Dorchester Town Story: October and November 2013

Hello dear friends and a warm welcome back to Dorchester for another episode of my Football Manager 2010 story! Our first couple of months in the Championship were not entirely rosy but we managed to stay unbeaten in September and got three draws and two wins. Those results pushed us up in 10th place, I was quite curious to see whether we were strong enough to keep that good form going.

We were preparing for the first game of October when I noticed that we had a serious situation going on: both my goalkeepers were away with their Under 20 national teams at the Under 20s World Cup! Without Gabriel Nicolau and Davide La Rocca I had no other choice than to rely on an amateur keeper that I found at the training ground… If you look at his attributes I guess you can understand that I was more than nervous before the game…

On to the match then, it was at home with 21st placed Reading. The game was not easy at all, Reading were trying to shoot on sight because they probably knew about our goalie problem but fortunately their aim was largely wasteful. We had quite a few chances to score ourselves but we failed to make them count until Fabricio Coloccini netted a corner kick header to celebrate his first ever goal for the club. There was only one minute left to play and we were in control but Mancini played a superb pass for Mohammed Tchite who settled the score with a powerful finish.

The next game was away at 20th placed Huddersfield and we were sill without our two goalkeepers… We missed a good chance to take the lead early on an then gifted a goal with a defensive mistake, then went on to miss another good chance and got punished from the spot after a silly handball inside our own box. We were 2-0 down at half time and the game was looking as good as over. We tried to fight back in the second half but only managed to score four minutes from time through Graeme Owens, too late…

Another away game was coming up, at 8th placed Wigan, and our two goalkeepers were still away with their Under 20 national teams… Our amateur goalie handed us a nightmare start as he gifted the opposition a goal nine minutes into the game and the team never recovered. Wigan hit the woodwork no less than three times until the end of the game, they surely deserved to win.

The last game of the month was at home with 21st placed Watford and our goalies were finally back from their national youth teams! That didn’t help us too much though as a fairly even first half was won by Watford thanks two a couple of fabulous shots from 30 yards out. The team reacted very well after the break, we were pushing forward and Omar Koroma clawed one back on 56 minutes. We continued to chase the goal but had no luck, two good chances went begging and we lost our third consecutive game!

Those results pushed us back in 13th place, we had to react quickly otherwise the whole season could have turned into a nightmare! I guess most of you can understand why I chose to continued the game and play on into November, I had to see the team getting out of the poor run! So read on to see what happened in November :) Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

The first game of November was at home with 6th placed promotion contenders Ipswich. My players seemed to have confidence problems and probably I had some problems too since I chose to start with a «counter» strategy instead of our usual «attacking», I guess I was afraid of losing yet another game. Omar Koroma missed a great chance two minutes into the game but then Ipswich took control and kept our defense under pressure. That was until the 28th minute when a blitz counter attack sent Koroma clean through and he did it, he hit the back of the net! He had a good chance to double the lead just before the interval but I was quite satisfied, we defended well and struck on a breakaway. Koroma didn’t forgive the opponents 10 minutes into the second half though, another counter attack and we were leading 2-0! Our defense stood firm until the last 9 minutes when we had to play with only 10 men following Al Bangura‘s injury. Ipswich did get a last minute shot from distance in but our defense won a crucial game for us, our first win after a rather long drought!

Next up, a tough away game at 9th placed Leeds. We were playing against all odds again but we managed to keep the game fairly level until the 28th minute when centre back Ryan Shotton got sent off for a professional foul. I had to pull back as Leeds were pushing forward but my lads defended well until half time and kept the score all square. The pressure was rising after the break but Fabricio Coloccini was keeping our defense together with his experience and skills. Things got even better 10 minutes into the second half when Omar Koroma broke through on a counter attack and placed the ball into the back of the net! We had to hang on to that lead but the pressure was becoming unbearable. Despite that we managed to survive thanks to some resolute defending, great goalkeeping from Davide La Rocca and a big chunk of luck as Leeds hit the woodwork… We ran out of luck 6 minutes from time though, Leeds finally broke through our defense but we still managed to grab a good away point.

We had another away game scheduled next, a tough one at recently-relegated Portsmouth. They were having a disappointing first part of the season and were lying 17th but they still had some pretty good players in their squad. My lads got off to a brave start though and Mohammed Tchite could have given us the lead but his superb 20 yard lob landed on top of the crossbar. Then Pompey wasted a pretty big chance and that probably impressed centre back Francesco Tosto, he handled the ball inside our own box despite the fact that he was under no pressure at all! The spot kick was converted but we pegged Pompey back instantly, Jonathan Dos Santos scored his first goal for the club with a placed shot from the edge of the area. Portsmouth were the better side though and they wasted another couple of chances before the break. The second half started in the best possible way for us, Tchite was brought down inside the box and Dos Santos fired it home from the penalty spot! We found ourselves under pressure after the goal and my defense cracked 19 minutes from time… Then my lads finally showed some good attacking football and we could have won the game 7 minutes from time when Omar Koroma missed a real sitter…

Back to the Avenue Stadium for the next game, 6th placed Leicester were coming to visit. We had a pretty good first half with the support of our fans but failed to convert a couple of pretty good chances. I sent in Mancini after the break and he made an instant impact, he powered one in from inside the penalty area and we were in the lead! Then Leicester started pushing us back, we had to defend but there was nothing we could have done as they leveled the game on 65 minutes. We were unable to regain control in midfield and we could have even lost the game during the final minutes… It was our third consecutive draw…

The last game of the month was away at 20th placed Barnsley, I was hoping for a win to give us some hope for a better December… Mohammed Tchite got us off to a flying start as he scored with a fine solo effort two minutes into the game but then Barnsley netted the equalizer with a splendid shot from distance. Omar Koroma missed a couple of great chances before half time but he made everybody forget about those misses after the interval as he netted a superb hat-trick! It was a real classic hat-trick too as he scored the first one with his right foot, the second with his left and the third with a header that sent in a great cross from Nemanja Rnic! The performance was quite pleasing but there were bad news too, Ryan Shotton was going to be out for two months!

We managed to stay unbeaten through November but with three draws out of five games we didn’t add too many points to our tally. We are sitting 13th but at least we’re 11 points clear of the 22nd…

Omar Koroma was our hero so far, he fired in 11 goals to help our cause. He celebrated his 100th career league game, a career that really took off when he joined us at the Avenue Stadium.

December has a grueling schedule in store for us, we’ll have no less than seven games to play and three of those matches seem to be impossible: away at leaders Newcastle, at home with 3rd placed Southampton and 4th placed Bristol City…

Thanks for reading this rather long update folks. I guess it’s pretty clear that we won’t manage to achieve another surprising promotion, what do you think?