Coleraine have lost their starting keeper from last season and added no one of note. They’ll be facing Obilic in the UEFA Cup Qualifying Round next week but have yet to play a competitive match. Their star player remains Rory Hamill, the one-cap wonder (if you can call coming on as a substitute against Canada a full international match).
It’s Charity Shield time and they’ve arrived Shamrock Stadium in an attempt to dethrone the reigning champs. I trot out our usual XI with far fewer subs this time…
Despite going behind on their only shot on target and losing Ceesay for three weeks, we absolutely smash Coleraine. Douglas levels (after getting TWO called back for offside) before Thomson gives us the lead and Hose settles it in the second half. We keep our silverware and get our season off to a winning start.
Belfast to Bruges is a 450 mile flight that takes about 90 minutes. We arrive the day before our match and have a training session on one of their TWELVE pitches. I’m sure they’ll look forward to practising on the local neighbourhood park in Portadown next week.
They’ve got caps all over the show (Belgium, Peru, a Gambian teammate of Ceesay’s, Slovenia, Croatia and Norway — 191 of them) and they should certainly be our strongest test we’ve faced since last season.
We’ve got no Ceesay for a while, so Grant comes in in his stead. An away goal or seven wouldn’t be frowned upon here, lads.
No goals scored, but none conceded either. We win the stat battle but they win the injury battle as they’ve got far more depth to replace injured players than we do. We’ll have to win at home in two weeks’ time to get this done.
The 19k+ fans actually get us a bit of cash as there’s a £200k bump in the bank book. That’s 25 weeks of our entire wage bill covered!
The Northern Irish Premier Division kicks off today and we travel to face Clintonville, last year’s 8th place team. Injured Ceesay’s injury replacement Grant is replaced with Clarke…if that makes any sense.
All the action is in the first half and that’s plenty for us to get the season off to a good start. Cliftonville’s equaliser was absolutely against the run of play of the entire match.
We finally add another player to the mix and this time it’s a defender. He’s a Feyenoord cast-off that should fit in fine with our crew. Especially as Vickers showed up late to practise, was given a talking to by yours truly and now wants to be transfer-listed. Request granted, you idiot.
All things considered, not a bad transfer week. Got rid of a 31yo for £75k and replaced him with a free agent that’s eleven years younger and just as good. Plus we bought him for £4k and got two good years out of him. Can’t argue with that.
We do a small shuffle as Challinor and Brewerton haven’t lit the pitch on fire so far this season. McAulay and van Driel come in to defense and Drummond takes a spot on the bench. It’s a first home league match for us and (technically) a second consecutive top-of-the-table clash as Newry won their opener 3–0.
It’s a very underwhelming result made worse by losing ANOTHER winger to injury. We certainly played well enough to win but we fall victim to another worldie from an opposing keeper and a very late leveller.
Scouting Club Brugge a second time, I now see full attributes of the whole squad…and more importantly, their sole Dutch player. He’s played a solitary match for them in just over three seasons and although he looks to be a better winger than DM, I bid for him.
He agrees a deal pronto. Perhaps I overpaid him with the £150k signing on fee? He DID say that he had no interest in joining us, so maybe his agent is just an absolute weasel. Just joking! Question 1 on the football agent exam is “Are you a weasel?” so we know they all are.
So, Champions Cup or UEFA Cup? That’s what today’s match will decide. Club Brugges and their band of baller Belgians are looking to knock us down a competition through anything other than a loss (or a goalless penalty shootout). Despite outplaying them in Belgium, we’re playing this match with none of our best three wingers. It’s gonna be a tall order.
We go behind in the first half and despite getting level through de Weerdt, we need to push for a second goal. We take the match to them at the end but suffer a late counter-attack goal to crash out of the Champions Cup. The price we pay for not finding the net in the away leg…
The performances of our young Dutch keeper has drawn interest from Roda, so I knock them back and increase his release clause.
Due to fitness issues, we do a big shuffle up front. We’re off to The Oval to play Glentoran and one of our team’s kryponites, Davy Larmour.
Brewerton does a masterful job on Larmour and we limit Glentoran to just two shots. And we score two of ours, one in each half. I even get Deas (our long-suffering DC than I’m trying to turn into a ST) on at half time and earns himself a 7 up front.
