Dark_Soccer Posted April 9, 2004 Author Share Posted April 9, 2004 21st of December 2003 Today we play Forfar for the second time in four days. If we can defend the way we did against them in the previous match we should be able to sneak through to the next round of the Scottish Cup. December 21st, 2003 Scottish Cup Match 2nd Round Replay (h) East Stirling V Forfar <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Position: 9th (3rd Division) Forfar League Position: 6th (2nd Division) </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Gary McCulloh, Graeme McLaren, Michael Stewart, Craig Reid-Scott Livingstone, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Jordan Leishman, Dougie Polwart, Stuart Kelly Stephen Oates is dropped and James White takes the place on the bench. The rest of the team remains unchanged since our 0-0 at Station Park. Ten minutes gone and Taylor has a chance to score but puts it over the bar. We took the lead after a 30-yard rocket by Lappin was parried into the path of Ure and he did the rest 1-0. Michael Stewart found himself to be in the right position when a Forfar ball when straight to him and his mis-hit clearance somehow found its way to Livingstone on the wing. Livingstone continued to bamboozle his marker and put in a cross/shot which somehow managed to beat the Forfar keeper. Just before half time Kerr broke our resistance after the ball fell to him on the edge of our area and he drilled it into the left hand corner of the net. 2-1 at half time. Forfar almost got back on level terms in the 56th minute through a Rattray free kick found its way over the wall but just past the right hand post. With twenty minutes to play I made three substitutions and changed to a 4-5-1 formation. When Livingstone beat his marker and passed the ball into the penalty area to a unmarked substitute by the name of Stuart Kelly he put the ball powerfully into the net. 3-1 and almost through to the Third Round. We had a few chances to make the score line look more unequal but at the end of the day we beat Forfar 3-1 and now face Elgin in the Third Round of the Scottish Cup. East Stirling 3:1 Forfar East Stirling Goals: Ure (1), Livingstone (1), Kelly (1) Forfar Goals: Kerr (1) MoM: Gordon Lappin(East Stirling) Rating-8 Subs: Kelly on for Ure (45’), Polwart on for McAuley (64’), Leishman on for Livingstone (64’) Booked: Rattray (Forfar), Horn (Forfar), McClune (Forfar) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Par Attendance: 1409 An excellent performance by the players in particular Scott Livingstone with his excellent contribution on the right wing. It seems the team is starting to come together and I feel that we can get into the Fourth Round of the Scottish Cup. Just to get the formalities out of the way we play Elgin at home in the Scottish Cup Third Round at Firs Park on the 10th of January 2004. 26th of December 2003 Our 17th match of the league campaign and we are at home to a team who is currently bottom of the division. Montrose has not won a game in the last five matches and are currently in a major form slump scoring only 3 goals and conceding 8 goals in five matches. December 26th, 2003 Scottish Division Three Match 17 (h) East Stirling V Montrose <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: LDWLL Position: 9th Montrose League Form: LDLDL Position: 10th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Gary McCulloh, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Scott Livingstone, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Jordan Leishman, Dougie Polwart, Paul McLean James White comes back into the first team replacing Michael Stewart who falls to the bench. The rest of the team is unchanged. A shot went just over the top from Henderson on the 10th minute mark after sloppy defending gifted the Montrose striker the ball a few yards outside the penalty area. Henderson had another chance to score but again blazed his shot over the bar. Paul Rodden received a heavy knock in a challenge and was replaced by Stuart Kelly just before half time. Montrose again had another shot at goal but Gibson blazed it over. A dull and boring second half saw neither team trouble the opposing goalkeeper and the game ended 0-0 at the final whistle. East Stirling 0:0 Montrose East Stirling Goals: - Albion Rovers Goals: - MoM: Frank Conway (Montrose) Rating-7 Subs: Stewart on for McCulloh (47’), McLean on for Ure (66’), Leishman on for Livingstone (66’) Booked: Livingstone (East Stirling), Maughan (East Stirling), Smith (Montrose) Sent Off: Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1418 My physio gave me the great news that Paul Rodden’s back injury would only keep him out for two days and he would be fit and raring to go for our next match. I wasn’t pleased with the team’s performance today because we created only two or three chances and they were only half chances. That was our last match of 2003 and I hope 2004 brings better performances and more points being picked up in our home and away matches. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 28th of December 2003 Alloa’s board of directors finally relieved Terry Christie of his managerial duties after only managing to get the club to 7th in the second division. 29th of December 2003 Derek Ure will be sidelined for a month after he sustained a strained ankle ligament in training today. 31st of December 2003 Ross Jackson has finally resumed full training after being out for 3 months with a groin injury. 1st of January 2004 The transfer window has reopened for Scottish clubs to buy and sell players. Today Brian Crawford officially signed for the club. Brian Crawford (25 y/o, Scottish, FC) In the last few seasons Crawford has been with Clyde before signing to move to Stenhousemuir. He has played 67 games and scored 13 goals in the last four seasons but I feel that doesn’t show his full potential. He has great finishing and penalty taking ability and his pace and stamina in matches is exceptional. His work rate in training is second to none and if he doesn’t produce the goals I will eat my hat. World and European awards were given out today seeing Borussia Dortmund place in the top 3 of most of these awards. Dortmund is having a stellar season only 1 point behind Bayern Munchen at the top of the German First Division. World Player of the Year: 1st-Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 2nd-Juan Sebastian Veron (Chelsea) 3rd-Cafu (AC Milan) World Footballer of the Year: 1st-Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid) 2nd-Tomas Rosicky (Borussia Dortmund) 3rd-Thierry Henry (Arsenal) European Footballer of the Year: 1st-Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) 2nd-Juan Carlos Valeron (Deportivo) 3rd-Dede (Borussia Dortmund) European Goalkeeper of the Year: 1st-Jose Francisco Molina (Deportivo) 2nd-Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) 3rd-Roman Weidenfeller (Borussia Dortmund) European Defender of the Year: 1st-Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund) 2nd-William Gallas (Chelsea) 3rd-Jorge Andrade (Deportivo) European Midfielder of the Year: 1st-Patrick Vieira (Arsenal) 2nd-Torsten Frings (Borussia Dortmund) 3rd-Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) European Striker of the Year: 1st-Ki-Hyeon Seol (Anderlecht) 2nd-Jan Koller (Borussia Dortmund) 3rd-Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Manchester United) The first day of the new month and awards are presented to players in the Scottish Division 3. Stirling Albion’s Barry Elliot won this month’s Scottish Third Division Player of the Month after scoring three goals in the three matches he played in. Another Stirling Albion player took this award too. Paul Nugent won the Scottish Third Division Young Player of the Month after the award panel was impressed with his performances in previous matches. Stirling Albion’s boss, Allan Moore, completed the treble of awards this month by winning the Scottish Third Division Manager of the Month. He led his team to victories in all three league games this month. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 10, 2004 Author Share Posted April 10, 2004 3rd of January 2004 January 3rd, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 18 (h) East Stirling V Peterhead <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: DLDWL Position: 9th Peterhead League Form: LLWLL Position: 4th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Gary McCulloh, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Scott Livingstone, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Brian Crawford Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Jordan Leishman, Dougie Polwart, Stuart Kelly My latest signed Brian Crawford comes straight into the first team to replace injured Derek Ure. Ross Jackson comes into the first team and slots onto the right of midfield while Livingstone goes to the bench. We start the match and through the first five minutes we put pressure on the Peterhead defence and rain in shots at Ross Buchanan in the Peterhead goal. Our pressure pays off in the 6th minute when a Jackson free kick is met at the near post and flicked past the helpless keeper by Rodden. We double our lead in the seventeenth minute after a James White free kick is won in the air by Rodden. His header is parried by Buchanan but Crawford is on hand to score his first goal for his new club on his debut. Peterhead pull a goal back on the twentieth minute after a poor header by Reid lets Bavidge in and he punishes Reid by tucking the shot away 2-1. We get back our two goal buffer on the twenty third minute when a Lappin cross is hit on the volley past Buchanan into the goal. The scorer is none other than Crawford scoring his 2nd goal of the game and showing that he is a great talent. Two minutes later we let Peterhead score again and it was due to a misunderstanding between Connolly and McLaren. McLaren headed the ball out of the box when Connolly had come to claim it and Bavidge headed the ball over Connolly to score his 2nd of the game and punish the two players for their misunderstanding. We had a late chance to make the game 4-2 but Jackson put his free kick wide. Peterhead almost equalised in the 50th minute after a corner was cleared as far as the 6 yard area and the shot came back in to see Connolly tip the ball onto the post and out for another corner. Bavidge wasn’t marked in a Peterhead attack and he punished us by scoring his hat trick. 3-3 and we had let a two goal buffer slip away from us. We got our fourth goal of the game when Rodden found himself in the right place to tap a easy goal after Buchanan parried a shot right too him. I made a substitution taking Rodden off for Stewart and changing to a 5-4-1 formation. On the seventy sixth minute we almost made the game ours with a McAuley cracker but it just went wide of the left hand upright. A long ball was picked up by Stewart and he waited patiently before hitting a 70 yard ball up to Lappin on the left wing. Lappin cut inside and knocked the ball into the box where the waiting Crawford sealed his hat trick with a superb flick past the keeper. East Stirling 5:3 Peterhead East Stirling Goals: Crawford (3), Rodden (2) Peterhead Goals: Bavidge (3) MoM: Paul Rodden (East Stirling) Rating-10 Subs: Stewart on for Rodden (64’), Livingstone on for Jackson (64’) Booked: - Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1409 This match was an excellent all round display and we now seem to be able to attack and score. This is all down to the excellent service into the box and Rodden and Crawford’s ability to finish. When I first saw Crawford I knew he would be a star and now he has proven it to me. I am ecstatic he signed for the club and I hope he will continue producing the goods. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 11, 2004 Author Share Posted April 11, 2004 Raptor could you fix the above post where the Firs Park shouldnt be in bold and the[/b]s done right please 7th of January 2004 Stirling is the opponent on this Wednesday afternoon being played away from Firs Park. Stirling is as confident as ever after becoming the ladder leaders. They have won all of their last five games and two of those matches they hammered in eight goals. We will need to play offensively like the previous game but tighten up defensively to stand a chance of taking all three points. January 7th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 19 (a) Stirling V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Stirling League Form: WWWWW Position: 1st East Stirling League Form: WLDWL Position: 8th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Gary McCulloh, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Jordan Leishman, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Stuart Kelly Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Dougie Polwart, Scott Livingstone, Brian Crawford I made a few changes for this match because we have a important Scottish Cup Third Round match home to Elgin in three days. Brian Crawford drops to the bench so he can be fully fit for the Elgin match. His replacement is Stuart Kelly while Ross Jackson is replaced by Jordan Leishman. Dougie Polwart is called up to sit on the bench for this match. It seems it was a good decision to call up Kelly for this match as he scored the opening goal in the first forty five seconds. A great interchange between Rodden and Kelly left Kelly with a bit of work to be done but how he did it. Kelly beat two defenders and let fly with a curling shot when he reached the penalty area. 1-0 to East Stirling and the ladder leaders shell shocked on their own patch. Elliot almost finds a goal for Stirling but blazes his shot over the advancing Connolly and thankfully from my point of view over the bar as well. Logan made Connolly earn his wage when he tipped over Logan’s shot from just inside the box. From the resulting corner Connolly punched the ball out of the box only to see if come back with interest through McLean. 1-1 after twenty three minutes and game on. Stirling take the lead on the brink of half time when McLean breaks free of his marker to drill a shot past Connolly and score a milestone 30th goal of the season. Paul Rodden ended the first half with a niggling injury so he was substituted at half time with Brian Crawford replacing him. Andy Smith seemed to just lose his cool for no reason on the 61st minute and he kicked McAuley. The referee had no choice but to show Smith a red card. It took us only nine minutes to take advantage of the extra man. McAuley headed the ball on and Crawford beat the defender to the ball and rounded the keeper to tap in his fourth goal in two games and bring East Stirling back onto level terms. Crawford was again involved in a shot on target a minute later but Kelly saw the Stirling keeper just turn the ball around the post. We broke the Stirling stubborn resistance when McAuley chipped the ball into the area and when the ball broke to Kelly he knocked the ball past the outstretched leg of the Stirling keeper and we were 3-2 up. Livingstone and Crawford linked up well on the right with a one two leaving Crawford with a shot at goal but he let us down smashing the ball into the post and out. The same two combine a minute later and this time Crawford showed his quality by drawing the keeper and chipping the ball into the unguarded net to celebrate his fifth goal for the club and sealing the match. Stirling 2:4 East Stirling Stirling Goals: McLean (2) East Stirling Goals: Kelly (2), Crawford (2) MoM: Stuart Kelly (East Stirling) Rating-10 Subs: Stewart on for McCulloh (47’), McLean on for Ure (66’), Leishman on for Livingstone (66’) Booked: Maughan (East Stirling), Nugent (Stirling), McQuillan (Stirling), Hay (Stirling), Ferguson (Stirling) Sent Off: Smith (Stirling) Stadium: Forthbank Stadium Attendance: 1795 WE DID IT. We beat the league leaders with a little help from them pressing the self destruct button but we had to take our chances and we did. Our whole team is really gelling now and the addition of Crawford is paying dividends. He has scored five goals in two games while helping the other strikers to play well at the same time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 11, 2004 Author Share Posted April 11, 2004 10th of January 2004 The Third Round of the Scottish Cup has finally arrived. We reached this round by holding Forfar 0-0 away and then defeating Forfar 3-1 at home. Elgin got here with a 1-0 away win over 2nd Division Stenhousemuir January 10th, 2004 Scottish Cup Match 3rd Round (h) East Stirling V Elgin <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Position: 8th (3rd Division) Elgin League Position: 6th (3rd Division) </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Dougie Polwart - Paul Rodden, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Jamie Mackay, Scott Livingstone, Stuart Kelly I made a few changes today recalling a fit Brian Crawford while Stuart Kelly dropped to the bench. Dougie Polwart took a tired Jamie Mackay’s spot in centre midfielder and Ross Jackson was recalled to the right wing replacing a tired Jordan Leishman. The match kicked off and we didn’t have to wait too long for our first shot on target. A Polwart header was parried by John Wight in the Elgin goal and his defence cleared it out for a corner. On the 10th minute Crawford let rip with a shot from the edge of the box to see the Elgin number one tip the ball over the bar. From the resulting corner the ball was headed out to Jackson who turned inside his marker. His quick thinking gave him the opportunity to give the ball to Rodden. When Rodden recieved the ball two yards out from goal there was no stopping us taking the lead 1-0 after twelve minutes. McLaren beat Ogboke to the ball on the half way line and measured his pass to Lappin to perfection. Lappin took the ball down on his chest and ran into the box before unleashing a shot which took off the corner of the net. 2-0 after 36 minutes. We were brought back to Earth on the fifty fifth minute. Ogboke rose higher than the East Stirling defence and headed the ball past Connolly. Three minutes later our defence was beaten a second time and McLean prodded the ball past Connolly to give equalise. The game continued to be filled with chances and half chanced but in the end neither team could take another chance and a replay is needed. East Stirling 2:2 Elgin East Stirling Goals: Rodden (1), Lappin (1) Elgin Goals: Ogboke (1), McLean (1) MoM: John Wight (Elgin) Rating-9 Subs: Kelly on for Ure (45’), Polwart on for McAuley (64’), Leishman on for Livingstone (64’) Booked: McLaren (East Stirling) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Par Attendance: 1420 It was very disappointing to give up a two goal advantage at home but we need to get on with the job and go to Elgin’s ground and win. 11th of January 2004 The Fourth Round of the Scottish Cup was drawn today. We were drawn against Dundee at home if we overcome Elgin in the replay. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 11, 2004 Author Share Posted April 11, 2004 14th of January 2004 January 14th, 2004 Scottish Cup Match 3rd Round Replay (a) Elgin V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Elgin League Position: 6th (3rd Division) East Stirling League Position: 8th (3rd Division) </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Dougie Polwart - Paul Rodden, Brian Crawford Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Jamie Mackay, Scott Livingstone, Stuart Kelly I don’t change anything from our last match against Elgin as I feel the team did quiet well until that second half lapse. A goal kick by Wight was intercepted by McAuley and played over the Elgin defence to Rodden. The striker drilled a shot at goal to see Wight equal to it and turn it over. We continued to control the midfield and create chances. On the twentieth minute Crawford was found unmarked in the penalty area and he thumped it past the keeper. That was the last shot on target for the half due to the congestion in the midfield. A quick throw in taken by McLaren sent Lappin on his way down the left wing. His cross landed at the feet of Crawford and the only thing preventing the goal was the post deflecting the ball out for a goal kick. Bone found some space in our defence after a poor goal kick by Connolly was returned up the field. Bone took the ball and blasted it past Connolly and sending the game level. The match seemed to be heading for extra time until we won a free kick just outside the box. Jackson stepped up and curled the ball around the wall and past the keeper to score a wonder goal. Elgin had a few last attacks but couldn’t beat Connolly again and we were through to a Scottish Cup Fourth Round showdown against Premier League outfit Dundee. Elgin 1:2 East Stirling East Stirling Goals: Crawford (1), Jackson (1) Elgin Goals: Bone (1) MoM: John Wight (Elgin) Rating-9 Subs: Kelly on for Ure (45’), Polwart on for McAuley (64’), Leishman on for Livingstone (64’) Booked: Coulter (Elgin) Sent Off: - Stadium: Borrough Briggs Attendance: 1893 An excellent win by the boys and to see that the Elgin keeper John Wight was voted man of the match in both of the matches we played against them gives me the general feel we were the better side. Officially we got an email today giving us the details of our Fourth Round Scottish Cup clash. We are scheduled to play SPL side Dundee at home on the 7th of February 2004. The cup match being at home is really a kick in the teeth because i wanted a SPL side but being away so i would get a significant figure in attendance monies but now it wont be anywhere near as big 17th of January 2004 January 17th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 20 (a) Cowdenbeath V East Stirling Cowdenbeath League Form: DWWLL Position: 3rd East Stirling League Form: WLDWL Position: 8th East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Gary McCulloh, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Brian Crawford Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly Scott Livingstone isn’t at full fitness after the Scottish Cup match so he is dropped from the bench and replaced by Robert Hare for his first selection of the season. Cowdenbeath take a surprise lead on the seventh minute when their forward McCallum broke free of the last defender and completely smashed the ball into the net. Just before half time Jackson couldn’t produce a goal from a free kick lifting the ball over the bar. Connolly kept us in the game five minutes into the second half when a shot by Brown looked to be going into the top right hand corner of the net. Connolly flunk himself across the goal and managed to get a hand onto the curling effort and deflect it over. From the corner Mauchlen rose highest and headed the ball past the defender on the line 2-0. A triple substitution didn’t help us and we went down 2-0 to a better side on the day. Cowdenbeath 2:0 East Stirling Cowdenbeath Goals: McCallum (1), Mauchlen (1) East Stirling Goals: - MoM: Ryan McCallum (Cowdenbeath) Rating-8 Subs: Hare on for McAuley (63’), Kelly on for Rodden (63’), Livingstone on for Lappin (63’) Booked: Ford (Cowdenbeath) Sent Off: - Stadium: Central Park Attendance: 1664 We were generally outclassed in this match. The players were tired from the recent large number of matches in a short amount of time. This caused us to be second best and we were punished for it. Scott Livingstone will be out for a week after damaging his shoulder in our post match training exercises. 18th of January 2004 Jim Duffy was finally sacked today and he leaves Dundee in 10th spot in the SPL. Duffy has had clouds over his job as manager ever since the season started and now the axe has finally fallen. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 12, 2004 Author Share Posted April 12, 2004 19th of January 2004 Gary McCulloh has finally begun full training again after his broken collar bone has fully healed. 21st of January 2004 Today’s match is the third time we have met Elgin in the last eleven days and fourth time this season. Our record against them is 1-2-1 scoring 6 conceding 6. They have exactly the same record against us so this match could go either way. The pundits have made Elgin the overwhelming favourites to win the match. January 21st, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 21 (a) Elgin V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Elgin League Form: LLWWL Position: 7th East Stirling League Form: LWLDW Position: 8th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Brian Crawford Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly No changes to speak of for this match. Elgin took the lead on the 26th minute after a long ball looked to be too far in front of McLean and heading into the hands of Connolly. When Connolly hesitated to come forward McLean pounced, beating the keeper to the ball and prodding the ball past him. McLean scored his second of the game after a rebound off Connolly fell grateful to him and he knocked it over the goal line 2-0. The Elgin dominance was continued over the last 45 minutes of the game but for no reward. The second half ended goalless and we only mustered one half chance which Rodden smashed it over the bar Elgin 2:0 East Stirling Elgin Goals: McLean (2) East Stirling Goals: - MoM: Charles McLean (Elgin) Rating-10 Subs: Hare on for McAuley (59’), Kelly on for Rodden (59’), Polwart on for Mackay (59’) Booked: Hare (East Stirling), Molloy (Elgin) Sent Off: - Stadium: Borrough Briggs Attendance: 1562 Our midfield was non existent in this match with all of the midfielders scoring poor ratings. I know feel that or formation isn’t working the way I would like and instead of having a conventional four across the midfield I might play three and one attacking midfielders in front of them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 12, 2004 Author Share Posted April 12, 2004 24th of January 2004 8th V 10th and we have a four point buffer over Queens Park. Our recent matches this season against them has seen us win 2-0 at home and lose 1-0 away. January 24th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 22 (h) East Stirling V Queens Park <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: LLWLD Position: 8th Queens Park League Form: LLLLW Position: 10th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Brian Crawford Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly I kept faith with the team who lost 2-0 against Elgin because I believe them are still the best team I can put out on the park. There were no chances to speak of until the 39th minute when Gallagher got through on goal. His first shot was parried straight back to him by Connolly and his second shot was struck right back at Connolly and parried out to a waiting defender who cleared. Stuart Kelly replaced Brian Crawford at half time due to a niggling injury. On the 78th minute the first red card to a player under my tenure. Lappin mis-timed a tackle and received his second yellow card of the night and was sent to the dressing room. We held on to keep the score at 0-0 and earn a point and keep the four point buffer over Queens Park. East Stirling 0:0 Queens Park East Stirling Goals: - Queens Park Goals: - MoM: Roddy Maughan (East Stirling) Rating-8 Subs: Kelly on for Crawford (45’), Stewart on for Reid (61’), Polwart on for Mackay (61’) Booked: Reid (East Stirling), Lappin (2)(East Stirling), Harvey (Queens Park), Fallon (Queens Park) Sent Off: Lappin (East Stirling) (Reason: Two yellow card offences) Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1401 This was a quite dull match with our midfield not playing well and therefore not creating many chances for the strikers. Gordon Lappin is now suspended for one match after his red card in our match against Queens Park. After the match my physio reported to me that Brian Crawford had a fractured arm. I know he said his arm hurt when I took him off but this has come as quiet as a shock. His fractured arm will keep him out of action for two weeks. 25th of January 2004 Ayr United enquired about Graeme McLaren today. I responded by telling them that he is an integral part of my team and I wont accept any offer for him. 26th of January 2004 The Portuguese FA appointed Carlos Queiros as their new national manager. They expect the team to reach the European Championship Quarter Final at least. Dundee appointed Jan Wouters as their new manager. 27th of January 2004 Derek Ure resumed full training after a foot injury in training has kept him out for a month. Alloa appointed Jurgen Press as their new manager. 29th of January 2004 The transfer deadline for all Scottish clubs is tonight. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 13, 2004 Author Share Posted April 13, 2004 30th of January 2004 The transfer deadline for all Scottish clubs has now come into force. 31st of January 2004 We have met with Stirling two times already this season. Our two matches have produced nine goals with us beating them 4-2 away and losing 2-0 at home. The bookmakers have signalled that they see Stirling as overwhelming favourites to win today. January 31st, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 23 (h) East Stirling V Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: DLLWL Position: 8th Stirling League Form: LWDLW Position: 2nd </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Chris Baldwin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Stuart Kelly Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Derek Ure Brian Crawford can’t play for this match due to his fractured arm and taking his place is Stuart Kelly. Derek Ure takes Stuart Kelly’s place on the bench for this match after just recovering from an injury. Gordon Lappin is suspended for his match and in his place is Chris Baldwin Connolly had to deal with a header as soon as the 4th minute. Two minutes later McLean put a shot past the post much to Connolly’s relief. On the tenth minute McLean got another shot in at goal and this time he curled it past Connolly and into the net. It took us until the 42nd minute before we had our first shot. Rodden beat his marker and put through a nice ball to Kelly. Unfortunately Kelly couldn’t direct the ball past the keeper instead placing his shot into the crowd. Stirling doubled their lead before half time when we were caught with our men forward. McLean’s shot was parried into the path of Elliot and he struck the ball into the empty net 2-0. The 73rd minute saw the game sealed for the visitors. The combination of McLean and Elliot proved fatal once again when McLean cushioned a header to the feet of Elliot. Elliot looked up to see Connolly advancing on him, side stepped and passed the ball into the net. Four minutes later Elliot sealed his hat trick after he took on three defenders beat them and then beat Connolly from an acute angle. East Stirling 0:4 Stirling East Stirling Goals: - Stirling Goals: McLean (1), Elliot (3) MoM: Barry Elliot (Stirling) Rating-10 Subs: Ure on for Kelly (55’), Hare on for McAuley (55), Polwart on for Mackay (55’) Booked: Reid, Jackson (East Stirling), Baldwin (East Stirling), McAuley (East Stirling), Mackay (East Stirling), Logan (Stirling), Ferguson (Stirling) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1429 Another one of those games this season where we were completely outclassed and showed no determination or want to change the situation. I cant think of any player on the pitch playing for the club today who can hold their head up high. The match was littered with yellow cards with most of them to us mainly because of the frustration the players were feeling due to being outclassed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 13, 2004 Author Share Posted April 13, 2004 1st of February 2004 The first day of the new month and awards are presented to players in the Scottish Division 3. The Scottish Third Division Player of the Month goes to Peterhead’s sensational striker Mark Bavidge. Mark has been in lethal form last month scoring over a goal a game. The Scottish Third Division Young Player of the Month has been won by Albion Rover’s central midfielder, Graeme McCaul. The panel justified their decision on the basis that the 19 year old has made three high quality appearances in the past month. The Scottish Third Division Manager of the Month is awarded to John Sheran of Montrose. He has led his team to three victories in the last five games. Michael Hankinson will be out for two weeks with a fractured wrist. This injury was suffered in training after the keeper tried to push a Derek Ure shot around the post. 3rd of February 2004 The old firm derby was played today in the semi final of the Scottish League Cup. Ronald de Boer got Rangers off to the perfect start scoring a screamer in the 2nd minute of the match. Celtic got back into the match from the penalty spot in the 36th minute. Stephen Crainey took responsibility and slotted the ball into the net 1-1. But it was to be Rangers day and in the 52nd minute the match winner was scored by Steven Thompson. Rangers move to the final to play the winner of the other semi final between Partick Thistle and Dundee. 4th of February 2004 The other Scottish League Cup semi final was played today between two SPL strugglers. It was Dundee’s day today but it took them until the 68th minute to break through and open the floodgates. Nacho Novo scored to break the deadlock and Steven Milne and Juan Sara followed adding a goal each in the 73th and 84th minute respectively. Just before the match was blown to a conclusion Partick Thistle was reduced to ten men after Jamie Buchan received his second yellow card for a professional foul. The final has now been confirmed and is between Rangers and Dundee. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 13, 2004 Author Share Posted April 13, 2004 7th of February 2004 This has to be the biggest match under my management for the club so far. We are visited today by SPL strugglers, Dundee. They are placed in 10th spot but are high on confidence after their 3-1 home win against Dunfermline. The bookmakers feel that Dundee is the overwhelming favourite to go through and not even a brave person would bet on East Stirling today. February 7th, 2004 Scottish Cup Match 4th Round (h) East Stirling V Dundee <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Position: 9th (3rd Division) Dundee League Position: 10th (Premier Division) </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay - Paul Rodden, Stuart Kelly Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Brian Crawford I made a few adjustments to the tactical side of our game giving the orders to tackle hard, man mark the opposition, keep men behind the ball at all times and look for any counter attacking opportunity. Gordon Lappin takes back his role in the left midfield after being suspended for our last match. He takes the place of Chris Baldwin who didn’t impress me last match. Brian Crawford isn’t 100% full fit but takes a place on the bench replacing a Derek Ure who is in poor form. No chances to speak of in the first ten minutes of the match and the Dundee players frustrations is shown when Fotheringham needlessly pulls back Stuart Kelly and receives a yellow card. Ross Jackson is shown a yellow card five minutes later after a mis timed challenge. In the 21st minute the first chance of the match falls to Dundee when Lovell receives the ball but puts his shot well wide of our goal. In the 28th minute Burley almost opens Dundee’s account when he beats a few defenders but finds Connolly in his way. Fotheringham is the next player of Dundee to try his luck but puts his 25-yards strike over the bar. In the 42nd minute Novo couldn’t score the first goal of the match like he did against Partick Thistle due to the reflexes of Connolly. Dundee finally breaks through in the 45th minute when Caballero receives the ball on the left wing and cuts into the penalty area. His cross finds Burley and the Dundee forward strikes it on the volley, into Connolly and into the net. I replace Stuart Kelly with Dougie Polwart as I switch to an attacking 4-5-1 formation and I am looking to try and flood the midfield with our players. Brian Crawford comes on for Paul Rodden to try and instil some life into our attack. But in the 46th minute Lovell gets on the end of a cross and makes it 2-0 to the visiting SPL side. Our first attack of the match in the 79th minute rewards us with a goal after a Jackson free kick is headed at goal by McAuley. Julian Speroni in the Dundee goal does his best to parry the ball out but it falls to a waiting Crawford and he scores a simple tap in. We continue to press and harass the Dundee players when they have the ball and when all hope looks lost my superstar pops up to equalise. Crawford scores his second and our second goal of the game when he connects his head onto a McLaren cross and beats Speroni at the near post. The game ends 2-2 and the 1408 people who bothered to turn up gave us a huge applause. East Stirling 2:2 Dundee East Stirling Goals: Crawford (2) Dundee Goals: Burley (1), Lovell (1) MoM: Craig Burley (Dundee) Rating-8 Subs: Polwart on for Kelly (45’), Crawford on for Rodden (45’), Stewart on for Reid (65’) Booked: Jackson (East Stirling), Fotheringham (Dundee) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1408 I really thought we were dead and buried when Lovell scored Dundee’s second goal of the game. Credit to the players for the memorable comeback which has given us a second chance of qualifying for the next round and some more cash from the replay. Brian Crawford not fully fit played an absolute stormer when he came on at half time. He only had two chances and he buried them against a SPL side. 8th of February 2004 Paul Smith has joined the list of managers to be sacked this season after his club Berwick decided he couldn’t lead them to glory. Berwick after twenty four games are in the relegation spot in 9th and are 9 points away from safety. I feel sorry for whoever gets this job and only had one third of a season to save the club from relegation. The Scottish Cup Quarter Finals were announced today giving us a home match against Livingstone if we beat Dundee that is. After the quarter final replays have been played I will mention who is playing who. Today I offered Ilian Kiryakov a contract to come play for us after his contract is up with his current club, Chumerna. I offered him £120 per week to be a player/coach for us until 2008. The Scottish Cup Replay against Dundee is coming up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 11th of February 2004 February 11th, 2004 Scottish Cup Match 4th Round Replay (a) Dundee V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Dundee League Position: 10th (Premier Division) East Stirling League Position: 9th (3rd Division) </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay – Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Paul Rodden I make a few changes today with Brian Crawford moving into the first team with Derek Ure while Paul Rodden falls to the bench. Stuart Kelly falls out of my first team after not being able to produce anything against Dundee in the previous match. Dundee started attacking from the first whistle with Novo forcing Connolly into a routine save after only four minutes. In the 11th minute we take a shock lead with a long ball by Reid took out the whole of the Dundee defence and let