Graeme

The next game was another against one of the relegation battlers in the division, Alcarla de Guadaria. I have set Almansa's scout to always look at the next opposition due to my complete lack of knowledge about any of the teams in this division. He says they are a competent outfit, but their attacking pace shouldn't cause us any trouble.

I rejigged the starting XI slightly this time, putting in left winger Charly on the left side of a midfield 3, with instructions to break high and wide when we have the ball. Charly is possibly one of our best players on paper, but as we don't play a formation that uses wingers he'll have to adapt to tucking inside then exploding wide.

Morale in the squad was still quite good going into this game, and we started well creating several chances. We finished none until Charly beat 2 men and rifled in a shot at the far post on 30 mins. I wanted us to keep going forward and not to try to sit it out and that is what we did. Despite not scoring again, we went in at the break in the lead having played well.

The second half was more even, but poor finishing from both sides and some good defending meant no more goals were scored. That meant our first 3 point maximum of the season, and a return of 4 points from 4 games. Our win lifted us out of the drop zone, and put big smiles on the faces of everyone at the club. The chairman even rang me to say he was pleased with the result. We now had something tangible to build on, and could go forward positively knowing we could win well in this league.

irishregan

This is interesting I hope you keep it up, starting at a lowly club like this will inevitably lead to a better job after a year or two.

Graeme

Thank you, glad to know someones reading it. I have a bit to catch up on actually, hopefully will be remedied in the next couple of days.

Graeme

The next round of the Spanish cup saw me drawn against Real Union away. Real Union are another club at the same level in the Spanish pyramid, although they are in a different regional group to us. They are a good side though, predicted to be in and around the fight for promotion when alls said and done, so we had our work cut out out for us.

The first half went as you might expect, with Real Union largely dominating proceedings. The best our boys could muster was the odd break away, but when given opportunities, our strikers never looked like notching. All was going OK though until the 34th minute, when defensive errors led to a Union goal. We were in trouble now, but managed to hold out to only be 1-0 down at the break.

I tried to rouse the troops, but they were tired as it was a midweek game, and Union had a muuch larger and more accomplished squad. Still, I sent the boys out for one last effort to hopefully salvage the game. The second half started much the same as the first had finished, but we managed to start to ease our way into it as the half wore on. Three subs gave us fresh impetus, but we conceeded again on 78 minutes (against the run of play at the time) and the tie was all but dead. We did manage a consolation in injury time from sub midfieder Felipe.

Our Spanish cup adventure came to an end almost before it had begun, but to be honest, we got one round further than the critics or even myself would have predicted.

Graeme

The Sunday following our cup exit saw us host one of the divisional favourites Cordoba. As the cup game was strangely on a Thurssday, we were exhausted going into this game so that really didn't help. I had to rest several players who were starting to feel the pace a bit.

Still, we went out hoping to cause an upset and really make a name for ourselves in this division. Sadly, we never got into the game at all and were soon 1-0 down. Ten minutes later, we were pulled apart yet again and conceeded a second. With little being offered by us in reply, Cordoba rolled in a third before half time.

I decided a bit of bluster at half time might shake a bit more out of the lads weary limbs. At all costs, we had to keep this respectable as we need to keep picking up points where we can, and one disaster could affect us for a few games.

The second half was a bit brighter for us though, and we coped a lot better with the Cordoba pressure, only conceeding one more goal. We did not pose a serious threat on the opposition net though, and the second half display can be put down to them having backed off a lot. Still, at least it wasn't a really embarrassing drubbing, but make no mistake, in this 2 horse race we were lucky to have come in 2nd.

Graeme

The following Sunday saw us travel to Diter Zafra, one of our relegation competitors and we knew we needed something from the game. We had recouperated well through the week from our excertions in the cup and league, and were ready for them.

I Played with the lineup in midfield a bit in the hope of sparking something a bit different. Also, Oscar Rico (central midfielder) was injured and I had to find a way to cope without his forward runs.

The game got off to a cracking start, with Carvajal missing a sitter after 45 seconds, before Javi put us ahead on only 2 minutes with an emphatic finish. Diter Zafra didn't know what hit them and looked shell shocked. We dominated the first half, restricting the home side to one long range shot that missed by a mile. Only our own wayward shooting was keeping this a close contest, but 1-0 it remained until the break.

I praised the lads for a great display first-half, but urged them to be careful not to ease off until the final whistle. This they did with aplomb, as the home side never got into the game, creating only 2 further long range chances that never looked like troubling our goal. We were also failing to hit the target though, something I must work on, but were far the better side all game, and won 1-0.

I was delighted with the effort we put in. We ran them ragged and played some excellent football. We thoroughly deserved the win and should have won by more. The lads were naturally on top of the world, and the win consolidated our position outside the relegation zone.

Graeme

Following our cracking performance the previous week against Diter Zafra, we played host to Ecija, a mid-table side who were no mugs. We were full of confidence though and went into the game feeling we could get a result.

After only 8 minutes, midfielder Ruben popped up at the far post to tap in a first for our boys and sent the crowd into raptures. He was only playing due to Oscar Rico's injury, but fully justified his selection. We continued trying to press the game, but the first half turned out to be quite an even affair overall. On 29 minutes though, a cross from the right was stabbed home by Ecija's centre-half for an unstoppable own goal under pressure from Javi, and our lead doubled. The rest of the half was fairly cagey though with little goalmouth action.

At half time I warned the players not to let their performance drop, whilst prasing the stand out players of the half. Whatever was said in the away dressing room though worked wonders though as in the first minute of the second half we scored an OG of our own. It was a terrible hash of a clearance from our left-back Septien, but at least the score now reflected the fact that we had scored 2 and they had scored 1.

