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| Knights promoted to Ultimate League |
We've done it! After fourteen and a half seasons in charge of this club, and sixteen seasons of this club's existence, in a time period where the clubs in the higher echelons of the Ultimate League are stronger than ever before and at a time when the players have been built up from lower asking prices due to the introduction of a paid youth academy, Knights have gone all the way from the depths of Division 7 to the Ultimate League top flight, fulfilling the manager's ambition with this club which was inspired by other clubs that have done something similar. But while those clubs had to face quite a different market to get promoted and some spent quite a lot of time building a budget in process, Knights have managed to do it on the cheap... sort of.
On just our sponsor money, press money and the monthly sponsor bonus, plus all financial events on a weekly basis, with only a season and a half of club history behind the club upon current appointment, Knights have won six divisional titles in the course of nine seasons as well as the Ultimate League Cup, beating out many clubs with much more history, clubs with stronger teams and clubs that are more financially healthy than us. Especially this season where the team has stepped up to the occasion and shown true desire to get promoted even if their manager's tactics haven't been the best. In the end, Knights have effectively proven false the need for a lavish budget to get a team promoted to the top flight of an official league, or at least the top flight of the Ultimate League, and after stalling at Division 1 level for two seasons Knights have had an amazing season this time around which has culminated in the Division 1 title with ten wins in what was a very challenging division.
Ayresome Angels 0-1 Knights of Cydonia FC
Hesslink '77
Ayresome Angels
17 GK Antao Lagos
20 RB Tim Badalhoco
4 CB Steve Fowler
12 CB Banel Capreanu
3 LB Idalio Galvao
7 RM Bert Gibbard
6 CM Ivan Jilavu
8 CM Otelo Picazzo
23 LM Eric Sundkvist
9 CF Louis Barroso
19 CF Matt Carter
Bench:
1 GK Cassio Torres
2 DF Ledley Weston
5 DF Marcello Huracio
13 MF Ales Twardzik
18 MF Payton Jeffers |
Knights of Cydonia FC
1 GK Ant Connolly
2 RB Pim van der Kruis
4 CB Ibrahim Qamara
16 CB Aquiles Santamaria
3 LB Devin Reilly
6 DM Pierre Of Hesslink
17 DM Arvi Kero
23 RM Azrat Zairi
8 AM Alvito Roma
11 LM Raymond Hargreaves
9 CF Uchiha Itachi
Bench:
13 GK Stuart Dunlop
5 DF Bapit Kanchanapoom
10 FW Celso Mota
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After the disappointment of the George Best game, fans booked the away match en masse at Ayresome Park with the knowledge that the team was still only one win away from getting promoted to the top flight. However, Ayresome Angels were in spectacular form going into this game, topping the form charts. With a strong manager and home advantage, getting the win they needed was easier said than done so there was also hope that nearest rivals George Best would drop points while resting players for their cup final this Friday.
In the end though, Knights got promoted in the best way they could, by actually winning the game. It was a tough and tight match, with very little chances to note. Knights were a bit lucky that Ayresome Angels' team selections have not been their best team as Shep appears to be concentrating on development value, and it's just as well because Ayresome had the better tactics on the day. This proves to be a strange coincidence because Real Peeps had the better tactics on the cup final day last season and now our opponents had the better tactics today, if it hadn't been for Ayresome's weakened side and the fact that Knights successfully marked the opponents playmaker then it probably would have gone down to the final day against Cardiff Dragons.
However, a bit like the Sporting Pissabon game, Ayresome's decision to play the younger keeper proved to be of Knights' benefit. Knights won a free kick in the 77th minute and the only player that they really paid a multi million econ fee for, Pierre Of Hesslink, stood up and took the free kick directly into the back of the net. The away crowd burst into celebration once this happened but Aperson tried to calm things down a bit, insisting the job wasn't done yet.
However, Ayresome could not break down Knights' rock solid defence and the 1 goal was enough, Hesslink becomes the guy who made Knights of Cydonia FC a top flight side in the Ultimate League and next season we will face the best that the UL has to offer, the likes of Lusitanian Warriors, House of Stark, Rockerbocker and potentially the likes of C.F.R. Cluj Napoca and Cricket Utd are going to be league opponents for Knights next season. It'll be our most challenging season to date, but our objective will be to stay up and whatever happens from this point, we've achieved pretty much everything we set out to do with this team.
Speaking of Cricket Utd, they were one of the teams which inspired us to build a brand new club from scratch and reach the UL top flight via their old Xpert Daily entries. Grand Rapids under Quercus were another club that gave us inspiration, so thanks to both you guys for the proof it could be done and for giving us our motivation to do the same.
Attention now turns to the XCL with a crunch game against Blurp.
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2017-05-15 20:24
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4188 Views |
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Reporter:
Gago_94
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