Hello my friends, welcome back to the Notts County Football Manager 2010 story! I finally got to play the game again last night and now I’m ready to share what happened in January 2014… If you remember, we were in 2nd place at the end of 2013, one point behind Manchester United but with three games in hand. The schedule for January looked quite scary though, we had no less than 9 games to play!
The first game was right on the 1st of January, away at Chelsea in the Carling Cup quarter final. The last league game against The Blues was still fresh in everybody’s memory, we beat them 2-1 at Meadow Lane in December. We didn’t look as good in the first half though, Chelsea took the lead after taking advantage of a corner kick scuffle and outplayed us in midfield throughout the first 45 minutes. We were 2-0 down at the break and we totally deserved that. We looked a bit better in the second half but got punished on a counter attack, the game seemed as good as over. I changed the wingers then, Sneijder came in for Agnaldo and Hinshelwood came in for Bonetti and that gave a lift to our attacking game. The two substitutes produced two goals for us, first Sneijder volleyed home a cross for Hinshelwood and then Hinshelwood headed in a cross from Sneijder! It wasn’t too late but Guilherme missed a golden opportunity in the last minute, he was one on one with Cech but the keeper saved it. We were out of the Carling Cup, you can’t afford to play a first half like we had against a good team like Chelsea.
We were still in the FA Cup, the 3rd round game was coming up, at home with Championship side Sheffield Wednesday. We were expected to win and the team was determined to live up to the expectations. Marcelo Moreno started things up with a cool finish and then Demba Ba doubled the lead with a spectacular 20 yards shot, it went in off the crossbar. Once he saw he can do it from 20 yards he tried one from 30 yards and it went in too! The Senegalese striker was unleashed and he celebrated a hat trick right after the break, the team had a lot of fun and gave the fans an entertaining show.
Back to the Premier League, the first game of the year was at home with 19th placed Hull City. Sergio Romero got injured in training before the game, he was going to be out for 10 days, it was a chance for substitute Luis Guilherme to prove his skills. Sam Hinshelwood gave us the lead by finishing a team move but our defense had a lot of trouble with Hull‘s strikers. They got a deserved equalizer but youngster Luis Guilherme saved a few to keep us level at half time. We placed Hull under siege after half time but Rafael Sobis and Guilherme were missing a lot of chances. The goal finally came from a corner kick, Guilherme flicked the ball on from the near post and Sobis powered it in with a fine far post header. The man of the match was young keeper Luis Guilherme, I guess the future looks good ;)
We had another home game coming up, only three days later. This time 15th placed West Ham were coming at Meadow Lane, a team that held us to a 0-0 draw back in August. We got off to a bad start, an error from Luis Guilherme didn’t go unpunished and we were one goal down. Demba Ba was determined to continue his good form, he dribbled past an opponent and powered it in only 5 minutes later. We were dominating but the ball just wouldn’t go in, Marcelo Moreno went close but his header hit the crossbar. Rafael Sobis replaced the Bolivian at half time but he didn’t have more luck, his placed shot hit the post and bounced clear. It all went down to injury time, we kept on trying but it seemed like we were heading for a draw. We managed to bang it in again in the last seconds though, a parried shot from Bonetti bounced to Demba Ba and the striker powered it in to give us the win.
The third consecutive home game in the Premier League saw us welcoming 6th placed Everton at Meadow Lane, we were expecting a tough game. Guilherme gave us the early lead after a fine solo effort, he dribbled past a defender and placed the ball in with great ability. We kept Everton under pressure until half time but failed to convert that into goals. Guilherme did it again after the break, he tapped in a shot from Nicola Bonetti after keeper Tim Howard was able to get a hand to it. Everton had a good chance immediately after our second goal but then we were able to keep them under control and claim the three points.Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Calum
13 февраля, 2010 at 19:44
Well done on getting top of the table in that troublesome month. Your team coped with the games well. Good luck next month in the Premier League and in the Europa League :D !!!
Laxeyman
13 февраля, 2010 at 20:35
Well done Johnny, another solid month there. It looks like the title is going right to the wire! Good luck!
Lye
13 февраля, 2010 at 21:52
Hi mate, you are right about the 2-horse race between Notts County and Man Utd. I bet they will drop points next month and you will be able to open the gap. I am pretty sure you will nick it from them for your first premier league title this season. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
13 февраля, 2010 at 22:53
Thanks to all of you for the comments and for the good wishes.
@Lye
They will drop some points but I can see us dropping a few too, it will be a tight battle.
Martin
13 февраля, 2010 at 23:34
Well Done Johnny, You’ve Just Gotta Keep Going And Getting Good Results And You Should Be Looking Back At A Succesful Season At The End Of It.
I’m Top Of League One On My Game With 65 Points After 27 Games And A Game In Hand Over Southampton!
I Won The First 8 Games In League 1 And Have Only Lost Two So Far
I Got Beat By Chelsea In The FA Cup 3rd Round Replay After I Drew At Home.
I Also Beat Chesterfield 8-0 In The Carling Cup!
Johnny Karp
14 февраля, 2010 at 00:07
@Martin
Thanks for the comment mate, you seem to be doing great in League One!
Aaron
14 февраля, 2010 at 00:44
Johnny how do you get the badges for prem clubs ?
Kevin
14 февраля, 2010 at 02:09
Hi Johnny
Well you made it through that tough month and came out on top so good for you!! That’s a nice little cushion you have built up between top spot and third place Man City with Chelsea an incredible 19 points behind you as well. It is starting to look like it’s between you and United and hopefully results will go your way next month too. Great job!!
Chris Harris
14 февраля, 2010 at 11:04
I really am astounded to be honest. I have followed this blog ever since it started and you have managed to get a measley club like Notts County into the Premier League challenging for the title and for honours in europe. Very enjoyable to read :)
Johnny Karp
14 февраля, 2010 at 11:29
@Chirs
Thanks for the comment. Notts County are not quite a measley club, it’s the first professional club in Europe and now they have quite a lot of money for a League Two team.
@Kevin
Thanks mate, I’m feeling quite comfortable because it looks like the runners up spot is almost guaranteed.
@Aaron
I’m using the logos pack that you can find in the downloads page.
Bilal Ahmad
14 февраля, 2010 at 14:09
Johnny not your finest month however your still first with a game in hand! Man Utd will definately drop points just hope that you don’t drop more points than them.
Johnny Karp
14 февраля, 2010 at 14:12
@Bilal
Thanks mate, I already posted the new update and Man Utd dropped three points while we dropped two…