DNZY - Comments

@Dan @Shedender - If I leave it too long, it may have an effect on my reputation. Hence why I've come to this conclusion.

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CURRENT SEASON





Three games before the league split takes effect and it looks rather hopeless to reach it unless Institute go off the rails. Recent form (from the start of the calendar year) has been quite indifferent with no win in seven games, though a number of them came in cup competitions which seems a little harsh for the previous manager's dismissal as the league form hasn't been TOO bad. Cliftonville have run away with the league this year and looking to secure three titles in a row, with Glentoran, Glenavon and Linfield fighting for scraps. Highly unlikely we'll drop beneath seventh with alligators Portadown and Ballymena creeping underneath and waiting to pounce.

SQUAD



Lack of a natural right back is worrying, but no shortage of attacking quality and a bloody decent midfield. Peter Beggs as a central midfielder has assisted 19 times which is pretty solid if you ask me. Lots of teenagers make up the crux of the team with more experienced players fading away. Amazingly only two players over the age of 30, one understandably being a goalkeeper. Top striker has 16 goals under his belt.

KEY PLAYER: Sean Dempsey - ST(C)



Certainly a step down in quality from the TNS strikeforce, but not bad for this league. I love working with poachers and he fits the bill nicely, plus has a decent amount of quickness about him to get forward. Excellent off the ball for his age with 13 and 11 in finishing and composure respectively, he'll be hot merchandise if he continues his current development trajectory. That's all well and good and everything but only 1 goal in his last 7 games is pretty worrying.



Our first three games comprise of bottom of the table Ards away, crucial six pointer at home to Institute and the toughest of the bunch despite being at home for it, second placed Glentoran. Will we be able to pinch a top half finish away from 'Stute?

I only get to play this save at weekends so I'll try my best to fly through it.

@Dan - I'm far from retirement, just nothing available currently. Also it's Iraq, not Iran - could easily lead to a war.

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Nation: Northern Ireland
Media Prediction (Odds): 6th/12 (20-1)
Current Position: 7th
Expectations: None
Pros: Highly unlikely to finish below 7th place. Solid attacking players.
Cons: No competent right backs in the side. £200k in the red. 7 points from the top half with three games left before the league split takes effect. Out of all cup competitions.

RESULT:

ASIAN CUP

QUARTER FINAL




Flabbergasted how far China have come as a team, World Cup quarter finalists in 2034 beating England on the way, and made mincemeat of us in a one sided affair. Got fortunate with an own goal to equalise but after the red before before half time, we booked a one way ticket to Chinatown...and not in a good way. Battered senseless until we were out cold, crashing out with a 5-1 scoreline.



Fun little vacation away from club football, but all vacations must end prematurely.

Where to go next?

ASIAN CUP

QUARTER FINAL DRAW



Drawn to the highest ranked nation in Asia. This could be problematic.

ASIAN CUP

SECOND ROUND



A game so dramatic that not all of it fits on the right hand sidebar. Ridiculous game with both sides finishing with nine men; two reds for Vietnam and a red plus a forced injury for us. I hate to be all patriotic but more than half of their side were not Vietnamese by birth but instead a lot of Brazilian and Nigerian born, hence why it was bloody difficult to break them down. 1-1 after 90 minutes, we fell behind in the 109th thanks to 'Miro' (totally Vietnamese) and were on the verge of crashing out. Right back Ahmad Abdul Zahrah begged to differ, hoisting an aerial bombshell to bamboozle the keeper with 30 seconds of regular time left.
On to the penalties and relied on our second choice keeper to keep them out as I forgot to switch them pre-selection from the North Korea game. It mattered not as Kingsley Udeh's spot kick was clawed out to end an emotional rollercoaster as we march to the quarter finals. Never have I jumped out of my seat so fast.

I guess you can call it the Nealon effect. First cap, first goal for Radhi Swadi Al-Zirjawi (the chants would be amazing with that name).



