From the Fringe- Holyhead Hotspur

[Faramir]

22.9.12

Holyhead Hotspur (3) Charlton (1)

A fine effort allowed us to defeat the club immediately above us in the table as we jumped on the Michael Holmes express in winning 3-1 over Charlton at The New Oval. Stephen Morgan was back in better form today and keyed our flyer with a pass that found MOM Holmes splitting the defense to score in the first minute of the match. The first half featured attacks up and down the pitch by both sides and saw good work from keepers Daniel Nieto and Robert Clarke to keep the match close. Holmes made it a brace for the match when he took a nice pass from Dave Fleming and rifled past Nieto from 20 yards for a goal sure to be on the season highlight reel to give us a 2-0 halftime lead. Fleming setup Holmes to complete his hat-trick at 58 minutes with a fine cross that Holmes volleyed past Nieto. Charlton mounted a late fightback, beginning with Claudio Pizzaro drilling a shot past Clarke to ruin his clean sheet at 81 minutes. Paulo Galli was redcarded for a cynical foul at 84 minutes, but Darren Bent missed the penalty kick as he went over the bar on the left side. We staved off their final moment flurry to close out the 3-1 win.

[Faramir]

30.9.12

Aston Villa (1) Holyhead Hotspur (1)

The match was a difficult battle for both sides and I was happy enough to take splitting the points for our 1-1 draw at Villa Park. Robert Clarke had a brilliant first half and was the reason we led at halftime 1-0 as he made several dazzling saves to keep the home side off the scoreline. We took the lead on a well executed free kick. Darren Barnes floated a ball into the area and Michael Holmes powered a header at Marcelo Grohe. The Brazilian keeper was able to push the shot away, but Michael Bradshaw was parked next to him and rapped home the rebound for his 5th goal of the season. We gave up the equalizer when Jack Hobbs blew his coverage on MOM Luke Moore. Hobbs wandered away and Mark Duncan quickly chipped a pass that sent him in free. Moore rounded Clarke and placed his shot inside the right post to equalize. Neither side could get the match winner in the time remaining and settled for the 1-1 draw.

[Faramir]

3.10.12

Arsenal (1) Holyhead Hotspur (1)

A stunning last moment equalizer allowed us to split the points with Arsenal as we battled to a 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium. Arsenal had taken the lead at 31 minutes when Matthew Upson headed back across the goal on a corner and Jose Antonio Reyes was quickest as he snapped his shot past Robert Clarke. We survived heavy pressure and some poor decisions in the first half thanks to Clarke's steady play in goal. Our only good chance in the half found Steve Rogers not even getting a shot off when sent in free. I replaced Rogers at halftime with 19 year old Welsh wunderkid Paul Wynne. Wynne, already with 4 International goals, provided a spark and had three excellent chances in the second half- only to see Carlos Idriss Kameni stop him all three times. Kameni seemed the difference in the match as he also made two other good saves and we appeared on our way to close 1-0 loss. With the match deep into second half injury time, Hector Caceres beautifully laid off a pass into open space in the middle of the pitch. Sam Jones raced in and then with plenty of time- beat Kameni with a hard shot inside the left post to make his 1st goal at Holyhead a dramatic equalizer. The players quickly retrieved the ball after the final whistle and promptly gave it to Jones. MOM honours went to Arsenal defender Timothee Atouba.

[Faramir]

NORWAY

6.10.12

Norway (3) Belarus (1) World Cup Qualifying Group 3

Our early showdown match went well as we played our best match so far under my supervision in defeating Belarus 3-1 in Oslo. The match was also our first home match in Group 3 play, so it was encouraging result for the country to view. We struck for the lead early in the first half when John Carew put away a shot past Yury Zhevnov after Zhevnov parried Bjarne K. Ingebretsen's initial shot. Belarus evened the match when Muhammed Akar's missed tackle allowed Sergey Kisliy to stroll in and blast past Iven Austbo. The match took a turn our way when Ingebretsen proved too much for the visitors to handle late in the first half. Ingebretsen slipped their attempts to mark him and rifled a shot past Zhevnov after a good pass from Kevin Larsen. Ingebretsen then turned that into a quickfire double as he deflected a cross from MOM John Arne Riise in first half injury time to earn us a 3-1 halftime lead. We were content to maintain that lead throughout the second half for an important Group 3 win. Other Group 3 matches found Faroe Islands defeating Bulgaria 2-1 in Sofia, while Portugal and Wales battled to a scoreless draw in Lisbon.

[milanfan_apoorv]

impressive results, especially the double 4-2 over bothe merseysiders

[Faramir]

Thanks milanfan_apoorv We are playing better than I thought to be truthful.

