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| Mission Accomplished |
For the first time in the club's history, and after seasons of toil and near-misses, Parkway Forest Ladies have made it into Division 5 after a 2-0 victory over Kardashian. The result was enough to clinch the Division 6:27 title. Manager codespyder expressed his joy after the match.
"This team has been incredible this season. What a way to send off our midfield lynchpin Ingela Hulten. She was here the first season that I joined the club back in Season 35, and though she won't be here in Season 45 to see us play Div 5 football, I am glad for all that she has done for us in the time since."
The departure of the midfielder marks the final player to have played for this team from before the current manager's arrival, and so a new era begins with the team still young and in the ascendancy.
"This season, everything finally clicked. We didn't get off to a great start, as we were 1-1-1 to begin, but we showed the mental fortitude to be champions."
After crashing out of the Cup to Bada Bing Club in the midst of a 4 game stretch where the team lost 3 in all competitions, Forest focused on the league.
"I think once the Cup distraction was out of the way, our form was so poor that we just tried to win one game at a time. We played three good games in the league after, but had a bad loss to Barner Meitschi at the halfway point. We weren't in a playoff spot. Iron Ladies had dominated us in the first round-robin match, and Kardashian were playing very strongly."
"In past seasons, we had suffered badly in the second half because we would just lose focus or lose form. This season, we've had a strong defence but our offence was questionable against the big teams and admittedly it wasn't as strong as in years past."
"But we managed to use our excellent team chemistry to overcome more superior opposition."
The team astonishingly won all 7 games in the second half of the season, with key victories over Iron Ladies and Lady Coquette/Future Girls allowing Forest to catch up with the leaders and ultimately overtake them with a game to spare. The final match against Kardashian showed why Forest were worthy champions. The offence was relentless and the defence was watertight.
"What has made me really proud of this team is that we were never the strongest on paper, but we have some of the highest scoring and assisting players in the division, some of whom aren't even 20-years-old yet. Their best days are ahead of them. We've got the highest squad value and I expect us to continue growing together."
"This story is not over yet. Div 5 will be super difficult for us, and it is possible that we will struggle to survive"
"But we've shown this season that we've broken our hoodoos from seasons past. We will continue to grow and develop and hopefully thrive in seasons to come."
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