[FM 15] The Fabulous Baker Boys: Return to Iceland.

A few years ago I started an enjoyable save that was supposed to be a journeyman save though the Nordic countries. I started at a little club in Iceland known as Handknattleiksfélag Kópavogs, or HK for short. I ended up staying for the length of the save until a bug with the first year of being able to add and remove leagues caused it to over create players when you added a league.

Since my save, HK had very different fortunes. Finding themselves relegated to the Icelandic second division for two years before bouncing back up They also have undergone a change of board and moved out of their rival’s stadium into the brand new, synthetic turfed, fully covered stadium called Kórinn. (It looks like an aircraft hanger.)

Kórinn 6 by hagmynd, on Flickr

http://www.vaarkitektar.is/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/06_0602_4.jpg

Playing out of the town of Kópavogur, just outside Reykjavik, it is supposedly a hot bed of activity for Huldufólk (Icelandic elves). I have no idea why this is pertinent but I thought it was interesting, and I now have an excuse if it all goes tits up.

Anyway, I have only one goal, better this career. How Far to Asgaard

awesome start what a stadium

The Club

The Facilities

The Squad

Board Expectations

Reasonable

The Trophy Room so far

I'm starting with the 2015 date for Iceland, have a £4k transfer budget and No room to move with my wages.

should download some logos that looks not as good at the moment

awesome start what a stadium

Thanks

I know right? As soon as I saw the pics of the stadium, I knew I had to start another save with them.

Good luck with this, love the stadium

Icelandic Upper League Cup

Selfoss 0-1 HK (ULC): First official game in charge and we come away with a win. It really should have been more than 1-0 as several chances were cleared off the line but no one was there to follow up. Viktor Unnar Illugason finally broke the deadlock on 85 Minutes with a well hit strike from the left hand corner of the box into the top right corner of the goal.

Goals: Viktor Unnar Illugason (85)

PoM: Viktor Unnar Illugason

Keflavik 2-2 HK (ULC): Playing against Premier Division opponents, we went down inside the first 5 minutes and I expected to be in for the long haul. Some rather average performances were given the hairdryer treatment at half time and a more focused team returned after the break. We pulled level just before the hour mark only for Keflavik to retake the lead 15 minutes later. We levelled again immediately and despite many efforts from both sides, the scores remained unchanged until fulltime.

Goals: Birgir Magnússon (58), Arni Arnarson (74)

HK 1-1 KA (ULC): Disappointing draw against fellow first division side KA, They had a goal disallowed early in the first half and scored soon after the break in the second. We pulled level just before the hour mark but had a host of wasted shots and couldn’t grab all three points.

Goals: Hörðor Magnússon (54)

Valur 1-2 HK (ULC): A good result beating a premier division side and a scoreline that could have been much larger if not for a few offside calls. The team are starting to gel now, I just wish I had a bit more money to buy some back up players. Oh well, at least the league season is only 22 games long.

Goals: Birgir Magnússon (24), Arni Arnarson (66)

PoM: Arni Arnarson

HK 2-1 Fram (ULC): A top of the table clash saw another win over Premier Division opponents, A brace from young winger Marküs Sigurðsson just before half time gave us a well deserved lead and so we lead 2-0 at the break. We spurned a few chances in the second half to close out the game and conceded a late penalty to give Fram a sniff but managed to hold out to eventually win 2-1.

Goals: Marküs Sigurðsson (36, 40)

PoM: Marküs Sigurðsson

KR 8-5 HK (ULC): Our first competitive defeat, it was a doozy. All bar four goals were scored inside the first half hour and only 2 were scored in the second half… by us. I’m just going to leave a screenshot of the details to tell the story.

Goals: Viktor Unnar Illugason (7, 18), O.G (39), Arni Arnarson (52, 72)

HK 3-0 Breiðablik (ULC): It appears the Icelandic Upper League Cup has changed a little since I was here last. No longer is it first place in all the groups and best second placed finisher, but top two and best two third placed teams. After last games humiliation at the hands of Iceland’s most successful club, this was a game we needed to win. We took a 1-0 lead into the break and after a rousing halftime speech suggesting that we beat our rivals rather more convincingly we doubled our lead a little past the hour mark. We finally closed out the match ten minutes from time as Alexandersson had four attempts in as many seconds (yes, seconds. Volleys a free kick at the goalkeeper with his right, parried, left footed attempt, parried, another right footed attempt, parried.) to finally bundle the ball into the back of the net. The win was a nice birthday present.

Goals: Hörðor Magnússon (42, 69), Andri Geir Alexandersson (82)

PoM: Hörðor Magnússon

FH 1-0 HK (ULC Quarter Final): We tried hard here but unfortunately losing out to an FH free kick, although stats be told we were probably played off the park

It was a good adventure but now we turn our attention to the league and hopefully a good season will see us looking for promotion.

Good luck with this, love the stadium

Thanks It's a really want to just call it the aircraft hanger. Unfortunately The game doesn't graphically represent the stadium as covered

I was typing up an end of season report but due to not paying attention I ended up loading the game back three games before the season finished so I have to replay those and re do screenshots and the like. I just completely screwed myself out of winning the 1st division.

Icelandic First Division: 13 wins, 7 draws and 2 losses saw us finish in second place by seven points to IA who broke the record for most points in the season. We won promotion on the second last round even with two 3-3 draws in our last there games.

We were pretty lethal in front of goal without having a dominant striker unlike some of the lower placed teams who seemed to have one striker score all their goals. We finished with 47 goals in the league without an out and out leader up front, our leading goal scorer only scored 6 in the league, but everyone seemed to chip in. Our defence was a little leaky, too many times we let in late goals to draw. probably a fitness thing and also a concentration thing, I can’t expect too much from semi-professional footballers.

