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Deleted Account #151676
#84538 On the way to glory
#84533 The Lower League Thread
#84518 Rick's Career
1. Segejs Tarasovs
Age: 26
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Conc: 63/50
Int. Caps/Goals: 8/0
Former Clubs: N/A
Sergejs has been my first choice keeper since I arrived at the club after playing second fiddle for years to Igors Kacanovs, he is an excellent shot stopper who is brave in coming to collect the ball and also a very resolute individual, as a result I have just awarded him the captains armband following the retirement of Oskar Klava.
13. Valerijs Ivanovs
Age: 25
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Conc: 0/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 1/0
Former Clubs: Olimps
A new signing who replaces Igors Kacanovs who wasn't happy being a bench warmer, Ivanovs may well feature more than Kacanovs did as he is a better all round goalkeeper.
2. Aslan Dudiev
Age: 28
Nationality: Russian
Apps/Goals: 0/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Alania, Zenit
Another new boy, pacey Russian full back who loves to get forward and support the attack.
3. Antons Kurakins
Age: 29
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 36/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 9/0
Former Clubs: Daugava D, Ventspils, Stranraer, Brechin, Celtic, Rezekne
Reliable left back who had a spell in Scotland with Celtic which included loans at Brechin and Stranraer. Since returning to his homeland in 2011 with Ventspils Antons has gone from strength to strength, earning his first international cap against Bosnia in 2013. I brought him to Skonto from Daugava in 2017 for £150k where he has been a very solid fullback.
4. Sergejs Melgavis
Age: 25
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 121/9
Int. Caps/Goals: 35/1
Former Clubs: Jagiellonia
A Skonto trainee who left the club in 2016 to go and play in Poland with Jagiellonia, however after two seasons in Poland he was happy to return for £275k last August, although an injury sustained shortly after his arrival prevented him from making his first team return until October.
5. Artjoms Davidovs
Age: 27
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 58/5
Int. Caps/Goals: 2/0
Former Clubs: N/A
Brave centre back who was a regular, however his starting place is no longer guaranteed following the arrivals of Melgalvis and Skabardis, he could well find himself moving on.
14. Hugo Angeles
Age: 25
Nationality: Peruvian
Apps/Goals: 35/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Real Garcillaso
A good left back who regularly rotates with Antons Kurakins although the South Americans lack of bravery makes me favour Kurakins for big games.
15. Ivans Gorkss
Age: 20
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 31/2
Int. Caps/Goals: 1/0
Former Clubs: N/A
Skonto trainee who last season put in performances that belied his tender age, in fact he has shown so much promise that he has already been handed his first senior cap for Latvia after starting in a friendly against Wales. Can play either right or left fullback comfortably.
21. Aleksejs Skabardis
Age: 19
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 18/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 1/0
Former Clubs: Rezekne
Joined us last summer after an impressive début season for Rezekne, he has largely played in cup games so far but will surely break into the team before long. He also made his international debut against Wales.
23. Mihails Ivanovs
Age: 17
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 0/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: N/A
Rookie centre back who has an exciting future ahead of him, has featured in a few cup games but is yet to make his Virsliga bow, although he is a regular for my Latvian under-21's.
Vitalijs Agafonovs
Age: 16
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 0/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Daugava D. (loan)
Made his league début aged just 14 years old during a loan spell with Daugava where he made another 10 appearances that season, still just the one substitute run out for us although he is really one to watch. another who is a member of my U21's.
6. Vitalijs Smirnovs
Age: 21
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 43/3
Int. Caps/Goals: 9/0
Former Clubs: Daugava D. (loan)
An outstanding young player who holds back and defends whilst his fellow midfielder's get forward, he has all the attributes of a great captain and had it not been for his tender age I would have appointed him this season, however some of the older players may have had issues with it so Tarasovs will be interim captain and Smirnovs his vice-captain until he's ready to take over.
