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#34621 Audere est Facere
BOWC
#34397 The conquest of Britain
BOWC
#289430 Conquering Britain (British Steel 2013)
BOWC
Got carried away playing the whole season... A good season, missing out on the title because of the drop in form in the dying matches of the league. If not, Northern Ireland would be done bar a regional competition Mid Ulster, which Knockbreda aren't in.
2nd in the league means Euro cup for us, may be good for the finances and attendances this season! Hopefully it will put us in a decent financial state, since the club have been in the red ever since I took over.
The good form in the middle of the season also saw us beat Linfield the league champions 5-1 in the Co Antrim Shield. The lower teams are what cost us the title this season and if we just turn that around next season it should be a breeze to the title.
Carrick proved a tougher opponent and they took it all the way to the penalties where we eventually triumphed!
2 down, 2 to go in N. Ireland!
#31125 More Than A Club
BOWC
#31120 Maiden Europe
BOWC
#31119 Travelling across Europe - proving I'm better than Dan!
BOWC
#31117 Getting Around Europe Quicker Than Shedender
BOWC
#289429 Conquering Britain (British Steel 2013)
BOWC
Season Wrap.
Month of April kicked off with the Irish Cup Semifinal where we controlled the game and sealed the win via a strike from Maybin as well as right winger Coyle to send us into an unexpected Irish Cup Final.
This then turned our fortunes as we hit out at Ballyclare, as they had no response to our 4 goal thumping with goals from Buchanan substitute Frannie Collin, amateur left-back Gordon and Maybin and Coyle again, while they scored a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the game. This secured our 3 points, but as Dungannon won their respective fixture, they won the league, leaving us in secure position for the 2nd place promotion playoff
Then came the Intermediate Cup Final. As I would like to think we are the best team by far in the lower divisions of the Northern Irish leagues, this should have been a breeze, but they took the lead in the 14th minute instead. A loss here meant that we would have to stay in this division for another season to secure this cup. Fortunately the team knew and equalised through a good header from Needham. and the rest is history.
The last game of the league had us visit Newry in a deadweight fixture for us as we had already secured second place. This allowed us to rest some key players for the Irish Cup Final and the Promotion playoffs that were coming in May. 2 goals from Jamie Rainford and one from a corner which Ian Singleton knocked in allowed us to have the greatest goal difference in the league with +17. 50 goals in 26 matches is nearly 2 goals per match and Maybin our top scorer accounted for 19 of those and Buchanan accounted for 8 of those. Maybin also picked up the golden boot award equivalent in NI and unlocked a steam achievement for me haha.
In May we had 3 extremely important fixtures and fortunately they were reasonably far apart.
Promotion playoff 1st leg was somewhat surprising, in a good way. Our unexpected contenders put 4 away goals past the struggling Portadown to almost seal the fixture despite a consolation goal from the home side, Maybin still having the scoring in his boots.
Next we met Carrick in the N.Irish Cup Finals, a massive fixture and one I did not expect to win considering the quality of the Carrick side.
2-2 at Final time was probably the best indicator of how the 2 teams fared against each other but fatigue was always going to play a part in the extra time. Lax defending by the other team allowed us to put 2 past them in extra time and seal the fixture and win the N.Irish Cup!
The last fixture this season was again against Portadown with the second leg of the promotion-relegation playoffs. all we had to do was not lose by 3 goals but the result was once again in our favour as we put 3 past their helpless goalkeeper and despite their second goal of the 2 legs, we showed our Premier League material and sealed the promotion for ourselves.
All in all the season has been greatly productive with unexpected promotion and 3 cups to go along with it.
Maybin has again been the light of my life as he nets 30+ times in 53 appearances definitely deserving the praise he's getting. Buchanan has been a valuable strike partner alongside him. Needham, Coyle and our central defenders Lewis and Singleton definitely were key players as well, racking up many goals in the process.
#289428 Conquering Britain (British Steel 2013)
BOWC
Sorry have been away for a while and couldn't play much overseas! Back though and will be posting again.
Good run of results in the league and the important cups for this season. Only losses come against Linfield the eventual Premier Division champions and the First Division towards the end of the season. Pretty impressive results allowing Buchanan to shine in the scoring department while Maybin starts to slow in terms of goals. All games besides the last 3 games and the cup win over Cliftonvillle were also conceding max of 1 goal, summing up the impressive defensive display from our team.
The great run sends us into second place which is the place with a playoff, with 2 games to go and 4 points behind the first place. Only a great deal of luck can send us into the first position, but I would gladly take the playoff spot!
