Hello friends! Greetings and welcome to the second episode.

In this new update we will playing from matchday 7 to 12 in Division 2, and the first leg for the League Cup against Watford.

Game 7

Colwyn Bay 3 – Bournemouth 1

We will distribute a bit of the playing time for our goalkeepers, therefore Thomas will be starting this match

Lineup changes:

Brian Thomas for Wayne Russell

Gavin Maguire for Mark Wright

Bournemouth are nicely dispatched at home despite the first half was quite even for both teams. In the second half, we stepped on the throttle testing Glass hands until Browning found a way through and put a bow in the score.

Game 8

Bury 0 – Colwyn Bay 5

Lineup changes:

Mark Aizlewood for Pat Van Der Hauwe

The can of worms got opened in the second half, and we took advantage of a good display of accuracy of our players who managed to score 5 goals from their 5 shots on target.

Game 9

Colwny Bay 3 – Plymouth 1

I’ll keep on rotating the bench a little to avoid having unhappy lads

Lineup changes:

Glyn Hodges for Andy Legg
Damien Felgate for Deniol Graham

We pull out with a win in the late stages of the game. Our young lad Felgate makes a great debut by netting two goals, giving us the three points at home. Another key performace was Eric Young who had to play out of position substituting the injured Darren Davies.

Oh snap! I have Van Der Hauwe for now, so we are ok. If anything happens to him, I’d probably go hunting on the transfer market

League Cup 2^nd Round Leg 1

Watford 0 – Colwyn Bay 1

Lineup changes:

Pat Van Der Hauwe for Darren Davies

Our momentum in the game lasted for about 35 minutes or so in the first half. The second half was just clinging on to the win until the whistle finally blew. I was unprepared for the three injuries and had to navigate the match as I could, including experimenting a bit with that little trick of placing your goalkeeper as a player and let the AI take the reign. And it worked, as Young was one of our top performers, firstly covering the left-back position and then as a temporary goalkeeper.

So now let’s see how much time will the injured players be out:

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Williams’ injury means that I won’t have any defenders to sub in case of an injury. I pray that everyone will make it safely

Game 10

Colwyn Bay 2 – York 0

Major surgery in the team needed after all the injuries

Lineup changes:

Mark Wright for Damon Searle
Chris Pike for Demien Felgate
Eric Young for Mark Aizlewood

Anything to worry? Didn’t look like it! Pike and Coughlin put the game to rest in the first half. York timidly approached our goal in the second half with no success.

Injuries just don’t stop huh?

Marc Williams is thankfully already recovered, so he’ll be making the starting 11 in Maguire’s place

Game 11

Gillingham 2 – Colwyn Bay 6

Similar in vein as the Bury game, with a slow start which turned into an action-packed match in the second half. We absolutely obliterated Gillingham with a phenomenal display by Chris Pike and contributions from Browning, Wigg and Glyn Hodges.

Enough injuries? No such thing.

Game 12

Colwyn Bay 0 – Blackpool 1

Lineup changes:

Mark Aizlewood for Deniol Graham (as sub)

Made the right choice placing Aizlewood in the full squad as Young goes down injured pretty early in the game. Nevertheless, and despite our best efforts inconsistency was evident today and we weren’t able to score. Blackpool took advantage of that and did their job. The result: a 1-0 loss at home.

Before leaving, a quick glance at the standings:

Still at the top with Carlisle breathing down our necks and Shrewsbury a bit farther away. If we keep this production, we’ll surely gain a promotion spot

This match marks the end of this new episode folks.

Join me next Saturday for more on this series with Colwyn Bay. Cheers 🙂

Hi everyone! Welcome back to a Season 2 with Colwyn Bay.

This is the squad we are starting in 1998

As you may notice, the only player we’ve acquired so far is Glyn Hodges.

We’re on the lookout for another attacking midfielder to add depth to this squad.

My target in mind is this young lad:

And we managed to get him. Welcome to Colwyn Bay, Kit!

Good!
I feel like we are well covered in every position so the idea for now is just replacing those players who leave the club.

Time flies by and we reached August. The first match of the season is edging closer, so it’s time to get ready for our first match.

I’m planning to keep my 4231 direct version that gave me good results in the past year.

Now yes, GAME ON!

Game 1:

Oldham Athletic 0 – Colwyn Bay 1

We rode our luck in this one quite a lot. Oldham had the edge throughout the entire game even though finishing was not one of their strongest points. On the other hand, we struggled to get a grip of the game and Evans made the best use of the only chance we had. Anyway, happy to get started with a win.

