CM4 Scunthorpe 02-03

[Katon]

I hope so. Of course, I'm going on vacation now and won't get back until the evening of the 20th, but after that I'll still have a full week of spring break left with nothing to do but play CM4.

For when I do start cranking out reports again, how's my current format? Too detailed? Not detailed enough? Anything else you'd like to see?

[GrantDawg]

Originally posted by Katon
I hope so. Of course, I'm going on vacation now and won't get back until the evening of the 20th, but after that I'll still have a full week of spring break left with nothing to do but play CM4.

For when I do start cranking out reports again, how's my current format? Too detailed? Not detailed enough? Anything else you'd like to see?

I like what your doing. No improvements I can think of.

[klayman]

I like it, but a couple of tables every once and awhile would be cool. I know it's a hassle without the print function though.

[Katon]

I'll see if I can come up with some tables. I keep hoping they'll stick the print function in a patch, but that isn't looking too likely.

[Katon]

We’re coming up to the key part of the season. The Railwaymen are currently towards the bottom of an extremely tight playoff-chasing pack. If we don’t make a move soon, we can forget about any lingering playoff hopes. With this in mind, I’m finally preparing to start to spend some of my transfer kitty. I want two things. First, I want a left-back. Our 3-5-2 is uncomfortably vulnerable to good wingplay, as I’ve commented before, but our squad currently has no left-backs who I’d trust near the first team. Second, I’d like another winger. Stuart Whittaker, who can play on either flank, is currently our only good winger, and I’d like a partner for him. Ryan Wilkie, our loanee from Liverpool, is doing a passable job right now, but I’d prefer to have someone as a permanent part of my squad. Of course, all this is dependent on what’s out there.

Our next match is the FA Cup trip to Cardiff. Like us, they’re chasing the playoffs; unlike us, they’re in the First Division. My plan is to sit back, counterattack, and hope that we can keep the ball out of our net and create a few chances on the break. We do better at the former than the latter, not conceding for nearly forty minutes before Cardiff striker Paul McVeigh rises up highest to meet an excellent cross. I begin to consider giving a chance to the one left-back in our squad, who I’d previously dismissed as seriously incompetent. We’re just getting killed by crosses with our 3-5-2. Straight from the restart, our defence gets caught in possession and McVeigh sets up Robert Earnshaw to double our deficit. Goodbye cup. Thanks to the excellent Luke Weaver, who’s presenting a very strong case to be kept in the first team once Stuart Coburn’s fit again, we only let in one more. The crowning touch, however, comes when Phil Salt is injured, leaving me with absolutely nobody who can play the attacking midfield slot.
Cardiff 3-0 Leigh

In spite of our loss, there is some good news. Reserve defender John Robertson has moved on to Stafford Rangers, slightly lightening the wage bill and adding a full £2,000 to the club coffers.

We’re trying a 4-4-2 for the visit of Farnborough, using Brian Deane as the support man for the two strikers. Ouch. Still, none of our attacking midfielders are out for long; we’re expecting them all back within the next two weeks. Deane doesn’t do that badly, however. Indeed, he plays a part in our opener after eight minutes, dispossessing a defender and sliding the ball to Stuart Whittaker. Whittaker puts Damien Whitehead through, and our leading scorer doesn’t need a second invitation. With our defence feeling the strain after being given the run-around by Cardiff four days earlier, it’s a desperate struggle to hold on to our lead. With a bit of assistance from the linesman, we manage it.
Leigh 1-0 Farnborough

Although we did keep a clean sheet last night, I’m not convinced by the 4-4-2. For one thing, our left-back – Liam Blakeman – didn’t really prove himself that much better than my original assessment. For another, a look at the Conference stats reveals that, incredibly, we have the league’s best defence. Why change a winning formula? I switch back to a 3-5-2.

My decision is borne out in our FA Trophy tie with Dover. There are dangerous attacks coming down the flanks, but they’re all courtesy of Stuart Whittaker, who’s in top form. He isn’t involved in the first goal, however. Damien Whitehead puts Ged Courtney through, then knocks home after their goalie parries. The rest of the match is an exercise in profligate finishing, as we miss chance after chance to kill the game. Somehow, I’m almost expecting it when they equalize three minutes from the end. As if our schedule wasn’t busy enough. We’re playing Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday constantly at the moment.
Leigh 1-1 Dover

It’s amazing what a difference four days can make. After dominating Dover at home, we’re outplayed from the start in the replay and deservedly fall behind to a low drive from just outside the box midway through the first half. We never look like getting back into it.
Dover 1-0 Leigh

Our next match, against fifth-placed Darlington, is probably a must-win if we want to reach the playoffs. Things look bad early on, as they monopolize the possession. They can’t use that possession, though; in fact, all the chances are falling to us on the break. We go ahead half an hour in when Ged Courtney rounds the keeper to finish off a quick counter. Can Darlington equalize? No, to put it bluntly. We sit back and invite them to create chances, hoping for another goal on the counter; the best they can do is a few snapshots from well outside the area.
Darlington 0-1 Leigh

