Autor: mardukowens

Seagulls’ Road To Glory S03E01

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Good day to you all! Welcome back as we bring Season 3 with Colwyn Bay to a start.

As a memory refreshener, we won Division 2 last year and therefore we were directly promoted to Division 1. We’re looking to a defender who can play in the anchor role to bolster the squad and we found a potential one.

Judging for his last name and his attributes he could be just that, a Savage lad.

Welcome Jamie!


So, this is our squad for the start of the season

Griffiths, Goss and Savage are the new faces in the block

This time around as I’m not in the need to spend a vast amount of time shopping around, I programmed a friendly against Salamanca to test the waters a bit

On this season, my idea revolves around this formation:

Friendly 1:

Colwyn Bay 3 – Salamanca 3

A few conclusions to draw out after this one. Firstly, admiring that the team is able to comeback from a potential defeat. Secondly, Van Der Hauwe and Young might be a bit too old for the defensive role. Might need to go hunt for a younger one and provide them with some backup minutes. Even so, as Spanish league isn’t loaded up, the Salamanca team had a base core and a bunch of grey players so the performance in itself is a bit of a question mark.

SEASON BEGINS! GAME ON, folks!

Game 1

Colwyn Bay 4 – Sheffield United 1

Any doubts arised in the friendly were quickly dispatched as we tear Sheffield to pieces and throw them to the ducks.

League Cup 1st Round, Leg 1

Colwyn Bay 4 – Bristol City 2

Ahh much better than meeting a Premier League at this early stage!
It was a bit of a strange affair and we dragged our feet for about 60 something minutes and then a whirlwind came up and we changed our fortunes for good. And even when Bristol reacted and probably wondered “what the heck is going on here?”, we punished them again in the 89th minute to capture the win.

Ah, bummer. He’d been doing well so far. Don’t worry Chris. We got it covered

Game 2:

Colwyn Bay 2 vs Tramere 1

Lineup changes:

Aled Griffiths for Chris Pike

After the first half drought, we started putting pressure on Tranmere’s GK until we broke through and opened the score. Our pair of strikers stepped forward to give us an important win and within just two matches, we lead the Division table. Hewitt scored for the away team but there wasn’t any time left to keep going so it really doesn’t taint our performance.

League Cup 1st Round, Leg 2

Bristol City 0 – Colwyn Bay 1

Lineup changes:

Glyn Hodges for Kit Parrish

Pat Van Der Hauwe for Damon Searle

With the result from the first leg, It was a good chance to give guys some minutes. With a bit of effort, we came out unscathed from Ashton Gate. Griffiths was our scorer after tapping a rebound from Hume. Apparently the harmless play enraged the home team’s gaffer as Hume was immediately subbed out after that.

Game 3

Colwyn Bay 0 – Stoke City 0

An uninspired 0-0 draw against Stoke in a tough and gritty affair where the actual highlights were Savage and Vinny Jones’ regen hunting down opposition players. In the end, they got away with it without a yellow.

Ah, you’re getting spoilt, aren’t you? Don’t worry. Long road ahead

Game 4

Oxford United 2 – Colwyn Bay 0

We got battered and bruised and Oxford displayed all of their arsenal against us. I’m getting antsy about the lack of goals.

So, just in case there isn’t something clicking, I went back to basics.

Game 5

Colwyn Bay 1 – Norwich 0

Lineup changes:

Mark Cross for Marcus Browning

The start couldn’t have been better as our first attack in the game ends up in a goal by Graham. In the And, it does do the trick. Low score had to do mainly with Dudfield having a terrific game and stopping our barrage of shots. But we overpowered Norwich and forced them to retreat the most of the game.

Before leaving, a quick look at the standings so far:

It’s a decent start to the season. We could’ve shared the spotlight with Colchester if it hadn’t been for that defeat at Oxford but as a I said before, it’s a long road ahead and I feel we can make it to Premier.

Now yes my friends, time to close shop for today.

Tune in soon for episode number 2 in this third season with Colwyn Bay. See ya 🙂

Seagulls Road To Glory S02E09

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Hey everyone! Well, I’m finally back to writing on a regular basis. Took a while but now I got the mojo back.

Last episode incoming!

We have 7 matches remaining to fight for the lead of Division 2 and earn direct promotion to Division 1.

Game 40

Shrewsbury Town 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

We could not afford to drop points here but the start was not optimal as we trailed 1-0 at halftime. In the second half, we made every effort possible to at least draw the match but chance after chance Doig remained stoic and rejected our advances. Fortunately, our perseverance paid off and we scored two goals almost in sucession. Coughlin scored through a screamer from the left side, and Felgate after some penalty box pinball in the 90th minute of the game. Well done lads!

