Dorchester Town Story: The Championship Debut

Hello dear friends, you are welcome to witness Dorchester‘s debut in the Championship! I was quite curious to see my new signings in action but not all of them at once since I brought in no less than 16 players during pre-season! I was sure that the team was going to need some time to gel but I was looking forward to the tough matches ahead.

We were going to start with a very difficult home game as the visitors were recently-relegated West Brom, they were predicted to bounce back up to the Premier League right away. The game didn’t start too well for us as I was forced to take off striker Mohammed Tchite due to an injury but we defended pretty well until half time and held West Brom to a goalless draw. They upped the tempo after the break and we were literally under siege. We stood firm for a while but not too long as West Brom took the lead through Chris Wood on 57 minutes. My lads were not impressed though and we managed to score the equaliser only three minutes later: Peter Singh showed good vision to pick out Matt Richards‘ run and the left winger volleyed the ball home! West Brom resumed their attacks but my new goalkeeper Davide La Rocca pulled off a couple of miraculous saves and we managed to walk away with a draw.

We had an easier game after that, the Carling Cup first round match against League Two side Barnet. Tchite was out for 10 days following the injury during the previous game and I was forced to take another striker off during the Barnet match, Peter Singh got injured. We dominated the game, that was quite obvious, but I can’t believe how wasteful we were. Barnet didn’t manage to get a single shot on target in 120 minutes but they won the tie after the penalty shoot-out, frustrating is a mild word to describe what happened there. I was quite disappointed to say the least.

Back to the league, we had another very tough game against a recently-relegated side, Bristol City. They were predicted to finish third this season so we were clear underdogs for that match. I am pleased to say that we dominated the first half, had good ball possession but didn’t manage to create any chances. The second half was a bit different, our opponents pushed forward with greater impetus but my defense looked rock-solid. We were still unbeaten after meeting two of the best teams in the league, not bad…

We had a record to celebrate after the Bristol City game, 16-year-old striker Neil Hayter was sent in after half time and he became our youngest player ever to appear in a competitive game! He is a product of our own youth setup so I will be taking special care of him :)

We had yet another tough game coming up, at home with Sheffield United, the team that was predicted to finish 6th this season. The first half was fairly even but Sheffield United made the difference through better finishing, they hit the target on 17 minutes while my Mohammed Tchite hit the post two minutes before half time. Then he went on to miss a huge chance a few seconds after the break but Omar Koroma did justice four minutes into the second half with a powerful finish. The team started to play even better after the goal and we missed another couple of chances before Koroma slotted home his second goal of the game. Sheffield United missed a good chance to get back on level terms only a few minutes after our second goal but then we took control of the game and grabbed our first win of the season! 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, a trip to Craven Cottage to meet Fulham. The first half saw a hard-fought game with both teams looking determined to fight for every inch of turf. Fulham took the lead by rounding off a good breakaway move but we managed to pull back through Omar Koroma who received a killer pass from Brazilian Mancini. We came very close a few minutes later but it was Fulham who struck during injury time to take the lead at the interval. We came out with a good attitude in the second half but we had no luck as Mohammed Tchite hit the post a few minutes after the break. Fulham struck the fatal blow on 56 minutes and then the game was entirely theirs, my players were looking down and out. Omar Koroma gave us a glimmer of home when he scored his 50th goal for the club on 72 minutes but Fulham were the better team on that day.

We had one more game to play, at home with Doncaster. Everything was all set, I was preparing for the game when some disturbing news reached my office: 18 year old striker Mark Simmons didn’t turn up for the game! You can see the reason in the screen shot below, I was furious!

I handed him a well deserved fine and guess what, he felt that I treated him unfairly! I was very disappointed by his attitude so he will have some time to reflect… in the reserves squad. I can’t tolerate such behavior and if he doesn’t understand that then he will have to pack his bags and go to a more understanding club.

Back to the game then, I felt that we had a good chance to get a win and forget all about our disciplinary troubles. Unfortunately we got off to a nightmare start as Doncaster scored from a free kick only three minutes into the game. We were unable to react properly until half time, our attacks were not nearly incisive enough. We played much better after the interval, we were piling on the pressure but failed to hit the net. We missed two incredible chances from close range and we paid the price for that, our second defeat in a row.

We are sitting 19th after five games, we could have been higher up with better finishing.

Next month we’ll start with a tough away game at surprise leaders Coventry but none of the other games can be considered to be easy. We’ll have a tough fight ahead of us…

That’s how our first month in the Championship went, thanks a lot for reading. I can’t say that I expected to have more points but I surely didn’t expect to see one of my players failing to turn up for a game! That never happened to me before, I have seen players failing to turn up for a training session but not for an actual competitive game! Did you even encounter such a problem?