AM23

Play-offs 32/33 We have to switch our focus fast now. The disappointment of losing the title is still fresh, but there is only 6 days between our last league match and the first play-off game. Our opponents Portadown have known that they would need to play in this for a while already, as they finished 12 points above 12th place, but 19 behind 10th. They just got promoted from the Championship last season after spending 9 seasons there, so I don't think they would want to get relegated back immediately. History is on Portadown's side, as they have won 19 of 28 games played between both team since the start of the save, with Warrenpoint only winning 6. Warrenpoint Town have been in one promotion/relegation play-off in this save. It was back in 2025/26, when they also ended 2nd in the league. That time around they lost 3-2 on aggregate against Harland & Wolff Welders. Warrenpoint Town - Portadown (First leg) xG: 1.04 - 1.47; Shots: 7(1) - 10(5); Possession: 55% - 45% We played in front of 2,000 spectators in a sold out Milltown for the first time with me in charge, but couldn't do enough to make them happy. We will go into the second leg with a disadvantage. In the first 30 minutes both teams put in one cross. Portadown scored their header, ours went over. It feels like every match has gone this way in the past month. Eoin O'Reilly did get the scores back level, but it didn't last long as a through ball put their striker in a one on one with Colin Armstrong who failed to trouble him. I have just announced I will leave Warrenpoint Town at the end of the season. I don't want this to become another Llanidloes where I don't want to leave, but can't win anything either. I was thinking about staying for one season if we do go up, as to try and help the club settle in the Premiership and make their stay there sustainable, but I'm not really in the mood for that right now. Also, I hope that announcing it at this point might set something in motion for us to still get that promotion. Portadown - Warrenpoint Town (Second leg) xG: 0.75 - 1.63; Shots: 10(4) - 11(4); Possession: 41% - 59% Oh yes! We turn around the deficit with our first win in 7 matches! Warrenpoint Town back in the Premiership after ten years. An early penalty helped us settle the nerves as Lyndon Kane converted it to get the scores level on aggregate. Suddenly we were the team on the front foot, though we couldn't create big chances. After almost an hour was played, Aaron Paul filled everyone affiliated to Warrenpoint Town with joy as he put in a thunderous effort that beat Portadown's goalkeeper. Still, there was a long way to go, and in the end our 3-0 in injury time turned out to be extra important as Portadown got one back after. What a moment to turn around your fortunes! Just an amazing end to the season, even though it didn't get me a trophy. The end of a chapter.

Carrick Rangers - Warrenpoint Town (Matchday 38) So for the third time in this save the final matchday will decide if my team gets the title. The first time we needed a result to go our way which didn't happen. The second time still wakes me up in my sleep sometimes. A win would have been enough, but we got a draw. That meant thing went down to goal difference, which was somehow equal as well. In the end I didn't get the Cymru North title with Llanidloes that I was longing for, as we scored less goals than Conwy. This time we are ahead on goal difference, and a win would put us in a very good position to win the championship. We will be playing Carrick Rangers away from home. In our previous games against them this season we got a 1-1 draw twice, and won the most recent game 1-0. I expect another close game. Institute will be playing Harland & Wolff Welders at home, so I will be keeping an eye on that match as well. No changes in our starting XI from the last match, as I thought we looked solid in that game. Kick-off Goal alert - Early news from the Institute game. They have gotten the lead through an early penalty. Looks like we are going to have to do thing on our own. 11:19 - We build up and keep hold of the ball after some struggles. Eoin O'Reilly cuts inside from the right just over the halfway line and finds Aodhan Doherty on the other side of the pitch. The latter opts for a quick shot from distance! It grazes the bar but ends up out of play. 29:13 - Carrick Rangers have a corner on the right side. They take it short and after a one-two it is passed to the end of the box where we have left one of their players completely free. It's a simple opportunity for him and he gets it in the back of the net. We have been the better team here, but our opponents score with their first shot. 34:23 - A free kick for Carrick Rangers now. Around 30 meters away from our goal but it's shot very well! Flying towards the right top corner! The sound of the crossbar is loud, some relief, but not for long. The ball bounces from the bottom of the bar just over the goalline. We're 2-0 down. Halftime - If any team has been better, it would be us. Two set pieces have put us in a very precarious situation though. I fear another final matchday disaster will be added to the list in 45 minutes. 45:00 - Immediately from the kick-off we build up towards their goal. We don't really get close though, and in the end Aaron Paul goes for a shot from distance which goes far wide of the goal. Goal alert - No help is coming for us. Institute are two goals up and we need a miracle. 54' - One change as I have taken off defensive midfielder Andrejs Piedels. On comes Lyndon Kane into central midfield, where we have three players now. Goal alert - Harland & Wolff Welders have gotten one back. If they draw, a draw is enough for us too. That still looks far away though. 68' - All stats are in our favour. We are playing more attacking and getting quite some shots of, but it hasn't resulted in any big chances so far. I have taken both wingers off. In their place we now have Corey Smith on the left and George Beaumont on the right. 85' - Nothing is happening anymore. I have given up hope. Goal alert - Is a miracle coming? An injury time goal equaliser at the Institute game. Full time - No. We can't do the job today. We actually won none of our games after the league split and that is where we have given things away. No trophy for me this season as we lose the title by one point. I have no words for this really. We were 7 points clear of Institute when the league split, but could only muster 3 draws from there. Especially the two comfortable leads given away in the games against Ards and Ballinamallard feel like they have made a difference, although we were also unlucky to lose this last game and not to beat Institute. We still have the play-offs to play now to at least get the club promotion to the Premiership. For me it isn't really worth anything at the moment. We will meet Portadown there. They are last year's Championship winners.

Warrenpoint Town - Institute (Matchday 37) Our last home game of the season might be the most important one of them all. A win here and we go three points clear of Institute with a better goal difference, though not one impossible to overcome. A draw would keep us in first place too, but a loss would do big damage to our title dreams. Institute are the team who have got everything to win. When the league was split they were three points behind the play-offs and seven points behind us. Now, three games later they have all but caught us already, while one more win in the last two games would at least get them a shot at the play-offs. The one thing we have to hold on to is our record against them this season. A 0-0 away draw was followed by a 2-1 win at home and a 2-0 win away most recently in January. Looking at the other teams, Ards and Harland & Wolff played before us and have drawn each other 1-1. Neither of them can win the title anymore. The only team still with a chance besides us and Institute now is Ballinamallard, but they would need us to draw now and both lose our last match, while also making up a massive amount in goal difference, so that's not going to happen. No big surprises in our starting XI. Most notable name is Matt Connolly, who came back from injury at the start of the month and is in the starting squad for the second time again now. For the rest I've made one change in central defence, where Curtis Nimick has been replaced by Matthew Carmichael. I was pretty consistent in my choice there, but with all the goals conceded I felt like something needed to change. Kick-off 07:16 - A corner for Institute is floated into the box where goalkeeper Colin Armstrong is strong in the air to catch the ball. A slow build up finds Aodhan Doherty a few meters over the halfway line, fairly central in the field. He sees a gap and gives a through ball to put Ben Magee one on one with their goalkeeper! It's a difficult angle and the shot is straight at their goalkeeper, behind for a corner. 12:52 - We win the ball on the edge of our own box and Matt Connolly dribbles forward with it quickly arriving at the halfway line. We pass the ball around on their half where eventually Ben Magee picks it up an odd 30 meters away from their goal. He turns around, decides for a dribble and leaves three man in the dust! He is through on goal again, difficult angle again, but this time from his preferred right side! The ball flies towards the far corner, the net moves, it's in! 15:28 - Matt Connolly dribbles again, this time on their half. Towards the box where Ben Magee is left unmarked, finds him and the latter shoots directly! It's in again, but the flag is up. Clear offside. Halftime - The rest of the half went by without any chances. We've been doing well in keeping Institute away from our goal, though I have experienced that things can change very quickly. 49:28 - We have a free kick around 25 meters away from goal. It looks a good position to go for the shot, but Oliver Jefferies surprises their defence by opting for a short ball to Eoin O'Reilly who is left unmarked outside the penalty area. He gets to the edge of the box and shoots! Just over. 59:09 - A goalkick for Institute is played high and we win the header in midfield. It falls back to one of there defenders at the halfway line. To quick passes and they sent a ball over the top, where their striker is quick to get there! One on one he easily slots it past Colin Armstrong. First chance of the match for Institute and the scores are back level. 66' - Last game was a midweek fixture and we are at the end of a long season, so there are some players getting tired. Aaron Paul has been replaced at right back by veteran Lyndon Kane, while in the center of defence Curtis Nimick comes in for Raymond Caldwell. 80' - The match seems to be in a stalemate. More changes for us with Corey Smith replacing left winger Aodhan Doherty, and Josh Andrews coming in at defensive midfield for Andrejs Piedels. 83:55 - A long ball from their goalkeeper is picked up by us in midfield. We get it to Matt Connolly who gets all the space he needs to dribble. He opts for the shot from 20 meters, but it is an easy save. Full time - 6 minutes of injury time result in nothing either, which means we will stay in first place. We can call ourselves a little bit unlucky not to have gotten more out of this match to be honest. Institute only had one chance, but they did score it which is what was needed for them. It will come down to the last matchday. It's a two horse race at the top. The team that doesn't win the title will go into the play-offs, though a promotion from there won't help my cause with the challenge of course. The one positive I can find, is that we won't be losing the title on goals scored this time around.

