[FM17] The Hart Chronicles - Volume II: Adam Hart is 'Yes Man'!

[PaulHartman71]

August

 

 

A pretty encouraging start to the season, with 2 wins out of 3. We absolutely dominated Shaw Lane, they offered absolutely nothing until they scored in the 86th minute, which tbh did actually really terrify me into thinking they were gonna somehow steal a point out of the game - luckily they didn't. I'm not too upset about the loss to Alfreton as we had a man sent off after half hour - obviously I was annoyed about that, but I didn't hold anything against the rest of the team for being unable to get anything from the game. We beat Garfoth 3-1 in our next game, which means 2 away wins out of 2 which I'm impressed with. 

 

 

Still very early days, but so far so good imo. 

[mrdanbartlett]

Excellent!!  Really hope you can have a better season this year, a nice run at the play off places maybe.

[PaulHartman71]

September

 

 

With September came the FA Cup and Cray came to our place looking for an upset. They didn't get one and left upset themselves, following a 3-1 win for us, with a Steve Payne brace helping us through. 

 

 

It was Shane McLouglin's turn for a brace in the 2nd Qualifying Round, as we beat County League side Chertsey 3-0 to get through. 

 

 

We didn't have the best of starts to September, with 2 losses on the bounce at home to Worksop and Droylsden. The Worksop loss was especially hard to take since we were 2-0 up at half-time. We were only 1-0 up at half-time at Hednesford in our next game, so I was quite worried we'd blow the lead due to the poor form we were in, but we doubled our lead early in the 2nd half and despite dropping a goal, we held on. We could only get a point at Congleton though, which was again a game where we were 2-0 up but blew it late on. Thankfully since then we seem to have regained our good form, with wins against Northwich and Workington to end the month on a high. 

 

 

Looking good so far 

[PaulHartman71]

October

 

 

We got a home draw against Conference South side Aldershot in the FA Cup. We did come close to getting a replay at their ground, but unfortunately they had too much for us and beat us with a goal in the 80th minute. 

 

 

The lads faired better in the Northern League Challenge Cup though, as we faced 8th tier side Macclesfield. Macclesfield have suffered a dramatic fall from grace in the last few decades, they started the save in the Conference, but have since dropped a further 3 tiers and they're currently in the relegation zone, facing the very real possibility of playing in the County Leagues next season. In spite of this, they gave us a hell of a game, they took an early lead but by half-time we'd made it 3-1. I thought that would be the end of it but they rallied against us in the second half to drag it to extra-time, and later, penalties. Thankfully we won though, with our keeper scoring the winner after saving one from the other keeper

 

 

We're also through in the FA Trophy following a comprehensive victory against Whitby. 

 

 

On paper it doesn't look like a hugely impressive month, with 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, but we haven't actually lost much ground in the league really. The Rainworth Miners Welfare loss was the hardest to take, they're a good side too and I thought that game would be the bench mark of how we'd do in a Playoff context this season, so to lose 4-0 wasn't a great confidence booster. There were some good performances though, we came from behind to win against Dunston, Kendal and Whitby, so there are some encouraging signs of mental strength there. 

 

 

 

Despite a sloppy month we're still 4th and in a decent position. We can't afford too many more months where we lose 3 times though. 

[PaulHartman71]

November

 

 

A 1-0 win at Dunston put us through in the Northern League Challenge Cup. 

 

 

We had a competitive match with Port Vale in the FA Trophy, but on the day they were just too strong for us.

 

 

 

It's been an absolutely woeful month in the league, which was capped off by a shocking 5-0 loss at home to Gainsborough. We also lost 3-2 to my old side Farsley Celtic, despite being 2-0 up after 14 minutes. The only point we picked up this month was a 1-1 draw at Hyde. 