Already breaking records as Iraq break into the top 40 for the first time in over 30 years (2035 if you're confused).

ASIAN CUP

SECOND ROUND DRAW



We draw 'Nam in the last sixteen, only squeezing their way in through best third placed sides.

ASIAN CUP GROUP C

MATCHDAY 3



Welp! Guess who's getting nuked tomorrow? Cruising to the last 16 without even conceding. North Korea were trash, the nicest possible way to describe it. Their goalkeeper was flimsy when making saves, their defence were muddled and we completely played them off the Park (no, not that park).



No sweat, but Thailand and Oman still qualify with us and leave North Korea in the dust.

ASIAN CUP GROUP C

MATCHDAY 2




Well that was easy(ish). Snail's pace game once again with very little clear cut goalmouth action. Oman kept us at bay until injury time loomed, yet another set piece to thank for it as centre back Borhani headed in from a free kick towards the near post. Can only assume we'll take top spot in the group with just a point against North Korea.

ASIAN CUP GROUP C

MATCHDAY 1



Steady opening, not overly brilliant to watch but once the deadlock broke for us we maintained control. Devastating from set pieces as both our goals, plus one disallowed goal stemmed from corners.

SQUAD



It'll be a hard time remembering all these names and differentiating between them all, but I feel we've a fairly decent national pool at our fingertips. Iraqi champions and AFC Cup winners Al-Zawra'a seem to be spawning most of them, 11 players in the current 25 man squad - but only 23 will make the final cut. Not a great quantity of wide players, may have to resort to a more central approach.

KEY PLAYER: Ali Faez Kasim - GK



A little concerning when your best player is a goalkeeper, however he does look pretty standard. 6'4", beefy, somewhat athletic despite his appalling speed. As long as he can pull off a save and not be a Claudio Bravo style keeper, he should do just fine.

EXPECTATIONS



Outlined in the job spec, the board expect around quarter finals for this event.

GROUP STAGES



Relatively easy group - taking on Thailand, Oman and North Korea. With all sides regen-ized, I've no idea what to expect. Let the games begin!

I don't know, it's hard to top this.

Rangers knocked out by Luxembourg's Progres Niederkorn...who lost their first choice keeper after 32 minutes. Jesus.

Maribor are tough to take down, one more season should do it no doubt. Is Domen Crnigoj still around? FM14 wonderkid from Koper?

@Shedender - Because I'm a living legend. Thank you by the way!

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So two jobs landed into my inbox.




Nation: Lithuania
Media Prediction (Odds): 5th/8 (9-1)
Expectations: Mid table
Pros: No pressure to succeed.
Cons: £75k in debt. Poor budgets. Pales in comparison with other sides in the division.

RESULT:






Nation: Iraq
World Ranking: 46th
Expectations: AFC Asian Cup Quarter Finals
Pros: No pressure to succeed.
Cons: Never managed an international side. Very poor knowledge of the team at hand.

RESULT:

@Shedender @Dan - Aye, it's a shame I couldn't end with a treble. And I've probably given you both a hint.

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The -burn duo were delightful this season for me, between them accumulating 64 goals and 31 assists but it was Matt Blackburn who won the fans' hearts before his harsh injury towards the end of the season. Woodburn finished second best while exciting talent Mark Holmes came third. George Sandford's belter against Bangor City undoubtedly deserved goal of the season. Absolute corker so it was. Brett Archer had a handful of games upon arrival to TNS but didn't exactly make much of an impact to deserve signing of the season (unless they exclude loan deals). Blackburn also won young player of the season....at 24?! Come on. 18 year old Mark Holmes had to have won that!



The stats say it all, despite the minor blip in form on the crossover between December and January, Ben Woodburn was the key figure. Top goalscorer, top assist maker, top average rating AND joint highest man of the match awards with Blackburn. Stuart Lee was our best passer, even if he did only start 10 games. Discipline was a little shady, Gould, Kalmykov and even Archer all gather five yellows each. Harvey was the only one technically to get sent off as Molyneaux's came during the second leg of the Galatasaray game - surprised Harvey didn't get sent off more often with his temperament!



