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[FM14] elbilly rides again... please help him up if he falls off...

elbilly

By elbilly,
in FM Career Updates

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elbilly

elbilly

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Great season so far mate, christ those 4 away games in a row were tough, good job bouncing back after that!
Even if your not getting on with your chairman,you're still doing a very good job in the league and your pretty much safe which is always a good thing!
Very good season here! Hopefully you can keep it up :)
Picking up some very important wins :thup:
Great work, although screw that four-game run... Jeezz...

Thanks guys, we've gone far beyond my expectations as I thought we'd be scrapping away down the bottom there, I did get down quite a bit when we got hammered through those 4 games especially after throwing away that 2-0 early lead against Kuban. So impressed with the way the team responded after our little chat. If we can keep the squad together through the winter break then we can get a good top 10 finish, after that if it's broken up then it might be best to leave it there. We do possibly need a new RW though as Leo got sand in his pants over me fining him and wants to leave, since I've played our RB in his position as a defensive winner we're unbeaten in 3, not sure where we'll get the money from now though.

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SKA KHABAROVSK - RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2014-2015

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After a winter break that seems to last forever we return to face Ural at home. They went ahead to an early free kick. We recovered to lead by the break. The 2nd half was pretty uninspiring until sub Udaly hit home from a corner to make the scoreline look better than the game was.

We weren't creating any chances until the stroke of half time against Sovetov when we converted a corner again. The last 7 minutes provided more excitement than the 83 before them as 3 goals were scored.

Before the next game we were hit with an injury crisis as 2 of our 3 strikers were hit with season ending injuries.

Sikov gave away a penalty that Kabanov, saved against Rotor, before getting on the end of a corner to make it 4 goals in 3 games from corners. Dudiev got a 2nd yellow 5 minutes into the 2nd half to put under real pressure as it seemed we wanted to lose a game we should win. Their leveller came from a goal that was very possibly offside. Sikov should have won the game with the goal at his mercy.

Due to suspensions and injuries we named just 4 subs at Amkar. In spite of this we took the lead and were on top for the entire game with the on loan Brazilian getting a second. As much as I would have liked a clean sheet one of their few shots ended up in the net and we held on for a good 3 points.

Getting anything from the Rubin game would be a bonus. Having been hit by injuries to both our wingers, that has probably seen them both play their last game for the club against Amkar, we are down to the bare bones for the last 6 games. We gave them a good game in the 1st half coming from behind to level. Kabanov saved another penalty to keep us there and we held on for a good point.

5 games unbeaten makes me very happy going into the last 5, where points will be very hard to come by

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elbilly

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It looks like you are going to survive your first season in Russia' top division, and live up to your mid-table finish promise.

It is looking very much a possibility now. I think 48 points will guarantee top 8, may be even 7.

You robbed Spartak and no mistake :D

You're dam right we did!

Very good read so far chap! keep it up!
Having a good season, push on now !

Thanks guys, looks like we've secured a good place in the league. Not fancying us taking many more points as we are playing Spartak, CSKA, Zenit and Anji in the last 5.

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SKA KHABAROVSK - RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2014-2015

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Having robbed Spartak at their place we absorbed a lot of pressure before taking an unlikely lead. It wasn't a surprise to see them level but we held strong to take another great point.

We managed the same early on against CSKA and withstood huge pressure to see maintain it to the break. Our second shot of the game over 56 minutes later also ended up in their net a did our third to really anger the locals to make it an amazing 10 games without defeat.

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Leo took and converted a late penalty to grab the points in a dreadful game against Anji and put us int 4th place.

The next game was hardly any prettier as we sneaked past relegation threatened Tom.

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This excellent run of form has seen us rise to an incredible 3rd place going into the final day where we face Zenit. A 3rd or 4th place finish will see us enter the Euro Cup play offs, 5th the 3rd quali round 6th the 2nd quali round. We face a huge task against the already crowned Zenit who destroyed us at their place and we are without 4 first choice players, the replacements for which are pretty much hopeless.

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SKA KHABAROVSK - RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2014-2015

FINAL DAY OF THE SEASON

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I felt the best we could manage would be a point, I would say with a bit of luck we could steal the 3 but we've probably had more than our fair share of luck this season. Two of the Moscow teams played away giving us a bit more hope they would not win. Looking at Zenit's team sheet really sank my hopes. If we had our 1st choice midfield we might have a chance but the two guys coming in are not up to this level and our stand in LB who should be 1st choice is a liability at the best of times. Added to this we have nothing to go to on the bench.

