Dorchester Town Story: The Premier League Debut

Hello folks, I know you have been waiting for this one! :) Sorry for postponing it for such a long time but I hope that you’ll be happy to hear that this update will cover the first three months of the season, the first Premier League season for Dorchester Town! You already know that we brought in several new players during pre-season, most of them promising youngsters that I hoped to develop at the club and nurture their talent. Now it’s time to see them in action!

As you know we were predicted to finish last and our season kicked off with a game against one of the top clubs in the league, Liverpool. The Reds were predicted to grab a 6th place at the end of the season so the odds were against us. Things started in a brilliant manner though, six minutes into the game Liam Parker found a great through pass for Sean Scannell and the Irish striker slid the ball past Pepe Reina to score an important goal on his debut! To my delight we dominated the first half and forced Reina to make a couple of brilliant saves to prevent us from doubling the lead. We remained in control after the break as well, Liverpool were unable to cause us any problems. Things got completely solved when Lucas was sent off for a two-footed tackle, we claimed our first win of the season and it was quite a convincing one since Liverpool didn’t get any shots on target at all!

The next game was even tougher, away at Arsenal! We got off to an excellent start again though, it took my strikers only eight minutes to figure out a way past the opposition defense and Liam Parker put it away to give us an early lead. Arsenal were pushing us back and they nearly got back level when a good shot from distance hit the post. Our fans went wild on 23 minutes when Fran Merida intercepted a ball in midfield and then played a perfect pass for Omar Koroma who applied the finish! We were 2-0 up at Emirates Stadium! The game was far from over though, Arsenal were piling on the pressure and we only managed to survive until the 40th minute when a great team move brought a goal for the hosts. We tried to hang in there after the break, we were defending heroically but Arsenal got a perfect chance to equalize on 63 minutes when they were awarded a penalty kick. Luckily Davide La Rocca saved the spot kick and we were still in the lead. Arsenal‘s offensive fury was too much for us though and they finally got back level on 72 minutes, I was fearing the worst at that point. The team reacted pretty well though, Arsenal appeared to be a bit tired and we had a couple of great chances to steal the win during the last 10 minutes! Unfortunately we missed those chances but I was delighted to get a point at Emirates Stadium!

I couldn’t have wished for a better start but I asked the players not to get carried away, we still had a lot to prove. Our next game was at home with fellow newly-promoted side Bristol City, we had a good chance to continue our good early run. We played pretty well but eventually had to leave the pitch empty handed and that happened due to two simple facts:

1. Sean Scannell missed three chances one on one with the goalkeeper. He did score one though.

2. We were constantly giving away the ball with poor passes in midfield and that allowed Bristol City to create quite a few counter attack chances. They scored twice as a result.

So we were brought down to earth in a brutal way, the Premier League requires consistency and full time concentration and that’s a lesson that I wanted my young players to learn quickly.

We had a cup game coming up next, our Carling Cup campaign began with a home game against League One side Watford. I was expecting a win and the players had a decent first half but unfortunately Watford scored the first time they tried to go forward. It was a good team move though. Things changed after the break, my lads were looking much more determined and Liam Parker started the show with a magnificent goal, he placed the ball in after dribbling past no less than three defenders! Omar Koroma gave us the lead a couple of minutes later and then Parker added an injury time goal after missing quite a few good chances.

The last game of the month of August was away at Hull City, a team that was predicted to finish 11th in the Premier League. It was a thrilling game, we scored three goals and that should have given us a win. It wasn’t the case though, our midfield was unable to protect a shaky defense and we conceded four goals but the arrears could have been far greater. Hull surely deserved to win but I was a bit concerned, our defense was not looking so good anymore.

We were sitting 14th at the end of the month with one win, one draw and two defeats. I expected to get more out of the last two games and less out of the first two to be honest but overall four points is not a bad sum. We surely had to do better in the next games, our defensive display was not up to the Premier League. Go to the next page to see how we did in September.

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

On to September then, our first game was at home with West Ham. «At home» is just a way to put it but we were not really playing at home but at Southampton because our stadium was still undergoing expansion works that are going to be completed in January 2015. Back to the game, West Ham were in 5th place at the end of August, they had a solid start to the season. My lads had a great fist half display but they were stopped by an equally great Robert Green between the sticks for the Hammers, he was outstanding. My goalkeeper had to prove himself after the break, Davide La Rocca pulled off a couple of stunning saves to stop West Ham during the first 20 minutes of the second half. Then we regained control of the game and finally managed to find a break through: a team move left Omar Koroma in a great position inside the box, it would have been more difficult for him to miss from there than to score. I was pleased to get the second victory of the season, the players surely needed this for their confidence.