***

NORWAY

10.10.12

Norway (5) Faroe Islands (0)

Another superb effort carried us to a surprisingly easy 5-0 win over Faroe Islands in Oslo. We got off on a flyer when Kristoffer Haelstad, in his 43rd Cap for Norway, scored his 1st International goal when he deflected a beautiful cross from Bjorn Helge Riise past Runi Jacobsen in the 6th minute. MOM Kevin Larsen, who had an unbeatable match dominating the left side of the pitch for us, then volleyed a sensational winner just inside the far right post on a cross from Eirik Vada to send us up 2-0 at 29 minutes. We added to that when Magnus Myklebust took the ball away from Jacobsen outside their area and slotted home for a 3-0 halftime lead. Myklebust made it a brace early in the second half when he deflected a cross from John Carew past Jacobsen. Carew then capped the scoring as he deflected a cross from Mounir Hamoud inside the right post in the waning minutes of play. Iven Austbo had an easy clean sheet in the match. In other Group 3 results, Portugal continued to struggle as they only managed a 1-1 draw against Bulgaria in Lisbon. Wales scored a late match winner to edge a determined San Marino 1-0 at Serraville. Our win places us atop the Group with Wales in 2nd- trailing by 2 points.

[Faramir]

13.10.12

Holyhead Hotspur (2) Leeds (2)

We were forced to battle back to earn a 2-2 draw against 3rd place Leeds at The New Oval. We could not contain Terry Scott in the first half as he scored early to give the visitors a 1-0 lead after Sam Jones missed a tackle on him. Michael Bradshaw equalized for us at 10 minutes on a terrific pass from Michael Holmes to give him the opportunity. Both sides had many good chances the rest of the half, but it was the visitors who took the 2-1 lead to the dressing room after Darren Barnes missed a tackle on Scott and he whisked it past Chris May for his brace. We pounded away at Phil Howell in the second half and the Leeds keeper made some brilliant saves to keep them in the lead. We finally found the equalizer and it was Bradshaw again for his brace- and for MOM honours- as he struck with a precision shot past Howell in the 76th minute. Moments later Holmes hit the crossbar while trying to give us the lead. Leeds came close to the win, but May stopped Scott on his last attempt to gain a hat-trick as we settled for splittin the points.

[SublimeÂ]

Great stuff. I always used to love your LLM adventures...

[Faramir]

Thanks much Sublime I had a lot of fun writing in LLM, but the constraints eventually dictated that I move over here...

***

16.10.12

Injury problems are starting to crop up again. Steve Rogers hurt his back lifting weights and will likely miss a month of play. Luke Rogers broke a couple ribs in an unfortnate training tumble and will also miss a month of play.

***

20.10.12

Ipswich (2) Holyhead Hotspur (1)

It was a great start to the match when Michael Bradshaw scored in the first minute of play. Unfortunately we could not keep the wraps on Danilo Arrieta and Ipswich fought back with a dramatic late match-winner to edge us 2-1. Bradshaw scored after a good pass from Dave Fleming got through traffic to him. We had several excellent scoring chances after that, but Ryan Blake was scintallating after Bradshaw's goal and kept us from further scores with a series of acrobatic saves. Ipswich evened the match late in the first half when a miscommunication between Darren Barnes and Olivier Camara left Arrieta unmarked and he flicked a header past Chris May. The second half was played at a frenzied pace and it was Ipswich that came up with the match winning goal at 83 minutes when Arrieta slipped past Camara and volleyed past May for his 50th goal at Ipswich as he also captured MOM honours.

[Faramir]

24.10.12

Holyheat Hotspur (3) Reading (2) League Cup 3rd Round

The fans gave both clubs a standing ovation as we exited The New Oval after an exciting 3-2 win to move us on in the League Cup. We didn't start well as Olivier Camara, so far a huge disappointment, failed miserably in his attempts to mark Leroy Lita and Lita whipped a shot past Chris May at 6 minutes to get the visitors off on a flyer. We hit back when Simon Ormerod, who had a terrific Senior debut in earning MOM honours in the match, took a deft pass from Gary Saunders and rifled a shot inside the far right post for a goal in his first Senior match. We stayed locked at 1-1 to halftime, though both sides had chances to change that. Lasse Qvist, on for a tiring Paul Wynne, returned the lead to us when he deflected a cross from Mark Potter past Bruno Vale at 60 minutes. We built a two-goal lead when Ormerod was knocked down in the area by Bruno Gama. Milan Toman calmly converted the penalty kick for his 1st goal at Holyhead. We needed that goal when the visitors drew back on Lita's brace, as he outleapt Gary Vaughan and deflected a corner past May at 75 minutes. The match was frenetic with up and down attacks, but neither side could score and we were very relieved to still be leading 3-2 when the final whistle sounded. The match also featured the debut of prize prospect Paul Reeves and he played much better than Camara in our center defense- which meant I will keep Reeves up on the Senior side, while Camara heads to the Reserves.

