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.
Darren Smith
17 августа, 2010 at 21:20
Hey Johnny, you had a reasonable month there. Not as good as last month but you have managed three consecutive promotions. Like I said to Sears, the quality catches up with you eventually. I think your doing very well in League One and the table looks good. Hopefully you can keep it up next month. Goodluck mate.
Johnny Karp
18 августа, 2010 at 00:01
Thanks Darren, next month will be a lot tougher so I would be happy with a few draws there :)
Sears
17 августа, 2010 at 21:42
Hi Johnny,
by a promoted teams standerd, I guess you should be extremely pleased with your teams start in League 1. Next month will really determine if you team are promotion contenders or just play off hopeful’s. Goodluck!
Johnny Karp
18 августа, 2010 at 00:01
Thanks Sears, we’ll surely need all the luck we can get next month…
Kevin Mayo
17 августа, 2010 at 22:06
Hi Johnny
Some very exciting games this past month for the neutral reader. You’ve remained close to the top so that’s all right and it’s still early days. I like your new goalkeeper; his communication maybe poor but everything else looks great.
Johnny Karp
18 августа, 2010 at 00:03
Thanks Kevin. I’m very happy with my young goalie and you are right, his main flaw is the communication area. That might improve with age and I can only hope that he’s ambitious enough to make some progress.
java
18 августа, 2010 at 01:52
Promotion isn’t far from your Dorchester Mr. Karp. :D
You’re now fighting for the promotion, and maybe you can win the league.
Nicolau is a talented goalie for sure… Good luck for the promotion Johnny. Oh man, reading your story makes me want to go home and continue my game. I’m now on a vacation, but I just realized that FM is ore interesting. :(
Johnny Karp
18 августа, 2010 at 10:37
Thanks Java, I’m happy that I managed to put some of my passion for the game in these posts. But you should stick to your vacation, there will be plenty of time for FM after that :)
Plobdork
18 августа, 2010 at 09:20
well done i dont know how you do it mate i struggle to stay in league when i get promoted you its easy :)
Johnny Karp
18 августа, 2010 at 10:38
Thanks for the compliment. I don’t know if it’s easy or not but «how I do it» is thoroughly explained here: https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/2010/07/football-manager-lower-league-management-guide/
Laxeyman
18 августа, 2010 at 11:00
Hi Johnny, your team looks solid and hard to beat, and you’ve got a good shot at promotion if it stays like that. Well done and good luck for next month.
Johnny Karp
18 августа, 2010 at 12:17
Thanks Laxeyman, the team surely showed some great spirit there despite going down to late goals on a couple of occasions.
Lye
18 августа, 2010 at 11:31
Hi mate, not too many points but you remained unbeaten and thats a positive sign. I am sure that you will do better next month even though there are some difficult fixtures there. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
18 августа, 2010 at 12:18
Thanks Lye, it would be great to remain unbeaten through the next month too but that will be quite a tough test.
Plobdork
18 августа, 2010 at 21:10
great season so far johnny :) how do you make work permaits be granted or is it just luck??
Johnny Karp
18 августа, 2010 at 21:19
Thanks mate. I don’t have any players in the current squad that would require a work permit because all of the non-EU players that I have also hold British passports. However, the rule to get a work permit would be something like this (quote from another source):
Currently a non-EU player applying for the permit must have played for his country in at least 75% of its competitive ‘A’ team matches for which he was available for selection during the previous two years, and his country must have averaged at least 70th place in the official FIFA world rankings over the previous two years. If a player does not meet those criteria, the club wishing to sign him may appeal if they believe that he is a special talent and «able to contribute significantly to the development of the game at the top level in the UK.»
Plobdork
19 августа, 2010 at 09:04
thanks mate i get it now advice about revy rosalia worked he scored 12 goals in 8 games :)
Johnny Karp
19 августа, 2010 at 09:36
Great! He never scored that many for me :)