League Cup 1^st Round, Leg 1

Colwyn Bay 3 – Crystal Palace 1

Honestly, I cringed when I saw this on the fixture. Palace has gone down to D1 but if you take a look at their names they’re still a respectable side.
Little did I know that our boys liked the challenge and gave their 100% in this match. A 2-0 lead at halftime seemed inspiring enough and Palace never seemed to wake up from the grinding. We stayed on top for a comfortable 3-1 win in the end.

Game 3

Colwyn Bay 3 vs Millwall 0

Lineup changes:

Richard Barnes for Mark Cross

Really pleased with this performance. A fantastic start saw us carrying a 2-0 lead at half-time. We really grew into the game and it’s a fully deserved win.

League Cup 1^st Round, Leg 2

Crystal Palace 0 – Colwyn Bay 0

What is this nonsense? Somebody shoot the ball, dammit!

After the first half fiasco, things improved in the second half with Crystal Palace playing a tad better than us but neither side was able to break the score. Therefore, we’re through to the next round!

David last strings of good performances has caught the eye of West Ham United, who make an offer for him:

Of course my idea isn’t selling him, but given his Big Club Release clause there isn’t much we can do

19 goals in 25 matches with Colwyn Bay, well done young lad!. Hope for the best. Maybe our paths will cross again

Time to look for a replacement:

Very nice looking prospect. Hopefully he demands a fair salary.

Meanwhile, our next game is up!

Game 3

Chesterfield 3 – Colwyn Bay 5

Lineup changes:

Chris Pike for David Evans

Hell broke loose at the closing stages of the game in what seemed to be a calmly paced match. The second half saw us provide a lot of action towards Massie’s goal, and the score ends up in a 5-3 win with Deniol Graham banging in a hat trick.

Pike was out of the game with an injury, so let’s see how much he’ll be out…

Game 4

Colwyn Bay 2 – Preston 1

Lineup changes:

Deniol Graham for Chris Pike
Kit Parrish in the bench

The final result doesn’t quite match how superior we were to the Preston side. Anyway, 3 more points in the bag for us. Happy!

Nice! Welcome to the Seagulls, Damien

Game 5

Colwyn Bay 0 – Carlisle 1

Evenly matched game but unfortunately Graham wasn’t up for the task this day. Roberts from a corner kick managed to score the lone goal for Carlisle and it’s a bitter defeat at our own home.

Game 6

Burnley 1– Colwyn Bay 2

We will distribute a bit of the playing time for our goalkeepers, therefore Thomas will be starting this match

Lineup changes:

Brian Thomas for Wayne Russell

The start couldn’t have been better as our first attack in the game ends up in a goal by Graham. In the 37^th minute of the game, Browning breaks down the wing and pulls the ball back to Deniol who fires it home into the bottom corner and we lead 2-0 at halftime. Towards the end of the match Smith escapes in a counter attacking move and sends it to the back of the net to bring Burnley closer. The next 5 minutes they had two more occasions to tie the game, but they both went wide, and we take a valuable win.

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

So that’s it for this episode, folks.

Tune in next week for episode number 2 of this second season with Colwyn Bay. See ya 🙂

Hello and welcome along episode number 6 of this save with Colwyn Bay.

Before our next match takes place, we have some transfer news to share.

Game 27

Scunthorpe United 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

Lineup changes:

Damon Searle for Mark Wright

We’re getting quite used to a 2-1 win, huh? A very good match by David Evans who tried his luck against the other Evans and managed to come on top, scoring one. Nathan Wigg completed the score after a cross from Marcus Browning.

Game 28

Colwyn Bay 3 – Rochdale 2

Lineup changes:

Tony Norman starts, Wayne Russell in the bench

A bad first half saw us go down 2-1. However, in the second half we overcame the difficulties and turned the score around, thanks to a late winner by Gavin Allen.

Game 29

Colwyn Bay 0 – Doncaster Rovers 1

You have to make your chances count, they say. And… we didn’t. We had no shots on goal in the game, and the few that Doncaster managed, they made it count. It’s even worse when it’s one of “our” guys who did it. Jamie Day who is on a loan from Arsenal, just blasted a shot from the right side which Tony Norman couldn’t stop. Frustrating loss.

FA Cup 4^th Round

Colwyn Bay 2 – Millwall 1

Maguire was the man of the match in a pretty disputed game against Millwall. We came out on top and we’re through to the next round of the FA Cup.