 

 

We've dropped off now right down to 12th and if this bad form continues we could drop off even more, especially as teams below us have games in hand on us. Morale is really bad at the moment so I'm really hoping we can get a win soon to turn things around, otherwise we might not have a very pretty winter around here. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Alfreton Town aren't that great a side and could well go down this season, but either way, to go down to 10 men in the 39th minute and still manage to beat them away from home is a good sign. Perhaps this will be the catalyst to turn things around. 

[mrdanbartlett]

Maybe have some chats to players to boost their morale?  Maybe even a team meeting?  (come on lads results haven't been going our way etc).

 

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Three former league teams in your division, that's not counting if any made it up in the game and have fell back down.

[PaulHartman71]

December

 

 

We got knocked out of our last cup competition this month, with Nantwich just edging us out of the Northern League Challenge Cup. 

 

 

A busy month in the league, which saw 4 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. Overall a pretty strong month for us, we came from behind to beat Alfreton away, as well as wins at home to Shaw Lane, Garforth and playoff rivals Hednesford. We did suffer an embarrassing loss to Worksop, but we shrugged that off pretty quickly tbf. 

 

 

 

The sides ahead of us have games in hand, but to end the year back in the playoff places and only 3 points off of the team on top of the table is very encouraging I'd say. The league is ridiculously tight though so anything can change very quickly. 

[mrdanbartlett]

Blimey the teams below have a fair few games in hand though and the league is tight, so you're probably mid table really.

Are you scouring the market for new players?  I've always found the key to lower league success is working hard on the free agent scouting. 

 

[BoxToBox]

Jesus, that league, even 15th is two wins away from being right in the mix.

[PaulHartman71]

10 hours ago, mrdanbartlett said:

Blimey the teams below have a fair few games in hand though and the league is tight, so you're probably mid table really.

Are you scouring the market for new players?  I've always found the key to lower league success is working hard on the free agent scouting. 

 

 

I don't have much of a wage budget at the moment. I'm regularly looking for loan players but it's rare I see anyone who would be worth adding. 

[PaulHartman71]

January

 

 

A month which failed to see us win a single game. We drew three games 1-1 and lost two games 2-1. Tbf four of the 5 games were away from home, so it's not the worst month all things considering, but it's still not great form especially in such a tight league. 

 

 

Down to 15th ffs

 

The mad thing is that we're now 10 points off of 1st and only 10 points off of the relegation zone (11 off of bottom!!). 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

February

 

 

It's pretty hard to find positives in a month when you've just lost a game 7-2, but the first two games of the month we played really well and got 6 points out of 6. We dropped off a bit at home to relegation threatened Kendal, as we should really have won that game, especially since we were at home. The Rainworth Miners Welfare match was horrific though, we were just awful. We did briefly look like we were in the match as we pulled it back to 2-2, but then Rainworth went back ahead and made it 4-2 by half-time, then they put it out of sight in the second half. 

 

 

We're down to 15th now. 9 games to go and the Playoffs you have to say are probably gone, but I think we can definitely move up the table a bit more before the end of the season. The board wanted upper mid-table so we may have to if I want a renewal and haven't been taken by another side by then. My get out clause is only £3,000 at this point, but I've not had anyone interested just yet. 

[mrdanbartlett]

Oh dear

 

I guess a big hope might be to land the Port Vale job one day as surely they are a big fish in a small pond, a team with potential.

Maybe some time is needed on the tactics front?  I think you need to find an angle to give you an advantage so you can start climbing the leagues, mine has always been my 'wheeler dealer' ability in the transfer market.  

Or maybe see what the morale is like and try and motivate the players a bit more?  Pay alot of attention to form, morale as well as fitness etc.

[PaulHartman71]

9 hours ago, mrdanbartlett said:

Oh dear

 

I guess a big hope might be to land the Port Vale job one day as surely they are a big fish in a small pond, a team with potential.

Maybe some time is needed on the tactics front?  I think you need to find an angle to give you an advantage so you can start climbing the leagues, mine has always been my 'wheeler dealer' ability in the transfer market.  

Or maybe see what the morale is like and try and motivate the players a bit more?  Pay alot of attention to form, morale as well as fitness etc.

