retired_destiny1124

10.9.04
I have to say I was a bit stunned that Lincoln accepted our 0 amount offer on 21 year old Striker Daniel Bent. I was even more surprised when Bent agreed to contract with us. Bent is a left footer- something we desperately needed in our attack and he becomes one of our quickest forwards too. With how poorly Lawrence Yaku has played so far- very disappointing to me- it will likely be an Adam Webster-Daniel Bent pairing up front.

***

11.9.04
Phoenix Sports (2) Vauxhall Motors (0)
Justin Marsden came off the bench to spark us to a very nice win at home. Daniel Bent had a solid debut, but he was tiring and Marsden came off the bench and exploded against the visitors. They could not mark him at all and on both goals Adam Webster made dazzling passes to send him in free to beat keeper Tim Dittmer. Andrew Burke continues to show why I was so pleased to get him, as he earned MOM honours over Marsden with some great work in the midfield to help blunt their rally attempts and give Alan Williams another clean sheet.

retired_destiny1124

12.9.04
Another 40K cash injection from the Board today as we continue to chip away at the club's debt. We are still 675K in the red though, and that isn't likely to appreciably improve for some time.

***

18.9.04
Stafford Rangers (1) Phoenix Sports (1)
We had to fight back from a fluke goal, but the 1-1 draw against Stafford Rangers was well earned and a fair result for both sides. Craig Wilding hit a lucky header that Chris Taylor had little chance on as it floated past him to give them the lead. We struck back when Daniel Bent made a terrific pass to find Justin Marsden lurking inside the edge of the area and Marsden didn't miss as he drilled it inside the right post past Will Smith. Stafford had the better chances to win the match in the second half, but our backline did good work- led by MOM Martin Ridley as this time we held on for a draw instead of a loss.

retired_destiny1124

24.9.04
Ross Irvine broke his arm in practice today and the doctors estimate the soonest he will be ready to go again is at least two months. Fortunately, forward is the one spot we have enough depth in and we should be Ok there unless injuries continue to pile up.

***

25.9.04
Bradford PA (2) Phoenix Sports (0)
There was no joy in this match for us as we did not play well in losing 2-0 at Bradford PA. David Poole gave our backline fits and overpowered Rob Cousins to score the first goal of the match. We managed a few feeble chances- easily saved- before the goal that killed us. Early in the second half, Craig Smith sent a long blast in the general direction of our net. Our whole club was stunned into silence when Chris Taylor missed the ball and it went in for a 45-yard goal. I admit I lost my temper on that one- and I did something I rarely do as I pulled Taylor out of the match right then. We weren't showing enough offensively to really hope to rally, but the boys did play hard the rest of the way to keep the final margin at 2-0. I don't believe Chris Taylor will see more than occasional spot duty in net the rest of the season- unless Alan Williams suffers an injury.

retired_destiny1124

28.9.04
Phoenix Sports (3) Moor Green (1)
I was extremely happy to see us rebound with a strong effort at home as we dumped Moor Green 3-1. Daniel Bent demonstrated his prowess at striker today with two beautiful goals to earn MOM honours. Lawrence Yaku set him up nicely down the left side for a goal at 5 minutes and an early lead. We quickly added to that lead when Bent returned the favor with a fine pass that allowed Yaku to drive past Adam Capp and rap a shot into the empty net for a 2-0 lead. We let down a little at that point and Simon Rea was able to deflect a sizzling cross from Michael Gilkes past Alan Williams. We moved back ahead by two goals early in the second half when Stuart Scheuber zipped a through ball that sent Bent in free and he fired his shot past Capp. Bent had a couple excellent chances to finish off the hat-trick, but missed the net on both of them. We contained the rally attempts of the visitors in finishing out the strong 3-1 win.

retired_destiny1124

2.10.04
Prescot Cables (1) Phoenix Sports (0) FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round
It was a disappointing loss, but I couldn't fault our effort as we fell 1-0 at Valerie Park. The only goal of the match was when John Howell scored for the home side off a scramble after a corner. We had plenty of excellent scoring chances, but Phil Priestly earned his MOM honours with some fine work in net, and we also missed two wide open nets that looked like certain goals. We didn't play nearly as sharp as our ECN matches of late and our execution was what kept us from getting a better result.

