Another tough weekend for TNS started with an away game at Richard's table top Dublin,both sides opting for normal 5-3-2 tactics, we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 8 minutes when Torres fired home 0-1 and defended well up till half time,2nd half subs on and they upped their tempo and on 52 minutes Cork slipped through and slotted home 1-1,and after constant pressure he fired home his 2nd on 74 minutes 2-1,we had no answer to this as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 5 to 3,well played Richard, tudy side you have there and looking like Champions. 

Next we were at home to Paul's Dundee Broncos, a formidable side who were always hard to get a result against, we opted for a 5-3-2 normal as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top until on 29 minutes a deep cross saw Mustang power home his header 0-1,defences then on top till half time ,2nd half subs on and nothing to choose between the sides, we slowly played ourselves back into the game and levelled things up on 71 minutes when Bosnich fired home from range 1-1,79 minutes and some slick passing saw Mustang race through and chip the onrushing keeper 1-2,we tried but could not find a way through the stubborn defence as we edged the shot count 5 to 4 but nothing to show for it,well played Paul.

So another pointless weekend which is becoming the norm as we prepare for the mid week semi final against AC Sapone, hopefully lady luck will be on our side.

Lisburn City’s trip to face Golden Dragons turned into a tough afternoon, as Carl Oakes’ side suffered a 5-1 defeat in a game where defensive lapses proved costly. Despite a bright start from the visitors, it was the Dragons who drew first blood, with Declan Rice smashing a fine effort past Scott Carson in the 17th minute. Lisburn’s equalizer came courtesy of veteran Eric Brook, who coolly finished after Peter Barnes’ mis-hit found its way to his feet. However, the Dragons’ relentless attack proved too much for Lisburn’s defense. A quick response before half-time saw Rice volley home his second goal after poor marking, leaving Oakes furious on the touchline. The second half saw Lisburn trying to claw their way back, with Carlos Tevez and Tommy McIlroy having efforts denied by Alex Meret. But it was the Dragons who put the game out of reach. Gabriel Almeida’s aerial prowess and speed led to a brace, sealing a comfortable victory. Despite the scoreline, there were flashes of promise for Lisburn, especially in the link-up play between Eric Brook and Peter Barnes. However, it’s back to the drawing board for Oakes as Lisburn looks to bounce back in their next outing.

In a game that had fans on the edge of their seats, Lisburn City managed to snatch a late equalizer against a resilient Bijker Boys side, thanks to the heroics of Eric Brook. The first half was a cagey affair with both teams struggling to find their rhythm. Lisburn’s Carlos Tevez came closest, unleashing a 30-yard screamer that forced Emiliano Ciniani into a fine save. Bijker Boys had their own moments, with Viktor Pierez rattling the crossbar from distance early on The breakthrough came in the 59th minute when Almere’s Anthony Langers ghosted in at the back post to nod home a pinpoint cross, leaving Tommy Wright with no chance. From there, the Flevolanders looked to close the game down, with Sjaak de Ridder marshalling the defense expertly. But Carl Oakes’ men were not to be denied. With just five minutes left on the clock, Darius Vassell set up Eric Brook, who coolly rounded Ciniani to slot home the equalizer, much to the delight of the home crowd. Lisburn pushed for a winner, but Ciniani’s heroic saves ensured the points were shared. Oakes will take heart from his side’s resilience but will hope for better finishing in their next fixture.

Ye Olde Spurs are heading for relegation if they can't somehow stop their current slump in results. Last weekend we managed to pick up a point from our two matches. We kicked off with an away game against A C Sapone. We went two nil down after just 15 minutes and then three down 3 minutes into the second half. We pulled two goals back to make the score respectable. The second game was at home with Orchard Park Thistle. At halftime we we're one goal behind but make a second half fight back scoring on 68 minutes to grab a point. We currently sit tenth going into the last four matches.

I am delighted to be able to report another excellent weekend for the Broncos.  We won both our matches, which means that our last six league games have wielded five wins and a draw.  We’re not quite sure of avoiding the playoffs but it is now almost certain that we’ll be playing in Division 1 again next season – and we have a decent chance of finishing in the top half of the table.

Our Saturday game was against the Bijker Boys who seemed to be managerless for the day.  They all played passive and conceded a big gap in shot chance – we managed 14 shots to their 3 and waltzed home 2-5 despite having our reserve keeper, Steve Sorraia, between the sticks.  Ardie Savea was in fine form here, netting four of our five goals.

Then on Sunday, we played our second away game of the weekend, against FC Blades.  They had a bit of a makeshift team out and stalled from the outset.  0-2 at half time become 0-4 at the close and a second captain’s bonus for Winston Welsh.

Happy days!

Lisburn City traveled to face Ye Olde Spurs and returned home with a well-earned 2-0 victory. It was a tightly contested first half, but the deadlock was broken in the 28th minute when Eric Brook seized a loose ball, surged in from the left, and fired an unstoppable drive into the top corner, leaving Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vieario stranded. Tottenham attempted to counter, with James Maddison and Ivan Perisic testing the Lisburn defense, but Tommy Wright proved unbreakable, pulling off crucial saves to maintain the lead. In the 88th minute, Dave Watson sealed the victory, rising at the back post to meet a cross from John Martin and powering his header past Vieario. Wright’s heroics earned him the Man of the Match title as Lisburn celebrated a confident away win.

Lisburn City hosted Orchard Park Thistle in a match that ended in a hard-fought goalless draw. Both teams displayed resolute defenses and few clear-cut chances. Tommy Wright once again proved his worth in goal, denying Orchard Park’s Jim Watt and Hard Nut Biker in critical moments to keep Lisburn in the game. Lisburn’s best chance came from Darius Vassell, who unleashed a powerful shot that sailed just over the bar in the 60th minute, with Caleb Milligan beaten. Despite sustained pressure from both sides, neither could break the deadlock, leaving the crowd appreciative of the defensive displays. Tommy Wright’s consistent heroics earned him the Man of the Match award, as Lisburn took home a point in this closely contested encounter.

Lisburn City appeared to be cruising to victory in the Cup Semifinal, but a determined Orchard Park Thistle turned the game on its head in a dramatic second half, securing a 3-2 win to advance to the final. Eric Brook opened the scoring for Lisburn in the 27th minute, capitalizing on a rebound to slot the ball into an open net. Brook doubled the lead just before halftime, finishing off a slick move with Bernardo Silva. Lisburn seemed firmly in control with a 2-0 lead at the break. However, Orchard Park responded fiercely in the second half. Hard Nut Biker pulled one back in the 50th minute, followed by Jim Watt’s sweetly struck half-volley to level the score. The visitors completed their comeback in the 71st minute, as Peggy McAlpine’s clever chip found the back of the net, leaving Lisburn shell-shocked. Despite a late surge from the Distillers, Orchard Park’s defense held firm, and Jim Watt earned Man of the Match for his pivotal role in their rally.

We started with an away game at Dan's high flying Sheffield Rovers, a classy side who were on a rollercoaster of results,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-4-2 normal, they started quickly and opened the scoring on 2 minutes when Flintstone fired home 1-0,3 minutes and Auris slipped through and slotted home 2-0 and on 5 minutes Ingle Bre fired home 3-0,we were shell shocked as we had no answer to this ,it was like a hot knife going through butter,15 minutes and Rapid Jim fired home 4-0 and Ever rest made it 5-0 on 41 minutes, boy were we glad to hear the half time whistle, 2nd half subs on and we tightened up the defence and battled for every ball,66 minutes and they were down to 10 men as Rapid Jim saw red ,but it did not trouble them as they outplayed us and outshot us 14 to 3,well played Dan,amazing side you have there.

Next we were at home to Les's Newton Heath, a really tricky side to play against ,and after our drubbing at Sheffield we needed to put in a performance, we opted for a 4-4-2 normal as they went for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession and they opened the scoring on 26 minutes when Race slotted home 0-1,we regrouped and pushed on and on 34 minutes Holden drilled home from range 1-1,half time came and subs on ,we pushed on and started to dominate the midfield area and on 60 minutes Savic smashed home a loose ball 2-1 and on 88 minutes Brobbel fired home to seal the game 3-1 as we outplayed and outshot them 7 to 1,well played Les ,we still sit 14th .

Ye Olde Spurs are now well and truly in a relegation fight after losing both matches last weekend. We started with a home game against Lisburn City who sat on the same points as us. Both teams created four chances, we couldn't beat man of the match Wright in goal for Lisburn but we conceded twice to lose two nil. The second game was away at Orgullo Atletico and we got blown away three nil, in a very one sided match. We dropped down to ninth but our cushion has now gone and we have lost all confidence going into the final six matches. 

Well it was the quarter final stage and we were drawn against Simon's Bijker boys, a side we have always struggled against, most matches close but but never in our favour,we didn't come into the match as best we could as low e/l was stretching the squad but we were hopeful of putting on a good display.

We opted for a 4-4-2 normal as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and both defences on top for the 1st half and possession was shared,2nd half subs on and we got a breakthrough on 59 minutes when Young fired home 1-0,from then on we were under constant pressure but our defence stood firm as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 3 to 2 but stood firm and progress to the semis, well played Simon.

Back to league action this weekend as we try and get some points to give us hope of division 1 survival. 

A very tough weekend faced the Broncos, starting on Saturday with an away match against Orchard Park Thistle, who always, but always, seem to beat us.  And with rookie Steve Sorraia in goal, we didn’t really give ourselves a chance.  So it was no surprise that we went behind after eleven minutes, but it certainly was a surprise when we equalised just five minutes later after a goalkeeping error gave Ardie Savea and easy finish.  And only twenty minutes had gone when we found ourselves in front, courtesy of Nicholas Nokota.  With half time approaching we were looking forward to getting to the break with a narrow lead but suddenly Ardie Savea popped up in the box again and made it 1-3 at the break.  OPT brought on some serious reinforcements and pulled a goal back with 24 minutes to go but we held on with comparative ease to take a most unexpected three points and pull ourselves four points clear of the playoff spots.

But it was a very tough weekend, and on Sunday we played hosts to Golden Dragons, just one point off the top of the table.  We held a handy shot advantage here and deservedly took the lead on the stroke of half time, Nicholas Nokota again on target.  But now things went wrong.  The second half saw the Dragons score twice and so, with 16 minutes to play we were 1-2 down.  And so it was, until, with the ref’s whistle on its way to his lips, Norman Namib smacked a volley home to give us a 2-2 draw.

So, with six to play we lie tenth, two points above the playoffs.  Survival a distinct possibility!

The disaster became truth.

5 games with only 1 victory kicked out ORA from both cups, and left the team too far from the league head to dream with a title. The worst thing is Orgullo doesn't have the feeeling of being unlucky. It's just they could not equal their rivals top11.

Yes, the top of the league is 6 points ahead with 6 matches to be played. It's not impossible. But considering the fixtures includes OPT or GD, the task seems too heroic.

Also, the cup eliminations served to SFR or OPT to get more money and recover better from this season's effort.

So, what's next for ORA? Reaching the 3rd position would be a decent finish for the season. But even that seems complicated. Trading to renew the squad and start the new season being ready seems mandatory too.

Lisburn City overcame a resilient New Jersey Nutmegs side with a 3-1 victory, thanks to stellar performances from Carlos Tevez and Tommy McIlroy. Tevez opened the scoring in the third minute with a finely placed header, setting the tone for Carl Oakes’s squad. Despite several close calls, including a near miss from John Martin and a header by Peter Barnes, A Goram kept the Nutmegs in contention with some impressive saves. The Nutmegs responded with a determined effort, equalizing in the 69th minute when Boaby Gillespie capitalized on a well-placed pass. However, Lisburn reclaimed control as McIlroy coolly slotted home in the 74th minute, showcasing his composure under pressure. Gary Wray’s late goal in the 89th minute sealed the victory, rounding off a powerful performance by Lisburn City.

A.C. Sapone’s substitute goalkeeper, Edith, produced a stellar performance to deny Lisburn City a victory, as both sides played to a hard-fought 0-0 draw. Lisburn pushed forward with intent from the start, switching to a 4-2-4 formation to capitalize on their attacking options, but Sapone’s defensive structure held strong. Despite several promising chances, including a powerful shot from Bernardo Silva and a near miss from Darren Armour, Lisburn couldn’t break through Edith’s resolute goalkeeping. Philip Mitchell had a golden opportunity in the 71st minute, only to see his effort narrowly miss the target. Edith’s last-minute save against a driven shot by David Silva secured the clean sheet for Sapone.

Lisburn City then found themselves outmatched by a clinical Orgullo Atletico, falling to a 3-0 defeat in a spirited clash. Orgullo took the lead in the 23rd minute when Asier Villalibre slipped past the Lisburn defense to score, setting the tone for a challenging day for the Distillers. Despite efforts from Darren Armour and Tommy McIlroy to level the score, Orgullo’s goalkeeper David Seaman delivered a flawless performance, repeatedly denying Lisburn’s chances. Orgullo extended their lead in the 62nd minute as Daniel Bocanegra finished a well-orchestrated play. Villalibre struck again in the 77th minute, securing the visitors’ dominance and leaving Coach Carl Oakes frustrated. While Lisburn’s defense showed resilience, they couldn’t match the quality of Orgullo’s offense, with Seaman crowned Man of the Match for his key saves.

Another tough weekend with 2 home games,we started up against James New Jersey Nutmegs  who like us were struggling at the bottom of the table,we opted for a 4-4-2 normal as they went for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top for the 1st half,2nd half and subs on ,they pushed on and opened the scoring on 50 minutes when Johnston fired home a loose ball 0-1,we kept on pushing and on 82 minutes we levelled things up when Brobbel fired home 1-1,we were outplayed for periods and outshot 7 to 4 but gain an invaluable point,well played James.

Next we welcomed Steve and his AC Sapone,a quality side who play some attractive football and are very hard to beat,we opted for a 4-4-2 normal as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 8 minutes when Young fired home 1-0,this seemed to jolt AC into action as they upped the tempo  and levelled things up on 12 minutes when Bancroft slotted home 1-1,defences then took control till half time, 2nd half subs on and we were finding it hard to retain any possession for any length of time and on 52 minutes and some neat interchanges saw Milligan race through and lob the onrushing keeper 1-2,they kept pushing forward and Bancroft fired home his 2nd on 72 minutes to seal the game 1-3 as we were outplayed and outshot 11 to 4,well played Steve. 

So a 1 point weekend sees us still rock bottom but we have the Dowson plate semi mid week against Simon's Bijker boys who have beaten us already this season and we find it really hard to win against them ,hopefully we can do better.

Ye Olde Spurs picked up three points and their first win in the last four games with a two one home victory over third placed Dublin Illuminati. We took the lead on 20 minutes though Johnson and went two ahead on 87 minutes with a Prince goal. We conceded one minute later but held on. We then traveled to struggling Dundee Broncos and after going into the lead twice, we managed to lose four two. We remain eighth with eight games left but we could still be drawn into the relegation battle if we aren't careful.

We met Josh's FC Blades in the cup quarter final (we had just been thoroughly beaten by them in the league) and knew we were up against it,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 5-2-3 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession, ours albeit in our own half defending,we held out until 40 minutes when some slick interchange passing saw Brooke's fire home 1-0,half time came and subs on ,2nd half and they turned the screws as we were struggling to retain any possession for any length of time and on 62 minutes Solomon slotted home 2-0  and they sealed the game on 81 minutes when Broookes fired home his 2nd  3-0 ,as we were outplayed and outshot 9 to 1 ,well played Josh best of luck in the semi.

It was a successful weekend for the Broncos.  

On Saturday we had an away game against Orgullo Atletico, who were lying fourth in the table.  We didn’t really expect anything from this game, but having a sweeper available was a boost against their early cross tactics, and we weren’t as outclassed as we’d feared.  Brian Brumby and Cameron Camargue both found the net for us in the first half and though the Colchonero pulled a goal back with twenty minutes to go, we were able to hold on and grab all three points.

That pulled us up one place to 11th in the table ahead of our Sunday match, at home to Ye Olde Spurs.  This was another even game, and a good one for the spectators.  Spurs took an early lead, wiped out by a lovely bender from Winston Welsh.  Then we fell behind again, but Ian Ytene powered a shot home to make it 2-2 at half time.  Andy Shaw’s half time substitutions seemed to unsettle his team and we scored two quick goals in the second half, from Ardie Savea and Simon Sable.  That ended the scoring, and we came home 4-2 to the good,

So we are up to tenth now, clear of the playoff spots, though only by one point.  And next weekend is a very tough one, with matches against Orchard Park Thistle and Golden Dragons.  If we can scramble a point, we’ll be happy

5th in the league, 6 points behind the leaders. Out of the Dowson cup. ORA could say goodbye to the season this wednesday, if they can't beat their rivals OPT.

Although Sergei has reunited a great squad, the results aren't being as expected. The big rivals not even suffer against them. And teams of the lower part of the table can also hurt them, like DB did last weekend, taking 3 points from Orgy Park.

Specially painfull was the cup elimination against SFR, that allow Dan to add more victories in the cup in the run of being the 2nd manager with 1000 victories. And also fight for more cups to enhance the break of being the 2nd squad with more trophies.

So, now the SFLSL Cup is the only option of silverware. A new defeat would leave ORA without not much to fight for during the third part of the season, except getting the last captain bonus for Alexanco.

In a match that saw chances come and go for both sides, Lisburn City took home all three points with a hard-fought 2-0 victory against Newton Heath LYR. The first half was a scrappy affair, with Gary Wray and Seamus Heath standing firm in defence to frustrate the home side’s attacks. The breakthrough came in the 67th minute when substitute Darius Vassell latched onto a loose ball and squeezed a shot past Benjamin Siegrist to put Lisburn ahead. Ten minutes later, Vassell doubled the lead with a well-struck volley, capitalizing on Manchester’s defensive disarray. Tommy Wright made several key saves to maintain his clean sheet, and despite a few nervy moments, the Distillers held on comfortably. Newton Heath had little to offer in attack as Lisburn’s defence stayed resolute, with Wray earning plaudits for his tireless work at the back.

Lisburn City struggled to contain a determined Dublin Illuminati side, falling 3-1 at home. Dublin got off to a flying start when Yade Cork headed in an early opener, catching Scott Carson off guard in just the first minute. Despite several attempts to claw back, Lisburn couldn’t capitalize on their opportunities. John Martin came close twice, only to be denied by the heroic Mump Stichell in goal. Dublin extended their lead in the 33rd minute through Hirdan Jocks, leaving Lisburn chasing the game. The second half saw Dublin dominate possession, with Borey Cojorquez adding a third in the 46th minute. Tommy McIlroy’s 83rd-minute strike gave Lisburn a glimmer of hope, but it was too little, too late. Despite a strong defensive effort from Gary Wray and Seamus Heath, Lisburn struggled to cope with Dublin’s clinical attack.

Lisburn City dismantled Dundee Broncos in the first half, storming to a 4-0 victory in what was a clinical display of finishing. Darren Armour set the tone in the 3rd minute with a brilliant curling effort, followed shortly by a long-range strike from Paul Bosvelt. By the 6th minute, John Martin added a third, calmly slotting past the helpless Steve Sorraia. The onslaught continued, with Armour netting his second goal in the 20th minute, leaving the home crowd stunned. Dundee never recovered from Lisburn’s early dominance, and their frustrations were compounded when goalkeeper Steve Sorraia limped off in the 16th minute. Despite a handful of efforts from Dundee’s Norman Namib and Cameron Camargue, Scott Carson’s heroic saves ensured a clean sheet for Lisburn. The second half saw Dundee attempt a fightback, but Lisburn’s defence stood firm to see out the victory.

Two more tough games this weekend, we started with a home game against Simon's Bijker boys, a side we have always struggled against, both sides opting for normal 4-3-3 tactics, game on and 1st half there was nothing to choose between the sides as defences on top, 2nd half subs on and they seemed to up their tempo and opened the scoring on 54 minutes when Claramunt fired home 0-1,and on 58 minutes Grace hit a cross cum shot which beat everyone and nestled in the back of the net 0-2,we could find no way of breaking down a stubborn defence as we were outplayed and outshot 5 to 3,well played Simon.

Next we travelled to Josh's FC Blades, another tough side who we have always struggled against, they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and they started quickly and we struggled to retain any possession for any length of time and on 18 minutes Arblaster fired home from range 1-0 and they went 2-0 up on 39 minutes when Duffy slotted home, half time came and subs on we pushed on trying to get back in the game but were caught out on 74 minutes when a quick break and deep cross saw Arblaster power home his header for his 2nd and 3-0,we were outplayed and outshot 8 to 4.well played Josh.

So another pointless weekend and we sit bottom and division 2 awaits.

but only one point won. Ye Olde Spurs continued their slide down the league table after only picking up one point last weekend. We started with a home game against Sheffield Rovers. All three goals came in the first half but we were on the receiving end losing two one. The match was a close affair and we even had more shots on target but quality counted. The second game was away at Newton Heath LYR. We came away with a point after the match finished one apiece, with our equaliser being scored after Beresford had been sent off for the home team. With ten matches remaining we currently sit in eighth position. 

Our latest match saw us up against Graeme's Merrylee Maestro's a really good side who we always seem to draw in the cups and struggle against, we opted for a 5-3-2 normal as they went for a 3-3-4 normal ,both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but on 19 minutes Brad Young raced in and fired home 1-0,from then till half time we defended well, half time came and subs on and more of the same as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 7 to 5 ,but Josh Park in our goal was in outstanding form with 5 saves which won us the game,well played Graeme.

So 3 games in and 3 wins and we are yet to concede,this is nothing like our league form.

It’s been another dismal week for the Broncos.  We exited the SFLSL Cup on a penalty shoot-out against The New Saints, and had to pick ourselves up for a visit to AC Sapone on Saturday.

I’m always pleased to see the opposition stalling against us as AC Sapone did, and I was especially delighted as they had an SL9 keeper on the field.  But things did not go for us.  We won the shot count 6-0, with five of our shots on target, but were unable to beat either the SL9 keeper, Kavanagh, or his SL30 replacement, Edith.  The 0-0 draw saw us sink a place, to 12th in the table.