Now we travel to the second-worst team in the Conference, Telford. This should be easy. Then again, we’ve already managed to lose to the completely pathetic Shrewsbury – contributing a third of their current points tally in the process - so we can’t get overconfident. Indeed, the way we unerringly do the maximum possible damage to ourselves rather reminds me of the Shrewsbury nightmare. We start out by falling victim to our old cross weakness – with a twist. The twist lies in the identity of the goalscorer: James O’Connor, whose attempted tackle winds up flying into our net. Then, still before the break, Neil Durkin gets skinned for pace and the ball is duly dispatched past Luke Weaver. I yank Durkin off at the break and lay into the team. We are improved, but still below par, until the seventieth minute when Damien Whitehead strikes a glorious volley from the edge of the area to dispatch Stuart Whittaker’s cross. We press for an equalizer, but don’t find it, and wind up conceding a third goal when a Telford header spins off Gerry Harrison and into our goal.
Telford 3-1 Leigh

The next match seems to consist of a contest between Yeovil’s defence and our offence, to see whether they can give away chances faster than we can waste them. We win hands down. The crowning touch comes when Stuart Whittaker twists his ankle. He’ll be out for three weeks.
Leigh 0-0 Yeovil

[Katon]

Since it appears that EP3 will definitely alter the scoring balance, and possibly add the print function, I'm putting this dynasty on hold until that comes out. Sorry about the delay, but my willingness to put up with out-of-form strikers in the current version is roughly zero after the Scunthorpe debacle.

[Katon]

Well, I decided to try to pull some screenshots of the table and the team stats, and I wound up playing again before I knew what I was doing. Ah well. I think I’d probably better stop making major decisions about the dynasty’s future while I’m still angry about recent performances. I never seem to be able to stick to them.

You’d never know our offence was in a slump from the way it sets about Stevenage. Ged Courtney has a chance within the first two minutes, and it only takes us five minutes after his shot is saved to grab the lead. Andy Heald, in for the injured Whittaker, fires off a shot from the edge of the area which their keeper, former Sunderland man Lionel Perez, can only get a hand to. Our lead barely lasts six minutes, though, before a neatly hit corner finds a Stevenage player and his header bounces off a defender at the near post and into the far corner. Two minutes after that, Ryan Wilkie crosses and Damien Whitehead glances home only for a myopic lineman to rule that Whitehead was offside. Whitehead does eventually grab a goal, however, nabbing his twentieth of the season after Perez spills Phil O’Donnell’s long-range screamer. Stevenage implode after that, and the only question remaining is whether Ged Courtney can add his name to the scoresheet. It’s looking bad as he’s denied by a marvellous Perez save, but Whitehead seemingly with twenty minutes to go when he heads in a Ged Kielty corner. From the ensuing kick-off, however, a Stevenage surge forward finds our defence back-pedalling and they take full advantage to pull back to within a goal. We survive a slightly nervy finish, however, and the match finishes without further event.
Leigh 3-2 Stevenage

After our great start against Stevenage, it’s something of a shock to fall behind three minutes into our trip to Woking. Neil Fitzhenry misplaces a header slightly and Woking fullback Jamie Campbell snaps off a drive from twenty-five yards which Luke Weaver can’t quite handle. Things get worse a quarter of an hour later when a cross from the right gets volleyed in at the near post by a Woking striker. All the offence we showed against Stevenage is completely absent, and with Ged Courtney missing what chances we do get, we can’t pull anything back.
Woking 2-0 Leigh

Courtney’s slump can’t last for ever, of course, and he finally gets back to goalscoring when he lashes Damien Whitehead’s flick-down into the roof of the Canvey Island net a quarter of an hour into our next match. Our performance really isn’t very good, but we hold out until, shortly after the break, a Canvey Island player loses his temper and shoves Sasho Angelov. With our opponents reduced to ten men, gaps begin to appear, and Courtney is standing in an unbelievable amount of space when we launch a counter. He calmly lobs the keeper to clinch the win.
Canvey Island 0-2 Leigh

Around this time, I finally ink my first Bosman signing. Marien Ifura, a former QPR youth defender, will be coming in to replace the retiring Sasho Angelov.

