Hello all and welcome back to my Queens Park story. In my last post you saw all our transfers activity and you met our new staff, but following our dismal pre season fixtures I was fearing the worst. Thankfully this was put behind us with two excellent wins in the League Cup and Challenge Cup. You may remember we started poorly last season in the First Division, although after signing some new players in January we led a late title challenge but ultimely failed. However on this occasion I was anticipating a decent start which would lay the foundation for a solid and consistent title challenge. Were my amateurs prepared to take on the best of the First Division? Let’s find out……
Challenge Cup:
After knocking our 3rd Division side Berwhick, we’d to play Morton, a 1st Division team. Unfortunately we couldn’t repeat our wonderful semi final appearance of last season as Morton beat us 2-1. It was disappointing to lose but we still have the FA Cup and League Cup to fight for.
League Cup:
We undoubtedly overachieved in the Scottish League Cup, and we arguably attained our best result since I became manager. 3rd Division side Stenhousemuir were easily beaten 5-0 in the 1st round, then a bumper crowd of 990 supporters saw us destroy Queen Of Sth 5-2. This win pitted us against the most successful Scottish club ever in the 3rd round.. I’ve waited 4 years to play an Old Firm side and I finally got my chance to take on the best of Scottish football. Our opponents were Rangers!! I was absolutely trilled! My preparations began immediately.
Rangers Versus Queens Park — Scottish League Cup 3rd round
Here’s how both teams lined up:
Rangers obviously predicated an easy victory hence why they left out key players such as Jelavic, Steven Davis and more. They did however play some other decent players like Danny Rose, Jamie Ness and Giovanni. I put out my strongest XI and told them that ‘you can win this’. Let’s take a look at the match highlights:
Never in my wildest dreams did I think we could win but we did. We restricted an under strength Rangers team to just long shots and they only managed one shot on target. We also went down to ten men with 15mins left but Scotland’s finest couldn’t even break down a bunch of amateurs! Unfortunately we lost the quarter final to Inverness CT.
First Division results:
August —
We all know how important it is to get off to a winning start and that’s exactly what we did. Our season began with a tense 2-1 victory over Dunfermline. We then played out an entertaining 3-3 draw with promoted Livingston. Their equalizer coming in the dying moments of the match. Hamilton were beaten 1-0 away which was a fantastic result and we finished the month with a 5-1 trashing of Queen Of Sth.
Spetember —
We continued our great start in September with a marvelous victory over Motherwell. Unfortunately we failed to record a win in our next two games: Raith dismantled us at home 2-0 and Ross County held us to a 1-1 draw. However we did end the month with a win as we defeated Kilmarnock 2-1.
October —
We remained undefeated throughout October, further enhancing our chances of challenging for the title. Morton were first up, they were easily overcame 2-1 away. Another 6 goal thriller ended in a point gained than 2 points lost as on this occasion it was us to scored a late goal. Livingston were then hammered 3-0 at home.
November —
Our 5 match unbeaten run prolonged following our 3-0 win over Hamilton. Despite our recent form, two back to back defeats followed for the first and hopefully last time this campaign. Queen Of Sth beat us 1-0 and then we lost a crucial game at home to title rivals Motherwell 3-1. Fortunately our rot demised and we returned to winning ways with two back to back wins against Raith and Ross County.
League Table:
Following our tremendous start it’s no surprise that were close to the top of the table. Ourselves and Motherwell are leading an extremely tense and tight battle for the title. Any slip ups from now on will prove costly as Motherwell have some outstanding players like Alan Smith, Adam Hammill and Ross McCormack.
Player ratings:
Mayulu has been my most consistent performer this term with 11 goals in 13(1) fixtures. This Frenchman has really taken the 1st Division in his stride. Sobiech is a player I missed most last season. He’s a commanding center back and has scored 7 times, mostly from set pieces though. Schnitzler and Olumbia have coughed up goals when called upon and are leading the attack brilliantly with Mayulu. Shikanda has improved immensely since last season where he struggled for large parts of the season and Adam Smith has been phenomenal at right back too. I’ve been pleased with Reece Hands latest performances as well, this youngster certainly does have potential.
That’s it for today’s post everyone, thanks for reading and I look forward to hear your thoughts on our season thus far.
ps Do you like my new skin?
vaibhavc
7 апреля, 2011 at 12:48
Hey Sears
Pretty good run there, and good position. Tied for first place because of goal difference won’t be anything to worry about. Great result against Rangers! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!
P.S. I like your skin.
