Hello friends and welcome back to the latest episode of my Football Manager Story. Last time we saw Plymouth playing beyond expectations and about to compete in a crucial FA Cup match….
February 2013
FA Cup Fourth Round
It was an enthralling encounter that unfolded as we took on Cardiff City in front of almost 17,000 fans at Home Park. After a sustained period of pressure it was William Ekong who headed in the opening goal with 24 minutes on the clock. Our joy was short lived as Cardiff equalized just two minutes later from a long range effort. We didn’t drop our heads and played intelligently up until half time though Eccleston missed a couple of great chances. He made up for that though early in the second half with a typical breakaway and low drive into the net after Vellios had flicked the ball onto him from the centre circle. With our tails up we went searching for a third but Cardiff weren’t about to concede another and formed a formidable defence. Their intrusions into our half finally paid off with a goal from a corner to make it 2-2 in the 69th minute then moments later Simon Walton went agonizingly close with a dipping shot from just outside the box. In the end it finished 2-2 so we have a difficult replay ahead of us.
Following our cup game we comfortably beat Rochdale at home in the league but then lost away to Tranmere as again I saved the First Eleven for the cup replay. We should have won this game but gave away two stupid penalties.
FA Cup Fourth Round Replay
We picked up where we left of last time in this cup tie with Cardiff, as the home side took the lead after just 3 minutes. Eccleston tucked in the equalizer from a Luke Daley cross some 20 minutes later but yet another long shot gave Cardiff the lead once more before the half hour. A through ball by Walton fashioned the equalizer for Vellios as he muscled off his defender before striking home. In the second half against the run of play Daley found Eccleston once more and he swept the ball home to put us in front. Cardiff though used their LONG THROW weapon and quickly made it 3-3 and in the 77th minute ended our brave cup run with the winning goal and so they will face Watford at home who knocked out Man City of all teams.
With any dreams of Wembley now over we needed to keep our morale up and we did just that with a fine win at home to Millwall which saw Vellios and Eccleston partner up to create a superb opening goal. However both strikers were upstaged by Dutch youngster William Ekong who bagged himself two goals, both from set pieces to get us back to winning ways.
We stayed at home — taking on Orient to play our game in hand over league leaders Huddersfield. MR Marc Pelosi opened the scoring after 5 minutes being teed up by a delicate pass from Vellios. A mistake by left back Luke Garbutt allowed the equalizer for Orient but a cracking effort from 25 yards (about time we had one) by loanee Conor Coady restored the lead by the half time whistle. We dominated the second period but stupidly gave away a goal to bring Orient back into the game but when a draw seemed on the cards Coady slipped the ball into the box and substitute Odelusi returning from injury steered the ball home for the winning goal!
Following the win over Orient I received my first job offer from Swansea which I turned down.
So as the month ended the table was looking like this.
March 2013
Before our first game of the month the financial report was released and having made a profit of over £500,000 last month we broke the £2,000,000 mark for the first time.
It took a stern half time talk and a superb strike on the half volley by Kaby to wake the team up away to Gillingham which we finally came out of the winners thanks to a late winning goal by Vellios.
We received our first real injury set back of the season as left back Jeremy Helan was injured in training and will be out for up to six weeks. I’m thankful that I picked up Luke Garbutt on loan now.
Our three game win streak came to an end with a rubbish performance at Meadow Lane with Notts County taking all three points from an early first half goal and Garbutt putting in a terrible performance at left back!
A win was needed and it was a win we got at Home Park with a dominant display over visitors Scunthorpe. Kaby once again came up with a beautiful strike from distance after 10 minutes. A corner kick provided the base for the second goal as Ekong headed the ball back across the box for Eccleston to steer into the net. Being 2-0 up after just 22 minutes we should have added a few more goals but I was happy with the three points to keep the pressure on Huddersfield.
Next up was away at to 22nd place Shrewsbury and after a frantic opening 10 minutes at either end it was Ekong who opened the scoring with another headed in corner kick. A killer long ball by left back Jamie Richards (Garbutt dropped) was chased down by Eccleston whose cross found the head of Vellios to make in 2-0 after 17 minutes. Another corner, another Ekong header, but this one was turned into the net by fellow CD Soukouna to make it 3-1, Shrewsbury having pulled one back in between. Relentless second half pressure final paid off as Ekong got his second of the game for goal number four and another valuable three points.
In front of almost 15,000 fans it was time for our top of the table clash with Huddersfield. We got off to a thrilling start as MR Luke Daley was left totally unmarked for an easy tap in goal off a Bhasera cross with just 4 minutes gone. Huddersfield equalized from a set piece, the very thing we had trained on all week and ironically took the lead just after the hour mark the same way. Eccleston and Vellios both missed open goals before Huddersfield struck their third goal. Daley got his second 10 minutes from time to throw us a life line and in the dying seconds Vellios missed another open goal throwing away the chance to rescue a point.
The final game of the month was away to Bournemouth, whom having been reduced to ten men early the game formed an “impenetrable wall” that we could not break down. This led to a frustrating afternoon and a 0-0 result.
Results Summary:
League Table:
Unless Huddersfield totally slip up I think they have the title in the bag. My biggest concern now is keeping ahead of Colchester as they have narrowed the gap thanks to some splendid form lately.
Remaining Fixtures:
Looking ahead we have a very difficult ending to the season as five of those games all feature teams who could have a shot at the play-offs and I feel we will need to win all seven games to secure automatic promotion.
Super Sevens:
18 year old William Ekong leads the way in my Super Sevens table and quite rightly so. The young central defender has been absolutely brilliant these laste couple of months.
