retired_blondie_524

Thanks axeman, we're really limping over the finish line at the moment, but hey .. it's tough at the top
Hope your Druids get to find out

retired_blondie_524

7/02/06 away at Caernarfon (Loosemores of Cardiff Challenge Cup Q/F 2nd leg)

With Wood away on international duty Brooks partners Toner up front with the exhausted Wilde forced onto the bench as the only near fit striker available. John Lawless gets a first start on the left wing in place of the injured Ward. Alfie Carter and Barry Hogan join Wilde on the bench. The first half failed to separate the sides, Brooks scoring midway through but O'Keefe ghosted past the defense deep into injury time to send Caernarfon into the break level on the day and level at 2-2 on aggregate. John Toner was guilty of wasting two nailed on chances to win the tie in the second half so Wilde had to drag himself off the bench for extra time. No one had a chance in extra time so it went to penalties as it was level on aggregate and away goals. In a dire shootout TNS finally won 2-1, Brooks and Carter scoring the vital penalties.
Caernarfon 1-1 TNS aet (att: 439)
(Brooks 26)
2-2 on aggregate, TNS win 2-1 on penalties

As our next fixture is not till February 15th I have given our jaded squad a week off from training.

retired_blondie_524

above game should read S/F instead of Q/F

Port Talbot have beaten Carmarthen in the other semi final and will now face us in the final at the Millenium Stadium on May 6th.

retired_blondie_524

Saturday 11 February
David Mathieson is outstanding in the reserves 3-1 win over Connah's Quay, Toner finding his shooting boots to grab two of the goals.

Jamie Woods returns from the Cayman Islands where he scored the third goal in their 3-0 friendly win over Guadeloupe.

Tuesday 14th February
Wood grabs a hat trick as the reserves thrash Ruthin 7-0, a Roux penalty, Leah and two from Toner round out the scoring.

15/02/06 Home to Rhyl (VM Premier)

After the week off Beaumont returns to the side, Roux replaces Naylor who has flu, Wood comes back into the line-up partnering Wilde while Lawless keeps his place as Ward still isn't fully fit. Evans gets Rhyl off to a flyer as he runs the ball into his own net in the first minute but it only takes five minutes before Beck's mazy dribble in the area leads to Wilde knocking in his 25th of the season. Rhyl regain the lead in the 38th minute when Gray tucks away a rebound in a crowded penalty area. TNS bombard the visitors all second half but the best chance comes when Rhyl hit the post in the 73rd minute. I send Carter on and switch to 4-3-3 and finally Wilde picks up Carter's pass in the 91st minute and slots it home to salvage the draw.
TNS 2-2 Rhyl (att: 382)
(Wilde 6, 91)

Port Talbot move up to third with a 2-1 win at Grange Quinns. With 10 games left TNS are 10 points clear of Llanelli and 16 ahead of Port Talbot and Carmarthen with a goal difference no-one is going to touch.
Rhyl's manager John Hulse told the press conference after the match that he couldn't see any success for TNS in the short term to which I politely told him that I believe we will retain the Premier League title this year.

18/02/06 away at Caernarfon (VM Premier)

Phelan replaces Grassi at left back and Brooks swaps his bench seat with Woods. Alessandro Pozzo makes his first ever league appearance to give Holmes a rest. In the 18th minute everyone was drawn to Brooks run in the area and he was able to cut it back for Wilde to sidefoot into an empty net. The home side were level on the half hour as Summer headed home and that's the way it was at the break. TNS failed to take their second half chances, substitute Wood missing the best when he scouped over from 6 yards in the 65th minute and the game peters out into the third successive draw between the sides.
Caernarfon 1-1 TNS (att: 366)
(Wilde 19)

Llanelli made up two points with their 2-0 win over Aberystwyth but 3rd and 4th placed Port Talbot and Carmarthen couldn't find a goal in their meeting.
Wilde's goal was his 66th for the club with ties him with JohnToner as the club's all time top scorer.

retired_blondie_524

25/02/06 Home vs Port Talbot (VM Premier)