I’m pretty happy with the way things went though. A good solid season, I just wish more my players would trust me when I say we can push for higher placings.

Randomly... After the second round, no team in the top five dropped into the bottom half of the table.

Youth Intake: Youth Intake was pretty special. A lot of potential talent coming through, with one player in particular looking like a serious proposition. Guðmundur Björnsson plays AMC primarily but can also play on either wing and up front and out of the academy he walked straight into the first team for the final games of the season scoring on debut and bagging a brace on the final day of the season.

Icelandic Cup

HK 5-1 Víkingur Ó (Icelandic Cup 2nd round): We bounced back from a disappointing Icelandic Upper League Cup quarter final loss to really put the cleaners through Víkingur Ólafsvik. Four goals in a fifteen minute period took the game away from our opponents before the break. Víkingur Ó scored first after the break but we replied shortly after to keep our four goal advantage and thats how it stayed.

HK e4-2 Fjólnir (Icelandic Cup 3rd round): Slight change in formation saw Ólafur Vladimir Júlíusson slot into the AMC role for our injured Defensive mid, Eysteinsson, and wasn’t that an inspired move. Júlíusson dominated Midfield, scoring two goals and setting up a further two more to set up a win over the Premier Division side. Annoyingly we were pushed to extra time after leading 2-0 just after the hour mark, but couldn’t hang on. Fjólnir pulled one back almost immediately after we scored our second before equalising late in the half to push it to extra time. My side trusted my team talk before going into extra time and we once again took the lead before closing out the game a couple minutes later. I have to say we butchered too many chances while letting our opponents have to many also.

HK 2-1 KA (Icelandic Cup 4th round): A come from behind win gave us our first competitive win at the third attempt against KA. A penalty gave out opponents the lead on the hour mark before a Birgir Magnússon brace gave us the lead.

HK 3-3 FH 8-9p (Icelandic Cup Quarter Final): Another cup Quarter final, another defeat to FH. (Interestingly, FH u19’s also knocked out our u19’s team in the 19’s cup quarter final). We twice came from behind to take the match to extra time then took the lead early in the second half only to succumb to a last minute equaliser. To watch penalties go though to the ninth taker and fall over was gutting.

Quality season.

Thanks Daz,

I'm just glad to have players who know where the back of the net is this time round. Last time in Iceland it took me close to four seasons to be this prolific in front of goal.

Bit of an annoying injury run here at the moment. My two best strikers, Best central defender, and the second choice right back who has been starting as my first choice moved to cover the Central Defender all have long term injuries, Probably season ending for three of them and the youngsters who are replacing them aren't quite up standard.

Brilliant work getting promotion and looks like you may have a few decent regens there

Thanks Dexter,

Guðmundur Björnsson is definitely a talent. He's already picked up a U19's cap and if he can get the training, then I see him as a future Icelandic international. I Need to find some money though so I can become professional as my staff are already suggesting I put him on a fulltime contract for his development.

Alexandersson and Hjalmarsson have also started breaking into the first team towards the latter part of season but more due to injuries\fatigue. It'll be harder to give Kristjan Bjornsson game time as my 1st choice keeper is also captain.

2016

Icelandic Upper League Cup: A favourable draw that saw us and First Division winners, ÍA, as the only Premier Division side in our group (I’m pretty sure last time I was here it was 4 from the Premier Division and 4 from the first division in each group.). Once again we were pretty prolific in front of goal averaging three goals a game during the group stage with the highlight a 6-3 win over last season’s Premier Division relegated team, Fjölnir.

We topped the group setting up a Quarter final with KR and looking for revenge for last years 8-5 loss, we dually delivered with a convincing 3-0 win. A Semi Final saw us take on ÍA, with whom we drew 2-2 with during the group stage, and defeated them 1-0 with a goal around the hour mark.

A Final with Fylkir was our reward and after the goal scoring feats during the group stage, we couldn’t buy one here. Nil all at the end of regular time, and still no score at the extra time break I was starting to worry it would go to penalties. Early in the second half of extra time the Fylkir keeper spilt a cross into the back of the net to give us the lead that we’d hold onto until full time allowing us to lift our first silverware.

Icelandic Cup: Being promoted means we skipped the first two rounds of the cup entering at the third. We took on Fylkir in an Upper League Cup Final rematch that saw quite a few more goals. Down 2-1 at half time I unleashed the hairdryer questioning their passion and they responded beautifully. Three goals in the first ten minutes after the break saw us stun our opponents who only really recovered to score a late consolation goal and putting us though to the 4th round.

Here we met ÍR from the Second Division and in a game we didn’t deserve to win, managed to scrape though 2-1 before surviving a scare late in the game that almost took it to extra time.

In the Quarter Final we met FH again, and again we lost. In 5 attempts over two seasons I haven’t beaten FH yet and they’re looming to become a bit of a bogey side. we lost the tie 2-1 and were never really in it and probably should have lost by more.

Icelandic Premier Division: 10 wins 9 draws 3 losses 39 points. In past seasons this would have been an also ran but it feels like no one waned to take top spot. Even ourselves, six draws on the trot, and nine games with only one win, felt like we didn’t want to either. Then players started coming back from injury, our defence started to re solidify and our cutting edge in front of goal was re-honed. A six game winning streak saw us snatch the lead and take the league with one game in hand, the loss on the final day of the season was inconsequential. HK had won the League.

Youth player, Hrolfur Petursson, Cheeky little bugger, put an avoid relegation bonus in his contract that I didn't notice. For all of £68, though, I do think that's a lot of ISK.

This takes some balls... Cross town rivals win the league, offer their manager an interview.