[Faramir]

27.10.12

Holyhead Hotspur (0) Chelsea (1)

It was a taut match against the top rated Chelsea side, but they converted one of their opportunities and we failed to convert any of ours in losing out 1-0 at The New Oval. Chris May made a couple superb saves early in the first half as he stopped Arjen Robben's free kick and Yakubu from close-in to keep things scoreless. Chelsea struck for the only goal of the match when Frank Lampard snuck in behind our coverage and deflected a long cross from Paulo Ferreira past May for his 5th goal of the season. Petr Cech kept us from answering that goal with excellent stops of Michael Holmes and Michael Bradshaw. Both sides created chances in the second half, but neither keeper was yielding and the visitors maintained their 1-0 lead through the final whistle. MOM honours went to Chelsea's Patrice Evra.

[Faramir]

3.11.12

Plymouth (1) Holyhead Hotspur (2)

We recovered from our close loss to Chelsea with an impressive 2-1 win over Plymouth at Home Park. The first half saw us attacking with precision passing and we took the lead at 22 minutes when Michael Holmes flicked on a header to Dave Fleming. Fleming knifed through the Plymouth backline and fired home his own rebound after Richard Browne made the initial save. We built on that lead at 30 minutes when Matthew Preston made a sensational curling pass that found Holmes with a step on two defenders. Holmes lofted a beautifully placed 20 yard strike past Brown for his 5th goal of the season. We maintained that 2-0 lead to halftime as Robert Clarke came up with a pair of key saves late in the half. Both Holmes and Michael Bradshaw had opportunities to add to the lead, but Browne kept Plymouth close with a couple diving parries. A bad pass by Paul Wynne, on for a tiring Preston, keyed Plymouth's goal as Michael Byrne flicked a header across and Chris Simpson snapped it past Robert Clarke to ruin the clean sheet. We closed out the win strongly, bottling them up in their end for the remainder of the match. The win will cost us Paul Morris for about a month with a leg injury.

[Faramir]

NORWAY

10.11.12

Bulgaria (1) Norway (0) World Cup Qualifying Group 3

It was a closely contested match, but the clear difference was that Bulgaria was able to convert one of their few chances, while we failed to put our chances on target. The first half was played at a frenetic pace, but both sides were having difficulty with their passing and the ball changed hands quickly in the midfield for most of the half. Iven Austbo made a brace of dazzling saves as he stopped MOM Dimitar Berbatov twice in the same sequence to keep the first half scoreless. Our chances were good as well, but Daniel Kvam and John Carew were just not challenging keeper Nikolay Mihaylov to make the save- continually shooting high or wide. The lone goal came early in the second half as Georgi Iliev lofted a cross to the far post. Valeri Bojinov outleapt Lars Martin Engedal and deflected it inside the left post past Austbo. Kvam had two glorious chances to equalize, but missed both wide and we were left with a disappointing 1-0 loss in Sofia. In other Group 3 matches, Belarus stunned Wales 2-1 at Cardiff with a late match winner and San Marino upset Faroe Islands 2-1 at Torshavn. Those results still leave us atop Group 3.

[Faramir]

NORWAY

14.11.12

Norway (2) Portugal (0) World Cup Qualifying Group 3

Our Oslo fans got to witness a historic win as we outplayed Portugal in defeating them 2-0 and virtually crushing any hopes they had of qualifying for the World Cup. Moreira denied us in the early going, but wasn't quick enough after parrying a rocket blast from Kristoffer Haestad and MOM Magnus Myklebust drilled home the rebound at 29 minutes. Myklebust also figured in the second goal as we were awarded a penalty kick after Hugo Pedro pushed Myklebust in the air on a corner. Per Ciljan Skjelbred converted the penalty kick to give us a 2-0 halftime lead. Portugal tried to rally in the second half and sent everyone forward more than a few times. Our strong backline play and good positional play in our midfield continually stymied them. Good marking also kept Cristiano Ronaldo from becoming a factor as we helped Iven Austbo close out the clean sheet. Other Group 3 matches saw Belarus move into 2nd place in the Group (3 points behind us with a match in hand) as they defeated Faroe Islands 2-0 at Minsk and San Marino surprisingly battled Bulgaria to a 1-1 draw.

[Faramir]

18.11.12

Holyhead Hotspur (1) Nottingham Forest (1)

A strong start carried us to a first half lead, but we faltered late in the half and were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest at The New Oval. Michael Holmes scored a dazzling goal after Matthew Preston whipped a pass to him that put him in free on MOM James Cousins. Cousins was brilliant besides Holmes goal as he stymied Michael Bradshaw on several excellent chances. Forest hit back with the equalizer at 39 minutes as Ciprian Andrei Marica capped a pretty passing sequence by snapping a shot past Robert Clarke inside the left post. We pounded away at Cousins in the second half to no avail. Cousins diving parry on Gary Saunders was one of the key saves in the match. The tempo was ours most of the match, but the result wasn't.

[milanfan_apoorv]

not bad results but whats a Cyprian? is that part of his name or do you mean he is from Cyprus? if hes from cyprus then he is a Cypriot. (learned that from Marcos Baghdatis)

[Faramir]

milanfan- that is his actual name in the game "Ciprian Andrei Marica"- not a Cypriot though (Romanian I think...)