Next up is one of the most important games of the season. Fifth-placed Bradford Park Avenue are coming to Hilton Park. They’re currently five points ahead of us in the last playoff place, about three-fourths of the way through the season. Their star man is veteran goalkeeper Gavin Kelly, who pulls off a super point-blank stop to deny Damien Whitehead. Even when we beat Kelly, Phil Salt’s free kick floats back off the crossbar. Our task isn’t made any easier when Andy Heald dislocates his shoulder, which essentially ends his season. He might make it back for the last few games, but he’s more or less done for the year. As time goes on with no goals, we get increasingly tense, to the point that Sasho Angelov chops down a Bradford Park striker in the area. Fortunately, their kick rolls wide.
Leigh 0-0 Bradford Park Avenue

Frustrating though Bradford Park Avenue’s ability to hold out for an undeserved draw was, we learned something from it. This is made obvious by our very next match, a visit to third-placed Scarborough. We’re outplayed; they can’t shoot; it finishes scoreless. Last week’s match with different shirt colours.
Scarborough 0-0 Leigh

Just after the Scarborough match, my first cash signing at the club joins up. Central midfielder and dead-ball expert Scott Jordan looks fairly good and, at £6,000, his fee isn’t exactly back-breaking. He’ll slot into the attacking midfielder slot against Northwich Victoria, with Phil O’Donnell moving over to the left wing.

The Northwich Victoria game is end-to-end. A few minutes after Damien Whitehead has a shot saved and Ged Courtney hits the side netting from close range, Victoria have a goal disallowed for offside. Half an hour in, we receive a man advantage when a Victoria midfielder tries to win a challenge with his elbow and is duly punished by the ref. From there on in, the trick is just to get the winning goal. We waste several good chances, but grab a goal with twelve minutes left when their goalie parries a Whitehead shot right at substitute Brian Deane, who obliges with his first goal as a Railwayman. Now that his duck’s broken, Deane finally starts to look like a former Premiership striker, as he adds a second on the break with the sort of neat finishing so missing from his game until now. We then go on to grab a third when Whitehead glances home a corner to give the scoreline a somewhat unrealistic look.
Leigh 3-0 Northwich Victoria

Shortly after the win, I receive the news that fellow playoff challengers Darlington are going into receivership. They have a few rather interesting players who I immediately put in bids for. I’ll keep you posted.

[Katon]

After all that, I didn't actually have any luck figuring out how to get screens. Can anyone help?

[3ric]

The "Print Screen" button saves an image to memory, switch to Paint or Photoshop and paste it in, save as a jpg.

[Katon]

Considering our record away to the division’s worst teams, I’m actually rather worried by the thought of travelling to twentieth-placed Aldershot. We’ve already lost to Shrewsbury and Telford; will we complete our charitable contributions by losing to the other team in the relegation zone? Well, we’re certainly bad enough to lose. Our offence provides nothing. With Aldershot also missing in action, the game is almost entirely devoid of excitement until, with fifteen minutes to go, Phil Salt launches a free kick into the box and the Aldershot clearance involves the use of a hand. Ryan Wilkie converts the penalty and we move up to sixth with an undeserved win.
Aldershot 0-1 Leigh

Speaking of Shrewsbury, our chance to avenge the travesty earlier in the season comes in our next match. It’s easy to see why they’ve only acquired ten points all season; within two minutes, they’ve handed Ged Courtney a chance on a silver platter, dithering in possession and getting caught out. Courtney thunders the ball home with aplomb before doubling our lead fifteen minutes later by volleying home a Stuart Whittaker cross. Game over.
Leigh 2-0 Shrewsbury

After much deliberation about what to do about Darlington’s cash struggles, I finally decide to help an old acquaintance out. As you may remember, I sold left-back Andy Dawson to Darlington back in my Scunthorpe days. He hasn’t been playing much this season, so I decide to help him out by spending £7,000 on the player starting ahead of him, Ryan Valentine. My motives for this are, I emphasise again, purely altruistic. The fact that the 21-year-old Valentine has been the best player in the league this season at a position I desperately want improved never even crosses my mind.

With Valentine added to the squad, we can switch to a 4-4-2 which I hope will afford more help against crosses, although the wisdom of altering the best defence in the league could be questioned. The formation’s first test comes in Hereford, where we get off to a dream start when a short corner routine brings the ball to Damien Whitehead’s feet five minutes in. After that, both teams have chances to get the next goal; Luke Weaver is called on to make a few excellent stops, while Ged Courtney’s failure to capitalise on a beautiful ball over the top from debut boy Valentine is nothing short of criminal. Still, I’m not too disappointed when the match finishes with just the one goal.
Hereford 0-1 Leigh

