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Gundo's FM11 European Adventure Challenge™


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Good work Gilb!

Yeah, I also got an offer from an African agent. He was letting me know "his player was on the way to joining your club" and to "send the money via Paypal before he could send the information as to how the player was getting there and where he would be". Weird.

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Unfortunately Europe didnt go very well. Possibly because I had barely had a chance to sort out my squad, and was left with a barebones squad cos the fixture was played during the time where contracts expired.

Was drawn against Vitoria Sports Club of Portugal. Both legs were 2-0, so lost 4-0 on aggregrate.

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Stitt takes over at University of Ulster - Coleraine

And so the dream begins - at my old university. Estimated value of 35k, maximum capacity of 500, balance of £31,250 in the bank. Expectations are attempt to avoid relegation - no transfer budget and 2k a week on wages.... some people might say I am crazy....but I think its a CHALLENGE!!

GarethStittProfile_Personal.png

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Welcome to the challenge CaptainStarbuster and Oxslow. Unlucky with the draw Gilbster and I thought my luck with draws sucked. Congrats on the title win brambleten and a good season fastbasher. :thup:

I will post a 10th anniversary special update later on :p

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I finished my first season in Greece, not so good but great for a newly promoted team. If our defence did not concede that much cheap goals and if our attack scored more times from numerous CCC, maybe we could have been 5th or 6th (promotion playoffs).

League table

Final match

It was like last match most of the time; only with less goals per game. We had many CCC (clear cut chances) but failed to score. And our goalkeepers were awful, not to forget the right back position. Those two are my primary targets.

Best players this season: young Stambolziev (joined in January on free transfer), Vladimir But and Cypriot Pelagias.

Next year we will try for promotion.

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Yes! First win with Lower Maze. The 7th game of the season, we got a 2-1 win away against Moyola Park. We're still bottom of the table though, but hopefully we can build on our first victory. I did some tweaking of my tactics, and changed my flat midfield into a diamond. So far it seems to be working, as we create way more chances, and the defence seems tighter.

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Bridgend Town - Principality Welsh Premier Division - 2020/21

Transfer - A more danish feel as they were all touted 5* PA so they will all play a key part in the future.

Competitions

Welsh Prem - Table - Nothing unusual except for destroying records,I hope those playing as Afan Lido are not too upset with what happened :p

Champions League - Quarter Finals - 1st up on our Euro adventure was Flora in the 2nd qualifier, we destroyed them 11-0 on agg. (Leg 1:Leg 2.) As a reward we were sent on a sunny trip to Cyprus to face Omonoia in the 3rd qualifier. We went through 8-0 on agg (Leg 1:Leg 2). Once again we were off to Litex for the Champions Playoff, we went through much easier then this time as we won 6-1 on agg. (Leg 1:Leg 2). We were given a easier group than normal being drawn against Real Madrid, Marseille and Austria Wien, I was relatively shocked as I beat Marseille and drew with Madrid at home. Austria Wien put up no resistance what so ever. We were given a tie against Porto in the Knockout round. We shocked Europe as we went through 4-3 and even stopped Hulk getting any who was top scorer. (Leg 1:Leg 2). We were given a nightmare trip to Utd as a reward, we really did shock Europe as we beat them 3-1 in the 1st leg but had no answer to their power in the 2nd. (Leg 1:Leg 2). Trust Bebe to score his only european goal of the season against me. To top everything off Marseille who finished 3rd....went on to win the Euro Cup....god dammit :mad:

Welsh Cup - Winners - Last cup contest was as easy as the League cup final. Maybe in the future things will pick up as reputation increases.

League Cup - Winners - This was marked by being my 500th game in charge. Quite an easy one too, only my team seems to take this competition seriously.

Players/Awards

I won Manager of the Year as well as claim top spot in the Welsh Hall of Fame. Although that doesn't seem to difficult.

David Stewart was top Scorer with 57 goals. He achieved Top Scorer and was Europes Top Marksman. He won Welsh Young Player of the Year and Fans Player of the Year.