***

24.11.12

Reading (1) Holyhead Hotspur (3)

It was a clinical effort that could have been rewarded with more goals, but at least earned us enough to defeat Reading 3-1 at Madejski Stadium. We struck for the early lead when a deft pass from MOM Paul Wynne allowed Steve Rogers to blast a shot past Gary Harris. Robert Clarke setup our second goal with beautiful goal kick that hit Wynne in stride and he rounded Harris before slotting his shot into the open goal. We failed to build on that lead despite a redcard to defender Niko Bungert midway through the first half. With our lead, we were content to control the flow of play in the second half and only occasionally attack the home side. A late attack paid off when Wynne ripped a shot that Nick Harberink deflected past Harris for an own-goal. Robert Clarke lost his bid for a clean sheet when Sam Jones missed intercepting a cross and Gabriel Agbonlahor fired a shot off the inside of the far right upright for his 5th goal of the season.

[milanfan_apoorv]

league table please!!

[Faramir]

28.11.12

Holyhead Hotspur (4) Crystal Palace (0) League Cup 4th Round

Lasse Qvist tried, but clearly he was faltering early in his first match back after recovering from injury. I brought Simon Ormerod on and it was 'Simon Sez' for the rest of the match as he put the sword to the Palace backline in leading us to an impressive 4-0 win to broom Palace from the League Cup. Ormerod scored to give us the lead at 32 minutes when he headed a Jack Hobbs cross down to himself and snapped a shot past Scott Carson. Simon Hudson chipped in with a goal at 38 minutes as Mark Potter crossed to him in the area. Ormerod turned that into a quickfire double as he notched his brace on a pass from Gary Griffin. Ormerod finished his hat-trick at 72 minutes when he deflected a cross from Hudson past the beleagured Carson to cap the scoring on our 4-0 win.

[Faramir]

milanfan- sorry, you will have to wait awhile on a league table (I don't have one in the story for a bit more, but there will be one eventually )

***

1.12.12

Holyhead Hotspur (2) Sheffield United (1)

Hector Caceres is a brash, opinionated player with a typical South American temper and that is why he is not the most popular player on our squad. He is, however, one of the deadliest setpiece players I have ever seen and our 2-1 win over Sheffield United at The New Oval was clearly of his construction. We controlled the first half of play, but Sheffield was playing a 5-man backline and blanketed all of our players with their marking. Our passing did a good job, but it was difficult to create chances against them. The second half began the same way until the visitors yielded a dangerous free kick. It was an especially dangerous free kick when Caceres is on the pitch and he made them pay dearly with a 30 yard swerving blast inside the right post past Ciro D'Ambrosio. Minutes later, Caceres had a brace after he converted the penalty kick resulting from Ruben Murillo pushing Michael Holmes in the area. We needed both goals as Robert Clarke flubbed a late punch and Frank Martens snapped his shot past Clarke after the punch went directly to him. We finished out the win with Clarke making a diving stop on Simon McDonald's blast to keep us in for the three points.

[Faramir]

8.12.12

Bolton (3) Holyhead Hotspur (2)

Two Penalties on Darren Barnes! I am not unhappy with the Referee, he merely made the calls. Barnes showed such poor judgement today I have to wonder if his mind was even on the match. Those two penalties forced us to battle and we did well to fight back to even both times. The first goal came on a splendid cross from Dave Fleming that Richard Booth, on for injured Bill Walton, deflected past Steven Parr. Michael Holmes put away a nice shot for our 2nd equalizer. Our efforts went for naught after Martin Hall couldn't adequately mark Rafael Blanco at the far post and Blanco deflected a long cross past Robert Clarke for the dramatic late match winner. It was a very uneven effort for us as several players played well and several of our other key players- Barnes, Michael Bradshaw and Walton- played poorly.

[Faramir]

16.12.12

Holyhead Hotspur (0) Middlesbrough (1)

Bad luck and bad decision left us with a close 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough at The New Oval. We hit the edges of the goal very well in the match- each post one time and a header off the crossbar to complete the trifecta as we battled to try and get back even. Middlesbrough took the lead when Robert Clarke challenged Thierry Fernandez on a cross and lost as Fernandez flicked the header past Clarke at 30 minutes. We worked hard, but Middlesbrough played much more effectively than we did and with the luck all their way kept us off the scoreboard. Middlesbrough defender Tyrone Brooks earned MOM honors in the match.

[Faramir]

19.12.12

Holyhead Hotspur (2) Manchester United (0) League Cup Quarterfinal

The New Oval fans danced in jubiliation after Lasse Qvist scored his brace in the waning moments of second half injury time to cement our historic upset of Manchester United as we broomed them from the League Cup with our 2-0 win. The entire club played brilliantly in the match. We took the lead in the early moments as Qvist powered a header past Kasper Schmeichel after Schmeichel missed intercepting Simon Ormerod's cross. Though Schmeichel had a bad moment to start, he kept ManU in the match with a series of saves as our smooth flowing passing attack generated quality chances. Our midfield and backline played superbly as we throttled most ManU chances and Chris May was in the right place to make the saves needed. Ormerod flicked back a header for Qvist to golf inside the far right post in second half injury time to seal the win. It was one of our best efforts of the season.

