retired_manpk1

March 2011

We began back with a trip to struggling Dun. Streda, and after struggling in the early part of the game Sarangue put us ahead on the half hour. Ten minutes later the Mozambiquan scored a second, and we were given a further helping hand when Luptak was sent off just before half time. We didn’t push on in the second half, as we looked to build a bit of match fitness ahead of the run-in.

We controlled the early part of the game at home to Kosice, and so it was a big relief when Lim eventually gave us the lead after half an hour. Kosice came back at us late in the first half and early in the second half, but on the hour Sarangue scored a second on the break. Benko pulled a goal back for Kosice on 78, but we held out to win the game 2-1.

A trip to Bac was next for us, and it was a disappointing match, with chances at a premium. We got the only goal of the game though, Ricardo Sarangue getting it midway through the second half.

The home tie with Senec was a disgrace to football. There were two efforts in all, and it was an awful spectacle for the fans. 0-0 it finished.

We were a little better away at Ziar nad Hronom, although we were helped when Lim put us ahead ten minutes before the break. Sarangue added a second four minutes later, and we saw out the rest of the game quite easily.

We had a glorious chance early on at home to Duslo Sala, but Ricardo Sarangue fired a 9th-minute penalty straight at the goalkeeper. The striker through made up for his error on 27 when he put us in front. Duslo Sala rarely threatened, and midway through the second half Sarangue doubled the lead. Skrtel added a third three minutes from time to wrap up a comfortable win.

We’ve not played all that well this month, but we’ve picked up the points, and that’s what counts at the end of the day. We do though still have to play our two main challengers for the title – in fact, our next match is away at Presov.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Devin 21 14 6 1 36 7 +29 48----------------------------------------------------2nd Zlate moravce 21 13 5 3 29 12 +17 443rd Presov 21 13 4 4 26 10 +16 434th Rapid Bratislava 21 11 4 6 31 18 +13 375th Ziar nad Hronom 21 9 6 6 25 13 +12 336th Kosice 21 8 6 7 27 22 +5 307th Bac 21 9 3 9 34 28 +6 308th Humenne 21 8 5 8 31 26 +5 299th Duslo Sala 21 8 4 9 24 26 -2 2810th Kys. Lieskovec 21 6 8 7 20 25 -5 2611th Vranov 21 8 2 11 22 27 -5 2612th Licartovce 21 7 2 12 19 42 -23 23----------------------------------------------------13th Dun. Streda 21 4 7 10 24 36 -12 1914th Senec 21 3 8 10 14 26 -12 1715th Nitra 21 4 4 13 9 32 -23 1616th Prievidza 21 4 4 13 13 34 -21 16</pre>

retired_manpk1

April 2011

We dominated our crucial tie away at Presov, but we found scoring a bit more troublesome. It took a wonderful free kick from Joon-Hyung Lim midway through the second half to give us the lead, and we then saw out the final minutes under pressure from a finally-awoken Presov.

A trip to Rapid Bratislava was next up for us, and fourteen minutes passed before Sarangue gave us the lead. We probably should have scored a few more before time was up, but Rapid rarely threatened, and our bandwagon rolled on.

A home tie with Kys. Lieskovec saw us take the lead after half an hour when Peter Cvirik found himself in the right place at the right time to turn the ball home. It got worse for the visitors two minutes later when Antal was booked for the second time in the game, and Milan Pis cracked in a free kick to double the lead. We eased off in the second half, but were never in trouble as we recorded a 2-0 victory.

Our final game of the month was a home tie with Humenne, and eight minutes in Sarangue had us in front. But to their credit, Humenne fought back, and five minutes before the break were awarded a penalty. But goalkeeping understudy Vyacheslav Zhukovskiy did well to parry Samo’s effort to keep us in the lead. But we failed to heed the warning, and after threatening for much of the second half to equalise, they did so with fourteen minutes remaining when Hrncar scored on the break.

