Dorchester Town Story — February 2012

Hello dear friends, welcome back to Dorchester! The story continues into February 2012 with high hopes of getting promotion to League One after ending January top of the table and 12 points clear of the second placed team. We also had the Johnstone’s Trophy on our mind after a good 2-2 away draw in the first leg of the Southern section final. Let’s see what went on in February.

We kicked off the month with a home game against 15th placed Darlington, it should have been fairly easy but it turned out to be pretty complicated. That was all due to Mimoun El Kadi‘s two-footed tackle eight minutes into the game, he got sent off and I decided to take out one of the two strikers and set the team in a 4-4-1 set up. That was a mistake though, Darlington had no intentions to attack, we dominated the game but missed three clear cut chances until half time. I made another tactical change at half time, sent in another striker and converted to a 4-3-2 set up since Darlington were not attacking at all. We kept our opponents under pressure and eventually it paid off, Omar Koroma fired in a banana shot from 20 yards out straight into the top corner. We finally had some defending to do during the last 10 minutes and we stood firm, no problems at all.

Next up we had to travel to meet 13th placed Chesterfield. The first half was entirely ours, we kept piling on the pressure and my two strikers managed to convert that consistent play into two goals by half time. We found ourselves under pressure after the break, Chesterfield were trying to get back into the game, but captain Ryan Carolan lifted the siege with another fine corner kick header. The third goal unleashed my lads, the fans witnessed a superb display after that goal but unfortunately we didn’t find the net again.

The most important game of the month was coming up, the second leg of the Johnstone’s Trophy South final against League One side Gillingham. We had a pretty good away leg and managed to clinch a 2-2 draw, all we had to do was to defend that away goals advantage. The team started the game with great determination, I was quietly optimistic after the first 10 minutes but I surely wasn’t hoping to lead 2-0 10 minutes later. Omar Koroma was the man behind the success, first he set up right winger McKay for the first goal and then he scored the second himself after a beautiful counter attack run. Then we went on to miss a couple of chances and Gillingham woke up a few minutes before half time, they produced a solid reaction and eventually managed to claw one back a few minutes before the interval. I urged my players not to get careless in the second half, we still had to fight to go through to the final. Gillingham started pushing forward after half time and my goalkeeper, Daniel Tudor, pulled off a couple of great saves to deny them. We finally got our chance to strike on a counter attack in the 67th minute, McKay was inside the box but got tackled and the referee pointed to the spot! Simon Ferry stepped up, he took a decent penalty kick too, but Gillingham‘s keeper stretched and palmed it away! I was fearing the worse at that point but a couple of minutes later substitute midfielder Jason Mycoe settled the game with a fine diving header from inside the six yard box! We took control of the game after that goal, Gillingham were unable to react and we even missed another good chance to score. We were going to Wembley, the final is going to be played on the 25th of March and we’ll get to meet another League One side, Peterborough.

Back to the league then, our next game was away at 8th placed Cambridge. The first half was rather poor, we had the possession but our attacks were very predictable and wasteful. In fact, we didn’t manage to get any shots on target until half time. Things changed after the break thanks to substitute winger Mladenov, he netted two goals and generally looked lively on his flank. Rhys Murphy also managed to get one in and new striker Pedro came off the bench to net his first ever goal for the club. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

We were back at Avenue Stadium for the next game, 10th placed Crewe were coming to face us. They had no chance though, we took the game to them right from the start and left winger Rosalia scored the opener at the half hour mark, he rifled it in with a great thundering strike from the edge of the area. We should have scored a few more but eventually managed to get another two in, Kazmierowski netted a diving header and captain Carolan made his presence count yet again on a corner kick.

The last game of the month was away at 16th placed Torquay, obviously not managed by our friend Kevin in my game :) I still remembered the home game that we played against them in October, it was a bizarre game that ended with our first home defeat of the season as Torquay won 4-3. This time it was all different, the game was all over by the 20th minute. We took the lead 9 minutes into the game thanks to a poacher’s effort from Kazmierowski and two minutes later Torquay found themselves one man down after a professional foul. Omar Koroma wrapped things up with a superb header and the the game cooled off significantly.

Our lead is quite impressive now, 17 points! I guess we’ll win the league, I can’t see how we could lose all those points.

Australian midfielder Chris Herd was named League Two Player of the Month, I was very happy for him. He started the season as a backup player but his performances convinced me that he deserves a few more runs in the first team lately. He is a former youth international, raised at Aston Villa but never got the chance to play for the first team at Villa Park. He was loaned out to several League One and League Two sides over the years and now he finally seems to have found the right place for him.

With promotion almost secured next month’s highlight will be the Johnstone’s Trophy final at Wembley, I’m surely looking forward to that.

That’s how it went folks, probably one of the best months of the season so far. Thanks for reading, see you at the title celebrations :)