Dorchester Town Story — January 2010

Hello dear friends and welcome to a fresh episode of the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story! I am slowly recovering from the long and tiring trip, I am still a bit short on sleep but I hope to make a full recovery during the week end. Back to the story then, my Dorchester were top of the table at the end of 2009, four points clear of the second placed team and with a game in hand. It was a big surprise for everybody in Blue Square South and a big reason for our fans to be optimistic. Let’s see if we managed to keep up the pace in January.

The first game of the new year was away at our fierce rivals, Weymouth, but since they were down in 21st place I was hoping for a convincing win. Our game was surely made easier by the sending off of one of Weymouth‘s players during the first half but we only managed to capitalize on our domination after the interval. We scored three goals in the last 45 minutes, all of them came as a result of nicely orchestrated team moves and I was extremely pleased about that. The players were passing the ball around with ease and we could have easily scored a few more goals.

Our next game was at home against our friend Lye‘s beloved Thurrock. But since Lye isn’t managing them in my game it was fairly easy for my team to prevail, we kept the game under control throughout the 90 minutes. We managed to score two goals, both of them coming from striker Alexandru Almani whose good movement off the ball allowed him to bang in two placed shots after latching on to through balls. The team was looking unbeatable, I was surprised and impressed.

Some bad news disrupted my optimism, my board refused to find us a parent club yet again… I can’t understand why but they did. I made offers to loan several players from higher divisions but only one of them accepted to join us for a few months, Brighton‘s midfielder Jamie Smith. He will surely add some quality to our midfield but I was hoping to bring in a couple more players.

Next up, an away game at mid-table side St. Albans. The team produced yet another good solid performance and striker Sergiu Jivan gave us the lead in the first half with a placed finish. The last 45 minutes saw the other striker, Marius Dabu, unleashing all his talent and netting his first hat-trick for the club. So far, so good: three wins out of three games, nine goals scored and none conceded! Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

Back to the Avenue Stadium for the last home game of the month, bottom of the table Staines were coming to visit. The team produces a less flamboyant performance, perhaps due to the muddy pitch, but we still managed to prevail. Striker Sergiu Jivan gave us the lead with a stunning shot from inside the area, straight into the top corner. Then centre back Ryan Carolan headed home his fourth goal of the season from a corner kick, he is becoming one of my favorite players.

The last game of the month was away at relegation threatened Weston-super-Mare, I was hoping to conclude this awesome month with another win. The team’s display was not very convincing this time though, we allowed the opposition to come very close to scoring on a few occasions. Luckily striker Marius Dabu was in great shape and he made the difference in the second half after missing two huge chances in the first 45 minutes. You remember that I bought him in December and until now he scored no less than seven goals in six appearances, highly effective!

We were still top of the table, obviously, and the gap was now up to 9 points! We still have a game in hand too, so not getting promoted after such a good start would be a disaster.

We’ll have only four games to play next month, starting with a tough home battle against 4th placed Bromley.

That’s how things went, I am quite pleased that we managed to grab five consecutive wins without conceding, that should give the team a big confidence boost. I will be looking to further extend our lead and have a quiet last couple of months this season. Injuries could be the only thing that could stop us from getting promoted now, at least that’s what I think. Thanks a lot for reading this new episode, I’m looking forward to your comments.

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