My angle is constantly changing clubs, getting sacked and getting relegated 😎

[PaulHartman71]

March

 

 

An inconsistent March that saw 2 wins and 3 losses. Pretty telling that we lost the away games but won our home games, although tbf we only just beat my old side Trafford thanks to a hilarious last minute winner from Steve Payne, who latched onto a miss-placed back pass and rounded their keeper to slot home into an empty net. 

 

 

15th with 4 games to go. It's not great and I do hope we can move up a little bit, but we do still have Port Vale and Gainsborough away which won't be easy places to go. 

[mrdanbartlett]

Any good jobs listed as insecure/under review in the job center? 

[PaulHartman71]

1 hour ago, mrdanbartlett said:

Any good jobs listed as insecure/under review in the job center? 

 

Tbf every job available at the moment is worse than what I've got going on at the moment. The best ones there are teams that look like they're gonna go down from the 7th tier. 

[PaulHartman71]

April

 

 

A reasonable month of results, apart from the shocker at home to Hyde. That match was mental. We utterly dominated them the entire game and had so many good chances to finish them off, I couldn't believe it when they equalised in the 70th minute and felt like we'd been robbed. Then for the last few minutes of the game in injury time we had loads of corners where we were desperately searching for a winner, they got a bit of a counter on from the last one but even in the 93rd minute I thought surely the ref would blow or nothing would come from it, they only went and scored a bloody winner. I wasn't even angry or disappointed - it was pretty funny in the end. We did snatch an enjoyable late winner at home to Spennymoor and got decent draws at Port Vale and eventual champions Gainsborough, so it was an okay month overall.

 

 

 

We end the season in 14th place. Not great really given we looked like a good team on several occasions in the season and had strikers that were scoring a fair amount of goals, but even with this being a disappointment, it's still my highest ever finish in the football pyramid - so it's not all bad. 

I'm not sure if they'll renew my contract or not. They wanted a top half finish which we didn't get, so who knows. I haven't had anyone interested in me just yet so I might get to stay until the end of the season, although when clubs start sacking their managers soon then I might get a job offer. Perhaps they'll pull a Lancaster City and call me in for a meeting where they sack me. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Good to see that the board are easily pleased. 

 

 

I've even managed to get a £25 wage rise 

[Bitner]

1 hour ago, PaulHartman71 said:

 

Good to see that the board are easily pleased. 

 

 

I've even managed to get a £25 wage rise 

Lucky Break! Hope you get them to the promotion!

Cheers,
Bitner 

[mrdanbartlett]

Nice!!

Any transfers lined up for summer, maybe release./offer out for £0 as much deadwood as possible and then look to see who has been released from the leagues above?  I think if you can bring in 3-4 players to improve the XI you could push for a play off place maybe.

Is it worth getting a senior affiliate for this season, to get £0 wage loans?  

 

[PaulHartman71]

Season 14: Southport

 

 

It didn't end up being an altogether too impressive season. We went out a bit early in the FA Cup but we did get a tough draw against a team in a division above us. We weren't hugely impressive in the two other cups, nor did we really challenge that much for anything in the league. The board seemed happy enough though and hopefully w can build upon this next season.

Squad

 

The squad was fairly good for this level and we probably should've done a bit better with it. The goals came from Shane McLoughlin and Steve Payne, our strike partnership who ended the season with 24 goals and 21 goals respectively. Elsewhere, right winger Stuart Hooson, who was on loan from Conference North side Colwyn Bay had a good season, as did left winger Martin Allen. 