Probably going to be a 'no' then

Well done on the title already mate

Probably going to be a 'no' then

Yup, I politely declined stating my wish to manage a Champions League team

Well done on the title already mate

Thanks, I rarely look at the table during the season so it was surprised that I was even in with a chance, especially after 6 draws on the trot. It appears everyone else was doing the same thing so we stuck our hand up and took it.

Whelp... This is going to hurt....

Celtic have declined a lot in the past few years so maybe not.

2017

Icelandic Upper League Cup: Didn’t have it all our own way this year sneaking into the knock out rounds as one of the two best third place finishers. Our form in front go goal was still as good, scoring 21 but I would have preferred us to have been tighter in the back conceding 14.

Haukar topped our group and we faced them in the quarter final, they look us to extra time where we finally prevailed 4-2 setting up a meeting with group C runners up, Fylkir.

We lost the Semi-final 4-2 after being 2-2 at the half, Fylkir scored early after the break and in pushing for an equaliser we shipped another goal.

Icelandic Champions Cup: Last year’s Icelandic Cup winners pushed us to penalties after we scored late to level it up. A disappointing result considering we defeated them 5-2 three months earlier in the Upper League Cup.

Icelandic Cup: While we won the Icelandic cup, we were not convincing at any point during tournament meaning it was squeaky bum time every game. We scraped through our first two games Vs ÍA and KR on penalties. Our Quarter Final Vs Haukar was won with a goal in the 87th minute. Þór gave us a scare in the Semi Final pulling a goal back late in the game to make it 2-1 but fortunately we hung on and the final was won with a free kick in the 88th minutes before being closed out by a Keflavík own goal. Not impressed but history will only show that we won the cup.

Icelandic Premier Division: Some how we were convincing winners without playing convincing football, We threw away too many leads allowing our opponents to score late and steal points. While we scored six more goals than last season we conceded ten more, with low lights being a 4-4 draw with ÍA having lead by two goals twice in the match, a 3-3 draw with ÍA where we led at three points during the match including scoring an 89th minute goal only to concede a dodgy penalty three minutes into Fergie time. And most embarrassingly of all a 5-4 loss to FH, who we have not defeated at any point in three seasons.

Champions League: Drawing Celtic First up was not what I wanted, there were plenty of other match ups where I thought I could beat either side but no. Maybe next year.

We lost 5-3 at home, but if not for a 5 minute period either side of half time where we conceded 4 of the 5 goal, it was a decent effort. The return leg at Celtic Park was not so great, We needed to win by 3 goals if we wanted to go anywhere instead we lost 5-1 and were a speed bump on their way to the group stage. I probably got my tactics completely wrong for these games but we did get some decent money out of two games.

Transfers: IN

Ingi Rafn Sigurgeirsson: Signed for Free from ÍBV. ML\AML. Had a bit of a whinge when he wasn’t getting game time behind Peternel but was eventually placated in some rotation and moving Peternal into AMC for a games.

Hafsteinn Briem: Signed for Free from Fram, MC. Former HK player scored in his first game back in the Upper League cup. Solid when called upon will have a couple seasons before the foreign invasion starts.

Bergveinn Ólafsson: Signed for Free from Fjölnir. CD. Unhappy at playing for a relegated club. Not as good as I hoped, fans started to question his performances. Hopefully picks up next season or will see himself down the pecking order\out the door.

Matej Peternel: Signed for Free After being released by Fjallabyggð. Slovenian Left Winger, won Icelandic footballer of the year. 29 games, 10 goals, and 16 assists across all competitions and kept Sigurgeirsson out of the side for the most part. Hopefully the first of the foreign invasion.

Garðar Gunnlagsson: Signed for Free after being released by ÍA. SC. Only played two games but scored in both. Only a short term signing as I didn’t notice he was 33 when I signed him. Already rather low on the list of strikers especially with younger talent coming through, was released at the end of the season.

Arnar Sveinn Geirsson: Signed for Free from Valur. AMR\MR. A good signing when playing, missed 10 weeks due to two different knee injuries though.

Damn it, Olympiakos lured Guðmundur Björnsson away with fulltime football and a better league, they were rather cheapskates about it also. £125k up front, with possiby another £150k in clauses. I had to lock in a percentage of the profit on his next transfer because they kept taking it out of negotiations. I also wanted money up front, I didn't want £50k trickling in over 18 months. If the player didn't want to leave I'd have told them to bugger off, I just wish some of the other interested parties would have come to the party.

Wow, you're doing awesome I just started a game with Þróttur Reykjavík!

It's hard though. How did you manage to do so awesome right from the start? What transfers did you do?

Thanks

I had a pretty decent squad to start and with some handy youth players also, I pushed them hard though. Most of my early signings were players who were on month to month contracts but I'll have to go back and have a look as as I didn't really get a transfer budget until I'd gotten into Europe.

Sorry for the simple screenshot update. I was in drinking in NZ for a week and don’t remember much of what happened while playing.

2018

Upper League Cup

Icelandic Champions Cup

Icelandic Cup

Icelandic Premier Division

Champions League

2019

Upper League Cup: A dominant performance through out the cup and almost my first perfect performance. A rather random 1-1 draw with Víkingur R. and Valur taking the Quarter final to extra time before succumbing to a 3-0 loss were the only blemishes. We scored 35 goals in 10 games while only conceding 11 with the highlights being a 6-0 win over ÍA and a 5-2 win over Þór in which new signing Simon McMahon scoring 4 on debut.

Icelandic Champions Cup: An absolutely smashing performance against crosstown rivals, Breiðablik. While only 1-0 at the break we came back out in the second half and really took the game away.