[Faramir]

22.12.12

The League Cup Semifinal pairings were announced this morning and we will host Chelsea, while Blackburn hosts Everton in the other Semifinal.

***

22.12.12

Holyhead Hotspur (1) Newcastle (1)

A fine effort wasted as we allowed Newcastle a late equalizer to earn an undeserved split of the points in our 1-1 draw at The New Oval. We played a strong first half and took the lead at 35 minutes when Stephen Morgan made his 1st goal of the season a memorable 35-yard strike over Shay Given's leap. Morgan's goal came when he picked up a ball after a tussle outside their area and lofted his shot at the goal over the retreating Given. We kept that lead until deep in the second half. We limited Newcastle to three shots in the match, but one of those was Ze Eduardo as he snuck behind our coverage on a free kick and deflected it past Robert Clarke. I was furious with a couple of our players who didn't get back quickly enough to help defend the free kick. The match should have been a win for us. Darren Barnes earned MOM honours for us in the match.

[milanfan_apoorv]

screw Man U!!

good 'un

[Faramir]

milanfan- thanks

***

26.12.12

Holyhead Hotspur (1) Sunderland (1)

We offered a very uneven effort in hosting Sunderland and were forced to battle back for a 1-1 draw at The New Oval. Our first half was very inconsistent- we would play well for stretches and then poorly for stretches. It was very frustrating to watch them take the lead when Hector Caceres was forced to challenge a midfielder and he slipped the ball past him for MOM John Knight to score and give Sunderland the lead at 44 minutes. We started playing a bit steadier football in the second half. Caceres made up for his earlier rash challenge when he blasted a 20 yard free kick past Paul Dillon for his 5th goal of the season- a dramatic equalizer. Both sides came close to taking all three points in the match as Dillon made a diving stop on Lasse Qvist's header and Chris May made a brilliant one-on-one save on Riccardo Montolivo in the waning moments of the match.

[Faramir]

29.12.12

Tottenham (0) Holyhead Hotspur (5)

Tottenham never knew what hit them as the perfect storm of the 'St.Michaels' sliced, diced and shredded their backline as we rolled to a convincing 5-0 win at White Hart Lane. Our whole side played well, but Michael Bradshaw was the star of the match and earned MOM honours by scoring a magnificent hat-trick. Assisting him was his counterpart, Michael Holmes, who had a first half brace. We continually got out on the counter-attack and neither of the 'St.Michaels' missed when they had a good chance. Tottenham actually outshot us in the match, but Robert Clarke was dazzling in earning his clean sheet as we closed the year in fine fashion.

[milanfan_apoorv]

wow

[Faramir]

milanfan- one of our best results to be sure

***

1.1.13

Holyhead Hotspur (1) Arsenal (3)

The clear difference in this match was that Carlos Idriss Kameni was brilliant in the Arsenal goal and Robert Clarke was subpar in ours. We fell behind 2-0 in the first half thanks to Jose Antonio Reyes deflecting a corner past Clarke and then Clarke misplaying a shot by Jermain Dafoe that sailed past him. We didn't play poorly on offense, but Lasse Qvist was blanketed by the Arsenal backline and Simon Ormerod just could not solve Kameni. Clarke played well to open the second half and kept us in the match with a series of saves. We drew a goal back when Ormerod was pushed Kolo Toure in the area and Dave Fleming converted the penalty kick. Arsenal clinched the match in second half injury time when Clarke missed intercepting a ball and Sanli Tuncay rapped it past him to cap the 3-1 loss.

***

2.1.13

We completed the sale of promising young centerback Mark Fuller to Middlesbrough for an initial payment of 3.9 Million, with additional sell-on fees and a promise of a friendly. Fuller should develop nicely, but with an overload of young defenders, I wasn't sure there would be a place for him here- so it made sense to complete the sale.

[Faramir]

5.1.13

Nottingham Forest (2) Holyhead Hotspur (1) FA Cup 3rd Round

We gifted Nottingham Forest with a broom and they swept us out of the FA Cup due to our generosity. The match featured the debut of three more promising youngsters- 17 year old MC Matt Phillips, 17 year old ST Dean Piper and 18 year old DC Chris Whitehead. Whitehead made a youngster's error in getting on the wrong side of Ciprien Andrei Marica on a tackle in the area and he was yellow carded. Stephen Marsh converted the penalty kick past Robert Clarke for the home side lead at 17 minutes. In first half injury time, Jack Hobbs made a bad mistake when he failed to head the ball out of danger close to our goal. Marica was right there on the doorstep to slam the loose ball home for a 2-0 halftime lead for Forest. We battled back in the second half and got close when Paul Wynne had a beautiful finish on a cross from Sam Jones at 80 minutes. The equalizer wasn't there though and we came up short- and out- in the 2-1 loss.