Zenit come at us with all their class but we hold firm and see a goal for them correctly ruled out for offside. We make it to half time level and have dropped to 4th place, though Lokomotiv have taken a lead meaning we'd drop to 5th on head to head if we go behind. Kabanov could not continue his fine penalty saving form after one stand in CM fouled in the box when there was no need to tackle the guy they quickly got another, but curiously we had not fallen below Lokomotiv and CSKA were losing, happy with this mini table having us at the top I no longer cared we were being made to look like amateurs and began to enjoy the fact that European football could be on the menu next season as well as a very healthy prize for a 4th placed finish!!

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I thought it was qualifying round for 4th but must be straight in the groups nice

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We did it Graham ya *******!

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elbilly

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Clearly I'm not the hot property I thought I was.

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I will very likely not be managing Khabarovsk next season as I cannot re-sign the players I need to and we will not be able to bring in anyone so the club can only go backwards from here. We massively overachieved and got a lot of luck during this season (which was about the amount of luck of 4 or 5 seasons) with a much weaker team I can only see us going down the league standings and to be honest I think we'd be relegation candidates, this would not be made any easier with European games stretching what will be a thin squad.

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elbilly

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So a slight development has taken place. The board have decided to invest $21m over a 3 year period to keep us within the financial restrictions of playing in Europe which has bounced our balance into the black. This has also meant that our wage budget has rocketed to $110k and we have a $1.63m transfer budget to play with. I have still not signed a new contract. Will spend some time seeing who we might be able to bring in before making any further career moves.

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elbilly

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SKA KHABAROVSK

RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2014-2015

SEASON REVIEW

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Well that was quite an amazing season if I may say so. We got off to an excellent start and kept the points ticking over until we hit t that patch of 5 defeats in 6 games where we really saw what it meant to face much better sides whereas we had been getting points against teams that were the better teams.

We definitely benefited from a lot of luck, beating Spartak and Anji in the pre-winter phase were not down to great football in any way. While draws with Spartak and Rubin after the winter break were the result of our ultra defensive system that served us well through the season. The win over CSKA was ridiculous really to win with 4 shots and 3 goals and being battered the rest of the game. But outside of those games we were well worth the points in games against the likes of Amkar twice, Sovetov, Ural twice, the opening win over Kuban was possibly the best football we played all season and the run of 3 clean sheets towards the end was a nice reflection of our solid defensive abilities (when we weren't being torn apart by classy outfits like Zenit).

I really am torn at this point what to do, as much as I'd like to go again with Khabarovsk we are seriously going to struggle to attract players that can help us play good football and we will again be relying on being defensively solid and getting some luck that our opponents don't take us seriously.

Top scorer on loan Brazilian Balotelli despite being injured just after he arrived came in and scored some priceless goals

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Our biggest signing Ramos proved a decent acquisition and provided 5 goals

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Morozov was again the rock in defence and proved one of the few players from last season that could step up to the top division and perform consistently

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Second top scorer but not good enough for this level and will leave when his contract expires

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elbilly

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Fantastic season mate, some brilliant results.
Just caught up on this, great season mate, well done!
A great season! Are you looking to stay in the Russian league if you get another job or move somewhere else?

I'd like to claim some tactical genius on our great finish though that would be wholly wrong, but we were very solid defensively against a lot of teams that were better than us on paper and took our chances well they came.

I have applied for a few jobs in the Russian top tier but keep getting knocked back (Dinamo, Spartak and Anji all turned me down) which is really disappointing as I would have thought after over achieving so well I'd be a wanted man. I can understand the other teams from outside of Russia turning me down (Red Bull Salzburg, Stade Remis, QPR and Fiorentina all laughed off my application). So it looks like I'll be taking Khabarovsk for another season, at least I've been able to re-sign a couple of players and have a couple more on the radar, with the deadwood all but cleared we could have a decent side for the season ahead, albeit a very thin squad.

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elbilly

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Great job finishing in the top four with that team and budget :thup:
Nice progress in a very tough league!
Great progress in the league :thup:
Quality season, finances will help!
Superb season :thup: The wage budget and transfer budget is atrocious though :( Hopefully Graham Taylor wins the lottery or finds oil!
Well done on getting into Europe with those lucky wins despite the Zenit thrashing.
Congrats on the promotion, and what a great season in the top flight! But...Graham Taylor?!