The next game was away at 17th placed Bolton Wanderers, a tricky game in theory. The first half hour was a complete nightmare, I was afraid that we were going to get demolished. Bolton banged in three goals in 30 minutes and we were looking unable to wake up and play some decent football. Centre back Petre Micu netted a corner kick header before the break and that gave us some home for recovery. We dominated the second half but that wasn’t enough to save the game, we paid the price for that terrible first half…

We had the Carling Cup 3rd round game coming up next and we were going to meet West Ham again after beating them 1-0 a couple of weeks earlier. When I saw West Ham taking the lead three minutes into the game I was already fearing another nightmare run but Liam Parker made an instant reply and leveled the game in the 5th minute. The nightmare quickly turned into a very pleasant dream when Sean Scannell fired in a double in four minutes! The Irish striker added another two goals to his tally before half time while West Ham clawed one back with a long range effort. We could have scored a few more goals in the second half but things were already settled, we were through to the last sixteen.

The last game of the month was at home with 18th placed Sunderland, I was hoping to get a win that was supposed to wrap up the month in glory. I can’t say that the team disappointed me, the lads put on a decent display and it’s quite frustrating to see that we lost the game. Sunderland scored two minutes before half time when a huge gaffe in our defense allowed them to take the lead against the run of play. Then they defended well and went home with the three points…

Our position was becoming quite worrying, we slipped down into 16th place and relegation was closer than ever… Go to the next page to see how we did in October.

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

October started with a big international break for the league and also for my team. However, I was pleased to see many of my youngsters being called up to their respective national teams. They came back with good morale and that was important before the first game of the month, at home with disappointing 18th placed Aston Villa. They were having a pretty bad run but they still had very good players. We got off to a pretty good start, my lads were pushing forward and that paid off on 20 minutes when a quick team move sent Willo Flood clean through and the Irish midfielder fired home his first ever goal for the club. I decided to pull back after the goal and try to strike on counter attacks and the plan worked perfectly right away as Liam Parker netted a breakaway goal to double our lead in the 27th minute. We continued to show a solid display until the 68th minute when left back Angelo Rossini had to be stretchered off and we remained with only 10 men on the pitch. We remained in control of the game though and Aston Villa couldn’t create anything special before injury time when they struck with a late long range drive. I was very happy with the performance and the win but very sad to hear about Rossini‘s injury, he was going to be out between 5 and six months!

The next (and last) league game of the month was away at 7th placed Everton, one of the strongest teams in the league. We got lucky though, Fran Merida played an awesome pass for Laszlo Tamasi and the Hungarian winger scored his first goal for the club to give us the lead four minutes into the game. The early goal was a blow for Everton and my hard working midfielders were bossing the middle of the pitch. We were intercepting most of the balls and that gave us chances to launch counter attacks like the one who sent Liam Parker through in the 34th minute, the young striker coolly finished it off and we were 2-0 up! Then Everton had a furious last 10 minutes of the first half, they were pouring forward but we managed to survive until the break. Parker picked up a knock during the first half so I sent Omar Koroma to replace him at the break and the long serving striker made an instant impact, a great shot from the edge of the area and we were red hot! We couldn’t handle the joy though and my defenders decided to make the game interesting again by gifting Everton a goal only two minutes later. The pressure was rising in our penalty area but fortunately my lads kept cool until the final whistle and we went home with another three points!

The last two good results saw us bouncing back to 11th place with a perfectly balanced record: 4 wins, one draw and four defeats, 14 goals scored and 14 conceded.

We had one more game to play before the end of the month, the Carling Cup 4th round match with Championship side Nottingham Forest. I decided to rest a few of the important players, the backups had to prove their worth against a lower league side. The first half was not particularly pleasing, we missed a good chance early on but then failed to add anything interesting upfront until half time. Omar Koroma took care of things after the interval, he fired in a double and we quietly controlled the game until the final whistle. We were through to the quarter final and I’m happy to say that the draw was quite generous: we’ll meet Championship team Swansea in the quarters! (the game will be played in December).

We’ll be quite busy in November, six games to play among which the trip to Stamford Bridge to meet defending champions Chelsea.

That’s how we managed to cope with the Premier League during the first three months, not too bad but not exceptional either. The team still needs time to gel, especially in defense where misunderstandings between the back four happened quite often so far. The midfielders also appear to be having some trouble in finding the right tempo but I’m pleased with the strikers, they scored more goals than I expected them to. Thanks a lot for reading this rather long post, I’m looking forward to hearing your opinions about our start in the Premiership.