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Pentagon Challenge - Season 3 (2025/26) - Part 2

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 Season 2025/26 - CS Constantine - Algerian Ligue 1 There were no league games in January due to the AFCON, so we just played a bunch of friendlies to keep match sharpness up,  Worryingly, we lost to our own U21s team in one of them, and it wasn't even like it was a fluke result as the performance was poor to go alongside it.  Thankfully, it didn't seem to impact squad morale in any way. February 2026 February went well until the end.  2 league games won and progressing in the cup.  However, we ended with a surprising loss to struggling MC El Bayadh who took the lead in the 7th minute and although we dominated the rest of the game, we just weren't able to find the breakthrough,  Their goalkeeper won the Player of the Match award, which indicates that he was kept busy, but was on excellent form annoyingly! March 2026 An excellent month, where every match was a well deserved win.  We also progressed to the semi final of the cup, and ended the month with ...
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Pentagon Challenge - Season 3 (2025/26) - Part 1

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  Season 2025/26 - CS Constantine - Algerian Ligue 1 So, as the pre-season was underway, we are predicted to finish 5th.  US Biskra are also expected to avoid relegation, and I do hope they manage it. When at my interview, I did say I'd like to take my next coaching badge (I did manage to get my National C last season but forgot to mention it in the previous posts), however the Chairman said  he didn't think it would be necessary.  Regardless, I thought I'd ask again once I was actually in the hotseat. To my surprise, they actually agreed. Pre-season results were very much a mixed bag: It turned out we were in a Continental competition, the CAF Confederation Cup.  I think that may be the African equivalent of the Europa League, but I'm not completely sure on that.  However, it doesn't really matter too much as Zambian side Zesco United beat us 3-2 over the two leg Preliminary Round.  We'd looked decent in the first leg, but in the away leg we were all ...
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2025/26 (season 3) - Pre-season mini-update

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  2025/26 (season 3) - Pre-season mini-update So, after securing promotion my mindset was that most of the players going out of contract would be released.  Most of them wouldn't be good enough, and the one that probably was Sid Ahmed Aouedj, who had been our first choice left winger last season.  He'd been a signing made by our DoF last summer, and he'd been a very useful player when fit.  However, at 33 years old, his ability had declined over the course of the season, plus he had proven to be fairly prone to injury.  Plus, what I hadn't realised before I rubber-stamped the signing was that he was by far the highest paid player at the club at well over £2k per week (bear in mind, we were semi-pro), and I was not going to be able to justify that kind of wage on one player, especially one who was clearly on the decline. On 30th June, the following news item came through: This was obviously going to allow us to offer better contracts and be a more attractive opti...
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Pentagon Challenge - Season 2 (2024/25) - Part 2.

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  Season 2024/25 - US Biskra - Algerian League 2 West (part 2) January 2024 We manage a perfect month, not even conceding a single goal and scoring almost at well with several big wins to keep the heat on CR Témouchent. February 2025 Another perfect month, with two wins from two games.  But, most importantly, a win over CR Témouchent to bring us level with them on points, but ahead on goal difference. March 2025 Frustratingly, we follow up the big win last month with a draw, but win the other league game, with a fitness/morale friendly played in between the two league games due to us getting to a part of the season where we're only playing every 2 weeks. April 2025 Another 2 game month, another 2 wins.  We're now clear at the top of the table thanks to CR Témouchent losing another game this month.  The title is very much in our hands at this point. May 2025 Winning the first game of this month put us in a commanding position, however the 2 draws had the potential to ...
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Pentagon Challenge - Season 2 (2024/25) - Part 1.

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Season 2024/25 - US Biskra - Algerian League 2 West The expected sacking never actually came.  In fact the club offered me a new 2-year contract.  So although I’d failed the “required” part of the club vision by getting relegated, I’m guessing they saw enough of an improvement to decide to stick with me. Still, I know failure this season is not an option.  The board are not messing around with the objectives this season. There is only one automatic promotion place in this league, so gaining automatic promotion requires us to become league champions.  2nd and 3rd place are involved in a playoff. And if the bookies are to believed, a league win is the most likely outcome: First came the inevitable clearout.  As you can see, we made a lot of money on player sales.  Not showing on this is a player sale for £21k which went through before the season switched over. I also cleared a lot of the deadwood who were out of contract. Then, we had the friendlies, which we...
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