Game 41

Colwyn Bay 0 – Crewe Alexandra 0

The goals dried up a little bit in this one but there’s nothing to be concerned about just yet. Hopefully we can do better against Bristol City.

Game 42

Colwyn Bay 0 – Bristol City 0

Lineup changes:

Pat Van Den Hauwe for Marc Williams
Chris Pike for Damien Felgate


And… we did not do better. We lacked a cutting edge here, only attempting 2 shots on target in the entire game which is a bit annoying. Anyway, the outcome is still joyous as the point was enough us to clinch direct promotion. A happy board congratules me after the game.

Game 43

Northampton Town  3 – Colwyn Bay 2

Lineup changes:

Brian Thomas for Wayne Russell
Kit Parrish for Glyn Hodges
Mark Cross for Richard Barnes

We allowed the lads to decompress a little bit, therefore they arrive at Northampton stadium a bit hangover from the celebration. Parity was broken in the 74th minute of the game when Gibb made a quick fire brace through the net and we only had a single attempt in Northampton’s goal from there on. No big deal

Game 44

Watford 2 – Colwyn Bay 1

First time during the season that I’ve been defeated in sucession. Despite being even in shots, Watford took the opportunity to finish it off with 3 minutes to go in the clock. Mooney with a long pass left Rosenthal on a breakaway and he scored the winner.

Game 45

Colwyn Bay 2 – Hartlepool United 0

Time to shake off the rust huh?. First half we were unsuccessful with Hollund stopping absolutely every ball aimed at him. We had better luck in the second though. Legg’s insistence in crossing the ball from his side finally paid off when he found Deniol well placed for a header twice, therefore picking a valuable win.

Second placed Colchester lost their match against Wrexham, which meant we won Division 2. Nicely done, lads!!!!

Game 46

Bradford City 1 – Colwyn Bay 5

The perfect way to round up the season. We play Bradford off their own park and Deniol Graham batters their defence scoring 4 goals.

AVERAGE RATINGS:

GOALS SCORED:

GOAL ASSISTS:

MAN OF THE MATCH AWARDS:

FINAL STANDINGS:

EUROPEAN WINNERS:

ENGLISH WINNERS:

FIXTURE RECAP:

AWARDS:

TRANSFER NEWS:

With Carragher gone, it’s time to go hunting for a defensive midfielder then:

Come again? Cool your jets right there, kiddo! You haven’t even played and you want £ 50.000!. Out the door right now!

Plan B:

Another one? Yeah, the exit door is right there, pal.

We got this one next to give it a go. And his attributes look a little familiar. Can he actually be?

Yes indeed. A regen of the Enforcer.

Ah, finally! Welcome to Colwyn Bay, son. Just tackle every guy you see with a different shirt colour than yours (not including the referee of course, ha).

We also acquired this fella in the attacking role, recommended by the league scouts:

And you can definitely see why:

The only thing we’ll be needing is a defender to replace the retired Mark Aizlewood and that will probably happen after the July 15th deadline when regens show up.

So it’s a wrap-up for this episode, folks.

I hope you enjoyed this second season. I’ll be back soon (I promise) with the start of season number three. See ya 🙂

Seagulls Road To Glory S02E08

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Welcome to episode number 8 of this save with Colwyn Bay.

Our next game is leg 2 of the Windscreen Shield Area Finals against Chesterfield.
Given the goal difference and the fact that Searle and Davies seem to be unhappy due to a lack of playing time, I’ll be reverting to 4231 for a few matches.

Game 36

Chesterfield 0 – Colwyn Bay 1

Lineup changes:

Tony Norman for Wayne Russell
Damon Searle for Mark Wright
Eric Young for Nathan Wigg
Darren Davies for Mark Aizlewood
Jamie Carragher for Damien Felgate
Carl Robinson for Glyn Hodges

We didn’t give Chesterfield a chance to even attempt to come back in the score. We are in the final again!

Game 36

Colwyn Bay 3 – Wigan 1

Graham is on top form in this meeting against Wigan and gives us a massive help to take the game. In the second half Wigan just resorted to crashing our attempts, many of which ended up in bookings.

Game 37

Blackpool 0 – Colwyn Bay 1

It’s a minging game, but we got it resolved thanks to Graham. Both teams shot pretty equally. Victory at Bloomfield Road!