7. Aivarus Mockus
Age: 25
Nationality: Lithuanian
Apps/Goals: 24/5
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Siauliai, Ekranas
Nimble right winger who I forked out £170k for last season after he impressed me in our Baltic league tie with Siauliai, excellent dead ball specialist who scored some beautiful freekicks last term.
8. Vitalijs Trofimovs
Age: 24
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 86/12
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: N/A
Fine young midfielder who has been at the club since graduating from the academy in 2013 and has gone one to become a good all round central midfielder who can support the attack as well as sit back and defend. I'm surprised he has been overlooked by the national team so far.
10. Valdis Riherts
Age: 24
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 146/68
Int. Caps/Goals: 25/5
Former Clubs: N/A
Valdis used to be a striker, however my systems usually favour utilising a single forward with two supporting wingers cutting inside, after a little retraining he made the transition to wide man and still manages to chip in with goals fairly regularly.
11. Vjaceslavs Isajevs
Age: 25
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 101/8
Int. Caps/Goals: 24/0
Former Clubs: Olimps
A veritable veteran by our young sides standards, Isajevs has been at the club since 2011 when he arrived from Olimps, he's gone on to make over 100 Virsliga appearances as well as becoming a regular for the national side. Like Trofimovs he can both attack and defend efficiently from his central position.
16. Nail Zamaliev
Age: 29
Nationality: Russian/Latvian
Apps/Goals: 37/7
Int. Caps/Goals: 5/0
Former Clubs: Tom Tomsk, Sheriff, Torpedo Moscow, Dinamo Moscow
Nail holds duel nationalities between Russia and Latvia, he recently broke into the Latvian squad after his £170k move to us from Russian side Tom. A highly intelligent and creative central midfielder who when in form is irrepressible in Virsliga.
17. Marco Meilinger
Age: 27
Nationality: Austrian
Apps/Goals: 0/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Watford, Gotenborg, Red Bull Salzberg
A brand new left winger who looks a real talent despite being released from Premier League Watford.
18. Viorel Petre
Age: 20
Nationality: Romanian
Apps/Goals: 16/3
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Dinamo Bucharest
The Romanian under-21 is back for a second year on loan from Dinamo Bucharest (our parent club) he proved a wonderful asset last year, very creative and hard working and determined, all the attributes you could wish for in a play maker. His Dinamo contract expires at the end of May so I may well try and snap him up permanently.
19. Olexiy Babyr
Age: 28
Nationality: Ukranian
Apps/Goals: 0/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Volyn, Krymteplytsya, Simferopol
The most expensive player in Latvian football history as I shattered the transfer record this summer by paying a cool £1M to bring the Ukrainian right winger to Skonto, I'm confident he will prove worthy of such a fee with his outstanding work rate and crossing abilities.
20. Roberts Laizans
Age: 20
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 31/2
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: N/A
Former academy star who has taken his first steps in the seniors, started playing regularly last season after injuries to Isajevs and Smirnovs, Roberts proved himself a capable rotation option, earning him the captains armband for my Latvian U21's in the process.
9. Janis Krasovskis
Age: 28
Nationality: Latvian
Apps/Goals: 0/0
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Daugava
A Skonto newbie who I forked out £200k to bring in from Daugava after he won the golden boot last season, scoring 31 times in 34 games, Hopefully he can continue with that sort of ratio for us.
12. Christian Gutierrez
Age: 27
Nationality: Uruguayan
Apps/Goals: 104/34
Int. Caps/Goals: 0/0
Former Clubs: Defensor Sporting
I did wrestle with the decision to keep Christian after a poor season last year, however I have opted to keep him as backup to Krasovskis and Tomasiwicz, hopefully he can regain some of his form from a few years ago when he was deadlyin front of goal.
96. Grzegorz Tomasiewicz
Age: 22
Nationality: Polish
Apps/Goals: 20/17
Int. Caps/Goals: 2/0
Former Clubs: Legia, Daugava D. (loan)
The Polish hitman helped us to secure the title last season, I snapped him up for £375k from Legia in the transfer window last season, I first saw him during his loan spell at Dugava when he scored against us a couple of times, I had been a fan ever since and when the chance to sign him came up I couldn't pass up the opportunity.
