Alphabet Challenge | Part 4, Club 1 | Unxpected Opportunity

After six months of life as a Football Manager, Trebor Mahtal had led beleaguered SK Super Nova to comfortable safety in Latvia’s top-tier Virslīga. The Zambian now faced a major early challenge in his young career as he aimed to strengthen his first club for a stronger showing.

Those new arrivals forced Mahtal towards a formation change, pushing Guevara up front alongside big man Markuss ‘The Krug’ Kruglauzs. New boys Melniks and Pena will patrol the midfield with Crespo coming in to effectively create a solid three-man defence and Silence and last season’s star man Heythem Kerbache providing the wide threat.

Hoping To Look Up The Virslīga Table

The Latvian bookies certainly rated Mahtal’s transfer business, predicting Super Nova to finish 6th and slashing their title odds to just 25/1. That said, Mahtal was starting to believe competing in Latvia’s top tier wasn’t overly lucrative – that’s right, the league is offering negative prize money!

Super Nova began Mahtal’s first full season with a tough trip to league favourites Riga. But two of their new signings announced themselves in style as Silence’s floated pass was volleyed in from 25 yards by Guevara. They were in dreamland after 10 minutes as The Krug poked home Kerbache’s cross, only to immediately concede and then miss a penalty. Having dominated the first half, Super Nova failed to have a shot in the second and conceded a deserved equalise – but a 2-2 at Riga was a great result.

They took the positives into a 4-1 home thumping of Tukums with the strikeforce of The Krug and Guevara both scoring again, then nicked a 1-1 at Liepaja. Next up were title hopefuls RFS, who had 11 shots in the first 20 minutes, injured Guevara, scored their 19th shot and strolled to a 3-0 win after 29 shots. Obregón performed well on debut as Melniks scored his first goal in a 3-1 win at promoted Spartaks before Kerbache tore Valmiera apart. Another big game followed at home to holders Auda, who fell behind early but dominated, turned the game around before halftime and won 3-1.

Some of the matches early in the season were crazy, including a home game against Riga in which Super Nova fought back from 2-0 down, immediately conceded again and equalised with Kerbache’s penalty just before the break. Centre back Marcis Oss doubled his tally to put them in front for the first time before Guevara slammed in a fifth. They then gave away a penalty and hung on to win 5-4!

Guevara found his scoring boots with braces against Liepaja and Valmiera, before Kerbache hit a hat-trick in a 5-1 thumping of struggling Spartaks. Those results were indicative of Super Nova’s improvement and they were starting to dominate teams, including racking up 28 shots and 3.28 xG as they hammered Tukums 5-1 led by Silence’s brace and a goal and two assists by Kerbache.

Challenging For European Qualification

Despite their improvement, Super Nova were still massively struggling to get anything out of the big three of Auda, Riga and RFS. However, they were very much in a fight for fourth place, trailing Liepaja by 3 points after 20 games. Mahtal moved on winger Ballesteros to Canada for a new club record fee of £20k and replaced him by bringing last season’s loanee Lasha Odisharia back from RFS.

A dominant 2-0 win over Dinamo (R) lifted Super Nova into the top four for the first time in Mahtal’s reign with 14 games remaining. The Krug’s brace earned a 2-1 win at Metta before earning a point at Valmiera then the biggest win of Mahtal’s time at the club in yet another thriller. Champions Auda twice took the lead only to be pegged back by two Pena assists and Kerbache’s penalty was cancelled out just after half time. The game calmed down but midfielder Janis Vilnitis volleyed his first for the club before Guevara raced through to kill it off, which sealed the highest finish in Super Nova history with 11 games remaining.

That big win sparked an Auda collapse, which saw Super Nova climb above them to the unexpected heights of 3rd with eight games remaining. A tired squad lost 4-3 to Liepaja and 4-1 at leaders RFS but rested up ahead of Melniks’ late goal defeating Spartaks 2-1 despite having 30 shots to 8 and a hat trick by homegrown striker Deniss Krollis leading a 5-1 thumping of Dinamo. They went on to wrap up 4th place comfortably ahead of a dismal Auda, finishing with 69 points after 21 wins, 6 draws and 9 defeats, scoring a joint-high 103 goals and conceding 68.

Another Latvian Cup Run

Predictably, the other big three side followed as they faced Riga and started well as The Krug fired in from a narrow angle then teed up Guevara to smash home a stunner from 20 yards. Riga scored early after the break only for Silence to go down the right straight from the kickoff and curl home a third. They continued to boss the game and guaranteed victory as The Krug doubled his tally by heading in Bilaly Diallo’s looping cross. Super Nova fans hailed their two goal and two assist hero, screaming “Kruuuuug” as the players were heralded for reaching the club’s first-ever cup final!

The Latvijas Kauss Final oddly took place on a Wednesday evening, so Mahtal rotated the first 11 for the preceding league game. Winning this game would allow Mahtal to tick off S on his Alphabet Challenge after just two seasons in Latvia, making this the biggest match in his career and Super Nova history. he had no injury concerns so lined up:

Obregón; Crespo, Maes, Oss, Diallo; Pena, Melniks; Silence, Kerbache; Kruglauzs, Guevara
Subs: Ostapenko, Soloha, Donoso, Vilnitis, Rudenko, Odisharia, Litvinskis

Super Nova started brightly as Guevara and Kerbache both missed two decent chances and, predictably, Spartaks scored with their first attack. Mahtal laid into the team at halftime and got an immediate response as Silence crossed for Guevara to tap in from six yards. They continued to boss the game and moved in front on 65 minutes as Kerbache seized on a loose ball and slotted a shot neatly into the top corner. Super Nova continued to have shot after shot while Spartaks offered nothing and, fittingly, The Krug killed the game off by heading home Oss’ cross.

Super Nova won Latvijas Kauss and Mahtal ticked S off his Alphabet Challenge!

Leaving Super Nova On A High

Mahtal had developed a real affinity for Super Nova over the last 18 months, steering the club clear of survival and pushing for European football before winning the Latvian Cup. However, days after celebrating the cup success, Mahtal announced his intention to depart the club at the end of the season and his contract. S was complete, the board wasn’t allowing him to do a coaching course and the club was in a mess financially. So he had to leave to further his career.

Guevara proved an inspired signing, leading the SuperNova goalscoring chart with 24 in 36 plus 8 assists. The Krug impressed with 20 goals and 8 assists, but Kerbache was again superb with 16 goals and 21 assists in 37 games. Oss scored 15 from centre back and Silence scored 10 with 14 assists.

Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball, Mahtal head his held high as he celebrated his Latvian success. In his time at Super Nova, Mahtal played 62 games, won 35, drew 9 and lost just 18, scoring 149 and conceding 104. The cup win allowed him to tick S off his list, as portrayed below. The next step was to spin the Magic Alphabet Wheel and go in search of club two.

Where would Mahtal end up on the second leg of his Alphabet Challenge? Join us on Monday to find out!