Alan Williams was top of the assists chart with an impressive 43. He was Player of the Year and featured in the CL Dream Team.

Martin Mortensen won Young Player of the Year

Once again we dominated Team of the Season.

Another player to watch for the up coming season is Saeed Al-Qarni, he is Bridgend born but is dual nationality as a Welsh/Saudi Arabia and is already 3* CA which is already as good as my current left back.

Expectations

The same as I always do, continue to dominate domestically and Improve in Europe.

To continue to to drag the Welsh Premier up the rankings as we currently sit at 88th. Ranked at 2*, the Welsh league is slowly becoming one of the better leagues.

To give all domestic teams a good tonking to show them Europe isn't for the faint hearted as Wales now has 2 Champions League qualifiers and 3 Euro Cup qualifiers.

100 Club

Player           Position   Period         Appearances      Goals
Alan Williams    MR/AMR     2016-*            270            128
Leon Clowes      DC         2014-*            268            20
Lloyd Evans      DC         2010-2017         252            15
Daniel Wright    GK         2013-2022         236            0
Rob Yates        ST         2016-*            226            175
David Stewart    ST         2015-*            224            173
Terry Smith      DC/MC      2015-*            221            12
Jason Mitchell   ST/AMC     2013-2022         196            82
Jack Abraham     AMRL       2011-2017         186            40
Craig Saunders   DRC        2017-*            186            4
Nicholas King    DC         2016-*            185            8
Denis Keen       DR         2014-2021         181            3
David Hughes     MC         2015-*            180            35
James Baker      DC/DL      2016-*            174            12
Daryl Hornby     DL         2014-2020         173            0
Richard Hendry   MC         2015-*            160            24 
Scott Mckenzie   AML/MC     2016/2022         146            37
Duane McAuley    DL         2015-*            141            1
Mick Hendrie     GK         2017-*            141            0
Luke Bowen       AMR/St     2011-2015         138            37
Billy Bodin      AML        2017-*            137            18
Jeff Williams    AMR        2011-2019         136            26
Ashleigh Evans   MC         2011-2015         130            14
Tim Horn         GK         2011-2018         125            0
Kyle Critchell   DR/DC      2012-2017         116            3 
Steven Palmer    AMC/St     2015-*            111            42
George Evans     Striker    2013-2018         110            26
Oliver Wale      AML        2014-*            105            14
Martin Mortensen DM/MC      2019-*            103            26
Lewis Macey      AML        2019-*            101            19

Season     League    Cup              C.League      Euro Cup     Achievements
2011/12    2nd      Runners Up        N/A             N/A        Euro Cup Qualifcation
2012/13    1st      Winners           N/A             2nd QL     Domestic Treble
2013/14    1st      Winners           2nd QL          N/A        Domestic Treble
2014/15    1st      Winners           2nd QL          N/A        Domestic Treble.     
2015/16    1st      Winners           Play Off        Group      Domestic Treble.
2016/17    1st      Winners           Group Stage     N/A        Domestic Treble
2017/18    1st      Winners           Group Stage     N/A        Domestic Treble
2018/19    1st      Winners           Group Stage     N/A        Domestic Treble
2019/20    1st      Winners           Group Stage     Q.Finals   Domestic Treble.
2020/21    1st      Winners           Q.Finals        N/A        Domestic Treble.

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Afan Lido - 2016/17 Wales

Well we weren't completely embarassed in Europe, losing 4-0 on aggregate against a Portuguese side in the 1st Qualifying round of the Europa Cup.

Our league form was pathetic this season, and for part of the season, I was convinced we would be on the wrong half of the spli, but luckily we ended up in 6th place and then went on to beat Llanelli in the Europe Playoff so we will be back in Europe next season.

I think I am slowly finding players that are being rated as leading players for the Welsh Premier Division instead of just good or decent, and if I can fill my squad with such players, I may get somewhere.