Our winning streak is now at a team-record four matches. With thirteen points from the last fifteen, we are the Conference’s hottest team, a streak which has moved us up all the way to fifth and the last playoff spot. With this in mind, it’s not really surprising when we leap out to yet another early lead against Southport. Ged Courtney is the goalscorer this time, collecting Whitehead’s feed and slamming it past the keeper. Shortly afterwards, Ryan Valentine launches a ball midway between Courtney and their goalie, Courtney wins the race, he slides the ball across to Whitehead, and our leading scorer knocks the ball into the empty net. Unfortunately, the linesman’s flag interrupts proceedings. A few minutes after that, however, Courtney is interrupted in the process of converting Stuart Whittaker’s cross by an extremely dubious challenge. I haven’t chosen any one player to take the penalties; this time, it’s Gerry Harrison, and he finds the net. Good thing we have the two-goal lead, too, as a quick counter-attack ends our streak of 728 minutes without conceding. We continue to be the brighter side, however, and clinch the match just after the hour mark when Scott Jordan drops a corner onto the head of Whitehead. A few minutes later, a Southport player trips Valentine up just inside their half and picks up his second yellow card. From here on in it’s just a question of how many we can score. As it turns out, all we can manage is another penalty, given for a foul on O’Connor and converted by Wilkie. The victory does come at a price, though, as Courtney pulls his hamstring. He’ll miss four weeks.
Leigh 4-1 Southport

After our fifth consecutive win, I’m moved to recognize James O’Connor’s recent form. He’s been terrific lately, and I’m really not looking forward to the day when he goes back to Stoke.

[condors]

nice run of form there

[Katon]

Isn't it just? What's especially interesting is that our recent five-match winning streak corresponds precisely with Scott Jordan's spell at the club. Coincidence?

[Katon]

And now, happily patched, let us continue.

[Katon]

With three matches left, the playoff race is a dogfight. Morecambe have already clinched a spot; Scarborough, sitting in third and six points clear of sixth, are almost certain to go. Below that, however, there’s a logjam:

Pos. Team Pts GD
4. Doncaster 70 +25
5. Leigh RMI 69 +26
6. Margate 68 +26
7. Bradford PA 68 +22
8. Chester 66 +16

Five teams, two spots. I’m not actually feeling too good about my chances. I have a hideous schedule coming up. Trips to Chester and Doncaster surround the visit of first-placed Barnet to Hilton Park. I need to beat Chester; if I don’t, then I’m never going to conjure up enough points from the last two matches to reach the playoffs.


Perhaps because the match is so important, the team looks rather nervy early on. We do find a remedy, however, when a Chester defender decides to relieve Damien Whitehead of the ball by the simple expedient of climbing over him. The referee takes a dim view, Ryan Wilkie converts the penalty, and we’re ahead. Chester press for the equalizing goal, but they founder throughout on a defence in which Ryan Valentine and keeper Luke Weaver are particularly noteworthy.
Chester 0-1 Leigh

My good mood is further enhanced by the news that Doncaster have drawn at home to Stevenage, moving us into fourth, and Bradford Park Avenue have replicated our earlier feat of losing away to the pathetic (only fifteen points all season) Shrewsbury. Margate won, but you can’t have everything.

Barnet, having already clinched the title, decide to test out a new plan for their trip to Hilton Park: get booked at every opportunity. They manage the feat on three separate occasions within the first hour, two of them courtesy of otherwise excellent midfielder Tom Doolan. Seven minutes later, James O’Connor puts Dimitris Liaos through, and we’re heading for a win. Barnet are top for a reason, however. They move to equalize and succeed when Luke Weaver spills a shot towards an opposing striker with time running out.
Leigh 1-1 Barnet

Shrewsbury, useless all year, are finally looking like a football team. They pull their second consecutive win out, this time defeating third-placed Scarborough. Doncaster also lost, to Woking, and Bradford Park Avenue eliminated themselves from playoff contention by drawing with Hereford. It’s just us and Doncaster for the final spot, and our last match is a perfect setup – we just need a draw, they have home advantage. Considering we’re unbeaten in ten, I like our chances.

Before the big match, we are bolstered by the announcement that Damien Whitehead has won the Player of the Month award for the second time this season – he also managed it back in August – and that new boy Ryan Valentine has won Young Player of the Month. Graham Howell’s ability to extract consecutive wins from miserable Shrewsbury is judged more impressive than my getting ten points from four games, so we can’t quite manage to sweep the April awards.

We are missing one face for the Doncaster game, with Scott Jordan having been injured during training. Phil O’Donnell returns to the spot he manned for most of the season. The actual game is, after all that build-up, a bit of an anticlimax. James O’Connor nods in a Stuart Whittaker corner just a minute in. Doncaster almost return the favour fifteen minutes later, but Martyn Lancaster blocks their header on the line. A few minutes later, however, Doncaster midfielder Ricky Ravenhill launches a free kick over the wall and right past Luke Weaver. I’m not horribly impressed by my keeper’s contribution. After missing a few chances on the break, our defence – the best in the league this year – falls apart. Gerry Harrison gets in a panic, backs off a ball he could have taken, and they score.
Doncaster 2-1 Leigh

Aargh.

Come on, our defence has been the best in the league this year and it chokes now?

