retired_destiny1124

Lordcrumb- Campkin, Jarrett, Bob Pearson and Dave Colley are featured in most of my stories- since they are among the few worthwhile staff a minnow side can attract when starting.

Flying Fin- It was frustrating, but fear not (sneak preview here...) Harrow Hill has a return engagement scheduled

Spav- Actually, it was mostly referring to the 'Phoenix' in Phoenix Sports, but I like your perception as well

Thanks guys

***

21.7.04
We won't have a full roster under contract when we face Rotherham for our first friendly, but we did add 29 year old Irish DLC Sean Daly to our backline. Daly arrives from AFC Wimbledon and gives us another steady veteran presence in the dressing room.

Rotherham agreed to a friendly at our new field in a good neighbour gesture. Normally they wouldn't bother scheduling with a minnow club like us, but with their proximity they didn't mind helping us out a bit with a friendly. I don't expect to do much against them, but hopefully our fans will enjoy the atmosphere.

***

21.7.04
As expected, our friendly with Rotherham wasn't much of a contest. Craig Taylor had a rough debut, including an own-goal, as we were easily beaten 4-0 by the bigger side. Our backline played like they didn't know each other yet- and they don't, so it was no surprise to me. It brought in a bit of funds for us, so that was worthwhile.

BobbyK

The first Faramir story I've caught the start of. Looking forward to it

retired_destiny1124

poyplemonkeys- thank you, glad to have you along from the start

***

24.7.04
Three more additions to the club as we prepare for a road friendly- travelling to Bishop Sutton. 18 year old SC Ross Irvine joins us from Rugby United, 24 year old Keeper Alan Williams chose us over several other bidding clubs as he comes to us from Dover and 19 year old DC Steve Daly joins us from Stockport. We still are lacking any midfielders- other than Andrew Wright- but negotiations with several are close to concluding, so perhaps by our next friendly we will have more additions.

***

25.7.04
We lost 2-1 to Bishop Sutton, but it was a much better effort this time. Their two goals came on a penalty and an accidental header. We managed a goal when Lawrence Yaku rammed in a rebound after Adam Webster was stopped on a nice chance. If we can get some midfielders, I am convinced we will continue to improve.

retired_destiny1124

26.7.04
Another busy day of transfer signings. Our fans were uneasy at one new addition- 20 year old FRLC Justin Marsden- who they feel might upset the harmony of the club. He may, but I hope he can provide a bit of offensive spark playing behind the forwards for us. Also joining us was 29 year old DR Paul O'Brien, who will work with young Hassan Sulaiman to fill the Rightback role. 21 year old Adam Hart was the 3rd Rugby United player in the troika from them that joined us today (Marsden-O'Brien-Hart) and will provide cover in the center of our backline. The non-Rugby player to join us will also provide cover in the middle- Gary Sucharewycz- who came to us from Leek Town. We are only a player or two from having a full backline with adequate cover now.

***

27.7.04
Three more players came to us on free transfer today. With the addition of 23 year old Welsh MC Stuart Scheuber (from Leek Town), we finally added a quality midfielder to the mix. Another midfielder who joined us today is 16 year old Anthony Jackson from Frickley. 17 year old DL Michael Ellison (arriving from Marine) will work Sean Daly to learn the Leftback role.

***

28.7.04
We won a well played friendly by defeating Morecambe 2-1 at Christie Park. The key to our win was young Anthony Jackson. Jackson converted a penalty kick in first half extra time and threaded a great pass through that allowed Justin Marsden to score the match winner midway through the second half.

retired_destiny1124

29.7.04
Our fans were again uneasy as we raided financially struggling Rugby United for one more player. This time the worried voices were over our addition of 18 year old MC Rory Squire. Squire is an excellent passer and should help us, but the fans may ultimately be correct on how well he fits into the team concept. We are just over the weekly budgeted wage now, so I cancelled some of the pending transfers. I didn't cancel all of them, because there still are two I would like to get done.

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30.7.04
Our last two additions leave us with only one other spot on the roster I want to fill. Joining us are 21 year old Andrew Burke (from Braintree) and 26 year old Stewart Wright (from Altrincham). Both are AMLs and Burke instantly became our priciest player (highest wages and only player I gave a min fee release in his contract- albeit 1 Million). The only slot left is to get one more forward for cover.

***

1.8.04
We fell to Paul Gascoine's Harrow Hill side in a home friendly as they were just a little sharper than we were in beating us 1-0. We had some good opportunities, but we didn't get our shots on net today.

retired_destiny1124

4.8.04
We closed out our friendlies with a 3-1 home win over Hucknall. It was a good match in performance, but we lost Adam Webster to injury and now he will likely miss the start of the season- something I was trying to avoid. We have 10 days before our first ECN match, and I hope we manage to get the club to gel a little more than we have shown in our friendlies.

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10.8.04
Our fans didn't like the signing of Reza Sotoudeh either after he came on free from Salisbury. Sotoudeh is a 24 year old SC and will help provide cover for us up front.

***

14.8.04
Phoenix Sports (0) Lancaster (1)
Lancaster was much more efficient than we were as they handed us our first loss in ECN play. Their goal came on a picture perfect passing sequence- one of the pretty variety, unless you are on the receiving end of it. We managed a few chances, but the quality of ours wasn't as good and we are still having trouble hitting the net. It was disappointing, but we didn't play poorly. We just can't afford to make many mistakes against other sides.

retired_destiny1124

17.8.04
Nuneaton (2) Phoenix Sports (0)
A truly disappointing match for me. We played a terrible first 10 minutes defensively and paid the price when Chris Taylor gave up two easy goals to quickly fall behind 2-0. Our offense started working after that- in all we setup 8 different times where we had someone one-on-one with Darren Acton. No goals out of all those chances says more than I can about our finishing. Lawrence Yaku and Justin Marsden were especially disappointing as I watched them miss time and again over the net. Adam Webster came on for Marsden and did a great job getting free- but then Acton made saves against him the three times he was in alone. It was a loss that could have been something better- with some better play on our part.

retired_destiny1124

21.8.04
Phoenix Sports (6) Runcorn (0)
A six-spot! We finally broke out and finished our chances in this match. Adam Webster deserves all the credit- and the MOM he earned- as he keyed our effort with a hat-trick on the first three goals of the match. Each time he had enough room, Webster blasted wicked shots past Tony McMillan. Webster also made a nice pass that allowed Lawrence Yaku to move past McMillan to score his 1st goal here. McMillan compounded his misery when he score an own-goal while trying to snare a cross after a beautiful play by Justin Marsden. Reza Sotoudeh finished off the scoring when a through ball put him in free and he snapped a shot past McMillan for his 1st goal at Phoenix. It was a wonderful match for us and Alan Williams had an easy time putting up the clean sheet.

retired_jgirl87

Nice way to register the first win, Faramir. :cool:

retired_destiny1124

You're right about that Spav

***

28.8.04
Barrow (2) Phoenix Sports (1)
We lost a heartbreaker of a match when we gave up a late goal to spoil an otherwise fine effort. They took the early lead Justin Marsden made a bad choice and headed past Alan Williams, but we managed to equalize when Justin Marsden fired in a shot from just beyond the edge of the area after Andrew Burke headed a ball down for him. They really piled on the pressure in the late stages- and we didn't handle it well. We were fortunate they hadn't scored before they did- as they hit the post once and the crossbar once. The goal they scored came when we couldn't clear the ball away from the front of the net- and they made us pay in the scramble. We are showing better, but we have to execute better to get results.