Thanks guys, the finances certainly aren't helping as I look at what we need for the coming season. Graham's search for oil is failing at the moment so the little time I've had to play has left me trawling through players to find a few rough diamonds, but that's proving just as tough.

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SKA KHABAROVSK - RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2015-2016

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TRANSFERS IN

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Bjorkstrom gives us more quality at the back and can cover RB which is always handy

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Saul will come in to lead the attack, not the first choice but better than our current options with Balotelli's loan over

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Max Gradel comes in on a free transfer to replace 2 departing right wingers and appears an improvement on Leo and Slavnov

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Reme Berge adds options to our midfield trio and looks like he will develop into a fine player

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Karszt also boosts numbers in the centre of the park while also having room to develop and improve for us

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A new keeper was much in need, though Kabanov played well in many games he also had a few howlers that let us down, Orlund while old is an improvement and should be first choice for a season or two

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TRANSFERS OUT

These were pretty much all free transfers of players who played very little last season who I could not sell before their contracts expired.

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SKA KHABAROVSK - RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2015-2016

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Right, first off sorry to have had a few weeks away, but I've found the motivation to play hard to come by, like I mentioned previously I have spent the little time I got on here to trawl through players which was long, tedious and very little fun which provided less motivation to want to get back into it. I eventually powered through it and got on with some games, this has not proved much more rewarding than looking for players!

The season kicked off just as it did last year with the visit of Kuban. We were far better than them in last year's fixture but this time they were miles ahead of us and we crashed to defeat that the abysmal performance deserved.

Things would not get any easier going to CSKA but at least we put in a good shift and I was pleased to see that my fears of second season syndrome might have been a bit uneccesary.

We would get our first points and win at home against Rotor, we should have scored more in a game where we were never in any trouble of losing.

Our entry into Europe was at the 3rd qualifying stage against Danish outift Midtjylland. We improved upon a poor 1st half to take a 2-0 lead into the home leg where we went behind within a minute. After pulling one back we shot ourselves in the foot again giving away a penalty. Again we came back and moved comfortably into the next round.

A trip to promoted Kransnador saw another first half where we failed to show up. After some harsh half time words we improve immensly after the break to recover and get a draw from 2 goals down, 2 clearances off their line denied us all 3 points.

The fixture list threw up a stinker having played Krasnador on the Monday then Midtjylland on the Thursday we played Zenit (of all teams) on the Saturday. Expecting nothing other than the 2 beats we had received last season. To get into the break at 0-0 was almost considered an achievement. Their obvious quality shone through in the 2nd half and we got what we deserved from the game.

It would be tough to get any points with a trip to Spartak. Again the extra quality eventually shone through after we had made it hard for them for large parts of the game. Fears of second season syndrome returning.

The final qualifer for the Europa group stages saw us face Rosenborg. We were in fine form as again we took a 2-0 lead into the 2nd leg which we saw out pretty easily though I would have liked the win.

We travelled to face another promoted club in Terek who had a good start to the season, reminding me much of us last year. And they certainly got the luck we were getting last year as we gifted them 2 goals and had a penalty appeal turned down, the FAs silence of my critisicm was deafeaning.

The game against Anji provided us with some hope as they seem to be a team that likes to implode and we took 6 points against them last season. We hardly created a chance and were lucky they wasted theirs.

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Well this really isn't looking good is it? This is where I expected us to be at last season but we shot out of the blocks and never looked back, this season we have been pretty rubbish, except in Europe where we have beaten teams we should be beating. The squad is better even if we did not get all the players I wanted but we have just been so disappointing, I'm not sure what's wrong, the coaching has gotten better and I've hardly touched the tactics so a little lost as to where it's all going wrong. Yes my job is on the line in the coming weeks so this may not go much further and Graham may lose patience with me.

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Got a decent draw for Europa League I feel we have a good chance against Tel Aviv and Wien so we could make it through

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Things aren't looking great after a terrible display against Wien in Europe the board called me in and I have one game away at Ural to save my job, shame on them I say, I thought about quitting there and then, but given the trouble I've had being rejected and laughed off for jobs I should at least be getting considered for, it may not be wise to jump before I'm shot in the back.

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It's depressing when that happens.
Need to turn it around quickly, then!

It only looks a disaster because you did so well last year. Bit of a victim of your own success.

It was not a very happy time there but I can happily say I've hung onto my job. After the warning from the board we went out and won our next 3 games. I didn't make enough progress to make another update but I can tell you it's looking a lot better than the opening to the season and we have won 4 of our 5 games in September in all competitions.