Game 38

Luton Town 1 – Colwyn Bay 0

Minor setback on our match in Kenilworth Road. Fairly contested match between the two teams and thanks to Gray they prevailed.

The transfer deadline is right around the corner, and we are receiving offers for some of our players.

We agree on this one as Lincoln can provide playing time for our young guy

In this case, as Aled can also play in the right my idea is to keep him around. I rejected all offers but as he has a big release clause, Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth may force him to leave.

So.. Portsmouth wins the bidding. Thank you for your services Aled!

Game 39

Colwyn Bay 2 – Colchester United 1

Great opportunity here as we’re playing the second-placed team which is 2 points behind us in the standings

And we take full advantage of the opportunity presented to us. Close game but fortunately we are on the right side of a tight contest. Suspense was added with the penalty converted by Rodosthenous, but in the second half we managed to keep Colchester at bay.

FA Cup Quarter Finals Replay

Manchester United 3 – Colwyn Bay 1

What are we in for here?

Lineup changes:

Marc Williams for Damon Searle
Marcus Browning for Darren Davies
Damien Felgate for Jamie Carragher
Nathan Wigg for Kit Parrish
Richard Barnes for Mark Cross
Glyn Hodges for Tony Rees

The crowd in Old Trafford was stunned when the clock just read 4 minutes and our first attacking chance ended up in a goal. Unfortunately, that event seems to anger them and they come out with fury to retake the lead of the game. They added a third goal near the end of the game whilst we were forced to go defensive as Eric Young got booted. We’re out of the cup but the returning trip from Old Trafford was a joyous one, the lads did us proud.

Windscreen Shield Final

Colwyn Bay 3 – Leyton Orient 2

Familiar scenes in Wembley after our victory against Southend past year. Is the double up for grabs?

First of all, I’m sure if you’re seeing this you might be wondering what is Tore Andre doing at Leyton? Well, they bought him from Chelsea at 550K. With that cleared out, let’s talk about the match. It looked to be heading for extra time until Graham popped up with the winning goal, 6 minutes to go on the clock. Our supporters are delighted and we pick up the trophy again.

Poor Gavin.

Well done boys! Now time to focus on winning direct promotion.

However, we’ll leave that for our next episode as we bring the end to this one

I’ll be posting on Saturday the final episode of this second season. Cheers!  🙂

Seagulls Road To Glory S02E07

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Episode 7, folks.

In this episode we will be playing five Division 2 matches, the first leg of the Windscreen Shield Area Finals, and the FA Cup 5th Round.

Now, let’s get right into it

Windscreen Shield Semi Finals

Bournemouth 0 – Colwyn Bay 2

Aizlewood with a header after a corner kick and Felgate see off Bournemouth in Dean Court. Good result..

Game 31

Plymouth Argyle 2 – Colwyn Bay 2

In normal circumstances I would’ve been disappointed with a draw, but this time picking up a point has a lot of merit. We were down to 10 men early due to Aizlewood’s red card and our replacement Eric Young didn’t last very long in the football pitch, so I found myself playing 2332 without a defensive midfielder. Risky, but we made it in the end.

FA Cup 5th Round

Colwyn Bay 5 – Notts County 0

Lineup changes:

Mark Aizlewood for Jamie Carragher

The match itself was a very one-sided affair. We took an early lead through Felgate, who bundled in following some pinball in the Notts County box after a set piece. 2-0 came in the 31st minute when young lad Kit Parrish notched, leaving Notts County with a mountain to climb. The second half saw them pull one back, only for it to be disallowed, which probably deflated them further. From then on, we kept the foot on the throttle and we place a nail in their coffin with two goals added to Felgate’s tally and Deniol Graham scoring another.

Game 33

York 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

Struggling match for us as we draw in the first half and we aren’t able to capitalize on Conteh’s sending off. Eventually we get it done thanks to our captain.

Game 34

Colwyn Bay 5 – Wrexham 2

It’s a bit of a struggle but we pulled the trigger in the second half and the final score shows a very different story of what the match was.

Game 35

Colwyn Bay 0 – Gillingham 1

Woeful display here. Only a shot on target in the whole game and with the match withering away Hessenthaler shot us down and we lose points.

Windscreen Shield Area Finals Leg 1

Colwyn Bay 3 – Chesterfield 0

Things seemed to clear up when in the first minute of the game, Wilkinson is sent off. Out of nothing Mark Cross delivers an angled ball to Graham, the ensuing shot gets parried and Browning is there to pick it up and send it to the back of the net. A rocket from Parrish near the end of the first half netted us the 2-0. Graham added a third in the second half. Smashed right thorough Chesterfield. Good win.

