retired_merri13

December

Well, how times can change. We had only 4 games to play this month. Away to Hednesford lady luck smiled at us when we scored the only goal of the match deep in injurytime. At home against Whitby we had little trouble with Boto making an 2nd half hattrick, Blyth away was rather easy too, but the Boxing Day clash against Runcorn was a hard fought, narrow 1-0 win.
We stayed unbeaten all month and we've now reached the "safe midtable position" the board asked me to do.

Hednesford 0-1 Bradford PA Boto (90+4)
Bradford PA 3-1 Whitby Boto (47, 50, 66)
Blyth 1-2 Bradford PA Boto (35), Owen (40), Weatherstone missed penalty (23)
Bradford PA 1-0 Runcorn FC Halton Collins (84)

League:

12. Bradford PA 21-31

retired_merri13

January 2009

With the homegame against Harrogate and a team on a streak we were trying to set a very weird record, most wins in a row. Of course it's not that weird, but only 3 months ago we've set the "most defeats in a row" record.
We succeded, Owen's hattrick secured a solid win so we've set two records so far this season. Mark Davidson, our in-form keeper, got injured badly and is out for 1-2 months. Away to Northwich we failed to score for the first time in 8 games, but Northwich didn't score either. The following homegame against Hucknall ended just like the game before against Northwich.
Away to Barrow we looked to get beaten, but a early red card for a Barrowplayer meant we turned the game and went 2-1 up (Boto, Fox). Barrow equalised in the second half to get the draw they deserved. Against Lancaster we had little trouble, a first half penalty from Owen and a second half shot from Hall secured a decent win. Lancaster tried to get back, but failed to score.
Jon Daly was sold to non-league Greenock Morton for 26k and a 20% sell-on fee. He played 14 games this season for us, scoring 6 goals, giving 4 assists and getting the MoM award twice. His average rating was 7.07. Main reason for the sell was his € 2600,- monthly wage.
With 5 first teamers out to injuries we travelled to Hyde. Poor finishing costed 3 points, but I was satisfied with the draw. Oliver scoring our only goal in second half.

Bradford PA 3-0 Harrogate Owen (10, 58, 81)
Northwich 0-0 Bradford PA
Braford PA 0-0 Hucknall
Barrow 2-2 Bradford PA Boto(32), Fox (37)
Bradford PA 2-0 Lancaster Owen (37pen), Hall (60)
Hyde Utd 1-1 Bradford PA Oliver (79)

League:

12. Bradford PA 27-41

February

We start the month poor, Alfreton beating us with only one goal. Our first defeat in over 2 months. Away to Hinckley was an embarresment. We only had 1 offtarget shot. Sam Hall was furious with the teamtalk I gave after the match (I told them their performance was an embarresment, which it was). He got a warning for unprofessional behaviour plus I sent him to the reserves to think about the things he said.

The next day, february 7th, I got sacked at Bradford PA.
So I've put the game on holiday mode again untill june 20th, 2009 and FM applied at clubs to see if I can get a job, unfortunally all applications were rejected.
On the season update date there were no available clubs, so I'll just continue the holiday untill I get a joboffer.

retired_merri13

Season 2009/10

Since there were no available clubs I was looking at a season of waiting, but New Zealand approached me (I did apply there) and I accepted the job on july 5th, 2009.
Have to bring them to the 2010 WC, only have to beat Fiji in 2 legs in the Oceania qualifying section and then some another country I think to qualify for the WC2010.

August 29th, WC Oceania Qualifying Section, Final leg #1

Fiji 1-4 New Zealand Fisher (24), Brockie (28, 65), Christie (35)
Confident performance, Fiji scored a penalty. The return should be a piece of cake, Fiji has to score 4 goals at least and they didn't look capable of doing that in this match, so I'm not worried.

September 5th, WC Qualifying Oceania Section, Final leg #2

New Zealand 2-0 Fiji Fisher (10), Christie (14) New Zealand win 6-1agg
The return was played within 15 minutes, when we went 2-0 up we knew the win was there. We tried to build up the scoreline, but the players were satisfied.

Our last hurdle on the way to South Africa will be China PR.

November 28th, World Cup Qualifying (Asi) Playoff leg #1

New Zealand 4-0 China Fisher (24, 35), White (28), Brockie (59)

Wow... I expected a close game (tbh it was, 7-7 shots on) but the NZ keeper played a briljant game. Quality finising upfront did the trick. The return should be easy, but it's an awaygame in a stadium filled with crazy Chinese

December 2nd, World Cup Qualifying (Asi) Playoff leg #2

China 1-0 New Zealand New Zealand win 4-1agg.

China scored in the 10th minute, kept pushing but the NZ goalie once again played fantastic. Too bad our strikers failed to score a goal which would really secure the win in a earlt stage in the game, but I praised the team after the win.

We've qualified for the 2010 World Cup \o/

The OCE Nations Cup groups were also drawn a few days ago, NZ was drawn into Group A and we're facing Tonga, American Samoa, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Matches to be played this month (december).

retired_steffani

:thdn: to the sacking but :thup: for WC \o/

retired_yolanda

KUTGDoingBetterThanMeWithNZ

retired_merri13

Thansk guys. Qualifying for the WC was a bit of a surprise to me, I thought China would be a bit harder to beat

OCE Nations Cup 2010.
Preliminary Round Hosts: New Caledonia

New Zealand 4-1 New Caledonia White (9, 67), Fisher (37), Brockie (76)
A ex-international doubted our chances of winning this game, so did he when we're facing Fiji away and China home so I honestly don't care about what he's saying. The players did well, only can say they defended bad since the only NC shot went in. Maybe we could scored some more up front, but I was satisfied with a win.