Then on Sunday we had a home match against Lisburn City.  We had a good attack out but unfortunately our rookie keeper, Steve Sorraia, was between the posts.   Six minutes into the match we found ourselves 0-3 down, with Sorraia yet to lay a hand, or indeed any part of his anatomy, onto the ball.   Suddenly he sustained an inexplicable injury and limped off, red-faced, bringing Peter Przewalski onto the pitch.  That didn’t really improve things much, but at least we only conceded one more goal.  

We’ve now managed only one point from our last five league matches and badly need to put some results together if we are to avoid relegation.

Lisburn City delivered a commanding performance at home, brushing aside New Jersey Nutmegs with a 4-0 victory. The first half saw Lisburn edge ahead through an opportunistic strike by Eric Brook in the 39th minute, who latched onto a defensive error to score. The floodgates opened after halftime as Lisburn dominated. David Silva headed home a second in the 59th minute, before Darren Armour weaved through the Nutmegs’ defense to add a third in the 62nd. Peter Barnes then capped off the scoring with a thunderous strike in the 63rd minute. Despite some spirited play from New Jersey’s Boaby Gillespie and Mo Johnston, their efforts were thwarted by solid defending from Gary Wray and Tommy Wright’s steady presence in goal. A red card for Wray in the 86th minute was the only blemish on an otherwise flawless outing for Lisburn.

The New Saints claimed a comfortable 2-0 win over Lisburn City, with standout performances from Josh Park and Dusan Vlahovic. Early pressure from TNS paid off when Vlahovic finished from the edge of the box in the 12th minute, followed by a fortunate cross from Sergej Savic in the 16th minute that floated over Scott Carson and into the net, giving the Saints a 2-0 lead. Despite some bright moments from Lisburn, including chances for Peter Barnes and David Silva, they couldn’t find a way past TNS’s solid defense or goalkeeper Josh Park, who made several key saves. Darren Armour and Carlos Tevez struggled to break through, and a second-half revival from Lisburn never materialized. Lisburn City will be left to rue missed opportunities, but credit must go to TNS for their disciplined display and clinical finishing.

Lisburn City reignited their strong form with a comfortable 4-1 victory over Sheffield Rovers. Bernardo Silva opened the scoring in the 19th minute, blasting the ball past Mont Blanc after a poor Sheffield throw. Just a minute later, Carlos Tevez headed home a second, and Lisburn quickly found themselves in control. Tommy McIlroy added a third in the 26th minute, capitalizing on a woeful back-pass by Ken Cgchenjunga. By the 35th minute, Gary Wray fired home Lisburn’s fourth, leaving Sheffield’s defense in disarray. Sheffield Rovers did manage a consolation goal, as Epic Stan-Lee volleyed home in the 54th minute, but they never truly threatened to mount a comeback. Scott Carson made key saves for Lisburn, while Darren Armour and Darius Vassell continued to probe the Sheffield defense late on. Despite a spirited effort from Sheffield, Lisburn’s early dominance proved decisive.

Last weekend Ye Olde Spurs had a good weekend picking up four points. We started with an away game at bottom side New Jersey Nutmegs. The match finished two apiece, which was a point won after being behind twice. Then we had a home game against second bottom The New Saints. We picked up all three points with a two nil victory. In midweek we then had SFLSL cup match with Orchard Park Thistle. At halftime it was goalless but then the floodgates opened and we conceded six second half goals. Very harsh but we did deserve to lose, so it matters not. Our season is petering out. 

Our struggle continues as this weekend we played the top two sides in the league. 

First up we were at home to Colin's OPT who were pushing for the title,a quality side who we have always struggled against, we opted for a 5-2-3 opportunistic as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but they opened the scoring on 18 minutes when our goalie could only parry a shot and Hard nut Biker was there to smash home the loose ball 0-1,39 minutes and it was deja vous as Hard nut biker got his 2nd 0-2 and Heineken raced in and slotted home on 43 minutes 0-3,we were glad to hear the half time whistle, 2nd half subs on and on 50 minutes Douglas drilled home 0-4 and sealed the game as we were outplayed and outshot 9 to 2,well played Colin.

Next we travelled to Mark's table toppers Golden Dragons,another real quality side who are really hard to break down and get a result against, they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 5-2-3 normal, game on and nothing in it for the 1st few attacks then on 12 minutes an unmarked Bergkamp headed home 1-0,rest of the half and we played a lot better albeit defending, 2nd half subs on and on 53 minutes Almeida made space and fired home 2-0,54 minutes and Rice drilled home from range 3-0,a short settled spell saw us have some possession but we could not do anything with it as there was no way through a well drilled defence, 73 minutes and Zavaroni headed home 4-0 and on 83 minutes Bergkamp fired home his 2nd to seal the win 5-0 ,as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 8 to 5,well played Mark that is some side you have there.

So another pointless weekend and we sit 13th and deep into the relegation zone. 

ORA is usually a young squad, so MSA serves to boost them on the top11/17 ranks. This MSA, with the youngest squad by far, Orgullo falled from 2nd to 5th in the top11 rank, more than 1 point below OPT.

A bad new that came with a new defeat against SFR, which leaves the team 4 points below the top of the table, surrounded by more contenders. Not the start of the second half of the season that Sergei was expecting.

The team has resources to recover soon from MSA, but maybe the level of the squad (probably the best ORA ever had) isn't good enough. The agonic victory against MM in the cup left more doubts than joy. Can ORA beat SFR or the next rival on the SFLSL Cup (that will come from the top teams too)? Nobody at Orgy Park is totally sure of it.

Before that, ORA has to prove against NHL at home that they won't lose the matches where they are favourites. And then travel to Dublin to demostrate they can get a victory on the hard venues left. Otherwise, the league could be soon gone.

It was another awful weekend for the Broncos, as we notched up two more losses.

On Saturday we had a home match against Newton Heath LYR, two places below us in the table.  I thought the two sides were pretty evenly matched so was delighted when we leapt into the lead after only one minute after Simon Sable waltzed through the Heathens’ defence and side-footed home.  That was the height of our delight as Newton Heath took control, scoring goal after goal to romp home 1-5.

Things were no better when we travelled to Dublin Illuminati on Sunday.  Once again it was very one-sided and once again we lost by a four goal margin, 4-0 on this occasion.  Our cause not helped by a 35th minute red card for Ardie Savea.

It’s proving to be a tough season – we are 11th in the table and badly need to put some results together to pull clear of the relegation spots.  But first, it’s the SFLSL Cup on Wednesday, and a meeting with The New Saints.

We started the weekend with an away game at Sergei's Orgullo, never an easy place to get a result as they are such a formidable side, they opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as we went for a more defensive 5-3-2 normal, game on and both sides enjoying lots of possession but ours was all in defence as we struggled to get out of our own half,30 minutes and they got the breakthrough asVillalibre fired home 1-0 and on 39 minutes Guerrero slipped through and slotted home 2-0 in an easy 1st half for them,2nd half subs on and we found our attacking boots as Young powered home his header on 50 minutes 2-1,but from then on all our hard work was in defence as they outplayed us for periods and outshot us 7 to 2.Well played Sergei.

Next we travelled to Andy's Ye Olde Spurs,a side we have always struggled against, they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 5-3-2 opportunistic, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top for the 1st half,2nd half and they seemed to up their tempo as Perisic raced through and slotted home on 49 minutes 1-0  and Prince drilled home on 51 minutes 2-0,we had no answer to this as we were outplayed and outshot 9 to 1,well played Andy.

So we sit 13th and it looks like we are condemned to division 2 next season,as no results are going our way.

Ye Olde Spurs are quickly dropping down the league table after finding it difficult to find another win. We started last weekend with a home game against leaders the Golden Dragons. At halftime we were three one ahead but conceded two second half goals to draw three apiece. Not that we deserved to win. The second game was away at Bijker Boys. We went ahead twice but the match ended two apiece, which was a fair result. In midweek we played FC Blades at home and lost two nil, a game we should never have lost. We dropped down to seventh place. 

No idea how I posted that three times. 
Can someone hide my embarrassment by deleting two of them please.

Then can someone tell me what not to do to avoid future embarrassment.

Lisburn City claimed a resounding 4-1 victory over Golden Dragons, showcasing their prowess on both sides of the pitch. The opening half was closely contested, with Darren Armour giving Lisburn the lead after capitalizing on a defensive mishap. However, Dragons equalized quickly through Declan Rice’s composed finish. In the second half, Lisburn took control. Peter Barnes slotted in after a fantastic break in the 65th minute, giving them the lead. Tommy McIlroy then added a third with a powerful header, and in the 89th minute, a misjudged cross found the net to seal the victory. Despite Dragons’ efforts, Lisburn’s defense, led by standout player Tommy McIlroy, held firm.

City couldn’t hold on to their lead, succumbing to a 3-2 defeat against a resilient Bijker Boys side. The hosts took the lead in the 25th minute when José Claramunt reacted quickly to a rebound, heading it into the net. Lisburn responded almost immediately, with Carlos Tevez equalizing in the 33rd minute after a decisive pass from Dave Watson. Peter Barnes then put Lisburn ahead just before halftime with a brilliant volley. However, Bijker Boys mounted a spirited second-half comeback, with Andre Singalong scoring a stunning goal in the 67th minute to level the game. Viktor Pierez sealed the victory in the 80th minute with a composed finish.

Lisburn secured a narrow 1-0 win over FC Blades, with Darren Armour’s early goal making the difference. The Distillers took advantage of a defensive error in the 2nd minute, as Armour’s deflected shot found the back of the net after a David Silva attempt was parried. Despite several chances from both teams, Lisburn’s goalkeeper, Tommy Wright, stood firm to keep a clean sheet. FC Blades tried to rally in the second half, but solid defending and Wright’s superb performance earned him the Man of the Match. Lisburn held on to claim the win and three vital points.

May ORA had a few bad results that complicated the league run. But the truth is none of the contenders seems strong enough to win all their games. So, Only 1 game before finishing the first half of the league, ORA stays only 2 points behind leaders OPT.

Not a bad position, considering MSA is around the corner, and ORA, having the youngest squad of the league, has the best top17 and the second best top11. After the adjustment, the team could aim to lead the stats, and hopefully make it count on the field to reach the top of the table.

Now the question is: what should Sergei do with the future of the squad? 5 players should leave the team before the end of the season, and Orgullo has not enough advantage nor bench to finish successfully without any of them.

But that will be a problem to be slve after this week, which will see the end of the fist half of the season, the start of the second half, and the return of the cups. Will ORA prove the squad is ready to reach some silverware?

It's a pleasure, and somewhat of a relief, to be able to report a good weekend for the Broncos.

On Saturday we were away to New Jersey Nutmegs, who played Early Cross tactics, and were able to take a 1-0 lead into the half time break.  But we had the better of things in the second half - perhaps their wingers weren't really strong enough to make Early Cross work well.  Whatever the reason, Ardie Savea scored twice for us early in the second half, and then Mohammed Mustang put the icing on the cake with seven minutes to go.

On Sunday we hosted The New Saints who lined up with a five man defence against us.  After a very early red card for Jani Levanen they didn't really offer anything going forward and in fact we won the shot count 8-0.  Two goals came from a slightly unexpected source, defender Charles Chincoteague and a third from Cameron Camargue gave us a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Two wins!  That raises us to 9th place in the table, a point above the playoff spots.  Onwards and maybe upwards?

We started the weekend with a home game against Richard's high flying Dublin, a side we have always struggled against, we opted for a 5-2-3 normal as they went for a 4-4-2 normal, game on and defences stood firm for the 1st half as both sides proved looking for an opening, 2nd half and we had the worst possible start as Moloko saw red on 49 minutes and we were down to 10 men,a quick reshuffle and now more defensive play was required but on 67 minutes they broke the deadlock when Dones drilled home 0-1,82 minutes and some slick passing saw Jill's race in and fire home 0-2 and Jill's fired home his 2nd on 90 minutes to seal the game 0-3,we were just edged out in the shot count 4 to 3,well played Richard ,quality side you have there. 

Next we travelled to Paul's Dundee Broncos, another tough side who battle for every point,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 5-2-3 normal, we got off to the worst possible start as on 7 minutes Levanen swore at the ref for a poor decision and saw red,we were down to 10 men,from the resulting set piece Chincoteague fired home 1-0,we were struggling to retain any possession for any length of time but if we did it was deep in defence, 43 minutes and they scored again when Camargue slotted in 2-0,2nd half and Chincoteague headed home his 2nd 3-0,we had no answers to this as we were outplayed and outshot 8 to 0 ,well played Paul tidy side you have there.

So we still sit bottom after a pointless weekend, I think the writing is already on the wall.

Ye Olde Spurs away form is a bit of a disaster conceding seven in the last two games. We started last weekend with a home match against AC Sapone. We had the better of it but we couldn't beat their keeper and man of the match Edith and the game finished goalless. We then traveled to play Orchard Park Thistle. We got hammered seven three, to drop down the table to fifth. Even though we have won more matches than we have lost our goal difference stands at minus eight. I blame our keeper!

Tns latest game was against Graeme's Merrylee Maestro, a side who we have always struggled against especially in the cup games,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 normal, a really close exciting encounter with both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top for the 1st half,2nd half subs on and much of the same but on 83 minutes we broke the deadlock when some slick passing saw Torres slip through and fire home 0-1,we defended well after conceding and just edged the shot count 6 to 3 and made it 2 wins from 2 in the cup,well played Graeme.

Lisburn City secured a comfortable 4-0 victory over the Golden Dragons. The match kicked off with an electric start as Carlos Tevez’s superb play found Eric Brook, who netted a header within the opening minute. Tevez doubled the lead just 11 minutes later, slipping through the Dragons' defence for a calm finish. The second half saw more dominance from Lisburn. Dave Watson made it 3-0 with a powerful header in the 80th minute, capping off a strong defensive display. Despite a valiant attempt by Gabriel Paulista to rally the Dragons with a weaving run, Lisburn's backline stood firm. The final blow came as Tommy McIlroy outjumped everyone to loop a header into the net, sealing a fourth and leaving Golden Dragons coach Mark Creasey fuming on the sidelines. Lisburn’s discipline and clinical finishing, paired with the Dragons’ lack of attacking sharpness, ensured a resounding victory. 

Lisburn then delivered a surprise performance, thrashing Ye Olde Spurs FC 7-0 in front of a jubilant home crowd. John Martin set the tone early, scoring with a towering header just two minutes into the match. From that moment, the Distillers never looked back, with Eric Brook and Darren Armour leading the charge. Brook was particularly outstanding, netting four goals and proving impossible for Spurs' defense to contain. A shaky performance from goalkeeper Guglielmo Vieario didn’t help matters, as he was caught out of position more than once. Darren Armour added two goals of his own, while a composed Lisburn defense, marshaled by Scott Carson, stifled any Spurs attacks. James Maddison and Timo Werner tried to muster a response, but it was far too little against a disciplined Lisburn side. A few late chances for the visitors couldn’t alter the outcome, as Lisburn maintained control.

Lisburn City succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Orchard Park Thistle, who made their mark with a commanding first-half performance. The early minutes saw Scott Carson in fine form, denying a series of attacks from the Thistle. However, Orchard Park’s Bo Jackson finally broke through in the 23rd minute, sending Carson the wrong way to give the Cidermen the lead. Despite Lisburn’s best efforts, including some daring attempts from Carlos Tevez and Ray Ranson, Orchard Park remained dominant. Just before halftime, Fergie added to the home side's tally, nodding in from close range to put the game beyond Lisburn’s reach. The second half saw a flurry of substitutions but little change in fortune for the Distillers. Lisburn’s midfield struggled to create openings, and Carson continued his heroic saves. A frustrating day for Lisburn, who will need to regroup quickly for their next game.

The Dundee Broncos have had a decidedly bumpy start to the season but had a better-than-usual weekend.

We had two home matches, saturday's being against the Bijker Boys.  With rookie Steve Sorraia in goal we needed the rub of the green and happily we had superiority in the outfield.  The first half went very well for us, with Cameron Camargue and Norman Namib giving us a two goal lead.  It seemed to be plaun saiing as we entered the last ten minutes still two goals to the good, but then two goals in three minutes saw the Boys draw level and it was a nervous conclusion to the match - in the end quite relieved to have got a 2-2 draw from this one.

On Sunday we welcomed FC Blades to the Pavillion.  There wasn't much to choose between the teams.  We took an early lead but the Blades bounced back and it was 1-1 at half time.  Then after two minutes of the second half we found ourselves trailing.  We feared another defeat but a Chincoteague cross somehow found the net to even things up again.  Then, either side of the hour mark, two goals from Mohammed Mustang opened up a nice 4-2 lead which held to the end for a very welcome three points.

We are still languishing in 11th place, but are hopeful of pulling ourselves clear of the relegaion places with matches against New Jersey Nutmegs and The New Saints coming up at the weekend.

We started with a home game against Dan's Sheffield Rovers, a formidable side with some really classy players especially in the forward line,our job was to try and restrain the amount of possession they received, we opted for a 4-3-3 normal as they went for a 4-4-2 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top for the majority of the 1st half but on 42 minutes Sadiq broke free and fired home 1-0,half time came and subs on ,both sides looking comfortable and on 71 minutes Bre headed home to level things up 1-1,in an even game of 7 shots each a fair result and a hard earned point for us,well played Dan.

Next we travelled to Les's Newton Heath, a side like us struggling at the wrong end of the table,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession, on 15 minutes a quick break and some slick passing saw Young fire home 0-1,defences then took control till half time, 2nd half subs on and it was backs to the wall as constant pressure and attacks ensued but our defence stood firm as Park in our goal was in outstanding form with 9 saves as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 9 to 4 ,but held on for our 1st league win of the season, but we still sit bottom, well played Les.

Let's start with a bit of a disaster. Ye Olde Spurs traveled to play Lisburn City. Not that much between the teams but we somehow managed to concede seven goals from just eight shots on target. So much for being top! We did bounce back rather next match at home to Orgullo Atletico. Just what the manager wanted a response. We won three nil to move us back up to second. We then played Orgullo Atletico again in the Dowson Cup, trailing three one from the away leg. On 28 minutes Bale got himself sent off and that ended our slim chances. We ended up losing one nil. 

I can't believe we have hit MVP #4 already. 

I can't believe we have hit MVP #4 already. 

Actually, it's been a really nice week, spent in Canada with my younger son.

Unfortunately, things have not gone so well in SFLSL.

On Saturday we lost to Orchard Park Thistle.  We always do seem to lose to them, but nevertheless a 0-2 home defeat was disappointing.

On Sunday we lost to The Golden Dragons.  Another tough team, and we were pleased to score twice at their ground.  But nevertheless, a 4-2 away defeat was disappointing.

On Wednesday we drew with Newton Heath LYR.  This was a good result against a stronger team and we were pleased to take this Dowson Cup match to penalties.  Nevertheless, a 4-2 defeat in the shootout was disappointing.

Canada was fun.  Following the fortunes of the Broncos was not.

ORA started a promising season, with great results in the cup group, and starting with the best top11/17 of the league.

After 7 league games, the sensations aren't so good. 3 victories, 1 draw and 3 defeats put the squad in the middle of the table. Feeling fortunate of only being 6 points away from the top.
The top11 isn't ORA's anymore, and the first leg of the Dowson Cup brought a good result, but not long enough to rest. Actually, YFC solved this weekend game with a 3-0 over ORA that would kick Orgullo out of the cup if it's repeated.

Nervousness begins to settle in the ORA offices. This week will be hard, with the cup test first, and then receiving rivals OPT just before visit leaders GD. Too much to handle for the lads.

I'm not sure if Ye Olde Spurs have ever been top of division 1 but we are now. We started last weekend with an excellent two one away victory at Dublin Illuminati and then pinched all three points after an end to end match at home against Dundee Broncos. We are of course only five matches into the new season but it's a nice place to be. We did have a disappointing result in the Dowson Cup away at Orgullo Atletico losing three one, which makes the home leg very difficult to overturn the deficit. 

The first round of the Dowson Cup saw the Broncos meet Newton Heath LYR.  It was our home leg so we wanted  a win, preferably by two goals, as insurance for the second leg.

WIth identical formations and similar strength squads, however, it was a match that could go wither way.  We got more than our fair share of shots (8-4) but it was Newton Heath who took a first-half lead, through the evergreen Roy Race, a footballer I have much admired since since exploits in The Tiger back in the 1960s.  We managed an equaliser shortly after half time when another veteran, Danny Care, headed home, but that concluded the scoring.  

A 1-1 draw was not the result we were hoping for, and it leaves us needing to pull something out of the bag next Wednesday....

We were up against Matt's Camelot, a free flowing free scoring attacking side,we both opted for a 4-2-4 early ball ,both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 17 minutes when Young fired home 1-0 ,18 minutes and Torres fired home 2-0 ,we kept pushing and Torres fired home his 2nd on 25 minutes 3-0,half time soon came and subs on ,77 minutes and Brobbel slipped through and chipped the onrushing keeper 4-0 and Torres completed his hat trick on 86 minutes 5-0 as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 10 to 4,well played Matt.

The Broncos' league season had started with a win and two losses as, on Saturday, we hosted Orgullo Atletico hoping to improve to a 50% record.

Unfortunately it was time to give our rookie keeper an outing, so we were nervous of conceding too many goals.  But things started well for us, when skipper Winston Welsh put us ahead after only six minutes.  But as half time approached, things went wrong for us.  We conceded twice in two minutes to take the break 1-2 in arrears.  We strengthened our attack slightly with the introduction of Mohammed Mustang and this made a difference, leading to an equalised just before the hour was up.  And that concluded the match.  Our keeper had pulled off a few decent saves but we had to be content with a 2-2 draw.

