retired_eootwfm56

OK - this is my first post in this forum (I think), and while I adhere to the LLM format, I'm probably not as nosebleed as some of you, so be gentle.

Having grown up in the North & supporting Liverpool, I couldn't go for a northern team & I may develop an affinity to them & never be able to leave; I intend playing this one as close to a real-life situ as I can. I think.

So I chose Conference South & went for Thurrock. I have no idea where Thurrock is.

Overdrawn & with no tfr budget, I set about looking at the team. First off - get rid of the bloke pulling in 800/week....

Managed to sell 3 & buy 2 - with add'l clauses so I could afford them.

1st game - lost 3-0 to Sutton. Ouch. Sutton only just stayed up in the end too...Not nearly as easy as CM01/02 - my last adventure...

Next game 0-0. At least I got a point on the board. 3rd game 0-1 down. This is going bad, but I strike back quickly & get a pen. 1-1. Whew. Now I have a goal to go with my point. I won that one 2-1. Nice. Getting the hang of it...

Early season saw me yo-yoing. Up to 6th with a decent few games. Down to 17th with some bad ones...

Cups - got to the FAC R2, beating Altrincham on the way (Conf National) which was a nice mini-giant killing; but best of all was the bank balance going into the black. Vase (or hwatever it's called) I got to R4 or thereabouts.

The rest of the season progressed nicely enough - a mix of a few good results on the bounce being tempered by a loss or stupid draw in to hold me back.

By mid-season, I had a few good loanees who put in good performances & cost nothing in wages - all were scouted first. I didn't just go to the big clubs & trawl them for loanees. In fact, one came in from an English club with no league - i.e. lower than Conference Regional.

Injuries weren't good. Of my 3 strikers, 2 broke their legs - I managed to blag through with a loan & fudging other players in as strikers to fit.

As the season drew to a close, I was hovering between 6th & 8th; in the home-striaght for a play-off place. Then a few bad results & with about 6 or 8 games to go, I was slipping out of contention.

Luckily a lot of the teams above me had to play each other & with 2 games to play I was 5th - a point behind 4th with 2GD worse & about 4 fewer goals scored & 3pts ahead of 6th & about 23GD better - so I really only needed a win from my final 2 games to be assured a p/o position, unless 6th place broke goalscoring records.

Penultimate game & my leading scorer (2nd in the league) did some ligaments after 15 mins....Then I conceded a goal...got it back to 1-1 - that's how it finished. 4th lost to 1st & 6th won.

Going into the last game I was level on points & -1GD with 4th & a poing ahead of 6th.

Nervy last game. Striker sent to rehab - in case I make the p/o's - I want (hope) he'll be available for at least some of them.

Half-time - 0-0. Couldn't resist - checked other scores. 4th had a player s/o & were losing 1-0. 6th were playing the bottom & well relegated team & were winning. That put 6th in 4th & 4th in 6th.

As the game moved towards the last 15, it was still 0-0. 4th (at the start of the day) down 2-0 & 6th still winning. That left me 5th, but if I was to concede, I'd drop out of the p/o spots. What to do?

I hung in there & finished 5th - 0-0, a point ahead of the team which dropped from 4th to 6th.

So - the play-offs. I play the 2nd placed team which I'd already beaten twice - once at their place when they were top.

Home leg - a goal up with 10 to go & I got a pen! Yes - makeshift striker puts it away. 2-0 final score. In the other game, 4th won 2-0 at home also.

Away leg. A striker who'd come back from a broken leg 7 hadn't scored in 18 games (most as a sub) opened the scoring - putting me 3 up on agg. Coasting at HT. Around the 60th they got one back & mins later hit the side netting, gettimg me nervy. I got another & won 4-1 agg.

In the other game 2-0 was matched with 2-0 & it went to ET. The home side scored in ET & then conceded in the 117th & it went to pens. They won out in the end, so the Conf (S) p/o final was 3rd vs 5th (Thurrock).

Scout said they play a cautious 4-4-2, so I changed my tactics to account for that & ran out 2-0 winners. They didn't even manage a shout on goal in the 1st half.

Onto the final. I couldn't pick up the game for about a week, as I was bricking it - a whole season down to this...

My striker (rehab) was back in training & up to about 83%. So the bench it was for him.

A rainy day saw an open game. 0-0 HT. I had about 7 shots on goal (3 on target), opponents 9 on goal, all off-target.

I was starting to sweat as we moved past the 60th & they used their 3rd sub. 0-0 & I hadn't sued any, so I convinced myself I had the upper hand.

Finally in the 70th, I sent him on. 77th min, he went past 3 in the box & dinked it over the keeper. 1-0. Get in!

83rd & I'm on the attack. They win the ball & break fast. left-winger puts in a ball to the far post to an onrushing player & it goes in....1-1 & I'd made a defensive change to hold the 1-1.

They then start to get good & win a series of corners. In the 88th they get another. I 'shout' at one of my AM's who I leave up front for corners to get back. They take the corner as he's trotting back, but my defence wins the header & he picks it up, due to having dropped deeper. A couple of nifty passes upfield & my striker is nicking in front of their defence to get on the end of a cross...90.02 & I'm 2-1 up...they k/o, striaght back to the keeper, I intercept his clearance & that striker who got his 1st goal after 19 games, makes it 2 in 21 in the 93rd min. I'm up!

feels great. Board still giving me paltry cash, so I don't know what I'm going to do & the game crashed 3 times on the 18th June - but I got past that in the bugs forum. Now on 3rd July & starting to prepare for an assault on the Conference.

Oh yeah - also had to refute press speculation with 2 or 3 games to play that I'd be off to manage Grimsby! Can't unsettle the team at such a delicate stage of the season...

retired_kswansonwoolf

Do you actually expect anyone to read all this, Daddymac?

Updates are just that, not stories. They should be kept short and sweet.

retired_Wnt2Bamodel

Gentle. Hmmm.

Title? Poor.
Staccato paragraph structure? Initially interesting, rapidly turning to a pain in the arse.
Content? Don't know. Gave up.
Seasons completed? Less than 3. RTFFH.

retired_berrysale

It's a story and less than 3 seasons have been completed. Thread closed.