Heineken Red Star FC: Open the Footballing World - Season 2 Wrap-Up - Push for Promotion

January 1, 2019. Bringing in the New Year with our focus solely being on gaining automatic promotion from the French National to Ligue 2. We had a great beginning half of our season, as demonstrated below.

TRANSFERS OUT/IN

OUT

The squad saw two exits. Forward Anthony Petrilli and Attacking Midfielder Alain Choulet left for JA Dancy and Strasbourg, respectively. Petrilli was never in my plans, and part of the old guard that we inherited. Choulet was very frustrating. The 6'4" Attacking Midfielder was 16..and was a player we acquired through our youth intake. The board decided, after fending away offers from nearly every team within Ligue 1, to accept Strasbourgs offer. I was reluctant, to say the least.

IN

The lone addition to the squad was desperately needed, especially on a permanent basis. Left-footed, Armenian centerback Gael Andonian came to HRSFC via free transfer after a stint with Marseille. I talked about how Ebosse was brought in via loan to fill the need of a left-sided partner for Mendy. When scouting Gael, I was impressed with his athleticism, which we highly lacked on the back line. Not to mention the obvious facts being left-footed and coming in on a free, immediately, was a huge coup for the club.

PROMOTION RACE

Fast forward, and HRSFC are sitting in first place with 4 matches remaining. The last four matches would prove to be highly entertaining, as well as stressful.

First of the four matches saw us take on 3rd place Niort away. The boys would go 1-0 up inside 10 minutes through a Kokir goal, which was unfortunately shortly lived as we were FMed and conceded directly from kickoff. Right before half, we conceded a penalty, which seemed to be a theme of the season, if I am honest. which was highly frustrating. We would switch to a much more attacking style of play, with no avail.

Second of the four matches pitted HRSFC against 2nd place CS Sedan Ardennes on home turf. In the first half, we saw Ardennes take the 1-0 advantage at the half hour mark. I was beginning to think we were in the process of bottling the title. At halftime, amidst tactic boards being thrown throughout the locker room, the boys rallied and fought for a home draw, as painful as that is to say, to retain the top spot in the league, for now at least.

Third of the four matches saw HRSFC travel to 7th place Rodez Aveyrom Football for a blitzkrieg of goals. In short, we thrashed the current 7th place team, at their home, 5-2, with Sane netting a hat-trick. Our title hopes were still alive!

Fourth, and final, of the four matches and we ended our season at home against 11th place finishers EFC Fréjus Saint-Raphaël. Having won our last match 5-2, we cautiously focused on defending leading up to the final match of our second season at the helm. Stepping onto the field, with the thought of hoisting the trophy on our mind, the boys performed miraculously. A 2-0 win, and we were officially CHAMPIONS!

..and here come the season's accolades..

FAN BEST XI

THE GOLDEN SCARVES - PLAYER OF THE SEASON

Unfortunately, two of our players, Kokir and Sane, were just edged out by league leading goalscorere Maxime Ras

HEAD COACH OF THE SEASON

Once again, CS Sedan Ardennes would edge us for another award, this time for Head Coach of the Season

However, the board understood the magnitude of our feat, and duly rewarded FM Peels with a new contract, seeing him at the helm of HRSFC until 2022!

Check back soon for more from HRSFC and Head Coach FM Peels. To follow along with the save more regularly, follow @RattledCrossbar over on Twitter for steady updates!

-FM Peels