Hello folks, I’m happy to bring you another episode of the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story! I’ve had a few troublesome days lately with hardly any time for football, FM or… life in general so I’ve been postponing writing this post. Now it’s here, I hope you’ll enjoy it. My Dorchester were the surprise package in League One, that’s beyond doubt, we were top of the table at the end of 2012! We had a slim margin over second placed Coventry, only one point, but we were 10 points clear of the third placed team and that was quite pleasing.
The first game of the new year was away at mid-table Bournemouth and things set out nicely 12 minutes into the match when one of their centre backs was sent off for a professional foul on Peter Singh, my striker was clean through on a counter attack. We had a poor first half though, Bournemouth dominated the game despite the one man disadvantage. We were looking more lively after the break and midfielder Al Bangura saw a good shot smashing against the crossbar. We broke the deadlock on 76 minutes when a cross from Omar Koroma was headed in by Craig Carlisle (I managed to extend his loan deal until the end of the season, he surely is an asset for the team). I thought the game was all over but 10-man Bournemouth decided to go all out attack, they switched their formation to an incredible 4-1-4 and started pouring forward. Goalkeeper Gabriel Nicolau pulled off a couple of stunning saves and we won the game but hats off to Bournemouth for their great display of determination and courage.
Next up, a home game against 14th placed Colchester, a game that we had to win. We had a poor first half again but Omar Koroma managed to score the opening goal from the penalty spot after he was brought down inside the box. The team improved after that goal but we missed a couple of good chances before Colchester scored the equalizer on a counter attack, just one minute before half time. We started pushing forward after the break, created numerous chances but some unbelievable goalkeeping kept the match level. I was already settling for the frustrating result when Tiberiu Paduraru whipped in a good looking cross that Craig Carlisle banged in on the volley! It was a last minute goal that brought us a thoroughly deserved three points.
The following match was away at relegation threatened MK Dons, they were sitting 20th and not looking too confident. My team got off to a poor start yet again though and our opponents took the lead on 18 minutes. And they deserved to be in the lead too! They dominated the game until half time but Omar Koroma managed to bring us back on level terms all by himself, he skipped past his marker and powered the ball right into the roof of the net. I was disappointed by that first half performance but that was all in the past after watching the second half: my lads turned on the style and overran their opponents with Omar Koroma, Al Bangura and Aleksandar Mladenov getting on the score sheet. All the four goals came as a result of good flowing team moves, I was quite pleased with that.
The next game appeared to be another easy one as we were playing bottom of the table team Exeter at home. They were on a dismal run of 16 games without a win and they came at the Avenue Stadium with the intention of defending and maybe grabbing a point. They parked the bus right from the start of the game and didn’t move it until the final whistle. Centre back Joseba Barbero provided the break through on the half hour mark, he made his strength count in a corner kick scuffle and pushed the ball in. The second half saw another shining performance from substitute winger Aleksandar Mladenov, he came off the bench and scored with two well placed headers. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Darren Smith
25 августа, 2010 at 11:48
Hey Johnny, well done on another fantastic month. You have established a wealthy lead in League 1. It cant be long till your promoted now. Well done on balancing the books aswell, hopefully the board will show some gratitude and offer a reasonable transfer budget. Keep up the good work and I’m looking forward to you title party!
Johnny Karp
25 августа, 2010 at 16:15
Thanks Darren, Coventry seem to have lost their tempo so I guess things should be wrapped up shortly, that is if we manage to keep up the pace.
Laxeyman
25 августа, 2010 at 12:17
Well done Johnny, you’ve all but guaranteed promotion now, with that sort of lead I can’t see anything bad happening :) Well done and good luck in the JPT.
Johnny Karp
25 августа, 2010 at 16:13
Thanks Laxeyman, I can’t really see anything that bad happening now either.
Sears
25 августа, 2010 at 13:42
Hey Johnny,
regarding your »on» and »off field success» that was a wonderful month. You managed to open a 10 point gap and you sold some players to balance out the wage budget. Well done mate. Promotion will be secured in about 6-9 games. By the way, how much of the transfer income do you recieve, is it still only like 10%?