Ure volley home past the helpless Julian Speroni. Caballero almost got his club back on level terms six minutes later but put his shot over the bar. Lovell missed a glorious opportunity for his team with ten minutes left in the half. The immense pressure by Dundee continued throughout the half but with some grit and determination we held onto go into the break 1-0 in the lead. Just after the break Dundee is level when a cross is headed in past Connolly by Fotheringham. I lost count of the chances that Dundee had in the match. Connolly was the only barrier keeping us in the match but even his barrier was broken in 85th minute. Sara was put through on goal and he clinically beat Connolly and put his team into the lead for the first time in the match. After that the Dundee pressure continued and the only thing keeping us from a drumming was Connolly and he really deserved his MOM award today. Dundee 2:1 East Stirling Dundee Goals: Fotheringham (1), Sara (1) East Stirling Goals: Ure (1) MoM: Jon Connolly (East Stirling) Rating-9 Subs: Rodden on for Ure (63’), Hare on for McAuley (63’), Polwart on for Jackson (63’) Booked: McAuley (East Stirling), Wilkie (Dundee) Sent Off: - Stadium: Dens Park Stadium Attendance: 6763 Today was an extremely proud day for the club of East Stirling. We may not have won the match but we put in two halves of excellent character and determination. In the end the skill of the Dundee players proved enough but only just. There was only 6763 people in attendance today so our half of the gate monies won’t be much but every pound is much wanted. I am actually quiet shocked when I thought the gate monies wouldn’t be much. Today we were given £75,000 and was much needed. I can’t talk about the players and their attitudes enough and their drive to come back from 2-0 down at home and then almost pull off a shock victory away. Good going boys and we need more of that in the league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 14th of February 2004 Just before today’s match we received news on our latest transfer target. Ilian Kiryakov has accepted the contract offer and is waiting on a work permit before he can officially sign for the club. Stranraer versus East Stirling has already produced two cracking matches with eight goals. We won over Stranraer 4-1 at home but lost narrowly 2-1 away this season. We are playing away today and I have a tired group of players for this match due to our Scottish Cup commitments only 3 days ago. February 14th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 24 (a) Stranraer V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Stranraer League Form: DWWDL Position: 7th East Stirling League Form: DLLWL Position: 8th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Jordan Leishman, Chris Baldwin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Michael Stewart, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly Jordan Leishman replaces Ross Jackson on the right of midfield while Gordon Lappin is rested and taking his spot is Chris Baldwin. The forward line remains the same after their impressive showing against Dundee in both matches. We had the lead as early as the 6th minute. McAuley won the ball in the centre of midfield and sent Baldwin on his way on the left side of midfield. Lappin played a ball over a defender to Ure and he cut into the box and drew the keeper before lobbing the ball. Crawford got onto the end of the lob over the keeper and it was 1-0. Stranraer pulled level on the 13th minute when Jeffs powerful free kick beat Connolly as he just couldn’t keep the powerful effort out. The home team began dominating the proceedings and won a controversial penalty in the 30th minute. White was adjudged to have pushed Kerr and Connolly now had to face a spot kick. Kerr took the penalty himself and buried it past Connolly into the left hand side of the net. 2-1 to the home side. Kerr scored his second of the game just before half time when he left his defender for dead and smashed home a Wingate cross to give his side a 3-1 lead. We conceded again just before the hour mark when Curran was left with acres of space to work in and curled the ball around Connolly to make it 4-1. Jordan Leishman receives a yellow card for a mis timed tackle. Then he has the stupidity to argue with the referee and receive a second yellow and a subsequent red card. He will be hearing from me after the game. Stewart picked up a knock late on in the match and my day has turned from bad to worse. Stranraer caps off a dismal afternoon for us when they catch us on a counter attack. Lurinsky is the one to score his side’s fifth goal of the afternoon and condemn us to one of the worst defeats this season. Just before the whistle sounded Lurinsky got his name on the scoresheet again. My assistant tells me that Wingate got his head to a corner and scored the home team’s seventh of the game. Funny I didn’t see it! Stranraer 7:1 East Stirling Stranraer Goals: Kerr (2), Lurinsky (2), Jeffs (1), Curran (1), Wingate (1) East Stirling Goals: Crawford (1) MoM: Derek Wingate (Stranraer) Rating-10 Subs: Polwart on for Ure (65’), Hare on for Baldwin (65), Stewart on for Reid (65’) Booked: Leishman (2)(East Stirling), Aitken (Stranraer), Wright (Stranraer) Sent Off: Leishman (East Stirling) (Reason: Two yellow cards) Stadium: Stair Park Attendance: 1620 This was the heaviest defeat of the season and when I took charge I never thought that I would have to condemn the player’s effort and attitude. They just didn’t turn up today wanting to win. Its such a massive change from the matches they played against Dundee and if we played like we did against Dundee every week we would surely be promoted. I am however still impressed with Crawford even when he is in a losing team he still gets his name on the scoresheet and sets up chances for team mates. I released a press statement saying that even though we are near the bottom of the league I feel Brian should be congratulated on his recent run of performances. He has kept up his level of commitment even when most of his team mates have lost theirs. The East Stirling fans are in an outrage with my choice of praising Brian Crawford. They feel he is still not performing to their standard and if any one of them were managing the club Brian wouldn’t be holding down a first team spot. Jordan Leishman has been suspended for one match starting today and he has been officially warned by me for his dismissal. Jordan feels the warning was harsh and is now upset with me. I guess that’s something I have to live with being a manager. Michael Stewart will be out for one week with a gashed leg which he received in the game against Stranraer. Next Scottish Cup Quarter Finals, the league table is shown and my Worldly League Wrap Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 15, 2004 Author Share Posted April 15, 2004 15th of February 2004 Today I was approached by 9th placed 2nd division Berwick Rangers in regard to becoming their manager. Without any thought I rejected the club because I am committed to our clubs cause even after a 7-1 loss. We have now played twenty four games and that means we are two thirds of the way through the season. This means I will show the league table again and the worldly league wrap. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D Pts 1st Stirling 25 15 4 6 64 34 +30 49 2nd Albion Rovers 25 14 4 7 58 30 +28 46 3rd Cowdenbeath 25 14 3 8 34 22 +12 45 4th Peterhead 25 13 2 10 44 33 +11 41 5th Gretna 24 11 6 7 44 39 +5 39 6th Stranraer 25 7 10 8 42 39 +3 31 7th Elgin 25 9 3 13 28 48 -20 30 8th Montrose 25 6 9 10 43 40 +3 27 9th East Stirling 24 5 6 13 29 51 -22 21 10th Queens Park 25 5 3 17 17 67 -50 18 </pre> Worldly League Wrap In the Australian NSL South Melbourne lead the division (with a game in hand) followed closely by Melbourne Knights, Perth Glory and Marconi. The unfortunate team on the bottom at the moment is the Brisbane Strikers with only three wins in nineteen games. The English Premier League is being lead by Arsenal who is eight points in front of Manchester United who have one game in hand. Leeds and Liverpool fill up 3rd and fourth spots while Chelsea, Manchester City and Newcastle are all on 44 points and fighting for the UEFA cup spots. Down the bottom of the league Blackburn, Charlton and Bolton look to be set for a return to the Nationwide if they don’t get their act together soon. While in the English Nationwide Division One has West Brom Albion seven points clear (two games in hand) of 2nd placed Coventry. The clubs following closely behind Coventry and filling the promotion play off spots include Watford, Cardiff City, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest. In the French First Division Lyon has built up an eight point lead over title favourites Monaco with thirteen games left. In 3rd and 4th place Paris Saint Germain and Marseille respectively are fighting for European places. Down the bottom of the league sees Toulouse, Nice and Le Mans struggling to pick up points. In the French Second Division the three automatic promotion spots are filled by Saint-Etienne, Caen and Laval. While over in the German First Division sees Borussia Dortmund surprisingly in 1st spot, two points ahead of champions Bayern Munchen. The other few teams keeping up with the pace setters are Stuttgart and Schalke who both have ambitious chairman looking for the monetary reward associated with European qualification. Down at the bottom of the table sees Rostock, 1860 Munchen and SC Freigburg fighting for every point to escape the drop into the German Second Division. Dropping down a division sees Nurnberg, Cottbus and Mainz picking up maximum points almost each game and filling the three promotion spots. Moving over to Italy now and the Serie A sees three of the biggest clubs fighting for the title. Lazio is on 46 points one point clear of the blue side of Milan and four points ahead of Juventus. While surprisingly in fourth spot is Perugia who is defying all pundits and surprising their own fans. The teams looking to drop into Serie B are Siena, Ancona, Modena and Empoli with Empoli already looking like they have given up hope of staying up. Down in Serie B the top 3 spots are taken by Napoli, Fiorentina and Piacenza who are all clubs with history in the top division of Italy. Heading back to Scotland now and the SPL sees Celtic holding a slender 1 point lead (1 game in hand) over its fiercest rivals Rangers. The two Edinburgh clubs are sitting in 3rd and 4th with Hibs holding 3rd place by only 5 goals over Hearts. It seems the battle to not fall into Division One is now between only two teams. Partick Thistle and Motherwell are both on seventeen points with the family club in Glasgow a few goals in front on goal difference. While down in Division One the one automatic promotion spot is being fought out between Ayr United, St Johnstone and Raith Rovers. Now for our last spot in Europe is the La Liga in Spain. Real Madrid is on top as all the bookmakers predicted but they are closely followed by Real Betis who is only three points behind the Madrid giant. In 3rd spot sees Valencia just behind Real Betis on goal difference and fighting hard to catch Madrid in the race for the Spanish title. Down the bottom of the league and teams with no chance of winning the title is Malaga, Murcia and Albacete. While dropping down a division sees Xerez, Numancia and Alaves all fighting for the title but all into contention to return to the promised land. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoS Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 I think you've got a REALLY long way to go Dark_Soccer! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 15, 2004 Author Share Posted April 15, 2004 Yes my writing style does have a long way to go I can fully agree with u SoS i dont think Rangers or Celtic will be scared of us for a long time!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobBev Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 You're already doing far better than their real life manager The Shire were my local team as a youngster and I've always had a soft spot for them so keep it going Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HD Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 To be fair, the chairman isn't as much of an utter c*nt on CM as in real life. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 15, 2004 Author Share Posted April 15, 2004 Wat position is East Stirling IRL? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HD Posted April 15, 2004 Share Posted April 15, 2004 last with 5 points from 31 games i think Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 16, 2004 Author Share Posted April 16, 2004 Yes thanks Bobbev i will defientely keep it going as i hope you continue reading! Yes HD i had a look and East Stirling is on the bottom of the table only taking 5 points from 31 games and in their last match they lost at home 3-0 to Peterhead Thanks for your support guys 18th of February 2004 Now to get to the Scottish Cup Quarter Finals: <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> (SPL) Dundee V Livingstone (SPL) (SPL) Dundee Utd V Kilmarnock (SPL) (SPL) Celtic V Aberdeen (SPL) (SD1) Falkirk V Rangers (SPL) </pre> The match against Gretna is probably the last chance for us to make a charge for my goal 5th place. Gretna is currently 18 points head of us with 11 games to go after this one. Our past form against Gretna hasn’t been very good losing 2-1 away and drawing 2-2 at home. The bookmakers feel Gretna will destroy us today. February 18th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 25 (a) Gretna V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Gretna League Form: DWLWD Position: 5th East Stirling League Form: LDLLW Position: 9th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Paul Rodden Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly I make a few changes for this match today with Jordan Leishman and Chris Baldwin dropping out of the first team due to their lack of fitness. In come Ross Jackson and Gordon Lappin to replace them while we also have a few changes up front. Brian Crawford gets a new strike partner today with Paul Rodden returning to the first team and Stuart Kelly taking a place on the bench at the expense of Derek Ure. Michael Stewart is injured at the moment so Stephen Oates takes his spot on the bench. I can’t believe it we are such an inconsistent team. A fast flowing passing move straight from the kick off creates a goal scoring opportunity for Crawford and he takes it brilliantly (told the fans I was right to praise him!). The half ended 1-0 but the frustrating thing was after we scored the goal till the half time whistle it was all Gretna. They just kept coming at us having shot after shot but with Connolly and our defence working as an excellent barrier keeping them out. The second half is just like the first half with the continued Gretna pressure and us not being able to get out of our half. Cameron almost put the home team level when he calmly rounded Connolly only to lose his cool and knock the ball wide. Gretna finally managed the break through on the 73rd minute when a swerving cross came in and Maddison somehow stretched out a leg and knocked the ball in. Gretna continued their dominance and pressure until the final whistle and we luckily took a point from this match. Gretna 1:1 East Stirling Gretna Goals: Maddison (1) East Stirling Goals: Crawford (1) MoM: Jon Connolly (East Stirling) Rating-10 Subs: Hare on for Jackson (62’), Kelly on for Rodden (62’) Booked: McLaren (East Stirling), McAuley (East Stirling), Regan (Gretna), Holdsworth (Gretna), Cohen (Gretna), McGuffie (Gretna) Sent Off: - Stadium: Raydale Park Attendance: 1591 I am very happy with the outcome of the match since we were under the pump after Brian scored in the 1st minute. Gretna completely dominated the game and was unlucky not to score more than once but Jon Connolly showed his worth by keeping them out time and time again. His man of the match award very much deserved. My physio reported that in the match against Gretna Ross Jackson somehow managed to dislocate his shoulder and will be out for two weeks. Another injury though no where near as serious was Dougie Polwart out for 2 days with a sprained wrist. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 16, 2004 Author Share Posted April 16, 2004 21st of February 2004 Our first home match in four games sees Albion Rovers visiting Firs Park. Albion must be confident coming here with the home side, East Stirling, not winning in the last five games. Once again the bookmakers predict East Stirling to lose the match and to add another loss to their total of thirteen. February 21st, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 26 (h) East Stirling V Albion Rovers <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: DLDLL Position: 9th Albion Rovers League Form: WLLWL Position: 2nd </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Scott Livingstone, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Paul Rodden Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly Today Scott Livingstone gets another chance out on the right wing because of the dislocated shoulder Ross Jackson suffered in our previous match. The rest of the team remains unchanged. A mistake at the back by Maughan gifts Albion their first goal of the night. Maughan is pressured and loses the ball which allows Diack space. Diack receives a cross and knocks it past Connolly to give the visitors the lead. Rodden had a chance to hit back for us on the 23rd minute but lost his cool and missed the target. Rodden again had another chance a minute later and this time he blazed the ball over the bar with only the keeper to beat. Another chance for Rodden again two minutes later and with only the keeper to beat his shot went wide. Three minutes later Crawford and Rodden split the Albion Rover’s backline and Rodden was given another chance to score. This time he managed to make the keeper make a save but nothing more. Albion showed us how it was done in the last minute of the first half when McManus found the ball next to his right foot and buried the ball into the net. We managed to pull a goal back in the 58th minute. When a cross went over Rodden’s head and fell to Crawford there was no doubt and you know the rest. 2-1 to the visitors. On the 70th minute mark Polwart manages to force a save out of the Albion keeper and at the cost of a corner. In the final minute of the match we had a chance to steal a point but the final ball by Livingstone was lacking in quality and we went down 2-1. East Stirling 1:2 Albion Rovers East Stirling Goals: Crawford (1) Albion Rovers Goals: McManus (1), Diack (1) MoM: Graeme McCaul (Albion Rovers) Rating-9 Subs: Polwart on for Mackay (66’), Kelly on for Rodden (66’), Oates on for Reid (66’) Booked: Reid (East Stirling), Livingstone (East Stirling), Mackay (East Stirling),Sweeney (Albion Rovers) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1427 I feel completely cheated but not because of refereeing decisions or because of the opposition cheating or not deserving anything. I feel cheated because Rodden had at least five chance- all easy chances to score goals and he blew all of them. Rodden better show me his commitment to our cause in training because most likely he wont be starting next match. Just after our match I heard the news that 2nd division club Dumbarton has sacked their manager, Brian Fairley. The manager who takes the job will have to be fully committed to their cause and hope for a miracle because Fairley has left the club with only 4 points from 26 games and 28 points from safety. Well wont this be fun playing Dumbarton next season hopefully they continue their dreaded form that has left them winless in their 26 games this season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 17, 2004 Author Share Posted April 17, 2004 27th of February 2004 Today I found a player on the transfer list by John Allison who is currently contracted at Elgin City. I fax them a offer of £0 and almost immediately I receive a reply giving me permission to discuss a contract with the 36 year old defender. I fax John the contract giving him £65 per week. 28th of February 2004 Before kick off we are 5 points off 8th place currently held by our opponents today. If we can sneak an away win we will have a good chance of taking 8th spot and this would be my goal fulfilled. I did want 5th place but due to our performances this season 8th place would be a pleasing end to the season. February 28th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 27 (a) Montrose V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Montrose League Form: LDWWW Position: 8th East Stirling League Form: LDLDL Position: 9th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly Today I fulfil my promise and axe Paul Rodden from the first team. I don’t feel any of the forwards apart from Brian Crawford have been successful this season. But I have to restore someone and that someone is Derek Ure. It took sixteen minutes before the first chance of the game arrived. A Montrose corner was crossed into the box and a header by one of the Montrose players was parried out by Connolly who was aware to the danger. Just before thirty minutes on the clock McAuley found he had a clear run at goal. He sprinted down the pitch only to be put off by the keeper and put his shot over. On the 60th minute mark when I was about to make a triple substitution Derek Ure received an injury after a tackle and had to come off. He was replaced by Stuart Kelly. At the end of the game the 0-0 draw was a fair result though I am very disappointed because this was our chance to start our assault on 8th place currently being held by our opponents. Montrose 0:0 East Stirling Montrose Goals: - East Stirling Goals: - MoM: Barry Donnachie (Montrose) Rating-7 Subs: Oates on for White (60’), Kelly on Ure (60’), Polwart of for McAuley (60’) Booked: Maughan (East Stirling), McLaren (East Stirling), Crawford (East Stirling), Conway (Montrose) Sent Off: - Stadium: Links Park Attendance: 1577 After our match today the first team in Scotland was relegated from their division. This unlucky team was Dumbarton still without a new manager was relegated after losing 2-1 to Stenhousemuir at home today. The club still has nine games left to record its first win of the season and put some pride into the total points collected before it drops into the Scottish Division Three. 