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Best wishes, Elbilly, hope you either save your job there or get an even better job!!
Good to hear you're starting to turn it around. Ridiculous considering you won the cup last season.

Thanks guys, we have seen a nice upturn in our league fortunes, Europe has been a bit of a disaster though. Actually got an update coming soon!

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SKA KHABAROVSK - RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2015-2016

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A cup tie at Yenisey would hopefully bring us some joy. It was nice to see us totally outplay the opposition and give our morale a much needed boost.

The club ventures into Europe for the first time in it's history, another achievement I am glad to have delivered and hope the board remember this when deciding on my future employment status. 3 points were a must, if we were to advance, at home against Wien but we conceded early and played awfully.

The game to decide my fate, for now, at Ural who are also struggling and just finished outside the relegation play offs last season. We showed up a lot better and were causing their defence all sorts of problems but fate looked like it was conspiring against me as we hit the woodwork 3 times in the first half. The 2nd was going the same way and eventually got our goal and Ropotan saw what would be a 2nd cleared off the line.

After winning a game that surely saved my job we went to table topping Lokomotiv in the cup. An exciting first half that ended goalless was outdone within 3 minutes in the 2nd with 3 goals going in to see us 2-1 up. When Lokomotiv drew level I feared they would kick on but some route one stuff from us got the winner and we hung on to claim a great victory and a good performance.

If we were under performing then the same could certainly be said of 2014 Champions Rubin. An early lead was just what we needed and doubling it before the break was perfect. We were excellent here and it seems we are getting our confidence back.

Riding on a crest of a wave of confidence I felt good about getting something from Tel-Aviv but the luck just didn't fall our way on the day and we are surely all but done for in Europe.

Could we go to Lokomotiv and do the same again after upsetting them in the cup? Of course we couldn't they were far better today and showed why they are top of the league. 2 own goals didn't help.

The fixture list threw up another stinker as we faced games on the Friday and Sunday. First up fellow strugglers Sovetov. They took an early lead but we responded marvelously to come back turning on an impressive performance with Gradel finally putting in a quality show.

Next up were Rostov in a tight game we took a lead that we managed to hang onto though chances were at a premium, the win made it 4 league wins in 5.

Somehow the bookies wanted to lose money making us favourties going to OM, clearly they hadn't bothered to check our team selection. With our European adventure all but over we actually put in a decent effort but OM were always the better team here.

Once more we were hit with 3 games in 6 days as FM has clearly not resolved this bug that with it's updates given it's happening nearly every other week at the moment.

Despite getting just 2 of our 17 shots on target at Amkar Saul made them both count, the 1st of which saw us get our 1st ever goal of the month, as we recovered from 2 defeats.

Surprisingly we were above Dinamo when they came to visit but Morozov gave away a penalty on the stroke of half time. LB Shish then delivered two awesome throw ins for us to turn the score around.

Kuban handed us our ass on the opening day of the season and with our 1st choice players shattered a mainly 2nd choice XI left me little hope of anything. And it looked like going that way when they opened the scoring. But 2 set pieces saw us turn the score around again to lead at half time. And when Kraszt saw the space left by a high line to put Radchenko in for a 3rd we had an unlikely 2 goal lead and actually controlled the game from there.

With nothing to play for except pride in Europe I hoped we might give OM a tough time at home. We showed very little in an unsurprising defeat.

A 6th league win on the bounce would be excellent and going to bottom side Rotor provided a great opportunity to do so. Neither team deserved much from the opening 45. A set piece again delivered a goal but we wasted a few good chances and looked like we might pay for it when they scored but Ramos smashed in a thundering free kick, again goal of the month. But deep into injury time we gave the ball away and were punished.

After a much needed rest through the international break we came back to a tough tie against CSKA. A fine free kick was the difference as we matched them for the whole game but couldn't find the breakthrough.

The game Wien was a rather unwanted distraction I just hoped we get through it without an injuries as 2 had occurred during training that week leaving us with hardly any options on both flanks. We could have got something here but our finishing was awful.

3 games without a win going into the match against Krasnador. The score makes this look closer than it was, we were far the better team until at 2-0 up Udaly put the ball in his own net but they never threatened to take a point here.

Spartak are strugging badly for such a big club sitting in the relegation play offs. This marked my 100th game and they might be feeling they should have appointed me as manager. We went behind early on but recovered and Murnin as stand in RW scored and later put in the corner that a Spartak player put in his own net.