When you're on the ropes, you need someone to step up and put in a big performance though. The man for this moment was Javi, our striker in good form. He scored on 57 and 62 minutes with 2 cool right foot finishes, one to the far post and one to the near. This killed off Ecija and effectively the game, 4-1 up and less than half an hour to play. The remainder of the game was rather lacklustre from both sides, but I didn't mind one bit as we had already scored 4.

A 4-1 win was just the tonic I thought we needed, and great for morale amongst the squad. If we keep picking up results here and there, we will be fine. This win saw us move into the top 10 in the table though, a very lofty position for lowly Almansa.

Graeme

Following our two good wins, the next game was really tough away to Badajoz who are possibly the biggest club in the division. We would need everything to go our way to get something out of this, and maybe a bit more besides.

The first half started according to the odds though, with Badajoz dominating the proceedings. On 9 minutes they scored as our defense was overwhelmed and missed tackles cost us dear. Badajoz then seemd to step down a gear though, and whilst they were clearly still the better side, didn't really look like scoring again. We posed little threat ourselves, and the first-half ended 1-0.

At half time I tried to encourage the lads, pointing out that the game was really still there if we wanted it enough. The second half began like the first had ended though, with Badajoz rarely getting out of second gear, and we managed to impose ourselves on the break a bit. On 61 minutes, on-loan midfielder Eloi managed to break the shackles and race clear of the Badajoz defence to slot a cool finish and level the game. Unfortunately, this seemd to wake Badajoz up and they came back hard at us and literally pummelled us. They broke through on 71 minutes and scored their second and didn't let up until the final whistle blew. Fortunately we managed to avoid conceeding any more, but we lost the game 2-1.

The game showed that we had a great deal of heart though, and were stern in defence, and I wasn't too disappointed to have lost to a much bigger club away only 2-1.

So far this season we have been performing above all but the most wildly optimistic expectations. And with a bit of luck with injuries so far not having happened to key squad members where we have only 1 player (goalkeeper and left back), things have run fairly nicely for little Almansa. We need to keep this going on the pitch though, and hope our luck with injuries can sustain us at least until January when I can try to delve into the transfer market and get in some quality players.

One thing of concern though, is that whenever a team is performing well above expectation, the predators come out and start looking at your players. Many of our lads are attracting the interest of bigger clubs, some of which are even in the top Spanish league. One player especially is getting noticed, our first choice right-back Javi (not the striker who keeps scoring at present). He has a list of interested clubs longer than both my arms, so I put him on a better contract with a minimum release fee of £130,000, probably the best I could have got.

Graeme

Following Badajoz away, we played Cueta at home and to my utter shock, the bookies had us a slight favourites for the game. Wow, we've never been anything but big underdogs in every game so far this season. So, how would we fare then?

Well ,the game started with us in the ascendancy, but we looked like we were trying too hard. There were misplaced passes at crucial moments, snatched shots and hurried defending. This was exemplified on 22 minutes when we conceeded a needless penalty for handball in a very innocuous situation. The penalty was converted and we were 1-0 down. The pattern of play continued in much the same vane for the rest of the first half. We looked the better side, but it just wasn't clicking so we ended up down at the break.

With on-loan midfielder Eloi filling in up front, I decided to make a change to his strike partner at the break, to see if this gave us any further attacking impetus. We needed to take the game by the scruff of the neck and impose ourselves on every part of the pitch.

This seemed to have an effect, although in the midfield area we were still to hurried when in posession. We seemed more composed up-front with youngster Javi alongside Eloi, but were struggling to make the breakthrough. On 75 minutes, Eloi received a pass midway inside the opposition half, calmly turned his marker and slotted near post for the equaliser. I felt this was about what we deserved, and thought we would now go on and take the game. Cueta however had other ideas and came back at us hard and our nervous panicked defending returned, conceeding lots of silly free kicks. On 86 minutes, one such free kick resulted in a free back post header for the Cueta midfielder who had broken unnoticed into our box. He made no mistake and we were behind again. We then failed to get forward in numbers as we tired, and duly lost the game 2-1.

During this season so far, I have been very relaxed and unmoved by negative results. To be the smallest minnows in the league by a distance, the management has to be somewhat relaxed as there is no point ripping players apart when they are not expected to pick up any points. Today however, I was angry as I felt we should have got a result here, and duly tore some of the lads new bum holes. Later that night, I sat at home wondering whether this would provoke a positive or negative reaction, I guess I would find out at training.

Graeme

After the disappointment of Cueta, UD Merida were the next visitors to Almansa. Merida are a reasonable side, having a decent enough season so far, so we knew we would have to perform better than the previous week to get a result.

The first half kicked off with the game looking to be a cagey battle. Merida probed our defence more effectively than our attack could muster, but they were reduced to pot shots that weren't in any danger of finding the net. We toiled going forward, having little else but our own pot shots to speak of so the first half ended with a cagey 0-0 scoreline. I tried to instill a confidence in our attack at the break, to hopefully carve out some better opportunities, whilst reinforcing what the back line were doing. This seemed to have some effect in the second half as we looked a bit more composed going forward, but rarely were threatening dangerously. By th 80th minute, we had tired significantly and I had used all my subs, so the game started to turn into one of attack on defence. Thankfully we held firm and claimed a valuable point to aid our cause.

The game was a good reaction to the disappointment of the previous week, and again gave us a building block to go into what would be a few games we could really try to get results from.