Transfers

Aim

Get a better draw in Europe

Stop going over my wage budget

Improve league position dramatically

Career So Far


Season    Position   Points   FA Cup  League Cup  C.League  Europa       Achievements
2011/12   11th       28       R3      R1          n/e       n/e
2012/13   11th       31       R3      QF          n/e       n/e
2013/14   6th        36       SF      SF          n/e       n/e
2014/15   9th        35       SF      Winner      n/e       n/e
2015/16   4th        47       R3      QF          n/e       n/e          Won Euro Playoff Final
2016/17   6th        37       R3      R1          n/e       1st Qual     Won Euro Playoff Final           

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Thanks, if it hadn;t been for the Euro Playoff Final win, my planned update was just going to be a league table, as its ridiculous that I can strengthen the squad and do worse each season!

edit: Wales Premier Division has moved back up the rankings to 409th now. And we are at half a star of rating.

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If you start the season slowly, it could be gelling issues as I'm sure that could affect how the team plays as it may take time for them to get to know each other. Hope you get a better draw this time as well.

My scout going round Africa has picked up this amazing talent in Senegal. I can't wait for June 2022 to come...introducing Mamadou Diallo. That is an amazing scoring record, even at youth level, 29 goals in 19 youth caps :eek: Although his agent is a money grabber....350k in agent fees :mad:

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Good result once again. Afan Lido are coming and no one can stop them :p I feel bad anyway, I somehow managed to draw Barcelona in the group stages again along with Spartak Moscow and Austrian whipping boys Austria Wien.

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Second Leg

Tough sounding draw BWG, but sure you can make it through.

I have Steau Bucharest up next. I suspect that may be a step too far this season.

3rd Qualifying Round, Leg 1

Leg 2 vs Steau

All I can say is it was a fantastic campaign, really proud of the team, and the finances from participating in first 3 qualifying rounds, have temporarliy put us back into the black.

League campaign is about to kick off, but will start that in the morning. Very happy with our second European adventure, and lets hope we get better from here.

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Welsh Premiership - 2012/13

Transfers were heavily based in the midfield, to make it more solid. We failed to buy any strikers, we thought what we had would suffice.

- The second season in control or Afan was a success in the first half, and a total mess in the second one. Which usually means nothing to show fir it. In league, we managed to get into the top 3 for most of the first half, crushing teams left and right not with amazing scores, but with clean sheets and common sense when defending.

- In the second half, it all went to the crapper. We only won two games out of the last 15, and all of a sudden we were the worst team in the league. Everybody could beat us. We finished sixth, losing the fifth place in the last game, a spot we had not been all season, and with over 120 yellow cards and nine red cards...in 33 games. Moronic.

- Of course, in the European playoffs, we lost against 7th, TNS, in the first game. 0-1. At home. With an own goal. And out shooting them 14 to 1. Sure, why not.

Table

Loosemores Cup

- We wered paired against Llanelli home in the first round, winning 3-2, to then lose to Airbus UK away, 4-2 in the qurterfinals.

Welsh Cup

- I was raging at the end of our torunament. We paired Llanelli, the best team in the country (again) and this time away...but we managed to beat them in penalties after the final 0-0. In the forth round, we beat lower league Llangollen 0-2 away, and we were in the quarterfinals.

- We had TNS of course away. We were winning 0-1 and dominating...red card, two injuries, and the game ends 2-1.

- After this debacle, the idea is to sign a freaking striker who can score, and maybe better defenders. The 4-1-3-2 system not only works for us, it's just all we can do since there are no decent wings in this country. After this disappointing end of the season, we'll see how we come back from it.

In other news

Stats

- Ashley Jones was our best player and was even nominated for best player of the league. At 13 yellows and 1 red, I don't think he did that well. Another englishman, Ben Karr, also did well in the midfield.

- We now have 4-5 players called fro the U-21 and U-19 national sides in a regular basis.

