Simply Perfect Posted October 12, 2005 Share Posted October 12, 2005 I reckon you'll get promoted again: the "next level" never appears to be a huge step up, which is why so many relegated clubs struggle so much in my opinion. Anyway, KUTGW! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 12, 2005 Author Share Posted October 12, 2005 Thank you very much robterrace- simply p, your kind words are appreciated Glad you are enjoying the story. *** 12.8.08 Harrow Hill (3) Morecambe (2) After playing an excellent first half where we took the lead on well-constructed goals from Ryan Ashington and Billy Sharp, both the squad and our fans were stunned as Morecambe scored two goals in a four minute span to open the second half. Both goals came about from Iain Lobban flicking balls on- the first when he outleaped David Green and Sean O'Conner had an empty net to push the ball into- the second when he flicked it over Paul Moss and Stephen Bailey was there to whisk it into the open net. I was very proud of the heart of our club as we answered that pair of goals almost immediately when Sharp got up to head in a ball during a scramble in front of their goal for his 2nd goal of the match. With the lead again, we reverted to our more defensive outlook to try and prevent future calamities. We still let O'Conner loose for a one-on-one, but this time Green made the huge save to preserve our 3-2 win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 16, 2005 Author Share Posted October 16, 2005 15.8.08 Manchester United came along and plucked Stuart Charles from us- very disturbing indeed. I had high hopes of re-signing him when 17, but those helps disappeared when the big club came calling. We have now lost three good youngsters- Kyle Atkinson, Adam Davies and now Charles to big clubs- for a pittance of their true worth. *** 16.8.08 Leyton Orient (0) Harrow Hill (2) This match would not be in the win column, but for Ross Flitney. Flitney earned MOM honours as he made three terrific stops on Sam Walton to preserve our 1-0 lead. We had scored when Glenn Morris mishandled a ball and David Poole was right there to push it into the net. Walton was a thorn in our side all match, as Franklin Simek had little luck in keeping him well-marked. With Flitney's heroics, we were able to put a capper on the match when Ryan Ashington, on for injured Byron Bubb, zipped a pass that found Richard Langley clear of the Orient backline. Langley showed his good shooting touch by snaking his shot past a sprawling Morris inside the left post to make it 2-0. We finished out Flitney's clean sheet with strong support in the 2-0 win at Brisbane Road. Bubb's badly sprained ankle will keep him out for the next month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simply Perfect Posted October 17, 2005 Share Posted October 17, 2005 David Poole scoring against the club which helped him get into the England squad This story has a totally different dynamic to The Bet, which makes it such fun to read. I'm off to read more Faramir stories!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 18, 2005 Author Share Posted October 18, 2005 Very true Simply P- this one is dynamically different than The Bet *** 16.8.08 It was interesting to see that Karl Atkinson is now moving to a new club- Deportivo. I muttered a few choice words under my breath about losing the talented Atkinson. *** 17.8.08 My scouts were coming back with more promising schoolboy players. Since our youth program isn't established enough yet, I will continue to sign players I consider promising. The two who inked contracts today were 15 year old SC Lee Holland and 17 year old ML Peter Evans. Holland in particular looks like a real find, but given my luck of late- we may have a hard time keeping him until we can sign him to a contract at 17. Holland will play on the Under-18 side and Evans will be on the reserves. *** 18.8.08 More schoolboy signings. 15 year old AMRLC Simon Barker was one I liked more than Arne (Kjaersgaard-Assistant Manager), but I felt he could play for the Under-18 side. 17 year old AMRC Michael Walker will play on the Under-18 side for the rest of this season. 18 year old AMRC Liam Reynolds might be the best signing of the bunch and is the closest to contributing. He will go to the Reserves for now, but may actually see Senior play later in the season. *** 19.8.08 Two more schoolboy signings for us- 17 year old MR Brian Phillips and 17 year old SC Russell Watkins. Both have potential and Arne thought they would fit right in after we went over their scouting reports. With the logjam of players on our Reserves, both are going to play on the Under-18 side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 19, 2005 Author Share Posted October 19, 2005 20.8.08 Torquay (2) Harrow Hill (3) League Cup 1st Round Despite playing a scratchwork lineup, we managed to upset favored League 1 Torquay 3-2 on three second half goals. The home side took the lead when they sent a cross in and Matthew Flynn outleaped Lee Doherty (playing out of position as DMC because I wanted to get him some match time) and deflected it past David Green. Our rally started when Ryan Ashington, subbed on for Gavin Bolger, got free to rap a shot at Jamie Ashdown. Ashdown parried it away, but David Poole was quickest to the rebound and knocked it into the net to equalize. We then worked a pretty passing sequence that wound up with Ashington in free from the right side and he fired his shot past Ashdown and we had a lead late in the second half. Though we went to a more defensive look, Adrian Nevins failed to keep Flynn in check and he sailed in to score inside the post past Green. Because of little choice, we kept our defensive tactic and it paid off in an upset when a quick counterattack sent Craig Kelly in free and he fired it past Ashdown for the match-winner. We witheld their last attempt to hang on for the win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 19, 2005 Author Share Posted October 19, 2005 21.8.08 Finances are a looming problem for us- though we may be able to stay in black for the season if I forgo future purchases. I don't really plan on selling any players, so the 225K we have in our coffers will just have to last as best it can. We are about 7.5K over our Board approved weekly wage rate, but they aren't kicking about it at present. *** 23.8.08 Harrow Hill (0) Boston United (0) We couldn't do much more than we did- except score- as we dominated Boston United and outshot them 16-3, but couldn't find a way past Lee Worgan. Their backline played superbly, led by MOM Lee Beevers, as they staunchly supported their keeper. We missed the net a few times on good chances, but their backline made a few saving tackles and Worgan made several fine saves to keep the match scoreless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 20, 2005 Author Share Posted October 20, 2005 26.8.08 