Icelandic Cup: Not as dominant as the Upper League Cup. We started with a 1-0 extra time win over Valur before handing out the only thrashing of the cup, a 4-1 victory over Second Division side, Dalvík/Reynir. Fjölnir almost took us to extra time before a stoppage time goal got us across the line. Semi Final and Final were wrapped up without hassle as we took out our third consecutive final.

Icelandic Premier Division: The season started out poorly, losing to KR then following that up with a draw against Valur other than that I felt it was a good league season. While we lost three games we were tighter in defence than anytime previously and it showed with the lack of high scoring draws we suffered last season. While se scored 6 less goals than last season we conceded a third less goals. Thos team now has a good solid foundation to build upon to drag Iceland up the co-efficents.

Europa League: After fluking our way into third spot (2018) in the group stage we drew Atletico Madrid. It was humiliating, although a small consolation was they did go on and win the competition. This just showed how out classed we still are in Europe.

Champions League: We honestly didn’t deserve to get to the group stage. We got past Limerick and Young Boys both aggregate 3-3, on away goals, then GNK Dinamo 2-1 on aggregate. We parked the bus but it didn’t help stopping the haemorrhaging of goals while only securing a fluky 1-0 win over PSG from a counter attack. We got the group stage money plus increase in reputation, that’s all that matters at the moment.

2020

Upper League Cup: We started as we meant to go on. Andre Silva bagged a brace in the first minute of the first game, goals in the 8th and 53rd seconds of the match, before later completing the first of his three hat-tricks of the cup. Scoring 36 goals throughout the cup while only conceding 5 was a sign of the way things would go for the league. Only twice were we kept to one goal

Icelandic Champions Cup: 5-1 victory over Stjarnan, spearheaded by a Simon McMahon hat-trick.

Icelandic Cup: A bit of a slip up on my part. Put out a rotated squad against first division opponents KA to try and keep the first team regulars fresh especially with Champions League Qualifiers on the horizon. As a result we were bundled out of the Icelandic Cup in the quarter final. KA would go on to be runner’s up to IA also currently in the first division.

Icelandic Premier Division: We were so close to a perfect season in the league. While we went through undefeated we slipped up and drew our last game one all. We averaged almost three goals a game, scoring 63 while only conceding 8. We kept 15 clean sheets that saw our keeper and back four named in the Icelandic Premier Division team of the year though none of my strikers are completely lethal in the league with 10 being the most that one HK player scored. That maybe more due to player rotation than anything else.

Champions League: There were no blowout games in qualifying, with our best result being a 3-0 win over GNK Dinamo. A team like ours should really be accounting for second round qualifiers against Linfield a lot more comfortably than 2-1 at home.

In the group stage we’d drawn Man Utd, Roma, and Ajax and started well. We held Ajax at Amsterdam ArenA to a 1-1 draw, before a 1-0 loss to Man Utd at home followed by a 1-1 Draw at home to Roma. after three games, we sat on two points and I felt we’d made a good amount of ourselves. We went to Rome hoping to hold them to another draw but in pushing for goals we opened ourselves up at the back losing 4-1. Ajax came to our place keen to reverse the embarrassing draw they suffered at home and scored early before we equalised in stoppage time before the half. We snuck in 2 more goals before Ajax pulled one back but we exposed them twice more in the final 5 minutes to take out an emphatic 5-2 victory. On the high of that Victory, I thought I’d try to attack at Old Trafford against a United side that had already qualified, unfortunately our over confidence was exploited and we were smashed 5-2 leaving us to take third spot and the Europa Cup knockout spot.

If you were getting as far as you did in Europe on a consistent basis it can't merely about luck, as this season shows.

I'm pretty confident getting to the group stage. It's in the group stage I felt the wins were a little lucky, though 5-2 over Ajax would suggest more than just luck.

I know I should play more defensive in the group stage to avoid the floggings. If we go a goal down though, what does it matter if we lose by 1 or 6 when it's results between teams not for and against.

2021

HK 3-1 Olympiakos (11.02.21 Europa Cup First Knockout Round, leg 1)

Marcus Rashford Hat-trick sees off Thrylos.

Goals: Marcus Rashford (39, 57, 82)

PoM: Marcus Rashford

HK 4-0 ÍA (14.02.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group C)

HK continue Upper League Cup dominance in 4-0 thrashing of ÍA

Goals: Diego Dotti (16, 46), Aron Elís Þrándson (47), Marcus Rashford (88)

PoM Diego Dotti

Olympiakos 3-3 HK (18.02.21 Europa Cup First Knockout Round, leg 2)

Rashford 6 Olympiakos 4

Goals: Marcus Rashford (Pen 10, 20, 66)

PoM: Marcus Rashford

Tindastóll 0-2 HK (21.02.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group C)

Rashford Brace Sees off Tindastóll

Goals: Marcus Rashford (10, Pen 34)

PoM: Marcus Rashford

HK 1-0 Haukar (28.02.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group C)

Early McMahon goal Enough to see off Haukar

Goals: Simon McMahon (3)

PoM: Christopher Maier

Galatasaray 2-1 HK (04.03.21 Europa Cup Second Knockout Round, leg 1)

Baker says Away goal still gives hope of progression.

Goals: Diego Dotti (38)

ÍR 0-3 HK (07.03.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group C)

Rotated squad enough to see off ÍR, Upper League Cup record for consecutive games without conceding broken stands at 7

Goals: Tony Matthews (24), Simon McMahon (88, 90+1)

PoM: Simon McMahon

HK 3-1 Galatasaray (11.03.21 Europa Cup Second Knockout Round, leg 2)

Turks Progression frozen in ReykjavÍk

Goals: Diego Dotti (27), Matej Peternel (68), Guðmundur Björnsson (80)

PoM: Matej Peternel

Keflavík 3-3 HK (14.03.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group C)

HK seals draw in stoppage time with three goal comeback.