The UEFA Cup First Round draw is completed and we’re handed a September home-and-away session to face Polish side Wisla. They’re certainly not the strongest team in this competition but based on who other Champions Cup Third Qualifying Round losers drew, they’re middle of the road. Could have been anyone from Rangers down to Contructorul.
We face Coleraine next in the league. They have managed to join us (or vice versa) in the UEFA Cup 1st Round by way of a two-legged away goals victory over Obilic. What I’d like is some revenge for that horrific Irish Cup Final performance to finish last season while they look to avenge their Charity Shield loss.
It’s not a performance for the ages but it gets the job done. It’s an even and scoreless first 45, perhaps due to a pair of potential injuries for us. I make changes at the break and shift the formation a bit and we net twice to see them off. McAulay’s goal and an 8 earns him MotM over Thomson’s 9 for some reason.
Our scouts have finally found some worthwhile players for us. All youth players, mind you. A pair of very good keepers, which is a bit of a shame as de Visscher is playing well and not really where I’d like to strengthen. Auxerre wanted (and still want) van Dijk, but I reckon he came here for playing time vs taking a “hot prospect” deal elsewhere.
Defensive midfield could certainly use a boost but the young DM they found isn’t really starting XI material. Yet? Who knows. Hopefully another facilities improvement could help improve his attributes. Still, he’s better than Jones so I’m sure he’ll get some minutes.
And finally, a new striker. A solid young player that will deputise for our Hose/de Weerdt pairing that’s working so well for us. If you’re upset that Tarrant hasn’t featured this season, his chances at featuring are only getting worse.
It’s another TOTTC as we sit top (3–1–0) and are facing newly promoted Armagh who’ve flown out to a 3–0–0 start. Still, they’re “mediocre” says my scout. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’re at their place and they’re playing well.
It’s a clean sheet debut for our new keeper, (who’s middle name I’ve decided is “Chester”, allowing me to nickname him “JCVD”) despite playing the final 15 and change with ten men due to sub Van Leeuwen’s brief appearance. Nijkamp earns a 7 in his 25 minute cameo too. It bodes well.
After the match, a pair of bids arrive for Crozier. He served us well but as a 23 year old, he’s now behind a trio of Dutch teenagers (don’t think dirty thoughts, don’t think dirty thoughts). Colchester and Norwich both bid £80k so I ask both for £150k instead. Colchester obliges. Solid player, Crozier with a very nice ROI.
As Crozier leaves, we add another new face. He may not start either, but about level with Doherty/de Freitas up front while also on par with Keilty/Drummond in midfield. And being younger, he’ll probably get the nod over all four of them.
An added bonus to having some teen players in the team is that they don’t need to be part of our European squad to feature. And feature they will as we welcome Wisla to town. We line up as would be expected and our defensive trio will have their hands full with speedy, acceleratey Brozek. Fourteen goals in nine matches so far for him…
It’s a second successive clean sheet for our new #1 and our clinical finishing has put us in a driver’s seat so nice, we may as well replace bloody Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari. 8s for every starter except for Hose (9) and de Weert (7, but off at half) and 7s for Clarke, Cox and Nijkamp (all on at the break).
For the tenth-or-so time since I joined Portadown, a youth has been promoted to the reserve squad. The good news is that this time, he’s actually bloody decent. The bad news is that he plays a position that doesn’t need as much strengthening. I run it past the powers that be and as he’s from our own youth setup, I can offer him a contract even though he’s not Dutch.
Our League Cup Group Stage kicks off today and it feels like a late start for this competition. Same group as usual: Us, Armagh, Newry, Glenavon and the only Division One side, Dungannon. And speaking of the Div 1 side, we welcome them to the Shamrock for this one.
We leave it later than I was hoping but all three points are earned. Not bad, considering it was a first start for Kox and Vanenburg while Ceesay is still trying to gather his match fitness.
Back to league action and we’re facing Ards at home. Douglas and Vanenburg are a bit tired after Cup play, so Clarke starts and we run with a very offensive-minded bench of an AM, Forward and Striker.
I feel like we’re cruising at the break, being two up through de Weerdt and out-shooting the visitors eleven to zero. So I make three changes at half time and then the wheels fall off. It’s squeaky bum time as the final few minutes tick away but we do hold on for the victory.
We’re having some fantastic success with signing Dutch youths these days. Eric Davids arrives in Northern Ireland to bolster our First Team’s attacking midfield while de Wit and de Visscher bolster the reserve side’s attacking options.