[Katon]

Doncaster, having been handed a playoff spot by our defence in a magnificent act of generosity, take full advantage. They grab two goals in the last eight minutes of their tie with Morecambe to come back from a 2-1 first-leg deficit, then beat Margate 2-0 in the playoff finals. Several sayings involving salt, wounds, and the meeting of said items spring to mind.

Rather than ponder what might have been, I’ll start concentrating on what went right – and wrong – this year. Overall, I think the thing which killed us wasn’t our defence switching off on the big day, although that didn’t exactly help; it was our form over the winter. We jumped out to a hot early start, but then petered out and settled into midtable. We then pulled a ten-match unbeaten run out of our hats, including a six-game winning streak down the stretch. Our finish was fine; it was the winter, where we lost away to the incredibly inept Shrewsbury and almost-as-poor Telford, which was the problem.

That settled, it’s time to take a look at the players and see where I need to strengthen the team during the offseason.

Goalkeeper
When the season started, Stuart Coburn was the regular keeper. He did a passable job (7.15 AvR, 16 goals conceded in 19 games) until he picked up a groin injury in mid-December. Luke Weaver seized the starting job and never let go. Although he only played in 26 league games, he was the best keeper in the league once he got the job (7.57 AvR, 17 goals conceded, 16 clean sheets). He didn’t produce quite the same level of play in the cups, but nobody on the team looked their best outside the league. The other blot on his recod is, of course, a few rather soft goals in the last two matches against Barnet and Doncaster. Still, I’m happy with Weaver.

Left Back
Although former youth product Liam Blakeman tries to play here, the only person I’d actually let near the first team who can play here is Ryan Valentine. Valentine, who we pinched from receiver-ridden Darlington, was the best left-back in the Conference this year by some distance (7.46 AvR, next best was 7.19 AvR). He‘s been excellent in each of the five matches he’s played as a Railwayman. If he isn’t there, of course, we just switch back to the old 3-5-2.

Right Back
The Leigh squad features no out-and-out right backs, but we do have a few players who can fill the role. Neil Durkin, the least impressive member of my defence this season (6.69 AvR), isn’t really a solution here. He can’t even get out of his own way, a feat which opposing players accomplish with contemptuous ease. Martyn Lancaster is the current starter, although the combination of generally unexceptional performances (6.81 AvR) and an absolute nightmare during the Doncaster disaster has me looking out for a replacement. All in all, one of our weaker positions.

Centre Back
The star man here is Gerry Harrison, who only made one mistake all season. Of course, said mistake resulted in the goal which threw us out of the playoffs and Doncaster in, but nobody’s perfect. I’m not about to castigate one of the league’s classier defenders (7.38 AvR) over one mistake, no matter how hideous. Alright, enough about the stupid Doncaster game. The Doncaster game will not be mentioned again. Neil Fitzhenry is the other main man here (7.21 AvR), matching Harrison’s total of four Man of the Match awards if not quite his consistency. Besides them, Wayne Maden was a perpetual sub and has done nothing to make me want to change that, while Sasho Angelov provided distinguished service (7.08 AvR) in the last season of his career.

Defensive Midfield
Although players like Fitzhenry, Harrison, and Maden all made appearances here, the real star was James O’Connor. Quite why the 24-year-old O’Connor, who has already played forty games for Stoke in a season three times, was available on loan is inexplicable; he was, however, and he made the best argument he could for featuring in Stoke’s long-term plans. He was superb all year (7.45 AvR), and showed up to play no matter how dire the rest of the team were, winning the Man of the Match award in his last game for us. Yes, that game. Phil Salt also saw significant time at the position, and did a good job (7.18 AvR). Ideally, I’ll get O’Connor back in on loan next year; if not, Salt can probably do an OK job.

Attacking Midfield
Phil O’Donnell had this job for most of the season, and proved to be among our most significant creative forces (6 assists, 7.27 AvR). He was displaced towards the end of the season, however, by Scott Jordan, who we appropriated from fellow playoff challengers Scarborough when their financial situation hit the rocks. Jordan never played in a losing Leigh side, as we won six of his seven appearances, and he picked up two assists while playing excellent football (7.28 AvR). Ged Kielty, our main midfield reserve, also saw some time here.

Winger
Ordinarily, I would separate this into the two distinct wings, but most of our wingers saw time at both. Stuart Whittaker, although slightly inconsistent (6.96 AvR), was one of our most devastating players when fit, and this was reflected in his team-leading total of ten assists. Ryan Wilkie was our other main winger, and the Liverpool loanee showed flashes of talent which bode well for future chances of reaching the Scottish national team. Of course, the thing about eighteen-year-olds is that they tend to combine flashes of genius with moments of idiocy, and Ryan was no exception (6.96 AvR). Kielty, O’Donnell, and Andy Heald also saw time here. O’Donnell will probably start now that Wilkie’s gone back to Merseyside; Kielty and Heald will be reserves for the foreseeable future. This position could definitely use some strengthening.