April 2033 We go into the deciding month in pole position, knowing that 4 wins would definitely be enough for the title, but we would probably still get there with only 3 wins. No easy games though, so some good form is necessary. We meet the two teams closest to us first. Warrenpoint Town - Ards xG: 2.14 - 1.43; Shots: 12(7) - 10(7); Possession: 58% - 42% A weird match that didn't contain any chances from open play leaves us in disappointment. A fair result, but it's always regretful to give a lead away, especially so late in the game. Nothing happened in a suspenseful first half, after which two penalties put us in the driver's seat with Lyndon Kane continuing his good form by scoring both of them. Things were looking good as our defence kept Ards quiet, but they created chances from three corners in the last 15 minutes, two of which eventually went in. Their equaliser was made possible by our goalkeeper Colin Armstrong being unable to keep hold of the ball, dropping it in front of an attacker for an open goal chance instead. The gap grows to five points as Ballinamallard loses again. The season seems to be just a few matches too long for them. It does look like there are a lot more teams in contention now however, with both Institute and Harland & Wolff Welders coming closer after a win. Ballinamallard United - Warrenpoint Town xG: 2.01 - 2.08; Shots: 13(6) - 13(5); Possession: 43% - 57% Oh come on! I don't know whether to be happy or sad after this game. Another comfortable lead given away as that awful complacency comes into play again. We were trotting along nicely and had Ballinamallard down and out of the title race just after halftime. Aodhan Doherty had provided the first danger as he hit the post after just 4 minutes. He also got an assist on Eoin O'Reilly for our second goal, after the former had already put it on a plate for our star midfielder a few minutes earlier. A corner looked to seal the deal in this match, but a crazy ten minutes came and suddenly the scores were level again. Things only got worse as Hynds scored his fourth goal to get Ballinamallard within 2 points of us on the virtual table, but one of the weirdest goals I've seen in a while saved us from that. In the last second of the game left back Trevor McLaughlin went for the shot with his wrong foot, and somehow the ball ended up in the back of the net after hitting no less than three opposition players. Institute win again and look like our closest title rivals. The door stays open for Ballinamallard, while the rest of the teams look to be too far away to give us any trouble. Harland & Wolff Welders - Warrenpoint Town xG: 3.13 - 2.19; Shots: 12(8) - 16(7); Possession: 41% - 59% Everything is falling apart! Our defence is suddenly letting us down game after game and goalkeeper Colin Armstrong is piling on the mistakes after a solid season. Is the pressure too much for us? In all honesty, it wouldn't even have been weird had this game ended in a draw, but it ends with us giving away our valuable goal difference as well. At 0-0 a penalty was given to us, but Lyndon Kane couldn't convert and at that point I already felt it coming. We were able to nullify their first goal, but two goalkeeper mistakes around the break later we were two goals down and we never recovered. Something inexplicable has been happening as of late. After 28 matches in the season, it was clear why we were so high up the table. Our attack didn't look anything special with 45 goals scored, but our defence was by far and away the best in the league with only 23 goals conceded. Now, 8 games later, our goal difference is 70-43. 25 scored and 20 conceded in eight games. I don't understand how such a bit turnaround can happen, but I can tell you I don't like it at all. To make matters worse, Institute have booked their fourth win in a row and might be the favourites for the title now. We play them next week at home in what will be a huge match. Meanwhile, we seem to have held on to our goal difference just about enough for that to be in our favour. With the next matches being so decisive, they will of course have their own posts.

March 2033 Just the two matches so far this month, though I expect 1 or 2 more to be added once the league is split. Our first match is very exciting, as it could see us go top of the table with a win. Ballinamallard United - Warrenpoint Town xG: 1.53 - 1.62; Shots: 7(3) - 11(6); Possession: 38% - 62% Wow! This could be a season defining comeback. An incredible way to take over first place from Ballinamallard. I don't think they'll get back there either, as they have really been struggling lately with only 11 points in their last 10 games. Both teams started the game nervously, but our opponents were the team that got rid of those nerves the fastest. We already lost both previous matches against them this season 2-0, so when that scoreline reached that exact score again I was already demoralized. My players weren't though and 10 minutes after their second goal Aaron Paul already scored the equaliser. Immediately after they missed a huge chance to get back the lead, which turned out to be their last. We came out of the dressing room well and kept them in check quite easily after Andrejs Piedels had put us in front. Despite three different goalscores today, the man who took home the man of the match award was good old Lyndon Kane. The 36 year old has been so important for us yet again this season starting in about 70% of our matches. Warrenpoint Town - Ballymacash Rangers xG: 2.75 - 0.35; Shots: 21(11) - 4(1); Possession: 67% - 33% A statement in the last game before the split! We get our biggest win of the season against the best team of the bottom half. Captain perfect Aodhan Doherty helped us get to a comfortable two goal margin with a goal and an assist before half an hour had passed, after which both midfielder Oliver Jefferies and winger Eoin O'Reilly scored their 10th goal of the season. The latter was especially good in this game as he created multiple chances for himself and got two goals in the end. What surprised me the most this game is that we didn't let complacency creep in after halftime. The league is split now, though it was already clear for a long time which teams would be on which side. In our half things are very close with every team still at a shot for promotion. Results have been very good for us on that previous matchday, which means we can afford to lose at least one game and probably more as I expect some competitive matches between all teams. Awards Second of the season after those good wins this month.

February 2033 A month full of opportunities for us, where the first match against Carrick Rangers is the most exciting one. We drew them 1-1 twice this season, while the club is yet to beat them in this save after 13 matches. After that we have gotten a draw that should see us get through to the quarter final of the Irish Cup, and three more league matches all against teams fighting relegation. Should be another good month. Some disappointing albeit not surprising news. Oliver Jefferies will join Larne on a free transfer next summer. It was already a sensation we even managed to get him in last summer, but we could only get him on a one year deal and he never felt like renewing his contract. Will be a big miss though as he has just been our best player this season. Carrick Rangers - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.37 - 0.69; Shots: 6(3) - 6(3); Possession: 51% - 49% No better feeling than this, an injury time winner! Can you still call something luck when it happens time and time again? For the third time in four matches we grab a late, very late 1-0 victory through a corner. This time around it was a short corner variant that did the trick as Curtis Nimick was left completely open at the far post. For the rest it was a match which would have been forgotten about by every single spectator had we not scored that goal, as no team made a real claim for a victory today. The best thing about that late goal is that it has sent us past Ards, who lost today, and into the play-off spot. Loughgall - Warrenpoint Town (Irish Cup) xG: 0.83 - 0.87; Shots: 7(2) - 13(4); Possession: 52% - 48% No cup run for us this season. We just weren't at our best today and fair play to Loughgall who are bottom of the table in our division to keep their defence together so well. For the third time under my reign at Warrenpoint Town we go to penalties, and for the third time we lose. Not a great record. The match did start very well for us, with the short corner variant working for the second game in a row to put us in the lead early. I already had the quarter final in my head at that point, and that complacency might have been present for some players too. Our lead was immediately erased and after that there just wasn't anything happening. The stats tell the story of the game, with so little shots and xG after extra time. Full focus to the league now. Dergview have been the only team to take points of us so far in the new year and we meet them again next week. This time at home, so a good opportunity to bounce back. Warrenpoint Town - Dergview xG: 2.02 - 2.77; Shots: 16(5) - 15(8); Possession: 51% - 49% After such a good run of form everything comes crashing down all of a sudden. A horrendous performance as we get battered by 9th place Derview for our second home loss of the season. Shameful. That first half was something I had not seen before from this team. Nothing worked in attack, opponents were left unmarked at the back, stupid tackles were made. Ben Magee brought us back in the game on the brink of halftime with his first goal in what seemed like forever, and after that we actually looked to have a good chance to at least get a draw. We improved our game in the second half and were a tad unlucky as we hit the crossbar twice, while Corey Smith shot the ball miles wide one on one with their keeper. At the end they scored from their first two chances of the half and that was that. Dollingstown - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.35 - 2.38; Shots: 3(2) - 18(7); Possession: 37% - 63% We struggle, but we fight and take three points with us in the end. When the early goal came, it felt like our season could be decided very quickly all of a sudden, but we hit the switch early this time around and got a very deserved win in the end. Captain Aodhan Doherty took his team by the hand in the second half as he scored the first goal and created multiple chances too. Finally, it was Ben Magee who got us in the lead to get us some relief. Great to see him scoring again after such a long time with no goals from him. Warrenpoint Town - Loughgall xG: 2.51 - 0.95; Shots: 19(13) - 10(4); Possession: 56% - 44% One man show! Ben Magee shows he really is back into form. His second first half hattrick of the season gets us some revenge on Loughgall in what turned out to be our biggest win of the season. Just an incredible performance and he got an assist too. The thing that has irritated me most about FM this year is the amount of complacency. I feel like no matter what you say at halftime, when you have a big lead your team just stops playing football at all or something. It has happened so many times that I've conceded two or more goals after the break when up by a big margin. I should probably stop being bothered by it, but I really can't as I feel like the complacency in real life is really not this obvious. Things still looking good here. We still play Ballinamallard United twice too. I was recently thinking that Harland & Wolff Welders would be our biggest rivals for promotion as they were the team in form, but their two losses this month have set them back. Awards Couldn't have asked for a lot more from him.

