A record 4,956 fans packed into the New Bucks Head for the home leg of our Play-off Semi Final. Expectations were high, as were nerves. Ryan Charles had recently spoken to the media about how he was getting on top of the media hype surrounding him, which was good. The only absentee from the starting line-up was Netan Sansara, who was replaced by Carl Tremarco. It was Droylsden who got first blood in the tie, with former Hibernian and Coventry midfielder Guillaume Beuzelin netting after 34 minutes, and we went into the break behind. Things got worse for us when Lewis Alessandra was taken off injured with a gashed leg, shortly after the restart. However, just 3 minutes later, Ryan Charles levelled things up with his 20th goal of the season. We were unusually ill-disciplined in the match, with six of our players receiving cautions. Ryan Charles went from hero to villan in the 79th minute, when a late challenge saw him pick up a second yellow card, an offence which would later warrant a two-match ban. The game finished 1-1, but Droylsden had the upper hand with the away goal, and the fact they still had a home leg to play.
Things looked grim heading into the second leg. Charles and Alessandra's absences left us with only one recognised striker in Danny Carey-Bertram, leading to a change of formation; 4-1-4-1; the formation I used at Harrogate. How on earth were we going to cope without the firepower that had produced 36 goals in 26 games? Things really did seem like they were going against us. This was until the game started however. Jon Adams grabbed an early goal on 9 minutes after a scramble in the box, and Carl Tremarco headed in Carey-Bertram's cross for his first Telford goal on 25 minutes. A Droylsden penalty shortly after meant we went into half-time 2-1 to the good, and 3-2 on aggregate. It also meant that Droylsden had to score at win today to progress, as we now had two away goals. The game was all but finished 10 minutes into the second half when Carl Tremarco scored an almost identical goal to double his tally, and increase our lead. For the rest of the game, we basically just sat back and made sure we didn't make any silly mistakes. Droylsden did have to score three times to win after all. The final whistle went and our place in the Play-off Final was confirmed. The win just proves that three players (Charles, Sansara & Alessandra), even though they are very talented, don't make a team. Tremarco received the Man of the Match award; and to think, he wouldn't have played if Sansara would've been fit.
Our opponents in the final were Worcester City. They had beat Hinckley in the other Semi-Final in what was somewhat of an unexpected result, considering Hinckley had held the top spot for the majority of the season. Netan Sansara and Lewis Alessandra both returned for the Final, although the latter only made the bench as he had only just come back. Sansara's return meant Carl Tremarco had to move to left back in the same 4-1-4-1 formation, with Matthew Duffy dropping to the bench. Baring in mind it was a Final, with the winner sealing a place in the Blue Square Premier, it was a pretty dull match. Worcester had a goal (correctly) ruled offside, and Danny Carey-Bertram squandered numerous chances to win it for us, and the match ended goalless after 90 minutes. This lead to extra time and then if we were still level, the dreaded penalties. It looked as though this was the way things were going to go, until we got a corner in the 114th minute. Jake Simpson stepped up and floated the ball into the box, and who was there at the back post, unmarked, to head in? 37-year-old captain-for-the-day Graham Coughlan. The crowd went wild; it was the stuff dreams were made of. It really was like something out of Roy of the Rovers. Unbelievable. The final whistle went and we had done it; we'd achieved promotion to the Blue Square Premier.
I came runner-up in the Manager of the Season awards, and Ryan Charles' end of season flood of goals saw him grab the Golden Boot for the league with 20 goals. He, along with Alessandra, Simpson, Sansara and Coughlan all earned new contracts as well, the latter signalling his intention to see out the rest of his career with Telford. Despite bringing the team from 18th place to winning promotion, the board are still only 'satisfied' with my management. Bit annoying really; a little bit of praise wouldn't go a miss! And correct me if I'm wrong but there isn't really that much I could do better? Ah well, a good season overall. A very good one in fact. The players are off on holiday now, until the end of June. I might go away somewhere as well. Lincoln seems nice. Or perhaps Hull...
The final standings in the Blue Square North at the end of the 2011/12 season (click to enlarge).
AFC Telford's league positions throughout the season. I was in charge from the 17th game (basically where they started going up!).
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