Dorchster Town Story: September 2012

Hello dear friends and welcome to another episode of the Dorchester Town Football Manager 2010 story! Our League One season started pretty well, we got past the first month unbeaten with three league wins and a draw. In the Carling Cup we managed to get past the first round but then got beaten by Premier League side Stoke City thanks to a goal from the 34-year old Didier Drogba. Now we had to confirm the good form and hopefully bring in a few more points in League One.

The first game of the month was away at fellow newly-promoted side Exeter, they finished second just behind us in League Two last season. They had a good start in League One too and they were sitting 9th before the game. We got off to a poor start, our midfield was not working too well but we took the lead thanks to a solo effort from Szymon Kazmierowski, he skipped past a defender and rifled in a splendid shot from inside the box. Our display was still rather unconvincing though and Exeter missed a huge chance before half time. The team looked slightly better after the interval, we kept things under control until the final moments of the game when captain Ryan Carolan settled it with a corner kick header.

Back to our Avenue Stadium for the next game, 6th placed Rochdale were coming to face us. I had quite a few problems in choosing a starting line up for this game because four of my first team regulars were away on international duty with their respective national teams: Revy Rosalia, Al Bangura, Jacob Lensky and Omar Koroma. The first half was fairly even but one of my players made the difference just before the interval, young striker Peter Singh showed great personality to trick his marker and then shoot from the edge of the area. We played a bit better after the break, we were dominating the game but unfortunately we missed a couple of good chances. We were hanging in well but something went wrong during additional time, a ball was sent into our box and my defenders were unable to clear it, it bounced around like in a flipper game and finally found rest in the back of the net… It was a bit frustrating but it was our fault as we should have settled the game long before that.

We had another home game coming up, a good chance to wash down the bitterness of that injury time equalizer. Swindon were our opponents, a team that was lying in 11th place. We got off to a good start, Swindon were under pressure but we missed a huge chance only three minutes into the game. Four minutes later Swindon took the lead thanks to a fabulous 20 yard shot… We resumed our attacks but the same thing happened all over again, we missed a great chance and then, a few minutes later, Swindon scored! Things were not looking good at all but the team was not playing badly at all. We managed to claw one back before half time, a good flowing team move was rounded off by winger Hristu Chiacu who netted his first ever goal for the club. We continued to push forward after the break but had no luck until Omar Koroma entered the pitch, he was not yet fully fit after recovering from an injury but he came off the bench to bang in the equalizer three minutes from time. A minute later Swindon hit the post with a great long shot but I guess we should have won this game if our defending would have been just a bit better.

Our next game was a pretty tough one as we had to play away at promotion candidates Plymouth. They didn’t have a great start to the season though and were sitting 10th but their team was looking quite strong. Our opponents dominated the first minutes of the game but there were no clear cut chances other than a shot from distance that hit the woodwork. We were looking to strike on counter attacks and Omar Koroma finally did that just before the break after receiving a great assist from right winger Tiberiu Paduraru. We found ourselves under a great deal of pressure after the interval, Plymouth were trying hard to get back on level terms but goalkeeper Gabriel Nicolau managed to pull off a few great saves to deny their efforts. Things got a bit complicated 17 minutes from time when midfielder Al Bangura got sent off after picking up two yellow cards in just 10 minutes. I switched the strategy from «attacking» to «counter» hoping to hold onto the ball and prevent any mishaps. My players did well, kept possession for a few good minutes but goalkeeper Nicolau saved us again during the dying moments of the game. It seems that I have finally found a goalkeeper… 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 last game of the month was one that surely brought back a few memories, we were playing at Meadow Lane against Notts County! They were not doing too well, despite being a pretty rich club for League One they were just a mid-table side. We got off to a terrible start though, we were being totally outplayed and Notts County deservedly scored the opener 10 minutes into the game. I was happy to see that we made an instant reply, just one minute later Matt Richards made a great run down the left, squared it for Koroma who blasted it in with a fine volley. Then the game cooled off a bit but Notts County appeared to be the better side as the two teams went to the dressing rooms. We had a better start in the second half, midfielder Labyad played a great looking through ball and striker Michael Garrity slid it past the keeper who was just rushing out to block him. Then we found ourselves under pressure again, Notts County were playing pretty well and our defense was looking quite shaky. The equalizer came in the 70th minute but we got lucky three minutes later as Garrity intercepted a poor pass and fired it home! We were in the lead again and this time our defense appeared to be more solid. We held off the attacks until the very last minute when a thunderous strike from 35 yards out beat our brave keeper and handed Notts County a deserved point.

We managed to stay unbeaten with two wins and three draws in September, I’m satisfied overall. Coventry seem to be the best team in the league so far as we are sitting second four points behind them. There also seems to be fierce competition for the play-off spots, I hope we’ll manage to keep up with the other contenders.

There is one player I would like to praise this time and that’s our new 19 year old goalkeeper, Gabriel Nicolau. He did concede 13 goals in 11 games but none of those goals came as a result of errors from the young goalie. His average rating is quite good so far and he appeared to be very reliable throughout the first two months as there were no gaffes from him. He surely has some talent and if he’ll manage to improve some of his mental attributes then he could well become a top goalkeeper.

We’ll have a very tough next month as we’ll have to play four of the current top six teams: 1st placed Coventry, third placed Peterborough, fourth placed Millwall and 6th placed Walsall!

I guess next month will tell us whether we really can compete for promotion or not, those direct encounters with the top promotion contenders might tell us the truth. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the new episode. By the way, don’t forget to join our predictions contest or if you already did, submit your predictions for the next Premier League weekend! ;)