Striker
First, some sad news. As I predicted at the time, Keith Scott’s damaged cruciate ligaments proved fatal to his career. The veteran striker never started a match before the injury; indeed, he played only 230 minutes all season, and couldn’t quite put the ball in the net. Still, he will be missed. Scott’s injury caused me to bring in Brian Deane to provide some depth up front. While we needed the depth, Deane never really got going. He scored only twice, both in the same match against Northwich Victoria, and he was clearly in the twilight of his career (6.50 AvR). His contract runs until December, and he won’t be getting a new one. Damien Whitehead was clearly our star player up front, winning Player of the Month twice and bagging 24 goals, 18 of them in the league. He was among our best players all season long (7.38 AvR). Initially, Whitehead’s strike partner was Dimitris Liaos; Liaos, however, followed Stuart Coburn’s example by getting injured and watching his replacement earn a permanent spot. Liaos’ ten goals and passable play (6.88 AvR) seem pathetic compared with Ged Courtney’s 21 goals, 10 assists, and all-around class play (7.18 AvR).

Our Player of the Season is rather tough to call, and the fans haven’t announced their selection yet. Luke Weaver was our best player once he started playing, but that wasn’t for about a third of the season. Gerry Harrison and Damien Whitehead, on the other hand, were both there all year, and they were both very nearly as good as Weaver. I suspect that the fans will go for Whitehead and his goals, which is probably how I’d lean, but Harrison has a real case.

[Katon]

Speaking of the Player of the Season award, what do you guys think? Does Whitehead deserve the award? Or should someone from the defence get recognition for our conceding less goals than anyone else in the league? Has Weaver played enough games to be considered?

[klayman]

Personally I'd go with Weaver as player of the year, but I think the game and the real life fans are more offensively minded, and Whitehead will probably pick it up.

[Katon]

Agreed. You can make out a strong case for any of the three, but the CM fans have always been suckers for goalscorers. Whitehead will get the fan award. Whether he should is a more difficult question.

[Katon]

Now for a more general review of what went on during the year.

Premiership
In Sir Alex Ferguson’s last year before retirement, Manchester United wound up running away with both the Premiership and the League Cup, thanks in no small part to Players’ Player of the Year David Beckham’s 22 assists. They achieved a century of points, winning by a full eight points from Arsenal and Liverpool. Newcastle came in about midway between the Big Three and the chasing pack, with a huge gap between the Champion’s League spots and fifth-placed Chelsea. At the bottom, only twentieth-placed Charlton finished below the three newly-promoted teams, with Portsmouth barely surviving while Millwall and Nottingham Forest both fell.

First Division
The newly-relegated teams dominated this year, with Blackburn, Aston Villa, and Birmingham heading up the table in that order. Birmingham fell in the playoffs to Wigan, however, before the Latics beat Preston via an extra-time goal from Nathan Ellington. The main story at the bottom was the incompetence of Walsall, who averaged a point every other game, but Stoke and Bradford both went down with room to spare too.

Second Division
The Second Division went right down to the wire this year, with none of the automatic promotion spots having been clinched heading into the final day. Crewe and Blackpool wound up clinching promotion, while Chesterfield, needing a win, lost at Reading. Chesterfield then wound up playing Reading again in the playoff semifinals, with no more luck. Reading, who had needed that last-day win just to get into the playoffs, went on to lose to Burnley in the playoff final. The other end of the table was almost as tight as the top, with even bottom-placed Port Vale coming as close to survival as Stoke or Bradford in the First Division. Mansfield, Plymouth, and Swindon joined Vale in the drop zone.

Third Divison
Colchester wandered away with the Third Division title while behind them four teams finished within a point of each other. Peterborough and Brentford squeaked into the promotion spots courtesy of last-day wins; Carlisle and Boston United, on the other hand, fell narrowly short and promptly crashed out in the first round of the playoffs. York eventually defeated Rushden & Diamonds to reach the Second Division. At the other end, there was a four-team dogfight to avoid two spots. Exeter clinched survival with two points to spare, while Dagenham & Redbridge were relegated by the same margin. Scunthorpe, however, wound up staying up by a single goal in spite of losing 2-0 to relegation rivals Bury on the last day of the season. If the Shakers had scored one more, they would have stayed up; as it was, they fell into the Conference.

[Dargone]

Great read, looking forward to more

[condors]

for player of the year i think i would go with o'conner

[Katon]

O'Connor! Of course! He'd already returned to Stoke when I typed up the team review, so the fact that he'd been my best outfield player didn't quite register. Now that you point it out, he's the obvious candidate.

Updates sometime this weekend, with luck. No promises, though. History papers are evil.

