UU Accies have played three game in the last eight days with the results: 3 wins, with10 goals for and none against. That's good going by anyone's standards.
First up was a league encounter with cowshed utd and the Accies ran out 4 - 0 winners. Goals from Hilstad, Prattis, Zabelin and Vasquez secured the points in a one-sided encounter that retained pole position in the league for KElliott's troops. But the valuable points came at a price as Hisao Okazaki picked up a seriously injury side-lining him for about a month.
The UU Accies manager was quoted as saying: "I wasn't best pleased with Hisao's injury and Prattis also picked up a knock, but nothing too serious. Hisao, though, is missing a few games and that is hampering his development which is really pissing me off."
Next up was a friendly match with Bare FC. Hailing from Division 6:26, Bare are riding high at the top of their Division with a 4 point cushion over second placed team Launderette Loiterers. Bare FC arrived at the Sink in good form as the two Division 6 leaders went head-to-head in this friendly clash, the first ever meeting between these two teams.
It might have been a friendly and the Oooks were entertaining their fellow fans from the North Welsh coast but both managers looked determined to see out a win for their respective teams. KElliott and JudgeSmails shook warmly before kick-off as they looked forward to an entertaining match, billed, in one fanzine, as "The Unofficial D6 Champion of Champions clash." Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it.
As friendlies go this one was actually quite entertaining. The home team dominated the ball from the whistle but lacked real creativity in front of goal, making only two chances in a goalless first half. The second half was much better and Bare managed to get a shot at goal but were outclassed by the home team who racked up 5 chances, scoring with 3 of them: on 52 minutes Vasquez teed up Lanna in the box and the big striker made no mistake as he fired the ball past Rodgers, Bruce Prattis headed in the second 4 minutes later from a pin-point Lanna cross and Harsley rounded off a comfortable mornings work in the 82nd minute when he powered one in from distance.
The friendly win earned KElliott another 5-star rating and he was very positive afterwards: "We did enjoy that. Bare are a good team, tough to break down and get behind. We had the ball for long spells and did enough, second half especially, to take the three goals and get the win. For me, friendlies are always valuable - win, lose or draw - and without a sniff of winning the Cup we're always open for a challenge with a spare date every week when our Cup run is over."
Last of the mini 3-game run saw UU Accies travel to Left Field to take on Omaha Crows in this morning's vital league encounter. Crispybits acknowledged some time ago that this season, for him, is all about DV and not results. But for KElliott, and his Accies, results matter most at present. With a 3 point cushion over LPA in the battle for league honours, KElliott was taking nothing for granted.
The match panned out as you would expect with the differing philosophies of each manager: UU Accies set about Omaha from Taykabribe's first whistle and dismantled the home team with consummate ease. Retaining possession enabled the visitors to put 3 past Rasmus Dahlgren in the Omaha goal: Fabio Roberto headed the first on 11 minutes and Riccardo Lanna scored twice on 59 and 71 minutes to ease past the basement boys. It was a determined performance form the Accies, earning KElliott another 5-Star rating as well as the Manager of the Round Award for the 7th time this season.
"You one can argue with how good we were out there today," KElliott beamed at the post match. "Okay, so Omaha were playing to a different tune that made our morning that bit easier I suppose, but you can only play whoever is in front of you and we swept the OC aside with a solid performance that keeps us on top.
"It wasn't our best performance of the season but was more than good enough for today's opponents. LPA's 3 - 2 over cowshed today ensured the gap between us remains at 3 points. And once we have played the friendly with Internazionale YNWA on Tuesday we meet LPA next in the league. One or two of my lads are hoping that Lumbo brings his assassin with him as they have a score to settle. I've told my players to play the match not the men as we want to win the game, get the points and move LPA down to third. But once they cross that white line my influence is minimal at best. I just have to trust them to do the right thing.
"We know how good and dangerous LPA are, but they are not the team that worry me right now, HSCFC are the team I'm watching. Their 3 - 1 FC Catalunya Central keeps them only two points adrift of LPA with three fixtures remaining. LPA have points in the bag as they play OC the week after next and the same can be said for HSCFC who play cowshed in the same round. While we have a tough home tie with Sporting that week.
"With these three teams in the mix it could come down to the wire if we can't knock out LPA next week. If we can, we'd be 4 clear of HSCFC and 5 away from LPA. If we can't, and end up losing, we may only be 2 points in front of HSCFC, if they can get a result against Wenger. That won't be easy, we've already found how tough Wenger are. But we'll still be top, probably, on account of a better goal difference. If we draw with LPA then my head starts to hurt as the permutations become too much for my wee head to take.
"So, I'll just say this: we have a harder run in than both LPA and HSCFC, I'm more concerned about Palmer then Lumbo at the moment; we'll go to Nether Pollock Park in good form and, hopefully, with no further injuries, with the intention of winning to put 6 points between us with two games to play; and, finally, have enough in the tank to see off HSCFC in the last game of the season to take the title, a well earned rest before having another stab at Division 5.
"What will actually happen.is anyone's guess. But we know what we have to do.”