We’ve managed to open up a six-point lead at the top of the table now, and with just five games to go, things are starting to look very good. We travel to second-placed Zlate moravce early next month, and a win there would put us on the verge on promotion.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st Devin 25 17 7 1 41 8 +33 58----------------------------------------------------2nd Zlate moravce 25 15 7 3 35 13 +22 523rd Presov 25 14 6 5 32 15 +17 484th Rapid Bratislava 24 12 4 8 34 22 +12 405th Ziar nad Hronom 25 10 7 8 28 18 +10 376th Kosice 25 10 7 8 32 25 +7 377th Bac 25 10 5 10 41 35 +6 358th Humenne 25 9 7 9 39 31 +8 349th Duslo Sala 25 9 5 11 27 30 -3 3210th Kys. Lieskovec 25 8 8 9 23 29 -6 3211th Vranov 25 9 3 13 29 30 -1 3012th Licartovce 25 8 2 15 21 50 -29 26----------------------------------------------------13th Senec 25 5 10 10 18 28 -10 2514th Nitra 25 6 6 13 13 33 -20 2415th Dun. Streda 25 4 10 11 27 45 -18 2216th Prievidza 24 4 4 16 13 41 -28 16</pre>

retired_manpk1

May-June 2011

We began the final run-in with a crucial trip to Zlate moravce. Things weren’t looking good for us when Slama got himself sent off midway through the first half for two bookings, but we defended well, and just in first half injury time Lim struck to put us ahead. The North Korean hit a second on the hour, and we had a crucial victory to put us within four points of promotion.

A home tie with Vranov was next up for us, and Sarangue had us ahead midway through the second half as we dominated. But we didn’t manage to get another goal, and midway through the second half Vranov equalised through Bilski. We weren’t to be denied though; Lim scoring the winner twelve minutes from time.

We knew that a draw at Nitra would be enough to see us win the league, and thereby promotion, but we set out our stall to win. We had enough chances to do so, but we didn’t score. The 0-0 scoreline though was enough for us to claim the point that we needed to finally meet our goal of promotion to the top flight.

For the last two games I decided to give some of the younger and more fringe players of the squad a chance. First up was a home tie with Licartovce, and Stefan Duris, who had been scoring for fun for the Under 19s, opened his account on his debut with a 14th minute strike, and could have had a hatrick before he added a second on 34. Hatok pulled one back just before half time, but Duris completed his hatrick ten minutes after the break. Stano added a fourth from the bench with thirteen minutes left.

Our last game of the season was a meaningless tie at already-relegated Prievidza. That though didn’t prevent one of the most amazing games that I’ve been involved in. Duris continued to shine by putting us in front after just four minutes, and Peter Skrtel doubled the lead five minutes later. Tomacek pulled one back on 18, only for Duris to restore our three-goal lead on 25. But Prievidza hit back, and goals from Tomacek and Adam had the scores level at 3-3 by half time. The opening part of the second half was quite quiet, but a terrible defensive mistake at the back allowed Adam to put the home side 4-3 ahead. Vozny further extended the lead on 74, but within four minutes Peter Tomko reduced the deficit with a wonderfully taken free kick. It didn’t end there though. Duris added two more in the last seven minutes to give us a fantastic 6-5 victory, and take his first-team record to Played 2, Scored 7, Average Rating 10! :p

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts1st C Devin 30 21 8 1 55 15 +40 71-------------------------------------------------------2nd Zlate moravce 30 17 8 5 40 17 +23 593rd Presov 30 14 7 9 36 24 +12 494th Rapid Bratislava 30 14 6 10 41 30 +11 485th Ziar nad Hronom 30 13 8 9 33 22 +11 476th Humenne 30 13 7 10 51 35 +16 467th Kosice 30 11 9 10 37 34 +3 428th Bac 30 12 6 12 51 44 +7 429th Kys. Lieskovec 30 11 8 11 31 33 -2 4110th Duslo Sala 30 11 5 14 31 40 -9 3811th Vranov 30 10 6 14 33 34 -1 3612th Licartovce 30 10 4 16 30 58 -28 34-------------------------------------------------------13th R Senec 30 7 10 13 22 33 -11 3114th R Nitra 30 7 8 15 18 39 -21 2915th R Dun. Streda 30 5 10 15 28 54 -26 2516th R Prievidza 30 6 6 18 23 48 -25 24</pre>
Having lost only one game all season, I think we fully deserve our promotion, although a twelve-point lead at the top of the league may be a little too generous to us. We have been pretty lucky with injuries and suspensions this season, and I therefore haven’t had to rely too heavily on my squad this term. Ricardo Sarangue, again voted by the fans as their Player of the Year, has struck up a really good understanding with Joon-Hyung Lim, and youngster Stefan Duris looks to be a fine prospect for the future. I’m not so confident about other areas of the field, and there could well be a number of squad changes over the summer as we look to build for our first-ever season in the Slovak top flight.

This story is going to take a short break while I work on another (CM-related) project. I do though hope to be back with this story within a few weeks.