Almost a carbon copy of how we finished up last year - taking the Welsh league, the Welsh league cup and falling short of the Welsh cup. Indubitably the Europa League group stages were the highlight of the season, even if we did get gaped a lot. The Partizan match will always be a highlight, not that standard win over Aberystwyth.



Back to back manager of the year awards, nobody was on my level. Not even Sam Hodge.

The question remains....should I stay or should I go?



NEXT UPDATE: An announcement.

Love journeyman saves of this calibre, keep it up!

DAFABET WELSH PREMIER LEAGUE




IT'S THERE! Back to back titles! Think I inherited PTSD after watching this game, my suit turned into a sauna during a pulsating second half to just about hang on by the skin of our teeth. First twenty minutes we were dominant, attacking plays through the centre by Andy Hyde were devastating setting up Matt Molyneaux with two golden goals in two minutes and leaving Bala with it all to do. This is where the tide swiftly changed direction. Mistake after mistake, it was no surprise we were on the edge of our seats and James Harvey's aimless pass allowed Newcastle loanee Andy Stone to waltz in with a simple goal to make it a tense second half. Bala were all guns blazing in the second period and fought back to two each, a free kick pinged in several directions before Drew O'Hanlon blasted home. It was backs against the wall for the remaining half hour with bodies piling up to create a human shield but the final whistle blows at Maes Tigid as a distraught Bala watch the Saints punch the air in delight to be crowned 2033/34 Welsh Premier champions for the 18th time.

JD FAW WELSH CUP

FINAL



Sadly, the treble was hijacked by a familiar face in the Barry teamsheet. Greg Wardle. Second choice keeper for TNS last season, cup hero for Barry this season in a penalty shootout disaster. Our defensive triad helped set up the opener; flicked header from Kalmykov, kept in by Harvey and pulled back for Joe Thomas to pull the trigger. Barry operated in a confident manner despite being one down, keeping Yates busy between the sticks but could do nothing about Sean Banks' equaliser after lazy defending allowed him a tap in from a cross. The game was evenly poised and neither side gave in right until the final whistle, Wardle saving Barry's skin and vice versa with Yates. Then came the penalties; Woodburn - straight at Wardle. Holmes - straight at Wardle. SANDFORD - STRAIGHT AT WARDLE. Harvey - scores (only just). Lee - slightly to the left but Wardle claws it away and Barry lift consecutive Welsh Cups. A disappointing end to my Welsh adventure.

RESULTS OVERVIEW



It was a major plunge in form towards the end, only winning one of our last five. At least the result that mattered came away to Bala. Still would have been nice to finished with a treble.

FINAL LEAGUE TABLE



It was always a two horse race this year, swatting off Bala to take it by one point. Almost identical season compared to last with one less defeat and one point extra. Bala, Barry and Carmarthen were the third side to gain Europa League football. Haverfordwest and Porthmadog fell through the trapdoor with Aberystwyth and Llangefni surviving.

NEXT UPDATE: Postseason 2033/34

SEASON 1 - WINTER BREAK

Into the winter break...well we certainly need to have a re-think as it's all going pear shaped with five defeats in seven. Started off well by beating Gladbach and going on to win three of four, including a sensational second half comeback from 2-0 down at Schalke before a narrow defeat at the hands of Frankfurt. It kickstarted an eleven match unbeaten run before Dortmund put us in our place. Never in my wildest predictions would be topple the might of Bayern, and quite comfortably too! Relegation threats of Ingolstadt and Hamburg sure changed our tune with clumsy defeats. Not only that, Bremen got one over us too to well and truly put us in a disposition over the holiday season. Need to regroup and put an end to this rut.



Bayern are running away the Bundesliga as you'd expect and it's really now just the matter of scrapping for second and at very least a top four finish in a mixture of Gladbach, Schalke, RB Leipzig and Frankfurt. Fifth place currently, average season perhaps but I know we need to do a lot better come May.