#84517 Rick's Career
I have a clutch of new signings to unveil, but first there was the small matter of the Livonia cup final to attend to;
It was a tough game as the champions of Latvia and Estonia locked horns, however I used my substitutions wisely, unlike my opposite number who found himself down to ten men through injury for extra time after having used up all his changes, a situation my team exploited ruthlessly as midfielder's Smirnovs and Trofimovs struck to secure back to back wins in this competition.
Right on to transfers, I'm not going to go into much detail yet as I'm planning on doing a guide to my squad in the next post.
Janis was the Virsliga's top goalscorer last term when he struck 31 in 34 games for Daugava, sgned for £200k
A new Latvian transfer record was set when I parted with £1M to bring the Ukranian to Skonto.
Back on loan for a second season.
Former Watford winger who found himself released by the Hornets after their relegation from the EPL.
Signed for £250k from Russian side Alania as a replacement for Andy Graham who has now become my assistant manager.
Backup goalkeeper signed from Olimps for £75k.
And here is the outgoing list;
#84504 Rick's Career
Skonto Stadium, Riga
We finished off the season fairly well as my fringe players and youth starlets made their final cases for new contracts in the last three league games, the first team also put on a courageous show to come back from 2-0 down in our Baltic League tie to win and advance to the last eight of the competition.
With us 1-0 down from the first leg our hopes of a place in the quarter finals of the Baltic Leagues looked to be dashed when Olimps stole a crucial away goal shortly after the half hour mark, meaning we would have to score three times, my half time team talk did the trick as an own goal shorty after the re-start invigorated my side who sensed weakness within the Olimps ranks, Grzegorz Tomasiewicz made it put us ahead on the night with an hour gone but that still wouldn't be enough as Olimps had an away goal, with twelve minutes remaining Polish forward Tomasiewicz pulled it out of the
bag as he calmly slotted home to swing the pendulum back in our favour, a lead which proved decisive as we advance to face Estonian side JK Trans in the last eight. I'm going all out to collect the Baltic League this season as could then say I have won everything on offer to Skonto before I leave Latvia.
Olimps got a measure of revenge in the subsequent Virsliga game, but with the title already sewn up I wasn't too bothered, a 5-0 win over Spartaks more than made up for our lacklustre performance against Olimps before we rounded out the season with a final win over Rezekne as we surpassed last years points total by six.
I'm shocked that Rezekne were able to come second, although they do have a good youth system which has supplied several of my Latvian under-21's. Neither of our traditional rivals Ventspils or Metalurgs ever looked like stopping us, whether they will be more of a challenge next year I don't know.
No surprise there, his arrival last July really fired us to the title, he came second in scoring chart behind Daugava's Janis Krasovskis (who could well be a Skonto player next season) with twenty Virsliga goals, he also won his first cap for his native Poland in August when he came against Estonia.
Grzegorz also joins the ranks of our all time XI;
There was also an under-21 game to oversee this month;
Absolutely gutting ending! Conceding in the 89th minute was cruel but to equalise and then lose it again was excruciating. Still the lads can take a lot of positives from that game as they refused to be overrun by a much stronger Russian side.
We're at home to Romania next March where we will have to do better than the 4-1 defeat we suffered in Bucharest, if we get a point I'll be happy but Finland away would become a must win game as I can't see us getting anything in Moscow in the final game.
Haha yes, the dark days.
Yeah I'm hopeful, we are good enough to beat Finland, we just need a result against either Romania or Russia which will be easier said than done but we came so close to taking something from Russia this month that it seems possible.
Not really, I think it will be another job on the continent, possibly at one of the bigger Eastern European clubs as I've proved myself in Latvia, Russia seems like the obvious choice but Ukraine, Czech Republic, Romania or even Poland and Belarus would interest me if the right job came up, we'll see at the end of my contract with Skonto which runs until the end of next season. Certainly I want to guide the team to their twentieth Virsliga title and I would love to guide them into the group stages of one of the European competitions fr the first time, preferably the Champions League!