[milanfan_apoorv]

typical Man Ci..sorry Holyhead

/

dunno what to do

[milanfan_apoorv]

your not as bad as Man C though, take heart, they are the only (then) First Division defending champions to get relegated, talk about bad.

[Faramir]

9.1.13

Holyhead Hotspur (1) Chelsea (0) League Cup Semifinal Leg 1

It was a stunning victory for us as we outplayed Chelsea at The New Oval and took a 1-0 win in the first leg of our League Cup Semifinal on the Telly. Though the critics are quick to discount the win, it was certainly the biggest ever for the club and something we plan to build on. Those same critics say we have no chance when we travel to Stamford Bridge for the 2nd leg, but if we play anything like we did today- we may surprise everyone. The lone goal came when Paul Reeves lofted a pass into the middle of the area and MOM Michael Bradshaw deflected the ball past Petr Cech. Chelsea was screaming for an offside call on the goal. We outshot them 13-6 for the match and Cech was the reason that we don't have more goals in the bank. We did lose a second Bradshaw goal to an offside call, but I can't dispute the decision on it. It was a good effort and now we have a chance to do something nobody expected of us. Blackburn and Tottenham battled to a 1-1 draw at Blackburn in the other Semifinal.

[Faramir]

11.1.13

It was a fond parting as we sold midfielder James Wilkinson to Cheltenham for 1.8 Million. Wilkinson is talented and should have a good career, but never really gained a starting role here at Holyhead. With Matt Thompson ready to step on to the Senior side, it was time to allow Wilkinson to find a new home- which will help him get the playing time he deserves.

***

12.1.13

Manchester United (3) Holyhead Hotspur (2)

We are getting there, but took many defensive mistakes proved costly as ManU built a 3-1 lead and we couldn't find the equalizer in a frantic second half of play. We took the lead early in the match when a good pass by Paul Morris put Steve Rogers in free and he fired a precision shot inside the far left post at nine minutes. ManU hit back when Alessio Martin easily overpowered Stephen Morgan and deflected a Timo Stein free kick past Chris May. ManU then took the lead as Kieran Richardson deflected a long cross from Loic Abenzoar past May as he snuck in on the far post. Martin made it a brace when Morgan again failed to adequately mark him and he rapped home a pass from Stein just before halftime. Our second half was much better than our first and we drew a goal back at 76 minutes when MOM Bill Walton drilled a shot past Kasper Schmeichel after a good flick on from Lasse Qvist. Schmeichel made two sensational saves in the late moments to preserve the ManU win.

[Faramir]

19.1.13

Holyhead Hotspur (3) Manchester City (0)

It was nice to finally get another EPL win on the board for us as we played a fine match in dumping visiting Manchester City 3-0 at The New Oval. Paul Wynne is making a good case for more playing time and he earned MOM honours for his effort in this match including getting us off on a flyer as he snapped a shot past Mathieu Dreyer on a cross from Martin Hall. Matt Phillips celebrated his 1st Senior goal moments later to make it a quickfire double as he continued to demonstrate he belongs on the Senior side. Wynne made it a brace later in the half as he ran on to a through ball from Hector Caceres and slipped his shot past Dreyer. With a 3-0 halftime lead, we were content to bottle up the midfield and help Chris May to a fairly easy clean sheet.

***

22.1.13

In a move that stunned everyone- including our disgruntled keeper Robert Clarke, who I am frankly sick of listening to his complaints at this point, we paid Santos 4.6 Million in a minimum fee release offer and outbid 7 other clubs to acquire the best young Brazilian keeper- 22 year old Fabio. We had to make an appeal to get his Work Permit settled, but he will see some starts as soon as he is a bit acclimated to the club. Fabio and Chris May will be our future tandem. The Brazilian had just started earning some Caps for the National side- 3 so far- and I think we were quite fortunate to land the youngster as I believe he can be a top keeper. Robert Clarke will now be offered around and he can take his fortunes elsewhwere- since it was his unhappiness that started me looking for another good young keeper.

[Faramir]

23.1.13

Chelsea (4) Holyhead Hotspur (0) League Cup Semifinal Leg 2 (Chelsea advances on 4-1 aggregate)

So much for showing composure in the first match. Our backline showed zero composure and that allowed Chelsea to roll over us 4-0 as we handed them their trip to the League Cup Final. Darren Barnes was called for a hold in the area and Michal Kubala converted the penalty kick past Chris May in the 3rd minute. Paolo Galli then gave the ball away to Kabala in the area and he had an easy time rounding May for his brace at 31 minutes. We tried to get them settled down to grind out a good second half, but our entire backline got caught running around- instead of playing positional football- and Shaun Wright-Phillips slipped a shot past May at the far post. We repeated our keystone cops routine on the backline as Stephen Ayodele Makinwa scored to cement the rout. The only player who really showed me much in the match was Paul Wynne, who was playing for injured Michael Bradshaw. Wynne had some excellent chances in the first half- mostly created on his own- but Petr Cech showed why he is the best keeper in Europe with fantastic saves. It was a disappointing way to crash out.

