The Exiles Abroad

[Educated Hick]

In early 2000 a group of young American university students gathered in a bar in Missouri. Over bottles of Missouri’s finest, they discussed politics and life. They came to the consensus that the Republicans were going to take over the country in November 2000 and each wanted out before that could happen. Each of the six students decided to finish their education in Europe. Two of the students, who were more liberal, headed to Holland. Two of the students decided to go to Rome to finish their studies. One student decided to go Oxford for his degree. I chose a different path from the rest of them; I went to the University of Edinburgh to finish up my history degree. As we made our plans to head to Europe, we made an agreement to meet in a pub in London in six months.

Well, each of us finished a semester in Europe and in July we met at a pub in London. We were all sports fans, and the first topic of discussion was the lack of sports for Americans in Europe. No football, baseball, and the basketball were alien to us. As it turned out, a couple of the group had wealthy friends back in the States. Over mugs of bitter, warm, English **** we hatched an idea. We would finance our own soccer team that would improve America’s international image. In addition, it would give us business experience that would look good on our resumes in years to come. Plus, it would be fun.

The first question was who would finance the project? Michael Hayes, who had been a student at Duke, knew several rich friends who would bankroll us. He also was the one who suggested that we be a corporation and raise capital by selling stock. With the money issue settled, we turned to the next question: Where would we play? This provoked some heated discussion. There was sentiment for Holland, Italy, and Scotland. The first two were rejected as being impractical. None of us could speak the lingo of those countries well enough to start a business. Scotland received general support; until I pointed out that the Scots league is a closed monopoly league. Even with Airdrie going bust, it would cost a premium to buy out a team. England was deemed the choice of country to begin our venture. Which led to the question of where we could start out? Normally, we would have to begin at the very bottom and work our way up the league ladder. But, I had heard rumors that Margate in the Conference was having financial trouble. I figured they would take a million dollar buyout to vacate the Conference. Another generous payment to the FA would cause that body to look the other way. The team would play in London and I agreed to serve as manger and GM while Oxford Mike would serve as CEO.

With funding secured and a league to play in, we next turned to the task of figuring out stadium issues. We decided to buy some land in a London suburb. We would initially build a 5000 seat stadium with enough land around it to expand to 50,000. Being American and serious about our teams, we gave the stadium the best practice facilities and a youth academy. We also put a retractable roof on the stadium. We decided to call the stadium “Yankee Stadium.†The last bit of business on the informal agenda was the name of the team, whose uniforms would be dark blue/white at home, red/white away and white/dark blue as a third alternative. We kicked a few names around, but finally decided on: American Exiles Football Club, or AXFC for short.

Over the next year, our new club took shape. Hayes and I oversaw the creation of the club. We acquired the land, got the stadium built and all the sundries of club management squared away. By July of 01 we were ready for business and the English Conference loomed. I only had a month to hire staff for the coaching and playing duties. Fortunately, our backers and stockholders granted us an even 500K pounds for expenses. It was time for the American invasion to begin.

[Educated Hick]

In early 2000 a group of young American university students gathered in a bar in Missouri. Over bottles of Missouri’s finest, they discussed politics and life. They came to the consensus that the Republicans were going to take over the country in November 2000 and each wanted out before that could happen. Each of the six students decided to finish their education in Europe. Two of the students, who were more liberal, headed to Holland. Two of the students decided to go to Rome to finish their studies. One student decided to go Oxford for his degree. I chose a different path from the rest of them; I went to the University of Edinburgh to finish up my history degree. As we made our plans to head to Europe, we made an agreement to meet in a pub in London in six months.

Well, each of us finished a semester in Europe and in July we met at a pub in London. We were all sports fans, and the first topic of discussion was the lack of sports for Americans in Europe. No football, baseball, and the basketball were alien to us. As it turned out, a couple of the group had wealthy friends back in the States. Over mugs of bitter, warm, English **** we hatched an idea. We would finance our own soccer team that would improve America’s international image. In addition, it would give us business experience that would look good on our resumes in years to come. Plus, it would be fun.

The first question was who would finance the project? Michael Hayes, who had been a student at Duke, knew several rich friends who would bankroll us. He also was the one who suggested that we be a corporation and raise capital by selling stock. With the money issue settled, we turned to the next question: Where would we play? This provoked some heated discussion. There was sentiment for Holland, Italy, and Scotland. The first two were rejected as being impractical. None of us could speak the lingo of those countries well enough to start a business. Scotland received general support; until I pointed out that the Scots league is a closed monopoly league. Even with Airdrie going bust, it would cost a premium to buy out a team. England was deemed the choice of country to begin our venture. Which led to the question of where we could start out? Normally, we would have to begin at the very bottom and work our way up the league ladder. But, I had heard rumors that Margate in the Conference was having financial trouble. I figured they would take a million dollar buyout to vacate the Conference. Another generous payment to the FA would cause that body to look the other way. The team would play in London and I agreed to serve as manger and GM while Oxford Mike would serve as CEO.

With funding secured and a league to play in, we next turned to the task of figuring out stadium issues. We decided to buy some land in a London suburb. We would initially build a 5000 seat stadium with enough land around it to expand to 50,000. Being American and serious about our teams, we gave the stadium the best practice facilities and a youth academy. We also put a retractable roof on the stadium. We decided to call the stadium “Yankee Stadium.†The last bit of business on the informal agenda was the name of the team, whose uniforms would be dark blue/white at home, red/white away and white/dark blue as a third alternative. We kicked a few names around, but finally decided on: American Exiles Football Club, or AXFC for short.

Over the next year, our new club took shape. Hayes and I oversaw the creation of the club. We acquired the land, got the stadium built and all the sundries of club management squared away. By July of 01 we were ready for business and the English Conference loomed. I only had a month to hire staff for the coaching and playing duties. Fortunately, our backers and stockholders granted us an even 500K pounds for expenses. It was time for the American invasion to begin.

[Mark Snellink]

This looks to be good, I'll be watching this one

[Educated Hick]

Thanks Mark

To be fair, we got a late jump on signing players and such since we were a new club and not familiar with English football club rules. When my office at the Yank was ready I moved in and set to work. The first couple of days were used to make sure that the phones, fax, high speed internet and stats service databases were working. This was an American operation after all and we were a professional status ball-club. We weren’t about to stint on equipment. Two days later, satisfied that everything was in working order, began to make numerous phone calls. I had to find a coaching staff, scouts, trainers and players within a month. It meant 16 hour office days for me. I first made calls to interested coaches. Neil McNab joined quickly, as did top assistant Paul Childs. Both of these men were interestingly enough, English and American. They were also the only full-time coaches on the staff. These rests of the coaching duties were taken up by veteran players such as Stephen Young, Steven Thomas, Lee Weddall, and young coaching prodigy, Stephen Driver of Ireland. Next, I culled the web and phonebook to find men interested in scouting for us. One man had simply sown up on our doorstep requesting a job as scout. After his references checked out, he became the first scout hired by AXFC. The man was quickly dispatched to find youth talent for us to develop. In due course three other scouts joined us and they were assigned the England, Scotland and youth beats. With the front office staff filled, it was time to find players.

At this point, I feel obligated to point out that our backers are not like Max Griggs or Abramovich at Chelsea. We do not have boatloads of money to spend. Hayes told me that the backers were willing to release 230K pounds to procure players. Now, that amount is Impressive when you only need to buy two or three players to round out a team, but it doesn’t go far when you are trying to put together a competitive 23 man first team. In fact, that works out to 10K per player for transfer and signing bonuses. Since my scouts really hadn’t had time to really be able to recommend anyone to me, most of the early player procurement fell to me. I used every resource available to me to find interested players. At first, many were not keen to join an unknown club, but as we filled out the front office and the scouts began looking for players, our stock rose a bit. The first full-time player to join AXFC was Jeremy Chandler, a left back, who came over from Welsh League side Afran Lido for 16,000 pounds. During our “spending spree†the highest amount I spent on a player was to Irish League side Monaghan United. We paid 55K for their goalkeeper, Mark Browne.

As I mentioned earlier, it can be difficult to start a team from scratch with only 230K and the money dwindled fast. Before two weeks were up, even with a policy of no signing bonuses, the money ran out. By that time however, my scouts had gotten off their duffs and recommended and listed a few players in their searches. As a result, we had a number of free agents to choose from and we signed a fair number. Gradually, the roster took shape as we sped towards our home opener against Dag and Red.

August brought with it the first stockholders report. While the board was looking forward to the season, the people who had bought shares had reason to be nervous. We had made roughly 600 pounds in income and had nearly 300,000 pounds in expenditures. While most of the expenses were one time, such as transfer fees and signing bonuses, three lines on the report were a cause for concern. First, the monthly payroll looked to be 10,000 a month and would only rise. Second, and more ominous, was the stadium upkeep bill at nearly 50,000 pounds a month. Last was the 2,000 pounds for the nebulous “other†category. I could only hope these were fixed and that we could cover them eventually.

[Educated Hick]

I did not decide on a first team or a starting lineup until three days before the Dag and Red game on the 18th of August. The problem was that few players stood out. Everyone was equally bad. Still, I did finally pencil in a first team. Starters are listed in bold on this depth chart.

Gk:

John Browne (Irish 29)

Robert Brook (Welsh 26)

DL:

Neil Durkin (English 25)

Jeremy Chandler (Welsh 29)

DR:

Robert Mutchell (English 27)

Declan Cooley (NI 25)

DC:

Brian Mitchell (Scottish 38)

Steve Thornber (English 35)

Steve Ward (English 27)

Stephen Thomas (Welsh 37)

LMC:

Stephen Young (NI 34)

Stephen Driver (Irish 22)

CMC:

Shu Fatid (Scots/Bangladesh 19)

Moses Apillinga (English 22)

RMC:

Chris Duffy (English 29)

Lee Weddell (English 32)

AMC:

John Howard (English 29)

Jason Purcell (Irish 27)

FC:

Lee Bradley (English 19)

Chris Gordon (English 19)

Andrew Dallas (Scot 27)

Glen Kirkwood (English 24)

Don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize any of these players. Most have kicked around their home league in the lower divisions. That’s why, for the most part, they came cheap. Some like Brian Mitchell retired years ago, but decided to play one more time. Only a couple of these players are youth prospects with bright futures ahead. I chose to go with age, unless a youth player showed superior talent- which admittedly didn’t take much. Another decision was reached prior to the first game. We would not accept uniform advertising, which is banned in the US, so we weren’t going to do it here. We would offer other forms of advertising to possible sponsors.

Opening day arrived amid little fanfare. We hadn’t sold any season ticket packages, so many people had to stand in line to get their tickets. All told, a decent sized crowd of 1183 showed up at Yankee stadium for our inaugural match. Thankfully, it was a bright sunny day and hot too- hot for England that is. The thermometer showed 82 degrees. It was a perfect day for the official debut of AXFC. I’m sure that our gleaming new blue uniforms dazzled many in the crowd as the starters and bench players were introduced. As Bradley was still out with a twisted knee, Dallas took his spot in the lineup. Dag and Red were probably impatient to start the mach, but we held up the beginning of the match for opening day festivities. The game did finally commence about a half hour after the announced time.

