Deal-Real News will return at the end of February 2006 when the winter break for our heroes comes to an end and the season resumes.

Happy holidays!

Last night the Ihan Finance players went through a full training session even though the temperature was in the minuses and the snow was falling.

At least half of the squad decided that they would boycott the training due to it being to cold to train outside. Needless to say, none of the boycotters were English, as in the words of fans' favourite, Kris Mole; "Lovely. Absolutely lovely. The weather couldn't be any more perfect for playing football in. You could run for hours and not get hot and uncomfortable. Perfect."

It had been previously decided that this would be the final outdoor training session of the winter break, but that decision was reversed at the end of this session simply because there is still no need to be inside. A few of the players present did have a few complaints about the weather at the start of the session, but after playing for 5 minutes all that was forgotten.

According to Kris; "I'll be honest with you, I hate playing indoors. It's not football for me. I can understand that if there is a foot of snow laying on the ground then there is no alternative than to play inside, but otherwise there should be no reason why training outside on a nice pitch should be discontinued. As long as you don't stand around doing nothing then you should be able to keep warm enough. If  we would be in England then there would be no talk whatsoever of changing our plans because of the cold, so I don't see why, when we have so many ex-pats in the team, things should be any different here. Of course you get a few of the French who can't handle it, but that's the French way, isn't it? They're not exactly known for having any kind of toughness. But that's up to them. So, I'll see you next wednesday night, same time, same place. Than you, and good night."

Here at Deal-Real News, we completely agree with the sentiments of Mole. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Or, if you can't stand the cold, get out of the team. In fact, if you can't stand the cold, go to the hospital for gender reassignment because you are obviously not man enough to be playing the beautiful game.

 

Deal-Real News,

Ljubljana.

 

This past Saturday gave us something that we have been waiting for over 10 weeks to see; Kris Mole back amongst the goals.

He had been without a goal for the last 9 official matches, a situation which not many expected after such an electric pre-season for the young Brighton export.

The game was an official friendly away to Slovenian 4th division side, Ilirija. The weather was perfect for football although the pitchcould have done with a bit of work. After an opening 15-20 minutes which saw most of the play going to the home team, the score had been held by the visitors at 0-0. Then the tide semed to change and Ihan's players were really showing a real comfort on the ball, something which they have not always done in the past. Chapman went close after being put through by Mole, and then 5 minutes before the interval Mole went even closer. A throw-in found him on the right angle of the penalty box. After taking a touch to bring the ball under control, he then hit it on the half-volley and watched as it agonisingly hit the angle of the goal frame and bounced away to safety. The effort deserved a finish.

Into the second half and the game was still flowing in the favour of Ihan. Alan Chapman found himself running through on goal being persued by a defender. Instead of trying to take it all the way he lifted it beautifully over the keeper from a difficult angle and found the top corner. 1-0 Ihan.

The home team, clearly angry at going behind, then started to attack a bit more. Ihan's defence held firm, and with Ilirija throwing men forward switched to a counter-attack game. The move paid off 5 minutes later when Ihan winger Phillippe lifted the ball from the flank into the Ilirija penalty area to where Mole had made a quick darted run. The striker pulled the ball out of the air with his first touch and calmly placed it in the bottom corner with his second. 2-0 Ihan.

Maybe Ihan became a bit complacent after that second goal because 10 minutes from the end of the game they found the score level at 2-2. It wouldn't matter too much though in the end, because the away team simply raised their game again. Five minutes before the end debutant, Robi found himself through on goal and he made no mistake with the finsih, stroking it past the keeper into the bottom corner. And then with Ilirija pushing hard for the equaliser, Mole again made a good run into the box which wasn't picked up, got onto the end of a long throw-in, and lashed the ball into the net from 6 yards out and from a tight angle. 4-2 Ihan. Game over.

We caught up with Mole this Monday morning to see how he saw things. He gave us this;

"Finally. Finally, I'm back in the goals. It feels good, boys. I always had faith in my ability and I knew that it would come eventually, but the longer it went on the harder it became, you know. After I hit the bar in the first half I thought to myself 'Here we go again. It's not gonna be your day.' So when I did actually get that first goal in the second half, I felt relief more than anything. I knew as soon as I saw Phillippe in that position that if he could just get to the bal first I would get on the end of it and not make any mistakes in dispatching it. The second goal was a lot easier, I couldn't really miss, but it was still a nice feeling to see it hit the back of the net. Hopefully I've gone some way to silencing my critics who have been quite hard on me over the past couple of months. I know though, that if I really want to silence them completely, I need to get a few more in the next couple of weeks. I wish that I could play another game today and then again tomorrow, just to bang a few more in. I feel good. Believe me when I say, the second half of the league season will be nothing like the first half. With some of our new additions to the squad, we are going to be a real force."

From everyone here at Deal-Real News, Congratulations Kris, and congratulations Ihan Finance. We look forward to continuing the journey with you.

 

Deal-Real News Agency,

Ljubljana

 

It was the last league game before the winter break kicks in, and after their heroics in their previous match Ihan Finance were expecting to finish the half-season on a high by taking all three points against Termit.

The conditions couldn't have been any more perfect in the town of Moravče, 28 kilometres from Ljubljana, as the sun was shining, the playing surface was immaculate, and the facilities were very good.

The game didn't go as Ihan were hoping, as they found themselves trailing just a couple of minutes into the game after conceding a goal directly from a corner kick.

Although the score at half-time was 2-0 Ihan certainly hadn't been outplayed in the first half, and were expecting to go out into the second period and make a good fightback. Unfortunately another early goal, this time in the first minute of the second half effectively killed the game. Kris Mole was taken off in the 60th minute, much to his visible disappointment.

Ihan failed to cause any real problem for the home team in the final 30 minutes, and the final pain came when Termit knocked in their fourth of the afternoon.

Final score 4-0 to Termit. At least now Ihan Finance have a long winter break to hopefully put things right on the training pitch and in the gym before returning to league action in March.

 

 

Deal-Real News Agency,

Ljubljana

The absence of league fixtures this past saturday gave Ihan Finance a chance to try out a few new things in a friendly match played in Mengeš against a Slovenian 'celebrity' 11, including members of rock band Siddharta.

You would have thought that this match would be a walk-over for the division 5 outfit, but you would have been wrong. In fact they only just scraped to a 3-2 victory, thanks to an extremely rare occurence; A goal from David Ibbotson.

The pitch was terrible, the team was terrible, the attitude wasn't great, in fact the whole day was pretty much a non-event.

Kris Mole, who was substituted 10 minutes into the second half didn't even stay to watch the rest of the match, so pissed off was he at being taken from the pitch. He said this;

"There was nothing wrong with my attitude. The point is that I had some problems earlier in the morning which made it extremely hard for me to even get to the game. I asked the coach if it was really necessary that I come, and he told me that there was a big need for me as we didn't have enough players. Then I am taken off, so obviously wasn't so much in need. I know I didn't play well, that was due to the forementioned problems. Anyway, sometimes these things happen, but as far as I can see, playing against pop stars is not the way to be preparing for next week's league match."

 

Deal-Real News Agency,

Ljubljana