FMS Patriots Story — February 2011

Hello folks and welcome to another episode of our Football Manager 2011 Community Story! As you remember we had a tremendous run in January 2011, we recorded four straight wins that consolidated our position at the top of the Championship table. And those wins were quite comfortable as well: 6-0, 8-0, 5-1 and 7-1! With those scores in mind I assumed that we would win our first game in February even with some lads from the reserves in the first team so I gave the chance to shine to some of you. The outcome? Read on to find out.

Our first game of the month was at home against 21st placed QPR, a perfect opportunity to test some players. Things didn’t start well though, we conceded after just five minutes but fortunately we made it all square on 23 minutes when a good cross from Skip led to a debut goal for Pilgrim. Our joy was short-lived though as QPR scored just three minutes later by taking advantage of a gaffe from Von Karma on a corner kick. Our first half performance was quite poor to be honest and Vaibhav, our brave goalie, did well to keep the score as it was. The second half was equally poor, QPR doubled the lead and we could only reply through an injury time goal scored by Darren Smith who headed home a good cross from Pilgrim. I guess this game proved that some of our players are not ready for first team football yet… (click here to watch the highlights)

The next game was away at 7th placed promotion contenders Cardiff so I decided to field the best possible eleven both in terms of fitness and abilities. Things didn’t seem to go well though as Cardiff took the lead on 10 minutes thanks to a great goal from 25 yards. Our reply was immediate, Pepper robbed a defender just one minute later and powered into the roof of the net and then Dami gave us the lead on 15 minutes with a great free kick goal. We enjoyed a great spell of dominance but could only score one more goal before the break, Pepper made it 3-1 with a delightful injury time lob. The second half was an onslaught, our lads gave Cardiff the runaround! Darren Smith made it 4-1 with a typical powerful finish after receiving an assist from Bushy, then Bushy himself managed to get his first goal for the club after displaying some nice dribbling skills and scored again nine minutes later from a Hazza assist. We were home and dry at the hour mark but Cardiff decided to switch to a 4-2-4 tactic in an attempt to cut back the deficit. Big mistake, that gave us even more space to exploit and we bagged another four goals: three from star striker Darren Smith and the first goal for the club for Hazza. We had 11 clear cut chances in that game, not bad at all! :) (click here to watch the highlights)

The next game was at home against 11th placed Millwall, I was keen on winning this one after the disappointing home result against QPR. We were quite unlucky this time though, the first half ended goalless with Smith hitting the post and squandering a couple of very good chances. We finally took the lead on 53 minutes when G played a perfect 40-yard ball for Pepper who fired in off the post. Then we missed another couple of good opportunities and we seemed totally out of luck on 61 minutes when Judast scored an own goal. We restored the lead four minutes later when Smith played a good through ball for Pepper‘s second goal of the game and we grabbed the three points. We had only six clear cut chances this time :) (click here to watch the highlights)

We were back on track but the next game was going to be a very tough test since we were meeting 3rd placed Nottingham Forest away from home. The game started well this time and we took the lead after just 8 minutes when Darren Smith displayed some good work on the left flank before passing to Dami who scored with a thunderous drive from 20 yards. Unf0rtunately Forest pegged us back after just five minutes, there was some very poor marking in our defense on that occasion… We bounced back in front in the 23rd minute when a corner kick cross from Dezmo found Dully at the near post and the centre back hammered it home. We were pretty much in control of the game and we made that count on the score board after the interval when a good long ball from Jagginman found Rodrigo who passed to Dami who applied the finish. Forest did manage a late goal but the three points were safely in our bag. (click here to watch the highlights)

Next up, another tricky away game at a promotion contender: 6th placed Leicester. The home side dominated the first half, we were outplayed for most of the opening 45 minutes but our defense was quite solid and we managed to hit them twice on counter attacks with Darren Smith finding the target on both occasions (it’s worth noting that Adam Johnson played an awesome pass on the second goal). The second half was a lot more quiet, we controlled the game and managed to walk away with the precious three points. (click here to watch the highlights)

The last game of the month was the most important too since we were meeting 2nd placed Ipswich who were 10 points behind us before that match. We had to win it and we made our ambitions clear right from the start as Pepper hit the post after just 30 seconds. He repeated that finish nine minutes later and that time it went slightly better as he found the bottom corner of the net to give us the lead. That goal unleashed the team and we made it 2-0 four minutes later when Dami played a brilliant through pass for Rodrigo who slotted home. Three minutes later Rodrigo scored again but this time it was Adam Johnson who served him well with a perfect ball 0ver the top. Ipswich started to play a bit better after that third goal and they even came close on a few occasions but there was no way past Vaibhav on that day, he was absolutely great! That said, we resumed the scoring after the break with Rodrigo completing his hat-trick by tucking in a good low cross from Pepper who then scored one himself after being on the receiving end of a cross from Jon Crosby. A fine move then led to Rodrigo‘s fourth goal of the game and McLean wrapped things up by scoring on the rebound after Dami‘s shot had been parried. A glorious result for the team and one that puts us firmly in the driving seat. (click here to watch the highlights)

The league table looks quite nice, we’re 11 points clear of Burnley and only an universal catastrophe could take the title away from us at this point.

In fact, we will meet Burnley at the end of next month and that game could really hand us the title if we manage to get the three points.

Don’t go away just yet, the reserves and under 18s games are coming up in the next page but you’ll also find some interesting news about our players there ;)

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

The reserves started with a good comfortable win against Harrogate, Alex bagged a hat-trick, Jimmy netted a brace and Big O also managed to get on the score sheet.

Liam101 decided the last game of the month for the reserves but Jenko seemed to have been quite impressive in that match.

In case you didn’t know, we seem to be winning our Reserves Group! :)

The Under 18s had just one game in February but they made the most out of it with Jimmy scoring twice and Bmwdestroyer adding another one to his tally.

That’s right, we’re going to win the Under 18s Group too! :)

Transfer News

First let me update Skip and Von Karma on their loan requests: I listed you for loan and also offered your services to some clubs but unfortunately there were no offers at all.

Now on to Brazza, who requested a transfer after I rejected his demand of a new contract with better wages.

Fortunately he changed his mind after a couple of days :)

Livepool‘s Joshy goes to Russia for a few months, pack some warm clothes mate! ;)

And now some news in pictures, I’ll leave the commenting to you.

Sir Alex Likes You!

We’re International

Injuries

That’s about it for now my friends, thanks for reading and I hope that you have enjoyed this update. As always, please leave your thoughts and requests in the comments.