DFB Pokal has gone rather well as some would expect. Nearly choked to Unterhaching but two extra time goals from young Kai Havertz made the difference and avoid a shock exit. Penalties saw us defeat bitter rivals Gladbach in the second round, Leno saving three to advance 3-1 on penalties and face SV Darmstadt in the third round.



Champions League has been a huge surprise, qualifying second in a group with Barcelona, Spurs and Club Brugge. Dicked at the Nou Camp, followed up with a fortunate 2-1 win to Spurs, two routine Brugge wins and the pinnacle result was to withstand Barca's dominance to see us through with the final game being dead rubber.



Juventus will be our opposition, difficult to see us going any further to be honest.

I know, hence the statement that followed.

Willy Cabellero to Chelsea. Odd one, but signing keepers in the past like Begovic and Schwarzer it's pretty understandable.

Also Saúl signs a nine year contract (technically five plus a trigger clause) with Atlético.

@Dan , quick question - when facing one of your rivals in a cup game - does winning on penalties count for five points?

No manager of the month award for February, but two players made team of the month - marksman Blackburn and diligent midfielder Mark Holmes.



Losing skipper Joe Thomas for over a month was the first bit of bad news.



F*ck. Massive blow to our side as Blackburn is ruled out for the season with a damaging injury.

YOUTH INTAKE



Dime a dozen sort of intake, except for one propitious striker.



Mike Gwynne - ST(C) - youth intake

For a 15 year old, not too shabby. Passing, first touch and dribbling leave a lot to be desired to become an accomplished striker but already carries good finishing and composure to fill in as a poacher, especially with impressive off the ball. Low determination could hinder his development but I'm hopeful to get him under the right guidance to take him to the next level when I'm gone.

DAFABET WELSH PREMIER LEAGUE



With Bala dropping points on the Friday, we sealed an important three points on the Saturday with three goals to accomplish them. No pressure on Woodburn to stand in for the sidelined Blackburn, and sure enough made magic happen again. Wasn't much in the penalty Bangor conceded which broke the silence during a quiet opening 45 minutes, Woodburn belting the top right corner for a rather controversial slender half time lead. No deliberation regarding the second as there was no stopping Sandford's sweetly struck effort (and boy was it a beauty) to take the weight off our shoulders. Woodburn latched on to a defence splitting pass by Gardner to send the keeper falling onto his arse on the wet turf to finish it all off. A big step forward.

https://streamable.com/wsi4b



The taste of champagne almost touches our tongues, gaining a routine, yet valuable win at Prestatyn. Woodburn back to his best, rallying his first hat-trick since November and racking his tally up to 34 goals this season. Sure David John scored for Prestatyn, but that's almost a given these days with three at the back. Matt Molyneaux applied the glossy varnish on what was a title winning performance. The best part? Bala choked at home to Carmarthen and putting seven points between us with only three games left! Surely, SURELY we can't falter from here.



Woodburn absolutely killing it this season, even more so than Molyneaux last season.



A real curveball here, Sandford ruled out for the remainder of the season it seems during a training session.



Fifth manager of the month award in six months. Managerial masterclass.



Yates, Kalmykov, Holmes, Sandford AND Woodburn all making it into team of the month (yeah, yeah it was only two games).



A well deserved player of the month for Woodburn, recapturing his goalscoring form in a mixed year for the veteran.



Oh my. Carmarthen's win over Bala should have heeded the warning to the camp but we didn't take it seriously enough. With Louis Wheeler's goal after 50 seconds, , I felt it was finito - how wrong was I? Hit hard on the counter, the old gold rewrote the script with a driving hit by Gavin Smith and helped in by the post to equalise. Even a point would have been good enough to dot the Is and cross the Ts but no; an error from Shenton paved way for Tom Davies to rain on the parade before Corey Owen's effort slipped through 'buttergloves' Yates to stun the home faithful. The proverbial icing on the cake was made from a penalty awarded to us to perhaps fight back with three minutes remaining - Holmes choked it, straight at Samuelsen. Bala won too to add the pressure.