By all that is good and proper in sports, Dag and Red should have done more than they did. Our initial performance was terrible. We spent most of the first half on our side of the pitch and couldn’t get the ball out of midfield. However, the one ball that got out was carried into enemy territory by young Fatid, who lobbed a pass to Howard, who was rushing forward to take advantage of the break. On 19 then, Howard fired a laser beam into goal to score AXFC’s first competitive goal and to give us our first lead: 1-0. The Redbridge side continued to dominate possession and to control the game at will. Browne had to earn is meager paycheck a couple of times in the first half, coming through in superb style. Meanwhile, the veterans on our side were calmly soaking up the Redbridge attack. Then, in injury time near the end of the half, Fatid directed a free kick to somewhere. The ball bounced free until Thornber picked it up, drew a bead, and blasted it into goal to put AXFC up 2-0. During halftime the lads were excited, but I reminded them that Dag and Red were kicking our ass every way except the score-line. But they didn’t listen to me, they were all too excited. I had had them playing defensively since our first goal and that didn’t change. The second half saw Dag and Red continuing to dominate all phases of the game. By game’s end, they had held the ball 70% of the time. Not only was that, but 40% of the match spent in our side of the field, with the opposition holding the ball most of the time. Still, our defense held firm. Browne made one spectacular save and then, on 73, cracked, letting in a Redbridge goal to make the score 2-1. In all this, Thornber managed to injure his knee and was replaced by Cooley. The last five minutes saw Kirkwood coming in for a fatigued Dallas as we fought to preserve our eventual 2-1 victory. Although it was sweet to win our first ever game, we couldn’t rest on our laurels as we had a game at mid-week against Morecambe at their pitch.

[Educated Hick]

No major news happened UN the run-up to the Morecambe game. We went after a few more players, including a young 18 yr old forward who may have the talent to start right away for the first team. The evening of Tuesday August 21 was a cool one at Christie Park. Only 850 showed up to watch the game. Several of my players were relatively unfit for duty, so backups Chandler, Ward, Driver, Apilinga and Kirkwood all got the start. Thornber and Bradley were still out with injuries, Thornber a twisted knew and Bradley a calf strain.

We started out much better against Morecambe than we had in our previous game. Although the home side eon the possession battle throughout the game, we were able to move the ball better and created more chances for ourselves. However, it was Morecambe’s Rogan who opened up the scoring on 20 when he took a McFlynn pass and blasted it past Browne. We remained calm and composed, taking advantage of Morecambe’s cautious style of play to speed up the pitch and take our shots on goal. On 35, we earned a corner. Mutchell took the corner, swung it in to Kirkwood, who rose in the air and nodded the ball past Mawson to tie the game at one-all We went into the half felling good about our play. I told the team to play defensively in the second half and see if we could earn a point form this game. On 53, I pulled a struggling Gordon for Dallas. We were ably handling Morecambe, who seemed unwilling to take any risks that might jeopardize the tie. Of this was their intent, it went for naught as at 75, Mitchell took a vicious free kick that found a wide open Howard, who slotted the ball in to give AXFC the 2-1 lead. Fifteen minutes later that was the final score, as Morecambe were unable to rally. This was a much more satisfying victory and it gave us confidence and hope heading into our next game, a home contest against Telford on Saturday.

[Educated Hick]

The following days prior to the Telford match saw a bit of a first team shakeup. 31 year old Englishman Neil Lyne was signed to provide depth at the LMC position. He would back up Young for the time being. To make room on the roster for him, Driver was sent to the reserves. Several other players joined us as well and the roster was getting fairly full. Most of the reserves could be easily released if it came to that as nearly everyone was on 5,000 pounds a year contract.

Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium was a hot humid affair. The mercury hovered at the 81 degrees and the wet grass was steaming. The entire regular lineup minus Thornber and Bradley, who were replaced by Ward and Dallas respectively, took the pitch to face league leaders Telford. Only 960 some fans showed up, a disappointing number considering the previous total on opening day. They got to see a team in disarray.

The game started well enough for AXFC. We were holding Telford at bay and got two chances in the first 20 minutes. We scored on one of those chances when Gordon took a short clearance and ran through a confused The Telford defense, rounded the keeper and put the ball into the net to give us the 1-0 lead. Telford soon asserted them however and we quickly found ourselves with our backs against the wall. Telford was without mercy in their attack and only brilliant play by Browne kept the scoreboard blank throughout the first half. At halftime, the trainer looked over Howard and told me he was hiding a possible groin injury. Not wanting to risk Howard farther, I sent out Purcell in his place for the second half. The second half was all Telford. They attacked and continually exploited our slow defense t take shots on goal. Browne heroically rose to the occasion, but even he was having trouble as Telford put seven second half chances right in there. Telford scored on 64 and in injury time to win 2-1. Quite frankly, we were outclassed in this game, but all we could do was to put it behind us and move on to the next game four days away at Aldershot.

[Mark Snellink]

Hey, some start for the Exiles

I hope you can keep it up, and I'll be excited to see how they fare.

<Insert proud to be an american slogo here?>

[Mark Snellink]

Hey, some start for the Exiles

I hope you can keep it up, and I'll be excited to see how they fare.

<Insert proud to be an american slogo here?>

[Alphaaz]

Good story. Hope you do well!

[Suma]

I am always wondering why I am addicted to your story Educated. You are so natural at writing I can't even explain.

Good luck on this one and please.... frequent updates... I am always waiting for the next one from you

[Educated Hick]

I'm really enjoying this game so this story should run much longer than my last couple of efforts. Thanks for the high praise Suma. I'll try to keep posting regular updates. And Mark, a "Proud to be an American" slogan would work very nicely.

The run-up to the Aldershot game saw the arrival of youth phenom Gareth Law, a superb finisher. People in the AXFC offices were betting that he would be a first team regular by the end of the season. In addition, we had made a contract offer to another young talented forward, Dom Elliot, who appeared to be the total package of forward skills. If he signed was well, there was a good chance he would be a first team regular by the end of the year. Not a bad way to help forget about the recent loss.

Wednesday saw us travel to Aldershot for a Conference match. It had rained heavily the night before and the pitch was still damp by the afternoon kick-off. Bradley had recovered from his calf strain and took his place among the regular starting eleven. Thornber was still out and Ward continued to hold down his spot in the lineup. Nearly 1500 fans crowed the bleachers to watch. What they saw was not overly impressive.

Neither team did much in the first half. Both team were testing each other out and consequently did not take many chances. What chances they did take were wasted and the score remained at 0-0 by the halftime break. Aldershot took control of the game in the second half as they held possession of the ball 63% of the time. On 53 I saw that Young was struggling and lifted him for Lyne. The move didn’t stop Aldershot from dominating, but we stubbornly hung on, hoping to get at least a point. On 80 I put in Purcell for Duffy and the move backfired eight minutes later as Purcell inadvertently deflected a free-kick into his own goal. Aldershot ran out the remaining five minutes and walked off with a bizarre 1-0 win. After the game Purcell was crushed to have cost us a point, but I pointed out that was just the breaks. These things have a way of evening out as we returned home for a Saturday contest against Burton Albion.

[Educated Hick]

The three days before Saturday September 1 were uneventful. A couple of scouts wrapped up their searches, submitted their lists and were reassigned to different locales. Elliot did sign with us and was assigned to the reserve side. Saturday afternoon was hot and dry with the temperature in the low 80’s. Only 818 fans showed up to watch the game. Perhaps they realized that the starting lineup would be missing some key personnel. The lineup card for the game read: Gk: Browne, Chandler and Cooley at the fullbacks, Mitchell and Thomas in center defense, Young, Apilinga and Weddell in central midfield, Purcell at AMC and Gordon and Kirkwood at the forwards. I hoped this relatively fresh and fit lineup would halt our two game losing skids.

AXFC came out brimming with confidence. We set about dictating the pace of a game for the first time this year. We were getting solid chances, but nothing on the score sheet until just after the half-hour mark. Cooley collected a Burton Albion goal kick and took off up the right flank. He then hit a cross to the near post, where Purcell gathered in the pass and burned it in low to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. Five minutes later the referee gave us a questionable penalty off an unfair jump violation. The penalty was a bit harsh and the opposition protested to no avail. Thomas slotted the penalty and we led 2-0 at the half. We came out in a defensive mode for the second half. We soaked up the Albion pressure and prevented them from engineering a comeback. Albion did control the ball during the second half, but the only got one shot on target for their efforts. As such, our 2-0 lead held up to give us the win. The win put us in seventh place in the league table. We didn’t have much time to rest as we had a game two days later at Accrington.

[Mark Snellink]

EH in psychic ability shocker?

[Educated Hick]

Heh Mark, I wish That date should read September 11.

On Sunday, the board met and Hayes informed me that they were happy with my performance. Less rosy was the financial picture. We had lost nearly 15,000 pounds in August and the initial nest egg was down to 64,000 pounds. Still that did not dampen the team’s spirits as we traveled to Accrington for the Monday evening contest with Stanley. September had arrived, bringing with it cooler temperatures (17) and pitch was dry. Thornber returned to the starting lineup along with most of the regulars. The only regulars who were unfit were Mitchell, who was replaced by Ward and Gordon, who bowed out to Dallas. T also gave backup goalkeeper Robert Brook the start. Just over 1500 fans turned up and witnessed the AXFC coming out party.

We dominated in all phases of the game in the first half. Our offense was humming smoothly and though we wasted most of our seven chances, we were on target and goals. First on 13, Howard lobbed a pass for Bradley, but the pass was so high it went over the keeper and into the goal instead to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. We continued to put pressure on Accrington the rest of the half and it gave us another goal on 40 when Duffy gathered in a loose ball, stopped, scanned the field and took off on a broken field run that ended with the ball in the net to give us the 2-0 lead. At the half, the team was elated. It was the first time all year that we had dominated possession and completely outplayed the opposition. The second half saw us playing defensively and shutting Stanley down completely. Although they held the ball most of the time during the second half, they were unable to get it out midfield. On 75, I pulled Fatid, Howard and Dallas for Weddell, Purcell and Kirkwood respectively. The game ended with little fanfare 15 minutes later as we walked out 2-0 victors. We next had a glorious five days off before we faced Norwich Vics on Saturday afternoon at Yankee stadium.

[Educated Hick]

There was no team news of great importance the following week. Chelsea fans vented their spleens after a mid-week loss. Henrik Larsson broke his leg in training and would be out half the year and the AXFC reserves won their fourth straight match under the direction of Paul Child. If they kept it up, some of the players might just see some first team action. Saturday afternoon arrived and it was hot and dry with the temp being in the low 80’s in Norwich. The entire regular lineup got the nod for the game. For once, everyone was fully fit. The Vics were sitting 20th in the table and perhaps that is why less than 800 fans showed up to watch, if so, the missesd great game for the home team.

It was probably overconfidence, but we stumbled badly in the opening half against the Vics. They dominated possession and controlled the pace throughout. They didn’t take many chances, but they slowly built up play to capitalize on those chances. They seemed more interested in slowing down our offense with a vengeance. We were out of our game early and the Vics took the 1-0 lead shortly before halftime on a Thompson goal. It didn’t help us that our set-piece play was awful as we failed to do anything with the five corners we garnered during the half. Even attacking in the second half, we failed to do anything while their striker Whitehead got hot. He took a surfeit of chances and gave Browne all kinds of problems as he bagged goals on 68 and 79. After the first of his brace, I pulled Fatid and an unaccountably bad Howard for Weddell and Purcell. The changes did no good and we slunk out of Wincham Park, having been thoroughly beaten 3-0. Things wouldn’t get any easier as we had our third straight away match at Halifax on the following Tuesday.

