Dorchester Town Story — November 2011

Hello folks, it’s finally time for a new episode of the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story! I’ve been quite busy lately after getting back home from the long trip but things should slowly get back to normal. At the end of October my Dorchester were sitting 2nd in the League Two table, just one point behind leaders Exeter. We were also still involved in two cup competitions, the FA Cup and the Johnstone’s Trophy. Let’s see what happened in November.

The first game of the month was a pretty tough one, the FA Cup 1st round match against League One side Gillingham. We were playing at home though and I was hoping to see a good display from my lads especially since the match was going to be played in front of a capacity crowd, no less than 5009 spectators! Things went quite well in the first half, we were dominating the game and even managed to create a clear chance but Koroma was blocked by the keeper just when he was preparing to tuck the ball in. The first minutes of the second half saw the two teams battling it out for possession in midfield, the game wasn’t too spectacular. It took a dead ball situation to break the deadlock and luckily it was us who did it. A corner kick saw midfielder Juanje popping up unmarked and he coolly headed the ball home. The game became quite nervy after the goal, there were lots of fouls and yellow cards and little football. We managed to keep the opponents at bay quite easily though and we were through to the next round! After the game I was announced that we set another gate receipts record, 75,000 pounds!

We had another cup game coming up, the Johnstone’s Trophy South quarter final and our opponent was another League One side, Southend. We were up against the odds again but that also meant that we had nothing to lose. The first half saw a good hard fought game but we managed to take the lead following a corner kick, O’Brien‘s header was parried by the keeper but midfielder Chris Herd pounced on the rebound and pushed the ball in. Southend could have equalized just before the interval but they were unlucky and hit the post instead of the back of the net. I had quite a few fitness problems to solve at half time and I was forced to change the tactic to a 4-4-1-1 because I had only one fit striker left. We found ourselves under pressure after the break and Southend finally made it all square by taking advantage of a corner kick marking error. We needed only two minutes to get back in front though, a lovely team move sent right winger McKay clean through on goal, he skipped past the keeper and settled the ball into the back of the net. We were playing pretty well but missed a couple of good chances to close the game. The players got a bit tired in the last 15 minutes and Southend managed to come back again with a good flowing team move. The game went straight to the penalty shoot-out, there was no extra time. This time we won the lottery as goalkeeper Daniel Tudor managed to save three of the five penalty kicks!

Our next scheduled game was at home against 10th placed Wycombe in League Two but it was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at our Avenue Stadium. So we had to move on to the next league game, away at 5th placed Luton Town. Our opponents looked determined to teach us a lesson: they hit the crossbar three minutes into the game and then hit the back of the net two minutes later. My boys reacted pretty well though but striker Kazmierowski seemed to have an unlucky day as he hit the woodwork twice in 10 minutes. We were trying to get back on level terms but Luton caught us on a quick counter attack and doubled their lead. We only managed to react after half time, we were pushing forward but there was no inspiration to be seen in our attack. Omar Koroma finally blasted one in 21 minutes from time. Then he hit the crossbar 10 minutes later but Luton could have easily settled the game on counter attacks. We hit the woodwork three times but I think that overall Luton deserved to win the game.

We had a good chance of bouncing back up straight away though, our next game was away at 23rd placed Burton, one of the weakest teams in the league. The game turned out to be pretty easy indeed, midfielder Simon Ferry and striker Omar Koroma (penalty kick) made sure of the three points before half time. Burton clawed one back in the second half but we never looked like losing the game and striker Kazmierowski put the game beyond doubt during injury time. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

Next up, the FA Cup second round game against fellow League Two side Cambridge. The first half was completely under our control and my strikers gave us a well deserved two-goal lead at the interval. Veteran striker Leonardo Biagini came off the bench to make it 3-0 five minutes into the second half but Cambridge clawed one back two minutes later with a fine shot from distance. That goal seemed to have fueled my team’s desire to score, we created loads of chances and eventually netted another two goals to get through to the next round. We were quite lucky with the draw, we avoided the Premier League teams and we’re going to play League Two side Port Vale in the third round.

Back to the league for the last game of the month, at home with 8th placed Oxford. We got off to a good start and took the lead 15 minutes into the game thanks to a nice flowing team move: striker Koroma exchanged places with right winger Andy McKay and the 17-year-old Manchester United player placed the ball in from inside the penalty area. My boys continued to display flamboyant attacks but wasted lots of chances until half time. The show went on after the interval, we were pouring forward and eventually doubled the lead thanks to a good finish from substitute winger Mladenov. Unfortunately our top goalscorer, Omar Koroma, picked up a knock and will be out for three weeks.

We dropped in 3rd place at the end of November but we have a game in hand, the postponed one against Wycombe.

Our player of the month was Polish striker Szymon Kazmierowski, the 24-year-old netted three goals and also played one assist in November. I still hope he can do a lot better than this though but I am satisfied with his work so far. He never played outside Poland before joining our club so I guess he needs more time to settle.

We’ll have an action-packed December, no less than eight games to play! I’m looking forward to the two cup games but I also hope that we’ll be able to get a few more league wins and consolidate our position among the top three.

That’s about it my friends, a fairly good month apart from the deserved defeat at the hands of Luton. I’m quite curious to see how we’ll manage to play without our top goalscorer, Omar Koroma, Marius Dabu and Leonardo Biagini will have to prove their worth and maybe steal Koroma‘s first team place. Thanks for reading, it feels great to be back in action with my Dorchester.