Vanuatu 0-0 New Zealand
14 shots and no goal. Embarresment.

New Zealand 3-0 Tonga Fisher (7, 58), Killen (85)
Another rather poor performance, having 31 shots and scoring 3 is a poor result, especially since Tonga played 70 minutes with 10 men.

American Samoa 0-3 New Zealand Smith (3), Brockie (30), Fisher (40)
Easy. First half we dominated, second half we were satisfied.

Table: 1. New Zealand 4-10
Qualified for the final stage.

retired_merri13

Oceania Nations Cup 2010
Groupstage: Hosts: New Zealand.

New Zealand 2-0 Tahiti Fisher (3), Walker (34)
Not much trouble here, Fisher and Walker securing the win quite fast. In the second half we slowed down a bit. Tahiti never got us in trouble.

New Zealand 2-0 Fiji Elliot (29), Hickey (50)
Again an easy match, although it wtook a while to score. Elliot's freekick after a Fiji defeder got sent off broke the deadlock, Hickey secured another win in the second half.

Cook Islands 0-5 New Zealand Elliot (13,37), Knowles (29), Brockie (69), White (79)
The easiest so far in the tournament. Cook never got into the game, by halftime the game was done, we kept playing good, although the finishing was a bid sloppier. We've qualified for the final.

American Samoa 0-3 New Zealand Elliot (48), Fisher (51), Walker (64)
First half was kind of poor, didn't care that much since we're going to plat the final no mather what result we had here. Tried to encourage the lot a bit at halftime and it paid off in the second half.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | Q | New Zealand | | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | +12 | 12 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | Q | Tahiti | | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 7 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Fiji | | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 4 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Cook Islands | | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 3 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | American Samoa | | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 1 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>
The final will be played against Tahiti on March 27th, the return is to be played on March 31st, 2010.

<hr class="ev_code_hr" />
We are currently ranked #12 in the world :eek:

World Cup 2010 group H:
Turkey
Argentina
South Africa
New Zealand.

retired_merri13

Oceania Nations Cup 2010 Final

Leg #1: New Zealand 4-1 Tahiti Christie (29, 90+1), Fisher (45+4), Elliot (47)
The start was shaky, Tahiti scoring very fast and I was started to get worried untill Christie scored the equalizer and Fisher putting us 2-1 up in the 4th minute of first half injurytime. After the break it was one way traffic with Elliot and Christie making the replay sort of a friendly.

Leg #2 Tahiti 0-3 New Zealand Elliot (1), Christie (4), Brockie (78)
Tahiti had to score a lot, but it went into an impossible task for then when Elliot scored after just 37 seconds. Christie really made the win sure only 3 minutes later.

We've retained the Oceania Nations Cup \o/

retired_merri13

World Cup 2010 Hosts: South Africa

World Cup odds for New Zealand: 5000-1 (Brazil 6-4 fav, followed by Italy, Argentina and France at 2-1 and England, Spain with 3-1)
New Zealand's current World Ranking: 9

The squad:

Goalkeepers:
Jamer Murray NZ Knights, 0 caps
Mark Paston Eastbourne Boro, 7 caps
Adam Timmins Arsenal, 38 caps

Defenders
Cameron Knowles Salt Lake, 31 caps, 1 goal
Ryan Nelsen Blackburn Rovers, 75 caps, 4 goals
Tony Lochhead New England Revolution, 23 caps
Winston Reid NZ Knights, 9 caps
Jonathon Taylor NZ Knights 5 caps
David Mulligan Boston Utd, 22 caps, 1 goal
Duncan Oughton Columbus, 43 caps, 5 goals
Chris Brown Newcastle Jets, 10 caps
Jeremy Fleming Scarburough, 12 caps

Midfield:
Simon Elliot Atlanta, 46 caps, 10 goals
Darren Paul White Redbridge FC, 0 caps
[n]Noah Hickey[/b] NZ Knights, 49 caps, 13 goals
Mark Webster NZ Knights, 0 caps
Andrew Christie La Louviere, 28 caps, 2 goals
Mark Smith Waikato FC, 8 caps, 1 goal
Jeremy Christie Adelaide Utd, 31 caps, 6 goals

Attack:
Jeremy Brockie NZ Knights, 30 caps, 13 goals
Rory Fallon Bury, 4 caps
Brent Fisher DC United, 41 caps, 17 goals
Chris Killen Hibernian, 40 caps, 17 goals

Line up:
Timmins (GK), Oughton (DR), Brown (DL), Nelsen (DC), Knowles (DC), Elliot (DM), Hickey (MR), A. Christie (ML), J. Christie (AMC), Brockie (ST), Fisher (ST).

retired_merri13

South Africa 1-2 New Zealand J Christie (14, 36)
Well, what a great start. According to the bookies we should be the weakest team in the tournament and it looked like it would be a miracle if we should score a goal. By beating the hosts I'm already happy with this WC, no matter what the results of the next two games will be.

Argentina 2-1 New Zealand Killen (78)
We played very good, Timmins playing a fantastic game. Too bad the Argies convereted a undeserved 89th minute penalty. Now we have to win against Turkey to progress to the 2nd round.

Turkey 2-0 New Zealand
*****match. Players didn't want to play another rmatch, si they f**ked me up.

[i]3. New Zealand 3-3[/b]

Between the World Cup matches I was approached by Southend to become their manager. Playing in League Two, but finished 23rd so I'll start in the Conference Nationwide.