January 2033 An interesting game on New Year's Day as we meet a team who we haven't been able to beat in our previous two meetings this year. Against the other teams we meet in the league we have won four out of five games. Our bad luck in the cup draws continues as we meet mid table Premiership side Glentoran in the first round of the Irish Cup. Warrenpoint Town - Harland & Wolff Welders xG: 2.45 - 0.54; Shots: 16(7) - 6(4); Possession: 54% - 46% An impressive win to put a close rival at a distance in the table! They provided no trouble for us this time around and even created the chances for us quite a few times. A converted penalty was the perfect start to the game for us and with Harland & Wolff Welders unable to get dangerous in attack it became an easy game for us. What made things even easier was that they started playing the ball to our players in front of goal. None of our goals came with an assist. Corey Smith has recently gotten into the starting XI over Ben Magee and is justifying that decision with his 4th goal of the season today. Dergview - Warrenpoint Town xG: 1.51 - 1.30; Shots: 10(4) - 15(8); Possession: 49% - 51% The first time this season we lose points against one of the four teams fighting relegation. A fair result too, as we were second best for a good part of the match after getting of to yet another perfect start through Eoin O'Reilly scoring his 8th goal of the season. Dergview was dominant for a long time after that, and we only managed to create chances again from the 60th minute onwards. Irish Cup coming up next. I don't have any expectations of it really with the draw we have gotten. Glentoran - Warrenpoint Town (Irish Cup) xG: 0.51 - 1.25; Shots: 4(1) - 15(7); Possession: 42% - 58% What a performance! We dominate one of the most historical clubs in Northern Ireland for 90 minutes straight in their own stadium. I feared another cup exit despite tied scores after regular time like we experienced twice against Glenavon, but a late corner let the away section erupt. An amazing defensive showing laid the foundation for this result, so it was only fitting that center back Curtis Nimick became the matchwinner. We have had better luck in the draw this time, as we will travel to Loughgall in the second round. They are fighting relegation in our division. Warrenpoint Town - Lisburn Distillery xG: 1.52 - 0.24; Shots: 12(5) - 5(1); Possession: 59% - 41% Deja vu! Just like in the cup game we dominate but forget to score, only to be saved by an 87th minute corner scored by one of our center backs. This time around Raymond Caldwell was the man who ran away celebrating. We really did miss a few huge opportunities in this match, especially in the first half. In the end we get our 3rd win over Distillery in as many games this season. Institute - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.54 - 2.52; Shots: 6(0) - 16(4); Possession: 41% - 59% It's another great showing! Arguably our best match in a month, as we slowly took the game away from Institute and never let them back in it. The first 20 minutes went by quickly, but from there on we slowly started to take initiative. We already had a big chance to go 1-0 up towards the end of the first half, but Corey Smith couldn't get it past their goalkeeper from short range. We got our opening shortly after the break, when Oliver Jefferies hit the woodwork from a free kick and Aaron Paul was the quickest to react for the rebound. After getting the second goal we didn't get into trouble anymore either. A very good way to start the year this was, especially as Ballinamallard have continued slipping up and are now well within reach for us. Things are only getting closer at the top of the table though, with Ards and Harland & Wolff Welders in great form too. The latter might be the most dangerous team in the league right now and were pre-season favourites too. Only makes it more impressive that we beat them by three goals. We are also approaching the league split with only 6 games left to play before it. No real excitement there though as it looks quite clear which teams will end up in the top and bottom half. The top 6 playing an extra game against each other at the end is definitely an interesting prospect looking at how close things are. Awards

December 2032 Three easier games on paper, as well as two very interesting home games agains league leaders Ballinamallard and against rivals Newry City. Hoping for at least 10 points here. Lisburn Distillery - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.41 - 0.93; Shots: 3(0) - 13(4); Possession: 34% - 66% Set-pieces get us a third win on the bounce and also our first clean sheet in 9 games. Raymond Caldwell headed us into the lead from a corner with his first goal for the club. The second goal was a great free kick by our star midfielder. The match wasn't of high quality for the rest, but we aren't too bothered by that. Warrenpoint Town - Dollingstown xG: 2.03 - 0.62; Shots: 22(8) - 6(2); Possession: 61% - 39% We entertain our home fans with a big win to get us back into second place. Good performances all around the pitch today. It quickly became clear why Dollingstown are bottom of the table, as the provided us with no resistance in the first 20 minutes which meant we got to a comfortable lead early. Corey Smith got the nod as our striker today and quickly paid back faith, while Aodhan Doherty was the man of the match with a goal and an assist. Warrenpoint Town - Newry City xG: 1.37 - 1.37; Shots: 19(8) - 6(2); Possession: 57% - 43% My first derby win at the third time of asking! We made it more difficult than necessary for ourselves once again, but in the end we get our 5th win in a row. The tone was set early with an awful tackle which reduced Newry to 10 men. When we capitalised almost immediately through left back Brian Quinn, I thought it would be an easy game. That was not how it went though, as we didn't create enough chances and had to take an equaliser 15 minutes before the end when we gave away a penalty. Luckily we kept fighting and got in front quickly again as Lyndon Kane hit the ball well from the edge of the box. This is really bad news. He was getting better and better but will be out for most of the season now. Ballinamallard United - Warrenpoint Town xG: 1.48 - 1.30; Shots: 17(5) - 10(5); Possession: 51% - 49% Our firs home loss of the league season sees Ballinamallard disappear in the distance at the top of the table. They started the game a lot better and got a comfortable lead by scoring 2 headers in quick succession. Colin Armstrong didn't look good with their second goal. After that we took over initiative, but couldn't finish our chances. Ballinamallard didn't even have a shot after the break, but that didn't matter as we forgot to score. We were scheduled to play against Dergview now, but that match has been postponed. After that last match I thought 2nd place should be our goal, just to see Ballinamallard lose twice in a row all of a sudden. If the wheels come of there we might still have a chance at a trophy this season. At least the fight for second place is very tight with 5 teams competing.

November 2032 Due to a rescheduled match we play Ards back-to-back at the start of November. They are the only top half team we have beaten so far. Also, Ards and Institute are both above us in the table, but we have games in hand on both of them too. Winning games against them could get us into second place. Warrenpoint Town - Ards xG: 0.73 - 1.41; Shots: 7(3) - 10(2); Possession: 55% - 45% We needed some individual brilliance to avert our first home loss of the league season in this match. We played awfully bad for most of the game, only getting any pressure on them in the last 20 minutes when we tried something different tactically with Oliver Jefferies as a shadow striker. He dribbled past 3 men and slotted home for the equaliser in the 80th minute. Ards - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.85 - 1.21; Shots: 12(6) - 5(1); Possession: 38% - 62% Same result, and probably the right result for this match. It does mean we have now failed to win in our last 5 games. Also, we are on course to equal the record of draws in a season as we have now drawn exactly half of our games. We started out in a 4-4-1-1, which is different from our usual 4-3-3. I hoped to get some more grip on the game by playing in a more defensive counter attacking system, but it honestly didn't work that well. We did get in front through a penalty which meant Oliver Jefferies continues to bother Ards as he scored his 4th goal against them. They couldn't get close to our goal either, but did get the equaliser shortly after the break with a screamer from distance. Harland & Wolff Welders - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.87 - 1.35; Shots: 4(3) - 18(5); Possession: 45% - 55% Yeah... What can I say after a match like this. We were dominant from start to finish but were up against it early when we conceded yet another amazing goal from outside the box. They had 2 shots and 0.04 xG until they scored their second goal from a rebound after a counter. Warrenpoint Town - Institute xG: 2.12 - 1.22; Shots: 24(8) - 5(3); Possession: 58% - 42% A much needed win! Another match in which we were dominant and this time we do get the scoreline to prove it. We did make it harder for ourselves again as Curtis Nimick gave away a penalty after a first 30 minutes we should have taken the lead in. A good indirect free kick got the scores back level quickly though, and we became clear favourites after a horror tackle just before the break. It took us some time to break down their ultra defensive formation in the second half, but we eventually managed it courtesy an Aaron Paul wondergoal. Loughgall - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.88 - 2.71; Shots: 7(6) - 22(3); Possession: 37% - 63% Ruud van Nistelrooij, ketchup bottle, with one comes two. We're back on track. A third good game in a row, although we did make it way harder than it should've been once again. A lack of concentration early and we were trailing. Our failure to get shots on target meant it took us long to turn things around. Ben Magee was the catalyst, first seeing a goal disallowed before delivering a great assist. Our best man on the pitch was left back Brian Quinn, who got the winning assist a mere two minutes after our equaliser. Around halfway through the season we are still close to that play-off spot. It wasn't a great month but it does look like we have now overcome our dip in form.