 

Career History

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Season     Club                 Division                               Position      Achievements/Other
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016/17    Ipswich Wanderers    Eastern Counties Premier League          8th         Eastern Counties League Cup winners
2017/18    Ipswich Wanderers    Eastern Counties Premier League         11th         Left in November
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18    Coventry Sphinx      Midland Football Premier League         13th         N/A
2018/19    Coventry Sphinx      Midland Football Premier League         10th         Left in December 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2018/19    Carlton Town         United Counties Premier League           8th         United Counties League Cup runners-up. Sacked. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20    Basildon United      Essex Senior League                      3rd         Gordan Brasted Memorial Trophy winners
2020/21    Basildon United      Essex Senior League                     17th         Left in November 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21    Lincoln United       Northern Counties East Premier League   11th         N/A
2021/22    Lincoln United       Northern Counties East Premier League   17th         Left in December
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2021/22    Swindon Supermarine  Southern League 1st Division S/W        13th         N/A
2022/23    Swindon Supermarine  Southern League 1st Division S/W        18th         Left in January
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2022/23    Trafford FC          Northern Premier League 1st Division N   7th         N/A
2023/24    Trafford FC          Northern Premier League 1st Division N  11th         Sacked in November
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023/24    Hythe Town           Isthmian League 1st Division S          12th         Joined in January
2024/25    Hythe Town           Isthmian League 1st Division S           3rd         Left in March
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
2024/25    Canvey Island        Isthmian League Premier Division        23rd         Relegated 
2025/26    Canvey Island        Isthmian League 1st Division N          23rd         Sacked in November
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2025/26    Farsley Celtic       Northern Premier League 1st Division N  11th         Joined in January
2026/27    Farsley Celtic       Northern Premier League 1st Division N   5th         Left in March
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2026/27    Stourbridge          Northern League Premier Division        21st         Relegated
2027/28    Stourbridge          Southern League 1st Division C           5th         Promoted via Playoffs 
2028/29    Stourbridge          Southern League Premier Division        15th         Left in November
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2028/29    Lancaster City       Northern League Premier Division        21st         Relegeted. Sacked. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2029/30    Southport            Northern League Premier Division        14th         N/A
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Trophy Cabinet

Eastern Counties League Cup    x1 - 2016/17 (Ipswich Wanderers) 
Gordan Brasted Memorial Trophy x1 - 2019/20 (Basildon United) 

 

[PaulHartman71]

37 minutes ago, mrdanbartlett said:

Nice!!

Any transfers lined up for summer, maybe release./offer out for £0 as much deadwood as possible and then look to see who has been released from the leagues above?  I think if you can bring in 3-4 players to improve the XI you could push for a play off place maybe.

Is it worth getting a senior affiliate for this season, to get £0 wage loans?  

 

 

There's some decent players that I could sign but I need to wait to lose one or two when contracts expire to have the wage budget to get anyone in. We have a feeder club deal with League 2 side Blackpool, they offered me a couple of loan players last season but the only decent one was a DLC who signed up January and got about 15 games for us. Hopefully they offer us someone really good next season. 

[mrdanbartlett]

If you set them for release I think you can then offer contracts to others as it knows the wage 'committed spend' will be going down soon.

Try and get the loans early from Blackpool too before other sides get them.

[wattzy]

Spent the last 3 evenings at work reading this thread (could say it's been quiet) and it's great reading! Quite sad I've caught up and will have to keep waiting now! Been some frustrating set backs in there. I think had you been able to stay at some of those clubs for another year you'd have more than 1 promotion to your name! Keep plugging away I guess in the hope that you get a 'proper' job soon!

[wattzy]

10 hours ago, mrdanbartlett said:

Nice!!

Any transfers lined up for summer, maybe release./offer out for £0 as much deadwood as possible and then look to see who has been released from the leagues above?  I think if you can bring in 3-4 players to improve the XI you could push for a play off place maybe.

Is it worth getting a senior affiliate for this season, to get £0 wage loans?  

 

Pretty sure 90% of players at that level are on non-contracts so to keep suggesting offering/loaning players out won't really help much.

[PaulHartman71]

Allegri has now won Arsenal the Premier League and Champions League 3 years in a row. Sign him up lads!

[PaulHartman71]

 

Some ins, some outs this summer. Only departure of note was Geoff Hopkins' £3.6K transfer to Haverfordwest, which helped fund most of the new arrivals. They should all at least challenge for a starting spot this season. 