retired_destiny1124

19.109.04
Phoenix Sports (1) Ashton United (2)
I was more than a little unhappy with our backline as we frittered away a hard earned 1-0 lead and turned it into a 2-1 loss to a side I dearly wanted to beat. We just couldn't score in the first half, despite some good chances- but finally took the lead midway through the second half when Anthony Jackson scored a fantastic goal- his 1st here. Jamie Miller was our undoing and he split Rob Cousins and Martin Ridley on the dribble and fired a shot past Alan Williams to equalize. Miller added his 2nd goal when no one marked him and he challenged Williams for a looping corner and won the challenge- deflecting the ball past Williams for the match winner. It was a rotten result in a match that should have yielded much better.

retired_perilousfaith

Looking good so far, Faramir (as always)!

retired_destiny1124

Thanks Flying Fin

***
22.10.04
This has been an unsettling week at the club. Our best player so far- Andrew Burke- is unhappy about playing for a small side like ours and also feels he is being played out of position (which seems odd since he is playing leftwing for us, something he seems well suited for). On top of that Justin Marsden missed practice (with no notice). It appears our fans worries about Justin have some validity (to put it mildly) and I gave him an official warning this time for his unproffesional behavior.

***

23.10.04
Stalybridge (2) Phoenix Sports (3)
A roller coaster of a match for us, as we fought back from behind to win the match with a late goal. We had the better of the play in the first half, but our finishing left a lot to be desired. It looked like we would go to the dressing room scoreless until Adam Webster took a free kick from Martin Ridley and fired a well placed shot inside the right post in the last seconds of first half injury time. We came out flat in the second half and paid the price when the home side took the lead inside a four minute span. Anthony Whealing whistled a free kick past Alan Williams after Martin Ridley took him down just outside the area. Moments later, Chris Swift split Rob Cousins and Ridley to fire a low shot past Williams. I have to say I am quite pleased at how we rallied in this match, the first sign of true heart from this squad, and Andrew Burke deflected a corner past Craig Dootson to even the match at 2-2 midway through the second half. We kept pressuring them and it paid off when Daniel Bent knocked in a rebound after Dootson made a nice save on Webster at 83 minutes. I suffered through a heart-stopping last few minutes of the match as we forced Williams to earn him MOM honours with two critical saves after our backline looked like they lost their concentration. The final whistle saved our important 3-2 road win.

retired_destiny1124

23.10.04
Justin Marsden accepted his warning without comment, and then proceeded directly to the press to discuss his unhappiness at being played out of position. Our fans are right- he is a pain in the rear- and despite the fact that he is our leading scorer I placed him on the transfer list and offered him to every club under the sun (well up through League Two at least).

***

24.10.04
Are things better or worse? It is hard to say after Sunderland, struggling in 19th place in Championship and having lost John Oster for an extended period to injury, came in with a bid for Andrew Burke that met the 750K minimum release fee. Burke is the 5th best rated player in Conference North and is by far our best player- so to lose him is going to hurt us badly. The other side of the coin is that it would just barely take us out of the red. I can't see Burke not being able to work out a contract with him, so I have to plan on him leaving. That will leave Stuart Wright as our only other leftwinger and with Rory Squire still out and Marsden hopefully leaving- we will be very short of able bodied midfielders.

retired_destiny1124

25.10.04
Why all the interest now? We received an 'out of the blue' bid of 26K for Hassan Sulaiman from League 2 Yeovil. At least I had a say in this bid, but I decided to accept it for a couple reasons. Sulaiman is receiving our 3rd highest wages, which makes him pretty expensive for this club. I also have competent Paul O'Brien to replace him and can move Martin Ridley outside to provide cover for O'Brien if needed (there is plenty of cover for Ridley in the middle). I don't think Sulaiman, who is ambitious, will turn down the chance to move to a larger side.

***

27.10.04
As I expected, Burke jumped at the chance to sign with a club the stature of Sunderland and the Black Cats have themselves a new winger. Sulaiman also was happy to move up to play for Yeovil, so they went their seperate ways to news conferences today. I also heard back and received 5 different offers for Justin Marsden- so it appears that we will find him a new home post-haste. All of this is great for our bottom line, but devastating to our talent and really the morale of our side. I was hoping that Burke would be the catalyst that would carry us out of relegation trouble, but now it will be more difficult. This also comes just as our side was appearing to gel. Our last few matches, we have shown more signs of adapting to our attacking system- but that is also out the window with the loss of two starting players.

I put out bids on several midfielders (all free transfer offers) in the hopes of adding some depth- since we have no depth at all in the midfield now. The one piece of good news is that the Board has now raised the weekly budget from a miniscule 1900/week up to 3200/week. That may help us attract a player or two.