[klayman]

Actually, in the old CM, the player had to be one the roster when the award was given out, I think. I'm pretty sure, cause I had Carlos Corazzin on loan for Hereford in the conference, and he netted about 30 goals in the season, but went back to Oxford, and another striker who had 14 goals won the award. It would be great if that has changed for CM4.

[Katon]

I don't think it has, sadly. As I've said, the fans are almost certain to vote for Whitehead. Pity. O'Connor deserves it.

[Katon]

Conference review now.

Barnet ran away with the Conference title. They led more or less wire-to-wire, and wound up seven points clear. They had the second-best offence in the division and tied for the third-best defence, conceding less than a goal per game. Strikers Ben Strevens and Lenny Walker proved to be the best partnership in the league, bagging 51 goals between them.

In spite of Strevens and Walker, Barnet still scored ten goals less than second-placed Morecambe. Robbie Talbot, the only striker to reach thirty goals in league play, and classy midfielder Stuart Drummond led the only side other than Barnet who spent any real time at the top of the table. Until they conceded two goals in the last eight minutes of their playoff tie with Doncaster, Morecambe were on a clear course for promotion. They would have deserved it, too; they were as close to Barnet as they were to third place.

Margate, another of several teams tied for the third-best defence in the league, wound up sneaking into third place despite the lack of any real wide threats. The fact that they weren’t sure of that spot until the last day speaks to just how even the division was once you got past the top two. Apart from striker Jean-Michel Sigere, one of the best players in the league, Margate weren’t anything spectacular. The rest of their players were good, yes, but not quite promotion material. Their playoff bid came undone in the final against Doncaster, losing 2-0 in a match they never really showed up for.

In order to reach that playoff final, Margate had to overcome Scarborough, who had snuck into fourth purely on the back of the league’s second-best defence. Presented with a complete lack of talent, they set about to bore their way into the playoffs by not conceding, and the fact that they lost when they had to beat a good team straight-up speaks volumes.

Doncaster’s final few games read like a bad movie script. Outside the playoffs heading into the last day, they take advantage of some sloppy mistakes by the league’s best defence and sneak in before grabbing two late, late goals to win the playoff semifinals against what for most of the year (and the tie) has been a much better team. They then go on to win the playoff final, completing the Cinderella story. They were a good team, though, especially after spending £65,000 on Derby striker Marvin Robinson in November. Robinson repaid the fee by grabbing both goals in the playoff final and playing excellently throughout the year. Doncaster wasn’t a one-man team, though. Defenders Steve Foster and David Morley set up a superb partnership at the back, and most of the team was quality. Quite how this lot finished below Scarborough is one of the season’s biggest mysteries.

Doncaster’s last-day climb into the playoff spots meant that Leigh RMI missed out. Relegation favourites at the start of the season, Leigh bucked the odds most of the season with the league’s tightest defence, conceding only thirty goals. The defence, led by keeper Luke Weaver and on-loan holding midfielder James O’Connor, was made even tighter just before the transfer deadline when Leigh snapped up Ryan Valentine, the league’s top left-back, from cash-strapped Darlington. Leigh eventually missed out for two reasons. First, they could only get ten points from six games against the relegated teams; second, their offence was far too dependent on streaky striker Damien Whitehead. When Whitehead was in Player of the Month form, as he was at the start and end of the season, Leigh were among the league’s elite; when he went through a month-and-a-half goal drought in the middle of the season, their results suffered.

If ever there was a one-man team, it was Bradford Park Avenue. Their squad, which consisted of veteran goalie Gavin Kelly and a bunch of amateurs, somehow worked its way into seventh.

Although they weren’t quite so bad as Bradford Park Avenue, Chester City did center somewhat around hitman Daryl Clare. Clare, between an excellent league campaign and Chester’s runs to the FA Trophy and Vans Trophy finals (won the former, lost the latter, both by four-goal margins), managed a mammoth 43 goals on the season. The quality wasn’t there to support him, however, and they fell to eighth.

Although Woking had a couple of decent players – notably striker Lee Clarke and keeper Simon Royce – they followed the Scarborough plan of trying to bore their way to results. With a slightly worse defence and a much worse offence, they couldn’t manage anything better than ninth.

Although they started out well, Darlington’s season quickly went into decline during a hideous middle of the season. They managed a brief surge, but the wheels completely went off when the club went into receivership. With star defenders Stuart Whitehead and Ryan Valentine racing each other out the door, and fellow defensive starter Tim Ryan just a few days behind, the club collapsed. Veteran striker Brett Angell’s mid-January broken leg also contributed to their problems.

Stevenage actually had the third-best offence in the league, led by star striker Anthony Elding’s 48-goal partnership with Charlie MacDonald. Pity about the defence, really.

Aside from the fact that their strikers were slightly less talented and correspondingly less prolific, Gravesend mirrored Stevenage almost exactly.

With star attacker Hakan Soderstierna leaving for Burnley in December, Hereford were left completely impotent up front. Their defence tried, but it couldn’t quite take up the slack.