[PaulHartman71]

August

 

 

A pretty hit and miss start to the season. We got a decent 2-1 win at home to my old side Farsley, as well as two 0-0 draws away from home which aren't the worst results, but the loss to Ossett Town was a set back. 

 

 

Hard to really tell where we stand so far this season. Should become more clear in the coming weeks and months. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

This seems an outrageous level of compensation for a coach at this level

[PaulHartman71]

September

 

 

Thamesmead of the 8th tier traveled up to face us and very nearly came away with a well earned replay, but thankfully we bagged two goals in the last 10 minutes to prevent that from happening.

 

 

 

We got struggling Southern Premier League side Bath City in the next round. They gave us more of a fight than I expected given at the time they'd lost every single one of their league matches so far. Josh Clarke put us ahead in the home tie and I thought that was it, but Bath nicked a leveler in injury time which dragged it to a replay. I was quite worried we'd end up losing it, especially as time went on and it remained goalless, but luckily for us we got a late goal of our own, with Josh Paling smashing home to fire us into the 3rd Qualifying Round. 

 

 

A big improvement as we went undefeated this month, with 3 wins and 2 draws. The month actually started on a really bad note as despite being 3-0 up at half-time to Mickleover, they came back to get a point, with all 3 of their goals coming in the last minute - I was tearing my hair out! The players did much better against my old side Trafford, as we came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 in front of our home fans. We then nicked a point at Port Vale thanks to a late penalty, which was a real relief as we didn't look up to much in that game. We won two on the bounce after that, with a narrow 2-1 win at home to Congleton and a big 5-2 win at home to Witton, which saw John Clarke score a hat-trick. 

 

 

We're in 7th place with the Playoffs well within reach at this point. 

[PaulHartman71]

October

 

 

We got a home tie against Conference North side Solihull Moors, who have been managed by Joe Hart for the last 6 years. They didn't completely dominate us in the match, but we never really looked like scoring and they didn't have to do too much to get their win and progress. A deserved win for them and I would've liked to have seen more from us tbh. 

 

 

We went out of the Northern League Challenge Cup at the first hurdle to Long Eaton. It's not a competition I or the board have been hugely bothered about, to the extent that I've been holidaying the games for a while now. That being said I did play a full strength sided so it's never good to lose a home tie against a side you could possibly beat. 

 

 

Ridiculously inconsistent this month. It started off with a good 4-2 win at Nantwich, before getting spanked at Hednesford. We then went to Spennymoor and got a good 3-1 win, but then lost two home games on the bounce against Worksop and Liversedge, fair enough Worksop are a Playoff rival, but Liversedge were bottom at the time ffs. We did at least beat Halesowen 3-2 to put an end to a ropey month. 

 

 

The Playoffs are still in sight and we have a decent run of games coming up with limited cup distractions now, so I'm optimistic we can go on a little bit of a run of wins in November. 

[PaulHartman71]

November

 

 

Worthing didn't prove to be worthy opponents in the first round of the FA Trophy, as we smashed them 6-2. 

 

 

Bognor Regis weren't up to much either, as we beat them 3-1 without too much difficulty. 

 

 

Unfortunately we came unglued in the Isle of Wight, with Newport beating us 2-0 to knock us out. 

 

 

A fairly strong month, with victories away at Gateshead and Droylsden, with the latter being an utter demolition. We very nearly beat top of the table Sheffield at their place too, but they nicked a late equaliser. The month ended on a bit of a bum note as we lost to Hyde after being 2-0 up after 14 minutes. 

 

 

I'm pretty pleased at the moment as we're right in the mix for the Playoffs with a game in hand, although Whickham behind us could be a threat. 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2017 by PaulHartman71

[PaulHartman71]

December

 

 

3 wins and 3 losses this month - it's hit and miss, it really is. We looked like we were in really great form at first as we won 3 of our first 4 games of the month, but since then have slipped up twice on the bounce against Ossett Town and Trafford. I was really hacked off at the Trafford loss as even at 65 minutes we were in control and 1-0 up, but then Trafford really went for us and we caved with ease. Disappointing end to what seemed to be a promising end to 2030. 

