League Cup
At the start of the season I would have picked this as the cup we could forget about. Little kudos and no European qualification attached to it. But it was the one we did the best in. Mainly because of Dean Dalziel. We scored 10 goals, of those he got 6. In the semi finals we were 2-0 down with 10 mins to go. He scored a hat trick.
That took us to a final against Celtic. I rested some players in the SPL game before hand. You can't turn your nose up at a cup. Celtic put us under pressure for about 30 mins and then we turned it around completely. The rest of the game was ours and we completely schooled them. Dalziel popped up with a fine goal, and then Snodden got a scrappy but important one to send us two clear.
First cup with Hearts! First cup in a long time!
FA Cup
We had another good run here. And I was more excited about this as it was a better rep cup with some reward in terms of Europe. Again Dalziel did the work. Of the 11 goals we scored he got 5. We made heavy work of the cup progression in the quarter finals as had to face Celtic twice because of a replay. When we were at our most tired. In the replay we played some fantastic counter attacking football, buoyed by the League Cup win against them the game before.
Inverness in the semi-finals were a breeze and we set up a final against Rangers. They were on form in the league and slowly but surely becoming more of a force in the SPL. Could we beat the Old Firm in both cup finals?
No. And this was perhaps the most frustrating cup final I've ever seen. We out shot them, three to one when it came to on target shots, but they grabbed the goal, defended and we ran out of steam. It was absolutely gutting. So close to a cup double.
SPL
Were things better in the league? Not really. We were tired because of the sheer amount of injuries. I had to check to see if anything was wrong with the training but I was just unlucky. Players were getting injured, coming back and then when they were finally match fit they be back in the physio room or someone else would take their place. I think in the course of the season I played my first choice 11 together ten times.
It sounds like a bit of a weak excuse (for what's coming) but it's relevant. It's difficult to make progress when injuries pull the rug from under you.
Compared to the first half of the season our form got worse. We dropped embarrassing points and still struggled against the likes of Celtic. Aberdeen were close behind us and they capitalised on pretty much every mistake. When the league split Celtic were one game away from the title and we had dropped into 3rd place.
This is where we picked up a bit. We beat Rangers and Kilmarnock, and drew with surprise package Ross County and then champions Celtic. Our last game was against Aberdeen. A real show down against my former team!
They were 2nd, but only on goal difference. A win against them would put us 2nd and into the Champions League rather than the Europa. It wasn't to be though. They beat us 2-1 and the scoreline if anything flattered us.
End of Season Review
Well we'd met board expectations but we'd missed out on the Champions League. But there's always next season. Scotland went up the coefficients so next season the title winner will go straight into the group stage and general seeding/stage of entry will improve. 2nd place next season will be worth even more.
And I think we can do it. I've learnt a couple of things.
1) MORE PLAYERS! I NEED MORE! We had a horrible run of injuries that meant we couldn't hit a good run of form. Players went out, moved position, and weren't fully fit. More players should fix that and if we keep fitter I think 2nd should be ours.
2) No matter how good I think I am Celtic won't agree and they'll attack. So I need to go to counter attacking against them. Late in the season we did better against them by going to counter attack rather than the control I favour. I need to do this from the off.
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| 39 goals in 50 apps for Dangerous Dean |
3) One man teams are bad. We weren't quite a one man team but pretty much all the goals were coming from Dalziel. And he's not getting any younger. Also when he wasn't doing well we were noticeably toothless.
The team in general did well though.
Everyone played. Even back up keeper O'Dea when McCluskey went out injured. All of the squad is straying apart from Zander Coyne who's jumping ship to Motherwell. When he announced that I benched him and started to rotate Quirke and Forde in. They both did well so we'll not miss Zander despite the cool name.
Warren might go next season but we'll be reinforcing the middle of the team anyway.
I've got lost of screenshots for players but I won't stick them all here. I will mention one player though. Bobby Scoular. I promoted him to the senior team with the aim of giving him a few games. Slowly introducing him. But before the season started he said he wanted to go on loan so I sent him to Championship Derby. Before he left he was worth about £16k and looked like a promising though not developed rightback.
Things changed...
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| Thanks Derby for adding over £3.5m to his value |
He's a beast. I owe Derby one. He even got capped for Scotland with them. Next season he can fight with Simpson for a start. I might try sending Derby a few more players...
Another honourable mention should go to Simpson and Kearney.
2nd and 3rd place isn't bad.
I seem to be attracting attention too....
I was slightly tempted but I'm with Hearts for the long haul. And I've a plan to satisfy my wanderlust...more on that later.
Next season should be good.
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