#84382 Rick's Career
A wonderful month saw us collect two trophy's in a action packed week, first winning the league title against hated rivals Ventspils which was incredibly satisfying and then collecting the Latvian cup in style against Daugava, combined with the Livonia cup we won back t the start of the season that makes a wonderful treble!
We bounced straight back from our Baltic League defeat to Olimps by tearing apart Spartaks 4-0 with Grzegorz Tomasiewicz netting hat-trick, the Spartaks defence was so bad they even allowed hapless forward Valerijes Sabala to score for the first time this season.
Relegation threatened Auda should have been easy pickings for us, however the greens showed some real character and twice came from behind to earn a deserved point as they look to scrape another year in Virsliga.
Fans were treated to what proved to be a most apt preview of the cup final as we took on Daugava, beating them 3-0, just like we would the following week.
Gulbene are one of only two teams to have beaten us this season, and they continued to be a thorn in our side as they delayed the title party a week by holding us to a draw after being awarded a dodgy second half penalty, however our supporters might have felt a draw was the best result possible against Gulbene as it meant would win the Virsliga against Nemesis's Ventspils should we win.
We took the lead through Tomasiewicz in the 14th minute, the Polish forward diverting Aivaris Mokus's low cross beyond the dive of my Latvian under-21's goalkeeper Maxim Uvarenko to open the scoring, the visitors hit back just after the half hour mark through Andris Kozlovs who you could well see at Skonto next season if I get my way but we almost immediately retook the lead when Georgian winger Alin Gheorghe belted home from just inside the box. Tomasiewicz scored what proved to be the title winning goal ten minutes into the second half after jinking his way through the Ventspils back line, allowing my team to see out the game and lift the title for the nineteenth time, an occasion made all the more sweet with the Ventspils players having to watch on.
Given our momentum going into the cup final I can't say I ever felt any nerves, however a rocky start soon made me begin to shift uncomfortably as Daugava began brightly, however a penalty decision against the run of play quickly changed that as midfielder Vitalijis Smirnovs lashed home the spot kick to open the scoring. Daugava were noticeable deflated after falling behind and rarely threatened us from there on as Grzegorz Tomasiewicz bagged two in the second half to leave the capacity crowd in no doubt as to the destination of the cup this year.
Those cup wins have helped me enter the Latvian hall of fame;
As I said previously, I intend to be the coach who guides Skonto to their twentieth Virsliga crown, My squad is certainly strong enough to do it next season even without any new faces. After that I think I will probably move on in search of more prestigious silverware but I've loved every minute in Riga so far and am already raring to go for next season, even with three games left to play in this one!
Away from Skonto, have also been involved in two under-21 matches this month;
Not a good result at all, Newcastle United striker Anderi Buta was just far too hot to handle as Romania exploited our weak back line mercilessly.
More like it!, three points gives our qualification hopes a shot in the arm, Russia are no doubt going to win the group, however I'm hopeful of sneaking into the play-off's by finishing second;
#84360 The Night Thread Mk. IX
Yoga?!?
I used to think you were cool.
#84335 Rick's Career
With the league season now reaching it's climax we look odds on to retain our crown, eight points clear with as many games left to play, considering we've only lost twice all season I think even the most optimistic Ventspils supporter will acknowledge that this is not going to be their year now.
We're also through to the Latvian Kauss final after overcoming a very hard working FK Jelgava side who really took some beating, still we emerged victorious and will face Daugava for the chance to win the cup for the twelfth time in Skonto's history.
A tight game with Olimps raised the curtain this month, Olimps's title challenege may have fallen away but they still proved stubborn opposition, it took us until midway through the second half to finally break through from a Airvaras Mockus freekick, the Lithuanian wingers fourth of the season before Polish forward Grzegorz Tomasiewicz wrapped things up late on.