FA Cup Quarter Finals

Colwyn Bay 1 – Manchester United 1

Massive test here, being the only D2 team in the fixture against the almighty reds. Can we pull it off?

Lineup changes:

Mark Aizlewood for Pat Van Der Hauwe (two-match ban due to disciplinary points)
Gavin Maguire for Jamie Carragher (cup-tied)
Richard Barnes for Mark Cross
Glyn Hodges for Carl Robinson
Nathan Wigg for Kit Parrish
Wayne Russell for Tony Norman

An almost fully packed Drill Field showed up to watch this game. We hold our head high to the comfort of our spectators and we will travel to Old Trafford for a replay. Collins advantage for United is quickly neglected four minutes later after Mark Wright connects a header from a corner kick. Grateful applause for our team.

Before leaving, a quick look at the standings in Division 2.

Doing very nicely with 10 matches from the end.

Time to put an end to the episode, folks

Next up, episode number 8 next Saturday. See ya 🙂

Seagulls Road To Glory S02E06

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Hi folks. It’s 2021 in real life and episode number 6 of this save with Colwyn Bay.

We open up with a match for the Windscreen Shield

Windscreen Shield Quarter Finals

Wigan Athletic 2 – Colwyn Bay 3

Lineup changes:

Marc Williams for Damon Searle
Jamie Day for Nathan Wigg
Andy Legg for Mark Cross
Mark Aizlewood for Mark Wright

Boy, did we have to sweat for this one. It was an uphill task as we went into halftime with a negative score. Nevertheless, we didn’t back down from the fight and managed to overtur it early just to found ourselves going into extra-time due to Brisco’s late equalizer. In the first extra-time, we strongly pushed Wigan against their own goal line, and Jamie Day (who wouldn’t love that young lad?) banged the net, giving us the 3-2 win. Onto the next round!

Game 27

Carlisle United 1 – Colwyn Bay 1

This next game is BIG! We have an opportunity to break away and lead with 4 points of advantage against our challengers.

But… we failed to deliver. It’s all level in Brunton Park and we still hold the lead of the Division by a single point

Bye Jamie! Always welcome whenever you want

Guess it’s time to look for an alternative

Looks good for a temporary loan. Let’s see what Liverpool thinks about it

Game 27

Preston North End 3 – Colwyn Bay 2

Lineup changes:

Nathan Wigg for Jamie Day
Wayne Russell for Brian Thomas

They got their revenge after getting them booted out from the FA Cup. Everything pointed to a draw in Deepdale but Ashbee had different plans and netted the winning goal. Anyway, Carlisle drew their match vs Chesterfield and the lead is still ours.

Just before our next game, a new player comes to Colwyn Bay.

Jamie for Jamie. Congrats man, you’re a Seagull now

Game 28

Colwyn Bay 4 – Burnley 1

The squad swings into action in the second half and Felgate dispatches a hat-trick to the delight of our home crowd.

FA Cup 5th Round

Colwyn Bay 5 – Luton Town 2

Making the best use of our stadium name, we’re actually becoming a Drill Field. By halftime it was pretty much over. Luton showed some courage by pulling back within two but the arrival of Chris Pike sentenced the score and Luton were forced to take a step back.

Windscreen Shield Area Semi-Finals

Grimsby Town 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

The rampant Seagull train continues to move forward and we pick up a victory at Blundell Park, courtesy of Felgate and Hodges. If you build it, they will come.

Game 30

Colwyn Bay 2 – Bury 0

Despite a cagey first half, we found a way through in the second one. Graham firstly and ten minutes later Felgate closed the match down.

Before leaving, a quick look at the standings:

12 points ahead of the last placed team fighting for playoffs. Anyway, given our current pace I feel we have a strong possibility of finishing in the top 2

With this match, we reached the end of part 6 of this series.

Stay tuned, folks. Chapter 7 will be up next saturday. See ya 🙂

Bidaia Barakaldora S02E07

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Hello everyone! Last day of 2020, and we’re bringing to you the last episode of this 2nd season with Barakaldo.
We are on the verge of achieving a top 6 finish, so I hope that we do well in these last 4 matches.

Game 35

Barakaldo 0 – Celta 0

Lineup changes:

Gorka Sangroniz starting, Aitor Iru as a sub

We give away the ball and we are awful in front of goal in the first half. In the second half we start to connect with some passes and Calle scored in the 65th minute of the game. Unluckily, he was deemed offside and therefore the goal was nullified. With 6 minutes to the end of the game, Ibañez is sent off so we have to settle for another draw.