On Sunday we travelled to White Hart Lane to play Ye Olde Spurs.  On paper there was nothing to separate the sides and it proved to be a well-contested match.  The first quarter of the match was packed with incident.  Twice we took the lead only for Andy Shaw's team to equalise, and then to take the lead 3-2.  On the stroke of half time, we pulled it back to 3-3 and it looked as if we were in for another thrilling 45 minutes.  The half time substitutions seemed to give us a slight edge but we weren't able to break through.  A draw loomed but with three minutes left, Spurs found a last-gasp winner.  We had lost, 4-3 in a match we deserved at least a draw from.

It's proving to be a frustating season.....

We started the weekend with an away game at Simon's Bijker boys who like us had a torrid start in the league, they opted for a 5-3-2 normal as we went for a 5-3-2 opportunistic, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top for the 1st half ,2nd half subs on and much of the same as both sides struggled to break down the stubborn defences and it ended goalless 0-0 ,points shared as we were edged out in the shot count 4 to 2 but a welcome point, well played Simon. 

Next we were at home to Josh's free flowing free scoring Blades, how were we going to contain them was the question on our minds ,they opted for a 5-2-3 normal and we went for a 3-3-4 normal,game on and both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top until on 17 minutes Arblaster fired home 0-1,our defence then dug in and were defending deeply but on 37 minutes Solmon slipped through and slotted home 0-2 and he powered home his 2nd with a solid header right on the stroke of half time 0-3,2nd half subs on and we had more of the game but could not find a way through the stubborn defence and Solomon completed his hat trick on 70 minutes 0-4 and Brooks headed home on 74 minutes to seal the game 0-5 ,as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 6 to 4 ,well played Josh.

So a 1 point weekend and we sit bottom and the only way is up.

Ye Olde Spurs kicked off the new league campaign with an away game at The New Saints. It didn't start well going a goal behind on 14 minutes. Werner equalised on 21 minutes and then Gil put us two one up on 36 minutes. That's the way the match finished, thanks to our keeper and man of the match Vieario. The second game last weekend was away to Sheffield Rovers. They put out a very strong team and hammered us four nil. Enough said. In midweek we played our first home game against Newton Heath LYR, who had won their first two matches. Again we started badly conceding on 9 minutes. Bale equalised on 27 minutes, one apiece at halftime. Richarlison scored the deserved winner on 53 minutes, with Porro winning the man of the match award. 

Wednesday's league match saw the Broncos visitng Lisburn City.  

Our prospects didn't look too bright to judge by the shot chances but we performed rather better than those stats might have suggested, managing 6 shots to Lisburn's 7 - 6-6 on target.

We went behind early on but Mohammmed Mustang pulled us level with a thunderbolt shot on the half hour.  Lisburn soon went back in front but immediately after half time, an imaginitive long-range effort from skipper Winston Welsh drew us level again.

It looked as if 2-2 would be the final score until, with stoppage time looming, Lisburn snatched a winner to take all three points.

We can't complain.  Or come to think of it, perhaps we can at least have a bit of a grumble.... 

The league season got under way on Saturday and the Broncos started with a home game against Dublin Illuminati.  We held sway, particularly in attack, and surged into a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes - Norman Namib and Winston Welsh the scorers.  Things continued well in the second half, when Sam Whitelock made it 3-0 on a rare forray forward.  It looked as if we were heading for a captain's bonus but were robbed of that in the dying minutes and had to be content with a 3-1 win.  And content we were.

Our Sunday match was another home, this against A.C.Sapone.  We again looked the better side, but looks are not everything, indeed, they coount for nothing when the dice are against you.  After half an hour we found ourselves 0-2 down and by half tie it was 0-3.  We did win the shot count 7-5 but weren't even able to manage the one goal that would have deprived the visitors of the captain's bonus.

Could be better, could be worse....

Well that was a “must forget as soon as possible” SFLSL Cup for Lisburn. We really did make a meal of it but need to now put it behind us and begin the fight for survival in the big division. We began the Cup away to the Golden Dragons and got a three goals to one lesson but did show some promise going forward but found Alex Meret in great form. We actually outshot the Dragons but Meret was better than all our shots on target winning him a deserved Man of the Match award.

Next we had Preston North End as guests at The Distillery and hopes were high. But again we were up against a keeper in Man of the Match form and the game finished one each and our first point of the season was in the bag. As the Preston bus left the car park the Nutmegs were planning their invasion of The Distillery. Both sides sent out strong 4-2-4 early cross formations and it was game on. New Jersey opened the scoring on the half hour but City replied twice before half-time and then managed to finish the game off in the dying minutes. So our first victory, partly thanks to a man of the match performance from defender Ray Ranson. So three games in Lisburn are nicely placed for a runner-up qualification but are very clear we will have to be on point in the next three games.

Our third home game in a row, sees the Dragons arrive for their return game and it mirrored the earlier game being a close close affair. But sadly for Lisburn it is The Dragons who got the edge as early as the 12th minute and they held onto it for victory. Things are not looking just as good now for City and they know they have to get a result away to Preston. The game was another close one, going to the break all even one each but it was Preston who took all three points near the end of the game with a second from striker Jack Ennis. So the planets had to align for City to have any chance of progression in the SFLSL Cup this season and to be honest there was little hope in the changing room, with many heads thinking league openers. City took a lead in the first half but couldn’t hold on and finished up with a point and the basement club in the group.

Well the league has started and two tough games to start as we are in rebuild mode at present. We started with a home game against Andy's Spurs ,we opted for a 4-3-3 early ball as they opted for a 4-3-3 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 14 minutes when Savic fired home 1-0,Spurs slowly played themselves back into the game and levelled things up on 21 minutes when Werner slotted home 1-1 and they went ahead on 36 minutes when Gil fired home 1-2,half time came and subs on ,we kept pushing on in the 2nd half and edged the shot count 6 to 4 but could not find a way through the stubborn defence ,well played Andy.

Next we travelled to Colin's OPT,a place we have never done well at ,they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as went went for a 3-4-3 stall hoping to pinch a cheeky point, game on and only 2 minutes in when a really bad back pass saw Victor race in and fire home 1-0,4 minutes and  some sloppy defending saw Mcalpine fire home 2-0,we pulled ourselves back together and defended better till half time,2nd half and subs on ,they pushed on and Jackson fired home on 55 minutes 3-0 and they sealed the game on 64 minutes when Fergie drilled home from range 4-0 as we were outplayed and outshot 12 to 1 ,well played Colin tidy side you have there again this season.

So not the start we wanted and we will have to address our defence and quickly. 

Ye Olde Spurs did enough to finish second in our group and qualify for the knockout stages. We started last weekend with a two nil home victory over Sheffield Rovers who had to rest a few of their better players. Then we played Inter Postmen knowing a win would secure second place. The game finished three apiece after we dominated and their keeper won man of the match. In midweek we made no mistake at home against Copernicus Town winning four nil to seal our qualification. An excellent week overall. 

With both teams already qualified, the match between Dublin Illuminati and Dundee Broncos was of little relevance and both managers took the opportunity to rest some key players and give experience to some youngsters.  The result was a match low on skill but still high on excitement.  At one point it was 3-3 but two late goals for the hosts saw them win the match 5-3.  The Broncos' outfield largely did its job, restricting the Illuminati to 5 shots, but all were on target and rookie keeper Steve Sorraia failed to save a single one.  But it was all about experience and after the game he was deep in thought, analysing his performance.  "I think next time", he mused "I'll trying diving towards the ball, rather than away from it."

A wise head on young shoulders....

Last round of the group games and OPT are already through. A home game on Wednesday against second placed ACS to round things off. Chance of an MVP or rest up ready for League business on Saturday?

Second and third are only seperated by one point so ASC cannot afford to lose - although, being on 7 points already, with a decent GD, might be enough for a best 3rd place finish but I would not bank on it. MT are away to GCK and they have to win even to get best 3rd place. Obviously, a win and an ASC loss would put MT into automatic qualification.

I fancy GCK to rest up ready for Saturday and probably will play the rookie GK who needs trained. Every chance for MT then, but what do I know.

Interesting viewing on Wednesday afternoon for sure.

A good week for ORA left the squad qualified for the next round of the cup. With CAN also qualified as 2nd, both teams are expected to give minutes to their youngsters and prepare for a good league start.

The mid week draw agains CAN seed some doubts around the good start of the team. Was the 2nd unit good enough to support the best top11 of the league to fight for the league?

But then, new victories against NHL and LDmade the players recover the good sensations of this start of the season. ORA has the best top11 and top17, although is the youngest squad of the league. the resources of the season have been already bought, and now Orgullo only needs some luck. The front line has started strong, scoring 18 goals in 5 games. The DF only received 3.

"The 1st division games will be more difficult than this early cup clashes" says manager Sergei "but I'm very happy to see the squad performing well. I hope we have a good league start, and the morale keep steady during the season"

With two wins from the first three matches, the Broncos were well placed in their SFLSL Cup group.  Two more wins would see us through for sure, and probably a win and a draw would do it.

On Saturday we were at home to Bristol Uc-S.  The first half was frustrating, we held the advantage but couldn't manage any goals.  But the second half was rather better.  It took us only four minutes to notch up a two goal lead and that was enough to give us the win win wanted, 20, with goals from Ardie Savea and Winston Welsh.

Then we travelled to the Midlands to face West Brom Baggies.  They had defied all odds to come back from 4-1 down to win our first meeting 4-5 and seemingly they were content with that as Kev Hull failed to show for Sunday's match.  We quickly took the lead, a great shot from Norman Namib after seven minutes, but were unable to build on that in the frist half, 0-1 the half time score.  In the second half, the Baggies tired and we scored a second through Cameron Camargue just past the hour mark.  Nikolas Nokota and Blair Kinghorn also got themselves on the scoresheet before the end as we strolled home, 0-4 winners.

Now we have a dead match on Wednesday against Dublin Illuminati before the league season starts next weekend....

1st up and we were at home to Mike's Pehaujo Expos, a side we had beaten in the opening fixture and we were hoping to do the same again and keep a chance of qualifying from the group, we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 5-2-3 longball, game on and 1st half was controlled by defences as both stood firm, but both sides having plenty of possession, 2nd half subs on and we started quickly and opened the scoring on 47 minutes when Young dived in and headed home 1-0,both sides continued to attack and have plenty off the ball but could not get through the stubborn defences but on 83 minutes Sadiq slipped through and slotted home 2-0 as we just edged the shot count 9 to 6 and an invaluable 3 points,well played Mike.

Next we were at home to Graeme's Merrylee Maestro who destroyed us at their home,we were hoping to put up a better display today,we opted for a 4-4-2 normal as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but on 18 minutes an unmarked Young headed home at the back post 1-0,from the till half time defences were solid as all attacks broken down before they could develop, half time came and subs on ,both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top and controlling the game as we edged the shot count 7 to 3 for another 3 points giving us a chance of progression from the group,well played Graeme, so 1 game to go and all to play for.

As normal Ye Olde Spurs start off the SFLSL group cup games with three away matches. We kicked off with the group favourites Sheffield Rovers and got turned over six one. We then played Inter Postmen and came away with all three points, winning three one. The final away game at struggling Copernicus Town was a bit of a disaster, losing one nil after dominating the match. We now play our home fixtures starting with Sheffield. A win would set us up nicely to progress. 

After a win and a loss in the first two matches, the Broncos badly wanted to win on Wednesday to give themselves a good chance of qualifying from their SFLSL Cup group.  It was a home match - good - but against the best team in the group, the Dublin Illuminati.

As it turned out, their lineup had a bit of an early-season look about it and we had somewhat the better of things.  We took the lead through our top forward, Norman Namib, who headed powerfully into the net half way throught the first half.  And just a few minutes later, Namib added a second, this one with his boot.  2-0 up at half time, we had hopes of a captain's bonus, but the second half was goalless.  We'll settle for 2-0, that will do us just fine.

So now we are in a good poisition in the group, on six points, the same as Dublin.  We will probably need to win out next two matches to qualify.  Let's hope the dice are with us.

So, we're off, with the SFLSL Cup group matches.  Our Saturday match was a visit to Bristol Uc-S (can anyone explain that name to me?).  There wasn't a huge difference betweent he sides but we sprang into the lead in the 8th minute when Cameron Camargue pounced onto a loose ball in the box and did the necessary.  Early in the second half we made it 2-0, Norman Namib the scorer this time.  Bristol pulled one back but with eight minutes left, Ardie Savea made sure of the victory with a strong finish to give us a 1-3 win and a good start.

Our Sunday match was a home tie against West Bromwich Baggies.  On paper, this looked like it should be a comfotable win for us, especially when we stormed into a 3-0 lead after only eight minuted.  The Baggies did pull a goal back but we reached half time with a 3-1 lead, confident of victory.  Soon after half time, we made it 4-1 but then Cameron Camargue went in too hard on the tackle, and received a straight red card for his foolishness.  Suddenly our team looked a bit unbalanced, and the Baggies upped the pace.  As the goals started to go in, we lost our heads and with it, control of the game.  In an astonishing comeback, West Brom scored four times in the last half hour to snatch an astonishing victory, 4-5.  Oh dear!

On Wednesday we have what looks like the toughest match in the group, an away game to Dublin Illuminati.  If we lose that, qualificiation will be hanging by a knife-edge....

Off we go in the cup and away to Mike's Pehaujo Expos, a dangerous side on their day who play good football, they opted for a 5-2-3 longball as we went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and nothing to choose between the sides as both sharing the possession but on 33 minutes Torres slipped through and drilled home 0-1,half time soon came and subs on ,2nd half much the same as the 1st with both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top until on 69 minutes Young smashed home a loose ball 0-2 ,an even game of 2 shots each ,well played Mike.

Next we travelled to Graeme's Merrylee Maestro's ,a really good side who we have always struggled against, they opted for a 3-3-4 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 normal, we started slowly and they were on us like a sack of spuds  as Ghlas fired home on 13 minutes 1-0,and he slotted home his 2nd goal on 18 minutes 2-0,they kept coming at us and Abbott fired home on 25 minutes 3-0,Ghlas completed his hat trick on 28 minutes with a powerful header 4-0 ,we did pull one back on 39 minutes when Savic fired home 4-1,we were glad to hear the half time whistle, subs on and back to it,we defended better in the 2nd half as we kept them at bay for long periods but on 89 minutes Tavern scored with an amazing diving header 5-1 ,as they outplayed us and outshot us 9 to 3,well played Graeme. 

ORA starts (again) the season with high hopes on bring more silverware to Orgy Park Museum.
Starting with the best top17 of the league, and the third best top11, a good management and some luck should allow the squad to fight the league. Although the same words were said last seasons, when Orgullo failed to follow the rythm of the league winners.

The season starts with 3 away cup games, and ORA solved the first 2 showing strengh. 2 matches won by 4 goals, that should serve to get an early qualification. The visit to Cannons should be the easiest of the group stage, but the CAN goalkeepr and its forwards can surprise anybody boosted by their fans.

"A victory could seal our cup qualification, and would give us our first MVP. We want a new victory to be able to train the youngsters in our home matches before the league starts" said manager Sergei.

New Season - New Start

The SFLSL Cup group stage threw up 3 away games to kick things off for OPT. First up was MT and the early part of the season is always tricky. No advance warning of tactics used and everyone has a fully fit squad to pick from. Many of the OPT squad from last year are on their last legs so it is important to get the most out of the old boys while I still can but also make sure the youngsters are getting game time too.

I managed to get one of the age 0 lads on for the last 30 minutes as the old boys had managed to get us a comfortable cushion and 3 goal advantage. Age 4 Fergie and age 5 Jim Watt with a brace each was enough to secure the 3 points.

Then away to GCK. David had his team park the bus and no shots were created. A very dull 0-0 is exactly what GCK were looking for and it was very well executed. I won't complain at 4 points on the road and top of the group after two matches. A long way to go yet and next up is the wily old fox - Steve T. What to expect there. I would bite your hand off for draw but that would be hard fought. I might adopt David's tactics and go for an all out no score bore.

The Dundee Broncos are pleased to welcome three new youth players to their squad.  Good luck to all!

Steve Sorraia (GK)

The Sorraia is a rare breed of horse indigenous to the portion of the Iberian peninsula, in the Sorraia River basin, in Portugal. The Sorraia is known for its primitive features, including a convex profile and dun coloring with primitive markings. 

Ian Ytene (FW).  Ytene is the ancient Jute word for the New Forest, in Hampshire.

The New Forest pony is one of the recognised mountain and moorland or native pony breeds of the British Isles. Height varies from around 12 to 14.2 hands.  Ponies of all heights are strong, workmanlike, and of a good riding type. They are valued for hardiness, strength, and sure-footedness.

Bill Banker (DF)

The Banker horse is a breed of semi-feral or feral horse living on barrier islands in North Carolina's Outer Banks. It is small, hardy, and has a docile temperament

During a good part of the season, ORA had one of the 2 best lineups of the league, and always the best top17. With resources and money, the squad aimed to win a new trophy this season, once the goalkeeping problem had been solved. The defense line was strong, and the front line was good enough to compete.

But the league was gone soon, with every SFR victory. Actually, the last draw against TNS, playing with 5 subs to protect the players in risk os suspension avoided ORA to reach the 2nd position, pushing the team to a 4th place that is the 2nd worst position of the last 25 seasons (or 4th, as the squad finished 4th 3 times now).

Now SFR settles calm as the 2nd best team of the league history, with 2 leagues of advantage over ORA, menacing to equal OPT's mark of 10 leagues.

At least all the first team players were ready to the cup final against rivals OPT. Sergei asked their players to be aggressive to compensate the stron front line of ORA and pass their new star GK. But the strict referee was strict this time. 2 red cards during the first third of the match put the red carpet for OPT to inflict a severe victory that will hurt Orgullo fans for a long time.

A season not so bad at results, but not enough when the squad was at his prime and build to win something. Now a new cycle begins. Hopefully the trades between seasons serve to renew the squad and make the rebuild period shorter.

Well we survive division 1 for another season as we finished 9th winning 10,drawing 4,losing 12 ,scoring 33,conceding 45 amassing 34 points. We went out of the SFLSL cup at the quarter final stage to Orgullo and out of the Dowson plate in the semi final on penalties to Spurs.

Most matches played was Park with 26,most minutes 1649 by Moloko,bad boy with 22 DP'S was Levanen, top goalscorer was Torres with 14 and he also had 4 MOM's. 

We need to look at how we play next season as we leaked goals,so an overhaul of the defence looks to be required. Scouts are out and closely monitoring some players for key areas.

The final weekend of the league season saw the Broncos start four points clear of the playoff spots...not quite safe.

Our Saturday game was at home to our former club, Merrylee Maestros, and we started with a big shot-chance advantage, 16.1 to 6.2.  We were quick out of the blocks, with two goals in the first ten minutes, three in the first twenty.  But maybe we were complacent, because the last twelve minutes of the first half saw the Maestros score three times to square the match at half time.  The pattern continued and just after the hour mark we found ourselves 3-5 down while still holding the advantage in all areas of the pitch.  Our keeper was having a nightmare!  But the game wasn't over, we pulled ourselves together and scored twice in the closing stages to grab a point from the 5-5 draw.  Disappointed, but very relived!

Now just two points clear of the playoff spots, we had a second home match, this one at home to A.C.Sapone.  Once again, we were the stronger team, and took the initiative, leading 2-0 at the break.  The visitors pulled one back early in the second half, but that was the end of the scoring, we finished with a 2-1 victory, 8th in the table.  

I was hoping for more, but will settle for that

Cannons send a very strong long ball 11 to the Distillery. They have a talented sweeper and keeper at the back and have pushed four forward, hoping to latch onto those pumped long balls. And it was Bernard Parker who broke the deadlock in the 31st minute to give Cannons a one goal advantage at half time. Early in the second half Carlos Tevez beats the Cannons keeper to draw level and then following a red carded challenge by Iago Aspas on Carlos, Tevez rose to his feet and gave Lisburn the lead with less than 20 minutes to go. The Cannons are 2-1 down and down to 10 men but it was those ten men who equalised in the 83rd and the division leaders are starting to worry as their lead at the top shrinks.

The lead is down to four points as City head to Highland Rangers and we need to find a way to get that winning feeling back. Nil nil at half feels fair and Lisburn make their substitutes hoping to inject enough talent to pull off an important away win. But the game was to swing Rangers way in two important moments in the second half. Firstly in the 53rd minute, the game was even at nil nil and Dave Watson is forced to limp off but City have used all their subs. City do battle on until the 69th minute when keeper Tommy Wright is sent off for a very poorly judged double footed tackle and Spencer Prior has to pull on the gloves. Lisburn are now down to nine, have a sweeper in goals. Can they hold on for draw in the final 20 minutes. Not a chance! Goals from Luis, Stopper, Company and White leave Lisburn with a bloodied nose and will mean they will have to play their Cup Final without star keeper Tommy Wright, who will be suspended.

Newton Heath LYR put the kettle on for Lisburn, confident they can take the points as they race New Jersey for an automatic promotion place, given City’s very poor current form. It was a dull first half with very little to put a smile on either group of fans wee faces. And the second half continues in the same vein until in the 58th minute Lisburn defender, Gary Wray, nods in from a Tommy Mac cross and that’s how the game finished. Three points against a very competitive side, Lisburn are glad of that three point feeling finally returning and head home to plan for a Cup Final without star keeper Tommy Wright.

We were looking at division 1 survival and hoping results would go our way,we started with an away game at Mark's Golden Dragons,a really tough place to get a result and a quality side always amongst the front runners, they opted for a 3-4-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 normal, we got off to the worst possible start as they opened the scoring in the 1st minute when Archer fired home 1-0,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and were enjoying some possession albeit in a defensive position, but on 34 minutes we levelled things up when Vlahovic powered home his header 1-1,half time soon came and subs on ,2nd half and both sets of defences on top,they edged the shot count 5 to 4 but we held out for a hard earned goal, well played Mark.

Last game of the season and we were at home to Sergei's Orgullo, another quality side who were always challenging for silverware and a really hard side to play against,we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 4-2-4 longball, game on and we started poorly again as on 10 minutes Young brought down Villalibre down in the box,ref pointed to the spot, Villalibre dragged himself up and drilled home his spot kick 0-1,we slowly played ourselves back into the game but were finding it hard to break down a stubborn defence, half time came and subs on,we pushed on and were having the majority of possession and levelled things up on 58 minutes when Savic fired home 1-1,we continued to attack but could not find another way through, although we outshot them 7 to 1 ,it was points shared, well played Sergei. 

