At the weekend Alloa Athletic splashed out 1848k on two auction buys. 850k (thanks a bunch, Andy) went on David Devine who immediately adds 12 SL to the top 6 defenders (71k per SL is cool with us) and almost as important is on 10 EL.

998k went on William Blackie, a 0/10 FW who will be a star in years to come. 

Even after spending all that we still are the richest team in Division Three and fourth richest over all. I'm pretty sure we can get close to 4000k by the end of the season. This is thanks to 950k paid by Hibernian for Dylan Levitt. 

*The Latin for "a pound in weight" is libra pondo. The British used pound for the weight but decided, in their wisdom, to use lb as the abbreviation. Why not?

Libra pondo was also used for the amount of silver needed to make 240 pennies - us old people remember when 240 pennies equaled 1 pound. Well if we used lb as an abbreviation for a pound in weight why not use L for a pound currency? In blackletter type the top of the L is curled and one or two lines were added, hence £.

And why I put A££o A££o

In the team "about" I state that this is just a holding season, building for season 60. Things have gone better than expected: we are somehow 5th in Division 3 with a goal difference bettered only by Partick Thistle, we have 1000k more than the second richest team in the division - in fact if we didn't spend any more we'd finish with around 5500k. I have money to burn. We have 9 TP left, which is all planned for post MSA and 18 CP, 17 of which will be used post MSA. I've managed to be able to put out teams that could win in all but one game (and that we could have won if I hadn't stalled). This is a completely different tactic to my usual T11 twice, 50% stall the 3rd game.

Previously I bemoaned our luck: 4-5 vs Cove Rangers, 0-0 vs Queens Park to name two, but that luck changed last weekend:

First up was 12th placed Falkirk. We were the stronger from the start and I had like ofr like substitions at DF and WG and Donnelly coming on for Gentles after (probably) 30 minutes. As the game passed 60 minutes and it was still 0-0 I realised something was wrong - I know I clicked on the player tactics I wanted as I specifically remember the CP and TP I wanted to use, but either I saved them as match 20 or forgot to actually save them. Fortunately, Donnelly wasn't needed as Graham headed in the first goal, which brought about press tactics from Falkirk and we scored two more from Fuler and Graham, again. The main luck was that none of the three tired players picked up injuries, and also their replacements didn't waste EL as they were all on 4 to start with.

Also I was lucky enough to be around to spot this so could change my tactics for the next game: Partick Thistle are riding high in the Division, they were top at the start of the game, and it showed why with a 9.5% to 6.2% shot chance advantage. Donnelly was on from the start and they only had an SL 24 GK but they also had a big MF and FW player. After 25 minutes we were 2-0 down despite both teams having had three shots. This was looking like one of those games. The only way I would be improving the side was a 60 minute substitution of Roe (GK playing at SW) for Gentles and a weakening midfield substitution. It was not looking good.

Still 2-0 at half time and they're all over us: Robinson (SL 35 MF) had his second shot saved (he scored his first) and Chalmers (SL 34 FW) was caught offside. It seemed only a matter of time before they scored their 3rd and all we could manage was a defender missing the target. On 56 minutes we managed to pull one back - a defender of all people and both teams swapped things around on 60 minutes. Partick took off a FW and brought on a SW and the shot chances dropped to 8.3% to 5.0%. Against the odds we were now getting more shots and at 68 minutes we'd had 8 each and Kong equalised. That brought an immediate response from Partick who took off a DF (coincidentally the same name as the DF we took off after 30 minutes) and brought on a FW.: 11.3% to 5.9%. 75 minutes and Donnelly finally gets on the score sheet and even has another chance on 89 minutes. Amazingly we had 10 shots to their 8 (and an offside).

Up to 5th but it's very tight at the top and mid-season will hit our two aged defenders and back up winger.

The next game should be very interesting as Stirling have been playing a lot of Ball Control, which I started using to combat teams who play Early Cross, and which is now my tactic of choice.

Another one of those weekends where it could have gone better but happy with four points.

Against Airdrieonians we started out as 6.9% to 5.9% favourites. We had the better GK (34 to 29) but they had OConnor at SL 38 and we had Donnelly at SL 33. It looks close on paper. 30 minutes pass and we haven't had a shot but they've had three, including one from OConnor, which is saved. I make a substitution that increases our shot chance to 7.2% and we score on 36 minutes with our first shot. And then a minute later as Donnelly does his business.OConnor gets caught offside and later has another shot saved as they pretty much get their "expected shots" but all we get is Gentles caught offside. We didn't make the most of our possession but Morrison had a great game and we score two from two shots. A good if slightly flattering result for once.

Then it's a visit to Brechin City. Again we have the GK advantage (34 to 28) and Donnelly SL 33, and our SL 29 pair of wingers playing all game, whereas they have McGinn at SL 32 in MF and Raeside and Bosman at SLs 29 and 26. They have the 7.9% to 6.4% advantage but another close game on paper. Raeside is injured after just 3 minutes to be replaced by the weaker Crouch, their advatage is reduced but still better than ours. After six minute Donnelly has already had two shots but both saved. I'm already feeling aggrieved as he had a 50% chance of scoring each time. A shot from Kong on 11 minutes, also saved, and already it's feeling like it's not going our way. Brechin have been unlucky in not having a shot yet, 20th minute and they score from their first shot, well a cross really.  We've had our "expected shots" by half time with nothing to show for it. In the second half we get a couple of chances, one to each winger and Fuller equalises. For Brechin, Hickey played a little too long and picked up a bad injury and we were the stronger team. In the end we only had the 7 chances (fair) but they had 8 (2 offsides and 3 off target, thankfully). A draw seemed fair at the start but I feel we were unlucky with how the game actually went. With 2 shots from Donnelly and 4 from the ShSL 26 WGs the xG is 2.44

So another opportunity missed but we're in touching distance of promotion - something I wasn't really looking for this season.