Goals: Georgie Poynton (Pen 56), Aron Elís Þrándson (68), Guðmundur Björnsson (90+4)

PoM: Guðmundur Björnsson

HK 10-0 Breiðablik (06.04.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group C)

HK hit perfect 10 against crosstown rivals.

Goals: Matej Peternal (2, 27, Pen 62), Marcus Rashford (8, 9, 19), Christopher Maier (16, 23), Guðmundur Björnsson (42), Aron Elís Þrándson (75)

PoM: Christopher Maier

Þór 1-3 HK (11.04.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group C)

HK Manager gifted 3-1 victory as birthday present

Goals: Davide Iraci (17), Marcus Rashford (28), Simon McMahon (50)

PoM: Davide Iraci

HK 0-4 Man City (14.04.21 Europa Cup Quarter Final, leg 1)

HK Humbled at home

Valur 2-3 HK (18.04.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Quarter Final)

HK hold off hard finishing Valur to take Quarter Final.

Goals: Simon McMahon (18), Marcus Rashford (44, Pen 45+3)

PoM: Marcus Rashford

Man City 3-2 (22.04.21 Europa Cup Quarter Final, leg 2)

Brave HK run brought to an end.

Goals: Baldvin Benediktsson (21), Simon McMahon (34)

Stjarnan 1-2e HK (24.04.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Semi Final)

HK pushed to extra-time for victory

Goals: Guðmundur Björnsson (73, 94)

PoM: Guðmundur Björnsson

HK 1-0 Fram (27.04.21 Icelandic Upper League Cup Final)

Rashford Penalty seals Upper League Cup final for HK

Goals: Marcus Rashford (Pen 48)

ÍA 0-3 HK (08.05.21 Icelandic Champions Cup)

HK breeze past ÍA to take Icelandic Champions Cup

Goals: Caçapa (38), Marcus Rashford (Pen 41), Simon McMahon (43)

PoM: Caçapa

2021

FH 0-4 HK (11.05.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

Dotti Double Kicks Off HK Title Defence

HK’s title defence started off at Kaplakriki and they showed early intent to continue their dominance in the league. Marcus Rashford got HK off to a flier scoring the opening goal after just 2 minutes, linking around his marker before slotting home past the keeper’s left hand. Hjörtur Hermannsson doubled the lead inside 10 minutes cleaning up a spilt save. Dotti added a third on 24 minutes, running on to a Maier through ball and calmly placing his shot inside the righthand upright.

Dotti finished off proceedings 5 minutes from time after playing a lovely one two with Björnsson to get free inside the box and again placing the shot past the keepers left and into the top righthand corner.

Goals: Marcus Rashford (2), Hjörtur Hermannsson (8), Diego Dotti ( 24, 85)

PoM: Diego Dotti

HK 4-0 ÍBV (16.05.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

McMahon’s 50th Club Goal Hands HK easy Win.

After an early setback, losing Þrándrson to a knock in the third minute, HK opened the scoring a minute later through McMahon, volleying a Björnsson cross from the six yard box. Good defending and poor shooting means that we finished the half only 1-0. A corner early in the second half to Brazilian Defender, Caçapa, scoring his first league goal for the club and doubling the lead. A poorly cleared corner saw Rashford charge onto a pass from Nuñez drilling his shot home from the top of the ‘D’. Nuñez turned provider again for the final goal, running to the edge of the box before setting up McMahon for his second of the game and 50th competitive goal for the club.

ÍBV Manager was sacked later that evening.

Goals: Simon McMahon (4, 72), Caçapa (49), Marcus Rashford (64)

PoM: Simon McMahon

Milestones: Simon McMahon 50th competitive goal for HK

Breiðablik 0-7 HK (20.05.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

McMahon leads HK to Seventh Heaven

McMahon was once again in the goals as HK handed out a second consecutive thrashing to cross town rivals, Breiðablik, this time in the league. After the false start with McMahon’s 6th minute goal called back for offside, the first of our seven goals was finally put away. McMahon got the ball on the edge of the area from Iraci before turning and hitting a placed shot into the top right corner. Rashford doubled the lead just before the break, picking up a pass from Björnsson and powering into the area, beating the keeper from the corner of the six yard box with a powerful shot into the bottom right corner. With the score at 2-0 going into the break, some slight changes were made as Maier came on for Peternel, with Rashford shifting to the left and Maier taking the AMC role. We didn’t allow Breiðablik to settle after the break with McMahon completing his hat-trick within 6 minutes of the restart, first with an unmarked header from a Björnsson cross from the sideline, then with a turn and shoot from inside the ‘D’ into the top right corner. Just after the hour mark, Hjörtur Hermannsson slotted home a Rashford free kick inside the six yard box. Five minutes later McMahon got his fourth heading home a Rashford cross on the 6 yard box. With fifteen minutes to go, scoring was finally finished off as Björnsson finished off a fine team move placing a shot to the bottom left corner.

Goals: Simon McMahon (25, 48, 51, 67), Marcus Rashford (40), Hjörtur Hermannsson (62), Guðmundur Björnsson (76)

PoM: Simon McMahon

Þróttur Vogum 0-1 HK (25.05.21 Icelandic Cup 3rd Round)

HK Labour To Victory against Þróttur Vogum

A heavily rotated side took to the field against Þróttur Vogum and it showed, a mixture of youth and second stringers struggled to put the lower division side away. Aron Elís Þrándarson finally gave us the win ten minutes from time hitting a half volley into the bottom lefthand corner.