So a 2 point weekend sees up sit 9th and division 1 football again next season,job done.

Lots of work to do in the close season as we assess where we need to develop for next season.

Cannons send a very strong long ball 11 to the Distillery. They have a talented sweeper and keeper at the back and have pushed four forward, hoping to latch onto those pumped long balls. And it was Bernard Parker who broke the deadlock in the 31st minute to give Cannons a one goal advantage at half time. Early in the second half Carlos Tevez beats the Cannons keeper to draw level and then following a red carded challenge by Iago Aspas on Carlos, Tevez rose to his feet and gave Lisburn the lead with less than 20 minutes to go. The Cannons are 2-1 down and down to 10 men but it was those ten men who equalised in the 83rd and the division leaders are starting to worry as their lead at the top shrinks.

The lead is down to four points as City head to Highland Rangers and we need to find a way to get that winning feeling back. Nil nil at half feels fair and Lisburn make their substitutes hoping to inject enough talent to pull off an important away win. But the game was to swing Rangers way in two important moments in the second half. Firstly in the 53rd minute, the game was even at nil nil and Dave Watson is forced to limp off but City have used all their subs. City do battle on until the 69th minute when keeper Tommy Wright is sent off for a very poorly judged double footed tackle and Spencer Prior has to pull on the gloves. Lisburn are now down to nine, have a sweeper in goals. Can they hold on for draw in the final 20 minutes. Not a chance! Goals from Luis, Stopper, Company and White leave Lisburn with a bloodied nose and will mean they will have to play their Cup Final without star keeper Tommy Wright, who will be suspended.

Newton Heath LYR put the kettle on for Lisburn, confident they can take the points as they race New Jersey for an automatic promotion place, given City’s very poor current form. It was a dull first half with very little to put a smile on either group of fans wee faces. And the second half continues in the same vein until in the 58th minute Lisburn defender, Gary Wray, nods in from a Tommy Mac cross and that’s how the game finished. Three points against a very competitive side, Lisburn are glad of that three point feeling finally returning and head home to plan for a Cup Final without star keeper Tommy Wright.

Ye Olde Spurs had a fantastic week, not only winning all three matches but getting their hands on a trophy. We started with a difficult trip to play FC Blades. We deservingly won two one with goals by Johnson and Bale. The second league game was at home against Bijker Boys. We played really well and won all three points with a six one victory. It gives us a four point advantage over fourth bottom AC Sapone going into the final two matches. In midweek it was the Dowson Plate final with Lisburn City. Another great performance as we powered to a four one win for our first silverware in years.

It is weeks and weeks since the Broncos had won again but at last we managed to come away with three points from our home match against The New Saints.  It was a match that we dominated, outshooting our visitors by 14-1, and scoring a goal in each half to take the match 2-0.  With three matches to go, that puts us  five points clear of the playoff spots, and survival looks likely.

Our Sunday match was a visit to Sheffield Rovers, where we got thrashing we were expecting, going down 5-2 to  the champions to be.  We still have a buffer of four points, so are optimistic that we can survive to play bext season still in Division 1.

For ORA, OPT is their main rival on this league. And in a few days, a new chapter of their rivality will be written in the SFLSL Cup final.

OPT is the team ORA has played most (93 times so far), and along FCB is the only with a positive series against Orgullo.

Their rivality started on season 18, when ORA fought a league that finally went to Orchard Park. Since then 6 cup finals, the last SOS cup final, and a few leagues have seen both squads to fight for glory.

"The final is an important match, but we have to play 2 league games first to finish the season properly" says newbie Marcos Llorente.

The latin derby (the 2nd most important rivality for ORA fans) against MT, and a game that could decide the 3rd position against TNS will put an end to a disappointing league run. Getting good results to boost the morale and reach the cup final in the best possible position is important for Sergei. But, at the same time, the manager has to distribute EL and suspensions risks to minimize any chance of a player being out of the cup final.

New Jersey Nutmegs send a strong side to The Distillery, loading the attack in a 4-2-4 early cross strategy. Lisburn has the majority of the chances in the first half but it was Nutmeg’s Boaby Gillespie who scores the only goal of those first 45 minutes. City come out all fired up in the second half and quickly draw level, John Heron coolly sending Uno Skorin the wrong way and it’s game on. With 35 minutes still to go, Mike Morton catches City keeper Tommy Wright napping with a spectacular long ranch effort and New Jersey have the lead. Lisburn keep knocking on the door but they were up against Uno Skorin in sparkling form and despite City having 13 attempts on goal to New Jersey’s 4, the Nutmegs come away with all three points and a well deserved Man of the Match award for Skorin.

Then it’s the Dowson Cup again and Locomotive Darlington have a clear advantage over Lisburn as the sides lined up. Both sides are rocking 4-3-3 normal formations but Darlington edge it in every area of the field. It’s all even though, at the break. Neither side makes the breakthrough and neither wants to risk any mistakes. Some more cat and mouse in the early parts of the second half and then Carlos Tevez spins away from Glod Gloddson and latching onto Eric Brooks flick forward and lobs the ball over an advancing Morose Stronginthearm. City have an unlikely lead and manage to hold on to dispatch Locomotive Darlington and advance, only for some heroics from the keeper Tommy Wright.

Lisburn travelled to the home of Inter Postmen and try a marking strategy. Veteran Alan Hall gets his season debut and is given a marking role on prolific striker Mark Lightbody. The game was a dull affair with only four strikes on target in 90 minutes and with that poor strike rate it’s no surprise the game fizzled out a nil nil draw. Indeed the game was so dull the postmen’s keeper Andrew Day was awarded Man of the Match with two saves in the otherwise dire game. So Lisburn head back to The Distillery keen to put their promotion push back on track.

Another tough weekend for TNS, we started with an away game at Paul's Broncos, a really tough side to play at there home and we have always struggled against them, they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, we started slowly and were defending from the opening whistle and they opened the scoring on 26 minutes when Mustang headed home 1-0,they were controlling the game from the midfield area, half time came and subs on ,they started the 2nd half as they finished the 1st ,constant attacks and they went 2-0 up on 50 minutes when Nokata fired home, no matter what we did we could not play ourselves back into the game as they outplayed us for periods and outshot us 14 to 1 well played Paul.

Next we were at home to Matt's Camelot, a free flowing attacking side who like us enjoyed early ball tactics, both went for a 4-2-4 early ball, we started the quicker and Savic headed home on 2 minutes 1-0 ,20 minutes and he fired home his 2nd 2-0,Camelot slowly played themselves back into the game and pulled one back on 35 minutes when Crosby fired home 2-1,half time soon came and subs on ,both sides fully committed to attack and McDaniels headed home on 64 minutes 2-2,75 minutes and Paredes brought down Wilson in the box,ref pointed to the spot, Wilson picked himself up and drilled home his spot kick 2-3,Camelot then changed tact to stall to try and close the game out but on 77 minutes Vlahovic raced in and slotted home 3-3,we did not stop pushing and on 86 minutes Torres fired home 4-3,they changed tact back to press on 86 minutes but we defended well as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 15 to 7,well played Matt cracking game. 

So with a 3 point weekend we sit 9th just above the danger zone but have 2 real tough games left to survive. 

Ye Olde Spurs started the week with a couple of one nil league results. We lost away at AC Sapone and then had a home victory over Orchid Park Thistle. We then played the semifinal against the same team. We started well and took the lead half way though the first half and that's the way the half ended. Thistle equalised fifteen minutes into the second half and then went two one behind with just six minutes left. We then went to press but it backfired conceding another two and losing four one.

New Jersey Nutmegs send a strong side to The Distillery, loading the attack in a 4-2-4 early cross strategy. Lisburn has the majority of the chances in the first half but it was Nutmeg’s Boaby Gillespie who scores the only goal of those first 45 minutes. City come out all fired up in the second half and quickly draw level, John Heron coolly sending Uno Skorin the wrong way and it’s game on. With 35 minutes still to go, Mike Morton catches City keeper Tommy Wright napping with a spectacular long ranch effort and New Jersey have the lead. Lisburn keep knocking on the door but they were up against Uno Skorin in sparkling form and despite City having 13 attempts on goal to New Jersey’s 4, the Nutmegs come away with all three points and a well deserved Man of the Match award for Skorin.

Then it’s the Dowson Cup again and Locomotive Darlington have a clear advantage over Lisburn as the sides lined up. Both sides are rocking 4-3-3 normal formations but Darlington edge it in every area of the field. It’s all even though, at the break. Neither side makes the breakthrough and neither wants to risk any mistakes. Some more cat and mouse in the early parts of the second half and then Carlos Tevez spins away from Glod Gloddson and latching onto Eric Brooks flick forward and lobs the ball over an advancing Morose Stronginthearm. City have an unlikely lead and manage to hold on to dispatch Locomotive Darlington and advance, only for some heroics from the keeper Tommy Wright.

Lisburn travelled to the home of Inter Postmen and try a marking strategy. Veteran Alan Hall gets his season debut and is given a marking role on prolific striker Mark Lightbody. The game was a dull affair with only four strikes on target in 90 minutes and with that poor strike rate it’s no surprise the game fizzled out a nil nil draw. Indeed the game was so dull the postmen’s keeper Andrew Day was awarded Man of the Match with two saves in the otherwise dire game. So Lisburn head back to The Distillery keen to put their promotion push back on track.

Another weekend, another struggle for the Borncos.  Our first match was at home to Dublin Illuminati.  We had our (very much) reserve keeper Emiliano Boffelli in goal and this is probably what cost us the match.  We were beeter than Dublin in all areas, had six shots on target to their four, but lost 1-2.  Our keeper was SL10, their SL32.  Say no more.

We travelled, dispirited, to face Montevideo Tricolores.  Again we were better in all areas of the pitch and our first choice keeper (admittedly only SL24) on the pitch.  We dominated, with seven shots on target to their one.  But it was not enough, and 0-0 was the final score.

We're now only three points clear of the playoffs, with four matches left.  This weekend it's The New Saints at home, and then Sheffield Rovers away.  We've drawn three and lost six of our last nine matches.  Can we cling on to a division 1 spot?

Delighted with NHL performance so far this season... four games to go and sitting in a promotion play-off spot is way better than we were expecting for this season.

Squeezing the best out of the players EL wise - especially in defence - has been difficult and defensively the squad definitely needs strengthening for next  season, whichever division we're in for sure.

The decision to sign a couple of extra players in late auction was a risk which may leave funds a bit short at the end of the season but the decision has paid dividends on the pitch. Batty has provided additional backup and steel in the midfield whilst the experienced Mirandinha is already a huge hit at the club - scoring some wonderful goals and looking very much like a quality future captain in the future.

Coaching has proven difficult this season with a few players seemingly peaking despite the coaches wanting to push them further - only one player in the squad has had the max 10SL coaching so far this season which seems highly unusual based on the managers philosophy.  At least it looks like we'll have some CP leftover ready for next season!

Heading west to the home of Bristol Uc-S and both sides send out 4-3-3 normal game plans that cancel each other out in the first 45 minutes. Exit Gary Wray, Michael Brown and Sam McAdams to make way for Yaya Toure, Tommy McIlroy and Carlos Tevez to beef up Lisburn in defence, midfield and up front. But it was Bristol’s Bonobo who broke the deadlock in the 49th minute. Tommy Wright was having a man of the match game but could do nothing when Infonetic slide the ball to a rapidly advancing Bonobo. One nil. And that’s how it remained until the 70th minute when Lisburn turned the game on its head in less than 2 minutes. Firstly Tommy McIlroy found Philip Mitchell in the Bristol box and Mitch lifted the ball over an advancing Bristol goalkeeper. Then immediately after the restart Carlos Tevez crossed to Yaya Toure who met that precision cross with his head and rippled Callum Coburn’s net. That’s how it remained, City taking the points.

Lisburn rushed back to The Distillery to get set for Pehuajo Expos who are having a difficult season but are fully capable of halting the current Lisburn winning streak. City send out the wingers and go early cross and that proves to be a great decision. Darius Vassell crossed from his wing, the ball deflects to fellow Winger John Martin and he thunders City into a 1st minute lead. Before we break the first 20 minute barrier, Vassell went on a mesmerising solo run that ended with him side footing past Woe Woods in the Pehuajo goal to give Lisburn a 2 goal cushion. But that is how it remained through the half time break and to the end of the game.

Lisburn stick with the successful 4-2-4 early cross game in their next fixture away to West Bromwich Baggies, who send out a conservative 6-3-1 stalling eleven. The game sees all the attacking coming from Lisburn, in deed Tommy Wright had a very quiet afternoon in goals. Talking goals, they all came in the first forty-five. A brace from man of the match Carlos Tevez and a nutmeg goal from Sam McAdam saw the points in the Lisburn bag before the half time whistle. But City had to settle for three goals, enough to earn Yaya Toure another captain’s bonus and move City to a nine point lead at the top of the league.

Heading west to the home of Bristol Uc-S and both sides send out 4-3-3 normal game plans that cancel each other out in the first 45 minutes. Exit Gary Wray, Michael Brown and Sam McAdams to make way for Yaya Toure, Tommy McIlroy and Carlos Tevez to beef up Lisburn in defence, midfield and up front. But it was Bristol’s Bonobo who broke the deadlock in the 49th minute. Tommy Wright was having a man of the match game but could do nothing when Infonetic slide the ball to a rapidly advancing Bonobo. One nil. And that’s how it remained until the 70th minute when Lisburn turned the game on its head in less than 2 minutes. Firstly Tommy McIlroy found Philip Mitchell in the Bristol box and Mitch lifted the ball over an advancing Bristol goalkeeper. Then immediately after the restart Carlos Tevez crossed to Yaya Toure who met that precision cross with his head and rippled Callum Coburn’s net. That’s how it remained, City taking the points.

Lisburn rushed back to The Distillery to get set for Pehuajo Expos who are having a difficult season but are fully capable of halting the current Lisburn winning streak. City send out the wingers and go early cross and that proves to be a great decision. Darius Vassell crossed from his wing, the ball deflects to fellow Winger John Martin and he thunders City into a 1st minute lead. Before we break the first 20 minute barrier, Vassell went on a mesmerising solo run that ended with him side footing past Woe Woods in the Pehuajo goal to give Lisburn a 2 goal cushion. But that is how it remained through the half time break and to the end of the game.

Lisburn stick with the successful 4-2-4 early cross game in their next fixture away to West Bromwich Baggies, who send out a conservative 6-3-1 stalling eleven. The game sees all the attacking coming from Lisburn, in deed Tommy Wright had a very quiet afternoon in goals. Talking goals, they all came in the first forty-five. A brace from man of the match Carlos Tevez and a nutmeg goal from Sam McAdam saw the points in the Lisburn bag before the half time whistle. But City had to settle for three goals, enough to earn Yaya Toure another captain’s bonus and move City to a nine point lead at the top of the league.

A mixed weekend for TNS we started with an away game at Dan's table topping Sheffield Rovers, a real quality side who were showing people how to do it this season,they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as did we ,they started the quicker and opened the scoring on 12 minutes when Everest fired home 1-0,13 minutes and he drilled home his 2nd 2-0,we slowly played ourselves back into the game but they hit us again on 38 minutes when Ben Nevis slotted home 3-0 and Everest completed his hat trick on 40 minutes 4-0,we were glad to hear that half time whistle, 2nd half subs on and we played a lot better as our defence stood firm, although we were outplayed for periods and outshot 10 to 5,well played Dan.

Next we were at home to Graeme's Merrylee Maestro, a side who we always seem to struggle against, we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 4-4-2 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 11 minutes when Torres fired home 1-0 ,defences then took control till half time, 2nd half subs on and we kept pushing but were struggling to break down a stubborn defence and on 65 minutes they levelled things up when Pier fired home 1-1,but we kept our composure and kept firing away and on 87 minutes Torres drilled home his 2nd 2-1 as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 17 to 1 ,MA Hons in their goal was in outstanding form with 12 saves ,well played Graeme, so a 3 point weekend and we sit 9th.

Ye Olde Spurs got to the final of the Dowson Plate after winning the semifinal on penalties. We played against The New Saints and got outplayed for a lot of the match. We conceded on 72 minutes and it looked like we were going out. Then Johnson equalised with the last kick of the match to take it to penalties. With man of the match Forster in our goal we had a great chance. That's the way it panned out, one save and we won five four and made the final. 
League results were mixed. A four one home victory over Golden Dragons was followed by a four one away defeat at Orgullo Atletico. 

Another dismal weekend for the Broncos saw us gather just one point from our two matches, and that against a managerless Bijker Boys.  Despite being considerably the stronger, we actually went behind with 18 minutes to go.  Happily we managed to salvage a point to make the weekend not totally pointless.

Our last seven matches have yielded two draws and five losses.  Thank goodness that we had a great start to the season.  We are still five points clear of the playoff places, which hopefully will be enough of a buffer to ensure our survival.  But a win would be really nice....

We met Andy's Spurs in the semi final of the Dowson plate and both sides opting for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top for the 1st half,2nd half and subs on ,both sides still looking for that opening in the defence  and we found it on 72 minutes when Torres fired home 1-0 and it was looking good right up until the 90th minute when Johnson torpedoed home a shot 1-1,the dreaded penalties,we thought we had done enough as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 10 to 4 but Forster in their goal was in outstanding form with 6 saves.Penalties went the way of Spurs 5-4,so we exit,well played Andy and best of luck in the final

ORA starts its decisive week after some mixed results.

The clear cup victory against TNS boosted the team morale, just to see how ACS was able to neutralize the front line and get a draw. The title was impossible, but it seems the squad will struggle to keep the top 3 goal.
A new victory, this time against YFC, served to calm the waters. But a bad result this wednesday in the cup could drop like a bomb on ORA's expectations.

Is going to be a tough week for Orgullo. First the cup semifinal against a FCB that has won the last game against Sergei's boys. The, a new league weekend against the two only teams that lead their series against ORA, OPT and FCB (again).

After that tough encounters, GD will be waiting in the other cup semifinal. 4 tough games in a row, and the first team won't be ready for all those matches, specially after Balde injury.

"Reaching both finals is our main goal nowadays" says captain Chendo. "If we do, then anything can happen. But we have to be there. Which means we have to concentrate in those cup games, where all our season hopes are now".

Lisburn head next to Darlington and boy didn’t their long ball game tear City a new one in the first 45 minutes. The home side loaded the front end and their long ball games returned goals for Baldr, a nod in from the back post; Falstad Wildhammer, who latched onto a poor back pass from Seamus Heath; Goldie Underhill-Bottom and Gotrek Gurnisson who slotted under the City young keeper Scott Carson. The game was over by the break and goals from Tommy McIlroy and Eric Brook were little consultation to the Lisburn manager. Darlington finished the game with another goal to secure a 5-2 thrashing of the table toppers.

It was back to The Distillery to entertain Gotham City Knights, smarting from the capitulation to Darlington. Lisburn wanted to take the game to Gotham but the Knights defended very well, snuffing out the early cross game from Lisburn and leaving the crowd disappointed with a pretty uneventful goal less draw that saw very little action in either team’s final third.

Copernicus wanted to take advantage of a stuttering Lisburn and their own home advantage and they deservedly took the lead in the 27th minute with their star studded 4-4-2 normal set-up. Szymon Pawlowski beat Tommy Wright with a sweetly struck bending shoot but they only held that lead for 5 minutes. Eric Brook matched Pawlowski’s skills, driving a shoot accurately into the bottom corner and from Lisburn’s point of view, it was game on. Then five minutes from the break Eric Brook and Copernicus keeper Jakob Mikolajczak raced to meet a lovely chip through from Sam McAdam and it was Brooks determination and bravery that won the day, allowing him to nestle the ball in Mikolajczak’s goal. So advantage Lisburn at half time and the points were sealed by Darius Vassell in the 63rd minute, tapping in at the back post.

A wee welcome break from the league campaign saw Lisburn play Them There Cannons in The Dowson Cup. City dominated possession wise with 11 shots to The Cannons’ 3 but Raya had a Man of the Match game to keep Lisburn at bay. It was only 12 minutes from time when the deadlock was broken. Gabriel’s weak back pass was latched onto by Tommy McIroy who expertly and confidently slotted out Raya who can’t hold any blame for what turned out to be a 1-0 defeat for The Cannons.

We started the weekend with a home game against Willy's Montevideo, always a tough side to get a result against, and this season has been no different, we opted for a 4-3-3 normal as they went for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top for the 1st half, 2nd half subs on and both sides still looking for that opening and it came on 68 minutes when Sadiq powered home his header 1-0,from then on we sat deep and defended,we outshot them 9 to 2 but found it hard to break down a stubborn defence but a crucial 3 points,well played Willy.

Next we were at home to Steve's AC Sapone, another formidable side who always play well and are hard to play against, we opted for a 4-3-3 normal as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but they opened the scoring on 16 minutes when Boyd fired home 0-1 and on 24 minutes Bancroft drilled home 0-2,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and pulled one back on 37 minutes when Vlahovic fired home 1-2,but from the restart they went straight upfield and Bancroft fired home his 2nd 1-3,half time came and subs on ,we played better 2nd half but found it hard to break down a stubborn defence and retain any possession for any length of time and they sealed the game on 88 minutes when Wyndass slotted home 1-4,we outshot them 5 to 4 but could not make it count,well played Steve.

So after a 3 point weekend we sit 8th.

Ye Olde Spurs continued their fight to avoid relegation or even the playoffs picking up two points with two drawn matches last weekend. Firstly a home game against Dundee Broncos, a game we should have won. Two nil up after just nineteen minutes became two one, two minutes later. It was level just after halftime but we went ahead again on 53 minutes. Could we hold out, no was the answer and conceded the equaliser with three minutes left. The second game was away at bottom side Camelot FC. This time a point won. We went ahead in the 1st minute only to be pegged back 15 minutes later. We took the lead just after the half an hour mark. We conceded again on 69 minutes but held out for a two all draw. In midweek quarterfinal action against Preston North End. A goal ahead in the first minute became one apiece on 20 minutes. After this we didn't look back. Two one up on 50 minutes became three one on 60 and then to finish off our fourth on 63 minutes. A great performance for a four one victory. 

it's been a poor week for the Broncos, with three matches yielding just one draw and two losses.