Rezekne managed to snatch a point in the following game despite being dominated throughout, Mihails Tarasov cancelled out Valdis Riherts 57th minute strike in the 77th when he bundled home from a corner.
Next up was the cup semi final with first division Jelgava who gave us a tougher match than most Virsliga clubs usually do, as you might expect we did most of the attacking but the underdogs proved themselves almost impossible to break down as chance after chance was ether blocked by impregnable defence or their outstanding goalkeeper Germans Malins (A former Skonto player) When we finally scored through Georgian winger Alin Gheorghe I thought the floodgates might open, however Jelgava remained resolute and occasionally threatened us on the break. In the end though we held on and qualified for the cup final where we will take on Daugava at the end of October after they beat Ventspils in the other semi final.
Back in league action, a narrow win over the other Daugava club set us up nicely to pump rivals Metalurgs 3-0, Metalurgs have never really looked like one of the big three here in Latvia to me, I certainly can't see them winning the title any time soon.
Finally came the first leg of our Baltic League first round tie with Olimps, having already beaten Olimps this month I was perhaps complacent in putting out what was largely a youth team who struggled to cope, still I'm confident we can get a good result in the second leg with a more experienced side out as I look to try and win this competition for the first time.
The under-21's were also in action this month as we continued our Euro qualifying campaign;
After a poor start my team rallied magnificently after half time to storm back from 2-0 down to lead 3-2, it was a bit disapointing not to hold on for the win but still this is a decent point as we prepare for Romania next month.
#84315 The SAF Challenge
#84314 What's the last thing you bought thread
#84313 2013/14 Kit Thread
A lot nicer than some of these god awful Premiership kits.
#84194 Rick's Career
Yes mate, they have four or five of my best youth players at the moment, so they gain top division experience even though they would struggle to hold down a place in my first team at their current stage of development. RFS Riga in the first division are also a feeder. We are ourselves a feeder for Romanian side Dinamo Bucharest.
#84169 Rick's Career
Well assuming I win the title this season that would move Skonto to up to 19 Virsliga championships, I would like to guide them to the milestone twentieth crown as my short term target. Beyond that I'm undecided, I may stay on with Skonto and try to turn them into a force in Europe but I may just as easily move on.
#83978 Journey to Knighthood
#83932 Rick's Career
Well, our European adventure came to an end after first coming up just short against Basel in the Champions League and then suffering at the hands of Lokomotiv Moscow when we dropped into the Europa League. It was a bit gutting not to achieve a place in the group stages of either competition, especially as I would have been the first coach to guide a Latvian club to that stage, still, there's always next year I guess.
The game in Basel didn't get off to the greatest of starts as we fell behind after just two minutes and largely played second fiddle to the Swiss outfit throughout, leaving us with a real mountain to climb in the second leg.
We took our frustration from the midweek trip to Switzerland out on hapless Daugava with a resounding 5-2 win, Grzegorz Tomasiewicz got back amongst the goals with a brace after his initial hot streak tailed off a little.
The return leg against Basel was a much improved performance as we battled back into the tie, keeping the Swiss giants on the back foot throughout, Cavalo Ferreira's goal just before half time really got the stadium rocking as the crowd sensed the impossible becoming possible, unfortunately in the end we just couldn't find that all important second goal to end the game to extra time, however my players can take a great deal of pride from the heart they showed and can also look forward to a chance in the Europa League against Lokomotiv Moscow.
Another brace from Polish forward Tomasiewicz sunk Auda before the huge derby game with Ventspils, Scottish defender Andy Graham headed us into the lead after an hour, however that was cancelled out ten minutes later by Aleksejs Zdanov before a 93rd minute strike from Olegs Jakovlevs condemned us to a painful defeat, still just our second league defeat of the league campaign.
Next up was the first leg of our Europa League play-off with Lokomotiv Moscow which it is fair to say wasn't our finest hour as the Russian's more or less dumped us out before half time as Brazilian forward Leonardo tore our defence to shreds, scoring a superb hat-trick, this was the very first time I have lost back to back games with Skonto.