[Educated Hick]

The 11th came with no team news whatsoever. We traveled to Halifax for the Tuesday night game. The evening was clear and cool (16) and dry, in short, a perfect September night. Since Halifax wear blue, we broke out our new red uniforms. Most of the starters got the nod for this game except for Browne, Howard and Durkin. The former two were benched for their pitiful performances in the last game and the latter was unfit. Their lineup slots were taken by Brook, Purcell and handler respectively. Just over a 1000 fans showed up for the affair.

We gout things going early when on 10, Fatid leaped on a loose ball off a tackle and drilled it into goal to give us the 1-0 lead. We continued to pepper the Halifax keeper on our limited forays up the pitch. Otherwise we were content to let Halifax do as they pleased in midfield. However, our resolve stiffened within our half and we prevented the home side from doing any damage to the score line. Things continued in that vein until 44 when Brook launched a long goal-kick that Purcell collected just inside the Halifax half. Purcell then went on a quick run and ended it by burying the ball into the goal to give AXFC the 2-0 lead. We pulled out the defensive stops in the second half. Halifax actually managed to get a couple of shots on target during the time, but Brook handled each with ease. As the game wound down, Brian Mitchell cleared the ball from deep in our half. Duffy picked up the bouncing ball and took off. He headed straight for goal intending to put his stamp on the game. On 78, he completed his run and put the ball in the net to give us the convincing 3-0 road win which put us in fifth place in the Conference standings. We finally got a home game again, this one on Saturday afternoon four days hence. In an amusing sidebar, the Halifax supporters were so angry with their team’s loss to us that they held an angry protest outside the stadium. I’d say the manager had better start packing his bags family soon.

[Educated Hick]

The last sentence in the previous post should say "fairly" not "family." Damn spell checker.

Saturday September 15 was a hot Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium in London. Given that both Purcell and Brook had performed well in the Halifax game, both retained their starting posts. Durkin went back into the lineup at left back. Our biggest home crowd, 1731 came out to cheer us on and they were well compensated for their time.

We came out breathing fire and we set the tone quickly. We attacked a slightly stunned Stevenage defense who wee caught off guard. We pelted Lionel Perez with shot after shot and on 34 a corner finally paid off for us. Mutchell whipped it in to Gordon, who headed it in to give us the 1-0 lead. Three minutes later, Perez intentionally fouled Bradley, earning us a penalty as he got sent off. Durkin nailed it beautifully and we now led 2-0. With Stevenage down a man and us two up I sent in the word to play defensively. By halftime, I felt we were well on our way to winning. Although we didn’t handle the ball as much as the opposition, we had done far better with our chances. Stevenage came out determined to do something in the second half. They completely took over and began running their attack smoothly. Brook’s mettle was tested, but he and the defense hung on, using the man advantage to help clog passing lanes and angles. On 80, they broke through when Gould scooped up a loose ball and put it past Brook to pull Stevenage back within one at 2-1. At that point I pulled Bradley, who seemed to be favoring his knee and Purcell, who was tired. Kirkwood and Howard came in to finish up the last ten minutes. The home win sent all the fans home happy and feeling that AXFC was indeed a tem worthy of their support. Even better was the fact that we got the week off until the following Saturday when we had a home match scheduled against Chester.

[chesterfan2]

Good work this, EH . Can't wait to see how your game against my beloved Chester goes....

[Educated Hick]

Cheers Chesterfan2- I think both sides were unhappy with the result of the AXFC-Chester first go-round- you be the judge.

The players enjoyed the week off as nothing of note happened except that the reserves’ five game non-loss streak was snapped at Chester. But, reserve matches are not important in terms of win/loss record. Saturday afternoon arrived two days after the reserve match. With the roof wide open, the temp was 82 degrees. All the regulars started, including Young at LMC. We drew a record crowd of 2070 fans, who saw a rather disappointing match.

We started things well enough for the first fifteen minutes. We were moving confidently. Then, on 17, Mitchell was sent off for tripping a Chester forward. I had to pull Gordon in favor of Cooley. Twiss scored on the resulting free kick to give Chester the 1-0 lead. Down a man, AXFC seemed to check out mentally. We barely put up any opposition as Chester pushed their advantage. They got some good chances and only good keeping by Browne kept the score where it was as halftime arrived. The second half proved to be even more frustrating. Several of our players such as Mutchell, Howard and Duffy were just out of it. Because I only had two moves remaining, I could only grind my teeth and spit tobacco juice in contempt. On 60, Howard moved the ball sloppily and we were just lucky that an alert Lee Bradley was able to corral the pass and put it into the Chester goal to tie the game at 1-1. Five minutes later, I yanked Howard and sent Purcell. We kept Chester at bay for the rest of the game and got the single point. Still, it was an irritating game and neither Howard, Duffy nor Mutchell would get the start for our next game which was on Tuesday the 25th at Gravesend.

[Mark Snellink]

Fiiiines, we want fiiiiiiines. Overpaid divas etc.

Oh wait, we're at conference level.. A fiver a game and complementry onion rings at the club cafeteria

[Mark Snellink]

I can't believe how poorly I spelled complimentary

[Educated Hick]

Mark: Your original spelling fit the context better as the fiver accompanies the onion rings. But, no, I don't fine my players. Most of my guys make 5,000 pounds a year. The only time I actually even issue a reprimand is when a player turns up late for practice. If one of my starters plays like crap, he simply won't start the next game unless there are expectional circumstances. BTW, I can promise a full season of updates. I just finished the season this morning.

On Sunday, I appealed the FA’s three game ban against Mitchell. I figured a trip was worth maybe one game suspension. Tuesday evening saw us at Stonebridge Park. The evening was pleasant enough (20) and dry. None of the players who had played badly in the Chester game were selected for this game. In fact, most of the regulars got the night off. The only starters to see action were Browne, Thornber, Mitchell and Gordon. Everyone else in the lineup was a backup player. A big crowd of 3300 fans came out to watch the game.

The hybrid lineup for us seemed to work well early on as on 9, Kirkwood gathered in a loose ball from Gordon, dribbled it nearer to goal and blistered it in to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. Much like our last game, we spent the rest of the half scattering shots everywhere except the putative target. Unlike Chester in the last game, Gravesend weren’t able to muster any offense. They failed to advance the ball into our area much and never even took a shot, much to my relief. At the half, I subbed in Steve Ward for Thornber who was struggling. The second half belonged to Gravesend. They held possession an astounding 81% of the time in the half. They attacked voraciously, putting seven of ten shots on target. Our defense and Browne handled the pressure well until one minute before injury time. Kumber picked up a loose ball in our penalty area and put it past Browne to give Gravesend a well-earned tie: 1-1. The home team, with their stellar second-half performance earned the draw. With two straight draws and a quarter of the season played, we sat in fifth place. Our next match would be on Saturday afternoon at home against Forest Green.

[Educated Hick]

Since the game against Forest Green was on the weekend, the regular starters were all fit and ready to go. The only starter held out of the lineup was Thornber, who struggled in the last game. He was replaced by Stephen Thomas. The roof was covering the field, so it was comfortable and dry inside the ballpark. The 1407 fans that showed up got what they paid for.

Having stumbled in the last couple of games, it was nice to see the AXFC offense take charge from the get go. On 14, ex goats Mutchell and Howard combined on a nice team move as Mutchell sent a low cross to the near post to Howard. Howard closed in on goal, faked off his marker and buried the ball into the top corner to give us the 1-0 lead. Forest Green didn’t panic. The kept making forays into our territory and even put in a couple of shots on target. However their offense kept going offside and they failed to capitalize on their chances. Howard, who was having a brilliant half, made the Green pay on 28 when he took a pass from Durkin and zinged it into the top corner for a 2-0 lead. Since we were up by a comfortable margin, I instructed the team to play defensively the rest of the way. The second half was about as perfect as a defensive effort could be for us. The ball was in our area a mere 5% of the time, only spent 17% in midfield and was in the Forest Green area a whopping 78% of the time. Given that we controlled possession over half the time, it was a wonder were held scoreless, but our four attempts went for nil. The constant pressure did get to Forest and their right back Phillips was sent off on 86 for shoving Bradley. After that, we coasted to the win. Howard had redeemed himself with a spectacular performance as any good player should. It was a nice way to go into a week’s break as our next match was next Saturday afternoon at Exeter.

[Educated Hick]

Thought you guys might like to know that real-time wise I'm getting ready to start my second season with AXFC.

Monday October 1rst brought with it the monthly report from the board. They were pleased with my performance, but the finances were not good. The club had lost nearly 92,500 pounds for the month of September. The lion's share of expenses was the payroll just over 45,000 pounds and stadium upkeep which came to 66,000 pounds. It looked I we were going to have to get rid of the retractable roof at the next of the season, or even at the Christmas break. It was just too damn expensive to keep. The moral, of course is that you should only acquire technology if you can afford it. Our cash on hand was low and there was no doubt that we would go into debt. Well, we’d paid dearly for the roof folly and all I could do was corrected when I could. The news got worse on Tuesday when midfielder Chris Duffy broke his foot in training and would be out for four months. I called up 19 yr old Clark Fennelly, an Irish lad, up to fill the roster spot. Clark had done well in seven reserve games, bagging two assists. He would back up veteran Weddell, who moved up to the starting job at RMC. Wednesday, in what was turning out to be a busy week, brought the FA Cup qualifying round draw. We would play fellow Conference side Morecambe at Christie Park on October 13, a Saturday.

Saturday afternoon at St. James Park in Exeter was the first really cool afternoon we’d seen this year. It was 50 degrees, but it was dry. All the regular starters were in the lineup, though I did give young Fennelly the start at RMC, so that he could get acclimated quickly to the first team. Michel’s ban appeal had been unsuccessful, and his three game bans started with this game. I was not aware of that until I went out to give my lineup card to the ref, who told me the news. I quickly made Thomas the starter in central defense alongside Thornber. Just over 2,000 fans filled the park and they saw a very good first half for their home side.

Exeter’s defense was very good in the first half and they kept denying us chances. We would bring the ball into their half and fail to do much with any of the three shots we got. Exeter also dominated possession. All this equaled a frustrating half for AXFC, but we did do our part to keep the home side off the board. Our defense was as good as heir’s, though we only had to deal with one shot from Exeter. In short, they controlled their half, we controlled our half and the result, a 0-0 game at the half. At the half, I subbed in Dallas for Bradley, as the youngster was unable to crack the Exeter defense. We went back out hoping to change the ballgame around. The opening minutes saw Exeter regrouping on offense as they pounded Browne with a couple of shots. But Browne kept his cool and saved well. On 65, noting that Thornber was struggling again, I sent in Cooley in his place. Exeter continued to pressure us and we continued to hold them off. On 74, Dallas limped off with an injury and Purcell replaced him. With Purcell in the game, the AXFC offense began to pick up steam it had lacked for most of the game. We began to attack the Exeter zone with more authority and on 88 we broke through. Fatid sent a free kick into the area that Purcell deflected it off his noggin and into the goal to give AXFC the late win, 1-0. It had been a hard-fought contest and was a true test of our skill. The win kept us in fourth place as Conference action came to a one week halt. Our next game would be at Morecambe on the next Saturday.

[Educated Hick]

On Monday, the 8th, the scout covering Ireland called in a report recommending veteran Alan Byrnes as a good signing. I looked at the report and the tape and agreed. Byrnes would be a good player at the CMC spot. If signed, he would take Apilinga's roster spot, with Moses moving down to the reserves. To make room for the potential signing, reservist Hopkins, who had no talent to speak of, was released. Injuries continued to mount as Fennelly went down for a couple weeks with a damaged shoulder.