 

 

We're still in and amongst the action. There is a pack of clubs ready to overtake us if we keep dropping points as regularly as we did this month though. 

[PaulHartman71]

January

 

 

Just 1 win this month, with 4 draws and 1 loss. It was one of those months where if we'd been a little better we could've turned some of those draws into wins, but also if we'd been a little worse we could just have easily turned those draws into losses. So it's hard to say where we go from here really. I could easily see us going on a decent run, but just as easily see us going on a terrible run. At least Steve Payne has been in decent form as of late. 

 

 

We're down to 7th with 2 games in hand on Hyde due to a few waterlogged pitches postponing our games. It's still doable to make the Playoffs and catch them, but this constant inconsistent form is making me second guess our chances. 

[PaulHartman71]

February 

 

 

A bad month at the office. 4 losses ffs. Obviously them being sandwiched inbetween two big wins, including a 7-3 demolition of Shaw Lane softened the blow a bit, but it's really unforgivable at times, especially as most of those games were winnable games. It's frustrating because when we fancy it and show up we can really cause teams a lot of trouble, but we don't show up nearly as often as we need to if we want to make the Playoffs.

 

 

We have fallen to 9th, but despite the awful form, due to Hyde being in bad form as well we're actually only 5 points off them, which with 9 games to go isn't impossible. I just don't think we'll be consistent enough to do it. 

[Black and Yellow]

Just read this whole thing - and I love it!

Fingers crossed you can put together a good run in the final stretch! 

 

[mrdanbartlett]

Ah man, another fairly average season   - I was really rooting for a play off push this year.

I hope you can find some gems or work some tactical wizardry - or get a job from a side in the division above.  I think as longas you finish above mid table you'll get another year here.

Do you think you can improve the side next season?  Would you say the starting XI has been improved this season vs last?  

If you wanted to send me your save I'd be happy to do a little scouting for you, but I appreciate that may not be your thing, I wouldn't cheat just use my experience in digging around for players.

I tend to monitor out of contact players on a shortlist of their own, especially ones who won't consider signing for me as I sometimes find after 6+ months without a club they get 'forgotten' a bit and then they lower their demands and will sign, I've had some right 'names' at lower league clubs using this technique.  

[Nobby_McDonald]

Making progress. Kind of.

How are Newcastle Town doing?

[mrdanbartlett]

Hey - only if you get time........but next time you do a big review of what has been going on outside of your club it would be really cool to see how all your previous sides have done since you left?

 

This thread is literally the best one on the forum! 

[PaulHartman71]

On 2/13/2017 at 20:45, mrdanbartlett said:

Ah man, another fairly average season   - I was really rooting for a play off push this year.

I hope you can find some gems or work some tactical wizardry - or get a job from a side in the division above.  I think as longas you finish above mid table you'll get another year here.

Do you think you can improve the side next season?  Would you say the starting XI has been improved this season vs last?  

If you wanted to send me your save I'd be happy to do a little scouting for you, but I appreciate that may not be your thing, I wouldn't cheat just use my experience in digging around for players.

I tend to monitor out of contact players on a shortlist of their own, especially ones who won't consider signing for me as I sometimes find after 6+ months without a club they get 'forgotten' a bit and then they lower their demands and will sign, I've had some right 'names' at lower league clubs using this technique.  

 

We've gradually improved from last season and if they give me a bit more wage budget next season then I think we could make the Playoffs. The trouble with this season wasn't so much finding players, but was the lack of money to sign that many of them. I've got in 5/6 players of varying quality this season, which has improved the team a fair bit, but we're still a fair way short of some of the teams, especially a team like Sheffield who have the two top scorers in the league, with one scoring 35 and one scoring 30. 