First we travelled for a match at Ye Olde Spurs.  There wasn't much to choose between the sides, but we soon found ourselves 2-0 down.  However, an excellent finish from Winston Welsh pulled as back to 2-1, the score at half time.  It was Norman Namib who equalised immediately after the restart before some poor defending saw us trailing again, 3-2.  It looked as if that would be the final score but Mohammed Mustang popped in an equaliser with minutes to go.  So we came away with a point, not a bad result given that we had our reserve keeper between the sticks.

Then we faced Orchard Park Thistle - twice - in league and cup.  We hate playing these guys, they always seem to stuff us.  And they did just that, beating us 4-2 in the league and 4-1 in the cup.  And in the cup match Winston Walsh picked up a red card which will leave our attack a little depleted tomorrow.  Since the great start we had - we topped the table early in the season - we have been slipping steadily down the table.  We are still seven points clear of the playoff spots but with two away games coming up this weekend, we are a worried team.

Highland Rangers arrived at The Distillery with a makeshift defence and throw caution to the wind. In the first 45, goals from Yaya Toure; John Heron; Tommy McIlroy; a second from Toure and a second from McIlroy crush Rangers and give City a five goal halftime lead. The second half proved much less exciting for the home crowd but Tommy McIlroy secured his hat trick and Man of the Match award, with Lisburn’s only goal in the second half.

The changing rooms are quickly hosed down for the arrival of Newton Heath LYR. Newton send a strong defensive side and opt to use an opportunist strategy. And the plan works well again and again snuffing out the Lisburn early cross game until Darius Vassell breaks the deadlock with less than twenty minutes to play. That’s how it remained following a great save from Lisburn’s Tommy Wright to save the three points and allow City to command a seven point lead at the top of division two.

Lisburn then made their way to the home of the Silverx Surfers and both sides line up 4-3-3 with strong forward lines, so the crowd is expectant. The sides pretty much cancelled eachother out in the first half, the difference being Tommy McIlroy, who is on fire at the minute, giving City a one goal lead at the break. Lisburn edge the second forty-five as the Surfers go counter-attack and goals from Mitchell, another from McIlroy and one from Tevez give Lisburn a flattering four goal win and it’s back to The Distillery to make ready for a visiting Preston North End.

Preston are third in the table and need to close the gap with New Jersey soon, if automatic promotion is to be a reality, so they send a strong side to take on Lisburn. Both sides have stars throughout their starting lineups but Lisburn seem to edge in in each department. And it was Lisburn who peppered the Preston goal after Preston went down to ten men following the sending off of keeper Jesse Boot in the 29th minute. Lisburn turned the screw and ran out 4-0 victors and that man again, Tommy McIlroy secured yet another man of the match award. He really is on fire

With 8 games to be played, the 10 points difference with SFR seals a new season failing to fight the league championship at Orgy Park. A team mixing youth and veterans wasn't able to offer the expected performances, and now Sergei starts to think on how to rebuild again. This season was supposed to be the big one of this generation, and the squad has failed.

Of course, there are goals to compete. ORA is alive in both cups, and the team feel they have a chance to win at least one of them.

The first rival that could avoid that is TNS. Rob's boys have not sealed a stay in the 1st division, and they could use a chance to rest their stars and be ready for the next league matches. But if they don't, the strong MF line could help the weaker front and back line to become a problem for Orgullo.
ORA reaches the match with everybody ready, and has promised a strong lineup to try to secure the semifinal pass.

After that, 2 new league matches. ACS seems tired, and they will have to choose between the cup or the league, but probably not both. But they already make ORA sweat in the cup, and the league game won't be easy neither. Milligan can stop everything, as he proved during the knockout game, and will want redemption after failing in the penalties shootout.

To finish the weekend, YFC and ORA will meet with both teams looking for the McBride semifinals. Both will try to avoid suspensions, injuries and tired stars, and the lineups could mark the sign of the match. Who will play more of their stars?

We started the week with a cup match against James New Jersey Nutmegs, a free flowing attacking side like ourselves,both sides opting for 4-2-4 early ball tactics, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 22 minutes when Torres fired home 0-1,and he fired home his 2nd on 43 minutes 0-2 to give us a healthy half time lead,2nd half and we pushed on and on 46 minutes Brobbel slotted home 0-3,64 minutes and Vlahovic drilled home 0-4 and he slotted home his 2nd on 73 minutes 0-5 and Young sealed the game on 78 minutes when he slotted home 0-6 as we outplayed and outshot them 12 to 2,well played James.

Back to league action and we were at home to Simon's Bijker boys, a side we always seem to struggle against, both sides opting for 4-2-4 early ball tactics, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but they opened the scoring on 10 minutes when Alda fired home 0-1,from then on defences ruled and closed the game down ,we outshot them 7 to 4 but could not find a way through the stubborn defence, well played Simon. 

Next we travelled to Richard's Dublin, another side who we always struggled against, they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, game on and both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top, until on 17 minutes a slick pass opened up the defence and Torres raced in and fired home 0-1,half time soon came and subs on ,defences started to control the game, they changed tact to press on 60 minutes trying to find a way through but our defence stood firm as we just outshot them 6 to 5 and held out for the win,well played Richard. 

So after a 3 point weekend we sit 8th.

Ye Olde Spurs started last weekend's games with a home match against league leaders Sheffield Rovers. We can now see why Rovers are top. Spurs played quite well and had an one nil lead at halftime. That didn't last and by the 78th minute mark we found ourselves four three behind. We conceded two further goals when we chased the game to lose six three. The second game was away to Merrylee Maestros. We managed to win two one, thanks to a late winner by Kulusevski. In midweek we played the Maestros again in the Dowson Shield. The match was a close affair ending one apiece and being decided by penalties. Luckily we won five three. 

The Broncos' Saturday's match last weekend was away to Mark Creasey's Golden Dragons.  We were the stronger team in all departments and duly took the lead after 25 minutes, a fine effort from Ardie Savea.  But the Dragons equalised almost immediately to take us to half time at 1-1.  In the second half we continued to have the upper hand but conceded another goal early in the second half, and a third with two minutes left.  A consolation in the last minute, a second from Savea, was no consolation.  We had no luck here, losing 3-2.  It happens.  Quite often, it seems.

Ho hum, on to Sunday and a home match against Orgullo Atletico.  Once again we were stronger in all departments, and once again the score was level at half time, 0-0 on this occasion.  Once again, we conceded early in the second half, but on this occasion we soon found an equaliser, 1-1.  But there was again a late goal - against us, and we lost this match too, 1-2.  We had no luck here.  It happens.  Quite often, it seems.

Let's hope things go for us in the next week...

Expected ORA shots as it was: 9.93

Expected shots playing GK normal: 8.99

Chance of injury in the last 15 minutes playing normal (EL started at 5): 100% (Ok not really but this is Olmec)

Chance of winning penalty shootout with Kavanagh (SL 17) in goal 0%.....

It's worth the extra shot playing passive.

OPT managed the highest OFF of all matches today of 223. DUB couldn't match that even playing press. End result - defeat. Just one goal from a second half of 14% shot chance. Get in the bin!

Quick question though. I have noticed GK playing passive more and more which saves one EL and does not affect their stopping abilities however they reduce GP by 25% of their SL as was shown when ACS managed to record a negative GP. Would Steve have been better to leave the GK on normal and take the hit in an extra EL being used?

We didn't have a chance against ORA today so I tried something I do in SESL all the time.

And it worked. Expected shots were 4 to 10 - actual 5 to 10. Marking worked in that 7 of their 10mshots went to MF or DF. Two went to the unmarked FW and one to their marked winger. They only scored 1 goal. 

Unfortunately Tom King SL 26 MF couldn't get any of his 3 shots on target so we also scored just 1 goal.

Penalty shoot out and we have a better GK - pah! 3-0 after 3 penalties apiece. 

So we played a blinder but Olmec screwed us over in the end.

2 tough games this weekend started with a home game against Colin's OPT who had a slow start to the season but were gathering momentum and winning most of their games at present,we opted for a 4-2-4 normal as they went for a 5-2-3 normal, game on and we started slowly and were punished on 7 minutes when Douglas fired home 0-1,we pulled ourselves together and had more of the ball but could not generate any chances as the OPT defence stood firm,half time soon came and subs on ,both sides creating but not converting early on but on 75 minutes Dexter hit a cross cum shot which beat everyone and nestled in the back of the net 0-2 and on 80 minutes Tulloch brought down Fergie in the box,ref pointed to the spot, Fergie got up and fired home his spot kick 0-3 as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 5 to 2,well played Colin.

Next we travelled to Josh's FC Blades ,a side we had always struggled against, they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 normal, game on and they were controlling the game early on and opened the scoring on 24 minutes when Arblaster fired home 1-0,and he slotted home his 2nd on 36 minutes 2-0 in a dominant 1st half display, 2nd half subs on and we pushed on and played ourselves back into the game and pulled one back on 62 minutes when Torres fired home 2-1,73 minutes and Mitrovic drilled home from range 3-1 and Bruce fired home on 80 minutes to seal the game 4-1 as we were outplayed and outshot 8 to 2,well played Josh.

So a pointless weekend, we sit 8th and have to pick ourselves up for the Dowson cup game midweek against Jame's New Jersey Nutmegs. 

Ye Olde Spurs didn't have a great weekend. We started off okay with a two all draw at Montevideo Tricolores but then we played at home against The New Saints. A bit of a disaster even though we played quite well and created more chances we somehow lost three nil. We dropped to fourth bottom and are now in the playoff positions. The midweek match was a SFLSL cup game against Dublin Illuminati. Everything came right, we played early cross for the first time this season and it paid off. A four one victory to put us into the last eight. 

The Broncos' Saturday match was against AC Sapone, who diidn't have much of a side out, and stalled from the start.  We scored after four minutes - Winston Welsh's ninth of the season.  And there is really nothing more to say - neither side scored after that and we picked up a very welcome three points, keeping us 5th in the table.

On Sunday we hosted Camelot, who we'd already beaten three times this season.  Matt Cooper didn't show up for this one, so The Knights played passively, and so passive were they that we walked the ball into the net in the first minute.  By half time it was 4-0 and the final score was 6-0.  A hat-trick for Ardie Savea and we pushed up to fourth in the table.

Wednesday's match was the SFLSL Cup and the daunting Sheffield Rovers awaited us.  Except that they weren't at all daunting.  Dan Fitzgerald had evidently decided to concentrate on the league and a very sorry-looking side stalled in the vague hope of winning a penalty shoot-out.  We took the lead after ten minutes - by half time it was 3-0 and the final score was 5-0.  A hat-trick for Mohammed Mustand here, and we're through to the last 8!

A ridiculously easy week, three virtual walkovers, twelve goals scored, none conceded.  If only they were all like that...

We were drawn against James free flowing free scoring New Jersey Nutmegs who were on a roll at present flying high in division 2,this looked a really tough match on paper as both sides opting for a 4-2-4 early ball tactics, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 17 minutes when Vlahovic fired home 0-1,21minutes in and game changing moment as Levanen brought down Johnston in the box,ref pointed to the spot and then produced a red card, we were down to 10 men,Johnston got up and fired home his spot kick 1-1,a quick reshuffle of the 10 men and we pushed on and Vlahovic fired home his 2nd on 28 minutes 1-2 and on 41 minutes a strong run from Savic saw him slot home 1-3,2nd half and subs on ,55 minutes and Vlahovic completed his hat trick when he powered home his header at the back post 1-4,60 minutes and Savic drilled home his 2nd 1-5 and Torres completed the scoring on 86 minutes 1-6 as we outplayed and outshot them 13 to 1,well played James.

Back to The Distillery and the league campaign to welcome Inter Postmen. City open 4-3-3 normal and the Posties decide to throw everything at Lisburn, starting two wingers in a 4-2-4 early cross set-up. It’s Lisburn who take the game to Inter. As early as the 13th minute Paul Dickov takes a cheeky long shot that catches the Inter keeper off guard and while we are only 13 minutes into the game, City have a deserved lead. Twenty minutes later Phillip Mitchell doubles the lead and Tommy McIlroy makes it three shortly after and Lisburn take that lead into the break. In the 72nd minute John Heron makes the captain’s bonus safe and all is good at The Distillery.

Everyone boards the bus straight after post match refreshments as we have a journey and a half to the home of Cannons. City get off to a great start with a second minute opener from the head of Carlos Tevez and that’s how it remained when the players came in for a wee cuppa tea and a couple of Jaffa cakes. Manager Oakes’s halftime team talk did the trick. Michael Brown headed Lisburn’s second, followed by a third for City and second for Michael Brown in the 64th minute. But neither City nor in deed Brown were finished there, Brown getting his hatrick a minute later and Lisburn left the home of the Cannons, four goal victors.

That brought us to the next round of the Dowson Cup and a neutral fixture against Ye Old Spurs FC. Spurs started with a very formidable looking, attacking 4-2-4 normal set up, while City also went 4-2-4 but for them it was Early Cross. The game was by no means dull in the first half with the sides only separated by a Phillip Mitchel early goal. Then the second half arrived like a whirlwind with the sides clocking up a mighty 6 goals in the second half with Lisburn chipping in with more of the spoils than Spurs. Lisburn ran out 5 to 2 victors in this great crowd pleaser and to be fair that scoreline could easily have gone the other way had Lady Luck not decided to pull on a Lisburn shirt that day.

We started the weekend with an away game at Sergei's Orgullo, a quality side who are always in the top few looking for the title ,and this season was no different, we have always struggled against them as they turn it on in a blink of an eye and there's nothing you can do about it, they opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as we went for a 6-2-2 opportunistic, game on and 1st half we matched them in all areas ,albeit we were defending deeply and not attacking, 2nd half subs on and they seemed to up their tempo and opened the scoring on 48 minutes when Chendo fired home 1-0 and on 49 minutes Guerrero fired home to seal the game as they outplayed and outshot us 5 to 0,well played Sergei as usual.

Next we travelled to Andy's Spurs, always a tough place to get a result, they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession, but on 35 minutes against the run of play Young fired home 0-1,half time came and subs on ,we started quickly and on 48 minutes a quick attack saw Saduq stick a leg out and deflect home 0-2 and we sealed the game on 90 minutes when Savic fired home 0-3 ,we were outplayed for periods and outshot 13 to 6 ,but McCririck in our goal was in outstanding form with 9 saves,well played Andy.

So with the 3 point weekend we rise to 7th.

Ye Olde Spurs started the week in fine fashion with a five nil home victory against FC Blades. The Blades did put out a weakened team but we put them to the sword. The second game last weekend was away to Bijker Boys. We came away with a point after the match finished goalless. Then the midweek game at home against high flying Dublin Illuminati. We put out a good starting eleven, outplayed them, created more chances and somehow lost two one. Their keeper Grilli being man of the match says it all. 

Well, it's been a dreadful week for the Broncos.

We knew that our league position flattered us but approached our visit to The New Saints with some optimism.  We were, I think, marginally the better team, and took a 0-2 lead, pegged back to 1-2 by half time.  But in the second half, everything went against us. We continued to have at least equality but The New Saints scored three times without us being able to respond and we lost this one 2-4.

Our Sundey match was one we expected to lose, a home tie against Sheffield Rovers, and we met expectations with a flourish, losing 1-5.  This was perhaps a bit flattering for our visitors but certainly they deserved the win, and what's a little goal difference between friends?

Wednesday'smatch gave us a sigh of relief as we we travelled to play Merrylee Maestros, our old club.  Graeme Scott was off down the pub so his team played passively against us and we had a considerable advantage in all areas of the pitch,  We duly took the lead after 14 minutes, only for MM to equalise on 28.  No matter, we had a significant shot advantage and went ahead again just before half time.  We exetended our lead to 1-3 after the break and although MM pulled one back we were soon in front again, 2-4 with 18 minutes to go.  And then the special randomisation algorithm took control. and MM scored twice to tie the match at 4-4.  The random numbers generators at its most perverse....

Last week ORA saw the top of the head walk away.

The victorya against BIB seem to calm waters at Orgy Park, but a new defeat, this time against DUB, saw SFR took a wider distance from Sergei's lads. The latin derby against MT saw many angry supporters receive Orgullo, and only the good result calmed them down.

Now, after MSA the squad has half a season + 1 match to recover 8 points of disadvantage. ORA would need to win almost everything, the same way SFR has done so far, and wait for the Rovers to fail. A hard task if Sergei wants to put some eggs on the cups basket.

This weekend could be a league final for ORA. Afetr the match with TNS, ORA will visit SFR. A new defeat could leave ORA 11 points behind Sheffield, and force Orgullo to focus on other competitions.

The Baggies came to town next and it looks like they are using the game against Lisburn as an EL recovery game. They open with a very defensive 5-2-3 opportunist formation with quite a few sub 10 SL defenders for a game City have gone forward heavy with a couple of wingers supplying Carlos Tevez and Sam McAdam in the middle. Goals in the 13th, 25th and 43rd minutes from Phillip Mitchell, John Martin and Darius Vassell send City in at half time with a commanding three goal lead. Carlos Tevez then chips in with a fourth and not to be left out second half substitute Eric Brook finishes off West Brom in the 87th minute. Lisburn chalked up 12 shots on target to zero from the Baggies and we are now looking good, three points clear at the top of division two.

Lisburn then headed to New Jersey to lock horns with the Nutmegs. Both sides open the game in 4-2-4 formations, New Jersey going Early Cross and Lisburn play Normal. What a cracker this game turned out to be. Lisburn had a two goal lead within the first  eleven minutes with goals from Eric Brook and Carlos Tevez but the Nutmegs were level again with 10 minutes with a brace from Boaby Gillespie. Ten minutes from the break Brook scored his second and gave City a 2-3 lead during that break. It was more of the same entertaining football in the second half. Nutmegs drew level then City went 3-5 up but New Jersey were not finished, Wade Wilson bringing them to within one goal with 9 minutes to play. This show piece game finished with Lisburn the victors and recipients of the three points but both sides deserved three points for this highly entertaining game.

A break from the league campaign next draws City against Highland Rangers in the Dowson Cup. Lisburn do all the attacking in this straight knockout at a neutral venue and have a healthy two goal lead at halftime, thanks to goals from John Martin and Philip Mitchell. And Lisburn continue in the second half, how they started in the first and score a victory securing third when Eric Brook gave us a great individual goal, sending City comfortably into the next phase.

We started the weekend with a home game against Paul's high flying Dundee Broncos, a rally tough looking side on paper and even tougher to get a result against, we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, they started quickly and opened the scoring on 8 minutes when Brumby fired home 0-1  and things got worse for us on 35 minutes when Camargue slotted home 0-2,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and pulled one back on 41 minutes when Paredes powered home his header 1-2,half time came and subs on,we started the 2nd half stronger and levelled things up on 51 minutes when Savic fired home 2-2,we pushed on and on 67 minutes a quick break and deep cross saw Young power home his header 3-2 and on 69 minutes Torres raced through and slotted home 4-2 ,an even game of 8 shots each but we were slow to get into our stride but did so in the 2nd half,well played Paul.

Then we travelled to Matt's Camelot  who were sitting down at the bottom with any luck seeming to by pass them,so could we take advantage of this, they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 2 minutes when Torres fired home 0-1,but then found it really hard to break down a stubborn defence, half time soon came and subs on,they changed tact to press on 75 minutes to try and get themselves back into the game but we sealed it on 89 minutes when Esteve fired home 0-2 as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 14 to 0,well played Matt.

So after a 6 point weekend we sit 9th.

Ye Olde Spurs had a few bad results last week. We started with a home match against A C Sapone expecting a decent performance. The game finished goalless and could have gone either way. The second league game was away at Orchard Park Thistle. We got a good going over, losing four nil. In midweek our second Dawson Shield match with Lisburn City. Another poor performance and result, losing five two. We did still qualify for the knockout stages but will now face a harder opponent. 

Having disappointed in the Dowson Cup, the Broncos returned to league action with a away match against Dublin Illuminati.  Our position at the top of Divsion 1 is of course very flattering, and we were most definitely facing a better team on Saturday.  Nevertheless, we held the score at 0-0 going in to half time and were hopeful of getting a points from this match.  Sadly, it was not to be.  Dublin took control in the second half, smashing in three goals with no reply, and Sheffield Rovers knocked us down to second place.

We will be delighted if we are in second place come the end of the season, and on Sunday we hosted Montovideo Tricolores hoping for three points.  The Monte are struggling this season and on this occasion we found ourselves the better side managing 16 on-target shots to our visitors' one.  We ran home 3-0 winners to keep us in second place.

This weekend we face The New Saints and then have a home tie against the league leaders.  A big one!

We were up against David's Gotham city knights in our 2nd cup game after defeat to OPT in our opener,this looked a tricky game on stats and we were looking for our 1st win.

They opted for a 5-3-2 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, steady start by both sides as defences on top for the 1st half hour but on 33 minutes a quick break saw Torres race through and fired home 1-0,half time soon came and subs on ,both sides pushing on and they levelled things up on 68 minutes when McLean slotted home 1-1,but straight from the kick off on 68 minutes we went straight upfield and Esteve drilled home 2-1,from then on defences ruled and closed the game down as we just edged the shot count 4 to 2,well played David,we now have a win in the bag.

Last week started great for ORA, and finished with the usual doubts the squad are suffering this season.

First, the second cup match against DB was solved with a 6-1 that delighted all ORA fans. A big victory against a hard rival that had defeated them at Orgy Park a few days ago was a sign of the team improvement.

Then came the OPT clash. The match is always seen as a maximum rivality, and the victory was taken as a confirmation that the squad is ready to go for any goal this season, finishing the day close to the top of the table.