Southport were just treading water in fourteenth. Their fans could take comfort in the play of keeper Stuart Dickinson, but the horrifically inept Chris Lane’s continued ability to find employment on their right flank is probably a more accurate sign of how the team’s season went.

Among the worst personnel decisions of the 2003 offseason was then-Yeovil boss Gary Johnson’s decision to sell centre-back Adam Lockwood. With the honourable exception of Terry Skiverton, this left their defence totally devoid of talent, which showed up in the results.

Canvey Island’s first season back in the Conference was completely devoid of interest. It’s always nice for a newly-promoted team to establish itself in its new league, but that really was about all that happened.

Nuneaton Borough, a team with no real attacking talent, can thank keeper Chris Taylor for distracting attention from the fact that the team’s co-leading scorers, striker Carl Alford and winger Michael Phillips, could only manage ten each.

Farnborough Town featured a few rather nice early-twenties prospects this season. Centre-back Brett Solkhon was among the best in the league at his position, and midfielder Jamie McGuire also looked rather nice. They were completely devoid of any supporting cast, however, and so Farnborough eventually found themselves fighting for survival. They achieved it, but one has to wonder what might have been had former Scottish international Simon Donnelly not broken his leg in February. Donnelly wasn’t playing terrifically, but he was a cut above most of the team.

Northwich Victoria stood pat during the offseason, and fell just one point short of reaching their previous season’s total of 47 points. Whereas that had been good for fifteenth, however, this year they were the worst team not to actually get relegated.

Bad though they were, Victoria were still notably better than Aldershot. With the worst attack in the league, Aldershot were one of only two teams to score less than a goal per game. They opted to pin their striking hopes on £8,000 teenager Dave Nugent. His output? Two goals in seventeen games.

Although their attack was considerably better than Aldershot, Telford still finished ten points worse off thanks to the league’s worst defence. Right-back Simon Ramsden in particular deserves criticism, although nobody covered themselves in glory.

Even Telford’s ineptitude, however, pales behind the wreck that was Shrewsbury. How bad were they? All of the top eight won as many games as Shrewsbury got points (19). They conceded only one less goal than Telford, and scored only two more than Aldershot. The one player in the squad with legitimate talent, former Austrian captain Andy Herzog, played only twice after picking up a nasty foot injury on his debut. There is hope for next year, however; over a third of their points came in the last month, after Graham Howell had taken over the helm.

[Katon]

The offseason goes on, and the main attraction is of course Euro 2004. I’m rather more interested in a few negotiations taking place in and around Hilton Park, as Charlton youngster Paul Robson agrees to come here on a free. Robson’s a left-back, and a fairly good one, so I intend to use him as cover for Ryan Valentine. The only other possible candidate is Liam Blakeman, and he’s worse than nothing at all. We also line up more cover up front, with Leeds trainee Chris Armstrong coming here when his contract expires in November. With Brian Deane’s deal running out towards the end of the calendar year, we’ll need a fourth striker, and Armstrong’s already probably a better player than Deane

To the surprise of no-one, Damien Whitehead wins the Fans Player of the Year award, although one fan club – FOFP, or something like that – votes to give their award to James O’Connor. Personally, I’m inclined to agree with FOFD. I know O’Connor was a loan player, but I think he was the best player we had who actually played the whole season. Luke Weaver was better when he played, but he missed a third of the season.

We also receive our financial info for the upcoming season. Conference TV rights apparently amount to £100,000. I’ll take that! At least, I’ll take £22,000 of it, as that seems to be all the transfer budget my esteemed board feels like giving me. If I want any more than that, I have to sell players. The board does feel relatively confident in me, however – they’ve stopped expecting the club to finish in the drop zone. They now expect us to finish in mid-table, which is somewhat more realistic. Pessimistic, but it does bear some resemblance to reality.

Euro 2004 progresses towards the quarterfinals, and the big first-round shock is Holland’s elimination on goals scored. If it weren’t for Ruud van Nistelrooy missing a penalty in the last minute of their 1-0 loss to England, they would have headed through; the United striker proved uncharacteristically inaccurate, however, and Romania crept through. Holland’s exit is almost less shocking, however, than that of defending champions France, who get knocked out of the quarterfinals by a golden goal from Croatian striker Bosko Balaban. They, too, have cause to regret a missed penalty, with David Trezeguet having missed a chance to put them ahead only eight minutes in. Another match also resorts to the golden goal, with Germany eliminating England courtesy of a Miroslav Klose winner. Neither of the golden-goal winners gets through the semifinal, however, and the final is contested by Italy and Spain. Spain win, with Atletico Madrid striker Jose Mari grabbing the only goal of the game.

[klayman]

Called it on Whitehead...do I know my CM or what

[Katon]

Next season may be found here