We bounced back with a comfortable win over Gulbene, revenge for them ending our 24 game unbeaten run earlier in the season before a much improved performance against Lokomotiv although it was never going to be enough the team did restore some pride in front of our own supporters with a battling effort.
So with twelve games to go we are now six points clear at the top of Virsliga;
I have some new transferss to announce;
Sergejs is a Skonto trainee who left to join Polish side Jagiellonia in 2016 where he struggled to hold down a first team place for a fee of £275k he returns to Latvia as a replacement for Oskars Klava who is retiring at the end of the season.
Aslan will join us at the end of the season from Russian side Alania for £250k, also as a replacement for a retiring player, this time for player/coach Andy Graham. It's going to be sad to lose Andy who has played for me at three different clubs and I'm sure he has at least one more season in him. despite my efforts to persuade him to stay on he has decided to go ahead with his retirement plans and become a full time coach.
There was once other game for me this month as I took charge of my under-21's in a competitive game for the first time;
I'm so disappointed with only managing a draw with bloody Liechtenstein, we should have won this one, I was relying on three points to get us off the mark in our group, a result against Finland looks like a taller order but not an impossible task.
#83741 Rick's Career
At the end of the previous update I pondered the possibility of us going through the entire Virsliga season unbeaten, the answer is no, the very next game we slumped to a dismal defeat to Gulbene to end out run on 24 games without loss, thankfully we took that result on the chin and bounced straight back, assembling a new streak which currently stands at eight games without a reverse.
Before I go into detail however I have two new signings to unveil;
A jumped at the chance to snap up Grzegorz who was released from Polish side Legia, I know all abut the Pole as he spent last season on loan at Daugava D, scoring an incredible 16 goals in 17 games, including a couple against us if I remember correctly. He should provide some real fire power as we look to wrap up Virsliga as well as help us be competitive in the Champions League.
The latest loanee from our parent club Dinamo Bucharest, Viorel will help boost our midfield numbers as the games come thick and fast.
A win over Spartaks has seen us ease into the semi-final of the Latvian cup against second tier side FK Jelgava so we look odds on for a cup final appearance this season which of course will be nice.
There was a win over Olimps sandwiched between emphatic demolition jobs against Rezekne and Spartaks in which new signing Tomasiewicz clearly stated his arrival by netting a hat trick after coming off the bench against Rezekne at half time to completely turn a game we were trailing 1-0 in on it's head.
The Polish forward helped give us a commanding lead in the Champions League qualifier against Bosnian side Siroki Brijeg by adding another two strikes to his name.
A win over rivals Metalurgs set us up for the trip to Bosnia for the return leg against Siroki which turned out to be a rather enthralling 3-3 draw which included a spectacular 30 yard free kick from Aivarus Mockus, sending us through 5-3 on aggregate to face Swiss giant FC Basel in the next round, can we upset the odds and beat Basel? it will be tough but in our current form only a fool would write us off.
Finally we faced Daugava in a rather one sided game, Mockus bagged another goal before his opposite winger Cavalo Ferreira rifled in an even better free kick than the one the Lithuanian scored in the previous game.
I also took charge of my Latvian under-21's in June as I suffered my first defeat in charge of the youngsters;
Thankfully this was just a friendly and a warm up exercise for my first competitive game against Lichtenstein next month which I will be expecting a comfortable win from as we begin the qualifying campaign for the European championships next year, even so it's never nice to lose, particularly to your neighbours.
#83702 NYCFC - With Custom Kits & Logo
You would lose all the MLS rules, drafts etc.
#83494 On the way to glory
#83474 Rick's Career
Hmmm, It's difficult to decide if May was a good month or not, on one hand we lost our grip at the top of the table after a series of uninspiring draws, however we are still unbeaten in all competitions this season and without a league defeat since the 4th of October last year, 24 games!
The month kicked off with a fairly straight forward win over Auda to ensure our progression to the quarter finals of the Latvian Kauss where we will meet Spartaks.