Then came the visit to FCB, that finished with an unexpected defeat. The goal of Steve Bruce decided the result of a match with not much chances, and left ORA 5 points behind a strong SFR. Not a far distance, but when the team leading also leads the top11 stats, then the goal seems more difficult.

With the next cup clash far, and MSA in the middle, ORA expects to improve their weaknesses (specially the GK line) and be ready for the second half of the season. Now the team just need to stop getting distance from the top, or the league will just be a dream before the season reachs its middle point.

We wanted to take advantage of a great start to the league when Bristol Uc-S arrived at the Distillery with a strong 4-3-3 normal set up and City lined up in an identical way. City took a dramatic 2nd minute lead with a goal from John Heron and that goal was the confidence lifter Lisburn needed. They out gunned Bristol throughout the game only allowing on shot on target from the visitors but just couldn’t put the game to bed. City still held that one goal advantage when the ref drought the game to an end and while the goals are not flowing City have maximum points from the first four games and headed to the home of the Expos.

Pehuajo set up with a defensive 5-4-1 formation and look like they are out for a draw. Plenty of action in the first half but not a lot in front of either goal and the sides went in 0-0. It was more of the same in the second half and the Expos defence cancelled the City attack and both teams took a single point but perhaps Pehuajo will be a little more disappointed they couldn’t have converted the only on target shot of the game and take advantage of the hugely inexperience Scott Carson in the Lisburn goal.

Another tough weekend for TNS, we started off with a home game against Dan's league leaders Sheffield Rovers, a really good team who were putting some results together, we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and they were controlling the game from the opening whistle, constant attacks but our defence was standing firm up until 20 minutes when Snow Don fired home 0-1,we kept them at bay till half time after this,2nd half and subs on ,they pushed on and on 56 minutes Nevis drilled home 0-2,we had no answer as we were defending for the majority of the time as we were outplayed and outshot 9 to 2,only McCririck in our goal with 6 saves kept us in it,well played Dan.

Next we travelled to Graeme's Merrylee Maestro's,another place where it is hard to get a result, as they are a well organised team, they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, they started quickly and opened the scoring on 5 minutes when Pier fired home 1-0,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and levelled things up on 45 minutes when Torres slotted home 1-1,2nd half subs on and nothing to choose between the sides as both exchanged possession on a regular basis, but on 70 minutes Abbott fired home 2-1 and on 79 minutes Pier fired home his 2nd 3-1,we had no answer to this but it was an even game of 6 shots each ,they were clinical in front of goal, well played Graeme.

After a poor weekend we now sit 11th.

Ye Olde Spurs picked up two points last weekend with two drawn games but both teams are in the top four. A goalless draw at second placed Golden Gragons as we stalled our way to a point. Then we played Orgullo Atletico at home and got an one all draw thanks to a Kane equaliser five minutes from time, which we fully deserved. Tomorrow we start with a home match against A C Sapone and we expect to put out a strong team. 

The Broncos find themselves topping Division 1 after two league victories last weekend.  We started with a home tie against FC Blades who showed up with a team who might as well not have shown up at all.  Their best player was SL19 and six of their team had single-digit SLs.  They wisely stalled, which enabled them to keep the score down to 8-0.  Seven Broncos found themselves on the scoresheet.

Next up, another home game, this one against Bijker Boys.  This was much more of a contest, but we took the initiative with a strike in the first minute of the match from Winston Welsh.  After that, it was a pretty even tussle which looked destined to finish 1-0, but we managed two more goals in the last ten minutes to pick up a captain's bonus in this 3-0 win.

We are top, but only on goal difference, and there's a long way to go yet.  But I've checked, and there's plenty of room in the trophy cabinet.

Plenty of room, especially as we won't need to reserve any space for the Dowson Cup.  We'd drawn the first leg of our tie against Orgullo Atletico, so needed a good result in the away leg.  What we got instead was a complete thrashing as Sergei Gavino's team overwhelmed us with a 6-1 troucing.  We had a decent team out, but it was one of those days.  Hopefully that's used up a wodge of bad luck for a few matches to come....

The week did not erase the doubts the ORA fans had last week. 2 draws and a victory left the team where it was: up in the league, but still behind the top of the table, and with the cup leg not solved at all.

This Wednesday ORA will have to deal with the 2nd leg of the DB clash. Playing at home should be an advantage, but a few days ago DB assaulted Orgy Park with a 3-5 victory that make everybody feel uncomfortable about this midweek game. An early exit of the cup would be a disaster, and Sergei saved all his stars for this game.

In the league, a victory against ACS was followed by an unexpected draw against YFC. Only 3 points separate the squad from the top, but the feel is the squad is struggling to follow the leaders march. After the cup match comes a hard weekend, receiving rivals OPT and visiting a strong FCB. Nobody can relax at Orgy Park if they want to keep all their goals after this week.

Great start to the league campaign. Locomotive Darlington came to The Distillery with a very strong lineup, playing a long ball game and Lisburn set up with John Martin on the wing in a 4-3-3 normal formation. Both sides cancelled each other out until in the 42nd minute Carlos Tevez chipped the ball over three defenders, found Eric Brooks on a one on one with Darlington keeper Morose Stronginthearm, slipping the ball past him to give City a flattering one goal lead at half time. The second half was another cagey affair with City turning a slight advantage in possession into a points clinching Phillip Mitchell goal in the 82nd minute.

Our second game took us to Gotham City Knights, who have a side riddled with stars. Gotham set up in a defensive 5-3-2 normal and manager Carl Oakes decided to try out a double winger early cross 4-2-4 for size. An entertaining first half ended blank in a goals sense but the crowd were treated to plenty of action in an evenly matched affair. And it remained nil/nil until the only goal of the games was scored by Philip Mitchell in the cruel 89th minute. Stuart McLean was pressured in defence by John Heron, who dispossessed him and found Mitchell free in the box and he finished off the move, and Gotham, smashing the ball into the net and leaving Gotham no time at all to respond.

So we headed back to The Distillery to set the half time crockery up for Copernicus Town. John Martin was a little legging having missed preseason training but Manager Oakes is liking what he sees in using wingers. This time he sends out Darius Vassell in a 4-3-3 formation and he had a wonderful game converting one of his three shots and playing a key role in Lisburn’s comfortable 3-1victory over their visitors. Tevez and John Heron also chipped in with a goal each after Kitchen Utensils had given Copernicus the early lead. So a great start to the league campaign after a poor SFLSL Cup.

We started with a Dave Dowson cup match against Colin's mighty OPT,a side we always seem to struggle against,we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 16 minutes when Paredes cut inside and rifled home 1-0,but OPT hit back and levelled things up on 35 minutes when Fergie fired home 1-1,but we hit back and took the lead on 41 minutes when Sadiq slotted home 2-1,half time came and subs on ,nothing to choose between the sides until on 84 minutes when they seemed to up their tempo and Fergie tapped in his 2nd when the goalie could only parry a shot 2-2 ,and they pushed on and on 87 minutes Douglas drilled home 2-3,we just edged the shot count but OPT's finishing was clinical,well played Colin.

Back to league action and we were away at Willy's Montevideo, another tough place to get a result at,both sides opting  for a 4-2-4 early ball tactics, we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 6 minutes when Young fired home 0-1 and on 26 minutes 0-2 as Calabria fired home,game changing moment on 39 minutes as Tulloch saw red for a wild challenge and we were down to 10 men,2nd half and Montevideo didn't waste any time in exploiting this as they were stretching us all over the pitch, 51 minutes and Damiani fired home 1-2 and on 54 minutes Rodriguez powered home his header to level it up 2-2,defences then stood firm although we were outplayed and outshot 12 to 5 we held on for a point,well played Willy. 

Next we were away to Steve's AC Sapone, another really tough side who always gave us a real game which we always seemed to be 2nd best,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal so we matched this,they started quickly and opened the scoring on 8 minutes when Wyndass fired home 1-0 and on 39 minutes Boyd fired home to make it 2-0 in a comfortable 1st half for them,half time came and subs on we slowly played ourselves back into the game and pulled one back on 56 minutes when Torres  fired home 2-1 ,we pushed on but could not break down a stubborn defence in an even game of 3 shots each,well played Steve,so after this we sit 8th in the table.

Ye Olde Spurs started last weekend's games with a trip to high flying Dundee Broncos. We got batted but managed to keep the score down to just two zero. The second match was the opposite, we played at home against struggling Camelot FC. A very good performance ended in a four nil victory to move us away from the relegation zone. In midweek we played in the Dowson Shield for the first time ever. A match with Highland Rangers. Again a good performance finished in a three nil win, thanks to a Johnson hat trick. We start today with a difficult trip to Golden Gragons. 

Our league campaign had got off to a decent start and our opponents on Saturday were Ye Olde Spurs.  We fielded a strong team and dominated most of the match, notching up a healthy 15 shots on goal, 11 on target.  There were no goals in the first half but two from Norman Namib in the second were enough for us to earn all three points here.

On Sunday we went to Orchard Park Thistle, who always seem to beat us, so we were not optimistic.  The match on Sunday seemed to following the familiar course as we soon went two goals down and thugh Ardie Savea managed to get one back for us, by half time OPT had scored again to lead 3-1.  We entered the second half without much hope but with 15 minutes to go Winston Welsh made it 3-2 and right on the final whistle SImon Sable equalised to earn us a very unexpected point.  

Those four points leave us in thrid place in the table.

On Wednesday the Dowson Cup started and we welcomed Orgullo Atletico to Bronco Pavilion.  It was a tight affair with just one goal to each side, leaving us with a very tough challenge in the second leg this coming Wednesday.  In the league, we'll be playing FC Blades and Bijker Boys, both of whom currently lie in the bottom half of the table, but are bound to rise as the season gos on.

It's going to be another tough week!

The league start at Orgy Park has not been as expected.

With a young squad full of quality, the board was sure the start was going to be strong. The cup stage was hard, but the first position was got while training the players. But the league is another reality...

2 defeats in 5 games made ORA learnt they can not relax for a second. Specially disturbing was the severe defeat against DUB, the next cup rival. "We can not repeat the mistakes during this match" said captain Chendo. "We need to concentrate and get a good result there, to play back at home without so much pressure".

The confidence is not low, but the result makes everybody fear an early exit of the cup, which would be a disaster for the team goals. The mixed result on the league won't allow to focus only on the double clash against DUB. Otherwise, ACS and YFC will use the chance to create more problems during this early stage of the season.

It's been a very pleasing start to the season for NHL. Progressing to the next phase of the SFLSL Cup was hard fought and left the squad looking very tired for the opening league campaign. After a fully deserved hammering by New Jersey Nutmegs in the league opener the squad have exceeded expectations and have shown fantastic resilience to climb into the play-off spots in the early league table going four games unbeaten - with three wins away from home giving the travelling supporters lots to cheer on their travels.

The manager isn't fully happy with the balance of the squad and is hoping that some funds can be generated to allow him to beef up the squad with a defensive midfielder being high on his wishlist "There's not much in the kitty at the minute but hopefully this will improve as the season progresses"

This week sees the Dowson Cup start and the manager has suggested that this is possibly the lowest profile competition for his side this season. "We'd love to be able to compete in every match and challenge to make progress but we have to be realistic and not overstretch the squad. We need to prioritise and with this in mind we may be looking to give a couple of the lads a chance to fully recover in anticipation of the league campaign"  

We started the weekend with an away game at Simon's Bijker boys, always a tough place to play at and even harder to get a result, they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top for the majority of the 1st half but on 40 minutes a quick break down the left saw Paredes float over a ball to the far post and Torres rose up highest and powered home his header 0-1,half time came and subs on ,2nd half much the same as both sides enjoying the ball but unable to create many good chances  but on 82 minutes Savic slipped through and drilled home his shot 0-2,Bjiker Boys didi pull one back right on 90 minutes  when Collier fired home 1-2,we just edged the shot count 7 to 4 for a hard earned victory, well played Simon,

Next we were at home to Richard's unbeaten table topping Dublin Illuminati, a great team who are really hard to play against ,let alone get a result ,they came up when we did and have had the better of us on many occasions, we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, both teams started quickly and  enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top, 40 minutes and Paredes took off down the wing and fired over to the far post where Torres powered home his header 1-0,half time came and subs on ,defences on top and closing down all attacks before they could develop, DUB changed tact to press on 60 minutes to try and get back into the game ,but on 86 minutes Paredes found the ball at his feet cut inside and rifled home his shot 2-0,we edged the shot count 10 to 5 for an unbelievable win ,well played Richard.

So a 6 point weekend, heres looking forward to more of this,we now sit 7th.

With SFLSL Cup progression pretty much dead and buried we welcome FC Blades to The Distillery with mainly pride but an extreme outside chance of qualifying to play for. The Blades look like they have given up also, as they sent a very inexperienced development squad and paid the price. Two goals from Carlos Tevez, one each from Darius Vassell and Tommy McIlroy saw Lisburn dominate the first half and enter the break four nil up. City eased back in the second half, with a fifth coming in 65th minute from youngster Eric Brook rounded the game off. It gave Lisburn a five nil victory, three points, their first win of the season, a man of the match award for Carlos Tevis and a captain’s bonus for Yaya Toure. All very positive but the squad can’t help but look to the fact the Blades didn’t come for points.

So Lisburn headed next to Spurs with a packed defence and three up top and played a long all tactic for the first in a long long time. Only a victory will keep City alive but at least they have a little hope now. Spurs broke the deadlock in the 20th minute but Lisburn struck back 14 minutes later to draw level and they were looking good. But that’s when it all went south. Spurs scored twice more before the halftime whistle was blown to take a controlling three one lead into the changing room. They (Spurs) commanded the second half and to be honest City were lucky not to be buried in the second 45 and headed home feeing lucky to escape with only a four goals to one drumming.

Then along came one of those dead rubber games. Home side Orchard Park Thistle had qualification in the bag and Lisburn were out early. Both turned up to play boring Stall games and boy was it boring. Nothing to warm the fans from either end until Thistle Joe Douglass scored with nine minutes to go. This turned out to only be one of two shots on target for the fans to get “excited” about and was enough to give Joe the man of the match award.

Ye Olde Spurs kicked off their league campaign with a difficult trip to The New Saints. We lost two nil which was no surprise due to the fact we had energy level issues after our cup matches. The second game was also an away match at Sheffield Rovers. We got away with an one all draw but were outplayed and outshot ten to two. The third game and our first home match against Merrylee Maestros, who were pointless. A five two victory with Johnson helping himself to a hat trick. We start this weekends games with a visit to Dundee Broncos.

Three league matches gone, three away wins.  Happily two of them to us.

The Broncos started sith a visit to Camelot, who we have already beaten twice in the SFLSL Cup group.  We had our reserve keeper out, a worrying situation as he is well past his best, but managed to limit Camelot's scoring opportunities to three in the match, and Boffelli proved to be up to the challenge.  At the other end, we didn't get many more chances - six - but managed two goals to get the league campaign off to a winning start.

Our Sunday match was a home tie against Golden Dragons.  We were perhaps slightly the better side but went behind early on.  Danny Care equalised for us but not for long as the Dragons again went ahead to lead 1-2 at half time.  We still hoped to get at least a point but it was the Dragons who scored the only second half goal to take the match 1-3.  We were somewhat unfortunate here. 

Wednesday saw us take a trip to Orgullo Atletico for a rather crazy game.  It feels like we often concede an early goal and we did so here, after three minutes.  We pulled it back level on the quarter hour only to concede again straight from the kickoff.  Seven minutes before half time the Colchonero extended their lead to 3-1.  Then the craziness really began.  We scored twice in the two minutes before half time to square it at 3-3, then twice more in the first six minutes of the second half to take a dramatic 3-5 lead.  Four goals in eight minutes!  And then suddenly, the craziness stopped, and that was the final score, 3-5.

Two wins out of three is enough to put us third in the table.  This weekend we face Ye Olde Spurs and Orchard Park Thistle (who always beat us) so the run of away wins is sure to end.  And then on Wednesday we face Orgullo Atletico again, in the Dowson Cup.  Will the craziness continue?

We started the weekend with a home game against Andy's Ye Olde Spurs,always a tough side to get a result against, we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 5-2-3 stall, we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 9 minutes when Kostic drilled home 1-0,from then on defences ruled till half time as they closed down all attacks before they could develop, 2nd half subs on and much of the same as defences on top, Spurs changed tact to press on 80 minutes trying to get back into the game but left themselves exposed at the back and on 83 minutes Torres slipped through and rifled home 2-0 as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 11 to 1,well played Andy.

Next we travelled to Colin's mighty Orchard Park Thistle, always a tough place to play at and a quality side, they opted for a 5-2-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, game on and 1st half saw both sides probing looking for that opening but defences stood firm, 2nd half subs on and OPT seemed to up their tempo and they opened the scoring on 51 minutes when Mcalpine fired home 1-0,they kept pushing and were controlling the game from the midfield area and Rexter drilled home on 73 minutes 2-0 and they sealed the game on 76 minutes when Watt slotted home 3-0 as they outplayed us and outshot us 13 to 6,well played Colin.

So after the opening games we sit 9th.

Ye Olde Spurs pulled out all the stops to qualify for the knockout stages of the SFLSL Cup. We had three home matches to play and we knew winning all three would confirm our goal. The first game was against group leaders Orchard Park Thistle. A three one victory to set us on the way. Next Lisburn City who were bottom. A straightforward four one win. The last game was against FC Blades and we needed a point to qualify for sure. A goal behind in the first minute, not the start we were looking for. It all changed in the second half. An equaliser, going behind again and then two midway through the second half to win three two. 

What a dream start for my lads in the Cup. Well, the first 3 games. Then we had a wobble and lost two. 9 points with one match to go. I checked all the groups and it looked likely that NJN would finish 3rd on 10 points with a win again LD. Elsewhere, MM would be next best on 9 if they lost but OPT had a far superior goal difference.

As it turned out those two results came to fruition. Not really of concern to OPT but a win against LBC would see OPT go through as group winners rather than second best 3rd placed. No biggie so I rested a few players in match 6, after all LBC could not qualify even with a win so surely Carl would rest up and prepare for the upcoming league matches. So it proved. A stalling LBC turned up and OPT sqeaked a one nil victory.

Next up - the league. After last season I am not confident but a good start is a must. Let's go!

After a difficult first week in the cup (one win and two losses), the Droncos needed at least six points, preferably seven, from the qualifying matches to stand a good chance of promotion.

Having beaten Camelot in the first match away, we had targeted the return for three points, and met that expectation.  We were the better team here and came out 3-0 winners, two in the first half and one in the second.

Then we had an away fixture against Preston North End and were pleased to see that Steve Gregory had failed to place orders.  With the Lillywhites all playing passively we held a significant advantage but, shockingly, went behind in the third minute to what was to prove Preston's only shot of the match.   There was plenty of time left, of course, but it was nearly half time before we found the equaliser we needed.  We continued to have the better of things in the second half but couldn't find the winner.  Now we needed a win in the last match, though a draw might well take us through as a 3rd place team.

So we face my old team Merrylee Maestors on Wednesday, and bizarrely, Graeme Scott had failed to place orders.  So again, we held a significant advantage, but again we went behind early on - just ten minutes gone.  Surely history could not repeat itself?  Happily, we soon equalised and two further goals before half time put us very much in control of the match.  But....the Maestros scored immediately after the restart and then found the net again to take the score to 3-3.  Surely not!  Surely this wasn't going to be another draw?  The minutes ticked by and finally, in the 71st, we scored our fourth, and then a fifth, to take the three points we deserved.

So, we qualify....only to face Sheffield Rovers in the last 16....

We have to put a miserable season behind us now. Relegation came as no surprise as time and time again we failed to gain any traction in all critical games against fellow relegation strugglers. Time to give ourselves a shake, to put that disappointment firmly behind us and look forward to hopefully being a little more competitive this season.

The glory days of a few seasons ago have gone now, with the departure of eight of the last promoted squad, replaced by defenders Gary Wray and Dave Watson and goalkeeper Scott Carson. All will need to settle in quickly and get up to competitive speed quickly as we don’t have much room for passengers this season.

Survival in the second division is nailed on, so the board have set the club the target of a cup run to a semi-final and a play-off position in the league. Now we have a younger squad the board have tasked the management with the target of securing a Division 1 standard T11 and T17, so we will be looking for some deals in the auctions and hoping to pick up some reasonably priced CP and TP.

The new season opened well with a point gained at FC Blades thanks to a first half equaliser from Phillip Mitchell but thanks have to go to man of the match Tommy Wright, who kept the Blades at bay for the rest of the game. On balance the Blades will feel hard done by only lifting a point but we will take it as an encouragement and move to game two.

Ye Olde Spurs FC visited The Distillery left with a deserved three points following two goals from winger Gareth Bale. But it was the Spurs keeper Fraser Forster who took man of the match, following a commanding performance which saw him make four superb saves to leave Lisburn goalless.

So we rolled out the welcome mat for group favourites Orchard Park Thistle who went in at halftime two goals up and the second half followed much the same way with Thistle coming away five to one victors, to leave any chance of Lisburn progressing in the SFLSL Cup this season very much in the realms of fantasy.

3rd game in the cup and away to Mark's Golden Dragons,a really good looking side who are always challenging for honours,they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, we started badly as a defensive error in the 1st minute saw Martinelli smash the ball home 1-0,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top, half time soon came and subs on ,both sides pushing on looking to find that elusive goal and on 60 minutes Martinelli fired home his 2nd 2-0 to seal the game as we were edged out 4 to 3 in the shot count,well played Mark.

Next we were at home to James New Jersey Nutmegs, a free flowing ,free scoring attacking football team, both sides opting for a 4-2-4 early ball, they started quickly and opened the scoring on 2 minutes when Gillespie fired home 0-1,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and levelled things up on 4 minutes when Torres drilled home 1-1,18 minutes and Torres fired home his 2nd 2-1,19 minutes and some slick passing saw Savic race in and fire home 3-1 and on 26 minutes he fired home his 2nd 4-1,and on 29 minutes Torres completed his hat trick 5-1,30 minutes and New Jersey pulled one back when Johnston slotted home 5-2,39 minutes and Paredes cut in from the wing and rifled home from an acute angle 6-2,half time came and subs on and just time to catch your breath,50 minutes and Johnston got his 2nd with an amazing diving header 6-3 and on 59 minutes he completed his hat trick 6-4,but Torres had the last say as he fired home his 4th to seal the game 7-4 as we outshot them 18 to 6 in an exciting end to end encounter, well played James.