After this match, Mark Cross picked up an injury

Windscreen Shield Area Semi-Finals

Colwyn Bay 2 – Hartlepool 1

Wigg and Browning deliver the goods at The Drill Field with Marshall bringing Hartlepool closer and attempting to ruin the party. Nevertheless, they couldn’t make it and we collect the win in our own backyard. We’re on the Windscreen Shield Area Final.

Game 30

Colwyn Bay 1 – Brighton 1

We were on the verge of pulling one of our trademarks this season, late goals that is. However, Allen’s goal at the very end of the game was disallowed due to an offside infringement and therefore the game ended up in a draw.

Game 31

Hull City 2 – Colwyn Bay 0

Hull City stifles us very early, and with an awful display of shooting we fall down with no reaction throughout the game

With this match, we reached the end of episode number 6 of this series with Colwyn Bay.

Stay tuned for our next episode. See ya 🙂

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

We begin with a match for the League Cup against Oldham Athletic.

Windscreen Shield 2^nd Round

Lineup changes:

Wayne Russell for Brian Thomas
Mark Cross for Ricardo Gabbiadini

Colwyn Bay 2 – Oldham Athletic 1

Hardly fought game which we managed to emerge victorious even having a player sent off. The penalty converted by Barlow almost put a pin on that, but Gavin Allen quickly reacted and we cling on for the win.

FA Cup 2^nd Round

Walsall 0 – Colwyn Bay 0

A rather boring match, with an off-shooting night for both teams. Hopefully we do better at the replay.

Game 23

Colwyn Bay 4 – Rotherham United 1

Despite a shaky start which saw us 1-0 down at halftime, the lads came with full-force in the second half, and put the hammer down.

FA Cup 2^nd Round Replay

Colwyn Bay 3 – Walsall 1

Lineup changes:

Pat Van Der Hauwe for Mark Aizlewood (suspended for the red card against Oldham Athletic)

At the Drill Field, we find our scoring touch and we clean up our image from the 0-0 borefest. The first one came after a corner kick. Allen’s header was stopped by Bonner, who parried the ball and the rebound ensuing was caught by Van Der Hauwe, who netted the first goal. In the second one Cross tees up Allen who steers home a low, powerful shot from the edge of the area. The third goal came when Allen hits a thunderbolt from nowhere which Bonner failed to catch and Allen himself was the first man to tap in to the open goal. Kane gets one back at the late stages of the game but by then there wasn’t any much Walsall could do to prevent our win.

Game 24

Colwyn Bay 3 – Darlington 0

Energetic start from our lads, who put us 3-0 at half time through Rowlands and Gavin Allen. In the second half each team had chances but the score stays put.

Game 25

Torquay United 2 – Colwyn Bay 3

Incredibly dirty game at Plainmoor which saw 11, yes 11! Yellow cards. 6 from our team and 5 from Torquay. They pushed us all the way, but nevertheless the boys didn’t back down, and took the win

In the 6 days separating ourselves from the next game against Peterborough, there were some transfer news.

Dean Huggins good run of performances has caught the eyes of suitors and they want to snatch him out of our hands. Wolverhampton offers 900K. OB Odense and Sheffield United also stepped in offering 950K each. OB didn’t to want to exchange players, Sheffield had nobody I could be interested in, and Wolves (despite not having any left full-backs) had this guy:

As Dean has a Big Release clause and we might lose him, I decided to accept this exchange.

It’s a real struggle to find Welsh full-backs that are available so the search is a little bit of a mix.
My targets are:

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The idea would be buying Searle and in case the deal fell apart, going for Vinicius or Briscoe on a loan

Game 26

Peterborough 1 – Colwyn Bay 3

Lineup changes:

Deniol Graham for Gavin Allen

With Peterborough running in 2^nd place, I expected a very gritty match, but it turned out to be completely in our favour. Nathan Wigg sealed the deal to neglect any attempt of them preventing our win.

TRANSFER NEWS:

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We got lucky that Searle’s deal went through as Vinicius and Briscoe turned us down. At the moment, I have a surplus of left midfielders so I’ll keep Carl Robinson on the loan deal he had at Lincoln.

FA Cup 3^rd Round

Colwyn Bay 2– Stoke City 1

A fantastic result against a D1 team like Stoke City. Our first goal comes after a great pass from Browning which Graham slots into goal. The second one came after a cross from the left hand side by Nathan Wigg was headed by Graham, got rejected by Stoke’s goalkeeper and then sent into the back of the net, courtesy of Mark Cross. Clarke attempted to pull Stoke back into contention, but from then on there wasn’t too much action.

