it seemed inevitable that they’d have to better chances. Both their strikers, Arthur Jorge and Roberto were dangerous throughout the first half, but Ricardo denied them on several occasions, while the assistant-referee gave us a hand when Ricardo was unable to prevent Roberto from scoring by raising his flag. For us, only Rui Sá tried to threaten the home side’s goal, but he failed miserably, his attempt sailing off towards the crowd.

In the second half, we finally gained some momentum and had a couple of good chances. Filipe struck his free kick well, but was denied by the keeper, while Jefferson sent his effort just wide. Then, disaster struck. Arthur Jorge managed to sneak away from the defence, found his partner, who duly put it in the back of the net. I sent on Miki to replace the tiring Jefferson, but the youngster was unable to create anything. Despite that, the match still ended in a 1-1 draw. With six minutes to go, Filipe created some space for himself in the box. He tried to find Rui Sá on the far side of the goal, but the ball cannoned off Espinho defender Albertino and via the post it ended up in the back of the net. The visiting supporters celebrated like their team had just won the Champions League. It left me wondering how a win would’ve been celebrated as I walked off the pitch, the point safely in the bag.

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December 2005

With the board still delighted at my performances so far, we went into December. They can’t however have been very happy with our performance in the first game of the month, a 5-1 drubbing at the hands of FC Porto B. Co Adriaanse’s reserve side had performed poorly in the league so far, but they were probably the best side quality wise. Martin said it best before the game started when he joked that their striker Sokota’s right leg would probably be worth more than our entire squad. He was proven right as the Croatian netted four of the five goals for Porto’s reserves, earning him the man of the match award in the process. We ended the game with ten men after defender Luis Lopes was sent off on the stroke of half time for making a professional foul. Without our strongest defender, we were powerless to resist as the final score showed.

We had the next weekend off as it was a Cup weekend. Martin, Nick and myself spent our free Sunday playing poker and drinking beer and as a result, the Monday practice was very docile due to the managerial trio sporting a hangover the size of a small cargo freighter. Later on in the day, I was approached by the local journalist who told me that the manager of Moreirense had told of his admiration of Filipe. I responded in trademark fashion by saying that he wasn’t going anywhere. It was pretty much the highlight of the week.

Thankfully, we returned to action on the 18th, with an away tie to Pedras Rubras. Strangely enough, Lopes had not been suspended after receiving his red card and I was able to field an unchanged side, despite the hammering in our previous game. It was an even game in terms of possession, but we certainly created the better chances. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean much if you are unable to put them away and for most of the game, that was our problem. To give credit where credit is due, Rui Sergio in the home side’s goal had a good game, but we certainly should have done more with our numerous opportunities. It wasn’t until the 88th minute that Sergio had a lapse of concentration and passed the ball straight into the feet of Filipe. Our star man finally made the most of a chance and put it past the keeper. There was a slight dampener on our win though as Luis Lopes had to come off injured with a thigh strain. He’d spend at least a week on the sidelines, but he could be out for as much as four weeks.

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It’ll be lonely this Christmas
Without you to hold
It’ll be lonely this Christmas
Lonely and cold
© Mud – Lonely This Christmas

I used to like Christmas, but ever since it had happened, I felt pain and sorrow in the festive season. The only advantage that you have in Portugal is that Christmas isn’t particularly cold, though it’s hardly beach weather either. Nick and Martin knew well enough to leave me alone and I spent most of my time staring at the silver pendant I’d once given her. It was the only thing I still had of her. It had been the first thing I bought for her, years ago, snapping it up in a souvenir shop in London. A silver necklace with a dagger-shaped pendant a couple of inches big. She’d loved it and wore it day and night since. After she’d died, I had stolen it from mortuary, incurring the wrath of her family in the process. It was a silly thing to do, but I wanted something to remember her by. I shouldn’t have…

England

The chamber was the shape of a pentagram, a central room extending into five triangular chambers. A set of stairs descended into one of the chambers, giving people access to the chamber. Eric Dura descended the stairs and quivered. The space was cold and poorly lit. In the central room a figure clad in black and red robes sat kneeling in front of an altar. He was speaking rapidly in some ancient dialect, Eric noted. Not wanting to incur the figure’s wrath, Dura remained at the bottom of the stairs and waited until he had finished. Then, he stepped into the central chamber. He shivered as he saw the dried blood on top of the altar. The robed man turned and removed his hood to reveal himself to his visitor.
“This had better be good, Dura” he spoke, his voice fierce. Eric evaded the piercing blue eyes as he answered.
“We have recovered the last artefact from Norway, sir”
“What about the key?” the robed man asked.
“Still nothing” Dura responded.
“This is most unsatisfactory. My family has collected these artefacts for ages, but they are useless without the key. Surely I don’t need remind you the price of failure” the robed man said, his hand waving at the blood covered altar.
“No sir, Mr Page” Dura said, swallowing the bile in his mouth.
“Good. I expect to see some progress next time, Eric” Page said before replacing his hood and kneeling at the altar again. Dura took the hint and left.

retired_gabachitalinda

This is great stuff KUTGW

retired_hern1001

Glad you like it Welwyn

January 2006

We started the new year with a home tie against Maritimo B. Luis Lopes was still out, though he was making good progress in his recovery. Garranas replaced him. There were two more changes, with Miki starting instead of Jefferson and Marquitos replacing Bruno Costa. There were chances going either way, but it was Rui Sá who opened the scoring, sweeping clear of the defence and guiding his shot under a diving goalkeeper after seventeen minutes. Maritimo had several good chances at levelling the game, but they were wasteful in front of goal. The main culprit was Junior Bahia who missed a couple of gilt-edged chances. It took us long enough to put the game beyond doubt though, until the 74th minute to be exact. Substitute Eder found Filipe with his cross and the attacking midfielder headed it in at the near post. With the game secured, we suddenly had a surge of confidence and scored two further goals, Bruno Mendes sealing an excellent display with his first goal for the club and substitute Jonas completed the rout in the final minute, getting enough on Eder’s shot to fool the goalkeeper.

The win kept us equal with leaders Espinho, although our rivals enjoyed a much better goal difference (+30 to our +10). Unfortunately, our start had been good enough to get noticed and a regional newspaper commented on our ten wins out of fifteen since I took over. It drew the one thing I didn’t want. Attention.

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With our goal difference in need of a boost, I deemed it necessary to sign an additional striker. Experienced Portuguese target man Paulo Catarino was brought in from Mafra for €4,000 and signed a deal until July 2007. His arrival coincided with the departure of number two goalkeeper Nuno to Uniao Madeira for €2,000. 18-year old goalkeeper Justinho would fill in as his replacement for the rest of the season. The final bit of transfer news concerned a signed for the next season, young midfielder Pedro Lourenco would join Esmoriz when his contract expired in the summer.

Back to the football, Luis Lopes returned to the fold against Infesta after his injury lay-off, while Miki retained his starting place alongside Rui Sá. New signed Catarino had to take up his place on the substitute’s bench. He had barely settled in his seat when Rui Sá scored the opening goal, just 90 seconds into the match. Ruca sent a marvellous pass down the pitch for the striker to run onto and he poked it under the keeper without flinching. We displayed some excellent spells of possession football, much to the delight of the managerial trio who had thought up a more attacking tactic. Rui Sá doubled his tally in the 40th minute, finishing off a flowing move from the right to highlight the renewed attacking prowess. Bruno Mendes really killed off the game just short of the hour mark with a 25-yard scorcher into the top corner, leaving everyone including himself stunned in amazement. Catarino made his debut moments later, and had a couple of nice touches in a solid, but uneventful first match.