Next we were at home to Roy's Locomotive Darlington, always a tough side to get a result against, we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and we had plenty of possession early on but were struggling to break down a stubborn defence but on 21 minutes a slick passing moment saw Vlahovic race in and fire home 1-0,from then on defences r as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 15 to 2 ,but Stronginthearm in there goal was in outstanding form with 10 amazing saves,well played Roy.

So 5 games in the cup and we sit 2nd in the group on 10 points and look safe to progress.

With a game still left, ORA has already qualified, as expected, on its cup group. Being fixtured with 3 teams on the lower half of the top11 table wasn't so easy as expected. A draw against MT and a defeat at CPT's put the run in trouble. But, finally, Orgullo will play at home against MT only to finish 1st in the group (with a victory needed).

Sergei will use the chance to debut himself on the FW line. The age 0 player/manager dismissed the rumours about lying in its birth documents. "I've been managing the game since I was age -30, I don't know what are you talking about" said the old manager and new forward of the team.

After the cup clash, a new latin derby against Willy's lads, the league games will return to Orgy Park. SFR at home and MM away will be a weekend to start to prove this year the squad is ready to really fight the league.

Ye Olde Spurs played their first three SFLSL cup matches away and managed to pick up three points which keeps us in the group. We started with the most difficult first at Orchard Thistle Park. After taking the lead we then conceded six times. A six one defeat, not a great start. We then played Lisburn City. We went two up early on and that's the way it finished. The third game in midweek was against FC Blades. A disappointing one nil defeat. We now have the three home matches to come so we still have a great chance to qualify.

The first week of the Bronco's season has not been great.  Distinctly dodgy in fact.

Things started well enough with a visit to Camelot.  There wasn't really much in it but we managed to slot in a goal in each half, both to Danny Care, to take the tie 2-0.

On Sunday we had a home match against Preston North End.  We held an shot-chance advantage but not by very much, and in fact were outshot 6-4 and lost the match 2-0.  At this stage I realised that I'd been playing both my wingers in midfield, and that this was probably not an optimal strategy.

So, for Wednesday's match at home to my old team, Merrylee Maestros, I managed to get everyone playing in sensible positions and we were superior in every area of the pitch.  We outshot them 10-6, won the on-target count 7-4 and lost the match 2-1.

So we have just three points in the qualifying group.  We need to beat Camelot on Saturday and then get at least a win and a draw from the last two matches or we will be out of the cup, which would be an ignominious exit for the holders.

We started in the cup with an away game at James  New Jersey Nutmegs a quality side who love free flowing football, both sides opting for 4-2-4 early ball tactics, we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 3 minutes when Torres fired home 0-1,NJN slowly played themselves back into the game and levelled things up on 8 minutes when Gillespie slotted home 1-1,38 minutes and Torres fired home his 2nd 1-2,half time came and subs on ,both sides enjoying lots of possession and on 60 minutes Wilson headed home 2-2,78 minutes and a quick break saw Savic drill home 2-3 but on 81 minutes Wilson drilled home his 2nd 3-3,an enjoyable game where TNS edged the shot count 14 to 8 but points shared,well played James.

Next we travelled to Roy's Locomotive Darlington, another place where it's very hard to get a result, they opted for a 5-2-3 longball as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, game on and we started the quicker and opened the scoring on 10 minutes when Ruby drilled into 0-1,from then on defences were on top and stopped all attacks before they could develop, 2nd half and still the defences controlling the game up until 88 minutes when Paredes cut in from the wing and rifled home from an acute angle 0-2 as they just edged the shot count 7 to 5,well played Roy.

So a 4 point start and we are well happy with that.

The Borncos are delighted to welcome threee new wild horses to their squad....

in midfield, Cameron Camargue is named after the Camarguais or Cheval de Camargue, is a traditional French breed of working horse indigenous to the Camargue area of Southern France.

On the wing, we are joined by Nicholas Nokota who derives his name from the Nokota horse, a feral horse breed located in the badlands of southwestern North Dakota in the USA.

Our blind draft pick, Simon Sable, is closely related to the Sable Island pony, a small feral horse breed found on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada.

We wish them much success at the club!

At season start we were favourites for the title, but we immediately tried to lower the expectations. High T11 & T17, low average age. Based on stats we should've maybe aimed to come out on top. But stats are stats, in reality the first team was everything but balanced. Silently we stated, title or another year of rebuild. 

Soon it was clear we were not going to claim the title. Bijker Boys did not intend to make it easy for us, Congrats Simon! So, plan-b. Throw a few games and avoid settling in the top#4. 

Another season of rebuilding it is! 

Meanwhile, any player age 2 and up is for sale! All reasonable offers considered! 

It was a funny old Cup Final.

I started with a blunder, playing my fully-fit if somewhat crappy goalkeeper on passive.  Nevertheless, I still held a slight shot advantage over Dublin Illuminati so it promised to be a close match.

But only 15 minutes in, Scott Cummings picked up a red card, conceding the advatage to the Dubs, and they netted either side of half time to put the match out of our reach.

I was about to drown my sorrows in a cup of coffee when we somehow managed to score twice in three minutes and a returned to my seat to watch the last half hour.

It was goalless, and so we came to a penalty shoot-out.  My SL24 keeper, Dublin's SL30.  What chance?  Well, it what a pretty dreadful shootout, we snuck through.  Eight pens each, we won 3-2.  A good day for the keepers!

It was a funny old cup final.

We were up against Stephen's ITP side who we have always struggled against and on the starting stats this seemed to be like the others, they had lots of firepower on show and more than matched us in other areas.Game on and both sides enjoying lots of possession but defences on top, 25 minutes and Lampetra was stretchered off, sub on and on 45 minutes Clifton stretchered off with concussion, another sub used,half time came and subs on ,we pushed on and got the breakthrough on 51 minutes when Vlahovic dunked a shot over the onrushing keeper 1-0,56 minutes and their goalie Day was stretchered off all there subs now used,defences continued to control the game, 87 minutes and they were down to 10 men when Perioni was stretchered off and no more subs available, we just edged the shot count 4 to 3 and Gallagher in our goal was in outstanding form with 3 saves as we remain in division 1,well played Stephen, I honestly thought you had this one ,especially when I saw the opening stats,now to rebuild and try some new tactics next season.

Well we started the season 9th in T11 stats and ended up joint 11th and a T17 of 6th and ended up joint 10th,this has shown in our results as we ended up 11th,winning 8 drawing 5,losing 13,scoring 42 and conceding 46 ,amassing 29 points,so we now have the play offs against Stephen's ITP to see if we survive.

We have been active in the transfer market late on looking to rebuild the side ,bringing in experienced FW Ferran Torres from ORA and experienced WG Ruby from CAM ,these 2 will feature heavily next season,Torres has settled in quickly and made his debut against his old club and scored the only goal of the game -looking good

Most matches played was 24 by DF Calabria and DF Esteve,most minutes 1665 by DF Calabria and MF Rincon,top goalscorer was Torres 13 (12 for ORA),bad boy with 22 DP's was FW Plea and most MOM's was GK Gallagher.

Well, since Christmas we have managed five draws and five loses and not a “W” to be seen. That’s relegation form and relegation is what we got.To be fair we really did ride our luck to easily win Division Two the previous season and our squad was always the least equipped in Division One. That said we didn’t even make a fist of it and early in the season we struggled and it was a season long relegation battle with the drop inevitable. Defeats against our fellow strugglers in those infamous six pointers were always going to hurt and we head back to Division Two with our heads low and confidence even lower. Officially moral is now lower than a mouse’s diddy. 

There will be the normal clear out when the season comes to a close and Lisburn will be keen to draft in key positions throughout the squad. Phillip Matthews, Tom Brady, Conor Hagen, Jim Murray and Colin Bell are all nailed on for retirement but others  are going to be of limited or little use to the squad post aging. So during the break there is lots to plan and as usual, money is short. But we will give ourselves a shake, dust ourselves down and look to challenge for a play-off spot come this time next season.

We started with an away game at Carl's Lisburn city, and knew 6 points was the minimum we required if we were to stay up and avoid the play offs,they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, a really close exciting encounter with both sides enjoying lots of possession, defences on top for the majority of the 1st half but we broke the deadlock on 36 minutes when Esteve fired home 0-1,half time soon came and subs on ,all going well until 56 minutes when Tevez hit a cross cum shot which beat everyone and nestled in the back of the net 1-1,we got our noses in front on 63 minutes when Tulloch drilled home from range 1-2,but Lisburn never gave up and Heath fired home on 77 minutes 2-2,we just edged the shot count 9 to 8 but only a point to show for it ,not enough,well played Carl.

Last league game of the season and home to Sergei's Orgullo, what a side ,always up there for honours, but this season was not one of their best ,we opted for a 4-3-3 normal as they went for a 4-2-4 normal and we included up front Ferran Torres playing against his old club,game on and nothing to choose between the sides in the 1st half hour,then on 35 minutes the game changing moment when Chendo saw red and ORA down to 10 men,we pushed on but could not find a way through the stubborn defence, half time subs on and they seemed to up their tempo as we struggled to retain any possession for any length of time but on 52 minutes on one of our rare attacks Torres fired home on his debut 1-0,we defended well from then on,even though we were outplayed for periods and outshot 5 to 2,Gallagher in our goal making 3 outstanding saves, well played Sergei. 

So we head to the play offs against Stephen's ITP, not a game we are looking forward to as we have struggled against these in the past.

The league season is, of course.  The Broncos finished with a loss and a win.  The loss, against champions-to-be Sheffield Rovers was slightly disappointing.  They held the edge but it looked as if we would hold on for a draw.  A late winner got them the points and a well-deserved Division 1 title.  Congratulations Dan.

Our Sunday match was against our old club, Merrylee Maestros, no longer, sad to say, populated with jazz tenor sax players.  Nevertheless is was rather entertaining, an eleven goal thriller, no less.  We seemed to spend most of the match behind but came through 5-6 winners in the end - great stuff!

And no, the season is not over.  Cup Final on Wednesday....!

With the cup final, ORA season came to an end.

Rivals of OPT won again the battle, with a severe 3-0 result that urges Orgullo to change things for next season. A third FW is needed, but a better GK is mandatory. Meret and Rochet have been the worst GK pair of the category. None of them is on the top 15 of the Golden Gloves table.

What's next for ORA? This weekend the team has 2 matches against 2 promotion/relegation zone teams. ORA expects to finish with 2 victories, and hopefully a captain bonus for Paredes, who only has 5 so far, and won't reach its maximum skill level.

4 points would serve to finish in the top 3, as ORA is used to. A small victory on a season that had many expectations, with none of them becoming reality.

The Broncos weekend started with a visit from bottom club Newton Heath LYR.  Their long ball tactics caught us napping and they took the lead after only two minutes, a nicely taken goal by Kyogo Furuhashi.  Thiongs got worse for us just a minute later when skipper Kevin Konik picked up a yellow card and a three match suspension...no cup final for him.  The score was still 0-1 at half time but in the second half we kicked into gear.  We equalised early in the half but Newton Heath held on until the last ten minutes, when two goal gave us a victory which looked far more comfortable than it actually was.

On Sunday we travelled to the New Saints.  We held the advantage throughout and outshot the home team 11-4.  We managed to convert two of the eleven into goals to wrap up a six point weekend.

We now sit 6th in the table, sure of 7th at worse, with the possibility of pushing a couple of places up the table if things go our way this coming weekend.  But of course our focus is really on the cup final, who cares about the six points?

TNS had another tough weekend, we started with an away game at Richard's high flying Dublin Illuminati, a team we have always struggled against, both sides opting for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top until 20 minutes when Jill's fired home 1-0,on 23 minutes Tulloch picked up the ball 30 yards out and drilled home his drive 1-1,39 minutes and some poor defending saw Cork slot home 2-1but on 41 minutes a quick attack and deep cross saw Tulloch power home his header for his 2nd 2-2,half time came subs on ,defences now stamping their authority up until 78 minutes when a poor back pass saw Traore nip in and slot home under the onrushing keeper 2-3,Dublin changed tact to press looking to get back in it but on 88 minutes a quick break saw Vlhavovic fire home 2-4 as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 15 to 7,well played Richard,a very valuable 3 points for us.

Next we were at home to Paul's Dundee Broncos who have been going about their business quietly this season and always a tough side to beat,we opted for a 3-3-4 early ball as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots more of possession, on 32 minutes they opened the door when Young Fruity slotted home 0-1,half time soon came and subs on ,they started the quicker and on 48 minutes Kinghorn fired home 0-2,we had no answer as they were outplaying us and outshot us 11 to 4 and held out for the win,well played Paul.

So a 3 point weekend as we keep fighting to climb out the bottom four,but being honest we need results to go our way and with only 2 matches left and our last match against Orgulla our chances look limited but we will give it everything we have got

After two losses last weekend, the Broncos were hoping to pull in a few points before Christmas.  Saturday's game, away to league leaders Cameolot, didn't look like much of a prospect for us but Camelot had a few reserves on the pitch, intent on playing dirty.  The referee seemed to turn a blind eye to their rule breaking and a card-free first half saw the teams taking the break at 1-1.   In the second half things went our way; Ardie Savea gave us the lead on 58 minutes and immediately after that Grace received a second yellow to reduce Camelot to ten men.  We went 1-3 with 15 minutes left and held on for three points despite a late goal for the home side.

Our Sunday game was another away fixture.  Feels like my 23rd away of the league campaign, at FC Blades.  Our opponents were slightly the stronger team but we managed to outshoot them 10-7, all shots on target from both teams.  The difference between the sides was the keepers - for Sheffield Dees Knub saved all ten of our shots, but Peter Przewalski let a couple past him, so we went down 2-0 on this occasion.

Three points are welcome and we stay in 7th place with four matches to go.  Next up, the small matter of a cup final.....

Another tough weekend for TNS 

We started with an away game at Dan's table topping Sheffield, a side who had really developed this season and were beating all in their way,we came here hoping to pick up something but the form they were in made it very unlikely, they opted for a 3-3-4 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 early ball, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of good albeit for us defending,we held out until the 24th minute before Don fired home 1-0,half time soon came and subs on ,we tried to play ourselves back into the game but were outplayed all over the park and on 70 minutes Rest slotted home to seal the game 2-0,we were outplayed and the 7 to 1,well played Dan ,impressive side there and you will take some stopping. 

Next we were at home to Graeme's Merrylee Maestro's,a side who we have always struggled against, especially in the cup,but in the league we were getting closer to them,we opted for a 4-2-4 early ball as they went for a 3-3-4 normal,both sides started well and enjoyed lots of good but defences on top till half time,2nd half subs on and we pushed the and on 61 minutes Wahi rifled home a loose ball 1-0,Maestro's upped their tempo and levelled things up and 77 minutes when Biscuits fired home 1-1,and on 80 minutes Birlinn slotted home 1-2,we tried to play ourselves back into the game but could not find a way through the stubborn defence even though we outshot them 9 to 6,well played Graeme. 

So with 2 defeats we drop down to 12th place and into the relegation play off spots ,not a place we wanted to be ,but with our current form it is deserved,we only have 4 games left now and need to pick up plenty of points if we are to survive. 

The league has finished too early for ORA this season. A young squad was able to stay in the run for most of the first half of the league. But once the kids have taken experience, it seems their nerve went away. Several matches failing for a victory left the team struggling to finish in the top 3, as usual.

The wekkend draw against ACS was a new proof that ORA is not ready to fight for big things. Specially pointed finished the young GK Meret, who could be transfered out of the team for another promising GK with better stats. "Is not only Meret's fault, ACS shooted 7 times" said some reporters. The defense line is not performing as solid as they should.

The 2 goals received in the next match seem to prove it, although this time the attacking line performed better to get a 5-2 against YFC that helped the captain to receive a new bonus.

So, with a young GK, a weak WG roster (deadly thing for an early cross oriented squad) and without a good substitute FW to make rest the stars, the league maybe was a too demandign goal.

Now all the hopes are in the cup. ORA managed a strange victory in the semifinal against NHL, both teams playing with 10 players. The 2-0 was more suffered than what the result says, but now everybody wants to forget it and focus on the final in 2 weeks. Once again. OPT will be the rival in the final. A new chapter on the teams rivality.

The Broncos have been picking up points at a steady, if unspectacular, rate all season, enabling us to maintain a position in the top half of the league.

Last weekend things came unstuck for us as we suffered two losses.

Saturday's result had a whiff of inecitability about it as we faced Orchard Park Thistle for the 6th time this season.  They beat us comfortably, 3-1 - their 4th win in the series, with just two draws to provide us with a little cause for comfort.

Our match against Golden Dragons was rather closer, 0-0 at half time but two early goals by the Dragons in the second half killed us off.  We did pull it back to 2-3 by the end but only by dint of a 90th minute consolation.

Despite the poor weekend, we are still 7th in the table.  Hopefully this has just been a blip, and we can recover, particularly as we have a cup semi-final against A.C.Sapone coming up after Christmas.

We started the weekend with a home game against Les's Newton Heath ,a well organised well drilled side who play good football, we opted for a 3-4-3 normal as they went for a 4-2-4 early ball, for added security they put Watts marking Traore, game on and both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top up until 44 minutes when a quick break saw Race fire home 0-1,half time came and subs on ,we pushed on and on 60 minutes Traore lost his marker and drilled home a low shot 1-1,from then on defences stood firm ,we edged the shot count 9 to 5 but could not find a way through a very well organised defence,well played Les.

Next we were at home to Steve's AC Sapone, another well organised side who make it very hard to play against them,we opted for a 3-4-3 normal as they went for a 5-2-3 normal, game on and both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top up until 44 minutes when Boyd powered home a header 0-1,half time came and subs on ,2nd half we pushed on but struggled to retain any possession for any length of time as they were controlling the game, they outshot us 8 to 5 and held on ,well played Steve

With this result we drop to 10th,we need to look at why we are conceding so close to half time in most games,once we do and sort it,some results could go our way.

Ye Olde Spurs started last weekend's games with a home match against Dublin Illuminati, who we're going well in third place. Two early first half goals by Greaves and Sheringham giving Spurs a two nil victory. The second match was away at Dundee Broncos, who sat just above us in the table. A bit of a disaster conceding five from just seven shots on target. Still we remain eighth which we would settle for now.

It was a great weekend for the Broncos, nothcing up maximum points, a captain's bonus and an MVP.

On Saturday we travelled to play Orgullo Atletico.  It was a pretty even match but we edged the shot count and got a bit of luck.   It was 1-1 at half time but an 82nd minute winner from Brian Brumby earnt us the three points.

Sunday's match was more one-sided as we hosted Ye Olde Spurs.  They stalled in the first half but this failed to protect their veteran keeper, and we took a 3-0 lead into the break.  The various half time substitutions evened things up but we grabbed a 4th goal soon after the restart and a 5th just before the end.

These two wins take us up tothe dizzy heights of 5th in the table and next we face Camelot the SFLSL Cup Quarter Finals on Wednesday.  Optimistic!

We started the weekend with a home game against Matt's table topping Camelot, a classy looking side who had taken everything this season in their stride,we opted for a 4-3-3 normal as they went for a 4-3-4 early ball, we started slowly and were punished on 3 minutes when Beckham headed home 0-1,we slowly played ourselves back into the game but could find no way through a well organised defence,half time soon came and subs on we pushed on but could not find any weakness in their set up,75 minutes and they changed tact to stall and closed the game down although we edged the shot count 6 to 3 ,ended up pointless,well played Matt tidy side you have there.

Next we travelled to Josh's FC Blades,another free flowing free scoring side they opted for a 3-3-4 normal as we went for a 4-3-3 normal, both sides started well but defences on top up until 39 minutes when Bruce fired home 1-0,39 minutes and Mitrovic slotted home 2-0 and Millar fired home on 40 minutes 3-0 and right on the half time whistle Berge fired home 4-0,we were glad to hear the half time whistle, 2nd half subs on and we defended a lot better and managed to pull one back on 77 mind when Savic fired home 4-1,but we were outplayed and outshot 10 to 3,well played Josh.

So a pointless weekend and we drop to 10th.

Last weekend's games started with a home match against second placed Sheffield Rovers. The game got off to an awful start when we conceded after just three minutes. We then went onto create chance after chance and didn't convert once. Twelve shots to two, with nine to one on target. A disaster. The second match was at Marylee Maestros. A much better performance and result. We went one up in the first minute though Kulusevski and then doubled the lead on 67 minutes though Kulusevski's second. The win moves us up to eighth with a great chance of avoiding relegation.

Midweek cup game was in the Dowson Cup against David's Gotham City Knights,we opted for a 4-2-5 early ball as they went for a 4-3-3 normal  ,both sides started well and enjoyed lots more of possession but they opened the scoring on 10 minutes when King headed home 0-1 and he fired home his 2nd on 42 minutes 0-2 for a healthy half time lead 2nd half subs on ,they pushed on and Clarke slotted home on 54 minutes 0-3,we were struggling to break down the stubborn defence but on 70 minutes Calabria fired home 1-3,we were not outplayed and even edged the shot count 6 to 5,but Forsyth in their goal was in outstanding form with 5 saves well played David and best of luck in the cup.

It has been a complicated week at Orgy Park.
First, the team qas kicked out of the SFLSL Cup by a brave FCB. ORA was the main favourite, but encountered a big opposition, and the final 3-3 falled on FCB's side during the penalties. A hard result in a competition ORA had many hopes.

Then the league got complicated. The victory against MM gave the chance to climb some positions if Orgullo defeated DUB. But the Dubs pressed when the match was lost, and managed a victory of courage. leaving ORA far from the league head. 7 points in 10 games seems to much to recover.