Goals: Aron Elís Þrándarson (80)

PoM: Aron Elís Þrándarson

HK 3-0 Stjarnan (30.05.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

HK Victory Opens Up Early Gap

HK were slow to get off the mark, unable break down the Stjarnan defense until the hour mark when in a ten minute period three goals were put on. Arnar Sveinn Geirsson, playing on the unfamiliar spot of left wing, finally broke the deadlock on 61 minutes cutting inside Rashford to receive a pass and calmly slotting home into the bottom left corner. Rashford then set up Guðmundur Björnsson 4 minutes later, who's shot deflected off the keeper and inside the righthand post. four minutes later, Guðmundur Björnsson then turned provider setting up Diego Dotti who powered his shot into the top lefthand corner. Brazilian midfielder Zidane, twisted his knee after coming on as a late sub and will be out for four weeks.

Goals: Arnar Sveinn Geirsson (61), Guðmundur Björnsson (65), Diego Dotti

PoM: Marcus Rashford

Valur 1-4 HK (02.06.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

HK smash Valur as run continues

The first league goal conceded this season wasn’t enough to end HK’s run of victories. Another slow start to get off the mark, but at least it was done in the first half. Guðmundur Björnsson finished off a fine team move, half volleying a header from Peternel. Paternal then turned goal scorer with a lucky strike, picking up a lose ball from a cleared corner he took, Paternal crossed the ball back into the box, unfortunately no one was able to get onto the end of it, but luckily it slipped though the keepers fingers and into the back of the net. On the hour mark a 16 year old debutant scored a well taken shot to pull a goal back for Valur. It was a good goal but lazy defending lead up to it. Peternel once again turned goal provider flicking on the final pass for Þrándarson to power home a shot with literally his first touch of the game. Finally in the 81st minute Þrándarson cleaned up a parried save in the box to extend the winning margin to three goals.

Goals: Guðmundur Björnsson (39), Matej Peternel (48) Aron Elís Þrándarson (75, 81)

PoM: Matej Peternel

Milestones: Vanja Milinkovic Savic Beaten after 711 minutes of football

HK 4-1 Fylkir (06.06.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

McMahon masterclass sees off Fylkir

For the first 25 minutes Simon McMahon looked like he was going to have one of those days, His first shot on goal hit the post rebounded back and hit the diving keeper in the back trickling back across the line, he then his the right hand post two minutes later he hit the post for a third time on 18 minutes before finally managing to find the net on 28 minutes, finding the back of the net after wrong footing the keeper. That goal seemed to settle the nerves as just before the break he added a second goal to his tally, a thumping shot from almost the same blade of grass as the first.

McMahon closed out the game with a close range effort to finish of some smooth moves in the 18 yard box. With better finishing he could have had 5 or 6 goals today.

Goals: O.G. (2), Simon McMahon (28, 44, 75)

PoM: Simon McMahon

HK 5-0 Stjarnan (25.05.21 Icelandic Cup 4th Round)

McMahon hits 20th goal of the season in Stjarnan rout

McMahon started where he left off in this 4th round fixture opening his account and picking up four goals for the second time this season. McMahon parked himself on the edge of the 6 yard box picking up a perfect hat-trick plus a penalty. His search for a fifth goal saw him start to snatch his chances as Stjarnan marked him more closely. Diego Dotti rounded out the win with an 89th minute goal.

Goals: Simon McMahon (4, 24, Pen 26, 35), Diego Dotti (89)

PoM: Simon McMahon

Leiknir R 4-5 HK (20.06.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

Goals galore in thriller at Leiknisvöllur

A heavily rotated squad made hard work of a victory over 10th placed Leiknir R in our worst domestic defensive effort in almost three seasons. It would appear that while our attack is adequately covered, defence could still use some depth. Twice we came from behind before opening up a two goal lead when we bagged our fifth of the night.

Goals: O.G. (15), Christopher Maier (28), Samúel Kári Friðjónsson (Pen 43), Diego Dotti (44, 67)

PoM: Tony Matthews

KR 0-0 HK (27.06.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

KR kill off winning streak again.

A rather lacklustre game by the returning stars, not even the injection go Simon McMahon on the hour mark could spark life into this match.

HK 4-0 Fram (30.06.21 Icelandic Premier Division)

HK return to form with thumping victory

Simon McMahon quickly put HK’s poor performance in front of goal against KR behind them as he opened the scoring on 6 minutes running onto a Benediktsson cross and drilling his shot unto the bottom right corner. Guðmundur Björnsson added a second after 25 minutes picking up a rebounded shot and hitting a daisy cutter of a shot past a wrong footed keeper. Guðmundur Björnsson then turned provider as he set up McMahon in the box to score 20 seconds after the restart. McMahon then completed his hat-trick with a penalty just before full time.

Goals: Simon McMahon (6, 46, Pen 87), Guðmundur Björnsson (25)

PoM: Simon McMahon

Milestones: Samúel Kári Friðjónsson Made 25th HK league appearance

Guðmundur Björnsson makes 50th Career HK appearance

Simon McMahon Scores 25th HK league goal

I like the summary headlines.

It's been a while since I loaded up this save and after some early hiccoughs with players wanting to leave for "bigger" teams (mostly English Championship sides. i.e Huddersfield poaching the leading goal scorer in the champions league at the end of the group stage for £750k). I finally got things running smoothly.

I won't bore you with domestic details over the past few seasons, because it's become a bit pedestrian. Winning everything except for a sloppy Upper League Cup final.

I did finally achieve my goal of going one better than my How far to Asgaard save and have won the Europa League.

Just some highlight performances in Europe from where I left off, to where I wish to continue from.

Europe 2021\22

2-2 Champions League group stage come from behind draw against Benfica in Lisbon.

