Here we go dear friends, the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story continues despite the huge disappointment that we had to endure last month at Wembley Stadium, Everton defeated us quite heavily in the Carling Cup final. We had to patch our wounds and keep on fighting, we still had to gain promotion to Coca-Cola Championship.
The first game of the month was away at 19th placed Bristol Rovers, they held us to a 2-2 draw at Meadow Lane in September. Luck was on their side again, they caught us unprepared and netted an early goal. My boys reacted well and Nikita Andreev headed home a good cross from Nicolae Mitea. One of Bristol Rovers‘ defenders got sent off right before the break after picking up a second yellow card, it seemed that we were in control. Unfortunately the second half began like the first one did, they caught us on a counter attack and scored! We continued to push forward but missed our chances, hit the woodwork on one occasion but generally looked a bit too nervy upfront. While we were trying hard to score Bristol Rovers succeeded, they sent in a free kick from 25 yards out… It was our second consecutive defeat and our first league defeat.
We had to get out of the black hole we were in, last placed Port Vale were coming at Meadow Lane. It was the perfect chance to get another win and regain some of the lost confidence. The team did all that it could do but my players were still too nervy, they rarely picked the right solutions to finish the attacks.
Next up, an away game at 13th placed Oldham, a team that we defeated 2-0 in October. We had to win, no question about that. We tried hard to score in the second half but it was Oldham that did it after a counter attack. Tomas Pekhart finally scored just before the break, there still was hope for a win. Centre back Ritchie De Laet gave us the lead with a corner kick header, it seemed that we could finally get a well deserved victory. It wasn’t to be though, we conceded an absurd goal six minutes before the final whistle after a stupid wrong back pass… I was quite desperate, I didn’t know what to do. I was trying to joke and consider sending the players to a priest to confess their sins, or maybe hire Harry Potter as an assistant manager… :) :(
The next game was away at 11th placed MK Dons, we won the home game 3-1 in October. Although I was expecting a difficult games I told my players that I wanted a win and no more excuses, just three points. They felt the pressure in the first half and didn’t play too well, MK Dons deserved to score and they did. Fortunately Shelton Martis scored a corner kick goal, we still had the chance to win. We played better in the second half but my strikers looked bereft of confidence, they just couldn’t play as they used to do. In that situation it was our captain, Shelton Martis, who had to take things into his own hands. He scored again from a corner kick, he was determined to end the bad break. Phew, finally a win!
And it was the right moment to get that win, the next game was against the best team in the league (except us, of course), Huddersfield. They took advantage of our bad break and took the top spot from us, they were 2 points ahead of us but we had a game in hand. We were determined to win the game and we pushed forward right from the start. On of Huddersfield‘s defenders got sent off in the first half for elbowing Pekhart in the face, things were going our way. Unfortunately their keeper had a sensational game, he denied us a few certain goals. We scored in the last possible moment, Gasmi made a great run on the left flank, crossed to the far post and Szalai was there to head it in! With that win a playoff place was secured with 10 games to spare but at that point I only cared about promotion and the League One title.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Martin
16 декабря, 2009 at 20:01
I Was Getting A Bit Worried Whenn U Werrntt Doingg Too Good :P
Gladd To See You Doing Well Again Though
I’m From Luton :D
Glad To See Them Get Into The Final 2 Times In 3 Seasons :P
Well..The Other One Was In Real Life :L
Thats A Bit Of A Long Comment :P
Kevin
16 декабря, 2009 at 20:12
Wow, that’s one of your toughest months ever I think. I’ve just be catching up on your other stories with Chester and Blyth Spartans which are incredible. Hopefully you will return to form in April and snatch the title from Huddersfield. Keep going though!
eddie eddie
16 декабря, 2009 at 20:41
I think this is the first time I can’t say it was a good month for you with luck I will be able to say it next month.
Johnny Karp
16 декабря, 2009 at 20:53
@Eddie
Indeed, it was by far the worse month so far in FM 2010. Thanks for the good luck wish though ;)
@Kevin
Thanks mate, I’m happy you are reading the older stories too.
@Martin
No problem, I like long comments. I guess we were lucky to get Luton, a League Two team, in the final, it was a good chance for us. I wish them luck in real life though :)
joeegreennbludd
17 декабря, 2009 at 21:39
WOWEEE, yuvee finnlly stopped cheatinn an started playin properly, well u must have dun cuz ure now doin shitt.
Johnny Karp
17 декабря, 2009 at 21:40
Yeah, right. Grow up.
Kevin
18 декабря, 2009 at 01:14
Looks like one of your «visitors» is just jealous that they can’t achieve the same kind of success. I could say the same thing as my «career» is always start-stop-new game, so why you should you have so much glory. don’t because I’m enjoying this too much and takes my mind off the -15C outside.
I seem to be total crap after pre-season each and every time.
Do you have either of your previous stories on a single file that you send me? I’d love to print and read them in full whilst riding the Toronto subway system 2 hours every day. Here’s my work email due to the time difference. kevin.mayo@aegoncanada.ca
cheers!
Johnny Karp
18 декабря, 2009 at 12:32
@Kevin
I don’t have the stories in a file, I always write the posts directly into the website. I can’t download them as printable files either, they are stored in a database… I will try to figure out a way to get them into a file but I can’t promise anything.
Johnny Karp
18 декабря, 2009 at 14:38
Kevin, I tried to find some solutions for you and so far I came up with two of them. First you can find a «Print this post» link right above the title of each post, so you can print the posts easily. The second option is a PDF creating plugin, you can find that on the bottom of each post, above the comments section. There you can insert your email address and have the PDF file sent to your email address. That’s all I could do right now, I will try to find some other solution if these are not satisfying.
Kevin
18 декабря, 2009 at 14:50
Thanks for the suggestions. I have access to Canon production class copier at work so I’ll try printing them off and see how that goes.
Only -12C outside today LOL!
Johnny Karp
18 декабря, 2009 at 16:29
OK Kevin, let me know how that goes. Unfortunately I didn’t find a way to export multiple posts to PDF at once but I’ll keep looking.
alanngibson
22 января, 2010 at 18:17
love this game my team is leeds united i have got them promted to the prem in 2 seasons stayed up and went into the euro cup and won it got big wages now but i built my team on free bosman and free agents… one player i would recomend is a young mid player called ze eduardo from maga sc will only set u back a hundered grand and can play anywhere in mid.
Johnny Karp
23 января, 2010 at 16:25
@alanngibson
Thanks for the recommendation and good luck with Leeds.