Hello dear friends, welcome to the first episode of Dorchester‘s adventure in Blue Square Premier. We got promoted last season against all odds, I brought in a few new faces during pre-season, now it’s time for the real deal, the first matches. I was extremely curious to see if my lads would be able to cope with the better players in the division. The pre-season friendlies left me in a pretty optimistic mood, let’s see what happened.
As you know the media prediction was not looking good for us, we were deemed to finish 24th which means last. Our first game was away at Crawley, a team that was predicted to end the season in 15th position. We started the game very well, we were in attack during the first minutes and it didn’t take us too long to convert that domination into a goal. Ten minutes into the game a quick exchange between strikers Dabu and Jivan left the second with only the keeper to beat, he placed the ball in to score our first goal in Blue Square Premier. We continued to play well and push forward and eventually Marius Dabu scored the second after latching on to a nice through ball from Dutch midfielder el Kadi. We kept things under control easily in the second half, we even missed a few more chances. It was a solid debut display, I was pleased.
We had another away game coming up, this time against a supposedly better team as Rushden were predicted to finish 5th. We had a good first half once again but this time striker Sergiu Jivan missed two great chances one on one with the opposition goalkeeper. We played even better in the second half but their keeper had a fantastic day, there was no way past him. We kept on pushing forward though and nearly got punished by a late counter attack. I was a bit frustrated because we should have won this game, we played much better than our opponents.
Our first home game of the season was coming up, 680 fans bought tickets to see us playing against Fleetwood, a team that was predicted to finish 21st. It took us only 15 minutes to score the opening goal, a very good and quick team move was coolly finished by striker Marius Dabu. Twenty minutes later one of Fleetwood‘s centre backs got sent off after bringing down Dabu who was through on goal. Things got easier with the one man advantage and we scored another two goals in the second half, both as a result of nice flowing team moves. We did concede our first goal of the season though, I guess my players relaxed a bit too much towards the end of the game.
The next game was at home against Altrincham, they were predicted to finish 18th. I was looking forward to another good performance from my lads and they didn’t let me down. They totally dominated the game and didn’t leave their opponents other options than shots from distance. Marius Dabu scored the opening goal after missing a couple of chances, then we doubled our lead thanks to a deflected shot and made it 3-0 after a team move was finished by right winger Domondi. I was quite impressed with the display, I didn’t expect my boys to play that well to be honest. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Sears
20 июня, 2010 at 11:57
Great start Johnny! Your team have dominated every game so far, lets hope that will continue. Your two strikers are doing very well, and that left back has been very impressive. If you don’t pick up any majors injuries, you should at least secure a play-off spot by the end of the season, or even a automatic promotion spot. Goodluck!
james
20 июня, 2010 at 13:36
hi what tactic are you useing would love to try it
Johnny Karp
20 июня, 2010 at 13:45
@Sears
Thanks mate, I hope my players will keep avoiding the physio :)
@James
You can download the tactic from here, let me know how it works for you.
@MO
Thanks a lot. Dabu is a hero, I hope he will be the league’s top goalscorer.
MO
20 июня, 2010 at 13:44
Excellent start, very impressive. I like Dabu and Molyneux looks good.
Good Luck ;-)
Laxeyman
20 июня, 2010 at 14:49
Brilliant start Johnny, the goals are really flowing, once again your strikers have been unstoppable. Hopefully you can keep it up all season and get promoted once again!
ravenie
20 июня, 2010 at 14:57
Shock Johnny as always predicted to finish last and defies the odds yet again, here we come League 2
Lye
20 июня, 2010 at 15:18
Though i know your team will do well, but that was an awesome start mate. Your Romanian strikers are firing all cylinders and i will be rubbing my hands for another great season from your Dorchester side.
Johnny Karp
20 июня, 2010 at 15:49
@Laxeyman, Ravenie and Lye
Thanks for sharing my optimistic mood, too bad I can’t show you one of the games to see how well the lads are playing :)
Sears
20 июня, 2010 at 17:55
Johnny, You know that tactic you told James to download, do you use it at both away and home games?
Johnny Karp
20 июня, 2010 at 18:11
@Sears
Yes, I don’t change the tactic for away games. I try to dictate the tempo rather than adjust to the opponent.
Sears
20 июня, 2010 at 18:58
Cheers Johnny.
Majk
20 июня, 2010 at 19:53
This is a wonderful start! Playing a lot better than my Basingstoke from what i understand. I’m developing a very odd tactic with a sweeper behind to central defenders. It even says ‘5-1-0-2-2’ in my profile for favourite tactic.
You’re really pushing for a promotion spot right off the bat.
Kevin Mayo
20 июня, 2010 at 20:31
Johnny
As I’m late to post I think all the superlatives have been taken so I’ll just say well done and keep it up!
I’m glad to see Lee Molyneux picking up an award.
Johnny Karp
20 июня, 2010 at 21:49
@Majk
I don’t know how well your team is playing but my boys surely played much better than I expected them to. There still is time for that to change though. Playing with a sweeper is a bit outdated or maybe old fashioned but as long as it works I guess it’s alright.
@Kevin
Thanks, Molyneux is keeping my other left back glued to the bench, I might consider rotating them soon.
dami
20 июня, 2010 at 22:10
wow…5 wins and a draw…you really are one of the best managers I’ve ever seen…
Sears
20 июня, 2010 at 22:28
Johnny, I’v started a new post post on my old blog again, so it would be great if you could add it in your links page…cheers mate…
Johnny Karp
20 июня, 2010 at 22:30
@dami
Thanks mate, the players do all the work, I just watch the games :)
@Sears
That’s good news, I’ll add it right now.
Sears
20 июня, 2010 at 22:38
Oh and one final thing.. Whats the name of the programme to take the pictures again…?
Johnny Karp
20 июня, 2010 at 22:43
It’s PicPick, I’m still using it.
Sears
20 июня, 2010 at 22:55
Thanks Johnny, I was searching all over the internet for it and looked back on countless of your posts because I remembered I asked you before,,, cheers mate!…
Vinners
20 июня, 2010 at 23:28
Nice one Johnny! Keep it up! And good luck for september