29th of February 2004 Manchester United played Chelsea today in the League Cup Final. The billionaires of Chelsea went in the lead when Mutu scored in the 49th minute. United was only behind for six minutes before wonder kid Ronaldo scored in the 55th minute to bring the Red Devils level. Anelka put the blues ahead again before the last goal of the match came from £14.75M signing Pizarro to level the game up. The match went to penalties and Chelsea had the chance to win the game but Makelele bowed to the pressure and put his shot wide. United's Irish international centre back, O’Shea stepped up and showed everyone how to take a penalty and won his side the league cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 18, 2004 Author Share Posted April 18, 2004 1st of March 2004 The first day of the new month and awards are presented to players in the Scottish Division 3. Peterhead’s Martin Bavidge won the Scottish Third Division Player of the Month for the second consecutive time. The panel awarded Martin with this award after he had a hand in scoring and supplying his team with goals last month. The award for the Scottish Third Division Young Player of the Month went to Paul Nugent of Stirling. The young full back has put in a series of quality performances this month. Allan Moore won the Scottish Third Division Manager of the Month after he led his club Stirling to three victories out of four games. Stirling tops the table at the moment by four points over bookmakers’ favourites, Cowdenbeath. John Allison of Elgin has agreed a contract with our club today and will change clubs at the end of his contract which is the 6th of June 2004. 6th of March 2004 Today I wrapped up our scouts, Andrew Milne’s, contract. He will stay at the club for another two years on the same £200 wage per week. Another away match today pits us against Peterhead at Balmoor Stadium. The two teams have met three times this season producing a 5-0 win to Peterhead, a 5-3 win for East Stirling and a dull 0-0 draw. This is a top five versus bottom five clash today with Peterhead sitting in 4th and us languishing in 9th. March 6th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 28 (a) Peterhead V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Peterhead League Form: LWDWL Position: 4th East Stirling League Form: DLDLD Position: 9th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly I name an unchanged team today but emphasise on a more defensive formation. The division’s February player of the month Bavidge had the first shot in the first minute but Connolly tipped it over. Peterhead took the lead when Bavidge put Rennie through on goal with a excellent pass and Rennie did the rest. Bavidge almost set up another goal for a team mate but Johnstone blazed his shot over. Three minutes before half time White was adjusted to have pushed a Peterhead player in the area and was given a yellow card and Peterhead was awarded a penalty. Muir stepped up and placed the ball powerfully past Connolly to double his side’s lead. At half time I told the boys that we had nothing to lose and to go out and attack. This paid off in the 53rd minute when we won a corner. The corner was swung in by Lappin and headed in by Ure to give us a glimpse of hope. Ten minutes later the corner taker and the scorer of the previous goal were involved again. Lappin beat his defender and swung in a cross into the middle of the box. Ure was there and he took the ball down on his chest, and slotted the ball past the keeper to bring us level. Peterhead took the lead back with 15 minutes to go when a bullet header by Robertson couldn’t be kept out by Connolly. We continued to press and look for the equaliser and that’s what cost us three minutes later. Robertson beat his marker, ran down the wing and crossed to a waiting Bavidge. The striker made no mistake and scored his first of the game. Ten minutes before time Bavidge was off and past the last man who pulled him back. Reid was the last man and he was given his marching orders and we had conceded another penalty. Robertson stepped up and smashed the ball into the right hand top corner of the net. I can’t believe it because three minutes later Lappin gave away another penalty. Robertson completed his hat trick from the spot and were now 6-2 down after being level thirty minutes ago. In injury time we conceded our fourth penalty of the game and it was dually converted by Robertson to score his fourth of the game. Peterhead 7:2 East Stirling Peterhead Goals: Robertson (4), Bavidge (1), Muir (1), Rennie (1) East Stirling Goals: Ure (2) MoM: Keith Robertson (Peterhead) Rating-10 Subs: Oates on for White (60’), Kelly on Ure (60’), Polwart of for McAuley (60’) Booked: White (East Stirling), McAuley (East Stirling), Crawford (East Stirling), Ure (East Stirling), Good (Peterhead) Sent Off: Reid (East Stirling)(Reason: Last man) Stadium: Balmoor Stadium Attendance: 1556 Most of the time I would feel appalled with a 7-2 loss but with four of those goals coming from penalties and us actually being level at 2-2 thirty minutes from time makes me feel more cheated than anything. Before our next game I feel we will have to do a lot of training on timing our tackles because the tackles flying into today inside the box were poorily timed and if the players want to play in this division they need to be able to legally tackle an opponent. I now have my new transfer target to sign before the start of next season. His name is Martin Bavidge,Peterhead's forward, and he has impressed me in the last four matches he has played against us and has been winning a few awards. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 18, 2004 Author Share Posted April 18, 2004 ust After the match the scores of the Scottish Cup Quarter Finals filtered through: Dundee disposed of SPL rivals Livingstone 4-1 with goals from Lovell, Novo, Milne and Burley. Livingston managed a late consolation goal from Ipoua. Kilmarnock made their home advantage count against Dundee United scoring five times and keeping their opponents scoreless. The home side got their goals through Di Giacomo got two, Nish, Shields and McSwegan. Celtic easily went through to the semi finals scoring three goals against Aberdeen. Petrov, Sutton and bosman signing Alpay scored a goal each to send the Glasgow giant through to play Dundee. Falkirk produced the upset of the quarter final matches by knocking out Rangers 2-1. Macsween got a goal early before Rangers struck back through Ostenstad. But it was to be the home team’s day when Macsween scored there was no way back for the Gers and they crashed out at the quarter final stage. The semi final matches look like this: <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> (SPL) Celtic V Dundee (SPL) (SPL) Kilmarnock V Falkirk (SD1) </pre> 7th of March 2004 Craig Reid has been banned for two matches after being suspended for one match for reaching 16 disciplinary points and the other match for his dismissal against Peterhead. 8th of March 2004 Today the work permit for Ilian Kiryakov has been granted and he will move to the club on the 2nd of June 2004. 11th of March 2004 This afternoon I was approached by Scottish Division 2 club, Dumbarton to become their manager. They may have more money and quality players but I have a job to do at East Stirling so I flatly rejected their offer and I look forward to playing them in Division 3 next season. 13th of March 2004 Our first game since our shocking 7-2 loss against Peterhead. The week has given us time to tweak our training schedule and the players’ fitness to be 100%. Elgin is sitting in 6th spot, fourteen points above us before kick off. The two teams have met five times already this season with Elgin holding a small advantage but still fuming after we knocked them out of the Scottish Cup on the replay. March 13th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 29 (h) East Stirling V Elgin <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: LDLDL Position: 9th Elgin League Form: DWWLL Position: 6th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Michael Stewart-Scott Livingstone, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly Craig Reid is starting his two match suspension and therefore is unable to play this match and is replaced by Michael Stewart. Derek Ure remains Brian Crawford’s strike partner for this match after his excellent brace against Peterhead. Straight from the word go you could see my boys didn’t want another roasting. From our first attack we scored with Livingstone the recipient of a great pass by Lappin and he ran into the box unchallenged and smashed the ball past the helpless keeper to make it 1-0. Two minutes later McAuley intercepts a stray Elgin pass and sets up Derek Ure to run down the wing. Ure provides a cross that even Beckham would be proud of and Crawford rounds off the move by heading his twelfth goal in thirteen games. Connolly was called upon three minutes later to save a Tindal free kick and he did just that pushing the ball around the post with ease. Though just after the ten minute mark he was powerless to stop Ogboke’s near post header from going in and Elgin now 2-1 down. On the 30th minute mark Crawford got onto the end of a cross by Lappin and headed us into a 3-1 lead and score his second goal of the game. I couldn’t believe it because only two minutes later Crawford seals his hat trick with another header. My team continued to rain shots in on the Elgin goal and we got our fifth goal in first half injury time. Livingstone sent Crawford on his way through the Elgin defence and the twenty five year old forward bustled his way through before bundling the ball into the net for his fourth goal of the game. We were 5-1 up at the break and my only message to the boys was keep up the good work and really try and score more goals to make our goal difference less negative. We continued the way we finished the first half but Crawford finally proved he is human and put his shot wide. Marshall got Elgin their second goal of the game through a long range cracker which substitute keeper Todd had no chance of stopping. On the 80th minute Elgin got their 3rd of the game through a quick counter attack leaving Higdan with the simple task of rounding Todd and slotting the ball home which he did with ease. We seemed to be panicking now with only a two goal lead to hang on to with ten minutes left. The last few minutes of the match filter out and become quite scrappy but when the whistle goes we have another three points in the bag. East Stirling 5:3 Elgin East Stirling Goals: Crawford (4), Livingstone (1) Elgin Goals: Ogboke (1), Higdan (1), Marshall (1) MoM: Brian Crawford (East Stirling) Rating-10 Subs: Todd on for Connolly (63’), Kelly on for Ure (63’), Hare on for Mackay (63’) Booked: Hind (Elgin) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1408 Now this is the performance I have been talking about all along. The first half was completely flawless apart from the goal we conceded. The second half wasn’t as good but our first half performance had compensated and we went out 5-3 winners to close the gap on 8th place to five points. We have another two homes games coming up and that should hopefully allow us to take at least 4 points and fight for 8th place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 18, 2004 Author Share Posted April 18, 2004 14th of March 2004 Rangers played Dundee today to decide who would take home the League Cup trophy. It would be Rangers who would take home the silverware after two late strikes from Lovenkrands sealed the two nil win. The main headline on the front of the newspaper’s today was the Deportivo’s manager ultimatum given to him by his board. The rumour is that the board is losing patience with Irureta and another bad result would see him sent to the unemployment queue. The Spanish side is languishing in mid table and the board seems to have European aspirations for the side and see the only way that could happen is to give a new manager the chance. 17th of March 2004 Another trophy was won by the mighty Real Madrid today. The Spanish galatico beat Real Betis 2-0 with two early strikes by Solari and Ronaldo to take the Spanish Cup. 20th of March 2004 Our second consecutive home match brings Cowdenbeath to town who is currently in second spot and only two points behind leaders Stirling. The visitors have won their last five matches and haven’t conceded a goal in their last three matches. On our side we haven’t had the best run of form over our last five matches but if we can play like we did in the first half last week we should stroll to victory today. March 20th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 30 (h) East Stirling V Cowdenbeath <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: LWDLD Position: 9th Cowdenbeath League Form: WWWWW Position: 2nd </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Michael Stewart-Scott Livingstone, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly No changes to the team sheet today with all the players who impressed me last week still in the starting line up. We had the first chance of the match when a long ball found Crawford and he set up a chance for Ure. Derek tried to take his chance but put his shot just over the left hand upright. Cowdenbeath struck first when we conceded a free kick on the edge of the area. McInally stepped up and curled the ball over the wall and into the net to give his side a 1-0 lead after ten minutes. The score stayed that way until half time mainly because of the congestion in midfield with neither side exerting their superiority. Connolly was the busier of the two keepers in the opening minutes when he had to deal with two Mauchlen free kicks. One of the free kicks hit the bar and ricocheted out of play and the other was a simple catch for him. Cowdenbeath stubbornly held on to their 1-0 lead and when the full time whistle went they were pretty lucky to escape with all three points. East Stirling 0:1 Cowdenbeath East Stirling Goals: - Cowdenbeath Goals: McInally (1) MoM: Graeme Brown (Cowdenbeath) Rating-7 Subs: Oates on for White (68’), Kelly on for Crawford (68’), Polwart on for Mackay (68’) Booked: White (East Stirling), Polwart (East Stirling), Shand (Cowdenbeath), Ritchie (Cowdenbeath) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1416 A lucky escape for Cowdenbeath in my opinion even though all the bookmakers predicted a cormfortable three points for the visitors. We beat them to the ball half of the time and were always in and tackling for the 50-50 balls. If we can keep this level of commitment and team spirit up next season may be different. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptor Posted April 18, 2004 Share Posted April 18, 2004 A deserving Story of the Week Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 19, 2004 Author Share Posted April 19, 2004 Oh i dont know about that Raptor there are some pretty good stories out at the moment but thanks all the same 24th of March 2004 The first leg matches of the quarter finals in the Champions League were played today. An all Italian quarter final saw Juventus edge out AC Milan 2-1 with two goals coming from Appiah in the first half. Seedorf scored a precious away goal in the 89th minute to give his side a huge chance of qualifying to the next round. Manchester United completely dominated their match against Dinamo Kiev at Old Trafford. The home side scored three goals through Scholes, Pizarro and Van Nistelrooy while keeping the Ukraine side scoreless. Dinamo Kiev has it all to do in the return leg to have any chance qualifying. Inter Milan travelled over to Portugal to play FC Porto. The Italians made light work of the Portuguese champions with goals from Gonzalez, Vieri and van der Mayde. It seems this tie is almost over with Inter having their home leg to come at the San Siro. Rangers is the only team left to fly the Scottish flag in the Champions League and it seems after playing Anderlecht they might join Celtic in the losers pile. Rangers lost their home leg 2-1 to Anderlecht with their only goal coming from Lovenkrands. The visitors got their two away goals from Aruna and Mornar. 30th of March 2004 Michael Stewart will be sidelined for two weeks after injuring himself in training. 1st of April 2004 The first day of the new month and awards are presented to players in the Scottish Division 3. For the third consecutive month Peterhead’s Martin Bavidge has won the Scottish Third Division Player of the Month. The forward has been instrumental in his clubs success this month scoring and setting up team mates to score goals. Albion Rover’s Graeme McCaul won the Scottish Third Division Young Player of the Month for the third time this season. The midfielder has scored three goals in his three appearances for his club in the month of March. Cowdenbeath’s boss, Keith Wright, won the Scottish Third Division Manager of the Month for the second time this season. Keith has led his team to wins in three matches out of three matches in the month of March. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cantonaisgod Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 Congrats on SoTW KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian of Nazareth Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 congratulations D_S - this is definitely deserved Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spurzgrrl Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 A new D_S, what a (ahem) capital idea...not that there was anything wrong with the old one. Well-deserved, carry on, you've only got 40-odd pages to go to catch up with Elgin City. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 19, 2004 Author Share Posted April 19, 2004 Thanks Cantonaisgod and BoN but i dont know if it was that much deserved Spurzgrrl no there isnt anything wrong with the other D_S but i am the new and improved one Well i hope i can catch up the the Elgin one and bypass it but that will take alot of patience and commitment Anyway Thankyou all Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faramir Posted April 19, 2004 Share Posted April 19, 2004 Congrats D_S- this is a good story. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 20, 2004 Author Share Posted April 20, 2004 Thanks Faramir, much appreciated 3rd of April 2004 Our third last home game of the season sees visiting Stranraer come to town. The two teams have met three times in the league this season with Stranraer winning two and East Stirling winning one. April 3rd, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 31 (h) East Stirling V Stranraer <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: LLWDL Position: 9th Stranraer League Form: LLDLL Position: 8th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Michael Stewart-Scott Livingstone, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly On the team sheet the injured Michael Stewart is replaced by Craig Reid who is just returning from his two match suspension. We finally created our first real chance of the match in the 18th minute. A long ball by Lappin was flicked on by Crawford. McAuley challenged the advancing keeper to the ball who fumbled the ball through his legs and left McAuley with a simple tap in. We lead 1-0 after only eighteen minutes with our first shot at goal. Graham had a chance for the visitors to equalise but blazed his shot over. Graham was involved in a two on one situation but made an error passing the ball straight to Reid. The East Stirling defender put a long ball up the pitch to a waiting Ure, who put a through ball to Crawford. The striker did what he does best and scores our 2nd of the game. Five minutes before half time a Stranraer free kick was accidentally headed into our goal by McLaren giving the defender an embarrassing own goal. It finished 2-1 at the break and we just kept our noses in front. Another free kick by Stranraer proved fruitful with Wingate getting on the end of it to head his team level. On the 58th minute the comeback was complete by the visitors when a free kick found Grant unmarked and he beat Connolly to make it 3-2. We had our last chance in injury time to grab a deserved point but McAuley put his long shot over the bar. East Stirling 2:3 Stranraer East Stirling Goals: McAuley (1), Crawford (1) Stranraer Goals: McLaren (OG), Wingate (1), Grant (1) MoM: Sean McAuley (East Stirling) Rating- 9 Subs: Oates on for White (59’), Kelly on for Ure (59’), Polwart on for Lappin (59’) Booked: White (East Stirling), Sharp (Stranraer) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1423 I can't believe after the excellent half an hour in the match we fell to pieces to concede three goals and lose. I can still take a lot of positives out of the game and it seems the last few matches we have shown a lot of character and team spirit. After the match the physio’s report was sent to me. It detailed Gordon Lappin’s strained knee ligaments keeping him out for two weeks. 7th of April 2004 The second leg matches in the Champion League quarter finals were played today. Anderlecht knocked out Scotland’s last hope in the competition by the name of Rangers. The Belgians scored a goal on the stroke of half time through Baseggio and took the tie 3-1 on aggregate. The English Champions, Manchester United, proved too strong again for Dinamo Kiev even on the road. The English side scored two goals through Kleberson and Van Nistelrooy. The home side scored their only goal of the two legs through Nanni but that obviously wasn’t enough and went out 5-1 on aggregate. Inter Milan thought they were assured of qualification to the semi finals after their 3-0 win in the 1st leg but they were given a mighty scare on the night. Porto came to the San Siro and scored three goals through Deco who scored two and Alenichev. The Italian side only just managed to scrape through the tie 4-3 when Recoba snuck a goal ten minutes before time. Juventus had a 2-1 lead after the first leg and won by a goal again in this match. Milan had a large amount of possession but couldn’t transfer it into goals while Trezeguet scored the only goal of the game to send Juventus through to the semi finals 3-1 on aggregate. The semi finals are drawn and they read. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> (ITA) Inter Milan V Manchester United (ENG) (BEL) Anderlecht V Juventus (ITA) </pre> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 20, 2004 Author Share Posted April 20, 2004 8th of April 2004 The first leg matches in the UEFA Cup quarter finals were played today. Parma travelled to France to face a Bordeaux side sitting 10th in their league. The French side’s league form was transferred into this match losing 2-1 to the Italians. Parma scored two goals in the second half through Carignano and Morfeo while Bordeaux got their only one through Deivid. The French side has it all to do in the return leg in Italy. Liverpool played host to the surprise German league leaders, Borussia Dortmund. The game ended 1-1 with Liverpool taking the lead through their skipper Gerrard in the 66th minute. Dortmund scored a precious away goal in the 90th minute through Rosicky to give a massive chance of upsetting the English side and qualifying for the semi finals. Another match which represented a clash between France and Italy is the Lyon V Roma. Lyon scored the first goal of the game through Elber but Totti scored two minutes later to level the match and that’s the way it stayed. The other English club in the tournament Southampton was facing Dutch club PSV. The Dutch scored the only goal of the match through de Jong and took home a precious away goal. 10th of April 2004 Ross Jackson has resumed full training today following his shoulder injury which kept him out for two months. Our first home match of the month gives us another match against our rivals and league leaders, Stirling. Our rivals are sitting two points clear of Cowdenbeath on top of the division and are almost virtually assured of promotion. We will have a tough time against this side which is well balanced between defence and attack. April 10th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 32 (a) Stirling V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Stirling League Form: WWWDW Position: 1st East Stirling League Form: LLLWD Position: 9th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Michael Stewart-Scott Livingstone, Chris Baldwin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly Chris Baldwin is restored to the first team today after Gordon Lappin injured himself in training. The league leaders had the first chance of the match which fell to their forward, Mclean, who put a tame effort into Connolly’s chest. Throughout the first thirty minutes of the match Mclean and Connolly had their own mini match with the keeper coming off on top saving all of the efforts put at him. 38 minutes on the clock and Ure broke through the defence with the help of excellent vision and pass by Crawford. Unfortunately Ure couldn’t put the ball into the net instead giving the crowd a ball to catch. The half ended 0-0 with Stirling putting in the better performance. Straight from the second half kick off Mclean finally beat Connolly when Reid left him all alone and the striker hammered his first goal of the match. Elliot got the home side’s second when a harmless header found its way over our defence to give Elliot a simple chance which he dispatched easily. The game ended with us being 2-0 down and I was slightly disappointed with the players’ efforts in the second half. Stirling 2:0 East Stirling Stirling Goals: McLean (1), Elliot (1) East Stirling Goals: - MoM: Barry Elliot (Stirling) Rating-9 Subs: Kelly on for Ure (45’), Hare on for White (66’), Polwart on for Baldwin (66’) Booked: Hay (Stirling) Sent Off: - Stadium: Forthbank Stadium Attendance: 1793 The first half was a quite solid performance by the players and the team overall but we fell away as soon as the referee blew for the start of the second half. After the match I heard the result of the Scottish Cup first semi final of Kilmarnock V Falkirk. Kilmarnock made sure the first division team’s dream was shattered here today scoring four goals. The SPL side found their goals through Boyd with two, Giacomo and Locke and set up a Scottish Cup Final between themselves and either Celtic or Dundee. Ross County is now mathematically unable to pick up enough points to save itself and will be played Second Division football next season. The club only managed five wins all season and with only 25 points from 32 games sits rock bottom of the First Division. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 21, 2004 Author Share Posted April 21, 2004 11th of April 2004 SPL side Hearts has sacked their manager Craig Levein after a string of poor results. The club from Edinburgh sits 8th in the SPL with forty three points from thirty two games. 14th of April 2004 The second legs of the UEFA Cup quarter final matches were played today. Dortmund after drawing 1-1 at Anfield against Liverpool held the English side to a 0-0 in Germany to go through on the away goal rule. PSV showed their class against Southampton putting 2 past the English side while Southampton could only get one. PSV got their goals through de Jong and Vonlanthen and Southampton got their only goal of the match from Phillips. The Dutch club went through to the semi finals of the UEFA Cup 3-1 on aggregate. Parma made no mistake against their French opposition today. Bordeaux just weren’t allowed into the match and Parma put two past their opposition. The goals came from the same player, Gilardino, and the Italian club went through 4-1 on aggregate. Roma and Lyon drew 1-1 in the first leg and when Roma held their French opponents to a 0-0 draw the away rule came into effect. The Italian side qualified on aggregate 1-1 thanks to the away goal rule. The semi finals were drawn today and they read. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> (ITA) Parma V PSV (NED) (GER) Dortmund V Roma (ITA) </pre> In the Scottish Cup the second semi final match was played between Celtic and Dundee. The Glasgow club showed its class scoring twice and keeping their opponents scoreless. Both the Celtic forwards Sutton and Larsson got their names on the score sheet to send their side into the Scottish Cup Final to play Kilmarnock. 17th of April 2004 Our second last away game of the season and the last chance for Queens Park to really catch us. Before the match we are seven points ahead of our opposition but they have a game in hand. We have played them three times already this season with us winning 2-0 at home, losing 1-0 away and drawing 0-0 at home. Our league form over the last five games only just shades theirs as you can see below. April 17th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 33 (a) Queens Park V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Queens Park League Form: LLLDL Position: 10th East Stirling League Form: LLLLW Position: 9th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, James White, Craig Reid-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Stuart Kelly Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Derek Ure Ross Jackson is restored to the first team at the expense of Scott Livingstone who had a poor game last match. Gordon Lappin comes back into the team dropping Chris Baldwin out as he has never impressed me when he plays. After Derek Ure’s pathetic performance last match Stuart Kelly takes his place up forward while Derek drops to the bench. A long ball by White almost saw a unbelievable own goal when Ross tried to head the ball over his goal at the expense for a corner and almost put it past his own keeper. Kelly picked up a knock on the 21st minute and is replaced by a Ure who is looking to impress. A few half chances for each side but when the half time whistle blew it was still 0-0. Just before the 60th minute mark Ure got himself on the scoresheet. A long ball by Maughan found Crawford as he took the ball down cleanly and ran down the wing to put in a cross. The cross was perfect as it found Ure to head us in front. Just before the end of the game Ferry found himself unmarked when a cross came in and he waited for the ball to come across his body. That time he took allowed Connolly to come out and eventually smother the striker’s half volley. After that save we dominated the later few minutes and ran out the game as 1-0 winners. Queens Park 0:1 East Stirling Queens Park Goals: - East Stirling Goals: Ure (1) MoM: Brian Crawford (East Stirling) Rating-8 Subs: Ure on for Kelly (22’), Oates on for White (65’), Polwart on for Mackay (65’) Booked: White (East Stirling), Polwart (East Stirling), Fallon (Queens Park) Sent Off: - Stadium: Hampden Park Attendance: 1625 After the match when I talked to the players my message was plain and simple: I was proud of the determination of all of them and the team played well but defended even better. We have now taken a ten point lead over Queens Park in the league though they have one game in hand. We need three more points to seal our 9th spot or for Queens Park not to take maximum points from their last four games. James White has been banned for two matches after his yellow card against Queens Park took him over the 32 disciplinary points. Berwick has been now mathematically relegated from Scottish Division Two while Stirling has been promoted to Scottish Division Three. Paris Saint German has won the French League Cup 3-1 against Lens today. PSG got their goals from El-Karkouri, Cesar and Boskovic while the losers here today got their solitary goal from Bakari. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebsy Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Very nice story my friend. I really hope you make a push up the table. It has made me want to play a game as East Stirling as I like a challenge. Not for a story just for my own game. Good luck, wtg on winning last game and KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 22, 2004 Author Share Posted April 22, 2004 Thanks sebsy and I hope I start pushing up the table too If you start a game with East Stirling it will certainly be a challenge good luck 20th of April 2004 Hearts has appointed Arthur Cox as their new manager today. He has signed a three year contract with the Edinburgh club at £6,250 per week. 21st of April 2004 The first legs of the Champions League Semi Finals were played today. Anderlecht may feel they didn’t get the second goal they really needed to have a hope of qualifying. The Belgians took the lead against Juventus through Aruna and were helped even more when Montero was sent off. Juventus playing with only ten men equalised with only a few minutes of the match left through Dutch legend Davids. Inter Milan hosted the English Champions, Manchester United, today at the San Siro. The English side showed they weren’t intimidated by the occasion and kept Inter from scoring for the entire match and just when you thought it would be a 0-0 draw Van Nistelrooy popped up to score his seventh goal of the tournament. 22nd of April 2004 A day after the Champion League Semi Finals were played another European competition semi finals were played. The UEFA Cup Semi Finals were played today. Roma took the first giant step to making the final an all Italian affair. The Italian’s scored through Delvecchio twice while keeping their opponents scoreless. Dortmund is now facing a daunting task of coming to Italy with a two goal deficit. Parma read the script before their match today against PSV. The Italian side scored just before time through Bresciano and gave themselves a big chance of making the UEFA Cup final. 