I’ve put the wheels back on after last match but now they’d have get punctured, go flat, fall off and roll away to not manage to advance here. We’ve got a four-goal lead as we head to Krakow to face Wisla. As long as we avoid red cards and such, we should be fine. An away goal would mean they’d need SIX.
We suffer no catastrophes and cruise through to the next round. I’m thrilled, especially as I’d swap most of my squad for theirs if they’d actually be willing to come play here.
We add ANOTHER young Dutch keeper to the team. This makes de Visscher (our #1 at the start of the season, remember) into our NUMBER FIVE. I think the order is JCVD, van der Haar, van den Herik, Quinn and then de Visscher. I transfer list him to LOADS of interest, so up the ask to £250k.
Maybe I didn’t bump the asking price up high enough. All bids are for asking price, so I negotiate all of them to double the ask at £500k. Someone’s bound to pay, especially those rich Mexican teams…
Well, I was hoping for either a winnable tie or a giant and I think we got the winnable tie for our next UEFA Cup match. Le Mans are currently in 4th place…of France’s SECOND Division. They qualified as winners of the French League Cup. I’ll take it.
Maybe I should have asked for more? Toluca, Salzburg and Atlas are all in at half a million, so I’ll let Michael decide where he wants to go.
Alrighty then. In Europe he stays. Thanks for everything, Michael! Crozier and de Visscher arrived for a joint £3k and left for £650k. And provided a combined 7.3333333 rating over 105 matches.
It’s MUD (Mid Ulster Derby) time for the first of at least five times this season. This one is a League Cup Group Stage match and we’re on their turf (literally).
That’s a decent first tilt with the historical rivals…though Linfield are probably more like the on-pitch rivals, having been runners-up to us for my first two seasons. Even at the interval we were the far superior side to Glenavon, it just took three second half goals to show it.
We add another Dutch freebie to the reserves. Nothing to write home about but more depth in the squad. He’s loan-listed for now.
And going out the door the other way, is former Portadown Supporters Player of the Year: Neil Tarrant. He’s sold for less than half what we paid for him, but he was absolutely massive in getting us to where we are today. He’ll be missed.
A third win from three would put us into the quarter-finals of the League Cup, no matter the outcome of out final group stage match. We’ve got Armagh at home and we trot out our strongest side.
I wouldn’t actually mind if we started to score some first half goals, lads. Especially in matches this lop-sided. It’s a first goal for Nijkamp at the death and we’ve booked ourselves a date with Newry in the QF…unless we beat Newry by five on Matchday 4 and goal difference drops them behind Glenavon…
Speaking of Newry, we’ve got them in the league next. Despite being 5–1–0 so far, we’ve dropped back to 4th place (with matches in hand over the top three) while they’re top of the table. Douglas and Ceesay are tired, so I send Clarke into the middle and hand Davids a first appearance.
We’re second best in the first half and after replacing potentially injured de Weerdt, we’re second best for the next twenty minutes too. I yank Niewenburg and McAulay off (both on 5s) and move Kox in front of Clarke, pushing forward. Our 2–2–3–1–2 pays dividends and we’re all over them for the final stage. Hose has a penalty saved before Kox manages to save some of our blushes with the final kick of the match.
We manage to offload some more players that have fallen down the pecking order, with Woodlands Wellington of Singapore splashing £80k on Jones and Hapoel Tel-Aviv spending double that on Doherty. They were both fine for us for having cost a combined £8k, but the £240k return on their sale is probably my favourite thing they’ve done for me. Apologies to either of them if they scored a match-winning goal along the way somewhere.
On the eve of our UEFA Cup Second Round First Leg match with Le Mans, McAulay (averaging 7.40 and 3.6 tackles per match in five continental matches) strains his groin in our extremely light Wednesday practice. That’s less than ideal…
Paul Challinor is drafted into CB in his stead but we’re about as strong as possible otherwise. All 100%, all match fit. A big home win like last round would suit me just fine.
I said it, but I certainly wasn’t expecting it. The stats may say it was a closer match than the score suggested, but the majority of Le Mans’ pressure took place in the final ten minutes after Beevor’s injury left us short a man. And he was only playing as far superior DM Thomson picked up a yellow and I replaced him at the break. Again, we’ve got far more than one foot in the next round.