To show how little of a sh*t I gave about the Carmarthen game, took the liberty of fielding our youth prospect Mike Gwynne at only 15 years old. Almost as if I set him up to fail.



Terrific, we're without a left winger for our next league match.



This is becoming a morbid nightmare. Had to switch to a 4-3-3 but none of our acclaimed strikers had any effect on what was a pisstake of a performance. Julian Shenton at centre back was a laughing stock, lost four tackles, not winning a single one, 5.9 rating and was also the stem of the only goal, oblivious to the direct aerial approach and allowing Luke Collins the freedom to fire a shot in, despite Adrian Greengrass' best efforts to be awarded an own goal. In fact Sam Yates in goal was the only reason for the low scoreline, standing tall to unluckily be on the wrong side of said scoreline. Airbus defending magnificently with a well structured shape and leaving us with nothing. Pressure beginning to mount more and more.

JD FAW WELSH CUP

SEMI FINAL

The cup final awaits! Man in form Woodburn delivers us vindication following a rather early setback. Suspect defending allowed Dean Rodon (shock! his first ever goal for the club) a backstage pass to our six yard area to poke home. Rapid response from the Saints, Benny boy heading home from a belter of a cross by Louis Wheeler just seconds after to wipe the smiles off the Nomads in the away end. Phil Plummer dropped the ball, quite literally but thankfully CQ only hit the post to spare blushes before the break. Connah's Quay had a handful of chances, but failed to hit the target apart from their goal, leaving us to seal the deal thanks to a fortunate slide tackle that allowed Woodburn to pounce for the inevitable winner. The potential treble still lies in the wake.

FINAL DRAW



Barry will do battle for the glistening Welsh Cup.

RESULTS OVERVIEW

The horror, inexcusable back to back league defeats for the first time this season and what a time to do it. The major plus is that Ben Woodburn is firing on all cylinders, scoring seven in five these past two months.

LEAGUE TABLE



This is not happening, slender one point lead going into the final game against...BALA. Avoiding defeat will see us through but defeat will confirm an almighty bottle job. Should have wrapped this up a lot sooner.

Next Update: May 2034

Is this even a contest anymore? Fourth month running.



Joe Thomas and Andy Hyde were both stupendous during January, streets ahead of our strikers who were a far cry away from making it.

DAFABET WELSH PREMIER LEAGUE



The January weather got the better of Molyneaux who'll now spend the guts of two weeks bed ridden, flicking through Netflix boxsets. Seriously?



No matter, we bullied Airbus following that forgettable meeting in December. The fiery Burns scalded the wingmakers' backline; Blackburn popped two home in the space of nine minutes while Woodburn slammed home a third to hold the cards in the first half. Joe Zanotti will cringe at his comical attempt to clear a ball which ended up in the back of his own net just moments after the interval. The game didn't pass without peril, Airbus bombarded Plummer who made 11 (yes, ELEVEN) saves to keep the score in our favour but failed to get near Griffiths' free header for their lone goal. Blackburn banked his deserved hat-trick from 12 yards when their goalscorer bundled over Shenton. One win closer to back-to-back success.



Of course he does as he recovers his best form. Luckily Molyneaux is returning to fitness.



Wow, okay. Second defeat of the season, a devastating one at that. Didn't deserve to lose by this magnitude, but Bala were clinically superior. Paddy Gamble headed in off the bar to give the monochrome jerseys an early advantage. Molyneaux had 'one of those days', unable to bulge the net as he thundered the white beam and scuppered a clear cut effort straight at Reed in goal. Alan Jones was a pest in the second half, cutting all our lines to bag three and shovel more rubble on top of us. James Harvey doesn't score many but netted via Shenton's flicked header to hear a slight ripple of applause. Puts Bala right back in it.



