Dorchester Town Story: End Of Season Number 6

Hello dear friends, it’s time to find out whether my Dorchester Town held on for an Europa League spot or not. As you know February and March were quite painful for me and my team, we got beaten on a regular basis and only managed to clinch a win at the end of March. Despite that poor run we were still in 6th place with Sunderland and Birmingham just four points behind us. Now let’s see if we managed to hang in there or not.

Unfortunately the first game of April was against league leaders Chelsea, the most likely candidates to winning the Premier League at the end of the season. The Blues were coming from four straight wins but we had nothing to lose, I was hoping for a good performance and maybe a lucky point. Luck seemed to be with us right from the start as my lads were looking confident in pushing forward: four minutes into the game Dacian Varga had a shot parried by Cech but Jonathan Ezquerro was in the right place at the right time and pushed the ball in! We took the lead but things were not looking too well, Chelsea were pushing forward and the equalizer was just a matter of time. Gourcuff fired in a double on either side of the half time break in what was looking to be an one-sided affair. We did have a few good moments and we even dominated the last 10 minutes of the game but our best chance went to waste 30 seconds before the final whistle when Packie Doolin headed the ball over the bar from point blank range.

I was not upset, I saw that defeat coming. I was hoping for much more from the next game though, at home with 17th placed Stoke. We were in control of the first half but there were no clear chances for us apart from a long shot by Dacian Varga which rattled the crossbar. We finally took the lead three minutes into the second half when Jonathan Ezquerro (his form was more and more impressive) sidestepped a defender and placed the ball in. Stoke didn’t have much to show so we held on to that lead quite easily and grabbed the very important three points.

We had another home game coming up, I was hoping to get a win over Middlesbrough with the help of our fans. The first half display was quite worrying though, Boro were dominating us physically and they were winning most of the tackles and headers. Their superiority on the pitch was not converted on the scoreboard before half time, they missed two clear chances. We had a few better moments after the break but the visitors took the lead following another piece of poor defending from my lads. I was running out of ideas, I was just sitting there waiting for the game to end when Jonathan Ezquerro banged in another one, totally against the run of play! I wasn’t even hoping for that anymore so I pulled the team back to defend that point. We had to survive a great deal of pressure during the final minutes but my lads hung in there and we clinched a point. Middlesbrough surely deserved to win the game though, we have to admit that.

The last game in April was away at 14th placed Hull City, I was quietly hoping to get at least another point. The game ended in disaster for us but it was even before the hour mark. We had a pair of chances early on, then Hull took the lead but the game was still in the balance. Something happened after we let in the second goal, the team literally crumbled and Hull were all over the pitch. It was looking like a game between Barcelona and a League Two team (with us being the L2 side, of course)! We conceded three goals in less than 10 minutes but it could have been far worse, Hull had countless chances as my boys were looking like they were just starting to play football!

Despite that heavy beating we were still 6th but Birmingham were closing in on us, they were just one point behind.

And as you can see the last game of the season was going to be against Birmingham, we just had to hang in until then and battle it out directly with them for the last 90 minutes. Go to the next page to see how we did in May.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Luckily our first game in May was at home with bottom of the table Newcastle. They were by far the weakest team in the league and they didn’t have anything left to fight for since they were already relegated. We just had to win this game and we did thanks to a double from Sean Scannell inside the first 15 minutes of the game, he ended a long goal drought in style! Packie Doolin came off the bench to wrap it up after the break, I was relieved to get those three points.

At that point we were sure of finishing 7th but the fight with Birmingham for the 6th position still wasn’t settled.

Our next game was an impossible one, away at Old Trafford with defending champions Manchester United. Our poor form didn’t leave too much room for hopes and when United scored the opening goal four minutes into the game it seemed that we were bound for another good beating. My lads reacted pretty well though and Jonathan Ezquerro hit the net again after a quick exchange with Sean Scannell, we were level at half time! We continued to play pretty well until the hour mark again but then, as it happened against Hull, the opposition ran us ragged. There was not just one cause for that but two: firstly we were having fitness problems and some players were unable to keep up the tempo during the last half hour and secondly it was also about confidence, the team was unrecognizable after United‘s second goal.

Following that terrible beating at Old Trafford Birmingham leapfrogged us into 6th place: both teams had 56 points but they had a better goal difference. So we had to win the final game of the season, at home with our season-long rivals Birmingham. We managed to get three points from the away game in December, we beat them 2-1 back then, so I was hoping to do it again. The circumstances were a lot different though, we were in a much worse shape than last winter. We had a pretty good first half, we dominated the game but there was just one clear chance and unfortunately Laszlo Tamasi failed to convert it. I was afraid of the second half because of the poor fitness of my players but Birmingham were not looking much better either. We were not able to push forward as we should have done though, I wasn’t hoping for too much when the game entered its final 10 minutes. We pulled it off though thanks to a great counter attack run by Liam Parker, his shot was blocked by the keeper but Jonathan Ezquerro was there once again to push the ball in! Despite the fatigue the team received a big lift and we could easily have doubled the lead before the final whistle, we made it!

We qualified for the Europa League, an unexpected achievement that seemed to slip away from us because of the poor form that we displayed during the last four months.

We have to admit that we were lucky to finish 6th with 59 points though, that doesn’t happen very often. Chelsea dominated the league and clinched the title while Newcastle, Burnley and West Ham were relegated.

Liam Parker was our best player of the season, he scored 16 goals and made 14 assists. Goalkeeper Davide La Rocca had the most appearances (43) while Packie Doolin was our best worker, he has an average of 13.4 kilometers per 90 minutes! Iulian Marin was quite solid in midfield though and his tackle rate illustrates that, 4.06 tackles per game. The team will need massive improvements though, especially in defense.

I had no chance to approach players with expiring contracts though, the board was giving me only 4,000 per week for a key player and most of my transfer targets were asking for more than 10K. I have to wait until the new wage budget will be in place but until then I brought in some more staff, including the England Under 19 manager! Some youngsters in the national team might like him enough to join Dorchester if needed, that’s what I thought! :)

The board announced yet another stadium expansion so we’ll be moving to Southampton for a while again.

That’s how the season ends my friends, thanks a lot for your support during this adventure. We’ll be playing European football next season but we’ll have a lot of work to do during the summer to improve the squad for that challenge. Next season might be my last FM 2010 term but I didn’t make a decision yet. It all depends on how much time I will have to play the game in the following weeks and, judging by my current schedule, I doubt I’ll be able to play more than a season. We’ll see..

Until then, please vote for the team that you would want me to manage in FM 2011, you can cast your vote in the «Poll» section located in the right sidebar.  (thanks to all of those who already voted! :) Since we’re talking about Football Manager 2011 I have some news for you: I will try to publish an exclusive FM 2011 preview tomorrow since I already had the chance to play a preview version of the game, courtesy of Sports Interactive! I played it for a few hours and for now I can just tell you that it’s a great game, definitely worth buying!(you can pre-order your copy from here)

I will also announce a new feature that you will be able to enjoy on the website starting tomorrow so stay in touch ;)