The disaster that has been Europe finally came to an end against Tel Aviv. We finally got a win and a cash bonus to go with it. If we maintain our current league position we may grace the European stage again next season and perhaps give a better showing.

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Well what a turnaround this has been! We have hit a fine vein of form in the league after a couple of tactical tweaks. It looked at one point that Lokomotiv would be running away with the league but Zenit have pulled some points back on them.

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Our goal scoring record says it all really.

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elbilly

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You could do without Europe in your first season in that league to be honest - great to see you've turned it around. Surprising to see Spartak that low as well!

After the opening defeats in Europe I basically put out a 2nd string to keep the first choice fresh for the league so it didn't hinder us for too long, and did give us a couple of million in the bank so wasn't all bad. The league turn around has been most pleasing, as for Spartak they sacked their manager and laughed off my application again! Not sure why my rep is so bad. I am thinking it's because I'm Sunday League player who manages a team that has a lower ranking in Russian football than some 1st division teams.

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SKA KHABAROVSK - RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2015-2016

WINTER BREAK UPDATE

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Signed two players in the window. Both wide men after the injury to Gradel made me realise we lacked depth there and our replacement provided little, which is fair considering he's a RB by trade. Also Gogua is sometimes poor and his back up is always poor.

Urreta comes in on a free and is better than Gradel which is quite a result

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Yuriy Chonka cost $250k to sign with add ons that could go up to $850k but he will have to be good to achieve that or will get rid of before those clauses activate

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And finally among the usual rubbish in the youth intake comes one decent prospect who could go onto the first team

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Coming up we have 10 games left of the season which start at Zenit where I have little hope of getting anything other than our usual beating. From there my aim to finish top half and if we get a good run we might even sneak a European spot again. We are also still in the Russian cup and face Rotor in the quarter final at home which is very winnable.

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Didn't realise you had a thread up mate until now :eek: Brilliant progress so far :cool:

And you are most welcome, I've been terrible keeping up with the threads I follow recently, almost looking forward to going back to work so I can check them regularly again.

We have seen remarkable progress given the history of the club, wish we had some more money though, Graham is still looking for oil

At least you can concentrate on the league now, looks like things are picking up!

Yeah we are very much all about the league, though I'm going to have a crack at the cup too as some silverware would be amazing. It's mostly Sunday games for us now so if we can keep players fit I think we can target 4-5 wins that should see us finish top half

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SKA KHABAROVSK - RUSSIAN PREMIER DIVISION 2015-2016

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The second phase of the league kicked off with a visit to Zenit. We kept them quiet for the first 45 and in fact we had the best chance when LB Shish hit the bar. We then had 2 more great chances early in the 2nd as Saul finished poorly and Murnin hit the post. The sucker punch came with 10 minutes left as Morozov was caught flat footed and done for pace. This is the closest we've come to getting anything against them and I am pleased overall even if it gave us the same points as if we lost 7-0.

Next up were Terek who'd beaten us at their place and were still riding high, a place above us. This time we were far the better side and could have beaten them by a few more.

A trip to the unpredictable Anji and both teams could feel they should have taken victory going into injury time, we hit the bar, they had a shot cleared off the line. A draw it looked to be until we bundled the ball over the line. And when it seemed we would take all 3 points we gave the ball away so many times inviting them to score and they duly obliged.

After the international break we face Ural who we performed excellently against to save my bacon back in September. Another win in that fashion would be most welcome. Somehow Gradel couldn't put the ball in the net with 2 great chances, firstly a great save by the keeper then hitting the post and bar. It was all us and surely the goal would come, and it did with Murnin's fine free kick. We hit the bar twice more before the final whistle.

The cup saw us face bottom side Rotor at home and Urreta's first goal put us ahead. Radchenko had 2 great chances but failed while Rotor had a goal disallowed. Finally Gogua sealed our place in the semis.

A trip to Dinamo and a point would ensure even a complete collapse of form would not see us relegated. We were giving as good as we got and it was not against the run of play when Urreta got his 2nd in as many games. It was not to be another memorable victory though and we were happy to hang on for a point.

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With 5 games to go we are in with a chance of Europe again next season. If we had held onto 3 points at Anji and Dinamo we could have even been thinking about Champions league or stealing the title from Lokomotiv who have dropped off in form, it's a 3 horse race for that now. Meanwhile Spartak's manager has overseen a good turnaround in their fortune, including smashing Zenit 5-1.

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