Game 36

Oviedo 1 – Barakaldo 2

Lineup changes:

Aitor Beguiristain for Iñaki Ibañez, moved Oscar Alkorta to the right side
Jose Maria Bakero for Agustin Exposito

We scrape a win at Carlos Tartiere despite not being the dominant team in the match. Sangroniz with a fantastic performance was the key man that allowed to take 3 points from Oviedo

Game 37

Barakaldo 1 – Merida 0

A game that we dominated but we failed to score more than the shots we created. Need to carry this on to the next game to finish 4th. My pursuers, Betis and Atletico Madrid won their respective matches and they could have the chance to finish higher in the standings.

Game 38

Zaragoza 2 – Barakaldo 1

Even match between the two sides, our finishing was not our strongest point on this Saturday. Zaragoza did a better job than us and they capitalized twice.

FINAL STANDINGS:

What can I say? Despite losing the fourth place in the final matchday, I feel we have a reason to be very proud of what we achieved this season . 6th place in my first attempt at the top flight is an awesome result.

FULL FIXTURE RECAP:

UEFA Competitions results:

ANNUAL AWARDS:

In a very weird twist of fate, Joachim Low decided to coach Extremadura after getting sacked from Stuttgart

AVERAGE RATINGS

GOALS SCORED

GOAL ASSISTS

MAN OF THE MATCH AWARDS

And so my friends, it’s time to bring this episode to an end. Our second season is over with a great outcome. Hope you enjoyed it as well.

Have a happy 2021 and will see you soon with season number three with this team. Agur and Aupa Barakaldo!

Bidaia Barakaldora S02E06

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Hi! Welcome to episode number 6 of this second season with Barakaldo.
We are getting closer to finishing this season. We will be covering from matchday 28 to 34

Game 28

Racing Santander 0 – Barakaldo 1

A very even match between our two teams. The parity was broken in the second half thanks to Zamarripa, and from then on we traded blows until the clock ran out. A nice away win and a clean sheet at El Sardinero.

No big issue here

Game 29

Barakaldo 5 – Logroñes 1

We completely ran over Logroñes as you may judge from the ratings. The visitors pull one back and we lead 3-1 at half-time. However, the show didn’t stop there and we added two more in the second half. Showtime at Lasesarre.

Gee. That’s unfortunate!

Game 30

Tenerife 2 – Barakaldo 0

Tenerife put the game to rest early and then cruised around whereas our guys were completely absent in the first half. In the second half, the few 20 minutes we tried to get back into the game with a couple of shots but then Tenerife took over until the match ended. We couldn’t handle them today and we are defeated at the Heliodoro Rodriguez.

Game 31

Barakaldo 1 – Atletico Madrid 0

Both goalkeepers had a lot of activity throughout the match, with Atletico pushing hard in the first twenty minutes. Roberto Martinez managed to put a dent in their intentions and slotted a goal in the 25th minute of the game. In the second half Atletico attempted to charge at us again but their efforts were quickly diminished by Iru. We put up a real good fight as well, but the score remains unchanged, 1-0 victory for us

Game 32

Sevilla 0 – Barakaldo 0

Amazingly lucky to escape from Sanchez Pizjuan with a point. Our display of football was atrocious. The first chance we had to at least score a goal came up after 70 minutes of play! The rest of the match we spent it stopping and clearing balls from our goal.

Game 33

Barakaldo 1 – Athletic Bilbao 2

Lineup changes:

Iñaki Ibañez for Dani Alonso
Dani Alonso for Asier Ipiña
Alexis Lamar for Iñaki Aldalur

Hopefully we can have a good opportunity here. Athletic played on Thursday for the UEFA Cup Semi-finals and their legs maybe are not that fresh.

It looked like that in the first half as we hold the lead into halftime. However, the story was much different in the second half. Athletic woke up and a few minutes after the start Ziganda levelled the game. Siegl clobbered us in the 73th minute after a cross from Ovidiu Sabau. Our finishing suffered as we were well off target today, and paid the price.

But, before our next match..

Game 34

Espanyol 2 – Barakaldo 1

Lineup changes:

Pedro Arozarena for Antonio Pizo Gomez
Hector Victor Sanz for Dani Alonso

Tough game, and we come out with just a 2-1 loss. I say just because Bestchastnykh missed a penalty which would’ve meant another goal to their tally. We showed our hand in the first half when we managed to level quickly after falling victim to Constantin Galca’s goal. In the second half our display of football was gone and Espanyol kept knocking at our door until they found out a break-in. Betis and Atletico Madrid are breathing down our neck for taking over the 4th spot in the standings.