Morning in Morecambe on FA Cup Saturday was not the best of times, it had rained heavily during the latter part of the week and as such, the grass was wet and the pitch was pretty damp. The cool air, at 50 degrees, made the moisture feel colder. To make matters even better, we had drawn Norman Appleby, a very strict referee. In short, we were liable to see someone tossed out in this contest. Weddell made is debut as the regular starter at RMC in the lineup and all but two regulars joined him. Brook drew the start in goal and Ward got the nod in place of the struggling Thurber. Mitchell was still suspended, so Thomas retained his spot in the lineup. The 3300 fans who had decided to come to the game rather than sleep in, found themselves yawning through a dull first half.

There is really no other way to describe the first half, it was boring. Both teams looked like the morning starting time had thrown them off their games. Neither team showed much inclination to attack and instead, kicked the ball around and around the midfield merry-go-round. Both teams stumbled, half asleep, back to their dressing rooms having done nothing but raise the ire of the fans, who yelled derisive comments as the teams left the pitch. Fatid had not played well thus far and before we went back out, I replaced him with Lyne, who took over LMC as Young moved to CMC. The Morecambe manager must have blistered his players during the break because they came out on fire. They attacked us for the entire half and it worked as we were still sluggish. On 58, Rogan, the Morecambe forward, nailed a nice finish to put the home side up 1-0. We never really recover and on 75, I lifted Bradley, who was utterly unable to do anything today, for Kirkwood. AXFC was unable to create anything in the closing minutes and we were knocked out of the FA Cup. Even worse, from a mental standpoint, our next game wasn’t for two weeks, a Saturday October 27 at Hereford. We couldn’t do anything but stew and hope that our injured players got healthy again.

[Educated Hick]

Free agent Byrnes rejected our offer as we couldn’t meet his salary demands. It wasn’t a great loss at any rate and we tuned our attention to other matters. We quickly filled the vacant roster spot with young Irish prodigy Matty Byrnes a central defender who had been in Peterborough’s youth system. The 18 yr old looked to be a decent player at this level right now, though he would start out in the reserves to get a few games in. Before we knew what was happening, it was time to play again.

On Saturday, October 27, we traveled to Hereford for an afternoon Conference match. The day was clear and cool, an even 50 degrees on the thermometer I used to measure the temperature. All but two of the regular starters were penciled in on the lineup card. The exceptions were Brian Mitchell, who was serving the last game of his suspension and Lee Bradley, who had no been playing well recently. Thomas and Kirkwood took their places respectively. The 1500 fans that came out to witness the match got a great show for their money.

In one of those displays that are rare for Conference football, both sides came out playing well and attacking with reasonable competency. Hereford had an early goal nullified for being offside, so it was us, AXFC, who got on the scoreboard first. On 19, Gordon headed a ball down for Young, who turned quickly on the ball and hit a daisy-cutter into the goal to give us the 1-0 lead. We continued to be efficient with our shots for the rest of the half, generally causing the Hereford goalkeeper heartburn every time we took a shot. We added to our lead late in the half just after the half-hour mark when Howard put back his own rebound to give us the two goal lead. During the break, I told the players to play defensively. Though we were purportedly playing defense in the second half, I didn’t see much evidence of it. Hereford’s Johnson pulled them to within one with a fine strike on 63. Still, we grimly hung on, refusing to relinquish the lead. Then, on 79, as I replaced Weddell, who was having a game to forget, with Fennelly, Hereford midfielder Hunter buried a penalty in the back of the net to even up the score at 2-2. There the score remained as Hereford successfully ran out the clock on their well earned draw. For our part, I was frustrated that the defense had collapsed again. Our inability to hold a lead was quickly catching up with us as we had another week and half to stew about games that got away. Our next game was a home game against Tamworth on Wednesday November 6.

[Educated Hick]

A day after the match, I received a call from one of my youth scouts. As soon as I picked up the phone, he started talking a mile a minute. After he calmed down, he explained that he had been to a schoolboy match in one of the eastern counties. He had seen a 16 yr old forward named Richard Speight with special ability. This kid was already a physical specimen, he had blazing speed, a vertical leap to match the best, a superb first step and on and on. The scout said that Speight needed major work on his skills, but was the total athletic package. I asked, sensibly enough, why no big club had latched onto this guy. My scout replied that the prospect tended to be lazy during matches and was not the most durable- he would start to huff and puff fairly quickly. Still, there was no question that this guy had skills and so we offered him a contract. November arrived, and the stakeholders were none too pleased as American Exiles FC continued to hemorrhage money. This month’s loss was to the tune of 111,000 pounds. This time the roof was not the albatross, but rather salaries. There was nothing we could do except make the League and reap profits in the Sky. On a plus note, however, young Speight signed with us the next day.

Wednesday evening came soon enough to us as we prepared to play Tamworth that evening. The roof was open and the pitch was wet. It was a cool night in the mid-50s. All the regular starters save one were named in the lineup. The exception was Weddell who hadn’t played well in the previous match. Fennelly took his spot in the lineup. The 1913 fans who attended saw a corking offensive display.

Both teams came out at a blistering pace. AXFC and Tamworth both went up and down in the early minutes, attacking the goalkeepers with determination. We scored first on 24 when Gordon collected a deflection and blew it back past Whitehead to open the account 1-0 AXFC. We weren’t finished, however, and came back up two minutes later when Fatid made a run from midfield, leaping over one challenge and breaking down another to put the ball in the net to make the score 2-0. But the crazy 20’s weren’t done yet and two minutes later, Tamworth’s Whitman took a Powell lob and put it past Browne to make the score 2-1. The two teams settled down after that, but there was no denying that the 20’s had been examples of great offensive skills. If the first half had been offensively sublime with no wasted chances, the second half was offensively dull. Both teams played cautiously and were unwilling to chances until late. On 88, Tamworth’s Rowlett headed in the goal that knotted the game at 2-2. There the score remained and we were left to ponder another blown lead. This time we wouldn’t have time to brood though as we had a game in three days against Shrewsbury at Yankee Stadium.

[Educated Hick]

There was no local team news to report in the few days leading u to the Shrewsbury game. We decided to open the roof for this one and the result was a dry pitch and a cool afternoon at about 50 degrees. I decided to start a mix of regulars and backups for this contest. Chandler, Thomas (Thornber) Lyne, Apilinga, Purcell and Dallas (Bradley) were the non-regulars who got the starting nod. Our largest crowd to date 2229, showed up only to see us struggle.

To be fair, Shrewsbury were not unnerved by the hostile crowd and set about playing like the former League team they were. Their attack was sharp and their forwards were consistently on target. Those two factors made it inevitable that they would score and they did, opening their account on 23 when forward Cramb went on a run and ended it by nailing a well-chosen shot past Browne. The goal gave Shrewsbury the 1-0 lead. We didn’t panic, however and we came back with our own strong attack five minutes later in a quick strike. Gordon got to a Purcell header from midfield before anyone else could, and buried a shot past Howie to tie the game at 1-1. Shrewsbury barely noticed as, on the resulting kick-off, they scored again on 30 when Darby headed a cross from the left to regain Shrewsbury’s lead at 2-1. There the scoring ended for the first half; still, it looked like this game could be more of a shootout than we were used to playing. The second half saw a Shrewsbury deep-freeze that we were unable to crack. It didn’t help that all our second half chances were wide of the target. Endless to say, Shrewsbury got the win 2-1. Thomas and Mutchell had performed less than admirably and as such would be held out of the next game. That game would take place on December 1st at Yankee stadium against Leigh RMI. We had three weeks to get rid of the roof and analyze our latest loss.

[Educated Hick]

Over the next couple of weeks the workmen proceeded to dismantle the retraceable roof. Sure, it was just as expensive to remove as it was to build but our investors considered the one-time cost to be nothings compared to the white elephant it would have created had it stayed on top of the stadium. From here on out, the stadium would be like any other lower league park. On the afternoon of November 11, we were entered into the FA Trophy draw for the second round of the competition. We drew Forest Green at The Lawn on November 24. That gave us two weeks to regain health, fitness and form before we had to play them. Given our last entry into cup competition, my hopes were not high.

The month of November arrived in due course as we traveled to The Lawn to face Forest Green in the FA Trophy competition. The morning air was cool at 50 degrees, but the area was dry. The only two regulars who didn’t start was Browne as I gave Brook the start in goal and Mutchell, who was replaced by Cooley. The 380 bleary-eyed fans who attended did not get their money’s worth out of it.

Both teams slept walked through the first half. We had a few chances, but we were unable to covert as they wither went wide, or resulted in an easy save for the Green keeper. For their part, Forest was playing a conservative game that focused on stopping us more than trying to attack. As a result, the teams went into the break still scoreless, and a number of fans left the park for other and better games that afternoon or evening. The second half started out much like the first. Wasted chances by both sides resulted in an early resumption of the stalemate. On 58, I sent in Lyne for Gordon, hoping to break this fossil of a game. He had no luck in breaking the deadlock, so, ten minutes later, I put Fennelly in for Fatid to see if he could put something past the Forest Green keeper Craig Glover, who was on-form. The Green men failed to do anything in the last twenty minutes and we were unable to break Glover’s grip, so the game ended in a 0-0 draw. We would have to replay the game at Yankee Stadium the following Wednesday November 28.

[Educated Hick]

Off topic note: I know how you fans of relegation-bound football teams feel. My major league baseball team, the Kansas City Royals are just terrible. Six wins and twenty losses so far this seaon.

That Sunday we drew our possible opponent for the third round of the Trophy tournament. We drew Telford at the Bucks Head ground. Not the most favorable match up, but hey, I didn’t care too much about this damn competition. Speaking as an American, I feel all these extra cup games are a waste of time and that they are a distraction from what really matters, the division. On Monday, my scout who was trolling Northern Ireland called to tell us that he’d seen a pretty good 33 yr old in a pub league game by the name of Mark Todd. We did a bit of research and found that Todd had had a reasonable career, though he had retired a few years ago. We offered him a contract as we could always use more depth on the first-team midfield.

Wednesday arrived quickly. The evening was wet a cold (8), and for the first time in Yankee Stadium memory, the pitch was in miserable condition. But, then, we no longer had a roof over our heads. The overcast sky seemed to mock me as I stared up at it. So much for noble experiments. Wanting to rest my starters for the Conference game on the weekend, I fielded a lineup of all backups. Conditions were so damn bad that less than 100 people showed up for the match, which was a shame as they missed a good game.

Forest struck quickly on 3 when striker Grayson buried a header to give the visitors the 1-0 lead. We didn’t panic and we continued to attack efficiently. Our hard work paid off on 29 when Apilinga passed to Purcell in the area and then Purcell broke down his marker off the dribble and planting the ball into the net to tie the game at 1-1. The rest of the half was uneventful for either side, much to the consternation of the 95 AXFC family members who sat shivering in the stands. The second half saw both teams continuing to do well offensively. Forest racketed up their shot count, though they seemed more interested in spaying shots around Brook, rather than at him. Nevertheless one of Foster’s tries did succeed on 63 to pull Forest Green ahead 2-1. We were doing well ourselves, making our shots count for something and we kept fighting to make the score level again. On 82, Ward tipped in a header off a corner and the game was tied 2-2. The clock ran out and we went to overtime to settle matters. Both sides played defensively for the first 15 minutes of the overtime period. Both teams were bone weary by the break and I was thankful that it was the backups out there instead of the starters. My game plan for Saturday wouldn’t be affected. Neither team did much in the second portion of extra time. With score still at 2-2 by game’s end, another replay had to be scheduled for a week from the first replay. The game would take place at The Lawn. But, before we had that game to worry about, we had a division contest against Leigh RMI on Saturday.

