argento Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 epic 4-3 good luck for the return! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 26 minutes: Pisek is causing some more problems here, he's skipped past McCabe and looks to be making a run towards goal, but no, Mutumbo has dealt with him, Pisek is down and oh was that a foul? The referee has blown for a free kick here, no booking for Mutumbo but Olimpija have a free-kick about 40 yards out. I doubt they'll be taking a shot from this far out, Pisek to take it with Kurez standing next to his right, I'm not sure what they're going to do here, oh and Pisek takes it quickly with a pass to Kurez instead of lofting it into the box, Kurez passes it across to Vuk who has lost his marker, it's back to Pisek who has found some space on the right wing, Pisek gets a nice low cross into the box...AND KUREZ TAPS IT IN FROM 5 YARDS OUT. It's another goal and now it's OLIMPIJA (5) 2-0 (4) PORT TALBOT. Port Talbot will need to find two goals without reply if they want to go through here, which really does not look like happening. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 35 minutes: McCabe has the ball in the middle of the pitch, he looks ahead of him and aims a pass towards Carl Simpson on the left, but Arsik is there with the interception, Arsik has time and space and he's running down the wing, Robertson puts a tackle in and briefly wins the ball, but it only goes to Rampre. Rampre has it now and he plays a wonderfully timed ball into the Port Talbot box, it's Kurez with the chance...but no! That's a wonderful save from Lewis Banks in goal as he parries it out to safety. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 43 minutes: Rampre has it in the Port Talbot half. He passes it across to Pisek. Pisek sees Arsic on the edge of the box and lofts it towards him, Arsic heads it down straight into the path of Kurez. Kurez takes a touch and he's in the Port Talbot box, he's got James Sprudd approaching him and Sprudd absolutely clatters into him taking the ball first. Kurez is appealing for the penalty but no! The referee is waving it away and that does appear to be the correct decision as Sprudd got the ball. A fine tackle from the big defender! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 45 minutes: The referee blows for half-time and it's OLIMPIJA (5) 2-0 PORT TALBOT (4) and it's been all Olimpija. Perhaps this is a step too far for Port Talbot as you just can't see how they can get back in it from here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitner Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 C'MON YOU PORT TALBOT!!!!!!!!! Cheers, Bitner Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 51st minute: Rampre's causing problems here. Port Talbot's defence have certainly got their hands fall. Rampre looks to get past Haig on the left wing, Haig's having none of it and takes him. Was that a foul? Yes. The referee's blown for a foul and has booked Haig. He'll have to be careful now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 56th minute: Carl Simpson looks like he's picked up a bit of a knock. Port Talbot look like they're ready to make a straight swap, with Ken Leonard replacing him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 62nd minute: Pisek is driving it forward for Olimpija in the Port Talbot half again. He's got Arsic to his right, Rampre to his left, he looks to pass it to Arsic but it's intercepted by Mutumbo! Mutumbo looks to pass it on but the referee's called him back. He's deemed that a foul on Arsic and... yes. He's booked Mutumbo for that foul too. A yellow card for Mutumbo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 65th minute: It looks like Port Talbot are going to make a change. I think it's, yes, Mutumbo will come off. I think he may have been tired anyway but I'm sure that yellow card has played a part in this change. It's the young lad Jonathan Samuel to come on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 72nd minute: Vuk has it for Olimpija, he looks to play in Kurez who is making a promising run, but it's intercepted by Robertson, Robertson passes it up towards Jonathan Samuel and oooh! Arsic absolutely clatters him on the halfway line. That's surely going to produce a card from the referee? Yes the referee has one out and it's a yellow card for Arsic. The 16 year old Samuel getting a real battering there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 78th minute: It looks like a last throw of the dice for Port Talbot. It's Joel Foster to come on for Josh Youngjohns, it's not a straight swap though as it looks like Foster will slot in as a makeshift DM, with Ken Leonard now jumping up-front so Port Talbot will play the last 10 minutes or so with a 4-3-3 here. You can't fault Adam Hart for not having a go for it! He's going to make sure they at least go out fighting! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 80th minute: Olimpija have a free kick from about 40 yards out in the centre of the Port Talbot half. Port Talbot have everyone either in the box or at some point behind the ball. Olimpija have more or less everyone forward in Port Talbot's half as they look to take advantage of the tiring legs of the away side. Hvastija stands over the free kick and calmly passes it along the floor to a completely free Mlakar alongside him, he passes it forward slightly to Milnaric, he's dithering on the ball a bit here as the Port Talbot players look to press. The young lad Samuel goes in and intercepts it, he's nicked the ball from in the middle of his own half, he's got Taggart slightly ahead of him just behind the half-way line, with two Olimpija defenders chasing back alongside him, but Samuel's gone for it and he's hit a weighted long ball straight down the middle of the pitch for Taggart to run onto...and Taggart's away here!! He's left 1 of the defenders completely for dead and as the ball drops 40 yards from goal, he looks to be the first to it, there's 1 defender still chasing him but I think Taggart's too quick for him, Taggart takes a heavy first touch as he strides towards the Olimpija box, he's 1 on 1 with goalkeeper, the keeper has to try and come for it, he's darting off his line as Taggart gets to the edge of the box, oh and Taggart cuts in to his left and he's gone straight past the goalkeeper, it's an open goal and YES!!! He's slotted it straight into the bottom corner! Unbelievable! It's OLIMPIJA (5) 2-1 (5) PORT TALBOT. From the brink of elimination, Port Talbot are level on aggregate and with 10 minutes left if they can find another goal then they're going through!