- Season passes - 32

- Attendance - 95 average, 1 more than last year. Yay.

- Club's value - £275k - £25k more than last year.

- Match/Season ticket - £5.90/£50 - £.10/0 more than last year.

- The league is...263th, up from 268th.

2011/12 - Welsh Premiership - 9th 39p - 4th round Welsh Cup - Loosemores Cup Champions!

2012/13 - Welsh Premiership - 6th 44p - QF Welsh Cup - QF Loosemores Cup - Manager of the Year!?!

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Brambleten's Welsh Adventure

Afan Lido - 2012/2013

Media Prediction: 11th

Actual Position: 1st - surprisingly enough, we were named overachievers of the season

Transfers: A few in, more out - Elliot was just a next season signing, not this season just played.

Finances: -£176k

Season Ticket Holders: 31 (31)

Average Attendance: 114 (81)

Top Scorer: Emyr Huws - 20 goals - New signing having been released from Man City, won Signing of the season, named Premier League Player of the Year, and came second in the Golden Boot. replaced O'Toole as the irreplacable forward, which is just as well, as O'Toole spent most of the season injured.

Most Assists: Morgan Jones - 13 Assists - had to fight a bit with my youth prospect for games, but when he did play he clocked up the most assists in the squad, although Huws was close behind him.

Fans Player of the Year: David Kingdom - for the second season in a row, Kingdom was named FPotY, and it was justified, as he barely missed a game and was a rock at the heart of my defense.

Youth Intake: Wayne Williams - can apparently play at the same level as Huws, so I'm not going to complain.

Cups:

League Cup - We managed to sneak our way through the rounds, and again, managed to sneak a win in the final for our first trophy under my reign.

Welsh Cup - A solid win against non league opponents, given that i played a few of the younger players in the game. wonder how soon we will see them in the WPL, given the money they will get from Europe.

League Rep:

The league rep crashed horrifically, going down 98 places to 365th, and to only 1/2 a star

Overall:

What a season! I was aiming for top 6, but we started the season on fire and never let down. we rode our luck at times, but getting a decent keeper really helped, especially as we went 8 without conceeding at one point and 20 games without defeat. pity about the finances though, was losing £10k/month on staff wages which i can do nothing about as its bare bones staff plus me, and there is no way in hell i am backing down from the contract i got offered at the end of my first season in charge.

Targets

bring in some cover practically everywhere, as the squad is barebones with people's contracts expiring, but with some areas of the squad getting better, these players that were 2-3* are now only 1/2 - 1* and not worth keeping

dont embarrass myself in europe

try and do the treble again

Season      Position      FA Cup      League Cup     Europa    CL        Achievements
11/12         8th           R4           R1          N/A       N/A          
12/13         1st         Winner       Winner        N/A       N/A      Qualified for CL, Domestic Treble

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Start Otwock - Polish First Division - 10 Games Remaining In 11/12 Season

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I won't be saying much about my first two matches since our return from the winter break, primarily because I played them so long ago that my memory's gone a bit foggy on them - and also because, quite frankly, they were unremarkable matches. But in the interest of completeness, here's a brief overview of what happened:

Game #20: (H) Sandecja 1-0

Clearly a must win against a Sandecja team now languishing in the relegation zone. It, going by the statistics, could be summed up as an even game. However, our quality told in the end, with Kozakiewicz slipping a delightful through ball in for Bala to coolly bury into the back of the net with 55 minutes gone.

Game #21: (A) Radzionkow: 0-1

Simply put, a precious smash and grab victory against a very decent Radzionkow side whose 4-1-4-1 formation indicated that they'd set out their stall to defend. As such, they very much controlled the flow of the game. We only had one shot on target all game and our keeper, though he only had to make 3 saves, was awarded the match ball. But importantly, we made our one shot on goal count, with that man Bala again popping up with the match winner. This time, he slid in to meet a telling Trela delivery from the left wing.