3-2 Champions League group stage win at home against Benfica to put us into Europa League knockout stage.

3-1 Europa League first round knockout stage win against Porto in Porto.

Europe 2022\23

1-0 Champions League group stages win over Juventus in Turin.

Europe 2023\24

3-1 Europa League first round knockout stage win over Stuttgart at home.

5-1 Europa League second round knockout stage win over Real Betis in Sevilla.

3-1 Europa League first Quarterfinal win over Feyenoord at home.

3-2 Europa League Semi-final come from behind win over Ajax.

3-2 Europa League final win over Real Sociedad.

Europe 2024\25

3-2 Champions League first round knockout stage win over Barcelona at home.

6-2 Champions League first round knockout stage win over Barcelona in Barcelona

Europe 2025\26

3-0 Champions League group stage win over Real Madrid at Home.

Fjarðabyggð 0-8 HK (14.02.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group B)

Fjarðabyggð frozen out in Upper League Cup opener.

Goals: Vincent Lescure (2, 25, 64); Wim van den Hoogenband (19, 80); Oscar Ståhl (32); Hlynur Jónnson (45); Guðmundur Björnsson (57).

PoM: Vincent Lescure (3 goals, 2 assists 9.80)

Milestones: Guðmundur Björnsson scores 100th goal for HK

HK 4-1 Víkingur Reykjavík (21.02.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group B)

Ferrero fires HK To Comfortable Victory.

Goals: Ricardo Ferrero (12, 20, 89): Ioannis Bertos (35)

PoM: Ricardo Ferrero (3 goals, Rating 9.50)

Milestones: Riccardo Ferrero made his 25th career appearance for HK

Attendance: 11,637

HK 3-1 Juventus (24.02.26 Champions League first knockout Round Leg 1)

Visser Injury Mars Victory

Torn hamstring to HK Central Defender, Dennis Visser took the gloss of an otherwise entertaining victory for Icelandic champions HK. French Striker Vincent Lescure who famously put four past Barcelona at Camp Nou in the same stage last season, opened the scoring in the 11th minute. Receiving a pass from Hlynur Jónsson in the box before turning and placing a shot into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Christian Fleßers was helped from the field after 37 minutes, suffering a knock going into a tackle and replaced by Dennis Visser whom would also be helped from the field just before half time.

Juventus Argentine midfielder, Federico De Zan, pulled the Turin giants back into the game with a fantastic strike from the edge of the area. They continued to pile on the pressure until the 71st minute when Jónsson drilled his freekick into the Juventus wall only for it to bounce back to him, then picked out an unmarked Wim van den Hoogenband who powered a show unto the bottom right hand corner. Nine minutes later the Juventus keeper was beaten for a third time in the bottom right hand corner when a cross was cleared only as far as Jónsson at the edge of the box who rifled in his shot.

Goals: Vincent Lescure (11); Wim van den Hoogenband (71); Hlynur Jónsson (80)

PoM: Hlynur Jónsson (1 goal, 2 Assists Rating 9.00)

Milestones: Oscar Ståhl made his 100th career appearance for HK; Igor Tyurin made his 50th career appearance for HK

Attendance: 15,250

Valur 0-2 HK (28.02.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group B)

Smith Strikes Separate teams

Goals: Paul Smith (18, 74)

PoM: Paul Smith (2 Goals, Rating 8.80)

HK 5-0 ÍR (7.03.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group B)

HK High Five ÍR

Goals: Hlynur Jónsson (Pen 10, 79); Igor Tyurin (12, 71); Vincent Lescure (40)

PoM Igor Tyurin (2 Goals, Rating 9.40)

Milestones: Wim van den Hoogenband made his 25th career appearance for HK

Attendance: 8,628

Keflavík 0-2 HK (14.03.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group B)

Ferrero Fires HK into ULC Quarter Final.

Goals: Ricardo Ferrero (25, 37)

PoM: Ricardo Ferrero (2 Goals, Rating 8.80)

Juventus (3) 2–2 (5) HK (18.03.26 Champions League first knockout Round Leg 2)

Draw enough to see HK through to Champions League Quarter Final.

A two all draw was enough to see the Icelandic Champions thought to the Quarter final. Scrambling defence and acrobatic saves from Serbian Keeper, Vanja Milinkovic Savic, kept a fired up Juventus at bay until the 86th minute but by then it was all over bar the shouting. Wim van den Hoogenband opened the scoring after 15 minutes slotting home after Maxym Koval parried Lescure’s shot into the Dutchman’s path. Vincent Lescure doubled the score, giving HK the away goals advantage, just after the hour mark. Chesting down a long range free kick from the HK keeper and slotting home past the Juventus keeper.

Enes Ünal and Emre Can salvaged a draw for the Turin side but it wasn’t enough to see them overcome the first leg deficit and crash out of the competition 5-3.

Goals: Wim van den Hoogenband (15); Vincent Lescure (65)

HK 6-1 FH (28.03.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group B)

FH hit for six

Goals: Ioannis Bertos (8); Zidane (50, 55, 78); Gábor Németh (59, 90 +1)

PoM: Zidane

Milestones: Jóhann Friðrikson made competitive debut for HK; Gábor Németh made competitive debut for HK.

Attendance: 8,320

HK 4-1 Arsenal (31.03.26 Champions League Quarter Final Leg 1)

Wim van der Hoogenband shoots down Gunners

A Masterclass from Wim van den Hoogenband warmed up a cold Icelandic night and put HK in the driving seat for the return leg at Emirates.

Arsenal took the lead early as their right midfielder, Anthony Gammans, headed home an Andrew Robinson cross in the 17th minute. HK Hit back five minutes later as Björnsson found van den Hoogenband in the box to coolly finish into the bottom left hand corner.