October 2032 Busy month October is. Yet another attempt at hindering Glenavon in a cup, while also playing 5 league games. Four of those league games are against teams in the lower half of the table, while Carrick Rangers is looking like an early season rival for us. First up is Dollingstown, a team I don't have fond memories of playing. In the semi final of the Mid-Ulster Cup last season we gave away a 4-0 lead against them after the break. Dollingstown - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.45 - 2.36; Shots: 7(3) - 12(4); Possession: 37% - 63% We give them no chance and book a second comprehensive victory in a row. Aodhan Doherty was the best player out there today with two assists, while Oliver Jefferies assisted our striker Ben Magee for the 5th time this season. They have been linking up very well. We go into our home game against Glenavon filled with confidence, and also knowing that we should have beaten them in the League Cup earlier this season. Will be a fun one. Warrenpoint Town - Glenavon (Mid-Ulster Cup) xG: 1.57 - 0.88; Shots: 16(4) - 10(4); Possession: 68% - 32% We can only blame our inability to finish our chances for this loss. We actually dominated Glenavon for 90 minutes, where they only mustered 4 shots in total, but in extra time our players were too exhausted to keep it going. We had 2 or 3 good chances to take the lead and should have won this one in normal time. He came off injured in the first half and might be what we missed in our finishing. Will be a big miss the rest of this month. Warrenpoint Town - Dergview xG: 1.88 - 0.50; Shots: 17(6) - 7(3); Possession: 52% - 48% Our fifth league win in six games! We are looking very good on the pitch at the moment and have moved up into second place now, three points behind the league leaders. We had a bad start to the game, but it didn't cost us as Dergview couldn't score their early chances. Lyndon Kane then missed a penalty, but still became the man of the match as he scored the first and assisted the second. Winger George Beaumont got his first goal for the club. It has been a few years since my last course, but I will get one step closer to completing all of them with this one. Warrenpoint Town - Carrick Rangers xG: 0.96 - 0.68; Shots: 9(5) - 3(1); Possession: 48% - 52% New striker Corey Smith saves a point for us with his first goal for the club. In yet another match where chances were scarce, our opponents didn't even try anymore after going up, while we finally got into our groove halfway through the second half. It is worth noting that since the start of this save these teams have met 13 times, and Warrenpoint haven't been able to win any of those games (7 draws, 6 losses). With me in charge the meetings have resulted in 1-1 three times now. In our next game we play our second Mourne derby of the season against Newry City, which is another team that has dominated this club over the course of this save. At the moment we are 6 derbies without a win, with the last victory more than 3 years ago. Second noteworthy injury of the season. He is a back-up winger so we should be able to go without him for a few games. Newry City - Warrenpoint Town xG: 2.33 - 1.04; Shots: 17(9) - 8(3); Possession: 41% - 59% We are lucky to draw them for a second time in what was our worst game of the season. We were absolutely horrible in the first 20 minutes and could well have been 3-0 down at that point. Two big chances early wasn't enough warning for us as we gifted them a penalty right after for them to take a deserved early lead. An Aodhan Doherty assist provided a quick reaction from us with our first shot of the game, though we were still being completely outplayed. After we had finally stopped their flurry of chances a little bit we even grabbed a miraculous lead when the ball fell to midfielder Oliver Jefferies. The equaliser came before the break, and after that nothing much happened as we made some much needed tactical changes. Ballymacash Rangers - Warrenpoint Town xG: 1.27 - 1.03; Shots: 9(2) - 6(1); Possession: 36% - 64% Our streak of 10 unbeaten games in the league ends here. It was another match where we had trouble creating chances, while giving away too much space at the back. Ballymacash were the most dangerous team overall and probably deserved the win. They let two massive chances go begging in the first half while we were unable to put anything against that. At halftime Ben Magee came on back from his injury, but it was clear he missed some games as the ball looked to fly out of the stadium when he got our only real chance of the game. We have been very hard to beat so far, but aren't winning enough of our games. We played 7 of our games against teams in the top half and only managed to win one of those, although we did hold our opponents to a draw five times. Still, we are in a very good position and if we win our games in hand we would be in the play-off spot. Ballinamallard have finished mid table in the Championship nearly every season in this save apart from one shock promotion via the play-offs. They look set for a second surprising season as they just keep winning. Awards

September 2032 4 home fixtures this month which should make for some wins. In the matches against Lisburn Distillery and Loughgall we will be the favourites as both of them have less quality and are below us in the table. In the Mid-Ulster Cup we've been unlucky for our second cup draw in a row as we take on one of the Premiership sides in the first round. Dungannon Swifts actually one the thing last year so our second cup game in a row where we will play the holders. Warrenpoint Town - Lisburn Distillery xG: 0.99 - 0.27; Shots: 11(2) - 3(0); Possession: 56% - 44% A solid performance gets us our second win of the season. A beautiful bit of football led to the only goal of the match where Ben Magee only had to put his foot against the ball to get his 5th league goal of the season. After that the spectacle remained absent once again, but we won't complain about that. Center back Curtis Nimick was our best defender today. Warrenpoint Town - Dungannon Swifts (Mid-Ulster Cup) xG: 2.00 - 0.29; Shots: 16(6) - 3(2); Possession: 50% - 50% A dominant win! I expected us to have a chance, but not to walk over them like this. It's the second year in a row that we knock out the holders of this cup! Ben Magee is really making us look like a one man team at the moment, as he seems to be the only one who appears on the scoresheet. Today he was by far and away the most dangerous man on the pitch, as he also had a goal disallowed. I can't just look over our defence though, with them keeping a clean sheet for the third game in a row. Defensive midfielder Andrejs Piedels was the most important man there today with his interceptions. For some reason we just can't stop drawing Glenavon in these cups... We meet them at home in the quarter final. It will be our fourth cup meeting in two seasons, with the current record being 1-1-1. Warrenpoint Town - Harland & Wolff Welders xG: 1.42 - 1.08; Shots: 19(6) - 12(5); Possession: 52% - 48% A good result against the title favourite, although we are getting into a habit of not winning these games where we are slightly better than our opponents. Just when it looked like an entertaining first half would end without goals, right winger Eoin O'Reilly pulled off a cheeky shot that kept low from a wide position inside the box. He surprised their goalkeeper with it to get us in front. A beautiful free kick got the scores back level in the second half. We had lots of shots today, but most of them weren't dangerous to be honest, as we didn't really create any big chances. Ards - Warrenpoint Town xG: 1.49 - 1.67; Shots: 15(10) - 10(5); Possession: 38% - 62% We hold onto our lead by the grit of our teeth to win this difficult away fixture. We were second best in this game, but do take the three points home which is all that matters. We took the lead early as midfielder Oliver Jefferies scored his first goal for the club with a great volley from the edge of the box. He immediately got his second too, as we got the chance to restore our lead from the spot. After that Ards had the upper hand for most of the game and it felt like we were waiting for the equaliser. Things took a different turn though, thanks to substitute left back Brian Quinn delivering a perfect cross in the 77th minute. It meant the goal Ards finally did score wasn't enough for them to get anything from this game. Warrenpoint Town - Loughgall xG: 2.38 - 0.70; Shots: 18(11) - 6(2); Possession: 59% - 41% We get a big win, even though it took us until after halftime to really get going. Our fans were entertained with some beautiful goals today. Aodhan Doherty and Ben Magee linked up for our first two goals which both gave us the lead. The best one was the second, as Magee brilliantly chipped their goalkeeper. We eventually got the big score through Eoin O'Reilly, who scored for the third match in a row. A great month as we collect 10 points in the league, while also getting a surprise win in the Mid-Ulster Cup. We have moved up to 3rd place, although the table is still very close. We do have the best defence in the league so far, which is great to see. Ballinamallard have been the big surprise up until this point, with the media expecting them to finish in the lower half of the table. Awards First of the season!