Injury news before our next game.

As Thomas injury is for a couple of weeks, I will look for a replacement.

This guy seems to fit the bill:

He is able to do the job and probably won’t have much trouble if he doesn’t play regularly

Windscreen Shield Area Quarter Finals

Colwyn Bay 2 – Rotherham United 1

Lineup changes:

Osman Costas (grey player) for Brian Thomas
Eric Young for Gavin Maguire

On this new meetup against Rotherham, we had to fight real hard to get the win. We had an appalling shooting night, hitting the target 4 out of 19 times. The final goal came from a pass by Gavin Allen (subbed in for Evans in the extra-time) to Browning, who in the 119^th minute of the game sent us to the next round of the Windscreen Shield.

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

Join us next week for our next episode of this series with Colwyn Bay. See ya 🙂

Greetings and welcome to the second episode of this save with Colwyn Bay.
In our last update we had won against Doncaster Rovers. We will be now playing game 7 out of 46, against Hull City.

Game 7

Colwyn Bay 2 – Hull City 2

Lineup changes:

David Evans for Chris Pike

Tough and gritty game against Hull. Lots of tackles on their part, and we managed to scrape a point though, in our own backyard courtesy of Nathan Wigg.

Game 8

Brighton 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

Crazy game, but we were resilient enough to avoid being defeated in Ninian Park. Despite the 4 goals, our young defender Jarman was the man of the match with a key tackle and two key headers.

Game 9

Colwny Bay 3 – Colchester 0

Lineup changes:

Tony Rees for Mark Cross
Pat Van Der Hauwe for Eric Young

After a quite uneventful first half, hell broke loose at the late stages of the game and we managed to add a couple of goals.

League Cup 2^nd Round Leg 1

Derby County 2 – Colwyn Bay 0

Lineup changes:

Darren Davies for Dayfdd Owen
Russell Coughlin for Jamie Day

As expected, we weren’t able to handle them and we got beaten. Thomas was of the Man Of The Match as he had two key interceptions in the game and did a great job to prevent the score being bigger than it was.

Game 10

Colwyn Bay 1 – Hartlepool United 1

Lineup changes:

Dayfdd Owen for Darren Davies.
Jamie Day for Rusell Coughlin.
Mark Aizlewood as a sub.
Marc Williams for Gavin Maguire.
Wayne Russell for Brian Thomas.

Early lead from Hartlepool when Halliday plays through a lovely slide ball which Hunter, their left forward, fires low into the bottom corner. From then on, we trade blows until we finally managed to beat Hollund from a corner kick action.

Windscreen Shield Groups

Rochdale 2 – Colwyn Bay 2

Started well with an early lead from Wigg. Bailey equalised with a shot that smashed the ball past Russell. In the 83th minute they scored again, but we were able to neglect their advantage pretty quickly when Rees tapped in a rebound after a David Evans’ shot. In the end of the match, Rochdale had the last ball and fortunately for us the shot they took hit the bar and no one was able to tap it in. Fair result.

Game 10

Colwyn Bay 2 – Cardiff City 1

Philliskirk decides to shake our nerves for a while but Evans put this game to bed rather quickly by scoring a double. The rest of the game fizzles out without much happening.

That’s it for this episode folks.

Join me this saturday for a new episode of this series with Colwyn Bay. See ya 🙂

The premise is simple.

I’ll be attempting to do a Wales players only challenge. I’ve already seen people do it with Swansea and Cardiff, therefore I’ll be trying a different team. I’m choosing Colwyn Bay, who up to 2019 played within the English football system

I loaded the English, Scottish & Dutch leagues.

Goals? Well, the usual ones when you start in lower divisions, right? Within a period of years, attempt to establish Colwyn Bay as a Premier and European football contender.

This is the squad we begin with:

As they were non-league and had to put them in at the expense of Chester City, they don’t have any players

We only have a budget of 100 k, so signings will esentially be free transfer for the time being. We’ll need a little bit of a mix between Welsh and non-Welsh players to avoid having to play with “grey” players in the event we have players called up by the U-21 or the Wales national team.
Bearing that in mind, let’s hit the transfer market.

Despite the low stamina and strength, seems more than capable to do the job.

Experienced and seasoned guy with good defending qualities. Good influence too, so he seems like a good candidate to become the captain of this team. Either him or Van Der Hauwe

A few days later, we have news from these group of lads.

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Good! Our first five signings. 