Holy smokes did we leave it late in a garbage game of football at Carmarthen. The Bala defeat sapped their confidence clearly with only a frugal tally of five shots on goal. The one chance that mattered came with seconds remaining as Molyneaux struck low from 15 yards, evading the hands of Jákup Samuelsen who really should have saved it. Both Woodburn and Blackburn suffered superficial injuries during the game which offers a wafer-thin excuse on why it took so long to close the game. How important could that result mean though?



Injuries becoming more and more frequent coming to the climax, Plummer missing a sizeable portion of the remaining season.

JD FAW WELSH CUP

QUARTER FINAL



Avoiding another banana skin to book our place in the semis. Rotated largely again, but kept Woodburn up front to make the striking impact and graciously adhered to the task. Russell Gardner's accuracy in this game was ridiculous, only misplacing six passes from 78 and passed one into the back of the net also to start up the motor. Woodburn could not be more open for number two and three, finishing from close range on both occasions from crosses on the left hand side to fast-track into the next round. The Druids I've got to hand it to them came up with a sublime set piece play to fight back, Christian Williams on the volley from an in swinging free-kick. Alas, it made not a speck of difference as Joe Thomas shepherded home a comfortable fourth midway through the second half. Into the hat for no doubt a gruelling semi final.

SEMI FINAL DRAW



Connah's Quay - on paper it looks doable, but on the pitch we'll need to be on guard for a close game.

RESULTS OVERVIEW



Despite the big defeat to Bala, a rather good month. Numerous goalscorers, with that Molyneaux goal against Carmarthen being the most key.

LEAGUE TABLE



Bala trying to usurp our throne following that fortunate win, cutting the margin to two once more. Five games left, we need to match them right to the punctuation. Decent battle at the bottom of the league too, 8th to 12th all in a scrap to go down.

NEXT UPDATE: March/April 2034

Good to see you back to another career @Dan, 祝你好运!

Arsenal end interest in transfer target Mbappe. In other news water is wet.

Shakhtar's new kit looks smart (even though it's barely changed in the last 10-20 years).

Great wins for Cork and Shamrock Rovers away from home, shame Derry were well beaten but then again it's a very good team in Midtjylland.

Three in a row baby!



Matt Blackburn is the only one to squeeze into team of the month for December.

TRANSFERS

IN



First bit of cash to actually spend on a player. Amazing right? Someone I've had my eye on for the last two or three windows.



Brett Archer - M(C) - £59k from Yeovil Town

Well established in Sky Bet League One and Two with the Glovers, swapping for another side in green and white. Thrifty deep lying playmaker with plenty to gain, already established technicals but would prefer to get his dribbling up to scratch. With over 100 games in the English football league pyramid, Welsh Premier should be water off a duck's back despite his price tag. Needs to shake off a slight niggle before being called into action.

DAFABET WELSH PREMIER LEAGUE



Picked up from where we left off against the side we played last, but it wasn't without hazard. Fell behind undeservedly, but defensively we were to blame and allowing Mike Connolly tucking home following an initial Sam Yates save from the first effort. Somehow made it to half time in front, Molyneaux potting home and Blackburn profiting on hesitant goalkeeper movement. Were we on course for victory? Not with questionable defending and goalkeeping to allow Connolly his second to fire home at Yates' near post. Seem to have a habit of scoring late in matches, no matter what half and Blackburn made sure of the three points by completing a hat-trick. Joshua Jones scored straight after our fourth but who cares?



Hahahaha, look who pipes up after being dropped due to substandard recent performances. We conceded three and had every right to be unhappy yet Woodburn claims I'm being too harsh. Man up you sop.



Absolutely dicked our rivals with a rather violent twelve minutes for Bangor to endure. The hard tackling instructions took our kryptonite Ken Palmer out of the equation after only twenty minutes, allowing us to breathe easy. The 32nd minute penalty converted by Blackburn was the spark to light the magnesium strip. Blackburn doubled, Hyde rocketed the third, Molyneaux glided in the fourth and a Ron Lemar curler heaped the embarrassment on the Gwynedd club. Bangor didn't get out of the traps, not even for some second half pride, strolling to a homely win.