July/August 2032 We have a lot more league games this season as we meet every team either 3 or 4 times. After 33 games the table is split after which you play all teams in your half one more time. We start with a month of mixed difficulty in the league. Most exciting fixture is the home game against Newry City. They are our rivals, which means after almost 10 years in managment I will finally experience a derby. Warrenpoint Town - Ballymacash Rangers xG: 2.40 - 1.17; Shots: 18(10) - 7(5); Possession: 67% - 33% Incredible! What a way to start the season! Couldn't have asked for anything better than this really. We immediately show our competition that we are not here to fight against relegation. It didn't take our new star man in midfield Oliver Jefferies long to make a difference. He put Ben Magee in front of the goalkeeper four times in the first half, with the latter finishing three of them to defeat his former club before the match had well and truly started. Magee the hero, Jefferies the star. That was the story of the day. Carrick Rangers - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.61 - 0.70; Shots: 7(3) - 12(3); Possession: 46% - 54% Not a spectacle at all this. A fair result in the end in this pretty boring match. We took the lead through Ben Magee again as he capitalised on a defensive mistake. We kept the shop closed pretty well at the back, but they did manage an equaliser pretty late in the game. Ballinamallard United - Warrenpoint Town xG: 1.37 - 1.36; Shots: 8(4) - 12(5); Possession: 37% - 63% A very unlucky first loss of the season. A screamer and a penalty brought them the lead in a for the rest awful first half. After the break we finally got to playing some football, but were unable to finish our chances. Overall, I think we were the better team today, but we have got nothing to show for it. Our focus now moves on to two quick matches in succession. The first of those is my first ever derby against Newry City. The second is in the league cup, where we have been unlucky in the draw as we have to travel to Glenavon. They are the current holders of the competition, and we have of course met them twice last season. Warrenpoint Town - Newry City xG: 1.29 - 0.64; Shots: 12(3) - 7(2); Possession: 55% - 45% A hardly fought Mourne Battle in front of almost 1,700 spectators ends undecided. It was probably a fair result looking at the flow of the match. We attacked more in the first half but couldn't really break through and only got to long range shots and some weak headers. This time around we were lucky to get a goal gifted to us through a penalty though. We didn't give any real chances away either, with Raymond Caldwell our best defender, but it was another shot from distance that hurt us in the end. Glenavon - Warrenpoint Town (League Cup) xG: 1.84 - 1.90; Shots: 15(8) - 17(6); Possession: 38% - 62% A real rollercoaster of emotions this match was and in the end we fall just short of beating Glenavon in their own backyard. We put up a great fight and even dominated in possession, but forget to reward ourselves for our troubles. After a first half in which both teams were pretty equal, we quickly took the lead in the second part. Lyndon Kane had come off the bench during the break and from right back he got an assist on our captain to get us the lead. With only 15 minutes left, substitute Chris Mellon won a penalty, and had the chance to double our lead himself, but he failed to do so. 5 minutes later the scores were equal. Extra time didn't bring any chances with it, which meant a penalty shootout was needed to decide the winner. Colin Armstrong kept us in it after our young striker had failed from the spot for a second time, but our hopes ended when our 6th penalty hit the post. Institute - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.60 - 0.55; Shots: 6(3) - 6(1); Possession: 40% - 60% A scoreless draw means we remain winless for our fifth game in a row. No team deserved to score, let alone win in this one. In an awfully boring match Jack Kehoe created the best chance of the first half for himself with a dribble but his shot went just passed the outside of the post. The best chance in the second half was for Institute close to the end of the game, but they too couldn't get it on target. We couldn't replicate our spectacular start of the season - when we were 3-0 after 21 minutes - in the games after. It has to be said that we may have been a bit unlucky, but also that we just met some good teams already. What did surprise me a little bit is the lack of overall entertainment in our recent games, where both sides found it hard to create real chances. Transfers I've made one last transfer on deadline day. We were in need of an extra striker, so I'm very happy to welcome Corey Smith, who has played in the Premiership for most of his career and scored 10 goals there last season.

Yeah it just shows that this club never should have been relegated from the Championship in the first place. I really came in at the right time here.

Pre-season 32/33 In the end the decision to stay was not a difficult one. No job that I actually found interesting became vacant, so I put my signature under a new contract quite easily in the end. What followed might have been the most exciting transfer summer I've experienced so far in this save. First of all, I managed to keep all of the starting XI at the club as well as a few important back-ups. On top of that, with still a month to go in the window I have already gotten most transfer business over with and it has been good. When the season refresh happened I finally got the conformation that our squad last season was already of a level that could compete around mid table in the Championship. With no reinforcements having come in yet at that point, the media prediction already had us in 6th place. Now, as we still had a lot of budget available, we were able to get in some very good reinforcements, which means expectations have only risen since. The friendlies have also shown me that we might have another exciting season ahead of us. First we played some away games against teams in tiers below us and barely had to concede any shots in each one of those games. The real tests came in the last week, when we met two Premiership sides at home. We actually managed to beat both of them with especially the big win against Ballyclare Comrades as a statement. Finances A higher wage budget than last season of course, and we are making use of it pretty well already. There might be room for 2 more players to come in. As for the league, we are the 5th biggest spender currently. The Irish Cup run helped us keep the balance stable last season in what would have been a bad financial year otherwise. Not a big surprise given the fact we were spending way more on wages then other teams in the Intermediate League. Transfers Seven players have come in so far, while no real interesting players from last season have left the club. The newcomers: Chris Mellon: a young striker who came through the academy of Larne, who have been the best Northern Irish team in this save. Matt Connolly: we had him on loan already for the second half of last season. He didn't play too much then, although he was good on the pitch. The playmaker will get enough playing time this season though, as we play 38 games in the league alone, which will mean we need to rotate more. George Beaumont: not a bad looking winger who can play on both sides. We missed some depth at both positions last season so a very welcome reinforcement for us. Raymond Caldwell: will probably be our main center back this season. Looks strong defensively and is not on a big wage either. He played a full season in the Championship last year while he has also played quite a few Premiership matches before. Despite his age, this is already his 9th club. Brian Quinn: a left back who is especially strong defensively. He had a good season in the Championship last year, and he too already has some Premiership caps to his name. Eoin O'Reilly: another winger which was needed for the squad depth. He came from the Cymru North, which is of course a competition I know very well by now. Last season he scored a goal every two matches. Oliver Jefferies: I saved the best for last as this guy is a true coup for us. The Welsh U21 international comes directly from the Manchester City academy and immediately looks to be our best player. He is most suited to be a playmaker, but could fill in every midfield role for us really. His only downside is his less than ideal personality. Also, look at that transfer value Squad No reason to search for a new goalkeeper after the season Colin Armstrong had. We could use another back-up here though. Defence is looking very good for me. Aaron Paul will stay in his important role while Brian Quinn will be the man at left back. In the center Raymond Caldwell is a given while three players will have to decide who gets the second spot there. A balanced midfield, although an extra defensive option wouldn't hurt us. For now Andrejs Piedels will fill in that role, as he did quite well there last season. Lyndon Kane will stay in the team as a deep lying playmaker, while Oliver Jefferies is our go-to as box-to-box midfielder. I think I will start the season with the same attack that won us the league last year. Ben Magee has already played a lot in the Championship so he should be able to lead the rest here. Jack Kehoe only got better over the course of last season, and Aodhan Doherty is our captain who was involved in 31 goals last year. Media prediction According to the bookies we have a good chance at another promotion. We should at least finish in the top half I think. Board expectation Nothing special here. We don't have to play the qualifying rounds in the Irish Cup this year which means our journey there only starts in January. Our best chance at a trophy might be the Mid-Ulster Cup, although there are four Premiership teams in there now.