 

 

[PaulHartman71]

On 2/13/2017 at 23:20, Nobby_McDonald said:

Making progress. Kind of.

How are Newcastle Town doing?

 

 

They've actually cracked on in recent years and got promoted to the 8th tier. They're currently doing their best to establish themselves as a Northern Premier League 1st Division South side. They're in 17th place this year and should avoid the drop once again. They also won the FA Vase in 2019, which I'm sure was very enjoyable for them. 

 

On 2/14/2017 at 10:49, mrdanbartlett said:

Hey - only if you get time........but next time you do a big review of what has been going on outside of your club it would be really cool to see how all your previous sides have done since you left?

 

This thread is literally the best one on the forum! 

 

I'll crack on with an old club round up at the end of the season 

[PaulHartman71]

March

 

 

It's actually been a really strong month. We didn't have a very difficult set of fixtures and a lot of these games were winnable, but our inconsistent form as of late meant I didn't really expect to go on such a strong run. 4 wins from 5, with 1 draw at Halesowen, is a really good way to start the end of season run-in. We scored relatively late winners at Shaw Lane and at home to Rainworth and Gateshead, which has hopefully boosted our mental strength. The Gateshead game especially was encouraging, as we went from 3-1 up to 3-3, so I thought we'd blown it, but Hartshorne scored a huge goal late on to secure a big 3 points. 

 

 

It's really really tight for that final Playoff place. We're on level points with Worksop and Hyde, with Worksop ahead of us narrowly on goal difference. It's definitely all to play for with 4 games to go. 

Our run ins look like this: 

Us: Droylsden (24th) H, Northwich (21st) A, Hyde A, Sheffield H

Worksop: Northwich (H), Sheffield (A), Workington (A), Hyde H

Hyde: Liversedge (21st) A, Spennymoor (H), Southport H, Worksop A

 

I'd actually argue that we have the best run in there tbf. We've got two winnable games against relegation battling sides, before an away trip to Hyde and a home game against 2nd place Sheffield. Worksop have relegation battling Northwich too, but they also have to go to Sheffield, Workington and face Hyde. Hyde have relegation battling Liversedge, Spennymoor at home who aren't completely out of the Playoff running yet, as well as us and Worksop.

It's certainly going to be an exciting end to the season I reckon!

[PaulHartman71]

 

A comfy win at home to Droylsden, who really didn't look up to much. They've got 16 points all season and are 30 points off 21st and 22nd, let alone safety  

 

 

Hyde won 3-0 at Liversedge, but in what is good news for both of us, Worksop dropped points at home to Northwich.

 

 

This puts us in 5th place and in the Playoff places! Hyde are obviously right on our tail though, that game at their place will be a real 6 pointer!

[PaulHartman71]

 

It looked like we'd only get a point at Northwich, but then Leon Okubuyejo came off the bench to score his first goal of the season - what a time to get it! 

 

 

Hyde won again, but Worksop lost a big game at Sheffield which has put a big dent in their Playoff plans. 

 

 

Worksop need a draw between us and Hyde our next game to stand any chance of the Playoffs now. Despite a far superior goal difference, I'm not sure we can afford to take just a point at Hyde, because we still have to play Sheffield who are fighting for the title on the last day, whilst if Worksop fail to win their their next game at 3rd place Workington, they have nothing to play for on the final day against Hyde. 

It's tense times. 

[PaulHartman71]

 

Well this has thrown a real spanner in the works  

Really hoping I get this as Port Vale are obviously a much bigger club and the chance to do well/get promoted with them is far higher. But imagine if I get the job and then lose to Southport in the Playoffs! 

[mjaferrie]

Just now, PaulHartman71 said:

 

Well this has thrown a real spanner in the works  

Really hoping I get this as Port Vale are obviously a much bigger club and the chance to do well/get promoted with them is far higher. But imagine if I get the job and then lose to Southport in the Playoffs! 

Moving up in the world!  Would be great to land that job

[Wavelberry]

Holy moley. Plot twists ahoy...