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 16:35
Thanks vaibhavc. We’ve endured a great start and hopefully we can keep it going for a few more months at least. Glad you like my skin :-)
Johnny Karp
7 апреля, 2011 at 13:06
Great result against Rangers, that one will go down in the history books! :) You’re doing very well in the league too and I’m sure that you’ll be pushing the title race down to the wire. Good luck!
P.S.: That’s a nice skin, what’s the name?
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 16:38
Yup, it was by far my best result since joining the club! The title race will be tight, but hopefully we will end up the deserving winners :-D
The skin is called »Dark Touch» and can be downloaded from here:
http://www.fmscout.com/i-1045-Dark-Touch-skin-for-FM-2011.html
Thanks Johnny
Alex
7 апреля, 2011 at 13:06
Hey Sears,
Brilliant! This one word can sum up your first few months of the 13/14 season. You have done very well in the league, Motherwell are a good team and you have been amazing to be level on points with them. The Rangers game must be the best result you will have in a while, even if they didn’t play their first XI you still beat arguably the best team in Scotland without any professional players! I think you can go and win it but you must beat Motherwell in the next meeting as that could be the game that makes or breaks either side. I can just feel promotion for your team this season!
Good luck and I hope you can continue your fine start and go all the way to win the title.
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 16:44
Cheers Alex!
We’ve done fantastically, but I want more. We can’t just have a good start and vanish for the remainder of the campaign. I still can’t believe we beat Rangers, especially at Ibrox. What a result! I really want promotion as well, hopefully Motherwell will endure a bad patch and slip down the table. They’ve an amazing team though.
hils
7 апреля, 2011 at 15:33
Hi Sears,good installment there!!!!!!!!! Hopefully you will rise ahead of Motherwell!!!!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 16:45
Thanks Hils!
Laxeyman
7 апреля, 2011 at 16:27
Very good start Sears, and what a win over Rangers! Just shows that the amatuers are still good players :) You’re doing very well in the league too, and I reckon you can pip Motherwell to the title as the season nears its end. I hope you can, good luck!
And yes, it’s a very nice skin.
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 16:49
Cheers Laxeyman. As mentioned previously, Motherwell have an amazing squad. It’s going to be a daunting battle but hopefully we can do it.
David Wiggins
7 апреля, 2011 at 18:05
noooo!!! Only Celtic lose to teams outside the top division!!
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 18:10
Aww sorry David. We all know Celtic are the superior Old Firm side.
David Wiggins
7 апреля, 2011 at 21:41
wait until our takeover is confirmed and we have lots of money again ;o)
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 22:51
Celtic will still remain the dominant side.
Darren Smith
7 апреля, 2011 at 19:04
Wow mate, I can’t believe how well your doing with an amateur side. Looking good for promotion and to beat Rangers must be a huge confidence boost. Can’t wait for a big season finale!
ps Like the new skin. :)
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 19:08
Thanks Darren. Shame most of my players are wanted and I’ve already lost Shikanda, arguably my best center back. Hopefully we can hang in there and secure promotion!
Kevin
7 апреля, 2011 at 20:54
Hi Sears
I like the new skin and new layout? It all looks very good as well as your Queens Park performing miracles against Rangers and you appear to be strong contenders for promotion too. Well done mate!
Sears
7 апреля, 2011 at 22:52
Thanks Kevin, happy to hear you like the new skin. I’m hoping for a shock promotion.
Lye
8 апреля, 2011 at 02:59
Hi Sears,
Well done. You have a great chance to go up this season as that’s a very good start by your team. Hopefully the players can keep it up and create history. Good luck.
I am thinking how come your match indicator is square. So its the new skin. Good choice.
Sears
8 апреля, 2011 at 11:27
Cheers Lye! I’m nearing the end of the season, but I’m not giving anything away :-D
Glad you like my new skin, I must admit, it’s very nice.
Excessive
8 апреля, 2011 at 10:20
Haha no way, I had Shikanda for my Varbergs BOIS team. Awesome centre back! Shame you have lost him..
Anyway, phenomenal win at Ibrox mate. Never thought you would be able to do that. Although under strengthed, it shows that you have the quality to compete against the top sides in Scottish footy.
Good luck for the rest of the season, hope you can pip Motherwell at the top!
Sears
8 апреля, 2011 at 11:29
Yeah I know! He was doing brilliant for me, gutted he left. yeah, I hate Rangers too so it was nice to beat them, especially in their own back ground. Cheers pal….!
Ana Garcia
8 апреля, 2011 at 15:58
I cant really add anything that hasnt already been said!
Great going, and hopefully you can seal the league title it will be difficult but I have my fingers crossed for you!
Good Luck!! :)
Sears
8 апреля, 2011 at 21:00
Thanks Ana. All will be reveled either tomorrow or Sunday.