Season review 31/32 So all it took to finally get that first trophy was to leave Llanidloes. Of course joining a club where financially a lot more was possible than for their division rivals also helped my cause quite a bit. Still, I think we had an exceptional season with only two losses in the league and two cup semi finals aswell. After a very busy summer transfer window a change of tactics came early in the season, after which we never really looked back. The wins came easily and in the end we won the league by a 9 point margin to show our dominance. Our team actually only seemed to get better as the season went on. Testament to that is the fact that we only conceded 5 goals in our last 16 league matches, as well as winning our last 8. Competitions Not a lot of fluctuation in our league position this year as we were just clearly the best team. Starting of with a crazy tactic the balance after the month of August was 3 wins and 1 loss with a goal difference of 16-12. Despite us getting a good amount of points, it was clear that we were gambling way too much with this tactic. For the first time in this save I went for a good old gegenpressing system and it worked wonders. In the autumn and winter months from September to January we only drew 3 league games out of 14. Our only loss came as a surprise at the end of January at home against Bangor, in a match where we were by far and away the better team. Despite all those wins the gap to second place was still only 3 points at that moment. However, while both of our rivals Banbridge and Moyola Park dropped points in the next month, we never did so anymore. We won 8 games in a row to express our quality and did so with the goal difference of 25-2. An amazing Irish Cup run was a highlight too this season. We easily dispatched of four amateur sides to get to the tournament proper, even though we played all matches away from home. Our fortune with the draws came from then, as we got three home games in a row without meeting a Premiership side too. Still, beating two Championship sides was a great achievement, especially that resounding 5-1 victory over Institute, who ended their season in 3rd place. Glenavon proved too much for us with two early goals in the semi final, but it did make us a lot of money. Our regional cup was a tournament of big ups and downs. First we easily dispatched of division rivals Banbridge, after which the best result of the season came. We beat Glenavon who were leading the Premiership at the time and by three goals too. In the semi final we looked set for the final when we where somehow beating a Championship side 4-0 at the break. Everything fell apart in the second half though, after which we had to concede an extra time winner to leave us in disbelief. The Intermediate Cup was the least spectacular competition we participated in this season. We did once again beat Banbridge in the first round, after which easy games against lower league sides came. In the end our game against Carrick Rangers didn't deserve a winner in normal time, and we were unlucky to lose out on the quarter final through penalties. Squad Colin Armstrong: he was the last transfer of the summer and proved to be a good one in the end. He needed some time to settle at the club and was guilty of a few mistakes early in the season, but at the back end he did make some very good saves to help us. With 13 clean sheets in 22 league games he was an important player for this team. Aaron Paul: the player with perhaps the most important role in the team, as he needed to be active both in defence and attack with his inverted wing back role. He filled that role perfectly, and got a whopping total of 10 league assists. Curtis Nimick: he had a solid season at center back and contributed in attack a lot too, with 10 goals from corners. A small sidenote to this is that 6 of those goals came against amateur sides in the cups. James Forrest: for me probably the find of the season. He was already at the club when I came in and after contemplating for a while I decided to renew his contract. He was 4th choice at center back at first though, and only came into the team due to injuries halfway through December. Coincidence or not, it was from that point onwards that our defence barely conceded any goals anymore, so he never got taken out of the starting XI again. Matthew Carmichael: not a bad season from him, although he does have the lowest average rating here. He started out at center back and eventually replaced Trevor McLaughlin at left back. Odhran Casey: a decent defensive midfielder, although he did lose his place in the starting XI towards the end of the season to Andrejs Piedels. Lyndon Kane: getting him in despite his age (35 now) might have been my best decision on the transfer front. His experience of playing almost 500 games at the top level helped us out massively, together with his qualities as a dead-ball specialist. Together with Paul and Magee one of my top 3 players for sure. Josh Andrews: he started the season quite anonymously, but turned into one of our best goal scorers in the end. He really made the box-to-box role his own in midfield. Jack Kehoe: was a little bit disappointing early in the season, especially given the fact that he was the club's top earner. At times he was even demoted to the bench with Gerard Black being our right winger instead. He settled at the club more and more though, and does show some nice stats in the end. Aodhan Doherty: our captain who I might have underappreciated a tad. A massive number of assists for him and our second best goal scorer too. Due to the lack of a real alternative he started nearly every match too. Ben Magee: I was happy to get in a striker with more than 10 goals in each of his last 5 seasons in the Championship, even though it meant he only scored around one goal every three games. It was however clear that he was able to practice his trade at a lower level this year. He became the league's top scorer with 20 goals. Awards Great season by him. Next season The board have increased the budgets a little bit. To be honest, I feel like the squad we had this year would already have been able to compete around mid table in the Championship. This means my plan is to keep in most of the 15 players that we really used a lot and build the team around them. A bigger squad is necessary as the Championship has a 38 game season with quite a few midweek games in there. But given the fact that around €100k is still available, it should be possible to get in the required reinforcements. All transfer talk aside though, I am not yet certain if I want to stay for another season. With the required players coming in I think top half would be very possible, and maybe even competing for promotion, but I do fear that I might become too attached to this club quite easily. I haven't renewed my contract yet, so if I do see another interesting club to manage, I might jump ship. Progress Llanidloes had their worst season since the start of the save ending in 12th with only 29 points... Seems like all building I did there has been for nothing. Finally some green on this list!

April 2032 A very exciting month coming up. First of course that semi final, where Glenavon will not want to be surprised by us for the second time this season. Presuming that we won't have gotten the title thrown into our lap by then, our first chance to wrap up the league is at home against Banbridge Town, a team who we replaced on top of the table twice this season. Warrenpoint Town - Glenavon (Irish Cup) xG: 0.90 - 2.02; Shots: 8(1) - 13(6); Possession: 44% - 56% Glenavon make an end to our dreams early in the game. Unsurprisingly, they were just the better team. Of course giving away a penalty so soon didn't help our cause. They scored their second with a header from an indirect free kick and with that our hopes were gone. We did get a consolation goal and €42k in gate receipts for our troubles. We quickly switch our focus back to the league. We can win title in front of our own fans, so no reason not to win. Warrenpoint Town - Banbridge Town xG: 2.70 - 1.84; Shots: 16(7) - 18(8); Possession: 72% - 28% Finally the wait is over! Banbridge might have nightmares of us for some time as we convincingly beat them for the 4th time this season and might have cost them the play-offs after knocking them out of two cups before. It was Ben Magee again who did everything today. He started of with a perfect through ball on Jack Kehoe, who also got an assist later on. Just before the break he made sure there was no doubt left with a quick double strike, one of which came from a magnificent volley with his wrong foot. We were already in a festive mood in the second half and didn't do a whole lot anymore. Goalkeeper Colin Armstrong should be credited for still keeping the clean sheet, which was his 11th in the league season. Donegal Celtic - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.41 - 2.45; Shots: 4(1) - 19(9); Possession: 41% - 59% We cruise to our 20th league victory. Early goals helped us a lot in this one. Ben Magee looks to be on a mission to become the league's top scorer. Our best man today was left back Matthew Carmichael, who was did perfect in defense. Warrenpoint Town - Belfast Celtic xG: 1.19 - 0.63; Shots: 12(7) - 8(4); Possession: 72% - 28% We treat our fans to some goals for the last time as we grab a league record too with our 8th consecutive win. Even more special to me is the fact that we managed a 5th league clean sheet in a row too. Jack Kehoe showed his value today as he contributed to all 3 goals. In the end we win the league by a big margin. We don't get a point record as Bangor got to 70 points a few seasons back, but still we got a whole lot. Our biggest achievement is only conceding 23 goals after the count was already at 12 after four games. Moyola Park will have a chance to finally get out of this division after 25 seasons through the play-offs. Awards It's 4 for the season.

March 2032 A very quiet month with only one league game means we will have to wait for a possible title until April. The quarter final in the cup is naturally very exciting, though we do miss right back Aaron Paul due to him having accumulated too many yellow cards in the league. I don't really understand why this leads to suspension in the cup to be honest. Warrenpoint Town - Loughgall (Irish Cup) xG: 2.03 - 0.86; Shots: 20(7) - 9(7); Possession: 67% - 33% Massive! A second Irish Cup semi final for the club in two years. Of course the draw has been kind to us, but still an incredible run for a third tier team. After a good chance for either team and a disallowed Loughgall goal in the first 15 minutes the match died down for a bit. It broke loose again after the break though, starting off with an amazing Ben Magee solo from the halfway line to get us in the lead. A goalkeeping mistake led to the equaliser, but only 10 minutes later we had gotten ourselves a two goal lead after two indirect free kicks taken by Aodhan Doherty were finished. We kept ourselves together well at the back and only had to worry for a minute or two after the injury time goal. The other teams remaining in the competition are the top 2 of the Premiership (Linfield and Glenavon), as well as our main rivals Newry City from the Championship. We have been drawn against Glenavon in the semi final which takes place on neutral ground. We have already beaten them earlier this season in the Mid-Ulster Cup. Warrenpoint Town - Portstewart xG: 2.29 - 0.23; Shots: 16(9) - 2(1); Possession: 68% - 32% In these matches against teams in the bottom half of the table there is just such an obvious gap in quality that is showing more and more as we advance through the season. Another brilliant performance to get an easy win here. Lyndon Kane the best man on the pitch, while center back Curtis Nimick scored his 10th goal of the season in all competitions with yet another header. One more game has been added to this month due to it being rearranged after us advancing in the cup. It's not an easy one though, as we travel to 4th placed Crewe United. Two more wins would secure the title for us. Crewe United - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.61 - 2.26; Shots: 8(4) - 20(7); Possession: 30% - 70% We are just better than all other teams in this division. Crewe were able to keep up with us for almost 40 minutes today, but all resistance was gone from the moment we had taken the lead. A nice, quick combination was finished by Josh Andrews and that was that. It would take a miracle now for us not to end up on top. We are in the weird situation now that after next week's Irish Cup semi final we could step off the pitch to the news that we have won the title. This is due to us playing earlier in this matchday. It would require both Moyola Park and Banbridge to lose points though.

It's certainly a nice change! It shouldn't be to difficult to get that title now. I don't expect it to come down to the last matchday this time which would be nice for my sanity.