Another departure, as I continue to scale back our squad size. Kielty was unhappy with his lack of playing time and it seems Singaporean clubs have been watching us closely!
Our next match is the completely irrelevant League Cup Group Stage match with Newry. I make mass changes and send the lads out. A three-goal loss or better and we stay top. But even if we drop to 2nd place, the location of the quarter-final is a random draw anyway.
We win, Newry stay 2nd and our youth/fringe players get a runabout. First goals of the season for Drummond and Grant, though their chances will be few and far between going forward, I’d imagine.
And we get them at our place for the QF. Perfect.
We travel to Coleraine for a league match next. They’re having a rough start to the season with no wins from seven so far and sitting in 10th place. Having advanced to the UEFA Cup proper, they were promptly dispatched by Tirol Innsbruck.
Paul Challinor (and his 4 in Finishing) pops up with a brace to hand us the victory. Hose’s injury scares me as he limps off, but he’s just gone for a week with a gashed leg. He’ll miss the mid-week trip to France though…
In huge transfer news that will make waves through out the Northern Irish Premier Division, one half of Linfield’s feared strike force has moved to Norwich. Losing the reigning Player of the Year (and runner-up to his teammate the year before) is a huge loss for Linfield and should make our life easier. The other half (Glenn Ferguson) turns 34 this calendar year too, so hopefully their offensive output will suffer a steep decline.
Most of the first team make the trip southeast to Le Mans. Sadly for us, Nijkamp had his 20th birthday nine days ago and has therefore become ineligible. Cox pairs up front with de Weerdt in injured Hose’s place while Vanenburg takes injured Nieuwenburg’s spot. We’ve got that 4–0 advantage to lean on from the first leg, so let’s not do anything stupid…
I wouldn’t call it “stupid” but after three minutes, we’re on pace to lose 30–0. After 28 minutes, about 6–0. But I make some changes at the break and Kox’s goal with about twenty to go seals it as they’d need four more goals to eliminate us. We’re off to the next round! We’ll just need to wait for the Champion’s Cup Groups to finish up before we discover who our next opponent will be…
Now, THIS match with Newry, I care about. Last time was a little warm-up for this one. We played our bench players and won 3–1 on the road. Now we play them in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, at home, using our starters. Let’s do this!
We play like absolute donkeys but we still manage to sneak out a victory. Outshot, outpassed, outtackled and outheaded but we scored two to their one. We’re through to the semis where we’ll play Coleraine in a two-legged affair.
It’s time to find out who our UEFA Cup Third Round opposition will be. The likes of Athletico Madrid, Porto and Liverpool won their UEFA Cup Second Round ties while Real Madrid, Hertha Berlin and Chelsea dropped down from the Champions Cup.
It could have just as easily have been Shamrock Rovers but instead we’re paired with one of the strongest teams in the competition. They’re home to some of the cream of the Dutch footballing crop in Hasselbaink, Overmars and Robben. Yikes. Maybe we’ll impress those three so much they’ll want to come here???
We’ve got our first match of the season with Linfield next. We’ve got some tired players, so there’s a bit of a shake up in our XI. But on the bright side, Davy Larmour is gone and Glenn Ferguson is injured, so let’s just have a MUCH more solid match than last time out, shall we?
Though Linfield’s strike force isn’t what it was, their DC pairing of Baillie and Murphy is still a force to be reckoned with. Fortunately, Grant scores early on one of our very few chances to earn us three huge points. You’ve gotta love when fringe players take the chances they’re given.
It’s League Cup semi-final time and we’re off to Coleraine for the first leg. They’ve climbed out of the league basement now, but they’re still not playing like the European qualifiers they were from last season.
It’s a walloping. Hose should have scored a hat trick but his second penalty attempt is saved. And despite the penalty miss, Hose and Nijkamp both end on 10s. The 2nd leg should be a stroll.
Steven Ellison has been rotting in the reserves since De Visscher (the keeper, not the forward) arrived forever ago. Telford finally snap him up for free (plus a 25% sell-on fee that will most likely never occur) but we do save his weekly 300 quid wage.
Institute arrive in Portadown for a league match just 72 hours later and with a full five days of recovery before our first Chelsea match, I send out the fittest team I can.
Martin Cox’s young legs take advantage of Institute’s tiring ones as a late brace gives us some very important breathing room. Otherwise that late consolation goal could have cost us. We’re ten matches deep now and we sit in 3rd place, five points back of Linfield though we do have four matches in hand.