[Educated Hick]

On the 30th of November, Todd agreed to our contract offer. In response to his arrival, I re-jiggered the depth chart. Weddell moved to backup CMC while Apilinga was dropped to the reserves. Todd would start at RMC until Duffy’s return, at which time Fennelly would go back to the reserves. But, Todd wouldn’t make it in time for the Leigh game. In other notes, bottom-dwellers Leigh, Vics and Halifax had all deposed, but not defenestrated them, though I’m sure some of the clubs’ supporters wouldn’t have objected the latter course.

Saturday afternoon, December 1st at Yankee Stadium was the first really cold day all year with the temperature reading in the high 30’s. But, the grounds and stands were dry and there was no wind to make things worse. As it turned out, Todd arrived in time to make his first start at RMC. All the other regulars got the nod except for Howard, who was battling a nagging bruise. Purcell took the AMC spot instead. 1300 souls came out to cheer their new heroes on.

Leigh came out in a freeze. They managed to keep the ball in midfield for the majority of the half. We had a few chances, but we kept wasting them until a half-hour was gone. Mutchell, who was in dire danger of being sent to the reserves, lobbed a ball into the penalty area. Bradley timed his leap beautifully and blasted the ball into goal via his head to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. At that point, Leigh thought it prudent to start attacking, and while they got in a couple of shots that Browne had to save, our offside trap snuffed most of their chances. At the half I pulled a fatigued Purcell off and sent Lyne out in his place. Purcell looked grateful or the rest and actually collapsed in the showers as the two teams went back out for another 45 minutes of action. Both teams continued to play patiently and cautiously during the second half. Once again, the game became a midfield battle that consumed everyone’s energy. On 68, looking to shake things up, I sent Weddell out in place of Fatid. Weddell had no impact whatsoever as Leigh gradually built up momentum and capitalized on it near the end of the game as McMaster scored on 83 to make the game a 1-1 draw. At least we hadn’t lost and now we turned our attention to the second replay against Forest Green that was to take place at mid-week next.

[Educated Hick]

Wednesday morning was cold, 27 degrees, but agreeably dry. I put in all the backups for this meaningless Trophy game at The Lawn against Forest Green. This was one of those no-win games. Win and you add another game to your schedule, lose and fans get irritated because they think you should beat the soft competition. You get screwed either way. Fewer than 400 fans saw a clunker of a first half.

The first half could be described in one phrase, “Missed opportunities.†Each side had four shots and each only hit one. By this time it seemed we should be used to these early morning games, but we weren’t and it was frustrating to watch. AXFC didn’t do anything worthwhile until late in the first half as injury time neared. Purcell collected a Chandler free-kick and put it into goal to give us the 1-0 lead. Coming out of the break, the Forest Green offense began to pick up. They started putting shots where they were supposed to be and giving Brook some trouble. Grayson put in a goal on 66 to tie the game 1-1. We, on the other hand, couldn’t do squat. Granted, we had our hands full with Forest Green’s offense, but we failed to even try a chance in the second half. Still, the net result was another damn draw during regulation. All we could hope and pray for was for this to be resolved in overtime. Decided it was too, as Luke Jones and Grayson scored at pair of goals in the 90’s to give Forest Green the 3-1 victory. I was not disappointed. I was just glad to have the cup season dispensed with for the year. We could now focus on the Conference season, which would resume on Saturday at Barnet in London.

The afternoon at Underhill was a dry and chilly, the temp being in the high 30’s, day. All of my regular starters were fit for this game with Barnet, which was a good thing as the boys in orange were leading the Conference. The nearly 2000 fans got what they wanted from their home side in the first half.

Barnet came out and blew us away in the opening minutes, but it was us, AXFC, who opened the score line on 12. Young went on a weaving run that culminated in a blistering goal that gave us the 1-0 lead. Barnet barely blinked as they continued to put a ton of pressure on us. On 16 they opened their account with a nice strike by Graz Olli off a Breade pass. Three minutes later, the got a corner and Rowland swung the ball in for Hope, who rose up and banged in the header to give Barnet the lead: 2-1. We couldn’t make the most of our chances for the rest of the half. Then on 39, Bradley, who had missed a header, shoved Grazolie in frustration, and was immediately rung up and sent off with the red card. So, coming out of the break, we would have to score two goals being a man down. Not good odds. But, on 48, Gordon collected a Mutchell near post cross and buried it to tie the game 2-2. We hunkered down on defense after that. Barnet kept peppering Browne with shots, but he and the defense held on. We also managed to attack the Barnet defense enough to keep them honest. We didn’t score, but we kept them busy and preserved the 2-2 tie. This was a pretty good result against the league leaders in their park. With the draw we retained out hold on 5th place in the table. We also got the next week off as we didn’t have a game again until Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium against Scarborough.

[Educated Hick]

The week was over in a flash as there was little team news over the course of the week. The AXFC reserves won 1-0 and Real Madrid used the new transfer system to their benefit, signing three high profile players on the 15th. But we were more concerned about local matters ion that afternoon as we had a game with Scarborough.

The afternoon at roofless Yankee Stadium was cold in the high 30’s, but dry. All the regulars got the nod for this game. The nearly 2000 strong crowd saw a defensive struggle in the first half.

Neither side gong many chances in the first half, but what chances they did get weren’t wasted. On 8, in our one shot of the half, Howard took a Bradley lay-off and drove it low into the bottom corner to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. We shifted to defense then and spent the rest of the half trying to keep Scarborough from doing damage. The opposition was not having much luck against us at first. They missed their first two chances by wide margins. Then they retreated for a bit, regrouped and began to put pressure anew on our defense. Though they didn’t get many shots out of their late half surge, they only needed one and they got it on 40 when Baker managed to elude Howard and put a vicious shot past Browne to tie the score 1-1. At the break I noticed the trainer was going over Todd’s leg. When I asked what was wrong, the sawbones replied that he thought Todd had a shin injury. Though Todd insisted that he was perfectly capable of playing, I put Fennelly in his spot for the second half. The second half was essentially the same as the first half, except in reverse. This time it was Scarborough who scored first. On 55 they were awarded a corner and they mad the most of their chance when Ormerod rose high to drive home a header of a floating ball to give the visitors the 2-1 lead. We were a bit disconcerted by the ease which he has scored, but all was forgotten five minutes later when Howard took a Fennelly pass, moved on his marker and volleyed the ball into the net to make the game a 2-2 tie. There the game remained in the last half hour of the match. Scarborough scattered a few shots that posed no significant threat to us as we ran out the clock on a 2-2 draw. Once again, we got the week off before traveling to Woking for a Saturday afternoon game on the 22.

We traveled to Woking the following Saturday. The afternoon was brisk and chilly, but at least the pitch was in good condition. All the starters except for Bradley, who was suspended, were penciled in on the lineup card. Kirkwood got the start in place of Bradley. The nearly 1100 fans that jammed the stands of the Kingfield Sports Ground saw a good match.

Woking struck quickly when, five minutes in, Sharpling took a Selley lay-off and buried it past a stunned Browne to give the home side the 1-0 lead. From that opening goal, Woking tried to kill the clock and was generally successful at it. AXFC had a few chances, but we wasted them for the most part. We finally got a break five minutes to halftime when we got a corner. Mutchell sent it in and Thornber rose into the air and nodded it home to knot the score at 1-1. Woking contained their defensives efforts in the second half and was able to stifle our attack. It didn’t help that while we were putting our shots on target, Woking keeper Bayes was stopping them with ease. Frustrated, we kept trying, but time finally ran out and we had to be continent with a solitary point. The draw kept us in 6th place in the standings. We had a quick turn-around this time around as we had Dag and Red away on Wednesday, the day after Christmas. That game would mark the half-way point of the season for us and would signal a roster shuffle.

[Educated Hick]

It's the halfway point in the season, so there are a couple of tables added to the usual update.

Wednesday afternoon at the Victoria Ground was not exactly ideal. A cold, almost freezing, rain fell on us during warm-ups. Most of the regulars were fully fit and ready to play. The only exceptions were Young, Todd and Howard, who were replaced by Lyne, finally and Purcell respectively. Everyone was a bit tense as performance in this game would go a long way towards determining the first team for the second half of the season. Just over 1100 fans braved the conditions and were not disappointed.

Both Dag and AXFC came out attacking. Defense was on nobody’s mind as the two sides flowed up and down the pitch and letting fly. Possession was split almost equal and both teams had near misses on brilliant plays. In short, it was a pleasure to watch even as on 28, Dag pulled ahead 1-0 when Myall took a low cross from Mustafa and sent it screaming past Browne. We came roaring back ten minutes later when Fatid aimed a free-kick towards Gordon, who headed it in to knot the score 1-all. At the half, my trainer took me aside and said that Purcell had a possible knee injury. So, I put Lyne in the hole and sent in Weddell at LMC to start the second half. We opened the second half attacking the Dag defense, but it held up firm. Every ting we tried failed to make a dent, but everyone on the opposition defense was having a fine half, led by the keeper. On 59, Dag pulled ahead for good when Mustafa scampered up the right sideline with the ball and put it past Browne to make the score 2-1. After that, their defense took over and denied us satisfaction for our 10-14 shooting. Five minutes toward the end, I subbed in Howard for Lyne, but Howard was unable to turn the tide. We lost a 2-1 heartbreaker that proved that sometimes, even your best isn’t good enough. After the game we only had three days to sort out the lineup for the second half of the season. Our next game would be on Saturday afternoon, the 29th against Morecambe.

We signed 24 year old Irish midfielder Glen Wade to play in the first team squad. That signing, plus the halfway point of the season prompted a first team reorganization. A couple of midfielders and a forward from the reserves were ready for a first-team roster spot while some current first teamers were struggling to make an impact. Thus, Fennelly, Fatid, Weddell and Bradley were sent down. James Asser, Apilinga and Gareth Law were called up. As such, the new depth chart read as followed. The defense, AMCs and goalkeepers saw no changes so only the midfield and forwards are listed. With the lineup sorted out, we could focus on the Wednesday afternoon game against Morecambe.