Then came DUB again in the cup. Again, ORA went to the penalties, but this time Meret showed stronger hands. Still, the result leaves a sour taste at Orgy Park. It seems the squad is not ready enough to get some silverware. Meret is not the GK the staff expected, and Villalibre is too young to be the 3rd FW showing guarantees.

ORA now seem to focus on the Dowson Cup. They have the 5th top11 and 2nd top17. But unless they get a trade, the training is completed, so they won't improve anymore. Will this squad be able to finish a decent season?

Of all the buttons to press when is it the right time to hit PANIC mode.

OPT are 5th in T11 and 4th in T17 and yet the team is in the precarious position of 11th in the league which would see OPT fail to qualify for the Dowson Cup and have to take part in the play-offs. There was one season that OPT did not qualify for the Cup so that would not be a first but the play-offs!

Recent results have been awful. Knocked out the SFLSL Cup by ACS last week was sore enough but then add in another defeat to TNS and defeat at home to SFR and it's not looking to clever at the Orchard.

The Cup game was particularly frustrating. ACS open up with stall but by halftime they are 2-1 up. Never did ACS have a better shot chance but it's 3 shots to 4 in their favour. The second half just got worse. Both teams managed 6 shots with ACS scoring 3 and OPT just 2. Annoying.

Then the trip to Wales. TNS had already beaten OPT in Glasgow so it was a tall order to expect a win on the road and with half the first team on the bench it was even tougher. TNS out shot OPT in the first half by 5 shots to 2 and the home team deservedly led 3-2 after 45 minutes. Two quickfire goals for the Welsh in the second half and it became a mountain to climb. A mountain too high. After 60 minutes OPT just edged the shot chance numbers but OLMEC did not give a jot and continued to pile misery on to the away team with more home goals in the last 10 minutes and the final score was 7-3.

Then OPT entertained the league leaders SFR at the Orchard. Two evenly matched teams except in one vital area. The Rovers have a world class GK between the sticks while Snedds is starting to show his age. By halftime both teams have had 3 shots and SFR lead 0-1. OPT change to Counterattack which results in SFR shot chance increasing by around 50% but OPT shot chance increases by 100%. There's still not much in it and OPT need a huge slice of luck to get past Mont Blanc. The shots come but OPT fail to score from 4 and SFR score all 3 of their chances. A dissappointing result. 0-4.

To avoid the play-offs OPT will have target where the points have to be won as we approach the sharp end of the season. To qualify for the Dowson Cup, well that might be an ask too big to even contemplate.

Lisburn next head to mid-table The New Saints and with first choice keeper Tommy Wright in desperate need of a break, veteran Phillip Matthews has to pull his boots on and dig out his gloves. The Saints line up with a strong 4-3-3 with a great keeper, Vince Gallagher between the sticks and a very strong forward three. Lisburn go 4-3-3 themselves but intend to rely on Darius Vassell with some early crosses to Yaya Toure and Sam McAdam. It’s was a 10th minute scramble on The Saints goal-line that broke the deadlock. Michael Brown’s shot was parried onto the post by Gallagher and it was Yaya Toure who reached it first to toe pock it into the net. The New Saints were dominated during the rest of the first half but some heroics from Phillip Matthew’s allowed City players to head in, one up. An unexpected scoreline but one Lisburn believe they deserved. The second half was more of the same, City defending like demons and in particular Phillip Matthews revisiting his days of greatness and putting in a man of the match display. And that’s how it finished. One nil to City and Lisburn have set up a chance of an MVP as they head back to The Distillery to entertain Sheffield Rovers.

Both sides seemed to cancel each other out and the 90 minutes are a bit of a borefest for the crowd. Throughout the game City only had 3 strikes but to everyone’s surprise Sheffield only managed one and when the ref had had enough and blew for full-time it was all even and each side took a point from the game. So no MVP award for Lisburn but they did have another shot at one, as they next headed to Merrylee Maestros with a win and a draw from the New Saints and Sheffield games.

Merrylee came at Lisburn on the wings and that’s what proved to be the difference. The Maestros had the better share of the attacks even though Lisburn had more of the ball. In terms of a difference in goals, that was down to a defender’s goal from Vauxhall Insignia, who gave Merrylee the lead, they would hold onto, late in the first half. Life doesn’t get any easier for Lisburn as they head into a phase of top half sides and things are starting to feel a little gloomy.

2 really tough looking games this weekend as we started at home  against Colin's mighty OPT who seemed to be having an indifferent season,both sides opted for a 4-3-3 normal,we started slowly and a defensive error saw us punished as Dexter fired home in the 1st minute 0-1,we slowly got our game together and levelled things up and 3 minutes when Vlhavovic fired home 1-1,8 minutes and Savic fired us ahead 2-1,18 minutes and Dandy headed home to level things up 2-2,defences then took control for a while before Wahi headed home on 40 minutes 3-2,half time came and subs on ,we started the 2nd half quickly  as Savic fired home his 2nd on 46 minutes 4-2 and he completed his hat trick on 53 minutes 5-2,84 minutes and he drilled home his 4th 6-2,85 minutes and Watt pulled one back 6-3,but Vlhavovic fired in his 2nd on 87 minutes to seal the game 7-3 as we outplayed them for periods and outshot them 10 to 4,well played Colin

Next we travelled to Mark's Golden Dragons, another place that is very hard to get a result at,they opted for a 4-3-3 normal as we edged for a 4-2-4 normal, both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but we opened the scoring on 11 minutes when Wahi cut in from the wing and rifled home from an acute angle 0-1,we held this lead till half time,2nd half subs on and they started the quicker and levelled things up and 49 minutes when Bergkamp slotted home 1-1,nothing to choose between the sides as it ebbed and flowed but on 60 minutes Bayfield fired home 1-2 and we held out for the win as we just edged the shot count 8 to 7,well played Mark

We now sit 9th after a six point weekend

It;s been another average weekend for the Broncos.  QWe started on Saturday with a visit to A.C.Sapone.  It wasn't a great watch for the spectators, ust three shots for each side in the match.  At least all six forced saves from the keepers.  AC's Milligan was up to the challenge.  Our own Emiliano Boffelli, sadly, was not and AC earned the three points with a 1-0 win.

Then, on Sunday, we hosted Lisburn City.  We were somewhat the stronger team in all departments and our attack proved too much for Lisburn's  6/10 keeper.   This was a comfortable 4-0 win which we thoroughly deserved.

So, another three points and we stay 7th in the table.  We are content enough with this, not striving for any more.  We hope to hold a top eight place and build a health bank balance ready for next season. 

We were up against Andy's Spurs who had just beaten us in the league so we were looking to better that last result we opted for a 4-2-4 early as they went for a 4-2-4 normal ,game on and we started slowly and poor defending saw them open the scoring after only 2 minutes when Johnson slotted home 0-1,we slowly played ourselves back into the game as we were enjoying lots of possession and on 36 minutes Bayfield fired home 1-1,Spurs then changed tact to early ball, but on 38 minutes a quick attack saw a deep cross and Tzolis power home his header 2-1,half time came and subs on ,defences on top for the majority of the 2nd half but on 80 minutes Bayfield slipped through and fired home 3-1,Spurs changed tact to Press trying to get back into the game but our defence stood firm as we edged the shot count 9 to 7,well played Andy

We are still licking our wounds when FC Blades rap the door and want into The Distillery and they are on a mission. The Blades are also a struggling side this season and this is one of those must win games. City go 4-3-3 normal, for a change but them there Blades line-up 5-2-3 and play normal. And weren’t The Blades out of the traps fast. The first attack of the game ended with Jimmy Millar scooping the ball over three City defenders with Aleksandar Mitrovic collecting the it and all in one action he slips the ball past a helpless Tommy Wright, all in the first minute of the game. Lisburn were not at their sharpest and despite trying hard to draw level the game was still 1-0 in The Blades favour at half-time. And the second half served up more of the same until in the 86th minute that Jimmy Millar weaved his way into the City box and while everyone was looking for the square ball, he expertly sent a screamer past an out stretched Tommy Wright. So another must win slips by Lisburn and the gloom is descending on The Distillery and desperation is now knocking the door.

Talk about knocking the door, there it goes again and this time the visitors to The Distillery are fellow strugglers Newton Heath LYR and Lisburn have another must win game about to start. Newton Heath mean business with an attacking 4-2-4 early cross formation with two wingers on the flanks and a couple of very talented strikers in the middle. But it’s Carlos Tevez of Lisburn who as early as the 3rd minute breaks the deadlock. Both sides are determined to take all the points in this one with the keepers busy and it’s Newton Heath who score the second goal through Paco Diaz to draw level in the 27th minute. Following a bundle of substitutions at halftime Newton Heath come at City again and within 3 minutes they have a lead but within 5 more minutes City were level thanks to a great goal from Stevie Lomas. Both teams pushed a little for the win but neither wanted to lose this six pointer and it ended 2-2. Another “must win” for City has slipped them by.

It is proving to be a somewhat average league season for the Broncos.   This weekend was actually raher below average, as we managed just one point from our two matches.

On Saturday we hosted our old club, Merrylee Maestros and looked the stronger team on paper.  Even when our skipper, Kevin Konik was red carded after 21 minutes, things looked pretty even but the Maestros grabbed the lead just before half time.  They netted for a second time just after the restart.  We battled on, scoring a somewhat fluky goal through Young Fruity...he claims it was intended...it looked like a mishit cross to many, but it was immaterial and we lost this one 1-2.

Then we travelled to Dublin to face the Illuminati.  They looked the better side, though not by a great deal, and we were happy to take the lead with 19 minutes gone.  But Dublin equalised before the break and that concluded the scoring.  We were happy to take 1-1 draw from this one. 

We've slipped a place to 7th in the table.  Mid table.  Average.

Ye Olde Spurs started the weekend with a home game against Golden Dragons. We started quickly taking the lead on 5 minutes though Richarlison. It didn't last long and it was one apiece on 16 minutes. Things got worse on 41 minutes and we went behind. We equalised on 65 minutes though Richarlison again. We couldn't hold on again and the winner for the Dragons was scored on 71 minutes. We then played high flying Camelot FC. We got well beaten four two which put our opponents top. In midweek we had a home game with FC Blades. A much better performance in a three one, deserved victory. 

We started the weekend with an away game at Sergei's Orgullo, a classy side who are always amongst the silverware,both sides opted for a 4-2-4 early ball,both sides started well and enjoyed plenty of possession, on 14 minutes Orgullo down to 10 men as a rash challenge from Balde produced a red card,we tried to take advantage of this as we opened the scoring on 16 minutes when Tzolis headed home 0-1,we managed to hold onto this slender lead until 33 minutes when Farrel fired home 1-1 and on 43 minutes Torres fired them ahead 2-1,half time came and subs on ,we tried to outplay them but failed miserably as they outplayed and outshot us 11 to 4 even with 10 men,only Gallagher in our goal with 8 saves kept us in it,well played Sergei impressive performance. 

Next we travelled to Andys Spurs,a side we have always struggled against, they opted for a 3-4-3 as we went for a 4-2-4 normal  both sides started well and enjoyed lots of possession but defences on top, 2nd half and subs on ,both sides pushing on and they broke the deadlock on 53 minutes when Perisic fired home 1-0,75 minutes and they changed tact to stall and closed the game down ,they edged the shot count 6 to 5 and stood firm,well played Andy.

So another poor weekend and we drop to 11th.

"He wasn't ready" is what most of press says about Villalibre last performances. The young FW is the main target of criticts, but the whole team didn0t do good performances on the lat matches.

After the mixed resutls fo last week, that left ORA still pursuing the top of the table, this week Orgullo added two more defeats, to make 3 in a row, that leave the team far from the top.

CAM was figting in the top of the table, but everybody though that playing at hom would be an advantage enough to get a victory. But ORA only managed 1 shot, and received a deserved 0-2 defeat that complicated their position.

The visit to FCB, which seemed to have problems to avoid the dangerous zone of the table, was also expected to be solved with a victory. The 4-1 victory of Blades said it all.

Now Orgullo sits 8 points behind the leader. And 4 points behind GD, which Sergei considers the main contender. With only 2 matches before the end of the first half, seems a big disadvantage.

"Hopefully our rivals fail in these matches so we can cut the differences a bit. But we have to solve our matches first, we need to focus on that" said a worried Sergei.

MSA is back in the corner, and ORA has a very young squad. But this time seems the advantage is getting long to be recovered.

Back to The Distillery to brush the stand out and mark the pitch for the arrival of the mighty Golden Dragons. Lisburn don’t want to give the game to the Dragons but are wise enough to know we are on a hiding to nothing in this one and take the opportunity to rest some key players for the relegation battles just around the corner. And it showed in the first half, The Dragons dominated and goals from Fabio Vieira and Gabriel Jesus saw Golden Dragons take a very comfortable two goal lead into the break. A second from Vieira and goals from Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice were only countered by a single offering from Lisburn’s Michael Brown. So The Golden Dragons headed home with a 5-1 victory, all three points, a captain’s bonus and a well deserved Man of the Match award for brace scorer Fabio Vieira.

City picked themselves up and headed to high flying Camelot FC, who have been putting together some fabulous results this season. Camelot loaded the wings and went 4-2-4 early cross and their intentions were clear. City defended well until some poor control from Seamus Heath on the edge of the box, saw the ball fall to Cam Newton who gave Camelot the half time lead, right on the blow. It wasn’t long before they doubled that lead. Ten minutes into the second half Ruby bent the ball round the City keeper and Camelot had a cushion. Lisburn made it an interesting final fifteen minutes when Alan Hall found Sam McAdam unmarked in the six yard box and he headed home to close the lead to one. But that’s how it remained and Lisburn are already finding themselves a little detached at the bottom of Division One.

We started the weekend with a home game against Richard's Dublin Illuminati, always a tough side to play against,we opted for a 4-4-2 early ball as they went for a 4-2-4 normal, they started quickly and opened the scoring on 3 minutes when Cork fired home 0-1,and they got even better on 13 minutes when Jill's slotted home 0-2 and they held this score till half time,2nd half subs on and we upped our tempo trying to get back into the game but no matter how much possession we had we were struggling to find a way through a stubborn defence but on 88 minutes Traore rifled home 1-2 ,but we could find no more even though we outshot them 8 to 6,Stichell in their goal was in outstanding form with 6 saves,well played Richard.

Next we travelled to Mark's Dundee Broncos, a really tough side playing well again this season and giving nothing away,they opted for a 4-2-4 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball,steady start from both sides until on 13 minutes Plea brought down Kinghorn in the box,ref pointed to the spot and then produced a red card,down to 10 men and a slight reshuffle required,Kinghorn got up and duly drilled home his spot kick 1-0,from the restart we pushed on and Tzolis fired home 1-1 and on 34 minutes Savic powered home his header 1-2,we defended deeply till half time,subs on and back to the job in hand whenever we had possession it was deep in our own defending but we dug in as we were outplayed for periods and outshot 9 to 3 but held on for a vital 3 points,well played Mark.

Now we sit 8th

We had an exciting time on Saturday when we travelled to Newton Heath LYR.  When we saw the lineups, we didn't expect more than a draw from this fixture - indeed, we would have been more than happy with a draw.  That looked a distant hope as The Heathens took a 1-0 lead early on but almost immediately Carl Starfelt was sent off which brought us back into the match. In true OLMEC style the ten men scored a second goal but our hopes were raised when we pulled a goal back just before half time.  In the second half, Newton Heath restored their two goal cushion but then things fell apart for them.  We scored four times in the second half to take the points, 3-5 the final score and a hat-trick for Ardie Savea.

SO on Sunday we hosted The New Saints with our tails up, and got off to great start when the 13th minute brought a red card for the visitors and a penalty for us, which Blair Kinghorn calmly put away.  We were now confident of the three points, but in true OLMEC style the ten men scored - twice in ten minutes - and then held on in some comfort for the draw.

So, a lucky win and an unlucky loss.  Strange that I feel hard done by.....

Three points leave us 6th in the table, comfortably enough placed at the moment

We started with a home game against Dan's table topping Sheffield Rovers, a quality side who were going great guns at present, we opted for a 3-3-4 normal as they went for a 4-3-3 normal, game on and really close exciting football early on as both sides enjoying lots of possession, they made the breakthrough on 42 minutes when Snow Don headed home 0-1 and Bre drilled home on 44 minutes 0-2,half time came and subs on, they started the 2nd half quickly and Ben Nevis fired home on 46 minutes 0-3 and they sealed the game on 70 minutes when Everest slotted home 0-4 ,they outplayed us for periods and outshot us 9 to 6,well played Dan,tidy side which will take some stopping. 

Next we travelled to Graeme's Merrylee Maestro, another tough side who on their day can out muscle anybody,they opted for a 3-3-4 normal as we went for a 4-2-4 early ball, both sides started well in a free flowing game ,they opened the scoring on 18 minutes when Abbott fired home 1-0,we slowly played ourselves back into the game and levelled things up on 36 minutes when Tzolis fired home 1-1,right on the stroke of half time Plea brought down Bellscott in the box,ref pointed to the spot, he duly got up and drilled home his spot kick 2-1,2nd half subs on and we levelled things up on 55 minutes when Traore lashed home a shot 2-2,that's how it stayed in an open encounter where we outshot them 19 to 11,but goalkeepers had the last say ,McCririck making 7 saves for us but in outstanding form with 12 saves was Mahons for them,well played Graeme, really exciting game. 

So after this weekend we sit 7th.

"It wasn't a perfect week, but we still are in a good position" said a positive Sergei in the press room.

The manager knows the squad is still developing, and close to get its best form. So the mixed results of this week are seen as a good bag.

First, the cup match was solved fluently. ITP decided to rest its stars, and ORA was able to secure the next round without complications.

The first league clash, against rivals OPT, was finished with a clear 5-0 that made everybody think Orgullo was aiming to sub Orchard as league winners. An incredible result, maybe higher thatn deserved, but enough to boost any morale.

The final match of the week pur ORA back on the reality. GD didn't give a chance, and cut 3 points that left Orgullo far from SFR leaders, and only 2 points against the Dragons, the strongest squad of the league according to the stats.

Still, with MSA coming soon, people is optimistic at Orgy Park. Right now the squad seems strong, and only the departure of Juninho worries the fans. Villalibre is still too young to be the 3rd forward of the squad, and the results could notice it.

"I feel ready" said the young FW. "I'll make my best every time I play, and I'm sure I will improve if the manager and the fans give some support and confidence". If he's right or wrong could mean the difference between fight or not for the league trophy.

Along came Spurs and Lisburn sent out a 4-3-3 formation playing Stall, expecting Ye Olde Spurs to bring an attacking side. The plan was to soak up all that pressure until the latter stages of the game, in the hope we could nick it at the end. But damn, damn, damn, Spurs line up with a similar 4-3-3 Stall formation and the crowd is in for a dullfest. And that exactly what the two sides served up. Neither threatened to score and sadly after a ball of half-time substitutes in the break both teams came out sitting back again. Then in the 70th minute Lisburn took the initiative and started playing a little more adventurous, going normal. There still was little goalmouth action but in the 82nd minute to everyone’s surprise it was Spurs who took the lead. Ronnie Wilson nodded the ball down in the City 18 yard box and with Philip Mathews rushing off his line to collect, Spurs’ Dejan Kulusevski nicked in chip the ball over Mathews and into the City goal. One nil Spurs and that’s how it remained. Spurs will be delighted with those three stall points but Lisburn really can’t afford mishaps like this as they battle to avoid relegation this season.

That’s all we need, a trip to Orchard Park Thistle. Heads are down and no one fancies this game. Both sides set up 4-3-3 Normal but Thistle dominate City in each and every part of the pitch. Thankfully Lisburn had number one keeper Tommy Wright on duty because Orchards Park peppered the City goal. Eleven shots to two shows the sort of domination Thistle enjoyed but it was the heroics of Wright that kept the tally respectable. Orchard Park came away with a ground out two one victory and Wright was so busy he slept the whole way home on the club bus.

Next up was a break from the league campaign as we met Copernicus Town in the Dowson Cup. And boy did we need this distraction from the league. Phillip Mitchell opened the scoring in the 34th minute and then in the 49th Tommy McIlroy gave the Lisburn side a two goal lead and they were bubbling with confidence. In the last fifteen minutes Carlos Teves gave City an unassailable lead and Lisburn progressed to the next round.

It's been a moderate kind of week for the Broncos.

On Wednesday we faced "I will be very happy if I never have to play to ever again" Orchard Park Thistle in the Dowson Cup.  With two key defenders out we decided not to try recovering the two goal defecit from the first leg.  Instead we rested our key squad members and were happy enough to avoid a blowout.

Next up were Camelot, who managed to beat us 0-2 in a balanced match.  We won the shot count but not the luck count, and a suspension for Fraser Brown was. the opposite of the icing on the cake, whatever that may be.

Finally we hosted FC Blades, but. not their manager who apparently had better things to do.  We had no difficulty collecting three points here against a rather demoralised team.

So, we are 6th in the league, a heathly enough position, 8 points of the lead, 7 points clear of the playoffs.  It looks like a top half finish will be the limit of our ambitions this season.

Although ORA started the league with a quite good roster, the feeling every week is that the squad has to give everything to keep following the league and cup path. This week was a perfect example.

The ITP match seemed an easy one. Inter had used their first team in the league, and was expected to rest during the cup. So they did, but a balanced ORA squad with a few first team players was able to only get a ppor 1-0 that forces Sergei to use their best men this wednesday on the away match of the second leg.

In the league, ACS and YFC are in the lower half of the table. But again, the ghistory repeated. ACS used many second team players, and ORA was only able to win by a minimal 1-0 at home.
YFC tried harder, using their stars and aggressive second line players. Maybe the result was a clear 0-3 victory, but the numbers of the shots, playing half an hour against 10, weren't so strong.

The good news it's the matchs are won, ORA is tied on the top on the table, and has advantage on the cup leg. But now comes a difficult week with the second leg of the cup, and the clashes against OPT and GD, two league contenders that need to cut the advantage ORA has taken over them. If the squad doesn't start to wotk properly this week, it could became a problem.