Notts County Story — January 2012

Hello my friends, here’s the first post of the new year, I hope it will be a great year for everyone. It’s a new year in my game too, my Notts County were top of the table at the end of 2011 in Coca-Cola Championship after a very good first half of the season. The financial aspect of the club was not looking too good though, I had no transfer money and I was already over the wage budget. That’s why I decided to sell two of my players, they didn’t have much of an impact in the first half of the season.

The money helped me to balance the wage budget a little bit but I was still over the amount that the board approved at the beginning of the season. The two players that I sold were midfielder David Edwards and striker Nikita Andreev, I felt I no longer needed their services and I received good money for their transfers.

The first game of the year was away at last placed Swansea. It looked like and easy game but we got only a 1-1 draw against them at home back in August. We dominated the game entirely, created lots of chances but just couldn’t hit the net. The game was heading towards a 0-0 draw, I pushed my team forward and that gave Swansea two big chances to score on counter attacks in the last 15 minutes. We nearly lost the game but we finally won it thanks to… goalkeeper Ben Amos! That’s right, Ben Amos scored!

I sent him to the opposition box for the corner kicks in the last 20 minutes and he headed one in right in the last minute! It was a beautiful header too! :)

The next game was at home with Sheffield Wednesday, they were promotion contenders at the beginning of the season but a poor run of results relegated them to 15th place. We defeated them 1-0 in August and I hoped to achieve another victory against them. Sburlea gave us the lead in the first half by finishing off a quick counter attack, we were in control. Disaster struck in the second half, our hero, Ben Amos, punched a crossed ball but instead of sending it out of the box he pushed it right into our own net! Tomas Pekhart stepped up and gave us the three points goal, he sent in a great free kick shot from 30 yards out. There was bad news after the game, midfielder Carlos Martinez picked up a nasty injury, he was going to be out for three months! That was a big blow so I went to search for a replacement player on loan. I found help at our parent club, Arsenal, they agreed to send Mark Randall until the end of the season.

We had a tough game coming up, away at 5th placed Bolton, one of the best teams in the league. We drew 1-1 with them in August, I was expecting a very difficult battle. We dominated the first half but were a bit unlucky, a good header from Rodney Sneijder hit the crossbar instead of going in. The second half wasn’t as good, Marc Muniesa gave the ball away and Elmander doesn’t refuse such presents, he banged it in without regrets. We tried to push forward but Bolton proved to be the better team, they scored again and grabbed a well deserved victory.

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The next game was away at 19th placed Coventry, it was a good chance to get back to winning. We solved the game during the first half, we dominated it with great authority. The first goal was scored by 17 year old right winger Sam Hinshelwood, Sir Alex Ferguson is asking about him, he wants to take him to Manchester United! With all due respect Sir, he’s my boy! Tomas Pekhart scored the second goal, he headed in a good cross from Rodney Sneijder. We could have scored a lot more in the second half but I was happy to get the three points.

We had the FA Cup 4th round game coming up, fellow Championship side Brighton were our opponents. Rodney Sneijder scored his first goal for the club to give us the lead,  that goal was quite important. Mark Randall got sent off for picking up two yellow cards, it was his first game for us… We finished the game with only 9 men on the pitch, Pedro Botelho was sent directly to the hospital and we will be out for 4 months! Anyway, we were through to the next round. The draw wasn’t lucky for us, we got Arsenal in the 5th round!

The bad luck from the draw continued into our next league game, at home with 9th placed Crystal Palace. We defeated them 2-0 in September but this time we just couldn’t score. Their goalkeeper, Julian Speroni, was unbeatable but we even missed in front of an empty net! Even more, we nearly lost the game in the last 10 minutes, Crystal Palace had two good chances on counter attacks…

The last game of the month was a very difficult one, away at 4th placed Middlesbrough. We won the home game against them 2-1 in September but it was a tough battle if I remember correctly. Each of the two teams scored in the first 10 minutes, it seemed that we were in for a spectacular game. Then midfielder Giampiero Pinzi got sent off for a brutal tackle, I wasn’t expecting such a rash behavior from an experienced player like him. Szalai remained on the pitch as a lone striker and he scored right away, he finished off a fast counter attack to give us an unexpected lead. We defended well until half time but the last 45 minutes were a living hell. We couldn’t survive in the second half, most of my players were exhausted and Middlesbrough were pushing forward like maniacs… I guess we could have walked away with a draw if it wasn’t for that red card but that’s football, you have to pay for the errors.

That defeat relegated us to 2nd place, Newcastle were the new Championship leaders. We still had 8 points more than the other promotion contenders but the battle will be fierce…

We’ll have some tough games in February, beginning with Bristol City and Ipswich, then we’ll have to prepare to be trashed by Arsenal, then recover and face Newcastle…

That’s how it was, quite a painful month with lots of injuries, red cards and two league defeats. I guess I’ll be looking to bring another player on loan from Arsenal, a midfielder, and just hope to survive February without any more long term injuries, another couple of those could ruin our season.

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