[MUPPET.JMR]

bad luck but good luck for the next game

[Faramir]

Muppet- Thanks very much

***

25.1.13

We completed the minor sale of Ryan Hunter to Shrewsbury for 100K. Hunter never developed enough to challenge our core group of center mids and it was time to find him a new home that he could actually earn playing time at.

***

27.1.13

They wanted him last summer and they have him now. Chelsea is Robert Clarke's new home after they paid us 15 Million to purchase him. I remain skeptical that Clarke will earn much playing time with Petr Cech around, but he was pleased to go there. The 15 Million is a record transfer sale for us and brings out total player transfer sales to 33 Million on the season. The club is also 37 Million in the black overall- a great place for us to be.

***

30.1.13

Everton (2) Holyhead Hotspur (3)

It was Fabio's debut and it was both good and bad. We got off to a great start in the match when Simon Ormerod, though getting an assist on neither goal, helped force the play that had Steve Rogers with a brace at the 11 minute mark- thanks to goals at 4 and 11 minutes. Robert Green was dazzling in the Everton goal after that. Fabio was clearly nervous in the first half and had a couple good bounces help in keeping the sheet clean. In the second half Fabio made a woeful error as he tried to do too much and hung on to the ball until Julio Baptista came and took it away. Baptista lofted a 30 yard shot into the goal to draw the home side a goal back. Everton fought back to even, but this wasn't Fabio's fault as he made four good saves in a sequence that we just could not clear the ball away on. David Milor ended up snapping home the last rebound and it was 2-2. We kept battling and Lasse Qvist, on for an exhausted Rogers, made a beautiful pass that found Ormerod breaking free in the middle. Ormerod beat Green cleanly for his 5th goal of the season- a dramatic late match winner.

[Faramir]

2.2.13

Holyhead Hotspur (2) Liverpool (3)

To say I was a little mad at the Referee was understating things. We went behind 2-0 in the first half on two penalty kicks. Both were disputed and the Referee managed to ignore Michael Bradshaw getting knocked down in their area in the half. I wasn't pleased, but I also was pretty unhappy with our play- because we did not play a good half. We came out much better in the second half when Michael Holmes scored his 10th of the season minutes into the half as he slammed home the rebound after Jose Manuel Reina stopped Bradshaw's first shot. We fought back to even when Paul Wynne, on for Bradshaw, deflected a cross from Paolo Galli past Reina. If the Referee thought I was unhappy in the first half, he knew I was when they ignored the fact that Djibril Cisse was well offside when the ball was played to him and he scored the match winner at 83 minutes. I was fortunate to settle down enough to temper my comments in the post-match press discussions.

[milanfan_apoorv]

action packed, thats how I like my footie

(especially if I'm not on the losing end )

[milanfan_apoorv]

oh yeah, and spend the money man

[milanfan_apoorv]

spend the money

[Faramir]

Milanfan- *chuckle* nah, I prefer to avoid the touchline ban (the money would be nothing...)

***

NORWAY

6.2.13

Norway (1) Ukraine (1) Friendly

Though it wasn't a particularly noteworthy performance, we played fine in fighting back from an early goal to settle for a 1-1 draw in our friendly against Ukraine. Per Ciljan Skjelbred, who had an awful match, gave the ball away off the opening whistle and Ukraine worked a nice give-and-go passing play to spring Denys Dedechko to score past Jan Knell Larsen- who was making his 1st appearance for the National side. We evened the match when Bjarne Helge Riise lofted a cross into the area and Daniel Kvam deflected it past Serdyuk Alex for his 1st International goal. The match was evenly played, though we had the better chances in the second half, and neither side could really capitalize in settling for the 1-1 score. MOM honours went to our midfielder Espen Eidsvag. I attribute our lack of sharpness to my experimentation with the lineup and several players, besides Knell Larsen, gaining their 1st Caps.

[Faramir]

11.2.13

Charlton (1) Holyhead Hotspur (0)

Our TV match was entertaining, but we could not solve Charlton's Spanish keeper Daniel Nieto, as he earned MOM honours along with a clean sheet in shutting us out 1-0. Chris May almost matched him save for save, but he could not save the header of Darren Bent, who showed superior timing in leaping and deflecting the cross from Marcel Adelaar. The match featured flowing attacks by both sides throughout the match and Steve Rogers was left shaking his head at two of Nieto's saves against him in one-on-one situations. I can't fault our play, we played well enough to earn a better result, but it was another close loss on the books for us.