February 2032 We've got all to play for still in multiple competitions. In the league we play three teams that we should win against of which PSNI is the most difficult opponent. We drew them in our home game, but they have not been in great form after they had a good start to the season. Our most exciting fixture this month is the first one. A huge opportunity to get into the quarter final of the Irish Cup. We were really lucky to draw Moyola Park there, as they are one of only three clubs from our level (and below) remaining including ourselves. Still, we need to play a good game to get past them. Warrenpoint Town - Moyola Park (Irish Cup) xG: 2.05 - 0.48; Shots: 20(11) - 9(0); Possession: 50% - 50% Simply phenomenal! We showed no sign of nerves playing in front of more than 1000 fans for only the second time this season as we completely overwhelmed Moyola Park in the first half. Striker Ben Magee excelled yet again today as he got his seasonal tally of goals up to 20 in all competitions. He gave us a very early lead by receiving the ball on the edge of the box and dribbling past his man like he wasn't even there, before placing the ball in the far corner past their goalkeeper. We kept the pressure high and doubled our lead when right back Aaron Paul chipped the ball over their defence for his second assist. Shortly after the break a good shot from outside the box made an end to any tension there still was. Again we have a home draw, and again we get very lucky with our opponent. We meet Loughgall, who are currently bottom of the table in the Championship. I honestly think we are the favourites for this one. Queen's University Belfast - Warrenpoint Town xG: 1.76 - 1.34; Shots: 11(4) - 11(6); Possession: 43% - 57% The scoreline suggests we had an easy time out there against second to last in the table, but I can assure that this was not the case in the slightest. This might actually have been the worst game we played all season. In the end all is well though, especially as both our rivals at the top dropped points this matchday. Our opponent was on top in the first half an hour and that culminated in them scoring a goal which was just centimeters offside. That looked to have gotten us awake finally, as we immediately scored within a minute from their disallowed goal. We finally got to playing football and quickly expanded our lead after the break. After our third goal we fell apart again though, with our clean sheet only thanks to some good saves from Colin Armstrong. Warrenpoint Town - Carrick Rangers (Intermediate Cup) xG: 1.51 - 1.80; Shots: 11(3) - 13(3); Possession: 49% - 51% We lose out on penalties after a game that could've gone either way. I could go on and write a whole essay about it here, but it wasn't a classic really. There were barely any chances and it took an extra time penalty to break the deadlock. I thought that the end result had been decided after that, but somehow we find some energy to get the scores back level immediately. I'm not too bothered by going out of this cup to be honest, although I do think we had some chance of winning it. I am unhappy about the extra time we played though. The players were absolutely knackered which means I probably have to rotate more than I'd like in our upcoming league game. Warrenpoint Town - Dundela xG: 2.31 - 1.73; Shots: 19(5) - 15(3); Possession: 70% - 30% We decide the match in a matter of minutes after Dundela missed an open goal opportunity to take the lead. Curtis Nimick getting a second yellow meant we had to keep our cool, which we did quite well. Our best performers today were left winger Aodhan Doherty and Josh Andrews, who both got an assist and the former a goal as well. It looks like Banbridge Town have been taken out of the equation in the title race after Moyola Park scored a late winner against them. We have a four point gap over the latter with only 6 games left to go. PSNI - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.46 - 2.45; Shots: 7(5) - 23(6); Possession: 34% - 66% We end the month with a comprehensive victory away from home. I'm getting very close to that first trophy now to finally get the count going. We started the game with the most beautiful bit of combination play I've seen all season which was finished of well by Jack Kehoe. An own goal helped us restore our lead after a sudden counter had led to an equaliser. In the second half Aaron Paul shined once again with a goal and an assist. The right back plays a crucial role in my tactic as an inverted wing back and has been amazing this season with 10 goal contributions in the league alone. Moyola Park have lost their last game of the month and the title looks all but certain now! 5 more games to play. Awards A month full of big victories gets me my third award of the year.

January 2032 Lots of home games here. In the league we meet teams of mixed stature, with Ratfriland Rangers the worst on paper, and Newington Youth the best. We just need to continue the way we are going there. In both cups we are playing for a spot in the round of 16 of the competition, with home games against a Championship club in the Irish Cup and an amateur side in the Intermediate Cup. Rathfriland Rangers - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.12 - 2.33; Shots: 2(1) - 24(6); Possession: 21% - 79% It took us a lot of work, but in the end we get past their defence for a third 1-0 win in four games. They parked the bus from the start, and to be fair to them they did a very good job of it. We got nowhere in the first half, after which we decided to go for more of a high press game. That small change of tactics gave us a little bit more to work with in attack, but still no abundance of chances. In the end Jack Kehoe helped us out massively by creating a massive chance out of nothing which was finished by Ben Magee. The former looks like he is finally starting to find some form, which is needed for him to justify his salary. Warrenpoint Town - Newington Youth xG: 1.94 - 0.83; Shots: 21(8) - 11(5); Possession: 56% - 44% Two injuries in the first ten minutes can't keep us from continuing our great form. Six wins in our last seven games and only two goals conceded in them now. One injury meant back-up striker Luca McGreevey Couchman came on early and he showed to be able to do a very good job. Only twenty minutes later he had given us a two goal lead which we didn't give away after. Institute up next in the Irish Cup. Will be a tough one as they are still fighting for promotion to the Premiership with currently a 4th place. We will have to miss experienced midfielder Lyndon Kane as he was one of the injured players this game. Warrenpoint Town - Institute (Irish Cup) xG: 3.79 - 1.16; Shots: 30(11) - 8(3); Possession: 55% - 45% This was amazing! Perfect start and we didn't lose concentration for a moment. These games against higher tier opposition have really shown how good this squad is for our level. Midfielder Odhran Casey had his best match of the season after he got the ball put on a plate by striker Ben Magee. The latter scored two himself too and got away with the man of the match award. Three goals up at halftime I told the players not to get complacent, as that had cost us dearly in the Mid-Ulster Cup. They listened and actually finished the match directly after the break to leave no doubt for me. We get a very lucky draw and a great chance to move on to the quarter final! We will host division rivals Moyola Park in early February. Warrenpoint Town - Portadown B.B.O.B. (Intermediate Cup) xG: 5.09 - 1.48; Shots: 39(15) - 10(6); Possession: 70% - 30% A very easy win against a lower league side. Luca McGreevey Couchman was the man of the moment with his hattrick. I have to say I don't really understand this cup. It consists of a lot of amateur teams, all Intermediate League teams and half of the Championship teams. For some reason though, it's the six teams that performed best in the previous season that get selected from the Championship. We will meet one of them in the next round in Carrick Rangers. They are currently in mid table. Warrenpoint Town - Bangor xG: 2.11 - 0.45; Shots: 17(3) - 4(2); Possession: 61% - 39% We are reminded of what losing feels like with an unexpected defeat. We had the upper hand throughout the game, but they took the lead when our goalkeeper Colin Armstrong made a mistake in going for the ball. When they got reduced to 10 men because of a direct red card I was quite confident that we would turn things around. We couldn't make it happen though, as it seemed as if all of our shots went high over the bar. It's honestly a very disappointing result especially as Bangor are sitting low in mid table. Sometimes you have these games though, so the most important thing now is to bounce back quickly. We had gotten ourselves a little margin over the two chasing teams, but with that defeat the gap is now back to two points. Both Banbridge and Moyola Park are in very good form as of late. The race for the title can be very interesting still with 8 games to go in the season.

December 2031 After three months with an abundance of cup games we can focus on the league for a little bit now. We meet our two closest rivals first. We have beaten Banbridge comprehensively twice already this season in cups, though those games were both at home. Moyola Park were the team that dealt us our only league loss so far though. Banbridge Town - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.36 - 1.54; Shots: 3(1) - 13(7); Possession: 33% - 67% We beat them again and it's a huge win! We replace Banbridge again at the top of the table. Our defence was the key in this one, as we had to wait patiently for the first goal. A tense first half whizzed past, until all of a sudden Banbridge looked to have gotten themselves the lead. We were relieved to see the linesman have his flag raised, but not fully recovered from it yet, as we gave away a big chance a few minutes later. Still, 0-0 was a fair scoreline at the break, as neither team had a lot to say in attack. We decided on a higher pressing game for the second half and it worked wonders. Defensively we didn't concede a single shot, while creating more in attack. Eventually it was Ben Magee who received a ball over the top and finished calmly to put us in front. Warrenpoint Town - Moyola Park xG: 1.98 - 1.34; Shots: 17(11) - 8(2); Possession: 61% - 39% We get our revenge on Moyola Park and with that we create a big gap to them in the table. They helped us into the driver's seat in the first half by giving away a penalty and through a big defensive mistake in the run-up to our second goal. Center back Jude Neill came on from the bench in the second half and decided the match from a corner after our lead had been reduced to one earlier in the half. Best player on the pitch today was Lyndon Kane. Usually bringing in older players is frowned upon in FM, but his transfer has looked like a very good choice so far. The 34 year old has been an integral part of our squad in midfield, whilst also being a dead-ball specialist. Exactly a year after I handed in my contract at Llanidloes, my successor has been fired. After 7 points in the first three games they have been having a horror streak. They find themselves near a relegation battle now in 12th place. Sad to see. Warrenpoint Town - Donegal Celtic xG: 2.02 - 0.10; Shots: 22(6) - 2(0); Possession: 71% - 29% One goal was comfortable enough today as our defence left them without any chances. Right back Aaron Paul appeared on the edge of the box from his inverted wing back role, and scored with a well placed shot in the bottom right corner. Our next game is against Belfast Celtic. They are pretty high up the table too and in very good form. He will be out for a few games which isn't great as we don't really have any depth at left back. Belfast Celtic - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.35 - 2.32; Shots: 7(2) - 20(7); Possession: 30% - 70% An early Lyndon Kane corner turned out to be of big value for us here. Our opponent kept us in check pretty well after we had taken that early lead, though the red card naturally saw a flurry of chances follow. For a second game in a row a one goal margin felt pretty comfortable, and again it was Aaron Paul who took home the MOTM award. Limavady United - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.76 - 0.50; Shots: 7(2) - 8(3); Possession: 51% - 49% For the first time in a long while we were dominated for a long period of our match. We had no say in the game from the start which eventually led to the 1-0. We managed to peg them back quickly though as right winger Jack Kehoe finally contributed again. From there neither team got some real chances, although we did think we had snatched away the win for a moment in injury time, but the linesman had his flag raised. More than halfway through the season and things are looking very good for us. Wins against place 2-4 in the last month have given us a little bit of room for error too. Only Banbridge Town and Moyola Park remain looking as if they could stop us from winning the title. That's number two.