The Blues arrive with a bit more pomp and circumstance than our usual guests. Fancy chartered busses, more staff than than we’ve got players, matching suits/bags/headphones…we may as well have rolled out a red carpet for them. They haven’t played in front of less than 14k fans this year (at Crewe in the Premier League) so maybe this situation will throw them off. And this worked last time, so I tell the lads to get us a big lead in the first leg…
It’s not a BIG lead, but it’s a lead nonetheless! Not only that but it’s a clean sheet too, thanks to MotM van Dijk. And Chelsea don’t take it easy on us either, sending out a formidable side of regular starters/stars. I’m not sure we deserved the win on the balance of play and it’s still going to be a big ask to go to Stamford Bridge and win this pairing, but the fact it’s a possibility is huge.
I’m still hunting for improvements and we agree a deal with RBC for Remco Heerkens. Unfortunately, we can’t come to an agreement with the player (he’s on £700/week now but won’t take half that with a £700k signing-on fee).
We fully rotate for the second leg of our League Cup SF bout with Coleraine, as we’re sitting on a 4–0 lead and playing at home. This match SHOULD be a formality.
We play like crap and deserve to lose. But the large buffer we built in the first leg is more than enough to send us through to the Finals. We’ll face Glentoran at Windsor Park in two weeks’ time to try to win back the silverware we were robbed of last season.
Weird issue here. Now, Drummond and Grant are upset they aren’t first team regulars. That’s fine. They’re not. Though they probably would be if they were on any other team in Northern Ireland. These other five doofuses are either upset about us underachieving or they think we should be topping the table.
I cancel practice and bring them into the office for some elementary maths. Lads, three times ten is thirty. Even if we won all ten of the matches we’ve played, we’d STILL be in 2nd place by five points. Just nincompoopery of the highest degree.
Maybe we can at least get CLOSER to the top of the table here. A win over Armagh at home would mean we’d leapfrog them…
We can’t buy a goal. But they can’t buy a goal attempt. It’s a stalemate with a blatantly obvious choice for MotM. Their keeper, of course! But at least Linfield lost, so we’re now eight points back with six matches in hand…
Stamford Bridge — another stadium I can now cross off the bucket list. We’re nursing a 1–0 advantage from the first leg but it’s a razor thin margin. I shake hands with Roy Hodgson and off we go.
Sure, they’re a better side than us. Sure, they’ve got international caps coming out the wazoo. But Chelsea field a much weakened side from the first leg and absolutely clean our clocks. Two players with first ever starts and a sub that makes his first ever appearance. I don’t get it. It’s also not a great day to have a few fives scattered around the team either. We’re out of Europe.
There are actually two slivers of silver linings here. The first is that the more than 36k fans and the TV rights of a 3rd Round UEFA tie net us over £600k. The second is that I can now (until we’ve clinched a top-4 spot) spend that money on ANYONE from ANYWHERE. And there are a few I have my eyes on!
Target #1: Acquired.
I’ve had my eye on this Northern Irelander since LONG before I was permitted to splash any decent amount of cash. Totally unused at Rangers and actually INTERESTED in joining our team, I’m thrilled to pick him up for a mere £250k. The former Linfield player will do his best to keep his old squad at bay.
Of all the teams to draw for the 5th Round (first round for us) of the Irish Cup. Four times in the league, twice in the League Cup and once in the Irish Cup. They’ll know each other very well by the end of the season…
Another arrival, this one from St Mirren. Some more competition (and youth) in the midfield. His signing spells the end of Drummond’s time in the First Team as Boyce is both better and younger.
It’s a debut for Lee Feeney as he slots into central midfield ahead of Douglas…who on paper is our best AMC but hasn’t REALLY put his stamp on the position of yet. And in which match is Feeney making his debut? It’s just the League Cup Final at Windsor Park against Glentoran.
We’re down a goal at the break (with the last kick of the half) despite sextupling the number of shots Glentoran had: 6 to 1. I fear the worst when McAulay, Vanenburg and Ceesay are all in the 70s fitness-wise and need to be replaced due to potential injuries. With the shot count in our favour I decide to push forward and Beevor, Douglas and Nijkamp are sent in to make a 2–2–3–3 formation. It immediately pays dividends as we level and take the lead within four minutes. We add some insurance on 55 and tack on an extra in added time. Portadown are once again League Cup winners!
