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England 108-76 Thailand

England U21s battled past Thailand in the round of 16 with a 108-76 victory to reach the quarterfinals of the consolation tournament for the second consecutive time.

Wes Fairclough led the way with 26 points in 27 minutes, showing his improvement this season. But the win was much more of a team effort with all 12 players grabbing at least 2 boards (team total 62) and 11 of those players also registering at least one assist (team total 25). 20 year old PG Shawn Bondi had a great all round game with 7 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Eric Singleton also added solid scoring off the bench as he finished with 14 points. Be sure to vote for your player of the game in the straw poll in the previous post by testudo. The MVP voting for the season is very close so every vote matters.

We now face Estonia away in the quarter finals which will be difficult and exciting game. Estonia crept past Finland 96-93 in their round of 16 game. We are looking to make the semifinals for the first time ever!

Looking at the minute management so far this most are looking pretty good! If your player has less than 48mins this week please play them in your scrimmage, if they have already played more than 48mins please don’t play them at all.

Congrats to Fairclough, who added his 2nd MVP in three weeks vs Thailand.

Allan Lyons
Barker Wickens (1.5)
William Handl
Shawn Bondi
Eric Singleton
Christopher Mitchell
Stephen Fawaz
Wes Fairclough (2)
Bruce Atkinson (0.5)

Not sure we need a poll to find our choice this week, but here it is: (https://strawpoll.com/polls/PKglz43j1yp).

England 78 - 79 Estonia

We fall short in the quarter-finals by 1 point to Estonia. Wes Fairclough carried the team with 44 points but as no-one else managed double figures it was going to be tough to win. An away tie at this stage of the season is always going to put you as the underdog, but we almost battled through.

Go and vote in the poll on testudo's post for the game MVP (not that its a hard choice).

We move on to next season. I would like to thank the managers of this season's squad, one of the most successful seasons the England U21s have had. It was a great team and an unlucky game shape update has cost us going further than ever before. I would also like to thank tesudo who has done a fantastic job as assistant this season with great opponent scouting, tactical analysis and off-site work to help the U21 setup.

I will begin scouting for next seasons team. If you have a player aged 20 or younger that you don't see called up to the squad at some point in the next week or so, get in touch so I can add them to the database.

A cruel way for the season to end, but what a terrific campaign it has been. Congratulations on an excellent season and I'm already looking forward to seeing what next season brings!

A great job mate, well done!!

Great effort mate. Looking forward to seei what next season brings.

Last edited by kammu at 07/12/2022 13:16:26

Know what it's like mate. Gutted for you.

The final MVP of the season goes to Fairclough, who after a slow start won 3 out of the last 4 awards. Congratulations!

Allan Lyons
Barker Wickens (1.5)
William Handl
Shawn Bondi
Eric Singleton
Christopher Mitchell
Stephen Fawaz
Wes Fairclough (3)
Bruce Atkinson (0.5)

Now that the players have left the team to make way for the next generation, here's a squad photo to remember them. Hopefully we'll see some of these players in the NT in the future.

(https://imgur.com/a/pb8bhXK)

Back row (left to right):

Ad Harris ((49554209)) Sofia Alpha Dogs
Shay Thomas ((49554855)) Thrylos B.C II
Eric Singleton ((49554164)) Scunthorpe Devils
Kevin Aronberg ((49554265)) Midnight Stallions
Wes Fairclough ((49554266)) Midnight Stallions
Daniel Cullen ((49554318)) Royal LCY
Paul Baxter ((49554385)) Morden London
Abe Hall ((49554473)) Täht
Barker Wickens ((49554745)) Nobiles Slough
William Handl ((49554847)) ES Arnould


Front row (left to right):

Ian Byford ((49554934)) KK Jumko / GigiDatome70
Bruce Atkinson ((49555039)) Emperor Penguins
Shawn Bondi ((49851410)) Leeds City Ballers Academy
Allan Lyons ((49851532)) Leeds City Ballers Academy
Vincent John ((49851710)) American Patriots
Alex Puffitt ((49852102)) Wind City Ballers
Christopher Mitchell ((49852108)) Wind City Ballers
Stephen Fawaz ((49985278)) Leeds City Ballers Academy

Mate this hits me right in the feels! Maybe the best u21 squad I’ve been a part of.

Great team to manage and really fun players to use. Thank you to all the managers for creating such great players! Congratulations to Wes Fairclough and Machinehead on MVP of the season. You can all now see how impressive he is for a 21 year old player!

Thank you mate! Had some problems with his game shape, but eventually he could pick the pace. Really glad to see he delivered :)

I think this is one of the most exciting prospect (potential wise) that I have trained, since Ken Greene and Feeney Sutherland.

Congratulations you two for a great run at the consolation tournament. So close that last match, but overall i think it was a really good season.

Last edited by Machinehead at 07/14/2022 04:17:43

Regarding the NT:

* Vycka, do you have any thoughts on how the season went? We only finished 5th in our group, but it looks like we had some tough opponents which made it a difficult task. Just hoping you could write up a quick report for people like myself who didn't follow the season closely.

* Would you be interested in taking on an assistant next season, or would anyone volunteer to write some match reports and other community engagement? It doesn't have to be a massive effort, but I'd enjoy reading a quick update each week if someone would be interested.

* In the last scrimmage we only picked eight players, was that tactical or a mistake? My understanding is 12 players are usually picked to give the most teams a merch boost and a chance to see their player get a few minutes of playing time.

* It's been mentioned that you called up Christopher Cummins (42675590), who is a 36 year old with $106k salary. He last played for the NT in season 54 (August 2021), where he played 4 mins. He hasn't been a serious NT player for at least five seasons. By calling a player up to the squad you get to his skills, and by chance he is owned by the team you are playing in a relegation battle. On the surface that seems a bit suspect, is there a reason he has been called up now?