And so my friends, it’s time to bring this episode to an end.

Last episode will be up in a few hours 🙂

Seagulls Road To Glory S02E05

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Welcome to the fifth episode of this save with Colwyn Bay.

We begin with a match for the Windscreen Shield.

Windscreen Shield 2nd Round

With Felgate back into action, we return to the 2332 formation

Lineup changes:

Russell Coughlin for Pat Van Der Hauwe
Mark Wright for Eric Young
Tony Rees for Ricardo Gabbiadini
Demien Felgate for Damon Searle

Hartlepool United 0 – Colwyn Bay 1

Rowlands give us the lead just before half time. We tried to hold our ground considering our latest loss against Hartlepool and we managed to do so after a quiet display from their side.

Wow! Easy on each other, lads! Geez.

FA Cup 2nd Round

Colwyn Bay 8 – Halesowen 1

Lineup changes:

Marc Williams for Jamie Day (cup-tied)
Glyn Hodges for Andy Legg

Against non-league Halesowen, we run riot right from the get-go and the result is an obvious indication of how one-sided this match was. The board enjoyed the hell out of it.

League Cup 4th Round

Newcastle United 2 – Colwyn Bay 0

Lineup changes:

Gavin Maguire for Mark Aizlewood

We weren’t able to give them a shock. Thomas held his own until the closing stages of the first half where we found ourselves 2 goals down and we couldn’t recover. End of the run in the League Cup.

Game 23

Colwyn Bay 4 – Bradford 0

Lineup changes:

Jamie Day for Marc Williams

Bounced back after the defeat against Newcastle. There wasn’t much that Bradford could do to stop us from taking the win. 3-0 up at halftime, it seemed like the match was already sorted. As the second half started, Felgate added a 4th goal. From then on, cruise control until the end of the match.

Game 24

Colwyn Bay 5 – Oldham Athletic 0

Lineup changes:

Chris Pike for Wayne Russell

Another convincing performance and football lecture, this time against Oldham. We slot three past them at half-time, adding two more in the second half to seal the game definitely

Game 25

Millwall 2– Colwyn Bay 0

Lineup changes:

Mark Cross for Tony Rees

The visit to Millwall served as a remainder to avoid getting too cocky. Both teams failed in the accuracy department, but at least Millwall managed to score twice out of 12 shots they attempted at our goal. Bad day at the office, if anything.

Game 26

Colwyn Bay 3 – Chesterfield 2

We started with the wrong foot but the half time display can be deemed as hopeful. 2-2 meant the game was still up for grabs. Felgate with a second goal seals the deal and the remaining time left on the clock see us push forward to increase the score which eventually didn’t materialize. The bad side of the win is the injury to Browning.

Shake my damn head!. Anyway, staying put for the time being. If any other of my midfielders gets injured, I’ll have to look for a temporary replacement.

FA Cup 3rd Round

Colwyn Bay 1 – Leicester 0

Wheel of fortune is trying to clobber us and we’re being matched up against Premier League teams earlier than I expected.

With Browning out and Day out (cup-tied), I resort to 4231 again.

Lineup changes:

Pat Van Der Hauwe for Marcus Browning
Damon Searle for Jamie Day
Glyn Hodges for Damien Felgate

Oh boy, am I surprised! We took a good Premier League team away from contention!. Just as the clock was winding down in the first half, Mark Cross’s injury served as a catalyst to bring in Richard Barnes. Richard placed a magnific cross to Leicester’s goal area, which was headed by Wigg into the back of the net. In the second half, we intended to keep Leicester away from reaching our goal, and we successfully did so, thanks to Maguire’s 4 key interventions to stop them. The victory comes at a cost, though. Wright near the end and Cross picked up injuries.

We are well backed up so we can manage.

Before leaving, a quick look at the Division 2 standings:

Doing good. Let’s keep our hopes up!

And we reached the end of this episode, folks.

Join me next week for a new episode on this series. See ya!

Bidaia Barakaldora S02E05

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Welcome to a new episode of this save with Barakaldo.

A brief recap of last episode: we were defeated by Valencia in the Copa Del Rey Quarter-Finals, and we are left to focus on Primera Division only.
We will be covering from matchday 20 to 28.

Game 20

Barakaldo 2 – Valencia 1

Ibañez needs some playing time so it’s time to bring him in

Lineup changes:

Iñaki Ibañez for Dani Alonso

Agustin Exposito for Xabier Pantzeska

Apparently the Thursday game took its toll on Valencia’s players as we’re the ones leading the charge in the first half. We are very keen on the night and between Dani and Zamarripa sandwich a Chiesa goal as we hang on to take the win and valuable 3 points for the standings.