I rotate a bit for our next league match. Boyce gets a first start and a few fringe players are in due to some fitness issues from our Cup exploits. Our number 2 gets a rare start between the sticks to rest JCVD. We’re at Shamrock Park with Newry visiting. They’re currently four points ahead of us but have played a whopping EIGHT more matches than we have.
We play Newry off the park at a canter. Cruise control is engaged early and Newry still don’t have a single shot on target by the end of the match. A few key players are removed to provide a bit of a rest and we close the gap on the rest as Linfield only manage a draw.
The rejection letters from numerous teams turning down offers and numerous players turning down contracts are beginning to pile up. I’m not being nearly as successful in this transfer open season as I was hoping.
All we can do is roll on with what we have, so when first place side Linfield roll in to town I make sure we’re fully fit and ready to eat into their lead.
Linfield are discovering what it’s like to not have a dynamic duo up front. And what it’s like when someone else does…though our is more of a trio. Hose with a brace and Nijkamp ices the cake after coming on for de Weerdt. Linfield’s league lead is now smaller than the number of matches we have in hand (six and seven).
We’ve got a pair of away MUD matches to play before Christmas. We’re playing Glenavon at Mourneview Park on both the 20th and 24th. We’ve played one MUD earlier in the year in the League Cup (we were 3–0 victors) but that was at our place.
Another great showing. Hose has his hat trick chalked off for Ceesay being offside and then has a penalty saved (his second in a row, I believe) so we settle for the 3–0 win. He’s actually behind de Weerdt in the PK order, but I’d replaced him already.
Peterhead accept a 130k bid for Gary Mason. I’m not sure he’s as much of a defensive-minded defensive midfielder but he’s both talented and actually willing to play for us. Oh, and we sold de Freitas and Drummond for 95k each, so that financed the deal. I’m happy to have their wages off the books.
We line up almost identically for our Christmas Eve MUD. Mason is in and Challinor replaced McAulay. Status quo elsewhere as we look to repeat the feat.
We don’t just repeat it, we one-up it. We’re two goals to the good (including a debut Mason strike) before halftime and with Brewerton and Boyce nursing knocks, we bring on Beevor and Feeney and run out a 2–3–3–2 for the second half. The new formation promptly finds the net three more times and it’s our biggest win since October of 2002. Happy Christmas to us!
Football players these days, amirite? Look at this guy for example. Publicly praised in the media by his coach, starting every match and performing well with a club that’s in 3rd place in La Liga and into Phase 2 of the Champions Cup. And he STILL wants out. I’m sure this is an anomaly and players will become more and more reasonable as time goes on.
We make a few changes to the squad from our match 72 hours ago as we face Coleraine at the Shamrock. They’re about as average a side as you can have. They’re in 5th place with a 50% record (7–5–7) and a goal difference of zero (30 GF, 30 GA).
I suppose we were due for an underwhelming match. I’m forced into three changes before the hour mark due to some potential injuries before Mason gets proper injured (but just for a few days). We’re stuck with only having ten men for the final 25 minutes, set up in a 3–2–2–2 formation. We concede the equaliser and have very little forward thrust to try to regain the lead. Our Number 2 shows us why he’s our Number 2, conceding twice on five shots. He’s still 17 years old and we’re three points back with six matches in hand so I’m not TOO upset.
We’re out-contracted by Darlington for one of my transfer targets. Once willing to join us from Conference side Farnborough, he goes for a goal, an assist and a MotM award on his debut. They win 2–1 over Wolves, pulling themselves out of the First Division relegation zone in the process. He’d have been nice to have.
Some might call it poor scheduling, but we’ve got a New Years’ Eve match on the road at Institute. They’re a 100 minute drive away, so I’m not even sure we’ll be back before 2004… I tell the lads to channel their aggression towards our opponents instead. A win here and we’d top the table by the end of the calendar year.
We’re two up by the 34th minute, so Ceesay decides to shove an Institute player so he can begin his partying early. Maybe he forgot he’s got to wait til the rest of us finish the match before taking the coach back to Portadown? We still manage to tack on a third goal through Pinas to round out a solid victory.
We’re back in 1st place for the first time since week 4. Level with Linfield on points, ahead on goal difference and with FIVE matches in hand.
Tune in next episode for the start of next year!