Harrow Hill (2) Rushden (0) Rushden was struggling coming into this match and we took advantage of their disorganization to score a 2-0 win over them at Larksfield Road. Steven O'Donnell gave us the early lead when he fired a well-placed shot inside the far, right post early in the first half. We came close to adding to that lead before halftime, but O'Donnell and Craig Kelly sent headers just over the net and Colin Doyle saved John Turner's close-in shot. They rallied at halftime and Ross Flitney had to be sharp to stop an old mate- Rowan Vine- from inside the six yard box. Matthew Roberts temper cost Rushden a player, when a pair of yellow cards removed him at 62 minutes. Despite being a man short, Rushden pressed the backline and nearly evened it before we sent a quick counter-attack up the middle and David Poole scored a nice goal to put the match out of reach 2-0. *** 2.9.08 Carshalton came to us wanting to loan our new signing- Liam Reynolds- for three months. I decided to let Liam decide if he wanted to be loaned, since that time would be just about right before coming back to us and seeing Senior time later in the season. *** 5.9.08 Bad news from training today as keeper Ross Flitney injured his calf and will miss the next couple weeks. David Green will have to shoulder the load in the meantime with Ryan Howell serving as his backup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 22, 2005 Author Share Posted October 22, 2005 6.9.08 Brentford (1) Harrow Hill (0) First place Brentford handed us our first loss in League 2 play in a 1-0 match that they fully deserved to win. We didn't play anywhere close to our best and made a key defensive mistake that allowed Isiah Rankin to score the match winning goal midway through the second half. After falling behind, we missed two golden chances to even the match when Darren Pratley missed over the net after a good pass put him free and then Craig Kelly saw ? make a terrific one-on-one save to preserve the clean sheet for the home side. David Green twisted his knee in the match and will miss a week of play, which means that Ryan Howell will get his debut in net next match. I was very unhappy with Jordan Fowler's poor performance in the match and with Patrick Cregg nursing an injury it will be Ian Jackson making his debut in the defensive midfield role next match. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 23, 2005 Author Share Posted October 23, 2005 26.8.08 Harrow Hill (2) Rushden (0) Rushden was struggling coming into this match and we took advantage of their disorganization to score a 2-0 win over them at Larksfield Road. Steven O'Donnell gave us the early lead when he fired a well-placed shot inside the far, right post early in the first half. We came close to adding to that lead before halftime, but O'Donnell and Craig Kelly sent headers just over the net and Colin Doyle saved John Turner's close-in shot. They rallied at halftime and Ross Flitney had to be sharp to stop an old mate- Rowan Vine- from inside the six yard box. Matthew Roberts temper cost Rushden a player, when a pair of yellow cards removed him at 62 minutes. Despite being a man short, Rushden pressed the backline and nearly evened it before we sent a quick counter-attack up the middle and David Poole scored a nice goal to put the match out of reach 2-0. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 25, 2005 Author Share Posted October 25, 2005 13.9.08 Woking (1) Harrow Hill (3) We played very well in our 3-1 road win over Woking. One of the best goals ever scored by Harrow Hill was Ryan Ashington's goal to give us the lead. He took the ball away from Chris Pollard just on our side of the pitch. Ashington broke down the left side, wending past two defenders before rifling a well-placed shot past Tony Reeves. We missed a couple good chances, but Darren Pratley showed fine presence when he was in the right place to pick up a loose ball and fire it past a slightly out of position Reeves to give us a 2-0 lead. Woking gained life when Ryan Howell showed a bit of inexperience in his debut as he fisted away a centering pass and it went right to Patrick McCarthy and he launched a 25 yard kick past Howell. We shook off their momentary rally to dominate the second half. Reeves made good saves to stop Ashington and Pratley from adding to their goal total, but Craig Kelly, on for injured John Turner, made a nice move and fired it past Reeves to clinch the match. In another costly injury loss, Kelly went out moments later with strained knee ligaments that might keep him out 3 weeks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 25, 2005 Author Share Posted October 25, 2005 16.9.08 Harrow Hill (2) Barnsley (3) League Cup 2nd round We stunned Division 1 Barnsley by taking a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes of the match. Our first goal came when Mbabazi took down Byron Bubb in the area and Adrian Nevins converted the penalty kick past Mark Goodlad. It was 2-0 when Mark Smyth chipped in his 1st goal of the season after a terrific through ball from Patrick Cregg sent him in free. The lead didn't last too long as Barnsley rallied to even the match at 2-2 on a Mbabazi header and a low shot from Shaun Derry. Nicky Wroe escaped marking to fire what would be the match winner past Daniel Austen early in the second half. Barnsley missed a chance to clinch it when Antony Kay's penalty kick was saved by Austen. Our last chance came when David Poole whipped a shot at Goodlad, but he smothered it to preserve thier win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 26, 2005 Author Share Posted October 26, 2005 20.9.08 Harrow Hill (3) Crawley (0) In a match where we proved that we could take advantage of chances and situations, we were rewarded with a 3-0 win for our efforts. We took the early lead when Carl Laurie picked up a loose ball after a corner in the Crawley end. Laurie tried to slip a pass through to John Turner, but the ball was deflected and went right to unmarked Richard Langley who fired it inside the near left post past Mark Tyler. We held a 2-0 halftime lead when we put together a pretty corner play and Darren Pratley blasted a ball inside the right post. With Crawley threatening to rally in the second half, it was a superb pass from Pratley that found Langley in full stride as he motored past Michael Nelson and then he slipped the ball past a diving Tyler to clinch the match with his 2nd goal. The win kept us on the heels of unbeaten Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday and barely in front of surging Leyton Orient. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying_Fin Posted October 26, 2005 Share Posted October 26, 2005 Whew - What a read! Just finished it all, at 3:10am *grumble* Might turn in a little late for work tomorrow Keep Up The Exceptionally Good Work, Faramir! I Think I'll have to go have a look at your other stories as well then, I just happened across this one before I was supposed to head to bed... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 27, 2005 Author Share Posted October 27, 2005 Thanks Flying Fin- glad you are enjoying the stories enough for that kind of reading *** 27.9.08 Harrow Hill (1) Lincoln (1) It certainly seemed like a loss, as the last moments of the match wound down. We had allowed them a gift goal in the 2nd minute of play when Moses Ashikodi had deflected a cross from Daniel Peters past David Green to give them the lead. We had turned the pressure up on them after that goal and allowed them only one other shot (on a corner) the rest of the match. Unfortunately for us, Alan Marriott was having a splendid match in their net. I had brought on Mark Smyth for Richard Langley midway through the first half, because Richard looked like he was playing 'tired' and Smyth had given us a spark as we started several long attacks into their end. Their tough tackling and Marriott's brilliant work left us very frustrated as we had generated 5 or 6 superb scoring chances, but failed to capitalize on them. Billy Sharp was feeling the worst as he had missed inches wide and skimmed the cross bar on two excellent setups. All seemed lost as the 4 minutes injury time was winding down. We got a late free kick on an offsides in our end and Franklin Simek hurried to take it. Simek's kick was a pretty one as it curved past two Lincoln players and picked out Smyth in the area. Smyth made all his hard work pay off when he snapped his shot just inside the left post for a dramatic equalizer only seconds before time ran out and we had ourselves a hard earned 1-1 draw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 28, 2005 Author Share Posted October 28, 2005 28.9.08 We are finally getting healthier and our midweek match against Stockport will feature the return to the lineup of Dean Morgan, Jimmy Corbett, Chris O'Brien and Ross Flitney. I have to wonder if they will be able to shake off the rust, but they have all been in training to get into match shape for a couple weeks. *** 1.10.08 Stockport (2) Harrow Hill (0) Sometimes you have a match where everything seems to be going pretty good, and you still lose. That was the case today as Dean Morgan shook off the rust nicely and played well- but it just didn't work out as they took advantage of a penalty kick in the first half and a half-step slow defensive coverage in the second half to score two goals and we never could solve Nick Colgan in their net. We showed some mistimed passing- due to the return of players- but we played solid attacking football and outshot them 11-7. Colgan kept us off the board though and that doesn't count the many times their backline came up with saving tackles when we looked to have good chances. It was disappointing to lose when we played so well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted October 29, 2005 Author Share Posted October 29, 2005 11.10.08 Kidderminster (0) Harrow Hill (1) It was our turn to make one big play that turned out to be the deciding point in the match. Both clubs had been playing good defense and limiting mistakes throughout the scoreless first half of play. Kidderminster had been especially good at making key tackles to deny us chances in their area. With Dean Morgan and Jimmy Corbett tiring, I had brought on Billy Sharp and Ryan Ashington- which seemed to help give us a bit more offensive life. The key play came when Sharp used excellent vision in sending a through ball that saw Richard Langley race past their backline. Keeper Ryan Higgins challenged Langley, but Langley took the ball past him and slotted it home for his 5th goal of the season and the only goal of this 1-0 win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 6, 2005 Author Share Posted November 6, 2005 12.10.08 One significant thing to come from our last two starts is the emergence of young DMC Ian Jackson as our starting defensive midfielder. While not displeased with either Patrick Cregg or Jordan Fowler- who have filled the role from the start for us- Jackson has really pleased me with his overall play and he already appears to be a savvy player. His timely passes and good positional play have been superior to that of Cregg and Fowler this season. *** 18.10.08 Harrow Hill (2) Rochdale (0) The true reappearance of Dean Morgan, sniper par excellence, arrived today and it was the key to our 2-0 win over Rochdale at Larksfield Road. The first half was a struggle for us as we were a half-step off in our passing and Darren Pratley took awhile to get going. Fortunately our defensive quickness meant that Rochdale really wasn't getting any good chances against Ross Flitney and it was scoreless at half. The whole complexion of the match changed early in the second half when we earned a dangerous free kick. Lewis Buxton blasted off the wall, but keeper Darren Johnston was still forced to parry the deflection. Morgan was perfectly placed to slot home the rebound for his 1st goal of the season. We kept grinding them with the lead and our pressure paid off when Joe Barton made an ill-advised header on a cross from Jimmy Corbett. Barton's header went right back across to Morgan and he had an easy time pushing it into the net to stun Rochdale with his 2nd goal of the match. With Morgan badly tiring at that point, Craig Kelly finally returned to the lineup as we settled into a defensive approach to protect the lead. Richard Langley came close to adding to the lead, but we settled for the final 2-0 margin for an important win over the 5th place club. The win kept us in 3rd place, just off the pace of undefeated Sheffield Wednesday and 2nd place Brentford and gave us some room over 4th place Leyton Orient. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 7, 2005 Author Share Posted November 7, 2005 22.10.08 Now that Dean Morgan has proven he is healthy again, we are swarming with scouts taking looks at him. Arne and I were able to identify scouts from Port Vale, Doncaster, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace in attendance of our practice. The press has gotten wind of the interest too and asked me for some comments yesterday. Arne, who knows how precarious our bottom line is too, thought we should be open to any offers. My comments were that I would only let him go at the right price. Dean is ambitious and if I receive an offer that is good enough, I would likely have to let him go- versus keeping him unhappy here. Though he is a key player, we have managed to play decently without him and we have some solid players- John Turner, developing and now healthy Craig Kelly, Billy Sharp and David Poole- waiting in the wings. *** 23.10.08 Dean Morgan's comments in the press were that he was 'a bit unsettled' by all the transfer speculation and though he would like to play for Port Vale- he hoped the matter