LMC:

Lyne

James Asser

CMC:

Apilinga

Young

RMC

Todd

Wade

FC:

Gordon

Kirkwood

Law

Dallas

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

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English Conference - Saturday 29th December 2001

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================================================================================================

2001/2 Table

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Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts

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1st Barnet 21 9 2 0 24 7 4 3 3 19 19 44

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2nd Telford 20 5 4 1 22 14 6 2 2 16 13 39

3rd Scarborough 20 6 3 1 17 4 4 3 3 14 11 36

4th Dag & Red 20 5 4 1 16 8 5 2 3 16 11 36

5th Chester 21 5 2 3 19 14 5 4 2 19 12 36

6th Stevenage 20 4 5 1 13 11 5 1 4 16 13 33

7th Shrewsbury 20 8 2 0 20 7 2 1 7 7 17 33

8th AXFC 21 4 4 2 16 12 4 4 3 15 13 32

9th Woking 21 4 5 2 20 14 3 4 3 12 8 30

10th Farnborough 20 5 3 1 19 10 2 5 4 18 23 29

11th Accrington 21 5 1 4 12 10 4 1 6 11 19 29

12th Tamworth 21 5 5 0 15 5 1 5 5 15 24 28

13th Gravesend 21 5 2 3 20 10 2 4 5 18 22 27

14th Morecambe 20 4 2 5 24 22 3 2 4 10 16 25

15th Hereford 21 5 1 5 19 19 2 3 5 12 22 25

16th Aldershot 22 4 3 4 14 14 2 2 7 8 16 23

17th Exeter 20 2 4 4 12 16 3 3 4 11 13 22

18th Forest Green 20 5 1 3 13 13 1 3 7 11 21 22

19th Burton Albion 20 3 2 6 18 26 2 3 4 11 15 20

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20th Halifax 21 4 2 6 14 17 2 0 7 6 17 20

21st Northwich Vics 21 3 1 6 13 14 1 3 7 13 22 16

22nd Leigh RMI 20 2 2 6 13 23 1 2 7 12 26 13

</pre>

[Educated Hick]

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

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American Exiles Football Club - Saturday 29th December 2001

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2001/2 Senior Club Stats

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No Name Apps Gls Con Pens Asts Yel Red MoM Av R

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- Allcock, Adam - - - - - - - - ----

- Apiliga, Moses 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.00

- Asser, James - - - - - - - - ----

- Bradley, Lee 15 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 6.67

- Brook, Robert 7 0 7 0 1 0 0 0 6.57

- Browne, John 18 0 24 0 0 0 0 1 6.94

- Burke, Graham - - - - - - - - ----

- Byrne, Matty - - - - - - - - ----

- Chandler, Jeremy 7 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 7.00

- Cooley, Declan 5 (4) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 6.44

- Crossan, Gary - - - - - - - - ----

- Dallas, Andrew 6 (2) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.13

- Driver, Stephen 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.00

- Duffy, Chris 10 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 6.60

- Durkin, Neil 18 1 0 1 (1) 2 1 0 0 6.33

- Elliot, Dominic - - - - - - - - ----

- Ellison, Gavin - - - - - - - - ----

- Evans, Lee - - - - - - - - ----

- Farid, Shuvo 19 2 0 0 3 2 0 0 6.53

- Fennelly, Clark 5 (3) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 7.00

- Gordon, Chris 22 6 0 0 3 1 0 1 6.91

- Howard, Jonathan 16 (2) 8 0 0 0 0 0 3 7.06

- Jones, James - - - - - - - - ----

- Jones, Sam - - - - - - - - ----

- Kelly, Darren - - - - - - - - ----

- Kelly, John - - - - - - - - ----

- Kirkwood, Glen 7 (5) 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.92

- Law, Gareth - - - - - - - - ----

- Lynch, Gary - - - - - - - - ----

- Lyne, Neil 9 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.43

- Mallard, Simon - - - - - - - - ----

- McKillop, Daniel - - - - - - - - ----

- Mitchell, Brian 19 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 6.68

- Motaleb, Fharhad - - - - - - - - ----

- Mutchell, Robert 20 0 0 0 6 1 0 1 6.15

- Paisley, Stephen - - - - - - - - ----

- Pomroy, John - - - - - - - - ----

- Purcell, Jason 9 (7) 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 6.81

- Robinson, Carl - - - - - - - - ----

- Sadler, Adam - - - - - - - - ----

- Skelly, Lee - - - - - - - - ----

- Speight, Richard - - - - - - - - ----

- Thomas, Stephen 8 1 0 1 (1) 0 0 0 0 6.13

- Thornber, Steve 16 2 0 0 1 1 0 2 6.63

- Todd, Mark 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.50

- Truman, Danny - - - - - - - - ----

- Wade, Glen - - - - - - - - ----

- Ward, Steve 7 (1) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.25

- Weddall, Lee 7 (5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6.33

- Young, Stephen 15 (1) 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 6.56

</pre>

[Educated Hick]

The afternoon of Saturday, December 29 was a clear cold day at Yankee Stadium. Morecambe sat 14th in the league and we were in 8th. Most of the regulars, including the new ones were penciled in for the start. The expectations were Durkin and Thornber, who were a bit unfit. They were replaced by Chandler and Ward respectively. That meant the home fans got a look at the new look lineup. The 1600 strong crowd saw a pretty even first half.

Both teams were matched up fairly well. Possession and chances flowed evenly between the two teams with AXFC getting four shots and Morecambe five. Morecambe were the first team to capitalize in the game as on 24, Sugden took a low cross and smacked a drive past Browne to give the visitors the 1-0 lead. We continued to play patiently, looking for shots and eventually we seized the moment just five minutes later when Gordon tried a prayer off a loose ball and converted to tie the game 1-1. The rest of the half was uneventful as both teams took a couple more shots that caused no damage. At the half I pulled off Lyne, who was not playing well for Young. Both teams continued the attacking style during the second half. As was the case in the first half, the teams flowed up and own taking shots and keeping both goalkeepers working for their pay. On 61, Gareth Law made his AXFC debut replacing Kirkwood. On 69 Gordon headed in a chipper from Young to make the score 2-1 AXFC. The score remained that way over the final twenty minutes as we hunkered down on defense. Morecambe tried to rally, but failed. It was a good win for us and the new first team regulars. Our next game was at Burton Albion a week from Saturday afternoon game on the 5th of the New Year.

The board confidence report came in on January 2, 2002. The board was happy with my performance as manager and not so happy about my GM duties. The club had moved into the “insecure†category financially and the stockholders weren’t happy. But, I had other worries at that moment. I was resigned to losing one of my scouts to a Division One club, but at least AXFC would get 20,000 pounds from the deal as compensation. The only other news was that 16 yr old Richard Speight nailed a hat-trick in the reserve game against Burton Albion.

Saturday afternoon at Eton Park was not promising. A cold rain pelted the players as they warmed up prior to the game. All the regulars save one suited up for the game. The lone hold-out was Lyne, who had struggled in the reserve contest. Thus, Asser was ready to make his debut at LMC. The weather was reflected in the attendance as under 800 showed up to watch a dismal first half.

Neither team was able to do much in the rain. Both teams wasted early chances and seemed more concerned with conserving energy than anything else. For our part, Burton Albion keeper Lee Turner was on form, so our three on-target chances were wasted. BA pulled ahead in injury time at the close of the half when Talbot nailed the shot off a Corbett pass to give the home side the 1-0 lead. The meager crowd was stunned ten minutes into the second half when Corbett added his name in the score-sheet and giving Albion the 2-0 led. They watched their team try to hold on for the win. On 64 I put in Law for Gordon, but it made no difference as we were just too far behind. Howard scored a consolation on 74 when he got free off an Apilinga pass and buried it to spoil Turner’s shutout, 2-1. But we still lost, never a good feeling. We would get a chance to redeem ourselves on Wednesday January 9 away at Farnborough.

[Educated Hick]

We lost Parsons to Norwich on Monday, meaning I had to start the search for a new scout. While I was looking for a scout, I also offered a couple of unemployed coaches’ contracts and released Weddell and Driver, the two player-coaches who were stuck in the reserves. Their release opened up a couple of spots for promising youngsters, should any be found.

If conditions hadn’t been fun for our last match, they hadn’t gotten any more humorous by Wednesday evening in Farnborough. We were scheduled to play in a sleet storm that was in the 20’s temperature wise. The only regular starter held out was Todd, and it was only due to the fact that I wanted to give Wade his first team debut. At lest the young Irish lad's debut would be a memorable one for him weather-wise. Just over 1,000 true fans showed up and were rewarded for their loyalty to Farnborough.

We were just horrible, putting up the worst first half performance year to date. Farnborough were well used to the weather and demonstrated their offensive superiority by attacking at a brisk pace. Our defense was overwhelmed as they tied to hold up, but failed to prevent five excellent chances from the feet of Farnborough players. Howard did open the score line in AXFC’s favor on 23 when he headed home an Apilinga pass, but the rest of the half was all Farnborough. Two minutes after the opening goal, Fenton put a shot pad Browne and ten then fifteen minutes later Poole bagged a pair for the home side. None of this was really Browne’s fault. He had no support whatsoever as the defenders charged with protecting him seemly took the night off. We went into the break down 3-1. I decided to make no changes and see if the lads couldn’t work things out themselves. Besides, I just wanted to get out of the abysmal weather. Poole completed his hat-trick on 62, making Browne look bad in the process. Everyone agreed to kill clock and we left the stadium having been defeated 4-1. Four players, Browne, Mutchell, Mitchell and Lyne had not played well and thus would not be considered for the lineup in the next game, which would take place a mere three days later on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium against Accrington.

[Educated Hick]

Just started my third season play the game, so you lot are doomed to suffer through at least two seasons worth of this drivel.

Our able backers made a 350K cash injection to the club to ease the debt load, but it was not a long-term solution. The only way we were going to make money was by advancing to the League and sharing in the lucrative Sky deal. Saturday afternoon conditions at Yankee stadium were not ideal. The temperature was fine, in the mid-forties, but the wind was blowing hard, making the wind-chill in the 20’s. As noted, none of the players who had played very sub-par got the start. Brook, Cooley, Thomas (Mitchell), Asser, Purcell and Law (Kirkwood) were the backups inserted into the lineup. The home fans, 1800 strong, weren’t happy that their hero Howard was not playing. However, I figured they would be mollified by the results by the end of the half.

It didn’t matter that the wind was blowing; both teams were able to put together a good game on both ends of the pitch. Possession and zone action were virtually equal and both teams were efficient with the chances they got. The fact we had three mores shots on target than they did probably accounted for our lone goal in injury time when Todd got the rebound and put it back to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. The second half saw AXFC dominate even though we were playing defensively. Accrington tied the score 1-1 on 53 with a fine Williams strike. However, on 65, Todd collected another loose ball and burned it back in to regain us the 2-1 lead. Then, in the closing minutes of the game, Law fired a free-kick to Young, who buried the bullet header to make the final score 3-1. We didn’t have another game for a week and a half, when we would travel to Telford on Wednesday evening, January 23.

We signed our new scout over the next couple days and Macleod was assigned to Northern Ireland. I was also trying to sign a pair of coaches as the original two had rejected contract offers. Nick Cusack did sign with us shortly. Tony Chilton followed soon after and the coaching ranks were once again complete. About a week before the upcoming Telford match, we received the news that Duffy was back in full practice. We now decided to keep him in the reserves for a couple of games so that he could regain match fitness, which was lacking on his part.

Conditions on Wednesday evening in Telford were even worse than the previous game we’d played. The wind was howling and everything was drenched and damp, though by game time it had quit raining. The temperature was in the mid-forties and no-one really wanted to be out there. Nevertheless, all the regular starters got the nod. We were hoping to avenge the 2-1 defeat we had suffered to this team earlier in the year. The crowd, numbering just under 1000 saw a game that was dictated by weather conditions.

The teams were roughly equal on the stat sheet for the first half save one, possession. In that category Telford showed a decisive edge along the lines of a 60-40 split. Telford was unable to do much with this advantage, as they only made Browne work with two of their attempts. For our part, we got four chances as well, but ere only able to put one on goal. The net result was that by halftime the score remained 0-0. The second half didn’t improve much from our perspective. At the break I had subbed in Cooley for Mutchell, who had finally tested my patience far enough. The right-back had played his final half for AXFC. He would be released after the game. Both teams’ offense had improved during the second half, but it was Telford who struck the killing blow. On 64, Naylor, buried a shot past Browne to give Telford the 1-0 lead that would end up the final result. They retained it too despite our best try. Purcell came on for Howard, but the Irishman was unable to do much and Telford skillfully ran out the clock on their 1-0 victory. We didn’t have much time to worry about the loss as we had a Saturday afternoon game at home against Aldershot to concern ourselves with next.