Lloyd-Williams and Ward return to the side after injury. Nalyor has recovered from flu and lines up alongside Holmes in defence. Wood takes the other strike place giving the jaded Wilde a rest. In a lacklustre first half once again Wood, deadly in the reserves, was guilty of fluffing the best chance. The sides grind out the second half and with only three shots total on target all game the result should be hardly surprising.
TNS 0-0 Port Talbot (att: 377)

TNS's fourth successive league draw doesn't hurt them as Llanelli can only draw 0-0 with bottom placed Caersws. Carmarthen's 3-1 win over Cefn Druids takes them above Port Talbot into third.

Wednesday 1st March
John Lawless nets two as the reserves beat UWIC 3-0. The board are pleased not only with my performance but the loss this month is only £31K and six of the squad make the team of the month selection.

4/03/06 Home to Cefn Druids (Welsh Cup Q/F)

Wilde returns in place of the disappointing Jamie Wood in the only change from the last match. TNS got off to a great start when Ward headed Naylor's cross home after only eight minutes. Wilde thought he'd made it safe on the hour mark but he wheeled away to see the linesman’s flag up in the air. Lloyd-Williams finally made the tie safe sliding his 15th goal of the season in at the far post after 70 minutes.
TNS 2-0 Cefn Druids (att: 306)
(Ward 8, Lloyd-Williams 70)

In the other quarter finals Aberystwyth lost 1-2 at home to Bangor, Porthcawl beat Garden Village 3-0 and Cwmbran beat Porthmadog on penalties.

retired_blondie_524

Evening of Saturday 4th March
In the bar after the game Grimsby Town Chairman John Fenty introduces himself and asks to talk to me about the current vacancy at Grimsby. Their last manager Russell Slade left the club to take over at Hartlepool and they have been impressed enough with my performance here to offer me a three year contract on £625 p/w to take the Town forward.
They currently occupy seventh place in League Two with a record of 13-13-10 and 52 points, the final play-off spot and are six points away from the last automatic promotion place. He regrets there are no transfer funds available and the wage bill is up around £15,750 a week that the board would like to see reduced. Their leading scorers are Michael Reddy on 21 goals and Jermaine Palmer with 14 goals. John says they have a good chance of promotion and also have a chance of winning the LDV Vans Trophy as they hold a 2-1 lead from the first leg of the Northern Area final.
What do I do? TNS are stumbling but they are favourites to retain the title, have one date at the Millennium Stadium and have two other semi final appearances booked. I could win four trophies with TNS but where are they going long term? Could I get a better job at the end of the season? But I could take Grimsby to a cup final, their first since 1998 restore them to League One after two years at the lowest level?

retired_aurie

Oh, the decisions a man has to make

Personally, I'd go for Grimsby. But then again, I'm a glory hunting barsteward, seeing as I've now applied for the vacant Celtic job in my Ancients game
I have no hopes of getting it though, but it's always fun to check other options

retired_blondie_524

Saturday 4th Match
"Look, John" I said " I'm as ambitious as the rest of us, my father was an Italian international and although I've rarely seen him I've always dreamed of following him. I've never been any good at football but a manager's career?
TNS gave me the break but to be honest where is my career going? No-one ever notices Welsh clubs with crowds of 200 to 300. I'm never going to make my father sit up and take notice and more importantly, Serie A in these conditions, people take notice of English managers - in England you get invited to manage better clubs.
But is it the right time to manage Grimsby and are they the right club? There's only one loan spot available to improve the team this year and no staff to work with me, at TNS I have 10 coaches - at Grimsby you have three. You're punching above your weight and if the players don't adapt to my methods you could end up with nothing. While I don't expect to win four trophies with TNS I think at least two will be ours.
I think, sorry John, that my best course of action is to lead TNS to glory this season and then consider offers in the summer. Don't get me wrong, you & me I need to move on but I feel my C.V. could really be improved on by staying the extra few months - like I said to Wrexham, talk to me in the off season”.

retired_blondie_524

Monday 6th March
Have I made the right decision? Only time will tell. The Welsh Cup Semi final draw pairs us against Bangor City while Cwmbran will play Porthcawl.

