A New Start - Holmesdale FC (Level 1)

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Day 12 to 15

The Management had to attend a family reunion over the weekend, so although he was able to manage the team and sometimes attend a match, the updating of this Showcase thread had to take a back seat. That being said herewith a summary of the non-matchtime happenings, the matches will be covered in subsequent postings.

Stadium.

The Floodlights left to build overnight on Day 11 were completed on the morning of Day 12 and the Management decided to embark on a seating upgrade to avoid prematurely terminating production of coloured packs from the existing facilities. The Small Seating Upgrade to the Level 1 stadium cost $100k and took 15 hours to complete ($150k and 5 days).

The Training facility produced two green packs the following morning and was immediately selected for upgrade, the Training Ground taking 1 day and $34k (3 days/$48k) to build.

On Day 14 the upgrade of the Utilities to Cafe and Restaurant was started, this would take 2 days (3 days) and cost $17k ($24k).

Training

The team has been mainly been trained using the General training as outlined in the second post on Day 6, with Targetted training if time available on days where only one match was played.

Training is now at Level 13, the two Level ups over the weekend enabling the upgrading of the Physical/Mental drill Stretch to Semi-Pro (2 whistle) Level and the unlocking of the Physical/Mental drill Gym (Very Hard).

Playing Squad

The Assistant Manager got two sets of players to offer to the Management over the weekend. On Day 13 some Goalkeepers



and on Day 15 a trio of left-sided Defenders



In both cases the Management decided to keep his Tokens to himself...

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Day 12 Matches

Two matches today, and two clean sheets. The first in the League



and the second in the 1st leg of the Quarter-Finals in the Cup

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Day 13 Match

The only match of the day produced a good win over a mid-table side.

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Day 14 Matches

Two early matches today and Holmesdale FC wrapped up their qualification for the Semi-Finals of the Cup, despite a much better performance from their opponents in the 2nd Leg Quarter-Final match, and continued their dominance of the League.

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Day 15 Match

End of the first half of the League season, and a nice home win, with clean sheet.



League Tabe at the end of the first half of the season, and Season Stats.

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Day 16

The first of the reverse matches in the League, and Holmesdale record their first double over an opposition team.



Playing Squad

Current top scorers table (all competitions)



Finances

The finances of Holmesdale FC are coming along nicely, match income and competition prizes comfortably covering expenditure on Stadium construction and player wages.



Stadium construction

Just after posting the above, the Cafe and restaurant construction completed, and the Management started on the Parking upgrade, a 2 day construction costing $9k (3 days/$12k)

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Day 17

Training

During General training today training Level 14 was achieved, this time the Management chose to upgrade Defensive drill Press the Play to Semi-Pro (2 whistle) level.

Match time

One match again today, and another double recorded, but not without a struggle for most of the match. The opposition equalised Daley Forrester's 15th minute opener halfway through the second period, but this prompted right-winger Laurens Bloemen to single-handedly take the match by the scruff of the neck, scoring a 9-minute hat-trick, Holmesdale winning 4-1 to maintain their lead at the head of the League table.

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Day 18

League action

The two highest scorers in the League faced each other today, and a 13-goal thrill-fest ensued. The opposition had pegged Holmesdale back to a 3-3 draw in the reverse fixture earlier in the season, but there was to be no coming back in this match. A hat-trick for Terje Varhaugvik capped off a match which started with the hosts going 2-0 up in three minutes and making it 3-0 after 11, before the visitors pulled two goals back. Two more goals just before the break put Holmesdale 5-2 up at half-time. A goal within 5 minutes of the restart made it 5-3, starting an alternating sequence which ended the match with an 8-5 scoreline.



Stadium

The Car Park upgrade started two days ago completed just before the evening Cup match, and the only upgrades that now can be done are seating upgrades to the existing stadium. The Medium upgrade was started, costing $70k and taking 9 hours ($100k/4 days).

Cup Semi-Final

The Cup put Holmesdale in undiscovered territory, an opposition team with a significant Quality advantage, but they faced the challenge bravely, and could hold their heads high despite suffering their first defeat.

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Day 19

Training

Training level 15 was achieved during daily training today, and the Defence drill Stop the Attacker (Medium) was unlocked.

Stadium

The Medium Seating upgrade to the Level 1 Stadium was completed overnight and the Large Seating upgrade started. This will take 12 hours (instead of 4 days) and costs $70k ($100k). The Large Seating upgrade finished in the evening and the upgrade to the Level 2 (Village) Stadium started, this takes 12 hours (3 days) and costs $70k ($100k).

The Match

After suffering their first defeat to a higher-Quality team in the Cup yesterday, Holmesdale travelled to one of the more recently formed teams in the League, and they were already 17%Q higher than our heroes. A discreet veil must be drawn over the resulting carnage...



The result hasn't affected the League position as the second placed team only managed a draw and the lead at the top has only been cut by one point.



Finances

The coffers are still keeping on an even keel, but the Management will have to start boosting the reserves for the player purchases that he will need to make at the start of next season...

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Day 20

A day for righting previous wrongs, and the Management were happy with how Holmesdale FC reacted to defeats in their previous two matches. Albeit against 13th place in the League, the team completely dominated and recorded their highest score and biggest win. In the Cup, 'keeper Laurant Engoulou excelled, keeping a clean sheet while striker Terje Varhaugvik scored the only goal of the match at the other end, but it wasn't enough to qualify for the Final as their opponents went through on away goals. DMC Agustin Cervera recorded an unwanted first, being the first Holmesdale player to be sent off in a match, his 85th minute dismissal for two yellow card offences thankfully too late to affect the final match score.





Stadium

Later in the day, the Village Stadium completed building, and as the medical facility had produced its latest set of treatment packs earlier in the day, the Management took the opportunity to upgrade to the Small Infirmary, at a cost of $30k (down from $40k), but taking the same time, 3 days.

Training

Level 16 training was achieved during evening targetted training, and the Management chose to upgrade the Attacking drill Fast Counter-Attacks (Very Hard) to Semi-Pro (2 whistles) from the three upgrade options offered.