On the half hour mark Björnsson once again linked up with the Dutchman as he lost his marker and took the shot to the far right corner taking a deflection off the goalkeeper before going in. Five minutes before the break van den Hoogenband headed home a cross from Oscar Ståhl to double HK’s lead and complete his hattrick.

van den Hoogenband finally put the game beyond doubt on the hour mark as Christopher Maier put a well weighted through ball into the box for the Dutchman to score his fourth of the night and twelfth of the Champions League campaign.

Goals: Wim van den Hoogenband (22, 30, 41, 59)

PoM: Wim van den Hoogenband (4 Goals, Rating 9.80)

Milestones: Andy Steadman made his 25th career appearance for HK; Simon Barwick made his 25th career appearance for HK.

Attendance: 15,250

Arsenal (2) 1-2 (6) HK (08.04.26 Champions League Quarter Final Leg 2)

HK through to Semi Final after comfortable win

Goals: Hlynur Jónnson (2); Wim van den Hoogenband (90 +1).

PoM: Christian Fleßers (Tackles Completed 100%, Passes Completed 59%, Rating 9.00)

HK 3-1 Fylkir (11.04.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Group B)

van den Hoogenband injury sours HK manager’s Birthday Celebrations.

Goals: Guðmundur Björnsson (1, 8); Wim van den Hoogenband (22)

PoM: Guðmundur Björnsson (2 Goals, Rating 9.00)

Milestones: Marek Martaus made career debut; Zidane made his 150th career appearance for HK.

Attendance: 8,252

HK 4-0 Afturelding (16.04.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Quarter Final)

Goals: Guðmundur Björnsson (3, 13); Javier González (24); Igor Tyurin (66)

PoM: Guðmundur Björnsson (2 Goals, 1 Assist, Rating 9.40)

Attendance: 13,312

HK 5-1 KR (19.04.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Semi Final)

Goals: Ibrahim Janssen (6, 14); Hlynur Jónnson (37); Marek Martaus (67, 89).

PoM: Hlynur Jónnson (1 Goal, 2 Assists, Rating 9.30)

Milestones: Marek Martaus scores first competitive goal for HK

Attendance: 15,182

HK 1-2 PSG (21.04.26 Champions League Semi Final Leg 1)

Late strike sinks HK

Goals: Vincent Lescure (73).

Attendance: 15,250

FH 0-10 HK (25.04.26 Icelandic Upper League Cup Final)

FH flounder in final

Goals: Andy Steadman (11); Christopher Maier (22); Zidane (23); Javier González (32, 44, 46); Guðmundur Björnsson (52, 66); Ibrahim Janssen (85, 90+1)

PoM Javier González (3 Goals, Rating 9.60)

Milestones: HK now have most ULC wins with 8

Attendance: 13,541

PSG 0-1 HK (29.04.26 Champions League Semi Final Leg 2)

Lescure strike not enough to secure final berth

Goals: Vincent Lescure (82)

PoM: Andy Steadman (Passes Completed 75%, Tackles completed 100% Rating 9.00)

HK 4-2 Stjarnan (09.05.26 Icelandic Champions Cup)

HK seal ninth successive Icelandic Champions Cup

Goals: Vincent Lescure (20, 67); Hlynur Jónnson (pen 29); Javier González (30).

PoM: Guðmundur Björnsson (1 Assist, Rating 8.80)

Milestones: Hlynur Jónnson scores 50th goal for HK, HK now have most ICC wins with 9

ÍVB 0-4 HK (12.05.26 Icelandic Premier Division)

HK Four to the Floor In League Opener

Goals: Guðmundur Björnsson (13, 88), Igor Tyurin (33); Hlynur Jónnson (34)

PoM: Guðmundur Björnsson (2 goals, 1 Assist, Rating 9.30)

Milestones: Hlynur Jónnson made his 150th career appearance for HK

HK 3-0 Keflavík (17.05.26 Icelandic Premier Division)

Goals: Vincent Lescure (29); Oscar Ståhl (31); Andy Steadman (52).

PoM: Andy Steadman (1 Goal, Rating 9.00)

Milestones: Vincent Lescure made his 125th career appearance for HK; Vincent Lescure made his 50th league appearance for HK; Andy Steadman scored his first career League goal for HK; Christopher Maier made his 75th league appearance for HK.

Attendance: 12,291

FH 0-6 HK (21.05.26 Icelandic Premier Division)

Björnsson and Lescure’s milestones propel HK to victory

Goals: Guðmundur Björnsson (6, 48, pen 55); Wim van den Hoogenband (11); Vincent Lescure (36, 80)

PoM: Guðmundur Björnsson (3 goals, 1 Assist, Rating 9.70)

Milestones: Guðmundur Björnsson scored his 50th career league goal for HK; Vincent Lescure scored his 50th career league goal for HK

Haukar 2-4 HK (26.05.26 Icelandic Cup Third Round)

Rotated squad too strong for Haukar

Goals: Vincent lesecure (13); Javier González (38, 90+1); Zidane (87).

PoM: Javier González (2 Goals, 1 Assist, Rating 9.10).

HK 6-0 KR (31.05.26 Icelandic Premier Division)

HK have sixappeal

Goals: Vincent Lescure (1, 50); Zidane (13); Christian Fleßers (28, 35); Vladimir Kalas (58).

PoM: Vincent Lescure (2 goals, Rating 9.40)

The loss of Wim van der Hoogenband was probably instrumental in us losing out to PSG and I instandly regretted playing him in that ULC game where he got injured.

Although, even though he missed out on the 2 legs of the semi final and therefore missed a chance he could have also played the final. He still took out the Champions League Golden Boot and earned a spot in the champions League Dream Team.