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 89th minute: It's been end to end stuff for the 10 minutes since Port Talbot got a goal back. The Slovenians don't know whether to press forward for another goal or hang on to what they've got. They might be leaning towards the latter as Port Talbot are going for it. Ken Leonard on the left hand side here trying to make something happen, but he's got Olimpija defenders all around him, he plays it backwards towards Robertson, Robertson across the half way line to the young lad Samuel who got a huge assist for the goal, Samuel to McCabe, McCabe with a long ball here down to Pockett who comes to collect it on the right wing, he takes it down and passes it across to Leonard who's found some space, Leonard takes it into the box and passes it across to TAGGART!!!! Oh and the keeper makes an unbelievable save. That looked like it would go in for sure. What a huge save for the Slovenians as if that had gone in they would be out! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 27, 2017 Author Share Posted March 27, 2017 93rd minute: It's full time here and it's all over. It finishes 2-1 on the night and 5-5 on aggregate. Port Talbot have been eliminated on away goals, but my word did they give Olimpija a scare at the end of the game! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 Damn shame, but what a ride! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitner Posted March 27, 2017 Share Posted March 27, 2017 So near, yet so far. Congratulations, in anyway. Great campaign. Cheers, Bitner Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim owen Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Was almost expecting a last minute winner there, such has been the fairytail Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrdanbartlett Posted March 28, 2017 Share Posted March 28, 2017 Dang! What is that Pisek valued at and on per week, could you try a cheeky bid for him? (long shot). Anyway I hope the season goes well, use that wage budget to bring in some quality and hopefully another title could be in the bag. However I'm still rooting that FM hasn't 'forgot' you and clubs will start offering you manager roles, I defo feel you may need to get the coaching bades up to national A before you get a conf job though as IIRC that is the average badge for that league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 I think I'm on a national A badge now so hopefully the offers will start rolling in soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GryphonFlick Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Unlucky about the final result, but what a good fight. Good signs for the club and hopefully the league I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 James Sprudd picked up an injury in the first week or so of August, whilst it was only a short term problem that will see him miss the first 2 games max, it did make me question the strength in depth at CB. I had around £300 p/w left so I got in a young 18 year old as back-up, Colin O'Brien joins us, having taken quite the step down after being released by Liverpool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 August Things got off to a good start with a pretty resounding win against Newtown in the Welsh League Cup, with Taggart securing a brace to continue his good start to life at the club. In the league though, a worst case scenario. We were 0-0 with Bala at half-time, it was only after Haig got sent off 2 minutes into the 2nd half that it all fell apart. A terrible result though, especially since our next game was a tough trip to TNS, which sadly saw us come away empty handed. We looked better after going 2-0 down and had a few half chances at 2-1 to equalise, a shame we didn't take them, but we just have to build from here on. Not the best start to our title defence Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 Oh wait so apparently we're playing in the Scottish League Challenge Cup this year. It's a competition that features the 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier of Scotland sides, with 2 sides from Northern Ireland and Wales too. Madness. We'll be playing Kilmarnock or East Fife. Should be an interesting way to test ourselves against sides from the Scottish 2nd tier or so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Dang, as I scrolled down, I thought you were picked off by a Sottish side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BONGOinCoNGO Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 Surely, a good result against Kilmarnock or East Fife should see you appear on the radar of a few 'big' Scottish sides(?) Personally, I can't see why you would want to leave Port Talbot anyway, such a lovely part of the world... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 September Goytre away wasn't a walk in the park, but a 2nd half goal from Chris Pennock managed to see us through. We then faced a trip to 2nd tier Holywell. We took the lead early on through Carl Pockett and whilst we should have scored more to finish them off, we got the job done so I wasn't too fussed. Back to winning ways in the league, although we've not been very good tbh. We came from behind to beat Aber, got two 0-0 draws on the round to Goytre and Prestatyn, before just about beating Carmarthen after they had someone sent off early in the 2nd half. I suppose at least we are winning some games whilst not playing that well. I'd also like to point out we have quite the injury crisis at the moment: I mean ffs Banks, Sprudd and Betsy are the spine of our defence so we've done well in terms of defence recently. All things considered, given our poor form I'm not too disheartened to only be 5 points behind TNS and Afan Lido for now. If we can pick up our form and have players coming back next month we should hopefully rise up the table with time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 29, 2017 Author Share Posted March 29, 2017 11 minutes ago, BONGOinCoNGO said: Surely, a good result against Kilmarnock or East Fife should see you appear on the radar of a few 'big' Scottish sides(?) Personally, I can't see why you would want to leave Port Talbot anyway, such a lovely part of the world... I'm hoping that might happen. Not sure what sort of level I'd expect to be able to get in at Scotland, but would be happy to give it a go wherever as I feel I've more or less achieved all I can at Port Talbot now. Obviously the challenge now is to continue the success and try and do something big in Europe, but I feel that would take a very long time and I don't really want to be stuck in the Welsh Premier League for 5-10 years, although who knows what will happen! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjaferrie Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 What's the reputation level of the Challenge Cup relative to the Welsh competitions? Could be a good boost for you! Hopefully you'll get the chance to move on soon, really enjoying following this story! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 The Scottish League Challenge Cup is 1.5* and on par with the likes of the FA Trophy and EFL Trophy. The Welsh Cup by comparison is only 0.5*. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 October A bit disappointing we couldn't do more against Kilmarnock, but we were still in the middle of an injury crisis at the time so we didn't do too badly all things considered. I think if we'd have had our first choice 11 fully fit we could have maybe done them. A pretty good month in the league considering the injuries, with 4 wins on the bounce, including a late winner against Newtown, absolutely banging Bangor and comfortable 3-1 wins against Connah's Quay and Airbus who have been awful all season. Obviously the loss to Bala was a tad bum, if we want to retain the title that's the sort of game we need to turn from a loss into a draw in the future, but we weren't outclassed we just got a bit unlucky on the day and weren't clinical enough. Hopefully we can learn from that loss in the coming months. We're up to 3rd with Afan Lido 4 points ahead and TNS 3 points ahead. It's probably going to be a 3 horse race this season and I think it will be the head to head games against TNS and Afan Lido that really decide the title this year, we'll have to see what happens with TNS though, they seem to have returned to being a threat again after a really poor season last year and a less than impressive title win the year prior. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 November For a 3rd round draw, Goytre were a fairly tough draw as a lot of the other sides got 2nd tier teams. Needless to say, Goytre didn't really turn up anyway so we beat them with just as much ease as we'd hope to beat a 2nd tier side. A brace for Pockett who had been struggling to score lately was much appreciated too. A confident 3-0 win against Prestatyn puts us into the Welsh League Cup final. It would be nice to get another cup win in the bag this season and hopefully we can do it. A very solid month in the league, with a good draw against TNS and then 3 wins in a row against Aber, Goytre and Prestatyn. Prestatyn have been in good form this year after a poor finish last time, so a 3-0 win over them was very good. It did take late goals to beat both Goytre and Aber, but the 3 points is all that matters. The title race is hotting up and we've now caught up with TNS, who are only ahead of us by goal difference. Afan Lido remain ahead of us but we've closed the gap to 2 points. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrdanbartlett Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Newtown, 3 points from 15 games...........ouch! Surprised there goal difference isn't worse though. All tight at the top it seems, I wonder if you will get any job offers from around now as it's usually the start of the sacking period. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 December A 10/10 month, couldn't ask for any more across the board. We managed to get more or less a fully fit team for the first time in a while and we showed our strength. 16 goals in 4 games without letting a single one in. The highlight was beating Afan Lido 2-0 in a early 6 pointer for the title, you hope to win the home games of course but it was still very pleasing as they didn't give us too many problems. That loss actually sent Afan Lido down to 5th place and put 6 points between us, with TNS the closest to us in 2nd with a 3 point (and considerable goal difference) gap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Fantastic month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
