Meldert, Belgium - June 2nd 2010 Mid-season table End of season
I was quite gutted that we didn't manage to finish top. We were without a doubt the strongest team in the league - most goals scored, least conceded - and should have won it by a respectable margin.
With 77 goals scored in 30 matches, I can hardly complain about my strikers. But we had way too many matches where we just needed far too many chances to score. One match we'd score seven without breaking a sweat, the next the ball just didn't want to go in. If the goals had been spread out a bit more, we'd be ten points clear.
But such is football. And so we had to try to salvage the promotion we deserved through the playoffs.
I wasn't very confident about our chances. Three playoff rounds to get through, two legs each - and consistency hadn't been our strong point. It only had to go wrong once.
We scraped through the quarters, 3-3 agg against KV Kortrijk, through on away goals. Nerve-wracking up to the last second, while we should have scored a few more and won convincingly.
The semis were more like it, with an 8-1 aggregate win against Third Div. B team Turnhout.
Second Div. team Tournai was the final hurdle. We played very well in the first leg, away, but shortly before full time had only managed to convert one of our many chances.
And then came the glory moment of old legend Gilles De Bilde. The old Belgian international hadn't been very useful in his two seasons at Meldert. Nine sub appearances last season, none yet this season. No goals, no assists.
But due to an injury to my star striker, fatigue for my only decent sub, and a bit of nostalgia, I put Gilles on the bench, one week before his 39th birthday, one month before retirement. With pace 1 and stamina 3, I didn't expect much of him. Just wanted to give him a final ten minutes of playing time.
And De Bilde ended his career in style, scoring a nice header in the 90th minute, to put us 0-2 up to go into the second leg. It turned out to be a vital goal, as we lost the home leg 1-2, just enough to earn us promotion to the Second Division.
I'll be offering Gilles De Bilde a staff role as a reward. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to want a coaching role, despite some great attributes, so a physio he'll be.
Meldert squad
Seven of the lads were selected in the Third Div. A Team of the Year, which illustrates the fine overall strength of the squad. Quite pleased with pretty much every of the first eleven players.
Obviously several of the key players - especially in midfield - are loan players, so the squad will need some strengthening to survive in a higher league. I do hope to get a few quality players on loan again next season though, and successfully avoid relegation.
Our finances are still well under control. Slowly but surely the bank balance has crept up to 390k euro. The board didn't feel that was enough to invest in youth or training facilities yet though, but all in due time, I suppose.
On schedule so far. Second Division, here we come.
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