Hi, glad you can join me today on this fourth episode of the third season aboard Colwyn Bay.

The first of our matches will be against Birmingham for the 3^rd Round of the League Cup.

But before that…

Refused but with the Big Release Clause, I have that ominous fear. Let’s wait

League Cup 3^rd Round

Birmingham 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

Against fellow division opponents, it’s an emotionally charged match. Our lead is quickly neglected by Vincent and the momentum for each team goes back and forth until it’s all levelled and we reached extra time. The introduction of fresh legs (Wright and Graham for Maguire and Pike) boosts our performance and Deniol sealed our fate. The latter part of the extra time was pretty much all Birmingham and Brian Thomas was absolutely brilliant in stopping their efforts. Much valued win with 10 men.

Meanwhile…

Get well soon Eric.

The writing on the wall was there…

Quoting Slipknot’s Wait And Bleed song. “Inside my shell I wait and bleed”.

So long, Barry! Thank your for your services!

Let’s go see what I can pick up on the market:

There isn’t really an abundance of options in his position. Nothing on the transfer list, moving to Free Transfer and one of my scouts recommends this lad:

We lead at half time through RostNot really keen on the Injury Proneness 20 but well, no other choice. Let’s go get him

Game 19

Stockport County 1 – Colwyn Bay 1

Wary about stability in defense as my other DMC is injured, I chose a more defensive approach for this game

Lineup changes:

Pat Van Der Hauwe for Brian O’Leary

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• 

Well, we picked up a point. Stockport were a tough cookie and the dominant team in the game, turning Brian Thomas in one of the key figures explaining the final score.

A few days later, John is presented as our new signing

Welcome, my friend!

Game 20

Colwyn Bay 2 – Fulham 1

Now with Davey, back to our usual formation

We salvaged a win over Fulham thanks to Wigg after in the second half our efforts were repeatedly denied by Maik Taylor. Anyway, we were dominant through some portions of the match so it’s a positive feeling after all

Meanwhile…

This comes at a bad time. Van Den Hauwe to the rescue then..

Game 21

Bristol Rovers 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

Due to the international fixture of the Euro, lots of changes need to be made

Lineup changes:

Wayne Russell for Brian Thomas
Pat Van Der Hauwe for Gavin Maguire
Ricardo Gabbiadini for Glyn Hodges (suspended due to a red card)
Kit Parrish for Nathan Wigg

Another hurdle negotiated, even with the lack of many of our usual starting players. We got it all sorted out in the first half thanks to Griffiths and Pike. Bristol had a horrendous night at the opposing end of the pitch and barely gave Russell any sort of trouble. Vital 3 points and we are pressuring Coventry by the day.

Game 22

Colwyn Bay 1 – Colchester United 1

A topsy-turvy game which ends all square thanks to Kit Parrish. We squandered a lot of chances compared to the little effort shown by Colchester. Let’s forget and move on.

We looked bound to stave off a bad performance by collecting a point from The Victoria Ground but Hunter shot down our hopes. Gabbiadini went out early with an injury.

Game 23

Barnsley 2 – Colwyn Bay 3

Lineup changes:

Gavin Maguire for Pat Van Der Hauwe

Nathan Wigg for Kit Parrish

Damien Felgate for Aled Griffiths

Good win against a stubborn Barnsley team who just wouldn’t stay beaten until Chris Pike sealed the deal in the 74^th minute of the game, after a mistake from De Zeeuw. Good 3 points collected.

League Cup 4th Round

Chelsea 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

Before leaving, a quick glance at the standings

Glass half-full we could say, right? We’re 1 point closer to Coventry than last time and we have increased our distance with Norwich in the third place. If the form keeps going like this, we might earn direct promotion

See you next week with a brand new episode. Cheers 🙂