[Educated Hick]

As threatened, Mutchell was released after the game for incompetent performance. The board wasn’t particularly happy about shelling out the 45K to buy out the contract, but even they recognized that he had to go. We promptly went looking for a replacement among interested free agents.

Saturday morning in London was a dreary affair much to the disgust of the TV crews who were covering the Conference game of the week. The rain came down in a drizzle and the air was colder, high 30’s, than it had been for a while. Only three starters were declared to be totally unfit for the game and Durkin, Apilinga and Todd were replaced by Chandler, Young and Wade respectively. Cooley took the newly vacated spot at right back. Despite the weather, nearly 2000 fans turned out to see a pretty fair ballgame and there was no doubt that we needed their support in this game.

Aldershot came out hanging back a bit. They were content to establish the tempo of the game and were not taking any risks. This cautious strategy backfired as we, AXFC, pounded the Aldershot net with a few shots. On 30, Kirkwood broke through to take a lay-off from Wade and put it in to score his first goal as a regular starter and give the home side the 1-0 lead. Aldershot responded ten minutes later with their only shot of the half as Moody took a rebound and made it 1-1. At the half I pulled Howard, who might have a knee injury for Purcell. The second half saw us taking a surfeit of chances and even placing them on target half the time. However, Mitten, the Aldershot keeper, was having a great day and he stopped us cold. On 85, I pulled a struggling Lyne for Asser, but the change came too late to break the deadlock. By the end of the game, tempers had flared over the physical play of both sides. Wade threw a punch at Thurston, and the latter nailed Chandler, who was trying to play peacemaker. The ref ejected both players and the game ended a few minutes later. The draw kept us in 8th place. We had a week off before we had to travel to Broadhall Way to face Stevenage.

On January 28, we signed veteran right back Donal Flynn to fill out the first team. Cooley would assume the starting spot at right back and Flynn would back him up. Duffy played well in the reserve match and thus earned his starting first team place again. Todd would shift to the backup RMC spot and Wade, he of the fisticuffs, would go to the reserves. February brought the monthly board meeting. They were happy with my performance, but they commented on the fact that fan interest seemed to be waning. Not much I could do about that except win, which is what I was being paid to do anyhow. January showed us making a profit, but it was a bit deceptive as the money came from a cash injection and not honest-to-God revenue. As it was, we were still 50,000 pounds in the red. I was wondering when our backers would get tired of the losses and pull the plug on AXFC.

[Flying_Fin]

This was a great read, mate

Keep up the excellent writing ^_^

[Educated Hick]

Cheers Fin

Saturday February 2 was not a pleasant day at Stevenage. The afternoon was wet, cloudy and cold in the high 30’s. The omnipresent groundhog was not going to make an appeared on this day, meaning another six weeks of winter. All the regular starters, including the newly reinstated Duffy, got the start except for Lyne and Thurber, who both struggled mightily in the last game. Ward and Asser filled their places. Nearly 1300 fans filled Broadhall Way and they had to be disappointed with their team’s play.

Stevenage came out playing defense. They were so focused on that, they forgot to play offense. They had no chances and, indeed, their stat sheet was pretty empty. AXFC had four chances and were on target three times, but the Stevenage defense prevented us from capitalized on anything until near the end of the half. Asser collected a loose ball on 44, went up the pitch and lobbed a pass to Howard in the area. Howard headed the ball in to give AXFC the 1-0 at the break. I replaced Thurber, whom I’d accidentally write in on the lineup card. As it turned out, Thornber had a possible shin injury. Not wanting to risk the 35 year old any further, I subbed him out for Lyne. The second half was the opposite of the first. Stevenage turned on an efficient offense that harried our defense. We were focusing on tem defense and valiantly tried to hold them off, but eventually, ten minutes to time, they broke through when Bapiste nailed a shot to tie the game at 1-1. That’s how the game ended too. We got the point, but we felt we had squandered a great chance for a win. All we could do was patiently wait for our next game which would be in a week at Chester.

We traveled to the Deva Stadium for the Saturday afternoon game against Chester. The weather was clear and cold and the pitch was in good condition. All of the regular eleven got the nod. For only the third time this season, we broke out the red uniforms. Just over 800 fans showed to watch their team get pelted in the first half.

Put simply, we had nine chances in the first half, but only four were where they should have been. We did get on the board fifteen minutes in when Gordon created space for himself off a Duffy lay-off and blasted it into goal to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. Chester focused on defense after that and their shots were limited to three with Browne only having to deal with one of those. With the amount of possession Chester had, they really should have done more. As had happened in the past few games, the second half was a complete turnaround for our opponents. Chester managed to get a couple of shots off starting at the hour mark. Brodie got one goal then and added another ten minutes later to give Chester the 2-1 lead. At that point I put in Dallas for Kirkwood and Todd for Apilinga and told the side to start attacking. But, none of it did any good as Stamp, the other Chester forward put in his contribution at 90 to make the final score 3-1. The loss dropped us to ninth place and continued our dip in form. We had collected just five points in our last five games. We had a home game against Northwich Vics at home next Saturday on February 16th.

[chesterfan2]

Despite my 'Supporter's glee' at your last result (losing to the mighty mighty Chester) may I say how much I enjoy following this story, and hope you bounce back with a vengance after this understnadable loss.

[Educated Hick]

Chester- Your team had our number this year. They were a quality team, at least until they started cutting payroll the next season.

For the first time in a while, there was no team news to report as we prepared to face the Vics on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. The day arrived and you could tell that spring was in the air. We were finally moving away from real cold conditions to temperatures in the mid 40’s. The day was clear and the grounds were dry. All the regulars got the nod for this game. We needed a win badly as we were rapidly slipping into mid-table mediocrity. Nearly 1400 fans showed up to a good show.

Predictably, we started out behind the eight-ball as Vic’s Thompson sent the ball crashing into the net eight minutes to give the visitors the 1-0 lead. We patiently probed their defense and equalized just before the half-hour mark when Kirkwood sent in a corner that Gordon somehow managed to put into the net. With the scores level, the two teams continued to split possession evenly, each team taking a goodly amount of shots that challenged the keepers. Finally, after much work, we managed to pull ahead on 43. Not for the first time, Apilinga and Howard worked together to create a goal. Apilinga found Howard open in the area, and Howard tried a shot that went in to give AXFC the 2-1 lead going into halftime. During the break, the trainer told me that Lyne might have a potential shin injury, so I replaced him with Todd for the second. I also told my team to play defensively for the rest of the game. When Durkin missed a penalty to open the second half, I knew things weren’t going to go according to plan. Sure enough, just after an hour had ticked away, Thompson got hold of a low cross into the box and drove it in low to knot the game once again at 2-2. Almost twenty minutes later, Howard regained us the lead when Howard took a pass from Todd, beat his man and potted the ball into the net to give AXFC a 3-2 lead. The Vics were not to be denied however and two minutes to time, Whitehead, the guy who had killed us in the previous game against this team, nailed a stunner to earn the 3-3 draw. All we could do was shake our heads and look forward to next Saturday’s game at home versus Halifax.

Another week passed without incident and Saturday afternoon arrived in a hurry. Yankee Stadium was drenched overnight with rain, so the grounds were still wet and the pitch hadn’t really had a chance to dry out before game time. The temperature was again in the 40’s. Cooley was out with a damaged shoulder, so 29 yr old Irishman Donal Flynn got the chance to make his debut at right back. Just over 1600 fans turned out for a great match.

Both teams’ goalies were on form. Both AXFC and Halifax got their chances, and the forwards were on-target for the most part. The teams flowed up down the itch when the midfield wasn’t clogged. But, both keepers were a stone wall and nobody was able to put the ball into the net during the first half. The second half mirrored the first. At 60, I pulled Lyne for Todd, hoping the latter could make a difference. Three minutes later, Kirkwood volleyed a shot off a Howard header to make the score 1-0 AXFC. We hung onto the slim lead for the next twenty minutes and emerged victorious for the first time in a while. I was hoping that the win might signal an upswing in our fortunes as we next entertained Exeter at home the following Saturday.

March came and with it came my monthly performance review. This time the board was delighted with our February showing. But, the finances remained in a sorry state as we had lost nearly 80,000 that month. In addition to the administrative stuff, our reserves traveled to St. James and soundly drubbed Exeter’s reserves 4-0. I was thrilled at my youngster’s performance, but I wasn’t so keen on the final result. It’s my experience that the first tem game becomes more difficult as the reserve loser trying to regain lost honor. So, I braced myself for a fight on Saturday March 2.

[chesterfan2]

Chester. Cutting the payroll.

Just how realistic does this game get ?

[Educated Hick]

Saturday afternoon in London was mild. It seemed like spring was well-nigh, two weeks ahead of the groundhog. Cooley wasn’t totally recovered from injury and Lyne was struggling, so Flynn and Asser took their places among the regulars who were penciled in on the lineup card. Nearly 2000 supporters showed up and saw an uneven first half.

I thought Exeter would come out swinging, but they surprised me by acting like a punching bag. They were content to let us dictate terms to them, which we gladly did. We controlled tempo and possession for the vast majority of the first half. By rights we should have done more with our four chances, but only two were destined to be scoring chances and the Exeter keeper calmly saved both. For their part, Exeter only had one shot all half, and it whistled over the net requiring nothing on Browne’s part. At halftime, the game was still 0-0. During the break, the trainer reported that Gordon had a possible knee injury, so Law replaced him for the second half. All our hard work paid off at the hour mark when Duffy found Howard, who hit a soft shot that nestled into the netting to give us the 1-0 lead. We shifted to a defensive posture after that and hung on to win. Exeter tried to attack, and indeed, they dominated the second half, but their finishing was supremely incompetent. None of their six tries bothered Browne in the slightest. Even though we had back to back wins, we remained stuck in ninth place as we prepared to travel to The Lawn to face Forest Green on the following Saturday. After the game I made a tough call. I moved Asser up on the depth chart. He would be the full-time starter at LMC for the rest of the year as Lyne would move to the bench. Lyne was just not cut out to be a starter and, given his versatility, was better as a utility payer anyway.

The afternoon of Saturday March 9 we were set to play Forest Green for the fifth time this season. Our head to head records were identical 1-2-1. This time, at least, the weather was cooperating nicely, even though it had become slightly chillier since last weekend’s fixture. This time we would field all the regulars, including newbie Asser, save for Cooley who had retested his knee in training earlier in the week and would be out for another couple of weeks. Flynn would continue to hold down the fort at right back. Nearly 800 fans saw their home side play well in the first half.

Forest got three very good shots on target during the first half, but Browne was in form and he saved them well. Forest had us back on our heels. We were unable to do jack on offense, so we focused on good team defense and helping Browne out. Consequently, we had only two chances and were barely able to penetrate the Forrest half, near the end of the half; we surprised Forest by taking the ball up the pitch in a hurry. Gordon headed the ball to Duffy on the right, who sent the ball in for Kirkwood, who in turn headed it down for an oncoming Howard, who blistered the ball into the net as the horn sounded signaling halftime. All it takes is one chance and we were ahead 1-0 to open the second half. At the break I pulled Apilinga, who had a potential knee injury in favor of Todd. We assumed a defensive mindset for the second. The second half was a shootout. Both sides reminded excitedly accurate with their shots and only an on-form Browne prevented major disaster. On 64, Kirkwood got the vital insurance goal we needed when he drove back a rebound to give AXFC the 2-0. Ten minutes later, I put Purcell and Law into the game for Asser and Gordon. We cruised after that and left The Lawn with our easiest win in ages. Having won three in a row, I was hoping that the momentum would carry on to our next contest which would take place against Gravesend on Tuesday evening at Yankee Stadium.

