Hello dear friends, the first matches as a professional team for my Dorchester were ready to begin! I managed to bring in 13 players during pre-season but I didn’t know what to expect as I didn’t have too much knowledge about the actual level of play in League Two. You can imagine how curious I was to see my team in action, I hope you’re curious to see how our first month went too.
The media predicted that we would finish last, as usual :) Our first game was away at Bury, a team that was predicted to finish 19th. The first minutes of the game were quite painful to watch for me, Bury were dominating and eventually took the lead with a fine shot into the top corner from just inside the penalty area. We were not playing very well and under such circumstances you have to make the most out of the chances you might have. We did have a huge one ten minutes before half time but it was wasted. I made all three substitutions at half time and the team started to play much better but the finishing was still quite poor. Bury doubled the lead following a throw in, my defenders seemed to be thinking about their holidays, wives, girlfriends, anything other than marking their opponents. Striker Omar Koroma managed to claw one back for us 14 minutes from time, he displayed some good footwork to skip past his marker and then powered it in from inside the area. We pushed forward to get the equalizer but the ball just wouldn’t go in, so our first game in League Two ended with a defeat. Captain Ryan Carolan got injured and was going to be out for three weeks, a perfect start…
We had a more difficult game coming up in the Carling Cup, away at League One side Coventry. This time we got off to a great start and Polish striker Kazmierowski gave us the lead 13 minutes into the game with a perfect shot from just inside the area to round off a flowing team move. Our joy was short lived though, Coventry equalized with a fabulous shot from 30 yards out and then, a few minutes later, took the lead with a fine header. Our reaction was weak and the game was as good as over at half time. We didn’t wake up after the break either and Coventry managed to seal the game thanks to a bizarre penalty kick, the ball wasn’t anywhere near the penalty area when the referee blew his whistle. Beating Coventry was an unlikely possibility anyway so I wasn’t too harsh on the lads.
Back to League Two, our next game was at home with promotion contenders Northampton, a team that was predicted to finish 3rd. It was our first home game of the season and I was pleased to see that more than 2000 fans came to watch the game and encourage the lads. My players took control of the game right from the start, we were pushing forward and the opponents were making some very rough tackles to stop our attacking moves. I was expecting to see a red card sooner or later and it finally came in the 31st minute, we had a man advantage but we still had to get something on the scoreboard. That finally came true three minutes before half time, striker Omar Koroma banged one in from inside the penalty area. Four minutes after the break another good flowing team move gave Kazmierowski the opportunity to score from inside the box and he didn’t miss. We were totally in control of the game and should have scored a few more to please our fans. Instead of scoring we conceded one due to a huge error in defense but we never looked like losing it.
We had our first win of the season and a lot more confidence to take into the next game, away at Port Vale, another promotion contender that was predicted to finish 6th. The team looked fairly solid during the first 10 minutes, we were dominating the game and were rewarded for that in the 11th minute when Bulgarian winger Mladenov rounded off a team move with a splendid volley from inside the penalty area. Our first half display was quite pleasing, Port Vale didn’t manage to get any shots at all, on or off target! We kept things under control after the interval too and we could have doubled the lead but the finishing was rather poor. 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
21 июля, 2010 at 13:53
That is a wonderful start Johnny! Despite that opening defeat to Bury your team managed to respond quickly and win the next 4 leaguen games. Hopefully your Dorchester team can continue picking up wins and I’m sure you will get promoted. Goodluck!
java
21 июля, 2010 at 16:07
well… for a newly promoted team,
it’s a good start johnny. u’re the best,
by the way.
i think, maybe «the shot»s story will be over.
the game couldn’t be loaded. :(
do you know what happenned?
Laxeyman
21 июля, 2010 at 16:33
Good start Johnny, you bounced back impressively from the opening day defeat, well done. The finishing seems a little worrying, but hopefully your strikers can start banging them in next month, and earn you some good wins. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
21 июля, 2010 at 16:54
@Sears
Thanks for your optimism and good wishes.
@Java
Sorry to hear that, probably the save game file is corrupted. There is no solution other than having a backup save file. I always select rolling autosave to multiple files to prevent such problems.