[Faramir]

24.2.13

Holyhead Hotspur (2) Aston Villa (0)

We bounced back from our close loss with a hard earned 2-0 win over Aston Villa at The New Oval. Marcelo Grohe had an amazing first half in goal for Villa as Michael Holmes and Michael Bradshaw had several good chances and were completely shut down by the fine play in goal. It was a Brazilian keeper duel as Fabio played a stellar first half too- denying Luke Moore after he shredded our backline's attempts to mark him. The second half began the same way as each side was attacking at every opportunity. We finally took the lead on MOM Dave Fleming's sublime 30 yard strike off a corner at 67 minutes. Our fans were on the edge of their seats until we finally clinched the win as Gary Griffin, on for a tiring Bradshaw, whipped a 20 yard rocket past Grohe for his 1st goal of the season in second half injury time. Fabio kept a clean sheet in the match and earned himself some fans at The New Oval.

[Faramir]

1.3.13

It was pleasing to see Dave Fleming's goal against Villa was selected as Goal of the Month.

***

2.3.13

Leeds (1) Holyhead Hotspur (0)

Another close, disheartening loss for us. We played well enough to earn a better result, but just didn't finish well and that kept us off the scoreboard. I think Lasse Qvist is a wonderful forward, but he doesn't seem to offer enough pace up front to really help our lightning quick attack. The lone goal in the match was Ben Watson's 35 yard free kick midway through the second half. It was Watson's 5th goal of the season and I was surprised that Chris May didn't get a hand on it- though to credit Watson it was a terrific free kick. We are playing good football, so I hope I can keep the boys morale up- I think the results will turn around.

[Faramir]

9.3.13

Holyhead Hotspur (3) Ipswich (0)

Our play was very focused today and that combined with some execution earned us a 3-0 win over Ipswich at The New Oval. We controlled large portions of the match, but had to have Fabio make a couple early saves in the only pressure the visitors really applied the entire match. We struck for the lead when MOM Paolo Galli curled a cross in and Michael Holmes deflected past Ryan Blake at 39 minutes to send us to halftime in the lead. Our relentless second half pressure paid off when Michael Bradshaw slipped a pass to unmarked Tony Owens and Owens put away his shot past Blake for his 1st goal of the season. Bradshaw played architect again as he passed to Holmes at the far post to finish his brace in the late moments of the match.

EPL Table (matches played)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">

1- Chelsea (28) 71 pts (+40)

2- Arsenal (29) 65 pts (+39)

3- Liverpool (30) 54 pts (+12)

4- Manchester Utd (29) 47 pts (+21)

5- Holyhead Hotspur (30) 46 pts (+15)

6- Leeds (29) 46 pts (+10)

7- Charlton (30) 46 pts (+9)

8- Everton (29) 42 pts (+6)

9- Middlesbrough (29) 41 pts (+3)

</pre>

[Faramir]

16.3.13

Chelsea (1) Holyhead Hotspur (0)

We may not have won today, but we proved something as we battled Chelsea until the final whistle, despite playing a man down almost the entire match. I was furious with the Referee when he handed Darren Barnes a redcard in the 9th minute. The call was a classic one to please the Stamford Bridge crowd as Barnes was not the last man when he made the tackle, but got the redcard anyways. We played a fine match all the way and had our chances to score, though Petr Cech proved too difficult to solve in the end. The lone goal in the match came at 80 minutes when Tom Huddlestone deflected an Arjen Robben corner past Chris May. It was a bad way to end a worthy effort for us. Despite the loss, I felt the side demonstrated both determination and composure and it was great to see even if we didn't get the result.

[Faramir]

NORWAY

27.3.13

Norway (2) San Marino (0) World Cup Qualifying Group 3

San Marino deserves credit for playing hard, especially in their area where we spent much of the match, and they managed to hold us scoreless through halftime due to good work from keeper Luca Rossi. We kept hammering away and Daniel Kvam gave us the lead in the opening moments of second half when he deflected a long cross from MOM Per Ciljan Skjelbred past Rossi. We added a second goal when John Carew was tripped in the area and Skjelbred converted the penalty kick. They kept us from making things worse as we outshot them 22-1 for the match. Other Group 3 saw Wales keep pace with us as they edged Bulgaria 2-1 on a late goal in Sofia, while Portugal hammered Belarus 3-1 to drop them back behind Wales. We remain atop the Group.

[Faramir]

30.3.13

Holyhead Hotspur (4) Plymouth (0)

March ended with a very satisfying win as we thrashed Plymouth 4-0 at The New Oval. The score could have been worse had not keeper Warren Senior saved Paul Morris' penalty kick in the first half and played well in the second half. We got off to a roaring start when Michael Holmes finished well after Luke Gordon's good pass put him in free. Holmes made it a quick brace when he deflected a long cross from Milan Toman past Senior. Holmes also made a beautiful pass that setup Stephen Morgan to fire a precision shot past Senior from just beyond the edge of the area. Michael Bradshaw capped the scoring late in the first half when he ran onto a long pass from Simon Hudson and put away his shot past Senior. Jack Hobbs earned MOM honours for his dominating effort in support of Fabio's clean sheet.