So, 6 points from a possible 6 and 2 clean sheets. Despite only managing to score two goals, I was delighted with the results. It's the points that matter, especially at this stage of the season. Next up: an absolutely pivotal match to our promotion hopes, as we faced Gornik Zabrze.

Game #22: (H) Gornik Zabrze 2-0

We faced division leaders Gornik Zabrze and the lads secured an absolutely memorable victory. Perhaps the visitors were shocked by our attacking intent. I told the lads to the attack from the off (something I don't think I've ever done as yet this season, especially against such formidable opposition!) and it paid dividends. Trela threw the ball in to Kozakiewicz, who immediately laid it back off to the former and sprinted off into the penalty area. Trela took it down the line and whipped in a cross that was met by the head of - you guessed it - little Kozakiewicz. Within 13 minutes, we were 1-0 up against the leaders. The fans, much like myself, could hardly believe it. But things would get even better for our side. Gornik's centre-back, Mariusz Jop, got himself an early bath for a second yellow after only 17 minutes. Could this be our day? After we secured a fantastic 2nd goal in first half stoppage time, I truly believed it was. The ball was taken off the feet of Bala, who had done very well to outpace a defender to a loose ball. It bounced directly to our right midfielder Mateusz Powalka, who was in space outside the box. Without hesitation, he unleashed an unstoppable effort first time to send us into the changing room 2-0 up. And though we were thoroughly outpossessed and helped out by the woodwork twice, we kept our heads. And our third consecutive clean sheet. The only downer being that Bala broke his ribs in this match and would be out for 3 weeks.

Game #23: (A) Warta Poznan 2-3

We knew that our big win against Gornik would be rendered meaningless if we couldn't secure a result against Warta Poznan. It wouldn't be easy, though. Warta may only be a mid table side, but that's purely down to their woeful away record. At home, where they'd be playing this match, unfortunately for us, they'd only lost one match all season - prior to our arrival. Again, we went out with the "nothing to lose" attacking mindset. And it worked - with us going 2-0 up, courtesy of new signing Martin Matus. First, he took the rebound of a Mikhalevskyi effort and chipped it wonderfully over the retreating keeper on the half hour mark. Then, 10 minutes later, he played in his strike partner, who this time made no mistake. Ironically, the lead would evaporate before half time. We threw it away in 3 minutes. But I felt we were superior to our opponents and urged the lads to keep pressing for the winning goal in the second half. A minute from time, we were granted a penalty. The Warta played who'd scored their 2 goals obstructed Matus and prevented him from reaching substitute Wocial's through-ball. The latter then picked himself up, dusted himself off and kept his cool to give us all 3 points on the day.

Game #24: (H) Piast Gliwice 1-3

The less said about this match the better. Things started off evenly, but after the talisman at the heart of our defense, Tomasz Lewandowski, was sent off, things went downhill. The second half started with the game being a goalless affair. By the 64th minute, an own goal put us 2 goals down. A goal from a corner brought us some hope 4 minutes later, but any light at the end of the tunnel was summarily extinguished, as we failed to defend a corner properly ourselves.

So, 10 games remain and I'm right there in the thick of the promotion race. Unbelievable, really. I'm delighted with the start we made after the winter break. We won 4 on the trot and managed to extend our overall unbeaten run to 11 games. Despite the loss to Piast Gliwice, we have the 2nd best home record in the league. The difference now is, our away form is currently the best in the division and now 4th best over the span of the entire season.

Unfortunately, in the Piast match, the red card and the need to rotate the squad due to tired players killed us.

NEXT UPDATE: THE RUN-IN, PART I

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Well done brambleten...I just hope you get a kinder draw then I did.

Twellman - nice to get the manager of the year award especially with the problems that your team was causing.

Gilbster - Had a great run in the Euro just an unlucky draw, they could have been kinder :p

BWZ - I'm liking the game by game updates, I hope you get that promotion!!!

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B.W.G what is your current unbeaten league streak?

Its currently on 153 games but with the AI teams in the league being so weak, I don't really think it means anything.