Let’s go hunt for some more players to make up the numbers.

These are my next targets:

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Let’s see what their decisions are:

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Awesome, everybody signed up all of them. 10 players so far, let’s go get some more.

My next targets are:

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Let’s see what they decide:

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Nice! 5 more and we have a total count of 15 signings so far. We were lucky to pick Graham, as he was strongly recommended by one of our league scouts and was touted by teams with slightly better reputation than ours. We’re ok in the strikers and goalkeepers department so far. We’ll be needing a couple of central midfielders, two central defenders, a left full-back and I guess with that we could be ready.

Let’s get right to it:

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What’s it gonna be, boys?

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Another good signing party! We reached 20 signings now. As it was the case with Deniol Graham, gladly surprised that Andy Johnson decided to join us.

Up to this point, we have a pretty operational squad. We need just a bit more bodies to add  depth in some positions.

For the moment though, the first match for Division 3 is just around the corner so we’ll have to deal with it right away with what we have.

Let’s set up the tactic and prepare our first game.

Usually when I’m starting in lower divisions, I pick 442 direct but this time I’ll be trying something that has worked for me in Scotland’s lower level and that I used in Arsenal with good results
For those who have played CM 01/02, you’ll know this one as IodineCF

Game 1:

Darlington 1 – Colwyn Bay 2

A promising debut at The Feethams Ground.

After the match, we can focus in looking for that players who will provide what we need.

He’s usually released at the start of the season, but Arsenal have chosen to keep him this time. They made him available for loan though, so I’ll bid for him.

Very good attributes, and fits especially in the midfielder where I need players who can cover and pass the ball well

No need for introduction here. And as he’s available for loan, it’s my cue to jump in and ask for him. Maybe we get lucky.

We’ll have to wait a few days though, to know their answer. Meanwhile, we have a game to play

League Cup 1^st Round, Leg 1

Colwyn Bay 1 – Swindon 0

A good result at home against a D1 team. Hopefully it’s enough of a lead to carry on the next round.

Now yes, everybody answered.

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Unfortunately Notman rejected us, but the rest of the guys join Colwyn Bay. With 23 players in the squad at the moment, it looks pretty good. Even so, we’re not going to close the door on future signings, just yet. If we have injuries and called-up players for the national team, we will consider bringing in a few more.

Game 2

Colwyn Bay 2 vs Torquay United 1

Just a change in the lineup. Jamie Day for Nathan Wigg and we move Andy Johnson to the AMC role.

Our second win comes from an inspired Gavin Allen, who scored twice.

On the rundown to the 2^nd leg against Swindon, we have two injured players.

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Fortunately, by the time of the match Russell recovered well but as a precaution I will play Thomas and Russell will go to the bench.

League Cup 1^st Round, Leg 2

Swindon 3 – Colwyn Bay 3

Lineup changes:

Jamie Day is cup-tied, so we’ll have to revert to Nathan Wigg in midfield.

Brian Thomas starts, Russell in the bench

Close call, but we’re through to the next round!

Swindon won 2-1 in the 90 minutes, so we went to extra-time. We subbed in Deniol Graham and man, was he the right choice. His late goal three minutes from the end of the extra-time, sent us to the 2^nd round. Now we have to wait for the result of Van Der Hauwe’s injury.

Phew!, just a few days. No worries then.

Game 3

Colwyn Bay 0 – Peterborough 2

Lineup changes:

• Dayfdd Owen for Pat Van Der Hauwe
• Chris Pike for Gavin Allen

Evenly matched game for both sides but their strikers were on the good side, and they took the win. Erase, rewind and move forward.

Game 4

Rochdale 0 – Colwyn Bay 4

Lineup changes:

Jamie Day for Russell Coughlin
Pat Van Der Hauwe for Mark Aizlewood in the bench

Boy, we came out on the rampage! Absolutely blistering first half for Nathan Wigg and Chris Pike who scored two each and gave us a 4-0 edge at half-time. From then on, it was just cruise control and no goals were added by either side.

Game 5

Colwyn Bay  4 – Scunthorpe 0

Lineup changes:

Mark Cross for Ricardo Gabbiadini

Another scintillating performance by our boys, obliterating Scunthorpe.

Game 6

Doncaster Rovers 0 – Colwyn Bay 2

Johnson gave us 3 points, because Chris was on great performance overall. Lincoln’s goal was the first chance they had in the game up to that point.

So that’s it for this episode, folks.

Tune in next wednesday for episode number 2 of this series with Colwyn Bay. See ya 🙂