@Laxeyman
Thanks mate, I am looking forward to better performances from my strikers.
java
21 июля, 2010 at 16:59
yea… i get it. thanks mate..
i think i’m going to make another game.
i’ll post it tomorrow. don’t forget to take a look… ;)
MO
21 июля, 2010 at 17:54
Excellent start! And guess what, i am from Bury and they beat you :-)
Darren
21 июля, 2010 at 18:47
Well done Johnny, some fantastic results their. 4 wins from five games so early on is amazing. Your players will still need time to settle so we could see even better thing to come. Just remember you heard it here first. Dorchester for the play-offs, you’ll probably get top 3 after I’ve said that.
Anyway well done Johnny
Johnny Karp
21 июля, 2010 at 19:02
@Java
OK, I’m looking forward to your new career.
@MO
Thanks, Bury beat us and then recorded four straight defeats, an opposite run compared to ours.
@Darren
Thanks a lot for your confidence. Normally the team should play better once the new players will settle in but that’s just theory. The pitch will tell the truth.
Cal
21 июля, 2010 at 19:05
Unlucky in not having the best start but hopefully you can turn it around and win the legue!!
Good Luck!
chris @ chester
21 июля, 2010 at 20:43
See I told you that you wouldnt have much trouble in league 2. You can put the Bury match down to your players gelling, thats what i would do :-)
Kevin Mayo
21 июля, 2010 at 21:19
Hi Johnny
Well fater a little hiccup at the start you soon got into your stride and guided the team to second place with some solid victories. Revy Rosalia always seems to be recommended in my games so I think he should do well for you. Great start!
Johnny Karp
21 июля, 2010 at 21:31
@Cal
Thanks for the good wishes but we were not unlucky during the first game, we deserved to lose it.
@Chris @ Chester
Well, I guess they didn’t gel right after those two initial defeats but it could be an explanation :)
@Kevin
Thanks Kevin, Rosalia is just one of the players that impressed me and I hope that the other ones will give me reasons to praise them in the future updates.
mark
21 июля, 2010 at 22:10
hi johnny, i am only 18 years old and been reading your blog for the past 6 months and i am impressed about your managment skills and desicion making in your notts co and dorchester game.
i being a soccer fan since 5 years old and been playing footballmanger when it was the 07 version. i was wondering about the website staff members. Are they all adults (including you) with careesr and doing the fun out of this game by blogging or am i wrong which they are some students within your staff?
anyway, good luck on your dorchester game, sorry my english is not that good……
Johnny Karp
21 июля, 2010 at 22:48
@Mark
Thanks a lot for following the stories. About members of the footballmanagerstory.com team, I don’t have everybody’s resume but there are a few students too, even younger than you. As for me, I’m 30 years old with a job and so on but that doesn’t stop me from loving Football Manager.
mark
22 июля, 2010 at 00:06
man i wish i could join your team of writters.
keep it up with dorchester
Johnny Karp
22 июля, 2010 at 07:19
Mark, I can tell you that you’re not the only one that wants to join the team :) I received quite a few applications lately and unfortunately I had to turn a few people down. Anyway, you can send me an email and we can talk about it if you really want it. The address is johnny[at]footballmanagerstory[dot]com
Sears
22 июля, 2010 at 00:26
@Johnny, is there any chance you could show us your coaching staff in your next post? Like something similar to what Kevin did in his Wehen post, just a picture of there attributes! Thanks mate if it’s not a problem.
Johnny Karp
22 июля, 2010 at 07:20
Sears, do you mean the Training>Coaches screen? I can do that, no problem.
Lye
22 июля, 2010 at 10:54
Good response for the team mate, recovering well to win 4 games in a row. I will be waiting to see how your team will end up this season. I am pretty sure most likely its going to be another successful one. Good luck.
java
22 июля, 2010 at 13:02
Hey, Johnny my new career starts.
I decided to take control of Aldershot again, with a better player i found from another league game i’ve played before.
http://kickinorder.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-new-shots.html
thanks for the tips sir, good luck with dorchester anyway. ;)
Sears
22 июля, 2010 at 13:39
@Johnny, yes, thats it. Thanks.
Johnny Karp
22 июля, 2010 at 19:47
@Lye
Thanks for the kind words mate, I hope you will be proven right again at the end of the season :)
@Sears
OK, I just made the screen shot, it will be in the next post.