We looked to be extending our lead at the top of Virsliga against Rezekne, leading 1-0 with a minute to go not many would have bet against us, however a last gasp equaliser robbed us of two points and began an incredibly frustrating run of games for the club, draws against Metalurgs and both Daugava sides saw us slide down the table as far as fourth making some question how much longer we could stretch our incredible run, however my players picked themselves up with two resounding 4-0 victories, first against newly promoted Auda as Christian Gutierrez scored a long overdue goal having not found the net since the 1-1 draw with Olimps last month, The Uruguyan followed up on that strike with a fantastic hat-trick against arch rivals Ventspils to really re-enter the golden boot competition. This result was massive for me as it was my very first win over Ventspils at the fifth time of asking.
So we have lost top spot but given the signs of improvement in the final two games of May I have full confidence we will take it back from Olimps as we approach the half way stage of the season. The big question is perhaps could we possibly go the entire season unbeaten?
#83459 The SAF Challenge
You should go straight into the Europa groups if you lose to Lyon.
#83455 The SAF Challenge
#83437 Rick's big walk
A huge thank you to everyone who has donated, quite a chunk of that £600 came from Susie which is much appreciated.
If you havn't donated and would like to before the page closes you can do so HERE or by texting RKKA87 to 70070 followed by your donation amount.
#83434 The SAF Challenge
#83117 Rick's Career
Our unbeaten run in the league now stands at an incredible seventeen games, stretching all the way back to last September, unsurprisingly with a run like that putting wind in our sails we are sitting top of the pile and playing some good football.
We began the month in emphatic style by drubbing Daugava 5-1, Midfielder Nail Zamaliev having the game of his life as he orchestrated Daugava's downfall, scoring three times and assisting Cavalo Ferreria's strike to earn a standing ovation.
Not to be outdone, Uruguayan forward Christian Gutierrez promptly went and hammered in four goals in the very next game as we tore Gulbene to shreds, would you believe this was a tight game at half time which we were leading by the skin of our teeth 2-1? Georgian winger Alain Gheroghe impressed with a brace in his first start for the club, there was also a rare goal for Roberts Laizans late on which was nice.
With such momentum behind us you may have expected us to finally beat Ventspils at the fourth attempt since my arrival at the club and when we took the lead after just eight minutes the signs looked good. that was until the bloody 89th minute when we pissed it all away at a sloppily defended corner. I was fuming after that.
There was two more dropped points against Olimps who have started the season well, we came from behind to rescue a point but this is the sort of game we should have been winning. I do hold the upper hand over Olimps however, they have no fewer than four players on loan from us as they are our child side, all of those players have the option to be recalled so I could seriously damage their side should their title push continue.
Finally a narrow win over bottom club Spartaks reaffirmed our place at the top with two points breathing space.
Than you mate.
#83113 The Night Thread Mk. IX
#83111 Journey to Knighthood
#82982 Rick's Career
Group One
Faroe Islands
Georgia
Norway
Portugal
Scotland
Spain
Group Two
Finland
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Romania
Russia
Group Three
Albania
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Holland
Moldova
Slovakia
Group Four
Belgium
Bulgaria
Italy
Lithuania
Poland
Group Five
Austria
Estonia
France
Malta
Sweden
Group Six
Andorra
Cyprus
FYROM
Germany
Ukraine
Group Seven
Belarus
Croatia
Montenegro
Serbia
Slovenia
Group Eight
Azerbaijan
England
Hungary
Switzerland
Wales
Group Nine
Armenia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Kazakhstan
Northern Ireland
Group Ten
Iceland
Republic of Ireland
Israel
Luxembourg
Turkey
I'm fairly happy with our group, Russia will probably beat us but I think we could well get something against Finland and Romania if we play well. If we don't beat Liechtenstein we may as well call it a day.
#82916 The Lower League Thread
#82908 I manage a football team
#82877 Journey to Knighthood
Good luck with Killie mate!