#26557 British Steel Challenge
BOWC
#289427 Conquering Britain (British Steel 2013)
BOWC
No problems in the First Division so far!
3 of the 4 losses came in the league, the other coming from a big loss to Glentoran in the Co. Antrim Shield, knocking us out of that cup in the Semi Finals. Strangely enough, we managed to hit back in the League Cup just a few days after and take our revenge on Glentoran. Trevor Maybin still our star player hitting brilliant runs of form for many games before being quiet for a few. But when he scores, the scoring doesn't stop. He has hit at least 20 goals this season and has more than 3 hattricks already so far. With the league still at or about the halfway mark, he is definitely the key to our success.
Buchanan has hit some sort of form, allowing us to take the wins on the odd occasion that Maybin doesn't score and along with Needham, we have a pretty decent team that might allow us to contend for promotion:
In total 6 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses puts us in the top half of the table giving us a lot of room for error. 5 points behind the leaders Dungannon, which is big jump from where we were at the start of the season is encouraging and I would be expecting us to be able to claim some small cups this season.
The final of the Steel & Sons Cup was played on Christmas Day and boy did the boys get what they wished for...
A well executed finish Barry Coyle would never forget as he wins the trophy for the team despite the blemish of a late red card for James Lewis.
We dominated the game from start to finish but the 1 goal is all we had and I gladly take it!
First Division: 4th
Irish Cup : 4th Round
League Cup: Semi Final
S&S Cup: Winners
Co. Antrim Shield: Lost in Semi
Intermediate: 3rd Round
Dan: Thanks Dan!
#289426 Conquering Britain (British Steel 2013)
BOWC
As you can see, not too busy in the transfer window, though picking up gems of players in Welsh player Lewis from rivals Dundela and Singleton. Both will be present in our seemingly shaky defense this season. Hugh Maguire is just a player to add to the youth ranks to see where he can go from there, appraised highly by player/scout Buchanan.
Leaving, we have former captain Alan Inns who has been seeing more of the physio room than the pitch and the rest were just surplus to requirements.
Preseason went pretty well, big wins over lesser teams and a blip against Ballymoney followed by an impressive draw against Ballymena.
A poor showing against Dungannon in the opening match was clearly forgotten as we went on a 6 game rampage mostly in the cups. Trevor Maybin hitting 10 goals in the season this early due to the massive amount of fixtures we had. Clearly on form, he netted 3 goals against Churchill United and the fixture after against Top tier side Distillery he netted 4, really showing why he has been everpresent in attack last season and this. He continues scoring crucial goals every game, and for a 20 year old, is definitely a player i would like to keep to the Premier.
Strong showing in the cups, though not a strong showing in the league:
With 1 win and 1 draw out of 4 games, we have 4 points and lie in 10th place, still safe from the relegation zone. It is still early but if only we can turn our cup form into wins in the league we would be doing much better and could even try to push from a top half place in the league.
Charlie: Thanks Charlie, it's been pretty good so far, team has overall been playing well! Definitely looking to get more silverware this season!
#24485 DanW19's Journeyman Adventure
BOWC
Walshaw looking good there for you despite the assistant report!
#24021 More Than A Club
BOWC
#289425 Conquering Britain (British Steel 2013)
BOWC
A similarly decent run of fixtures picking less draws in the second half of the season but 3 defeats in total. However we did manage to get about the same number of points, winning the N. Ireland 2nd Division title with 3 games to go. With a total of 20 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses, this season has been decently successful we will be hoping to build upon that for silverware next season.
I can't say we were surprise packages considering Knockbreda just were relegated from the First Division after winning promotion a few seasons ago, but it is definitely nice to be exceeding low expectations and that can only mean good for me!
Trevor Maybin definitely one of our key players moving forward with a healthy age of 19 and Needham, the culprit of many spectacular goals may decline over the next season as he is well on the wrong side of 30. Michael Cunningham has been a rock at the back this season making extremely good tackles. Even though the coach's rating is only a paltry 2 stars, he played an average of 7.1 rating per game and I am thoroughly impressed.
Still a bit disappointed with the way we concede so many long shots from 20 yards, 30 yards. No idea who's at fault but it sure isn't great and we need to reduce those chances greatly if we want to do decently in the First Division.
Champions of the 2nd Division were Knockbreda F.C. of course.
Unexpectedly, Dundela and Sports and Leisure had a brilliant run in form, coming in 2nd place and 3rd place respectively, overtaking the midseason favourites to go up in Portstewart who ended up in 4th, and Lurgan Celtic who ended up in 5th.