Good luck in your battle for the title then! Very impressive that you managed to get to the final of the Welsh Cup too. I only managed to get past the quarter final of any of the three cup once in my 8 seasons and that was the Tier 2 League Cup. I've personally decided that I will allow myself to sign all nationalities, although at this stage of the challenge that doesn't come into play too much.

November 2031 An interesting month with fixtures in all three cups. In the league Crewe United is our most difficult opponent. They are in 4th place only three points behind us at the moment. For the rest the Mid-Ulster Cup semi final is pretty exciting of course. St. Pat's Y.M. - Warrenpoint Town (Irish Cup) xG: 1.04 - 2.79; Shots: 7(4) - 23(6); Possession: 42% - 58% A semi-rotated side makes light work of amateur opposition. The best was saved for last, as Lyndon Kane set the final score at 5-1 with a beautiful free-kick. The last qualifying round has given us an away game to lower league opposition for the fourth time. That game will be played at the end of this month. Portstewart FC - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.66 - 2.37; Shots: 8(1) - 23(7); Possession: 46% - 54% That man Ben Magee just can't stop scoring! He got us a deserved lead on the brink of halftime, after which we forgot to score more. It lead to some squeaky bum time in the end, but our defence stood strong to keep the clean sheet. Our best man at the back today was left back Trevor McLaughlin. Next up the Mid-Ulster Cup semi final. It's only the second semi final for me in this save. We play Dollingstown who are fighting relegation in the 12 team Championship, currently being in 9th place. I feel like we have a pretty good chance of beating them to be honest. Dollingstown - Warrenpoint Town (Mid-Ulster Cup) xG: 2.69 - 3.64; Shots: 12(8) - 24(7); Possession: 42% - 58% Unbelievable... We get the short end of the stick as Dollingstown complete a crazy comeback. My first cup final seemed to be certain at halftime, after midfielders Josh Andrews and Lyndon Kane had put on a show together with 2 goal contributions each to build forward on the early lead that was thrown into our lap. An incredible first half in which they only got in one shot and we where already in the final. Complacency came into play again though, and even worse, personal mistakes. Goalkeeper Gareth Deane had a howler as he was responsible for two of their goals. Suddenly we found ourselves in extra time, and even there our fall continued. We even missed an open goal opportunity (0.68 xG) to at least get the game to penalties with the last kick. For the second time a semi final ends in heartbreak for me. Last time it was conceding an equaliser in the last minute of the game, this time, well... somehow a lot worse. Warrenpoint Town - Crewe United xG: 1.55 - 1.14; Shots: 12(6) - 7(4); Possession: 63% - 37% A closely fought battle at the top of the table. We're leading and looking good to increase the margin between us and 4th placed Crewe United to 6 points. Four minutes of extra time are given. Time is up, one last attack, it's a free kick. 20 meters away from goal, our wall 5 men strong. The shot is bad, straight into our wall, somehow it hits a leg and gets through though, goalkeeper misled by the changed ball trajectory and it trickles past him. 2-2. In a game where halftime looked to come without any chances, it was yet again Curtis Nimick's forehead that was found from a corner to put us in front instead. After escaping a precarious situation where Crewe hit the post two times from a scrimmage, we still conceded the equaliser minutes later. Immediately Gerard Black came in and directly he made things happen again winning us a penalty. The game ended undecided though, and now Banbridge have the chance to take over first place from us. Dundonald - Warrenpoint Town (Intermediate Cup) xG: 0.15 - 2.90; Shots: 4(2) - 28(12); Possession: 53% - 47% An easy win for a mostly second string side in this midweek cup game. Of course it was Gerard Black again who took home the MOTM award as he was involved in our first two goals. He restored our lead himself after we conceded a ridiculously good free kick. After that we finished of the game in the first half (although we have learnt to never be sure about that no matter the margin). One more cup game to finish the month against lower league opposition again. A win would bring us into the main draw of the Irish Cup. Glebe Rangers - Warrenpoint Town (Irish Cup) xG: 1.05 - 3.11; Shots: 5(1) - 28(8); Possession: 44% - 56% We've been strolling past all these amateur sides really. This time the tone was set early with Curtis Nimick heading home from yet another corner. He stands 1.99 meters tall and has 16 jumping reach, which has proven to a big weapon for us. In the first round proper we will meet mid table Championship side Institute at home. Not a bad draw given all the possible opponents to be honest. That late Crewe United equaliser has not only seen Banbridge Town pass us, but it also means there are still too many teams close to us for my liking. Next month is big though, as we meet both Banbridge and Moyola Park in our first two games.

Sounds good! I've generally been enjoying it too, although losing the league title on goals scored with Llanidloes did bring down my motivation for a bit. I hope you can have a more succesful time in Wales than I've had so far

October 2031 We start the month with a very exciting fixture in our regional cup. We will meet the side who are currently looking most likely to prevent Larne from winning a 9th league title in 10 years, as they are leading the Premiership. I'd think this match will at least be good for the finances. In the league we will meet the team in last place first, before playing against the current second place. Warrenpoint Town - Glenavon (Mid-Ulster Cup) xG: 1.00 - 1.98; Shots: 6(5) - 16(6); Possession: 62% - 38% Incredible! The best result of this save so far! There was definitely some luck involved but this is just amazing. Our corners have been great this year, with center back Curtis Nimick being the main finisher. He did that twice today to become the architect of this unlikely victory. Veteran Lyndon Kane showed the way from midfield today and had gotten both assists to have us 2-0 up at the break. The match had been quite even up until that point, and although we somehow added a third, the second half mostly consisted of them piling on the pressure. It was goalkeeper Colin Armstrong who had his first real standout performance with some good saves to keep Glenavon far away from us on the scoresheet. In the semi final we will travel to Dollingstown, who are currently low in the Championship table. There is a real chance of us making the final now! Dundela - Warrenpoint Town xG: 0.15 - 2.42; Shots: 3(1) - 14(5); Possession: 25% - 75% An easy game against bottom of the table Dundela to get our third 3-0 win in a row! Captain Aodhan Doherty led the team as he provided two assists today, one of which from yet another corner. 4th placed PSNI up next as we look to extend our winning streak to 10 games. Warrenpoint Town - PSNI xG: 3.26 - 1.23; Shots: 25(13) - 7(3); Possession: 78% - 22% I can't believe we didn't win this... We were utterly dominant in the first half and didn't even allow a shot from them. Complacency crept into the team again though, and based on the second half it can't even be called that unfair a result. It seems like every time I start Gerard Black on the right wing he makes something happen. Today it was a tremendous shot curled into the left top corner from an odd 20 meters out. We had shot out of the starting gates and already missed a penalty too by then. Josh Andrews put it on a plate for our striker to double our lead and we looked to be cruising to yet another win. A loss of focus in the second half led to our first point loss at home instead. In the Irish Intermediate Cup we have somehow drawn Banbridge Town out of 127 possible opponents. We already played them in the first round of the Mid-Ulster Cup, and they are also our closest rivals in the league being level in points with us. Warrenpoint Town - Banbridge Town (Intermediate Cup) xG: 2,19 - 0.90; Shots: 21(5) - 11(0); Possession: 59% - 41% We beat Banbridge by three goals for the second time this season. Will be interesting to see how they handle those defeats in our league games against them. We started the game furiously again but forgot to score early on, after which the game quickly died down until halftime. We came out of the dressing room the same way we started the game though, and this time around it did result in goals. Our captain Aodhan Doherty was at his creative best today getting all three assists. The only bad news from this match. Back-up Gareth Deane came in for him in the 35th minute and kept a clean sheet. He didn't have to make any saves for it though, since Banbridge were unable to get their shots on target. It's safe to say now that I was an idiot for thinking I could get that crazy 4-1-4-1 tactic to work at the start of the season. We have looked so good since switching away from it with the highlight of course that 3-0 victory over Glenovan. Awards Second time for him already. 10 league goals now in 8 games.