24th of April 2004 With three games left we needed to take maximum points from all those remaining games and hope Montrose lost all three. We can have a hand in them losing their last match because we play them in our last game of the season. But the task today is 5th placed Gretna and we need to concentrate on them and the three points on offer. April 24th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 34 (h) East Stirling V Gretna <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: WLLLL Position: 9th Gretna League Form: DWLLL Position: 5th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, Craig Reid, Michael Stewart-Scott Livingstone, Chris Baldwin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Brian Crawford, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly Michael Stewart comes back in to the centre of defence because of James White’s two match suspension. No other changes have been made to the side who edged out Queens Park 1-0 in our last match. We took the lead after eight minutes when McAuley found himself in space on the left wing and he picked up a delightful pass by Mackay. McAuley put in a text book cross and watched as Crawford knocked the ball in off the post to give the home side a 1-0 lead. On the half hour mark our defence was split but Connolly saved Cohen’s goal bound effort. Just after half time Galloway lost his cool when his tackle was deemed illegal by the referee. The ref had no choice but to give the player a yellow card which was his second of the match and send him off. Gretna finally got the ball into our net on the hour mark only to see the linesman’s flag up. With fifteen minutes to go McLaren quick thinking when taking a throw in gave Stuart Kelly a chance to score our second and he did it with a cheeky chip. The match ended 2-0 in our favour and we finally won two games on the trot East Stirling 2:0 Gretna East Stirling Goals: Crawford (1), Kelly (1) Gretna Goals: - MoM: Jon Connolly (East Stirling) Rating-8 Subs: Ure on for Crawford (63’), Oates on for Reid (63’), Polwart on for Mackay (63’) Booked: Crawford (East Stirling), Galloway (2)(Gretna) Sent Off: Galloway (Gretna) (Reason: Two yellow cards) Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1395 Finally two matches won in a row and we have closed the gap on Montrose to five points with two matches to play. With that win we secured 9th spot at least after Queens Park went down 2-0 at home to Stranraer. After Crawford’s yellow card against Gretna we have received official confirmation that he will miss one match due to reaching 16 disciplinary points. Also in Division 3 football Stirling has won the Division and Cowdenbeath has taken 2nd spot and both will be playing Division 2 football next season. I wish them both good luck for next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 23, 2004 Author Share Posted April 23, 2004 1st of May 2004 Iain Mauchlen of Cowdenbeath has won the Scottish Division Three Player of the Month award. The twenty seven year old winger has been a vital element to his team’s promotion winning season. Stirling’s Eddie Logan has won the Scottish Division Three Young Player of the Month award for the month of April. The eighteen year old attacking midfielder has been vital to the team’s spectacular performances this season which led them to clinching the Third Division title about nine days ago. The Scottish Division Three Manager of the Month has been won by Stirling’s Allan Moore. Allan has had an amazing month leading his side to four victories in four matches while leading the team for the whole season and winning the Third Division. It may be the first day of the month but we have a match to play against Albion Rovers on the road. The two teams have met three times this season with us winning 4-3 and losing 2-1 at home while losing 3-1 away. May 1st, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 35 (a) Albion Rovers V East Stirling <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Albion Rovers League Form: DWLLL Position: 5th East Stirling League Form: WWLLL Position: 9th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, Craig Reid, Michael Stewart-Ross Jackson, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Derek Ure Subs: Chris Todd (gk), Stephen Oates, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly It’s not easy task to replace Brian Crawford but returning to the first team today, due to Brian’s suspension, is Paul Rodden. McLaren attempted to play a long ball over to Jackson but it was intercepted and instead played up field to Albion Rover’s striker Diack. The striker took the ball under control and shot low to the left of Connolly. Connolly got his hand to it but it wasn’t enough as the ball agonisingly dribbled over the goal line and gave the home side a 1-0 lead. We could have equalised as soon as the 35th minute when Jackson’s curling free kick hit the foot of Kelly but went flying over the bar from only six yards out. A minute later Albion Rovers punished us for not scoring when McManus found space in our penalty area and curled a shot around Connolly to severely dent our aspirations of stealing 8th place from Montrose. McManus tried cheekily to get his second of the match by chipping Connolly but our keeper was alert to the threat and smartly tipped the ball over. It ended 2-0 at the break and I had some major tactical changes to think about. Maughan came off at half time to be replaced by Ure and we changed our formation to a 3-4-3. The tactic looked to be working for the first few minutes of the half until Malloy was brought down in the area by Reid when he had no need to challenge. Reid got a yellow card for his troubles and we were 3-0 down thanks to Bradford’s successful penalty. On the 56th minute McManus scored his second when our defenders felt like leaving him all alone in the area and he punished us with a blistering drive past Connolly to make it 4-0. We finally managed to pull one ball when Lappin’s corner found Ure’s head and we now were on the board with only twenty three minutes to go. Stirling got his name on the scoresheet with fifteen minutes left to play and made sure all the points were staying with the home side. Bradford got his second of the game when he headed in Stirling’s corner to make it 6-1. The match ends at 6-1 and our hope of stealing 8th place has been shattered. Albion Rovers 6:1 East Stirling Albion Rovers Goals: McManus (2), Bradford (2), Diack (1), Stirling (1) East Stirling Goals: Ure (1) MoM: Paul McManus (Albion Rovers) Rating-9 Subs: Ure on for Maughan (45’), Oates on for Reid (61’), Hare on for Jackson (61’) Booked: Reid (East Stirling), Calderwood (Albion Rovers), McBride (Albion Rovers), McCaig (Albion Rovers), Sweeney (Albion Rovers) Sent Off: - Stadium: Cliftonhill Attendance: 1638 This performance was absolutely disgraceful with most of our players scoring a rating of below five and not living up to my expectations. In my match report I didn’t talk anywhere near enough about the chances the home side had and I can’t believe we didn’t lose by about ten goals today. Jon Connolly was outstanding repelling almost everything at him but I can’t blame him that four shots got past him. Our dream of stealing 8th spot from Montrose is out the window now as we needed to take maximum points from this match but the pain has been softened since Montrose won 2-1 against Peterhead giving us no chance anyway. Falkirk of Division One has sacked their manager John Hughes with one game to go. The side is level on points with 9th placed St Mirren who is sitting in the relegation spot. The club needs to win in their last game to assure they don’t get relegated. Celtic has won the SPL just like the bookmakers expected with their closest challengers being Hibs who was ten points behind and Rangers a further point back. In the Second Division Morton has made sure it is promoted to the First Division as champions by opening up a seven point gap over 2nd placed East Fife with one match left to play. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 25, 2004 Author Share Posted April 25, 2004 2nd of May 2004 The Champions League semi final second legs were played today. Juventus played host to Anderlecht at the delle Alpi needed just a 0-0 draw to progress through on away goals. Juventus got that score line exactly but must feel frustrated they didn’t score any of their thirty four shots on goal. Juventus progress to reach the final on aggregate 1-1 by the away goals rule. Manchester United blew their one goal advantage over Inter at Old Trafford. The Italians knew they had to score two goals to progress and they did through Recoba and Zanetti. United is out while Inter moved on to set up an all Italian Champions League Final. 6th of May 2004 PSV played in front of their home fans knowing they would need to score two goals to win in regulation time while one goal would send the match to extra time if Parma didn’t score. The script though wasn’t written for the home side as Parma scored the only goal of the match through Gilardino and took the semi final 2-0 on aggregate. Roma hosted Dortmund at the Olimpico holding a 2-0 lead from the first leg. Roma never needed to move out of first gear and won the match 2-0 through goals from Carew and Cerci to set up a all Italian UEFA Cup Final. It seems the Italians are doing well in Europe this season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 26, 2004 Author Share Posted April 26, 2004 8th of May 2004 Dumbarton today appointed ex Inverness Thistle manager John Robertson as their new manager. The club is yet to register a win all season in Division Two and only have one game left before falling into Division Three. Our last match of the season sees Montrose visit Firs Park. The three points means nothing to either club except pride as we can’t better our league positions of 8th and 9th. We have played out three draws this season with only one of the matches having goals scored so this match should be pretty tight defensively. May 8th, 2004 Scottish Division Three Match 36 (h) East Stirling V Montrose <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> East Stirling League Form: LWWLL Position: 9th Montrose League Form: WLLLW Position: 8th </pre> East Stirling (4-4-2) Jon Connolly ©-Roddy Maughan, Graeme McLaren, Graham McGhee, Stephen Oates-Jordan Leishman, Gordon Lappin, Sean McAuley, Jamie Mackay- Paul Rodden, Brian Crawford Subs: Chris Todd (gk), James White, Dougie Polwart, Robert Hare, Stuart Kelly Today I am making a number of changes to the starting line up just to experiment with players who haven’t played regularly this season. Craig Reid and Michael Stewart are replaced by Graham McGhee and Stephen Oates. In midfield Ross Jackson is replaced by Jordan Leishman. While up front Paul Rodden and Brian Crawford are strike partners for today’s match. Our first corner of the match gave us a penalty after McKenzie foolishly handled the ball inside his own area. Crawford took the penalty and just squeezed it past the keeper to give us a one nil lead after eight minutes. Both defences held firm for the rest of the first half with neither side getting any good chances. We were being bombarded with Montrose pressure for the whole of the second half and we finally cracked in the 82nd minutes. Michie found a way through the defence and when his shot was parried Kerrigan snuck in to knock the ball into the goal. 1-1 with eight minutes left to play. The game ended as a draw and I was pretty disappointed though the players I placed into the first team for this match didn’t do too badly. East Stirling 1:1 Montrose East Stirling Goals: Crawford (1) Montrose Goals: Kerrigan (1) MoM: Jon Connolly (East Stirling) Rating-9 Subs: White on for Maughan (66’), Polwart on for McAuley (66’), Ure on for Rodden (66’) Booked: Leishman (East Stirling) Sent Off: - Stadium: Firs Park Attendance: 1424 At the end of the day I didn’t play my best starting eleven and we took a point from the match so I guess I can’t be too disappointed. Stenhousemuir sacked John McVeigh after their 3-1 home loss to Hamilton today leaving them in a 7th placed finish in Second Division. In the SPL Motherwell has been relegated while Ayr has won Division One and will take their place in the holy land of Scottish football. St Mirren has been relegated from Division One while East Fife is coming up to replace them. For our final finish in the Division Three we receive £20,000 and our bank balance moves up to an impressive £141,000 . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sebsy Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Congrats on finishing your first season. Good luck with season 2 if you are continuing your game. I hope you do as I have enjoyed keeping up so far. KUTGW Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 27, 2004 Author Share Posted April 27, 2004 Thanks very much Sebsy and i will defiently be continuing into season 2....though at the moment school is a bit hectic with the ball and exams coming up! Coming up with be a season review and a world league wrap with tables for all divisions Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted April 29, 2004 Author Share Posted April 29, 2004 15th of May 2004 Falkirk has hired Nigel Worthington as their new manager. Nigel is the ex manager of English Division One club side Norwich City who ended the season in 15th spot. 19th of May 2004 If you asked someone what all the fuss about was in Italy they would tell you about the Champions League Final between Juventus and Inter Milan. But before that match there was the UEFA Cup Final to be played between Roma and Parma. In the end one Brazilian made the difference between the two sides when he scored in the 13th minute of the match. The goal scorer was none other than twenty two year old wonderkid Adriano. The match ended 1-0 and Parma was left celebrating a UEFA Cup victory. 22nd of May 2004 Another Cup Final today but it was in Scotland. Celtic V Kilmarnock attracted 52,475 people to Hampden Park to watch an evenly matched two teams. A Celtic veteran scored the goal to give the big Scottish giant another trophy. Lennon scored just after half time and his strike was enough for the 1-0 win. Another UK Cup Final was played today with big spending Chelsea playing new crowned champions Arsenal for the FA Cup. Ljungberg and Pires scored a goal each in the 52nd and 57th minutes respectively to put Chelsea out of the match. Though it wasn’t to be for Arsenal today as Chelsea came back and scored three goals from Anelka and Duff with two goals. Chelsea took their first trophy in their new owner’s reign. Now we are off to Germany for the German Cup Final between German league runner up Dortmund and mid table Werder Bremen. In the end Dortmund finished the season empty handed after Micoud and Ailton struck to give their side a 2-0 victory. Werder Bremen celebrated a cup victory though they will need to improve on their league form. 26th of May 2004 The biggest game in Europe was played today. Juventus played Inter for the right to be called ‘Champions of Europe’. The Italian style of play was employed by both teams both defending and not letting either team get a sniff of goal. The match went to penalties and Juventus held their nerve winning the shootout 4-2. Gerry Boyle has resumed full training after being out for 7 months with a damaged spine. Season Review: All in all we really weren't a strong force in the league and were on the end of some large thumpings. Our defence continued to leak goals from the left,right and centre. Our strikeforce wasn't strong either until the eidition of Brian Crawford from Stenhousemuir. Below you can see the final positions of all the teams in the Scottish Division Three <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Stirling --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Stirling | | 36 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 93 | 38 | +55 | 80 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Cowdenbeath | | 36 | 23 | 3 | 10 | 53 | 26 | +27 | 72 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Albion Rovers | | 36 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 77 | 48 | +29 | 60 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Peterhead | | 36 | 17 | 2 | 17 | 70 | 52 | +18 | 53 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Elgin | | 36 | 15 | 5 | 16 | 48 | 65 | -17 | 50 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Gretna | | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 54 | 57 | -3 | 48 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Stranraer | | 36 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 54 | 57 | -3 | 45 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Montrose | | 36 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 52 | 53 | -1 | 41 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | East Stirling | | 36 | 8 | 9 | 19 | 45 | 77 | -32 | 33 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Queens Park | | 36 | 7 | 4 | 25 | 24 | 97 | -73 | 25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> So we ended the season in 9th and for the last few games we were in position to steal 8th place but it wasnt too be. If we can build and improve our squad before next season i think we can climb up to mid table before pushing for promotion. Next the Worldy League Wrap and the start of the European Championship 2004 in Portugal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgylion Posted April 30, 2004 Share Posted April 30, 2004 D_S,I've got to tell you that today was my first foray into cm stories and after reading of your exploits I'm now hooked,I can't wait for your next installment.Good luck for next season,plus on your world reports could you give a mention of the Wollongong Wolves even if they are still crap(and with you being from Perth you probably hate them anyway) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted May 1, 2004 Author Share Posted May 1, 2004 Thanks Figgylion your comments are much appreicated . In my world wrap i comment on all the leagues which i have made playable(i mentioned those leagues at the beginning). Australia is one of those leagues so you will see it below but I will warn you now that they didnt go too well World League Wrap Australia In the NSL South Melbourne won the minor Championship at the end of the league season. After the league games are played the top six play off in a knockout format. South Melbourne showed they didn’t finish top of the league for nothing when they reached the grand final and beat Marconi 2-1 to clinch the NSL Championship. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - South Melbourne | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | South Melbourne | | 24 | 16 | 3 | 5 | 43 | 29 | +14 | 51 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Melbourne Knights | | 24 | 14 | 4 | 6 | 35 | 24 | +11 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Marconi | | 24 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 36 | 25 | +11 | 38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Parramatta Power | | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 29 | 22 | +7 | 38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Kingz | | 24 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 37 | 32 | +5 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Perth Glory | | 24 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 34 | 29 | +5 | 34 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Olympic Sharks | | 24 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 41 | 33 | +8 | 32 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Newcastle UFC | | 24 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 30 | 35 | -5 | 32 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Northern Spirit | | 24 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 30 | 31 | -1 | 31 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Adelaide Utd | | 24 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 28 | 38 | -10 | 27 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Sydney Utd | | 24 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 29 | 41 | -12 | 24 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Wollongong Wolves | | 24 | 6 | 3 | 15 | 21 | 39 | -18 | 21 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Brisbane Strikers | | 24 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 27 | 42 | -15 | 19 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> NSL Challenge Cup: Perth Glory England In the English Premier League Arsenal didn’t have any clear challengers to the title with the league season ending and Arsenal fourteen points clear of Manchester United. Chelsea and Liverpool finished in 3rd and 4th positions respectively which gave them the chance to qualify for the Champions League next season. Down the wrong end of the table Charlton, Wolves and Bolton all fell down into the Nationwide Division One. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Arsenal | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Arsenal | | 38 | 30 | 7 | 1 | 94 | 35 | +59 | 97 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Man Utd | | 38 | 26 | 5 | 7 | 84 | 42 | +42 | 83 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Chelsea | | 38 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 75 | 51 | +24 | 68 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Liverpool | | 38 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 73 | 55 | +18 | 68 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Leeds | | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 66 | 58 | +8 | 67 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Newcastle | | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 71 | 56 | +15 | 64 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Man City | | 38 | 18 | 9 | 11 | 76 | 59 | +17 | 63 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Everton | | 38 | 16 | 7 | 15 | 66 | 61 | +5 | 55 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Tottenham | | 38 | 15 | 9 | 14 | 67 | 59 | +8 | 54 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Leicester | | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 61 | 68 | -7 | 50 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Aston Villa | | 38 | 15 | 4 | 19 | 66 | 60 | +6 | 49 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Birmingham | | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 59 | 70 | -11 | 46 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Fulham | | 38 | 14 | 4 | 20 | 46 | 71 | -25 | 46 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Middlesbrough | | 38 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 58 | 61 | -3 | 43 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Portsmouth | | 38 | 11 | 9 | 18 | 50 | 76 | -26 | 42 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Southampton | | 38 | 9 | 12 | 17 | 62 | 73 | -11 | 39 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Blackburn | | 38 | 10 | 7 | 21 | 59 | 79 | -20 | 37 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Charlton | | 38 | 8 | 11 | 19 | 40 | 69 | -29 | 35 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Wolves | | 38 | 7 | 10 | 21 | 47 | 72 | -25 | 31 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Bolton | | 38 | 3 | 9 | 26 | 43 | 88 | -45 | 18 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> While down in the English Division One West Brom Albion won the league and Sunderland took 2nd spot to win promotion back to the EPL. Watford beat West Ham 2-1 in the promotion final to take the 3rd promotion spot to the EPL. Down the bottom of Division One saw Burnley, Gillingham and Wimbledon fall into Division Two. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - W.B.A. | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | W.B.A. | | 46 | 28 | 14 | 4 | 92 | 44 | +48 | 98 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Sunderland | | 46 | 25 | 11 | 10 | 94 | 55 | +39 | 86 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | P | Watford | | 46 | 25 | 6 | 15 | 69 | 54 | +15 | 81 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Sheff Utd | | 46 | 24 | 6 | 16 | 72 | 61 | +11 | 78 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | West Ham | | 46 | 22 | 11 | 13 | 74 | 51 | +23 | 77 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Nottm Forest | | 46 | 21 | 12 | 13 | 79 | 59 | +20 | 75 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Reading | | 46 | 21 | 10 | 15 | 69 | 60 | +9 | 73 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Millwall | | 46 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 70 | 60 | +10 | 72 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Cardiff | | 46 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 78 | 77 | +1 | 71 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Coventry | | 46 | 19 | 9 | 18 | 73 | 74 | -1 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Derby | | 46 | 18 | 9 | 19 | 68 | 67 | +1 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Crewe | | 46 | 17 | 12 | 17 | 66 | 74 | -8 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Preston | | 46 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 65 | 65 | 0 | 62 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Stoke | | 46 | 17 | 11 | 18 | 72 | 76 | -4 | 62 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Norwich | | 46 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 69 | 61 | +8 | 60 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Wigan | | 46 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 77 | 65 | +12 | 58 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Bradford City | | 46 | 17 | 7 | 22 | 69 | 82 | -13 | 58 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Crystal Palace | | 46 | 16 | 9 | 21 | 66 | 86 | -20 | 57 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Ipswich | | 46 | 14 | 11 | 21 | 70 | 78 | -8 | 53 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Walsall | | 46 | 15 | 6 | 25 | 63 | 85 | -22 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | | Rotherham | | 46 | 12 | 8 | 26 | 60 | 85 | -25 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | R | Burnley | | 46 | 12 | 8 | 26 | 43 | 75 | -32 | 44 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | R | Gillingham | | 46 | 11 | 9 | 26 | 50 | 77 | -27 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | R | Wimbledon | | 46 | 10 | 9 | 27 | 51 | 88 | -37 | 39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> FA Cup: Chelsea League Cup: Manchester United Community Shield: Manchester United France Lyon and Monaco fought out a closely contested title race until the last two matches of the season when one capitalised on the other’s mistakes. Lyon took the title with Monaco ending up seven points off the pace. Paris Saint Germain and Marseille took 3rd and 4th spot respectively. The teams who will be playing French Second Division next season are Guingamp, Nice and Le Mans. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Lyon | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Lyon | | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 79 | 45 | +34 | 82 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Monaco | | 38 | 26 | 3 | 9 | 72 | 43 | +29 | 81 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Paris-SG | | 38 | 22 | 7 | 9 | 61 | 34 | +27 | 73 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Marseille | | 38 | 21 | 6 | 11 | 71 | 52 | +19 | 69 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Auxerre | | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 65 | 45 | +20 | 65 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Lille | | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 67 | 53 | +14 | 65 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Lens | | 38 | 17 | 9 | 12 | 59 | 41 | +18 | 60 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Nantes | | 38 | 15 | 13 | 10 | 52 | 45 | +7 | 58 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Montpellier | | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 58 | 52 | +6 | 56 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Bordeaux | | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 54 | 53 | +1 | 55 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Bastia | | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 51 | 55 | -4 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Ajaccio | | 38 | 14 | 4 | 20 | 50 | 61 | -11 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Strasbourg | | 38 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 54 | 70 | -16 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Toulouse | | 38 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 45 | 65 | -20 | 46 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Rennes | | 38 | 12 | 8 | 18 | 45 | 53 | -8 | 44 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Metz | | 38 | 13 | 5 | 20 | 58 | 71 | -13 | 44 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Sochaux | | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 45 | 56 | -11 | 43 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Guingamp | | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 52 | 64 | -12 | 40 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Nice | | 38 | 9 | 7 | 22 | 45 | 66 | -21 | 34 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Le Mans | | 38 | 2 | 5 | 31 | 29 | 88 | -59 | 11 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Down in the French Second Division Saint Etienne, Caen and Laval took the top three positions and were promoted to the French First Division. Down the wrong end of the table sees Besancon, Chateauroux and Creteil dropping down a division. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Saint-Etienne | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Saint-Etienne | | 38 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 72 | 34 | +38 | 84 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Caen | | 38 | 23 | 6 | 9 | 70 | 41 | +29 | 75 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | P | Laval | | 38 | 18 | 10 | 10 | 58 | 49 | +9 | 64 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Lorient | | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 54 | 47 | +7 | 58 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Nancy | | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 54 | 46 | +8 | 56 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Niort | | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 57 | 55 | +2 | 56 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Le Havre | | 38 | 15 | 10 | 13 | 56 | 51 | +5 | 55 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Sedan | | 38 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 52 | 45 | +7 | 54 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Amiens | | 38 | 14 | 11 | 13 | 54 | 52 | +2 | 53 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Valence | | 38 | 14 | 10 | 14 | 54 | 59 | -5 | 52 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Grenoble | | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 57 | 60 | -3 | 51 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Gueugnon | | 38 | 13 | 10 | 15 | 54 | 53 | +1 | 49 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Istres | | 38 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 56 | 61 | -5 | 49 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Troyes | | 38 | 15 | 4 | 19 | 56 | 65 | -9 | 49 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Angers | | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 46 | 52 | -6 | 46 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Clermont | | 38 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 51 | 63 | -12 | 42 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Rouen | | 38 | 11 | 8 | 19 | 48 | 63 | -15 | 41 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Besançon | | 38 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 52 | 65 | -13 | 40 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Châteauroux | | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 40 | 65 | -25 | 35 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Créteil | | 38 | 7 | 13 | 18 | 53 | 68 | -15 | 34 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> French Cup: Guingamp League Cup: Paris Saint Germain Champions Trophy: Lyon Germany While over in the German First Division Bayern Munchen stole the league title from Borussia Dortmund on the last match day of the season when Dortmund slipped up at home leaving Bayern to take the title. Dortmund finished runners up while Hertha BSC and Schalke 04 took 3rd and 4th positions respectively. The teams dropping into the German Second Division are Gladbach, 1860 Munchen and SC Freiburg. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - FC Bayern | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | FC Bayern | | 34 | 26 | 3 | 5 | 83 | 31 | +52 | 81 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Dortmund | | 34 | 23 | 9 | 2 | 87 | 36 | +51 | 78 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Hertha BSC | | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 60 | 35 | +25 | 69 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Schalke 04 | | 34 | 20 | 8 | 6 | 65 | 46 | +19 | 68 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Leverkusen | | 34 | 20 | 6 | 8 | 67 | 45 | +22 | 66 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | HSV | | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 66 | 52 | +14 | 61 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | VfB Stuttgart | | 34 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 61 | 46 | +15 | 57 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Wolfsburg | | 34 | 16 | 5 | 13 | 62 | 59 | +3 | 53 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Werder Bremen | | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 56 | 53 | +3 | 52 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Bochum | | 34 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 53 | 66 | -13 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Frankfurt | | 34 | 11 | 4 | 19 | 41 | 65 | -24 | 37 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Hannover 96 | | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 49 | 73 | -24 | 33 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | 1.FC Köln | | 34 | 9 | 5 | 20 | 42 | 55 | -13 | 32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Rostock | | 34 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 52 | 66 | -14 | 32 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Kaiserslautern | | 34 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 44 | 68 | -24 | 29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | R | Gladbach | | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 44 | 69 | -25 | 29 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | R | 1860 München | | 34 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 45 | 73 | -28 | 25 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | SC Freiburg | | 34 | 5 | 4 | 25 | 36 | 75 | -39 | 19 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> In the German Second Division Cottbus won the division while Nurnberg and Duisburg were just behind in 2nd and 3rd positions respectively. All three of the top teams have won promotion to the top flight in Germany. Down the bottom of the table saw Karlsruhe, Lubeck, Aue and Regensburg relegated into a lower division. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Cottbus | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Cottbus | | 34 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 76 | 35 | +41 | 71 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Nürnberg | | 34 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 71 | 40 | +31 | 67 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | P | Duisburg | | 34 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 62 | 43 | +19 | 67 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Mainz | | 34 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 65 | 46 | +19 | 65 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Bielefeld | | 34 | 18 | 5 | 11 | 58 | 49 | +9 | 59 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Union Berlin | | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 56 | 54 | +2 | 52 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Unterhaching | | 34 | 15 | 4 | 15 | 60 | 58 | +2 | 49 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Oberhausen | | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 48 | 45 | +3 | 48 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Ahlen | | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 48 | 45 | +3 | 46 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Aachen | | 34 | 10 | 15 | 9 | 55 | 49 | +6 | 45 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Greuther Fürth | | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 49 | 54 | -5 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Osnabrück | | 34 | 11 | 8 | 15 | 41 | 51 | -10 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Trier | | 34 | 12 | 4 | 18 | 48 | 57 | -9 | 40 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Burghausen | | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 45 | 56 | -11 | 39 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | R | Karlsruhe | | 34 | 9 | 9 | 16 | 41 | 53 | -12 | 36 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | R | Lübeck | | 34 | 10 | 5 | 19 | 43 | 64 | -21 | 35 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | R | Aue | | 34 | 7 | 6 | 21 | 39 | 61 | -22 | 27 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Regensburg | | 34 | 5 | 6 | 23 | 30 | 75 | -45 | 21 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> German Cup: Werder Bremen German League Cup: Borussia Dortmund The World League Wrap continues when we show the league endings in Italy, Scotland and Spain Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgylion Posted May 1, 2004 Share Posted May 1, 2004 Well it's just like real life,pity the real Man.City can't do it as well.kutgw mate,looking forward to hearing more Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted May 2, 2004 Author Share Posted May 2, 2004 Italy Serie A saw Inter Milan win the Scudetto by the smallest of margins. Lazio will feel disappointed falling one point short of Inter Milan’s championship winning total of 74 points. Roma and Juventus both tied on 71 points and took 3rd and 4th spots on the table respectively due to goal difference. Down the other end of the table Modena, Siena and Empoli are falling down into Serie B while Ancona joins them after losing the play offs against Serie B club Vicenza. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Juventus | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Inter | | 34 | 23 | 5 | 6 | 86 | 48 | +38 | 74 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Lazio | | 34 | 23 | 4 | 7 | 82 | 40 | +42 | 73 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Roma | | 34 | 22 | 5 | 7 | 88 | 48 | +40 | 71 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Juventus | | 34 | 22 | 5 | 7 | 78 | 45 | +33 | 71 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Milan | | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 75 | 47 | +28 | 66 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Bologna | | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 51 | 46 | +5 | 52 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Perugia | | 34 | 16 | 2 | 16 | 65 | 63 | +2 | 50 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Sampdoria | | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 56 | 60 | -4 | 48 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Chievo | | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 53 | 55 | -2 | 46 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Parma | | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 56 | 57 | -1 | 42 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Brescia | | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 47 | 60 | -13 | 42 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Lecce | | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 46 | 59 | -13 | 42 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Udinese | | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 56 | 70 | -14 | 38 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Reggina | | 34 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 52 | 71 | -19 | 33 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | Pl | Ancona | | 34 | 8 | 8 | 18 | 44 | 65 | -21 | 32 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | R | Modena | | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 56 | 82 | -26 | 31 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | R | Siena | | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 42 | 63 | -21 | 30 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Empoli | | 34 | 3 | 4 | 27 | 20 | 74 | -54 | 13 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Now falling a division lower into Serie B sees Piacenza crowned Champions by goal difference over Napoli. Also coming up into Serie A is Atlanta, Fiorentina and Cagliari. While dropping into a lower division is Salernitana, Pescara, Venezia and Treviso. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Piacenza | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Piacenza | | 46 | 30 | 9 | 7 | 111 | 58 | +53 | 99 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Napoli | | 46 | 30 | 9 | 7 | 92 | 43 | +49 | 99 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | P | Atalanta | | 46 | 30 | 8 | 8 | 102 | 52 | +50 | 98 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | P | Fiorentina | | 46 | 29 | 5 | 12 | 94 | 59 | +35 | 92 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | P | Cagliari | | 46 | 25 | 7 | 14 | 87 | 63 | +24 | 82 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | Pl | Vicenza | | 46 | 24 | 9 | 13 | 81 | 54 | +27 | 81 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Torino | | 46 | 23 | 12 | 11 | 85 | 63 | +22 | 81 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Genoa | | 46 | 22 | 14 | 10 | 103 | 74 | +29 | 80 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Palermo | | 46 | 21 | 9 | 16 | 77 | 66 | +11 | 72 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Verona | | 46 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 78 | 63 | +15 | 71 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Triestina | | 46 | 17 | 17 | 12 | 79 | 72 | +7 | 68 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Bari | | 46 | 20 | 6 | 20 | 76 | 73 | +3 | 66 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Avellino | | 46 | 19 | 9 | 18 | 81 | 83 | -2 | 66 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Ternana | | 46 | 18 | 11 | 17 | 79 | 84 | -5 | 65 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Ascoli | | 46 | 16 | 10 | 20 | 64 | 71 | -7 | 58 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Como | | 46 | 17 | 5 | 24 | 59 | 69 | -10 | 56 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Livorno | | 46 | 15 | 9 | 22 | 56 | 78 | -22 | 54 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Albinoleffe | | 46 | 14 | 11 | 21 | 74 | 83 | -9 | 53 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | | Catania | | 46 | 10 | 9 | 27 | 49 | 86 | -37 | 39 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | | Messina | | 46 | 11 | 5 | 30 | 43 | 95 | -52 | 38 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | R | Salernitana | | 46 | 9 | 8 | 29 | 59 | 101 | -42 | 35 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | R | Pescara | | 46 | 8 | 10 | 28 | 50 | 82 | -32 | 34 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 23rd | R | Venezia | | 46 | 8 | 9 | 29 | 56 | 102 | -46 | 33 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 24th | R | Treviso | | 46 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 42 | 103 | -61 | 23 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Italian Cup: AC Milan Super Cup: Juventus Scotland Moving on now to Scotland and the SPL. Rangers and Celtic were the only two clubs in the hunt for the SPL title and the green and white of Celtic clinched the title by ten points over their Glasgow rivals. Back another four points was Hibs who had followed Rangers closely all season. The one team who had to leave the SPL was Motherwell after falling three points short of safety. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Celtic | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Celtic | | 38 | 22 | 9 | 7 | 68 | 35 | +33 | 75 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Rangers | | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 62 | 46 | +16 | 65 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Hibs | | 38 | 15 | 16 | 7 | 57 | 38 | +19 | 61 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Aberdeen | | 38 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 51 | 38 | +13 | 60 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Livingston | | 38 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 56 | 43 | +13 | 55 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Kilmarnock | | 38 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 75 | 63 | +12 | 54 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Hearts | | 38 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 59 | 61 | -2 | 54 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Dunfermline | | 38 | 15 | 7 | 16 | 57 | 55 | +2 | 52 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Dundee | | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 52 | 74 | -22 | 48 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Dundee Utd | | 38 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 48 | 61 | -13 | 46 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Partick Thistle | | 38 | 6 | 9 | 23 | 30 | 60 | -30 | 27 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | R | Motherwell | | 38 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 42 | 83 | -41 | 24 | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> In Division One the one spot to join the SPL was hottly contested between Ayr and St Johnstone. In the end Ayr were Champions of Division One by a superior goal difference. While down the bottom of the table saw St Mirren and Ross County falling into Division Two. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Ayr | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Ayr | | 36 | 17 | 12 | 7 | 62 | 43 | +19 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | St. Johnstone | | 36 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 42 | 32 | +10 | 63 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Brechin | | 36 | 14 | 14 | 8 | 64 | 46 | +18 | 56 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Raith Rovers | | 36 | 14 | 9 | 13 | 55 | 55 | 0 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Queen of Sth. | | 36 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 62 | 64 | -2 | 51 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Inverness C. Thistle | | 36 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 50 | 38 | +12 | 50 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Clyde | | 36 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 56 | 64 | -8 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Falkirk | | 36 | 9 | 15 | 12 | 43 | 51 | -8 | 42 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | St. Mirren | | 36 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 55 | 65 | -10 | 41 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Ross County | | 36 | 5 | 10 | 21 | 43 | 74 | -31 | 25 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> While in Division Two there was two promotion spots up for grabs. Morton and East Fife took 1st and 2nd positions respectively to move up into Division One. Hamilton will feel aggrieved missing out on second spot by only two points. The two clubs who will play East Stirling next season in Division Three are Berwick and the only club in all four divisions without a league win all season, Dumbarton. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Morton | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Morton | | 36 | 21 | 8 | 7 | 63 | 31 | +32 | 71 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | East Fife | | 36 | 19 | 7 | 10 | 71 | 49 | +22 | 64 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Hamilton | | 36 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 74 | 47 | +27 | 62 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Airdrie Utd | | 36 | 18 | 5 | 13 | 60 | 59 | +1 | 59 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Arbroath | | 36 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 62 | 55 | +7 | 55 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Forfar | | 36 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 64 | 47 | +17 | 54 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Stenhousemuir | | 36 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 47 | 50 | -3 | 53 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Alloa | | 36 | 10 | 13 | 13 | 44 | 48 | -4 | 43 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | R | Berwick | | 36 | 7 | 8 | 21 | 42 | 67 | -25 | 29 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | R | Dumbarton | | 36 | 0 | 7 | 29 | 30 | 104 | -74 | 7 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> In the lowest of all the four divisions, Division Three, saw Stirling run away with the league title and Cowdenbeath run away with 2nd spot. East Stirling finished in 9th spot eight points away from the bottom club, Queens Park. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Stirling | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Stirling | | 36 | 25 | 5 | 6 | 93 | 38 | +55 | 80 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Cowdenbeath | | 36 | 23 | 3 | 10 | 53 | 26 | +27 | 72 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Albion Rovers | | 36 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 77 | 48 | +29 | 60 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Peterhead | | 36 | 17 | 2 | 17 | 70 | 52 | +18 | 53 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Elgin | | 36 | 15 | 5 | 16 | 48 | 65 | -17 | 50 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Gretna | | 36 | 13 | 9 | 14 | 54 | 57 | -3 | 48 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Stranraer | | 36 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 54 | 57 | -3 | 45 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Montrose | | 36 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 52 | 53 | -1 | 41 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | East Stirling | | 36 | 8 | 9 | 19 | 45 | 77 | -32 | 33 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Queens Park | | 36 | 7 | 4 | 25 | 24 | 97 | -73 | 25 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Scottish Cup: Celtic League Cup: Rangers Challenge Cup: Clyde Spain While over in Spain in the La Liga the usual team won the league. Real Madrid won the league by fifteen points over its closest challengers Betis. Valencia took 3rd spot by a superior goal difference from Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. The teams falling into the second division are Atletico Madrid, Murcia and Albacete. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Real Madrid | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Real Madrid | | 38 | 26 | 8 | 4 | 89 | 45 | +44 | 86 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Betis | | 38 | 22 | 5 | 11 | 78 | 51 | +27 | 71 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | Valencia | | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 66 | 43 | +23 | 65 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Athletic Bilbao | | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 79 | 59 | +20 | 65 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Barcelona | | 38 | 18 | 11 | 9 | 75 | 56 | +19 | 65 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Deportivo | | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 60 | 44 | +16 | 64 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Celta | | 38 | 20 | 4 | 14 | 75 | 66 | +9 | 64 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Real Sociedad | | 38 | 19 | 7 | 12 | 74 | 62 | +12 | 64 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Villarreal | | 38 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 72 | 63 | +9 | 63 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Sevilla | | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 69 | 70 | -1 | 56 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Valladolid | | 38 | 16 | 4 | 18 | 66 | 76 | -10 | 52 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Zaragoza | | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 56 | 61 | -5 | 51 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Mallorca | | 38 | 14 | 6 | 18 | 66 | 83 | -17 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Osasuna | | 38 | 14 | 4 | 20 | 47 | 62 | -15 | 46 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Racing Santander | | 38 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 60 | 73 | -13 | 46 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Espanyol | | 38 | 13 | 4 | 21 | 52 | 63 | -11 | 43 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Málaga | | 38 | 11 | 9 | 18 | 58 | 66 | -8 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | R | Atlético Madrid | | 38 | 12 | 6 | 20 | 54 | 68 | -14 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Murcia | | 38 | 5 | 7 | 26 | 44 | 78 | -34 | 22 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Albacete | | 38 | 4 | 7 | 27 | 35 | 86 | -51 | 19 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> In the Spanish Second Division Xerez won the league by four points over 2nd placed Leganes. While just one point behind in third was Rayo Vallecano. The top three all joined the La Liga while at the bottom of the second division were Sporting Gijon, Cadiz, Salamanca and Malaga “Bâ€. The bottom four all fell into a lower division. <pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Holders - Xerez | Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | C | Xerez | | 42 | 25 | 8 | 9 | 78 | 53 | +25 | 83 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | P | Leganés | | 42 | 21 | 16 | 5 | 71 | 41 | +30 | 79 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | P | Rayo | | 42 | 23 | 9 | 10 | 72 | 46 | +26 | 78 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Alavés | | 42 | 23 | 9 | 10 | 79 | 52 | +27 | 78 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | Elche | | 42 | 20 | 13 | 9 | 71 | 56 | +15 | 73 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | Terrassa | | 42 | 19 | 12 | 11 | 62 | 49 | +13 | 69 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | AlmerÃa | | 42 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 72 | 59 | +13 | 65 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | Numancia | | 42 | 19 | 6 | 17 | 63 | 62 | +1 | 63 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | Tenerife | | 42 | 16 | 13 | 13 | 66 | 57 | +9 | 61 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Córdoba | | 42 | 17 | 7 | 18 | 49 | 52 | -3 | 58 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Las Palmas | | 42 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 55 | 54 | +1 | 58 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Recreativo | | 42 | 13 | 18 | 11 | 69 | 66 | +3 | 57 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | Levante | | 42 | 17 | 6 | 19 | 50 | 51 | -1 | 57 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Eibar | | 42 | 16 | 4 | 22 | 54 | 61 | -7 | 52 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | Ciudad de Murcia | | 42 | 14 | 10 | 18 | 52 | 68 | -16 | 52 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Getafe | | 42 | 14 | 8 | 20 | 54 | 62 | -8 | 50 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | Algeciras | | 42 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 53 | 62 | -9 | 49 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Poli Ejido | | 42 | 12 | 12 | 18 | 49 | 62 | -13 | 48 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 19th | R | Sporting Gijón | | 42 | 12 | 11 | 19 | 55 | 68 | -13 | 47 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 20th | R | Cádiz | | 42 | 9 | 15 | 18 | 47 | 60 | -13 | 42 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 21st | R | Salamanca | | 42 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 54 | 76 | -22 | 37 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 22nd | R | Málaga "B" | | 42 | 4 | 6 | 32 | 41 | 99 | -58 | 18 | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre> Spanish Cup: Real Madrid Super Cup: Real Madrid That concludes the World League Wrap for this season please tune in next season for a look at all the leagues that are running! 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Dark_Soccer Posted May 3, 2004 Author Share Posted May 3, 2004 2nd of June 2004 Today we signed Ilian Kiryakov as a player/coach and the day he arrived at the club he let us know that he would be retiring at the end of the season and focussing on the coaching side of the game. Ilian Kiryakov (36 y/o, Bulgarian, D/M LC ) Last season Ilian played for his club Chumerna thirty two times scoring six goals and thirteen assists. For a thirty six year old he is still going strong but he has announced his retirement which will occur at the end of the season. 6th of June 2004 Clyde has sacked their manager Alan Kernaghan after the club finished seventh in the First Division. Another veteran signing for the club today as John Allison ex Elgin player finally arrives at the club John Allison (34 y/o, Scottish, D/DMRC) John was only at Elgin for one season and only made sixteen appearances for the club last season as he was replaced by a younger player. I still feel he has something to offer for a season in the first team or as a backup. His sixty five pounds per week wage is so small I felt having him in the squad wouldn’t be a bad thing. 9th of June 2004 We signed two younger players today who have a potential to fit into the first team. The first is Ross Flitney who was released a few days ago by Fulham. Ross Flitney (20y/o, English, GK) This young keeper will most likely replace Connolly in goal with his excellent aerial ability and reflexes. He didn’t feature in any first team matches with Fulham understandable with the quality they have but he should find himself playing most matches next season. The second player brought in is Alex McColl after he was released by Rangers. Alex McColl (17y/o, Scottish, DC) I really don’t know if he will fit into the centre of defence as we have so many central defenders to choose from. But on the other hand this season we conceded too many goals and I feel our central defenders didn’t do their job well enough for me not to think about bringing other players in. All will be revealed next season whether he will play many games or not. I may need to release a few players to bring out wage budget down. Michael Hankinson is the first player I am considering to release. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark_Soccer Posted May 5, 2004 Author Share Posted May 5, 2004 12th of June 2004 The opening match of the European Championship in Portugal has Scotland playing Spain in Group B. Scotland scores first through Kenny Miller in the 33rd minute. The Spanish were shell shocked but finally started coming out of their shell. Their pressure finally paid off in the second half. Raul was put through on goal by Helguera and he clinically placed the ball into the net. The match ended 1-1 with the Spanish disappointed after only scoring one of their ten efforts on goal. Today I released Michael Hankinson and Gary McCulloh paying out compensation of £6K and £5K respectively. Michael only played one game for the club scoring a rating of “5†and Gary only played three competitive matches all season. I wish them both luck for the future. Gretna has signed Robert Hare from us after I didn’t renew his contract when it had six months left. Robert never really played his best at the club and I wish him well with his new club. 13th of June 2004 England and Germany faced off today in the second match of the tournament. England scored twice in the first half through Michael Owen after keeping Germany camped in their own half for most of the match. The 2-0 score should have been more if it wasn’t for Oliver Kahn playing a blinder. The home nation was in action today playing Sweden in group D. Portugal scored the only goal through Pauleta in the first half while limiting Sweden to only two shots on target. Portugal will be pleased with their first up win keeping them in contention to qualify from the group. Belgium played Italy today in what looked like to be an easy match for the Italians. As the match wore on it seemed like the Italian players weren’t interested in winning. Belgium scored through Emile Lokonda Mpenza in the 12th minute and continued to apply the pressure. The match ended 1-0 and surprisingly the Italian’s lost their first match of the tournament. Leeds United has brought in receivers after the club announced today it has fallen into bankruptcy. All transfer funding has been withdrawn and it seems the Elland Road faithful will see their star players being stolen at bargain prices. 14th of June 2004 In group A Switzerland played one of the biggest unachieving nations in world football, Holland. The Dutch struck twice before half time through Roy Makaay and kept their opponents scoreless throughout the whole of the match. The win kept pressure off the Dutch manager, Dick Advocaat, after the Dutch FA gave him the objective of reaching the semi finals at the very least. The other match in Group A played today was between Denmark and the Czech Republic. Thomas Sorenson and Petr Cech both had an outstanding game today keeping everything thrown at them out of their respective net. The match ended 0-0 and this was only thanks to both keepers and their heroics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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