[Educated Hick]

That Tuesday evening was a bit warmer than the week before had been, which was nice. Not so nice was the gusty wind that whipped through the stadium in warm-ups. I decided to rest Browne, Durkin, Duffy and Gordon. Brook, Chandler, Todd and Law took their place among the staring eleven. Nearly 1300 fans watched a midfield slugfest.

The wind really was a factor as the ball stayed at midfield for the majority of the half. Neither team was foolish enough to try long passes and stuck to short passing, and with the limited amount of technical skill in this league, that meant a game in the middle of the pitch. Both teams did make occasional attacking forays into the opposition’s territory. Both teams got chances, but the goalkeepers were in good form. We, AXFC, jumped out to an early lead 12 minutes into the game. Apilinga chipped it to Todd, who went on a run that ended with a low drive into the net to give us the 1-0 lead. We did have one ominous event in the half after that. Flynn went down with an injury on 36 and was replaced by Thomas. At the intermission, the trainer told me that Howard had a possible sprain, so I pulled him and put Purcell out there for the second half. Gravesend struck quickly in the second half, three minutes in. Craig belted a volley past Brook to level the game, 1-1. The game resumed the pattern it had taken in the first half. Both team slugged t out in midfield with occasional attacks and good chances, In the end, Sam Turner, the Gravesend keeper was on form and he made a couple of excellent saves to force the 1-1 draw. Even with our good form, we remained in ninth place as we prepared to head to Tamworth for the Saturday afternoon game.

Flynn would be out a month with strained ankle ligaments. That presented me with a dilemma. Do I solely rely on Cooley or do I bring up a youngster from the reserves for the last few games. It didn’t take long to make a decision. I called up 16 yr old right back James Jones, who was having a decent year in the reserves.

Saturday afternoon at the Lamb Ground, Tamworth was a dry cold day. All but two of the regulars got the start. I put Todd in at right back because Jones wasn’t rested from the reserves match earlier in the week. I also gave Young the start over Apilinga, who needed a game off. Just over 1500 Tamworth fans crowded the ground and saw their team play well.

Tamworth jumped out early fifteen minutes into the game. Brett Darby gathered a loose ball, dribbled into the area and put it past Browne to give the home side a 1-0 lead. Both teams mounted fluid attacks, but the forwards were mangling chances left, right and center. So, we went into the half still behind by one. At the halt, I made two subs. Both Howard and Kirkwood seemed to be nursing injuries and I was not going to take any chances with their health this late in the season. On went Purcell and Law for the second half. We tied the game shortly after the game began anew when Gordon took a Duffy pass, turned on it and planted it solidly into the net for a 1-1 score. The half went back and forth after that. We just couldn’t manufacture much offense at this time and it came back to bite us on the ass when on 83, French striker Ahmad One blistered a rebound back into the net to give Tamworth the 2-1 win. We deserved to lose, having been incompetent on offense. We had a week to recover and right the ship before we faced Hereford Saturday March 23, 2002 at Yankee Stadium.

[Educated Hick]

Saturday afternoon arrived dry and a bit chilly. All the regulars were fit to go and all earned the start. Nearly 2000 fans came to the game, a number which would make the bean-counters happy. They witnessed a team that was not living up to its port entail.

Hereford got off on the wrong foot. Goalkeeper Warren Auburn was sent off for clipping Howard in the penalty area less than five minutes in. Durkin converted the penalty to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. Hereford never quit, they continued to attack us unsparingly. In fact, they were desperate for a goal and they finally got it on nine when Durant lofted in a corner that Quinlan headed past Browne to level the score: 1-1. After that, the teams flowed up and down the pitch with each side getting three or four good chances. Neither side could take advantage of the opportunities nor so goals remained scarce until five minutes after the half-hour mark. Duffy chipped a pass to Howard, who made up for earlier by leaping up and heading the ball home to give the home side the 2-1 lead at the half. The second half saw us playing defensively. Despite this, we added to our lead on 57, when Howard put the game on ice by outing back a round. Up 3-1, we were content to run out the clock. In 88, Apilinga was ejected for making an ugly tackle, but that was the extent of the second half excitement.

Apilinga was banned for three matches by the FA. I appealed the decision and lost, meaning that Young would have to take up the slack in those three games. On Saturday March 30, we traveled to the Gay Meadow in Shrewsbury for an afternoon fixture. It had rained the night before and the pitch was not completely dried out by game time. It was also a bit chilly. All the regulars got the nod as we looked to avenge out loss to Shrewsbury earlier in the season. In spite of the rather irascible weather, nearly 1500 turned up. They were treated to a very dull first half.

The first half was a midfield battle. Neither team was able to put together any kind of attack. When either team did manage a rare scoring opportunity, the chances were wasted. We had the slightly better showing since all three of our shots were on the money, but that was about the only thing we could say we’d done better than the opponent. Everyone on the pitch as relieved when the half whistle blew as it meant we had 15 minutes to regroup. The beginning of the second half mirrored the first. Sloppy and dispirited play abounded as neither team did much. 15 minutes in, it seemed that this game was distained for obscurity. Exasperated at AXFC’s general play, I subbed in Law and Lyne on 64 for Gordon and Durkin respectively. Just two minutes later, Law proved I’d made the right call when he nailed a diving header off an Asser corner to give the visitors the 1-0 lead. Shrewsbury spent the rest of the match trying to rally, but they failed, due to the fact that they were having trouble hitting the broad side of the barn. On 90, Kirkwood sealed the victory for us when he ran onto a Duffy pass and volleyed it into the top corner to make the final score 2-0. We didn’t gain all that much from the win, but we had dented Shrewsbury’s title hopes. At this point, becoming spoilers was the only thing left for us to accomplish this season. Our next game was on Saturday April 6 in London against Farnborough. That game would mark the beginning of Apilinga’s three-match ban.

[Educated Hick]

The end of March was award time and I received the “Manager of the Month†award for our turnaround. The board was delighted with my March performance, but there were storm clouds gathering. The team had lost another 84 grand during the month and some shareholders were grumbling. Ah well, we couldn’t do much about that. Most of our costs are fixed and won’t chance ass that much.

April brought with it warmer weather. The temperature was in the 60’s on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium as we prepared to take on Farnborough. Unfortunately, the pitch was damp and wet and the wind was whistling through the crowd. Not the best of conditions, but, hey, it could be worse. Young filled in for the suspended Apilinga, but all the other regulars were penciled into the lineup. Nearly 1900 fans witnessed out best half performance of the year.

As the game opened, you could tell we were still smarting over our previous loss to Farnborough. Everyone on the AXFC side seemed determined to erase those memories. Farnborough were able to hold off the on-slaught until nearly a half-hour was up. Then, Duffy passed to Kirkwood in the area and the striker buried the ball to give us the 1-0 lead. Then, five minutes later, Asser want on a mad dash with the ball that culminated with him finishing and making the score 2-0. Three minutes after that, Howard collected his own rebound and blasted it in to make the score 3-0 and effectively end the game with only 40 minutes played. Halftime was a giddy affair. Perhaps we were a bit overconfident. We staved off Farnborough for about 25 minutes in the second half, and then Ellis nailed a beauty on 72. Kevin Byrnes followed suit five minutes late to pull them within one, 3-2. I didn’t make any changes, reasoning that the defense would tighten and hold off Farnborough. We almost did, but with one minute remaining, Paterson snuck in a goal to make the game a 3-3 draw. Still, the fans couldn’t complain as they had gotten goals aplenty. We got a short rest as we had to travel to Leigh RMI in Bolton for a Monday evening game in two days time.

The Monday evening fixture in Bolton arrived quickly. The weather was dry and nippy. All the backups got the start for this one, and Wade was called up to make an emergency start at CMC. The fact that Leigh was one of the worse teams in the Conference was borne out by the fact that less than 800 people showed up for the contest. Not that anyone absent missed much.

We took command five minutes in when Purcell took a pass from Law and dribbled it in to score for the visitors 1-0. The rest of the half passed without comment as neither team made much of an effort to attack and kept the ball at midfield. The second half was even duller with no attacking whatsoever. We walked away 1-0 victors, but this was the most boring game of the year. We had almost a week and half off before we had to face Woking at Yankee Stadium a week from Wednesday on April 17th. The Leigh win did have one benefit; we moved up to 7th place with three games left to play.

[Educated Hick]

On Saturday the 13th of April, Leigh and Aldershot were relegated to non-league obscurity. The following Wednesday evening was our home fixture against Woking. The evening was chilly and damp and no all that conducive to good play. Once again, Young filled in for Apilinga, who was serving the final game of his suspension. Otherwise all the starters were regulars. Just over 1600 watched a pretty good game.

We opened the game attacking, which paid off on 17 when Asser hit a low cross into the box from the left, which Duffy gathered in and blasted into the newt to give AXFC the 1-0 lead. Woking had few scoring opportunities in the half, but what they got, they took advantage. Just eight minutes later, Murray dribbled in, beat Duffy and sent the ball screaming past Browne to knot the score at 1-1. Nothing much happened after that in the half. Both teams were just patiently waiting the other to make a mistake. The halftime arrived and I noticed several of my players weren’t looking so fit. There were too many to sub out during the break, so I just told them to grit their teeth and play. They did just that during the second half. On 61, Young went on his best run of the year, starting at the center line and running in. He lost several markers in the process and completed his run by volleying past a stunned Woking keeper to give the home side the 2-1 lead. At that point, I lifted Young and Howard, who were both fatigued, for Todd and Purcell. Woking were patient, they worked the ball up slowly, assessing their options and it worked for them twenty minutes later Sharpling put the ball on target to tie the game 2-2. Both teams ran out the clock then and each gained a point. By this point, it hardly mattered; we wanted to get the season over with as we traveled to Scarborough in a week and a half.

The afternoon of Saturday April 27 at Scarborough was drizzly and chilly. With Apilinga’s return, the entire regular lineup went out to do battle. The nearly 1300 souls who braved the weather saw their home side does well.

Scarborough managed to land all four of their shots right on the bull’s-eye and this brought dividends on 16, when Graydon blasted an Omerod lob into the goal to give the home side the 1-0 lead. We couldn’t catch up; the Scarborough defense was playing just as well as their offense and perhaps a bit better. We could only put two shots on target, and both were easy saves by the Scarborough keeper. To be honest, we looked flat. I suppose it was hard for the players to care about the last road game of the year, but dammit, we had our pride to think about. Of course, at the break, the trainer informed me that Howard had a potential foot injury. So, Purcell replaced him for the second half. We managed to revive our offense in the second half, but we were still scatter-shot, as we seemly wasted every chance we got. Still, we got the Scarborough team thinking about defense more than offense and as such, we didn’t have to worry too much about their attack. On 83, we finally put a shot on target as Apilinga launched a ball into the area for Purcell, who took it, found himself open, and buried an easy sitter to tie the game 1-1. On the ensuing kick-off, I replaced a struggling Duffy with Todd. Both sides tried to break the deadlock in the last few minutes, but both had to be content with a point. We had one game left, a home game the following Saturday with Barnet.