Tuesday 7th March
John Toner scores as the reserves draw 1-1 at Holywell. It is only the fourth game ( 3 draws, 1 defeat) that the reserves haven't won in 19 outing's.

Wednesday 8th March
All four English teams make it to the UEFA Champions League Q/F. Arsenal win 5-2 over Juventus, Everton 2-1 over Club Brugge, Man Utd 2-0 against Real Betis and Chelsea 2-0 winners against Sparta Prague,

13/03/06 away at Cefn Druids (VM Premier)

An unchanged squad from the win at home to the Acients in the Welsh Cup Q/F. It was a dire game that TNS had looked like winning in the 66th minute when Wilde tucked it away but it was ruled out for offside. The Druids swept forward then and McHugh headed hone from six yards. We tried to come back into the game but it was settled when when Alec Stacy's 40 yard shot bobbled through everyone and wrapped up the points.
[i]Cefn Druids 2-0 TNS (att: 413)
[/b]

Lanelli's 3-0 win over Connah's Quay moved them to within five points of us. Port Talbot and Carmarthen both won 1-0 to maintain position, 13 points adrift. Caersws 2-1 win at Porthmadog moves them level on points with Grange Quins but both teams are nine points from safety.

14/03/06 Home vs Haverfordwest (VM Premir)

Ahmed takes Beaumont's place in midfield and Brooks replaces Lloyd-Williams as TNS look to end a run of five league games without a win. After a period of sustained pressure Brooks tucked Ruscoe's pass away on ten minutes before Wilde had his 16th minute header chalked off. Despite great efforts it is still 1-0 at the break. Three minutes into the second half Wilde's shot was parried out and fell to Brooks to sidefoot in from two yards, his 20th goal of the session. Ward made it 3-0 after 54 minutes, our best result in a long while.
TNS 3-0 Haverfordwest (att: 390)
(Brooks 11, 49, Ward 55)

Llanelli still harbour hopes of shading us for the title after their 1-0 win at Cwmbran but Port Talbot's loss and Aberystwyth's draw lets Carmarthen into third place, 15 points off the lead.

retired_blondie_524

18/03/06 away at Newtown (VM Premier)

Again we fielded an unchanged line up. Wilde has been searching for the one goal that will make him the clubs all time leading scorer but Brooks is the one to open the scoring after only four minutes when Newtown’s keeper made a dreadful hash of a clearance and Brook dispossessed him, slotting into the empty net. It was two after 24 minutes when Brooks fired home a penalty and he sealed his hat trick on 38 minutes, turning in Wilde’s cross. TNS were in total control now and confirmed that in the final minutes when substitute Lawless headed home his 1st goal of the season.
Newtown 0-4 TNS (att: 371)
(Brooks 4, 24 pen, 39, Lawless 89)

TNS move eight points clear of Llanelli after they lost 1-2 at home to Airbus. Carmarthen hold on to third after winning 5-2 at Grange Quinns.

21/03/06 Home to Cardiff City (FAW Premier Cup S/F)

We’re rated at 12/1 by the bookies to beat Cardiff who are 1/8 on. Wilde has picked up a thigh strain so Lloyd-Williams gets the start. Jerome nips through the defence after 12 minutes to put the visitors one up and Cardiff double their advantage on the half hour mark. A quickly taken free kick left the TNS defence in disarray and Scott McDonald nipped in to lift the ball over Doherty. Two minutes into the second half Lloyd-Williams gave us hope when he converted a 50 yard pass from Phelan but Cardiff clung on for the win.
TNS 1-2 Cardiff City (att: 1,896)

Swansea beat Wrexham in the other semi, setting up a South Wales derby in the final.

There was some joy in the day though as Caerleon reserves 2-0 loss at Welshpool gives our reserves the Welsh Reserves Group One title with five games to go.