Dorchester Town Story — October 2009

Here we go dear friends, the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story continues with a fresh episode! We were top of the table at the end of September, against all odds, but I was fully aware of the dangers lying ahead so I didn’t get too excited by the good start. The road is long and winding in the lower leagues and there are plenty of shadowy places where you can fall into an ambush. Enough with the introduction, let’s see what happened in October.

Before the actual games I had a bit of fun during the first days of the month. I have an assistant manager, his name is David Jervis. He is supposed to give me advice from time to time, hopefully good advice. Well, check it out: he informed me that Romanian goalie Crinu Suciu was having problems settling in. OK, I appreciate the heads up. But the advice was hilarious: bring in a fellow Romanian player! Well dear David, if you didn’t notice that so far, we have more than 15 Romanian players at the club, I can’t even remember exactly how many!

Enough laughing, let’s get back to business. Our first game of the month was at home with 11th placed Braintree, I was expecting a win. The team had a terrible afternoon though, we went close only once during the 90 minutes when a long shot hit the crossbar. It was a painfully boring game, I can’t remember the last time I saw a football match as ugly as this one. It was our first draw of the season, I guess that had to happen sooner or later.

We had another home game coming up, the FA Cup 3rd qualifying round against Isthmian Premier side Horsham. The game was as good as over after only five minutes, strikers Jivan and Almani settled the game by finishing a couple of good team moves. The rest of the game was all about having fun and entertaining the crowd, I hope they liked it.

Back to the league then, we had to travel to meet 8th placed Thurrock, Lye’s beloved team. We got off to a good start again and managed to take the lead 16 minutes into the game when striker Almani finished a team move with a nicely placed finish. We continued to push forward until half time but Thurrock went close to scoring from a corner kick, we were saved by the woodwork. We were in control of the game but things changed immediately after the break when right back Kofi Mensah found nothing better to do than a horrible tackle in midfield. The referee sent him off, I would have done the same thing. Then Thurrock equalized from a corner kick, our marking was disastrous yet again. I was hoping to hang on to the draw at that point but after seeing that Thurrock were not pushing forward I chose to do that and maybe clinch the three points. The team reacted very well, I didn’t expect it to be honest. Thurrock were under heavy pressure and they finally cracked 6 minutes from time when substitute Luke Webb scored with a superb volley from inside the box. That move was a bit too much for him though, he got injured and will be out for two months…

We had another FA Cup game next, the last qualifying round before the main competition. We were going to face another Isthmian Premier team, Bognor Regis, and I chose to rest all the first team regulars for the upcoming league games. The backup players did better than expected though, they demolished the opponents but I have to admit that some of the goals were scored due to some comical defending from Bognor Regis. However, I was pleased that my players didn’t start laughing and remained focused on the game. We are going to meet League One side Stockport in the next round, it will be a good opportunity to test the team against much better opposition. 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 still were top of the table and had two more league games to play before the end of the month: against the 3rd placed and the 2nd placed! The first game was away at 3rd placed Maidenhead, a match that was going to be played on a frozen pitch. We found ourselves under pressure in the initial minutes of the game but then the team took control of the midfield and we scored eventually, another goal produced by the Jivan — Almani Romanian striker duo. After the goal the game got a bit nervy until half time, lots of fouls and yellow cards and only a few moments of real football. We played very well after the break, Maidenhead had no chances to score. We could have doubled the lead but we missed a good chance and then hit the crossbar from a corner kick. We totally deserved to win it and these three points were quite important.

The last game of the month was at home with 2nd placed Dover, they were 5 points behind us. We already played them away from home in August and the memory of that game was not pleasing, they beat us 3-0 despite the fact that we played better than them. My lads were determined to get revenge and they made that pretty clear right from the start, we missed a clear chance only 30 seconds into the game! A few minutes later we went close again but Ryan Carolan‘s corner kick header hit the crossbar and bounced a few yards out of the box. We were continuing to push forward and the goal finally landed 20 minutes into the game: experienced left back Darren Barnard sunk Dover with a torpedo-like free kick shot from 20 yards out, a beautiful shot and his first ever goal for the club! We continued to attack but there were no more clear chances until half time. We resumed the siege after the break and got lucky, a cross was deflected by one of Dover‘s defenders into his own net. Five minutes later striker Sergiu Jivan put the cherry on the cake with a fine shot from the edge of the area, straight into the top corner.We were forced to defend for a while after the third goal but Dover‘s attacks were not scary at all. The game got more complicated 13 minutes from time when my right back picked up his second yellow card but we ended Dover‘s hopes only two minutes later on a quick counter attack. We got revenge for the away defeat and it was quite sweet, the team looked unbeatable!

I received my first Manager of the Month award but that was not important, we were top of the table and eight points clear! Please tell me I’m not dreaming :)

I want to pay tribute to our main scorer so far, Romanian striker Sergiu Jivan. He scored eight goals but he is also a great team player, he made 9 assists for his team mates. He joined us from an amateur team in the Romanian fourth division and since he’s only 20 years old I hope that he can make some progress and remain at the club for a few more seasons.

Next month’s highlight will be the FA Cup game against Stockport, I’m quite curious to see how we’ll manage to play against a much better team.

That’s how October was my friends, way above my expectations. Everybody at the club is feeling confident and I’m beginning to dream about getting promoted too. Thanks for reading and for supporting our tiny club.

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