EDIT: Just achieved my biggest attendance in the Welsh Premier....809 against Airbus :D

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The two scouts I picked had JPA of 8 and JPP of 9, but at this level its good enough. As for the ass man, went for one who again had ok JPA and JPP but also went for one with decent motivation as I suck at teamtalks and morale seems to play a key role. I was allowed 2 coaches so went for one who had higher attack and the other who had highed defence even though they trained everyone.

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same as me B.W.G ass man has 14jca and 16jpp and 13 mot. 4 scouts have +15 in jca/jpp

made the euro cup groups for the first time :) and youth facilities are being upgraded at last, loving the upgrade screen in boardroom

EPIC season btw reaching the Quaters B.W.G

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Thanks greyham, done it again by beating Inter but been given Liverpool, I hate these draws I never get the easiest one :p. Have to agree with the boardroom upgrade screen, SI have done a brilliant job with the interaction as well. I love using the fans are behind me option when arguing about improving facilites.

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Major upset in the 3rd round of the Northern Irish Cup. Minows Lower Maze beat Ards 4-3 away!

I'll admit it, we were lucky, but we have finally started to play well. Campbell has scored 4 in the last 5 now, after a 15 hour goal drought, while Young is a local junor I had to sendt on because of injuries. Looking better and better now that the team has started to gel.

Still, I need to find a physio. Midway into december now, and I can't find anyone who want the lousy £95 p/w I can offer. The closest I have found is a guy with 2 in physioteraphy, but he wants £150 p/w.

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Afan Lido - 17/18 - Wales Premier Division

European Adventure | Star Player | Welsh Cup Final | Table

Amazing what a team that has already gelled together can do. They still start the league season awfully, but had amazing exploits in Europe. And then I chnaged tactics domestically and we shot up to 2nd in the league. We also made it to the final of the Welsh Cup before losing a match we should have won. At least we have another shot at European money etc..

I barely bought any players this season, only ones that my scout found in April on free transfers, but due to being drastically over wage budget, suspect I will have issues next season, as I try to hold onto my better players and renew contracts with no money available!

My aims for the new season are purely do exactlu what we did this season, and hope Neath slip up.

Career So Far


Season    Position   Points   FA Cup  League Cup  C.League  Europa       Achievements
2011/12   11th       28       R3      R1          n/e       n/e
2012/13   11th       31       R3      QF          n/e       n/e
2013/14   6th        36       SF      SF          n/e       n/e
2014/15   9th        35       SF      Winner      n/e       n/e
2015/16   4th        47       R3      QF          n/e       n/e          Won Euro Playoff Final
2016/17   6th        37       R3      R1          n/e       1st Qual     Won Euro Playoff Final           
2017/18   2nd        64       R.Up    R1          n/e       3rd Qual

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Nice upset XaW, who you been drawn against in the next round?

Excellent season Gilbster, I hope you get a better draw this time.

As for me, just beat Liverpool 2-0 in the QF 1st leg :D...Just got to make sure I dont mess the 2nd leg up.

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Sorry to say this Gilbster...just beat liverpool 3-2 in the 2nd leg. We were 3-0 up in 11 minutes and we only had 3 shots on target in the whole game. My reward...a tie with Man Utd, as a City fan...I hate losing to them even if I'm not playing as City :p

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Just a quick update before a more expansive one later on: With 5 games left, my Start Otwock side are currently in a promotion place for the first time all season, sitting in 2nd by 3 points. We were even first for a day by virtue of a superior head to head record with Gornik Zabrze, but they took advantage of their game in hand. Next up is a crucial away match against Dolcan Zabki, who have already been relegated. Why can I just see us producing an awful performance given the circumstances?

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Nice upset XaW, who you been drawn against in the next round?

I'm up against non-league Crumin United, so I should have a fair chance of going through.

I just discovered a bug with indirect freekicks, which cost me some points. Look here for further info. Really irritating.

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