Johnny Karp
25 августа, 2010 at 16:12
Thanks Sears. I think that they give me around 20% now but I moved all the income into the wage budget anyway.
Lye
25 августа, 2010 at 14:33
Hi mate, no chance you are going to let that lead slip away. The promotion will be more or less confirm as you never let those big gaps slip away. Good job from the players and you. Hopefully the promotion will be secured by March. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
25 августа, 2010 at 16:11
Thanks Lye, I’m quite confident that we won’t let the promotion slip through our fingers. It would be a shame after such a good first part of the season.
Kevin Mayo
25 августа, 2010 at 18:55
Hi Johnny
What a fantastic month. Promotion is almost assured with this type of form. good job in the transfer market and I wish you well for the return match against Plymouth. Great job!
Johnny Karp
25 августа, 2010 at 20:42
Thanks Kevin, it was an almost perfect month, only a win at Plymouth would have made it 100% perfect. I think we can settle things in the home leg though.
hils
26 августа, 2010 at 07:57
Well done Johnny. You beat my beloved Exeter City 3-0, which not many teams can do that. Anyway,im borrowing the laptop that Football Manager 2010 works on for the weekend. Good luck in all aspects of the game!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
26 августа, 2010 at 10:44
Thanks Hils. Sorry about your beloved Exeter City but it seems that almost everyone beat them this season in my game :) I hope it goes better for them in real life :)
hils
26 августа, 2010 at 11:01
it does get Better in real life we managed to stay up last season and we are unbeaten this season at the moment in the league. The only down side is one of are players died with bow cancer. R.I.P Adam Stansfield
Johnny Karp
26 августа, 2010 at 11:12
Oh, sorry to hear that. His teammates will have to play better and dedicate the victories to him.
hils
26 августа, 2010 at 11:18
we are starting to boost morales. I bet Blackpool are regretting letting him go to exeter. Can you please reply to my other comment as its a question!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
26 августа, 2010 at 11:27
Sorry, I don’t see any question marks. Which is the question?
hils
26 августа, 2010 at 12:11
its the one with the different clubs.
hils
26 августа, 2010 at 08:16
Hello guys, this is a message to all bloggers and commenters!!!!!!! Im considering adding a new user to my Bristol Rovers and notts county game!!!!! here are the choices: Man united barcelona,Wolfsburg,Exeter,Hayes and Yeading,Ascoli,Mallorca or republic of congo.
Johnny Karp
26 августа, 2010 at 15:12
So you want to start a network game with somebody? I would love to join but as things stand right now I barely have the enough time to play my own game…
hils
26 августа, 2010 at 16:40
It doesn’t matter if you cant do it,im going to put a new user on my game with Bristol rovers and Notts County. Can you please vote. You might be the only one who votes!!!!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
26 августа, 2010 at 16:52
Oh, so it’s not a network game, you will be the new user, right? Anyway, I would vote for Exeter since it’s your favourite club.
hils
26 августа, 2010 at 17:24
ok so 1-0 exeter. im gonna split it now down to three storylines. Barcelona storyline: only aloud to buy players over 10m once per season. Exeter: try and get them into premiership but have to Release Adam stansfield when hes 31. Mallorca try and get them out of the poor finances. Thanks for voting!!!!!!!!!
hils
26 августа, 2010 at 17:24
ok so 1-0 exeter. im gonna split it now down to three storylines. Barcelona storyline: only aloud to buy players over 10m once per season. Exeter: try and get them into premiership but have to Release Adam stansfield when hes 31. Mallorca try and get them out of the poor finances. Thanks for voting!!!!!!!!!
Sears
26 августа, 2010 at 22:23
@Hils,
ah…. I’m going to go for the Mallorca story. Goodluck.
Jean Paul Borg
27 августа, 2010 at 13:00
Decent job in the transfer market and I see you managed to balance out the budget. Nice job getting a 10 point cushion, don’t get complacent though, as there are quite a lot of games still to be played are Coventry are a good side. Good luck for the rest of the league mate!
Johnny Karp
27 августа, 2010 at 15:43
Thanks Jean Paul, I’ll try not to get complacent :)