would be decided quickly. Considering they have not made an offer at this point, I don't think it is going to happen as quickly as Dean would like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 9, 2005 Author Share Posted November 9, 2005 23.10.08 I also let a second player go on loan to Carshalton. Joining Liam Reynolds will now be 17 year old DC Paul Gardner as he arrives on a three month loan. Gardner had been playing well on the Under-18 side, and the chance to give him some first team competitive football seemed a good idea at this point- with the reserve side already sporting several youngsters filling the role. *** 25.10.08 Harrow Hill (4) Darlington (0) James Simmonds set the tempo for us in the early going when he gave us the lead with his first goal of the season to cap off a nicely played passing sequence. Though we didn't score again in the first half, we held firm control over the flow of play and Ross Flitney was barely tested. We redoubled our efforts to get another goal to start the second half and the effort paid off when Richard Langley whipped in a shot from the six-yard box. Darlington seemed a bit tired and demoralized as they weren't rallying effectively. We stamped out their faint hopes in the late going as Craig Kelly, on for a tiring Dean Morgan, rifled in a 25 yard blast inside the near right post for his 5th goal of the season. Langley finished off the visitors as he scored a fluke goal while trying to cross to Kelly and that finished out a 4-0 win that could easily have been a greater margin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 10, 2005 Author Share Posted November 10, 2005 28.10.08 Brentford (1) Harrow Hill (0) Vans Trophy 1st round Brentford came with their regular first line players, we came with our 2nd line players as I was worried about the spate of matches we have upcoming. The difference in the play can be put down to those choices as they were much sharper than we were in the match. The lone goal came when Eddie Hutchinson got above Lee Doherty and flicked a header past David Green. They held more of the play, but we did generate a few good chances as Mark Smyth managed to get clear down the left several times. Mark had no luck converting his chances though and we remained unable to solve Tony Tucker as he ensured Brentford would move on in the competition due to their 1-0 win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 11, 2005 Author Share Posted November 11, 2005 29.10.08 I was pleased to sign Darren Morgan to a new contract. Now that he had turned 17, I dearly wanted to keep the talented D/DMRL and start featuring him more. He can help us in many ways and now that I don't have to worry about him being snatched up by a bigger club- he should see a lot more playing time. *** 30.10.08 Negotiations have begun with Doncaster about Dean Morgan. They offered below his rated price, but my counteroffer required a little less money up front- but some graduated payments over the next 18 months. It will be interesting to see if they are interested. *** 31.10.08 Sheffield Wednesday also came calling- inquiring about Dean Morgan. I told them in no uncertain terms that I would not sell him to a club in the same division (and though unspoken- they realized there was especially no way that I would sell him to them while we both were in contention for the top spot in League 2- they currently were ahead of us by 3 points in first and we held a point advantage over 3rd place Brentford.) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bawbag the gr8 Posted November 12, 2005 Share Posted November 12, 2005 great story faramir, KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 12, 2005 Author Share Posted November 12, 2005 Thanks bawbag- glad you are enjoying the story *** 1.11.08 Harrow Hill (0) Bristol Rovers (0) We dominated the visiting side and created some great scoring chances, but time and again we just could not put our shots on net. The main culprit was Dean Morgan who missed inches wide more times than I can count. Richard Langley set him up beautifully twice alone in front and he missed the net with both chances. Their keeper Anthony Williams only had to come up with one good save- despite the fact we lofted 14 shots at him. They were able to get little offense going against us as we continually shut them down on their wings. Ross Flitney never had to make a save to earn today's clean sheet. Langley earned a yellow card which will see him suspended for our midweek match against Wycombe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 15, 2005 Author Share Posted November 15, 2005 2.11.08 Two unrelated items today. First was Doncaster decided they weren't interested in Dean Morgan at my revised offer. Since they weren't willing to pay his rated amount in the first place, they will likely not make another offer. I don't plan on selling him unless the offer at least meets his rated amount. The second is that my 'Robber Barrons' comment about Manchester United (after they signed Stuart Charles) must have made someone unhappy there- since they pointedly loaned Stuart to Wycombe on the eve of our match with them. *** 5.11.08 Wycombe (1) Harrow Hill (0) Another abysmal shooting performance doomed us in our trip to Wycombe as we lost 1-0. The lone goal on the match was a fluke as Danny Griffin was able to fire a shot in off David Green's hand after a free kick had been headed and deflected like a pinball. We had some excellent chances to even things up in the second half as Mark Smyth brought a spark to our offense after coming on at halftime, but Smyth missed the net on two good chances and then wasted another clear chance by a bad first touch on the ball which allowed the defense to get back and blunt our attack. The loss dropped us off the pace of Sheffield Wednesday and Brentford as the two battle atop League 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 16, 2005 Author Share Posted November 16, 2005 8.11.08 Harrow Hill (0) Leyton Orient (4) FA Cup 1st round In a truly awful performance we were crushed by Leyton Orient 4-0 in front of our disappointed and disgusted fans at Larksfield Road. Justin Miller scored his first two goals of the season with a pair of headers past Ross Flitney, mostly due to poor marking from our backline. They followed that with David Edwards knocking in a close-range shot after our backline failed to clear the ball away. The capper was Neil McCafferty knocking over Sam Walton in the area for a penalty that Gary Alexander converted to finish off the 4-0 rout. The play was bad, the fact that the players out there didn't have their hearts in it was worse. Several players proved today that they belong on other clubs and it is time to start trimming the squad of a few of them if I can. Now we have to face 1st place Sheffield Wednesday with the kind of ill momentum that came out of this fiasco. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 18, 2005 Author Share Posted November 18, 2005 15.11.08 Sheffield Wednesday (2) Harrow Hill (0) Top placed Sheffield Wednesday demonstrated to us why they are unbeaten in League 2 play- they do the little things right. Fabrice Fernandes drilled a 30 yard free kick past Ross Flitney to give them the early lead and then they added another goal when Robert Malcolm deflected a corner past Flitney. We tried to rally, but when we got good scoring chances- Jack Cross was there to make the big save every time. Richard Langley in particular was frustrated as he had three excellent chances saved. It was a disappointing loss in what has become a worrisome rut during this portion of the season. *** 16.11.08 Three unhappy players now have new homes in my mini-purge. Neil McCafferty will relocate to Mansfield for 40K. John Turner now moves to Walsall for 45K and Simon Hodgson will find new work with Aldershot for 6K. The moves leave us 5K over the Board's expected weekly wages- a bit of an improvement. It also leaves us 250K in the black at present on our books and that should be enough to leave us in the black at season's end- provided I don't make any outlandish transfer purchases. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 19, 2005 Author Share Posted November 19, 2005 18.11.08 Harrow Hill (3) Northampton (1) We finally broke out and won again and it was struggling Northampton that suffered the 3-1 loss at Larksfield Road. I was fuming the entire first half, it was the worst display of passing I had ever seen from us. About 35 minutes in, my Assistant mentioned to me that our pass completion rate was 47%!! I tried to get them to change our approach slightly, but they just were not executing. Despite that we managed to take the halftime lead when David Green made a terrific goal kick that David Poole ran down and then was able to fire past a diving Scott Carson. We played a bit better in the second half and went ahead 2-0 when Byron Bubb made a great through ball that Mark Smyth (on for slightly injured Poole) made a good move with and chipped it past Carson. We almost immediately made things tough on ourselves as they drew a goal back when Wayne Perry knocked in a rebound off the right post after our backline failed to clear the ball away. It was a taut match from there, as both clubs desperately tried to score. Andrew Crofts broke through to fire home a rebound after Smyth's initial shot was blocked for his 1st goal at Harrow Hill and that finally clinched a much needed 3-1 win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 20, 2005 Author Share Posted November 20, 2005 22.11.08 Chesterfield (0) Harrow Hill (1) It was a good thing that Craig Kelly solved Chesterfield keeper Andy Williamson for an early goal, because Williamson turned into a stone wall after that and made the match a nail-biting encounter for the clubs. Kelly finished off a superb passing sequence that saw MOM Darren Pratley deftly deal him the ball with enough space to snap a quick shot into the right side of the net. We generated several other one-on-one chances for Kelly and Richard Langley in the first half, but Williamson was equal to each. Chesterfield rallied in the second half after a poor first half and pressured our backline extensively. In a fine display of play, led by Franklin Simek, our backline refused to break and continually frustrated the home side with timely interceptions of their passes. We managed a few more chances in the second half, but were on our backheels under their pressure from the midpoint on. They lost a late goal when James Vaughan was ruled offside and they hit the post behind David Green, but Green earned his clean sheet with solid work in net to backstop our 1-0 win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 21, 2005 Author Share Posted November 21, 2005 6.12.08 Harrow Hill (1) MK Dons (0) We dueled 5th place MK Dons and had the better of them throughout the match as we outshot them 11-1 and we had control of the ball for much of the match. Unfortunately, we also wasted many possessions with ill-advised passes and MK Dons backline also thwarted us numerous times with fine tackling- especially in their area. We gained a penalty just before halftime when Gary Smith tripped Dean Morgan in the area. It was agonizing watching Byron Bubb drill his shot directly into David Martin's hands. We had a couple great chances early in the second half, but Martin was sharp and parried both away. We finally gained the lone goal of the match when Richard Langley whipped in a cross and Darren Pratley was able to flick a header just inside the near left post at 85 minutes. With them pressing forward, we had a couple of chances to clinch the match- but Craig Kelly and Chris O'Brien saw Martin deny them with saves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spav Posted November 22, 2005 Share Posted November 22, 2005 The results are looking good again, Faramir. I'm still here on the terraces of Larksfield Road waving my Harrow Hill scarf and cheering for the team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 22, 2005 Author Share Posted November 22, 2005 Thanks Spav Still not that many fans attending with you though *** 8.12.08 It is a bitter pill to watch our upcoming opponent- Bury- land loan deals very easily on two players that I have been trying to persuade their EPL clubs to loan me all season. Our match will likely see both Lee Croft (from Wigan) and David Hone (from Aston Villa) in their starting lineup. *** 9.12.08 Our reputation remains a stumbling block in getting bigger clubs to give thought to loaning us players. Portsmouth had no trouble loaning Jamie Ashdown to 2nd place Brentford, but demurred when we had approached them. It looks like we will have to do our best with the club in place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 13.12.08 Harrow Hill (6) Bury (0) The new additions didn't help struggling Bury much as we completely shut them down offensively in a 6-0 rout. Two goals from both Darren Pratley and Dean Morgan keyed the win as Steven O'Donnell's speed down the left side was a huge problem for Bury the entire match. O'Donnell added a goal and Mark Smyth rounded out the half-dozen that we scored. Steve Simonsen had a brutal match in net and was pretty happy to hear the final whistle as we outshot the visitors 15-0 for the match. Ross Flitney earned the clean sheet just for policing up the long ball passes they kept sending into our end. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 24, 2005 Author Share Posted November 24, 2005 17.12.08 Stevenage (0) Harrow Hill (2) We took advantage of them in the first 20 minutes and two picture perfect passing plays allowed Craig Kelly to wind up with goals on both and gave us the margin we needed to win out 2-0 over the home side. Richard Langley set up the first goal by Kelly with a deft lay-off and the second came when James Simmonds made a difficult threaded pass to catch Kelly in full stride. We lost our momentum after that when both James Corbett and Andrew Crofts had to be stretchered off. Still, we pressured the ball througout the match and gave Stevenage no good chances at our end. David Green did a nice job snaring their crosses to short circuit what little offense they were showing. I was pleased with the result as we finally reached the midpoint of our season. The injury toll found Crofts with a broken wrist and out for 3 weeks, while Corbett had a chest injury that should only keep him out a week. David Poole suffered a broken nose in the late going and will also miss a week. *** League 2- MIDSEASON TABLE <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> 1- Sheffield Wednesday 52 pts (+26) 2- Harrow Hill 49 pts (+27) 3- Brentford 47 pts (+19) 4- Leyton Orient 35 pts (+8) 5- Bristol Rovers 35 pts (+8) 6- Stockport 34 pts (+5) 7- Stevenage 33 pts (-2) 8- Darlington 33 pts (-3) 9- Yeovil 32 pts (+1) 10- Crawley 31 pts (-3) </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 25, 2005 Author Share Posted November 25, 2005 20.12.08 Harrow Hill (2) Yeovil (0) It was a closely played match with Yeovil at Larksfield Road, but in the end we managed to finish better than they did and that was the difference as we edged them 2-0. Ross Flitney deserves a lion's share of the credit for the win as came up with several important saves in the second half as we were trying to protect our 2-0 lead. Dean Morgan scored his 5th goal of the season early on after Darren Pratley laid the ball off for him just inside the edge of the area. We added to that lead early in the second half when Steven O'Donnell worked a nice play with Pratley off a throw-in- it wasn't exactly a 1-2, but Pratley skipped his pass out, then made space for himself which O'Donnell took advantage of with a pass back. Pratley then whipped a low shot past David Stockdale to make it 2-0. One of the more impressive players on the pitch was young center-back Lee Doherty, who was giving Lewis Buxton a match off. Doherty was in the right place at the right time all match and did a wonderful job helping pinch off the long passing of Yeovil. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 27, 2005 Author Share Posted November 27, 2005 26.12.08 Morecambe (0) Harrow Hill (2) We celebrated the day after Christmas with a tough, determined performance as we controlled play in defeating last place Morecambe 2-0 in front of their chilled, disappointed fans. Though we weren't particularly sharp in the first half, we managed to stake ourselves to a 2-0 lead thanks to Craig Kelly's good shot past Michael Potter after Potter had stopped Richard Langley from close-in. Langley then added a goal when he made a quick move past Iain Swan with the ball and then snapped a rising shot past Potter. We actually played better in the second half and moved the ball with precision, but couldn't manage to score. Gavin Bolger, in his first Senior match in some time, played well enough to push himself back into the picture for more playing time, as he came on for Ryan Ashington and sprung Kelly three seperate times with excellent chances. Craig's shooting was off the mark though and he failed to convert the opportunities as we settled for the 2-0 road win. Langley earned MOM honours for his pressing, hounding play of the Morecambe backline. We did unfortunately lose Patrick Cregg for the next three weeks due to treatment for a groin strain. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 28, 2005 Author Share Posted November 28, 2005 27.12.08 We were finally able to move unhappy keeper Daniel Austen to a new home. Tonbridge paid us 6K to purchase him and he was pleased to move to a club that will give him a chance to return to the starting lineup. *** 27.12.08 One thing that is paying off very well for us at the moment is that I am able to tap into the depth of our club and avoid having to overuse any players. As we make our way through the middle portion of our schedule I intend to try and get players rest as we can for the stretch drive at the end of the season. *** 1.1.09 It was a pleasing clean sweep as Darren Pratley took December Division 2 Player of the Month honours and Richard Langley was selected as Young Player of the Month. Both played well in December and earned their respective awards. *** 4.1.09 Kingstonian came asking about loaning Liam Reynolds for three months. I was actually very much in favor- since the time he returns is also about the time I planned to bring him up to the Senior side for some late season playing time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 29, 2005 Author Share Posted November 29, 2005 7.1.09 Colchester (1) Harrow Hill (5) We continued our fine play of late with a strong road performance as we easily rolled over struggling Colchester 5-1 in a midweek tilt. We jumped to a quick 2-0 lead thanks to Dean Morgan's flick header past Ben Alnwick on a centering pass from Shaun Clohessy and then a nice tic-tac-toe passing sequence that saw Jimmy Corbett rifle the ball past Alnwick. We moved ahead 4-0 at halftime with a pair of late goals in the first half from Mark Smyth. The first was on a rebound that he snapped home after Alnwick had made an initial save on Morgan from close in. The second came when Steven O'Donnell lofted a pass over Terry Dunfield and that sent the fleet Smyth away clean and he slipped his shot past Alnwick. Smyth completed the hat-trick thanks to skinning a terrible goal kick from Alnwick and then driving his shot into the net before the flustered keeper could recover. We yielded a consolation goal to ruin David Green's clean sheet when Franklin Simek headed it back to Green too hard and the ball got away for Craig Fagan to push into the open net to make the final margin 5-1. After our win, we were only a point back of top placed Sheffield Wednesday in League 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted November 30, 2005 Author Share Posted November 30, 2005 9.1.09 Carshalton came in with a late bid to loan Liam Reynolds and I left it up to him as to which club he wanted to go to. Having been loaned to Carshalton earlier in the season, Liam selected Kingstonian to go to and will be on loan for three months now. When he comes back, I will likely move him up to the Senior side to try and get some spot playing time in at the end of the season. *** 10.1.09 Harrow Hill (1) Shrewsbury (1) We dominated the match and controlled the tempo throughout, but it made little difference as Shrewsbury keeper Richard Brush dominated us. The lone goal we managed was on Byron Bubb's penalty kick after Craig Kelly was tripped in the area by Gavin Cadwallader. Otherwise Brush refused to yield stopping Dean Morgan four times and Kelly twice on one-on-ones. Their lone goal was a bad defensive mistake as Lewis Buxton pushed it past Ross Flitney when Flitney was trying to come out and smother it before Peter Humphreys reached it. It was a match we could have and likely should have won. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 1, 2005 Author Share Posted December 1, 2005 12.1.09 Lee Doherty's true test comes now. Lewis Buxton broke his jaw in practice and will miss the next month of play. Doherty has played well in limited playing time and I had started playing him more recently, so hopefully he can give us solid work in replacing Buxton. *** 20.1.09 Boston United (1) Harrow Hill (2) Boston U took the early lead in the first half when Franklin Simek was caught trying to cover too much ground at the back and Dexter Blackstock slipped in behind him to snap home a good pass from Gary Holloway past David Green. We were seemingly playing well in the first half, but we were getting overpowered by their defenders with strong tackling everywhere around the net. Following halftime, we started playing much more crisply and started finding space in their defense. That paid off with a nice touch pass from Darren Pratley to Dean Morgan. Morgan found enough space to rip a shot inside the right post past Lee Worgan for the equalizer early in the second half. We took the lead shortly after when a long pass found Morgan with space on the right and he laid the ball off beautifully for Pratley to blast a low shot past Worgan. My change to a slower tempo seemed to throw off our defense and it was Green who stepped up and became the hero for the rest of the match. He made several good decisions about picking up long passes. The referee, who was frustrating me anyways with all his dubious calls against us, then called Green for pushing Adam Nowland in the area. Green came up with the play of the match when he guessed right and saved the penalty kick from James Goodwin. We came close to putting the match out of reach, but both Pratley and Billy Sharp hit the posts behind Worgan. Green had to come up with one more stellar save on Holloway in the closing moments and we went home with a hard-earned 2-1 road win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 2, 2005 Author Share Posted December 2, 2005 21.1.09 It was a bit stunning to look in the day's paper and see us listed in 1st place. Sheffield Wednesday had played an FA Trophy match, so has a match in hand on us. Nevertheless, we have a goal differential advantage on them (somewhat amazing in itself as they have only yielded 5 goals ALL season- 27 matches for them) and that allowed us a moment of glory atop League 2. We both lead 3rd place Brentford by 6 points. All three top clubs have a large distance ahead of the pack of clubs vying for 4th place as Brentford holds a 12 point edge over current 4th place Stockport. We also have a lot of players drawing interest from other clubs. I have heard rumors of Dean Morgan, James Simmonds, James Biggins, David Green, Lewis Buxton and Franklin Simek all under scrutiny of scouts from other clubs. *** 21.1.09 The inquiries came hot and heavy today, but it was Bristol Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday doing the asking on David Green and James Simmonds. I turned both of them down flat- I am not about to sell any of our players to Division rivals. *** 23.1.09 I finally felt comfortable hiring two more scouts to work with Rob Campkin and Mark Yeates. The two joining us will be Carl Walker and Dennis Stone. Stone will be our advance scout of opponents, while Walker will be out scouring the UK for good players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 3, 2005 Author Share Posted December 3, 2005 24.1.09 Harrow Hill (0) Woking (0) If we had only been a little sharper, we could have won this match. Instead we made bad choices with the ball, bad passes with the ball and just generally didn't show the cohesive offensive play we had in other matches. Despite all that, we controlled the flow of the match pretty much start to end and limited Woking to 2 shots. We had several good chances, but we couldn't hit the net with any of them today. It was a disappointing result all things considered. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 4, 2005 Author Share Posted December 4, 2005 30.1.09 Another spate of injuries, but fortunately they shouldn't affect us too badly. Paul Moss will miss the next month of play after straining knee ligaments and Darren Morgan will be out a couple of weeks following a training accident that left him with a badly sprained ankle. Neither should prove too costly, unless our backline continues to be sapped by other injuries. *** 31.1.09 Rushden (1) Harrow Hill (0) I don't know if it was the rain or that we just didn't have it today, but we did not play well in losing to Rushden on their rain-slick pitch. They scored the lone goal midway through the first half when we misplayed our own throw-in and they took advantage of the chance to get Ian Pickering free to fire past Ross Flitney. We were not sharp today and just as in our match against Woking we made many bad passes and it cost us as we couldn't gain any offensive momentum in the match. New loanee Francis Tierney made a great impression for the home side as he completely bottled up Dean Morgan and continually caused us fits down the left sideline. We need to get back to playing more controlled passing- with better passing a must. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 5, 2005 Author Share Posted December 5, 2005 3.2.09 Tonbridge wanted to loan 16 year old AMRLC Simon Barker for three months but I turned them down. I want him to continue to develop on our Under-18 side until we can sign him to a professional contract when he is 17 in November. *** 4.2.09 Harrow Hill (0) Leyton Orient (1) We certainly are in a rut offensively. We can't seem to get the ball to our forwards in good positions to score and the few times we do- they miss the net. Actually, we had two goals in this match, but both- including what appeared to be a dramatic, late equalizer- of Richard Langley's goals were waved off. This wasn't a stellar match on our part- their goal came when Franklin Simek made a poor choice on when to try a through ball and it wound up with an odd man break that scored against David Green. Gavin Bolger's improvement was illusory- he played poorly again today and my initial impression that he does not deserve a place on the senior side has returned. Sheffield Wednesday won their match (we and they both had this match in hand over the rest of League 2) and have firmly cemented their hold on 1st place. We still hold a point lead on Brentford for 2nd, but really need to start playing better if we want to do well in the second half. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 6, 2005 Author Share Posted December 6, 2005 7.2.09 Harrow Hill (2) Brentford (0) In what I considered our key match of the second half of the season, we finally put things back together and came up with an excellent performance to defeat Brentford 2-0. The score could easily have been 5-0, but Jamie Ashdown had a brilliant day in net for them. Richard Langley returned to form as he took a deft pass from Darren Pratley and rifled a shot past Ashdown halfway through the first half to give us the lead. Pratley, despite a calf injury that will cost us his services for two weeks, refused to come out of the match and his passing was the key that unlocked the Brentford backline. After seeing Ashdown keep them in the game, we finally scored the clinching goal late in the second half when another nice Pratley pass put Langley away to score his 2nd of the match and 10th of the season as we sealed the 2-0 win. Surprisingly, Sheffield Wednesday lost at home for the first time all season and we suddenly are only 3 points adrift of them in the standings, while now holding a 4 point edge on Brentford and 15 points up on 4th place Stevenage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 7, 2005 Author Share Posted December 7, 2005 8.2.09 With Pratley lost to us for a couple weeks, I think I will try Craig Kelly in his role. I have been trying to get Kelly more playing time, but with Morgan's return and the excellent work that seems to result from pairing Morgan and Richard Langley, I haven't had as many starting chances for the undeniably talented Kelly. Gavin Bolger had his shot to reclaim the position, but hasn't played well. Ryan Ashington is the likely other alternative at present. *** 8.2.09 Our injury problems on the backline have prompted me to bring up youngsters Paul Ross and Paul Gardner from the reserves for a start in our midweek tilt. Franklin Simek needs a rest and Gardner will make his debut in his place, while Shaun Clohessy's injury gives Ross a chance to spell James Biggins. *** 8.2.09 Rob Campkin found another unsigned youth striker that both he and I thought was worth signing. Paul Gibbons is 18 and has a fair amount of talent for not being in any youth program, so he was signed and will be assigned to the reserves for now. *** 9.2.09 Huddersfield came calling asking about James Simmonds. I told them the only way I would let him go is if a club is willing to pay the 650K minimum fee release. They haven't called me back about the enquiry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 8, 2005 Author Share Posted December 8, 2005 10.2.09 Crawley (1) Harrow Hill (4) The combination of Craig Kelly, Dean Morgan and Richard Langley up front proved very potent indeed as they provided some excellent tic-tac-toe passing sequences as we carved up Crawley for 4 first half goals enroute to an easy 4-1 road win. Dean Morgan scored first when keeper Scott Rose mishandled a ball with Morgan right on top of him and Morgan slotted it home. The rest of the half revolved around precision shooting by Langley as he scored a hat-trick with all three coming after good passes allowed him enough space to fire shots past struggling Rose. We yielded a consolation goal early in the second half to ruin David Green's clean sheet when Michael Nelson outleapt Lee Doherty to flick in a corner. Both Paul Ross and Paul Gardner had impressive debuts in the match and will remain with the senior side for awhile to further evaluate them. The win, coupled with the fact that Sheffield Wednesday was playing in Vans Trophy semifinals, moves us back into first place in League 2 temporarily. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 9, 2005 Author Share Posted December 9, 2005 11.2.09 It is disappointing, but it appears that James Simmonds is on his way out to Huddersfield. They bid his minimum release fee and I am certain he will agree to a contract with him. Steven O'Donnell has played well on the left side this season, or the loss would be greater, but I may have to lean on unhappy Chris O'Brien as cover for O'Donnell. *** 13.2.09 A stunning suprise for me to see that Simmonds agreed to a contract with them- only to find out Huddersfield didn't have the funds to make the purchase. With the reprieve I am making another attempt to sign Simmonds to a contract without a minimum fee release clause. *** 14.2.09 Harrow Hill (0) Stockport (0) We dominated 6th place Stockport, but were left with a bitter draw when our poor shooting allowed the visitors to escape. Stockport keeper Nick Colgan did earn MOM honours for his three terrific saves against Richard Langley to keep us off the board. It was a strong offensive effort that was done in by our poor finishing. Amazingly, Sheffield Wednesday lost again at home and Brentford also lost, so our draw puts us a point ahead of Sheffield Wednesday on top of the league and 7 points up on Brentford. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 10, 2005 Author Share Posted December 10, 2005 15.2.09 The Simmonds saga winds up playing out well for us as he signed a new contract sans the minimum fee release that runs through 2013. That doesn't mean we can totally avoid selling him, but I much prefer the yea-nea choice versus the one foisted on you when you have a minimum fee release to deal with. *** 15.2.09 Carshalton wanted to loan Paul Gardner, but I turned them down since he is going to see more playing time spelling Simek on the Senior side. I did agree to allow Darren Morgan to loan out to Burnley if he wanted- I have been having difficulty getting him playing time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted December 11, 2005 Author Share Posted December 11, 2005 21.2.09 Lincoln (0) Harrow Hill (2) We continued to ride the efforts of Richard Langley as he finished off a nice give and go passing sequence to rifle a shot past Dean Harris to give us the early lead on the road facing Lincoln. They called the second goal an own-goal on Liam Chilvers, but it was a strong header from Lee Doherty off a corner that triggered Chilvers poor judgement as we went up 2-0. We couldn't manage to add to the lead, but neither could Lincoln close with us. It appeared they had finally drawn a goal back with 10 minutes left, but Francis Green's goal was waved off when the referee indicated he had pushed Paul Ross in the air as he flicked it past Ross Flitney. We kept them from any more chances in finishing out the 2-0 win. Sheffield Wednesday beat Brentford 1-0 at Brentford and had drawn their match in hand, so are now even with us at 73 points with 35 matches played (11 remaining). We remain holding 1st place with our 10 goal differential lead over them. Brentford is now 10 points adrift of us in 3rd place. 4th place Stevenage is 5 points behind Brentford and 15 points back of us as both Sheffield Wednesday and us are well on our way to clinching promotion slots. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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