Ben Woodburn finally made himself useful with his first goal in eleven games to scrape past Llangefni. The Dazzlers were struggling to fend off relegation and needed a win to ease their fears, bollocking us with chance after chance but failing to break down the door with Yates making six saves. Our strikers were shocking; both Blackburn and Molyneaux failing to register one shot on goal, with Woodburn failing to deliver anything of quality thereafter. We're lucky we had the defensive backbone to compensate for a flimsy Saints performance.



Couldn't repeat our 5-0 thrashing, slouching to a rather disappointing draw. Allowed Daniel Willams in too easily, falling behind early in the second half. Again, our strikers were not at the races, relying on midfield to hit the target. Thankfully Molyneaux turned up in the final twenty, countering a Bangor free kick to let fly from the D with the shot too hot to handle for goalkeeper Rob Hayes to only push it in. Could have got our tails up for a winner but James Harvey got a little bit too involved to receive a second booking eight minutes from time.



A more professional job done at home to Prestatyn following recent contentious striking antics. Molyneaux's crossfield balls to Lemar on the right were devastating and were the focal points of our opening two goals, setting up a header for Sandford and Woodburn fired in from close range. Took an alternate route to the centre for the third, Mark Holmes smashed one in from 22 yards before Molyneaux ended the game in the second half, through a faulty Prestatyn backpass. Less clean sheets than a toddler recently, Jones in space to leave Plummer in no man's land. Gradually back to our best.
theWord NATHANIEL MG CUP

FINAL




Another year, another league cup! Both sets of defences were impenetrable after the opening ninety, cancelling each other out when getting to the final third. Both teams had the one pivotal opportunity spurned in the extra half hour; Molyneaux dragged a shot agonisingly wide with the ball shaving the outer lick of paint of the post, while James Harvey was almost to blame for a defeat as he gave the ball away to Daniel Williams but Plummer came to the rescue. Speaking of coming to the rescue, Plummer was the penalty saviour; saving the final two to erase Harvey's miss and take a 4-3 penalty win. Should call him Super Mario.



Breaking the thousand barrier for the first time in league cup history. Supposedly. Glory hunters no doubt.

JD FAW WELSH CUP

FOURTH ROUND



I'd gnaw off my right arm if we ballsed this up, but thankfully it went smoothly against minnows Buckley Town. The odd change here and there gave starts to Stuart Lee and Adrian Greengrass, making cases to be regulars with goals in the opening half hour. Yet again no clean sheet, Yates knew he should have done better to keep out Carl Thomas' low effort, a potential way back for the stags. Alas, it was mere brevity and comfortably regained a two goal advantage through Matt Blackburn in what was one way traffic for the most part, their keeper bringing off seven saves prior to the goals.

QUARTER FINAL DRAW



Another non league side in Cefn Druids, but have had Premier League pedigree in the past.



Wheeler may have been keeping Sandford out of the side in recent times but he sure can't lift.

RESULTS OVERVIEW



An almost faultless month, claiming six wins from a possible seven but coming up short in the second league encounter with rivals Bangor. It's good to have a number of scorers in the ranks and not relying on just the one. Molyneaux and Blackburn passing the baton between each other while Woodburn is slowly getting back to form after a stern face to face with him earlier in the month.

LEAGUE TABLE



Bala tripped up to Llangefni just before the league split took effect, extending the gap to a cushy five points with eight games remaining. No hope of Bangor crashing the party, lying 17 points behind us.



Last bit of big news, Mark Holmes penned a new two year deal. A real breath of fresh air to our midfield, covering almost every blade of grass this season with such strong stamina for an 18 year old. He's also been under surveillance by teams like QPR in recent months.

NEXT UPDATE: February 2034