Game 21

Real Madrid 2 – Barakaldo 0

Lineup changes:

Aitor Iru for Gorka Sangroniz
Domingo Larrainzar for Luis Eduardo Dadie (suspended for two matches after his red card against Zaragoza)

Under the blinding lights and the huge murmur of Santiago Bernabeu’s stadium, we failed to deliver a good performance. Real Madrid couldn’t break our resilience in the first half despite being the dominant team. Unluckily our efforts were futile as we caved in minutes 61 and 67 when Joao Pinto and Fernando Sanchez scored.

Our next match is against Betis, and previously they played against Barcelona for the European Super Cup. The result was a great surprise, considering the level and quality of Barcelona’s squad (who are currently running first in Primera Division).

Holy moly, what are up to?

Game 22

Barakaldo 1 – Betis 3

Well, it wasn’t seven but anyway what a clinical display of football by Betis in our stadium. The start was promising as Dani Alonso netted a goal early but we couldn’t hold the advantage for long. First Finidi and five minutes later Solskjaer who races free and tucks one into the bottom corner give Betis a 2-1 lead into halftime. In the second half I made a couple of subs to attempt turning things around or at least levelling the score, but they were unsuccessful. Cañas adds a third goal in the 84th minute of the game and in the very last minute we have Iru sent off due to a penalty. Sangroniz goes in for Gurria and stops the penalty.

Game 23

Hercules 1 – Barakaldo 4

Judging from the score at half-time, you would have never guessed that it would end up this way. We lost Arozarena early and as I didn’t have another right full-back to sub in, I had to place Matxon in that position. The idea was to keep the formation

until the end of the game. That plan however, was changed after Maestri levelled the game and our guys put the foot on the throttle, adding two more goals to make it 3-1. After that I decided to play with 3 central defenders at the back and sub in Uribarrena for Dani. Our attacking form didn’t stop just there and in the 80th minute Gurria placed the final 4-1 while the clock swiftly ran away from Hercules. Great win.

Ok. No worries for the moment. Pizo Gomez will be up for this

Game 24

Lineup changes:

Lamar Alexis for Aitor Iru
Antonio Pizo Gomez for Pedro Arozarena

Barcelona 1 – Barakaldo 0

OK, time to face Primera Division’s leader in their home turf. Honestly, it wasn’t the beating that I had anticipated in my head. In fact, the first 15 minutes of the match we had the edge over them and we had got closer to their goal than what they did. But, it’s Barcelona and their class eventually showed when a cross from Ortega was connected by Rivaldo. We didn’t give up though, and in any of the corners taken by us, I expected a Bakero’s miracle header that would level the game. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen and close to the end of the game we had our biggest threat in Barcelona’s goal. A shot taken by Calle hit the crossbar and Gurria had the opportunity to send it in the back of the net with Vitor Baia smothering the ball and denying us. Proud of this lot for standing up in a stadium packed with more than 100.000 souls

Game 25

Barakaldo 3 – Deportivo La Coruña 0

Lineup changes:

Oscar Alkorta for Hector Victor Sanz
Aitor Iru for Lamar Alexis

Inspiring victory from our boys, who were solid on defense and didn’t allow a shot on target from Deportivo in the entire game. Alkorta made a very good comeback, and i plan to keep him a while in the lineup if he doesn’t get injured again. Brilliant victory!

Game 26

Sporting Gijon 0 – Barakaldo 0

Other than Sangroniz, the match looked like we didn’t show up at all at El Molinón. Sporting tried in every possible way but they were unsuccessful. We collect a good away point and Sangroniz is crowned Man Of The Match.

Game 27

Barakaldo 1 – Valladolid 1

Despite showing superiority during the match, we weren’t able to hold the lead with Turiel scoring after a scramble in the last minute of the first half. The second half was pretty much all ours, Valladolid only attempted one shot through Boutoille but Cesar denied us twice while we were trying to win. One point for each side

Before wrapping up the episode, let’s take a quick look at the standings

It’s pretty much a fact that we will end up this season at least in the top 8, so it’s a very good performance by this group of lads

After this match, we reached the end of episode number 5.

Stay tuned for our next episode with Barakaldo. See ya 🙂

Seagulls Road To Glory S02E04

/ mardukowens / Deja un comentario

Hi, glad you can join me today on this fourth episode of the second season onboard with Colwyn Bay.

