Peterhead Season 2 Half 2

Aka What Exactly IS Progress?

So what defines progress for a team in Football Manager? Is it having more points at the end of the season? In that case yes, the team has made marginal progress. Our finishing record of W10 D11 L15 Pts41 is a point better than last year. Indeed our goal difference was -10 this year instead of -16 the year before. But we finished 9th in the league, a drop of 2 places from last year, so the dreaded relegation playoffs beckoned.

But first, how did selling my striker go? Well, I didn't in the end. In the next two games Rory McCallister grabbed a brace in each, going on to finish the season with a team-leading 15 goals. This was helped by moving up-and-comer Ally McKerracher into an attacking midfielder role as of right, converting the formation into a wide 4-2-3-1. He isn't quite as happy there but there does seem to be better movement overall in the middle of the park, so much so he picked up player of the season. Most goals are still being provided by crosses, especially from the right wing, but that is fine as our players have excellent jumping and heading up front but lack pace.

McCallister isn't completely out of the woods. He is still the leading wage-earner and at 30 years old it is time to decide whether to offload him or keep him on as a wily veteran for the younger players to learn from.

Some absolutely pathetic goals were conceded in the second half of the season, a particular lowlight being my goalie palming the ball onto his own knee then into the net from a shot so feeble it would be a measured backpass had a defender make it. Another lowlight was going 3-0 up in 20 minutes against East Fife who with a handful of games to go were 3 points ahead of us in 8th, and with a better goal difference by 3, and somehow only drawing. Some of the decision making was shocking on my players' parts, and checking the team report says we are 10th out of 10 in that regard. That clearly needs to change.

This wouldn't be an update if I didn't report on what injury my goalie had picked up, and this time around it was a hernia keeping Kevin Walker out of the last 4 weeks of the season.

So a largely disappointing close to the season meant we were into the relegation playoffs. There is a rather amusing "feature" in that the press conferences and team talks make this into something that you target from the start of the season. For the three teams from League 2 maybe, but this certainly isn't something we were aiming for!

Berwick in the semifinals then, and a comfortable 2-0 lead after 72 minutes turned into a nervy 2-1 lead after 77, but we held on to take a lead and perhaps two valuable away goals into the home leg. And boy did we need them! Berwick were up for the 2nd leg, and hammered 24 shots at goal, fortunately only 1 went in in the 90 minutes. My celebrations were short lived when I remembered that away goals do not count double after 90 minutes. On 112 minutes substitute Leighton McIntosh saved any further away goals confusion with a scrambled winner. Now do I congratulate the team on reaching the final? I'd love to pick the non-existent option to lambaste them for needing extra time in a match we shouldn't have been in in the first place but there you go. Clyde in the final over 2 legs, with Clyde getting the advantage of their home match last.

Our home match was fairly even until 3 quarters of the match had elapsed. My right-winger Nicky Riley took things on his own head to grab himself a brace, and with it a comfortable 2 goal cushion to take to Broadwood Stadium. Big favourites, a 2-0 lead, what could possibly go wrong?

Well, on 52 minutes Ryan McGeever slicing my defence apart made it a nervy 2-1 on aggregate. Liam Burt made it an annoying 2-2 on aggregate and yet another extra time. At least this time I knew away goals wasn't a factor in the additional 30 minutes getting added on. And so with 120 minutes on the clock and an added minute being played McIntosh got himself into a great position to receive a cross from the right, and kicks the ball straight at the keeper from 2 yards away. I swore. Until I saw the ball roll back to McIntosh's feet with a newly found open goal at his mercy. This time no mistakes and against the run of play we had done it. Survival. What's more, most of my players actually want to stay at the club!

So what does the next season bring? Probably 42 points and a goal difference of -6. The midfield is getting stronger but almost certainly there will be turnover up front. Also the defence tends to be where the loan players fit in. Some strong permanent defenders would be nice.

Above all I'd like a win in a cup game. Just to see what the next round looks like would be nice. Even a win in the challenge cup would be gratefully received!