Well that completes this update and I’m sure it won’t be too long before the Season Finale report will be up also. I’m not usually one for providing recommendations but it may be worth checking out William Ekong in your own saved games as I think he’s just terrific.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this and stay safe!
vaibhavc
5 декабря, 2011 at 08:07
Unlucky in the FA Cup, but it was a great effort. Ekong seems to do very well for you, I hope he can continue this in other divisions as well. I think you should concentrate on getting second place, Huddersfield seem to be too far away.
Kevin
5 декабря, 2011 at 10:13
Hi vaibhavc
Yeah, I don’t think a title win is realistic anymore and I’m hoping the same about Ekong too :)
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2011 at 09:12
You did well to recover from that FA Cup thriller, such defeats can have an unpleasant impact. You’re looking great for promotion and I guess you can still sneak in a title bid, good luck!
Kevin
5 декабря, 2011 at 10:14
Hi Johnny
The cup encounter was quite a classic and I was delighted in how we bounced back from elimination as that could have ruined the season.
CsAtlantis
5 декабря, 2011 at 10:22
Wow Cardiff bought Alvaro Fernandez? Anyway your players did well against higher division opposition and with a bit of luck could have gone through, you are still on course for an automatic promotion slot, just keep going and see what happens, your loanees are doing very well for you, so have Ekong and Bhasera, good luck for your last 7 league matches, you have one game in hand on Colchester too
Kevin
5 декабря, 2011 at 20:45
They were two great games against Cardiff and we were dreadfully unlucky not to progress. As for the loaness they all have done really well and contributed to our current suceess.
Martin - F.M.J.S
5 декабря, 2011 at 11:49
HI Kevin
Even though i have been reading your stories i have been to busy to comment so sorry about that. But back to your post. Unlucky with the result in the FA Cup but well done in the league. I am hoping that Huddersfield slip up. :)
Being a Swansea fan I am disappointed you never took the job Lol
Kevin
5 декабря, 2011 at 20:47
Hey Martin!
It’s good to see you back and thanks for the comment. I’m hoping Huddersfield will stumble too. Sorry about the Swansea job, so I definitely won’t take Cardiff then :)
Darren Smith
5 декабря, 2011 at 11:57
Bad luck in the cup and some excellent form from Huddersfield has taken a little shine off your form but I think Plymouth look like well deserved promotion candidates. The squad seems strong and you’re winning most matches so lets hope for a big finish. Good luck, ow and well done on the finances, very strong.
Kevin
5 декабря, 2011 at 20:49
Yeah, I was hoping for one of those fairy tale cup runs but it wasn’t to be.I’m delighted with the financial position which of course will only improve if we get promoted.
Lye
5 декабря, 2011 at 14:15
Hi Kevin,
It was a courageous performance against cardiff and too bad about the defeat in the replay. You can now channel all your energy to the promotion race and i believe you are still the favorites to follow Huddersfield up even if your run-in is tough. Good luck.
Kevin
5 декабря, 2011 at 20:52
Thanks Lye,
I think runner up is what I’m aiming for as long as we don’t do anything stupid around the penalty area :)
Ana Garcia
5 декабря, 2011 at 19:06
Still going along well.
You run out is difficult playing away four times but its out of your hands, all you can do is win all your games and cross your fingers!
At least automatic promotion is almost assured so the main thing is that should win promotion, which would be fantastic.
Good luck!! :)
Kevin
5 декабря, 2011 at 20:53
Thanks Ana;
I’m not looking forward at all to those away matches as each onewill be crucial in it’s own right. Hopfully we can come through the other end with some good points!
Laxeyman
5 декабря, 2011 at 20:15
Ah, unlucky in the Cup Kevin, but you fought extremely well and well done on getting as far as you did :) It looks like you’ve got promotion in your hands, if you win your game in hand it’ll be pretty much in the bag. Good luck!
Kevin
5 декабря, 2011 at 20:56
It wasn’t a pretty sight in my living room when we got knocked out :) Oh well there’s still the league even if our path to promotion is like a minefield!
Stromson
5 декабря, 2011 at 21:38
Hey Kevin
1) Good fight against Cardiff, shame that you couldn’t get by them, but still, a good fight.
2) Those are indeed some very tough fixtures, wishing you the best of luck there!
3) How does the 15,000 in attendance for the Huddersfield match compare to your averages?
Kevin
6 декабря, 2011 at 09:11
Hi Stromson
1) Both games were true cup ties and we were just unlucky really.
2) I’m going to need it. Every one of them is going to be a battle!
3)That’s almost capacity, though my average is just shy of 12,000. Not bad eh!
TheZiggy
5 декабря, 2011 at 23:15
A most valiant effort against Cardiff, sadly not quite enough, but you bounced back well from that disappointment.
As you have a game in hand over the 3rd place team, 5 wins would secure automatic promotion, and I think even though it’s a tough run-in, that you can manage to stay second.
I now understand why I’m struggling with Torquay financially now, as our ground even after an extension is just over 6,000 capacity. That extra income would definitely make a huge difference, but not much I can do, until we move into a situation where we’re making a profit each month.
Kevin
6 декабря, 2011 at 09:17
I lile the use of the word valiant as that descibes our effort aginst Cardiff perfectly!
If we keep our heads and don’t do anything silly then we should be able to hold on to second place.
Getting good attendances and having a reasonable capacity does help, All you can do is try and keep the salaries well below the monthly target and try not to spend the transfer budget.Lot’s of other finabcial things are just out of your control.
Alex
7 декабря, 2011 at 22:14
Unlucky in the cup, it was a great run and you also look set for promotion. Your financial state is fantastic, that’s unheard of for Plymouth.