At the wrong end of the table we see Wakehurst go down and H&W Welders the unfortunate victims of a relegation scrap.
On the cup front we did decently since the last update, with a big replay win over 1st division Ards and a subsequent narrow loss against another 1st division team Coagh Utd. Next season we will probably be competing on all fronts and trying to get those lower league cups in the bag before a promotion, so promotion isn't really the biggest thing on my mind at the moment unless we manage to get all the lower league cups in the bag before the end of this season. I forsee it to be a 2-3 season stint in the First Division if we manage to continue to impress with this great form and do not get relegated!
#23329 Ibrox Aces.
BOWC
Keep it up!!
#23327 More Than A Club
BOWC
#23323 Failed Attempt
BOWC
#23322 Around the World v3
BOWC
All the best with this! Impressive start to your career!
#23320 DanW19's Journeyman Adventure
BOWC
Maybe blow the wage budget to get a promotion on the opening season lest the declining finances decrease the wage budget next season and dampen your chances further!
#289424 Conquering Britain (British Steel 2013)
BOWC
Just hit January in the Nothern Irish League and Lady Luck's been treating me much better in NI than in England.
Same old at lower league clubs, getting rid of the deadweight high earners and replacing them with some quality and youngsters to save money and win titles, though none of the signings have been a revelation, most of them have gelled and you can see it in the fixtures!
A decent preseason, thrashing lower league sides and putting up a strong fight against higher league teams, we started the league with a loss to Dundela. A shelling afterwards, the boys put us in a dominating position in the league with a 15 game unbeaten (league) run. Looking good for the promotion now, and Collin, Maybin, Rainford and Needham have been key to our success in the league. However with us starting to concede more goals we might need to go a little more defensive so that we can grind out wins as the draws are going to hurt us.
Big wins over Lurgan Celtic and Portstewart though, they are our closest competitors and promotion will have to be 2 of these 3 sides.
So we are on top, leading the group with 4 points above next best Lurgan Celtic. We have already won 1 round against Lurgan Celtic and if it is still this tight and it comes down to the final few games of the season, there is another must win against Portstewart and Celtic. None of the rest of the teams look like true contenders but we will see over the course of the next 14 games!
We basically, with the exception of the Irish Cup, were knocked out on our second outing, first in the League cup by Lurgan Celtic, then in the Steel and Sons Cup against Bangor and in the Intermediate Cup against Chimney Corner. Didn't really concentrate on these cups and merely just took a chance to rest some of my key players during the match, so not too upset about that. We might be able to be competitive in the Steel and Sons Cup in the future, considering it takes place over a month's break in the league fixtures, keeping our squad fit.
Good half of the season so far, aiming to get a 65 points win for this league, which doesn't really look like a problem considering the gap in class.
Charlie: Thank you again! Honestly I was pretty surprised too, when I declared my interest I thought I was signing up for a Premier Division worthy club, but look how that turned out!
Dan: Thanks Dan once again! Luck's definitely on my side for this one!
#22840 DanW19's Journeyman Adventure
BOWC
I think he mentioned that it was a Blue Square North side!
#22817 Made of Metal - The British Steel Challenge 2013
BOWC
#22794 Rekindling The Love Affair
BOWC
#22793 The Midlands Man
BOWC
Will be interesting good luck with this!!
#22790 DanW19's Journeyman Adventure
BOWC
But England definitely is a good place to go to! Good luck! Hope my (bad) luck doesn't rub off on you
#22777 DanW19's Journeyman Adventure
BOWC
#289423 Conquering Britain (British Steel 2013)
BOWC
Taking over a recently relegated Knockbreda F.C. playing in the Second Division of the Northern Irish Leagues. Northern Ireland has one of the most cups in the challenge and would make for a good drop back down for the challenge.
Taking over Knockbreda is an advantage as they are definitely looking to bounce back up to the First Division which should mean that the first trophy in NI should be in the bag quite quick.
Dan: Yeah honestly would've been able to stay up if I had stayed, there were better games coming and I just signed a 36 year old Michael Carrick to play for us. Doesn't matter now, take the wasted year as a year off after the recent successes
Zan: Yeah didnt get a relegation on my CV, but still it's bad enough to have been sacked and I would've preferred being the saviour of West Ham. However, their expectations were too high for a club that had no players, so now they're wallowing in the depths of nPower League 2.
#22756 DanW19's Journeyman Adventure
BOWC
#22745 British Steel Challenge
BOWC
Haven't had the time to update yet, but I've moved on to N. Ireland too.