Dorchester Town Story: November and December 2015

Hello dear friends, I’m very happy to bring you a fresh episode of the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story. I would have liked to publish daily updates but unfortunately I didn’t have too much spare time lately and, if that wasn’t bad enough, I also caught a cold which saw me fighting off a fever since Monday. Anyway, I’m in better shape right now so prepare for a rather long update which will cover November and December 2015.

You might remember that we enjoyed a decent start to the season and we were sitting 5th in the Premier League at the end of October. We also had a good European debut which saw us getting a point away at FC Porto and then beating Hoffenheim at home and Brno away in the Europa League group. In fact, the first game of November was an European one, at home with Czech side Brno. Anything else than a win was out of the question since Brno recorded three straight defeats in the group up to that point. I decided to send in some backup players and we didn’t enjoy a great first half but Gael Kakuta managed to put us in the lead with a fine shot. The first half could have ended all square but backup goalie Davide La Rocca pulled off a good save to deny Brno‘s best chance. Things got a bit better after the break and Silvestre Varela managed to score his fist goal of the club after receiving a perfect assist from Rafael Coelho. Christian Stuani wrapped things up seven minutes from time when he rounded off a good flowing team move.

The good news was that both games between Porto and Hoffenheim ended all square and that gave us a healthy four point lead at the top of the group table. We only needed one more point from the next game, at home with Porto, in order to qualify for the first knockout round.

We had quite a few Premier League matches to play until then, especially an extremely tough three game string against Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United. So let’s get it started, the first one was away at Liverpool. The Reds were sitting 6th, much better than they are doing in real life now :) We started the game very well, my lads seemed to be all over the pitch but we were unable to break the deadlock because of a few stunning saves from Pepe Reina. The brave goalie had to surrender at the half hour mark when Volodymyr Grinchenko played a superb through ball for Liam Parker who powered it in. The lads were playing like a good orchestra and Grinchenko was the director, he made another assist seven minutes later but this time it was Craig Carlisle who found the back of the net. Liverpool hit back on 39 minutes though, it was a special 25 yard strike from Thiago, a very nice shot. Then Torres had a good chance to level the game just before half time but David De Gea stopped him with a good save. The initial minutes of the second half were fairly quiet but everything changed in the 54th minute when Liverpool were struck by an injury and remained with only 10 men on the pitch because they already made all three substitutions at half time. We had more space especially on the wings and Silvestre Varela made that count when his low cross into the box was pushed in by Carlisle. Liverpool didn’t give up though, they switched to an audacious 3-2-4 formation and managed to claw one back seven minutes from time. We did well to hold on during the final minutes and claim a prestigious away win.

Next up, an even tougher game since defending champions Chelsea were coming to visit. They didn’t have a great start to the season though and they were sitting 4th before that game. We enjoyed a good start to the game again and that paid off on 19 minutes when Grinchenko set up Laszlo Tamasi inside the penalty area and the Hungarian winger finished it with a placed shot. Chelsea started to show their strength after that goal and they needed just 11 minutes to level the game from the penalty spot. Then things went absolutely crazy, the game was played at a frantic pace and no less than four more goals were scored before half time. First we took the lead again on 32 minutes when Christian Stuani set up Craig Carlisle inside the box but Chelsea fought back and netted the equalizer six minutes later. Then the Blues took the lead with a spectacular 35 yard effort, probably the best goal of the season. We didn’t give up though and managed to make it all square again three minutes before half time when Carlisle returned the favor to Stuani. The second half didn’t offer as much entertainment, we restricted Chelsea to shots from distance but they rarely found the target. Our attacking play was not that good either so the game ended all square.

Finally, the last match of the difficult series was at home with 3rd placed Manchester United. This time we didn’t have a good start to the game, United got off to a flying start and took the lead three minutes into the match with a fine team move. My lads reacted well though and John Heitinga leveled the game on 12 minutes with a corner kick header, his first ever goal for the club. Our joy lasted only three minutes unfortunately, Wayne Rooney broke through the offside trap and put United ahead again. We needed just four minutes to make it all square as we struck again from a dead ball situation, Iulian Marin powered in a free kick from 25 yards out. The game was quite entertaining for the crowd, De Gea denied Rooney a few minutes later and then we took the lead thanks to a fabulous goal from striker Christian Stuani, his curling shot from 20 yards out went straight into the top corner! We were in the lead at half time and that seems to have given my lads a lot of confidence: United didn’t see much of the ball throughout the second half! We were totally in control of the game and Christian Stuani completed his good performance with another goal 10 minutes from time, he skipped past Vidic and placed the ball home. It was a great win and I was pleased to get 7 points out of the last very tough three games.

The last game of the month was away at 14th placed Blackburn, a team that was struggling to get out of a poor run of eight games without a win. I was hoping for another victory and Christian Stuani put us right on track nine minutes into the game when he headed in a cross from Silvestre Varela. We could have added another goal to that before half time but our lack of efficiency was punished immediately after the break when Blackburn netted the equalizer. We were playing rather poorly but we got back into the lead thanks to a special goal from Gael Kakuta, he blazed one in from 25 yards out. We had to hold on to that lead but something difficult to explain happened five minutes from time, Rudolf ran with the ball straight between my two centre backs who were just standing there watching the game. It wasn’t too late to grab the win but Rafael Coelho missed when one-on-one with the keeper during injury time.

We had a good month overall though and the results pushed us up into 4th place, we were in the Champions League zone! We had to keep it up in December though, go to the next page to see if we did that or not.

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