We begin playing against Gillingham for the 3rd Round of the League Cup.

But before that.. We open up with some good news. Prodigal son is back!

Yes!

League Cup 3rd Round

Gillingham 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

As he’s cup-tied, Jamie won’t be able to play here so his debut will be against Crewe

Maguire’s sending off could’ve been a major setback as it gave Gillingham a great opportunity to go ahead in the score. However, Martin Hayes failed the penalty and we escape unscathed from that. In the hopes of placing a bit more order into the team, I took Felgate out and placed Hodges to help Browning in the midfield as I brought Coughlin closer to our own area. We picked up a draw in the 90 minutes and with the clock withering away, Graham (who had replaced PIke in the first extra-time) gave us the winning goal to advance into the next round

Game 19

Crewe 0 – Colwyn Bay 3

Now that I have Jamie Day available, it’s time for a major switch in the formation. Initially I wanted to move to a 23122 when I got to D1 but given the fact that I couldn’t find good Welsh defensive midfielders, I’ll be trying this one


I’ll wait for a few more matches to see if this switch always works like this, but man what a terrific display of football in this match. We were absolutely all over the place, creating 13 shots, of which three ended up in Crewe’s net. Commanding victory at Gresty Road

Windscreen Shield Groups

Colwyn Bay 2 – Preston North End 1

We lead at half time through Rost, but parity is restored 2 minutes into the second half. It ends all-square and extra time awaits. I’m worrying about penalties, but Leónidas wins it 8 minutes from time with his 3rd goal in 2 games.

Football keeps going on and 3 days afterwards we have to play Preston again, this time for the FA Cup.

Meanwhile…

This comes at a bad time. I hope young lad Parrish can hold his ground until Nathan Wigg can return to playing.

FA Cup 1st Round

Preston North End 2 – Colwyn Bay 3

Lineup changes:

Gavin Maguire for Jamie Day (cup-tied). Moved Marc Williams to Jamie’s position

Things were looking pretty comfortable with a 2-0 lead at half-time and a player advantage due to Kidd’s red card. However, Preston were in no mood of giving up just yet and pull one back thanks to Ashbee’s goal. This was complemented by Macken in the 63rd minute. I tinkered with the arrows a bit, and it gave us a new lease on life as we mounted the pressure on Preston’s goal. Graham finally gave us the lead back with 15 minutes left on the clock, and we kept the foot on the gas trying to close the game. We scrape the win and we’re through to the next round.

Just as I was adjusting to the new formation, this injury delivers a temporary blow to our plans:

Game 20

Wrexham 3 – Colwyn Bay 0

Lots of changes for this match. We are scaling back to our usual 4231 as Parrish and Felgate were called by Wales U21 for a match against England. 

Lineup changes:

Brian Thomas for Wayne Russell
Pat Van Der Hauwe for Chris Pike
Damon Searle for Marc Williams
Eric Young for Gavin Maguire
Deniol Graham for Damien Felgate
Jamie Day for Kit Parrish

A very bad day at the office and a crushing defeat against Wrexham. Not much to say or congratulate here. Anyway, Shrewsbury missed their shot of getting close to us and drew their match against Crewe so we’re still in the lead.

Injuries:

Oh FFS. It doesn’t seem to stop

Game 21

Cardiff City 2- Northampton Town 0

A few changes:

Nathan Wigg for Rusell Coughlin
Tony Norman for Wayne Russell (backup GK on the Wales national team squad)

Gotta love Jamie Day, huh? The match slipping away with Northampton making a push to find a draw, the young lad showed up and thanks to a powerful shot cleared the suspense in the Drill Field air. 3 points at home and MOTM award for him!. The only bad bit was Brian Thomas leaving due to an injury. I hope it’s not very serious.

Phew!

Meanwhile, we picked up an offer from Sheffield Wednesday to get Aled Rowlands on loan.

I said I’d consider. Checking out Sheffield, they are playing Niclas Alexandersson and Di Canio in those roles and their squad looks like they have enough depth therefore I will decline afterwards as I want Aled to find playing time.

Game 22

Hartlepool United 2 – Colwyn Bay 1

Lineup changes:

Ricardo Gabbiadini for Carl Robinson
Aled Rowlands for Richard Barnes

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

So, let’s see how long he’ll be out.

Give me a break. End of the season for him

A few days later…

Can’t help but laugh.

Before leaving, a quick glance at the standings

We’re doing ok despite the lack of good form in away matches.

And…. we reached the end of the episode, friends

Join me next week for a new episode of this series. See ya 🙂