argento Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 what a month! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 30, 2017 Author Share Posted March 30, 2017 January (pre-split) Afan Lido gave us a hell of a match at their place, I really didn't think we'd end up winning that one and would've been content with a point, but fair play to the lads we dug deep and got all 3 points. Connah's Quay frustrated us for large portions of the game with them, but they tired late on and we got a goal from a corner and then a late late penalty. Airbus fought back after going 2-0 down early on, but despite having chances to equalise they couldn't take them. Very pleased to have managed this. We're in great form, not sure how long it will continue but hopefully we can take this confidence into the bigger games in the tail end of the season. We've managed to widen the gap on TNS to 5 points which is good, it looks like they will be our only challenger as Prestatyn are 10 points behind us, with Afan Lido now 12 points adrift following our back to back wins against them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim owen Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 What are your rules behind quitting, if you get stuck in wales too long you could always try becoming unemployed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Recovered superbly well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted March 30, 2017 Share Posted March 30, 2017 Hell of a turnaround. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Heath Posted March 31, 2017 Share Posted March 31, 2017 wow great run to put some distance between yourself and the chasing pack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 15 hours ago, jim owen said: What are your rules behind quitting, if you get stuck in wales too long you could always try becoming unemployed The only way I'll get sacked is if I do badly at Port Talbot, it could happen but certainly doesn't look like it this season. My best bet is to keep winning stuff and gradually lowering my Compensation Fee percentage and hope someone comes in for me soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GryphonFlick Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Surely winning the league twice in a row (fingers crossed) would be enough of a boost to get other clubs looking at you? A cup win or two wouldn't hurt either... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted April 1, 2017 Share Posted April 1, 2017 Finally catching up in here, long overdue. Loving the time at Port Talbot, making me nostalgic for save with them more than a decade ago How much time is on your contract? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 9 hours ago, ManUtd1 said: Finally catching up in here, long overdue. Loving the time at Port Talbot, making me nostalgic for save with them more than a decade ago How much time is on your contract? 9 hours ago, GryphonFlick said: Surely winning the league twice in a row (fingers crossed) would be enough of a boost to get other clubs looking at you? A cup win or two wouldn't hurt either... Theyre still only offering me 1 year deals. But yes, hopefully if we can pull off another title that would be enough to get people interested. Long way to go yet tho! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 January post-split We got the post-split off to a bad start as we lost our first game in ages. Carlos Eduardo is partially to blame as he got sent off in the 48th minute which proved very costly in the end. TNS can now lower the gap to just 2 points if they win their game in hand, this win has also helped Prestatyn edge to 7 points behind us. We also lost to Bala in the Welsh Cup and this loss can't be blamed on a red card, just a sloppy away performance that saw Bala get the better of us. We did win 1 game this month though and it meant that we are the Welsh League Cup winners for a second time. It was a very comfortable game and whilst it's not a very important trophy even in Wales, it's good to add another trophy to the collection regardless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 February The tough fixtures are coming in thick and fast so our winning run has for sure come to an end. We beat Bangor away which was a good result, we could have done with a better result against Afan Lido but losing to Bala was disappointing, they're turning into a real bogey side for us as that's the 4th time they've beaten us this season now. The TNS away game was absolutely huge as if they'd beaten us they'd have overtaken us in the league and taken a whole load of momentum with them, it looked like they might well beat us, but thankfully a 74th minute strike from Carl Simpson gave us a point. A rough February but with games to go we remain top of the table. Our final 5 fixtures looks like this: Prestatyn (A), Bangor City (H), Afan Lido (A), TNS (H), Bala (A). Some tough fixtures in there for sure, with the final 2 games of TNS and then Bala away on the last day looking quite scary at this point. I think if we can avoid defeat to TNS we should hang on as long as they drop points elsewhere too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 March It was important we won these games before the really tough fixtures began, Prestatyn did give us a lot of problems but they never did get the equaliser they tried for after our early opener from Taggart. Bangor City did get an equaliser after our early opener, but thankfully Taggart was on hand to give us another winner with his fairly late header. Everything's come up Milhouse because TNS managed to lose back to back games with Bangor City and Afan Lido. We're 7 points clear with 3 games left ffs I'm pretty sure all we have to do now is draw 2 of our last 3 games, as even if we draw against Afan Lido and Bala and TNS beat us, (presuming TNS win their other 2 games) then we'd be on 64 points each and our goal difference is far superior at the moment. Happy days really. Of course it's not over yet but it's looking very good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 Also Sort it out SI etc Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 1, 2017 Author Share Posted April 1, 2017 A surprisingly easy away trip to Afan Lido means that... Also Probably says more about how few managers other than TNS managers win trophies in Wales, but still quite funny to be in their HOF now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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