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Plymouth Argyle: Season 2, Oct — Nov 2012
Hello friends and welcome back to the latest installment of my Football Manager Story which last time saw Plymouth get off to a reasonalbe start to the season.
October 2012
A quick review of our finances show that things are steadily improving at Home Park with a healthy balance of just over 1.2 million
Our first game of the month was a difficult encounter away to Millwall and although I was hoping for a draw we surprisingly came away with an unexpected victory thanks to a header from 18 year old William Ekong 13 minutes from time.
The following game saw us fail to get revenge over Wycombe in the JPT and we were soundly beaten by two goals to nil. Back home we dominated proceedings against Notts County but despite our 63% possession we failed dramatically in front of goal until Nathan Eccelston broke away and coolly tucked the ball under the diving keeper in the 89th minute.
Mid-month saw us travel to Scunthorpe and although we got a break with the home side being reduced to 10 men early on we still lacked entertainment in front of goal and should have come away with three points.
The goalless draw with Scunthorpe was followed by two more draws against Shrewsbury and Huddersfield before we finally broke that sequence at the beginning of November with a 1-0 win over Chesterfield at home. Nathan Eccleston got the only goal of the game in the 66th minute of a cross by right back Jordan Pearce.
League Table: ( including Chesterfield result)
November 2012
On the training ground a slight modification to our strategy produced an exhilarating second half performance in our next game away to Walsall. After a forgettable first 45 Nigerian striker Sanmi Odelusi gave us the lead with a fabulous twisting shot from just inside the box to bag his first goal for the club 10 minutes into the second period. Winger Luke Daley powered home the second with a low driving shot into the corner of the net which Bhasera on the left flank reproduced to add the third goal in a dominating 7 minute spell. Walsall quickly pulled one back but it wasn’t enough to change the outcome of the game.
FA Cup 1st Round
The road to Wembley began away to AFC Wimbledon where we arrived with a make shift line up thanks to international call ups and a couple of minor injuries. We quickly found ourselves a goal down after 15 minutes caused by statue like defending whilst up the other end we struggled in front of goal. An assertive half time talk seemed to back fire as Wimbledon went two up and our exit looked inevitable. Odelusi though pulled one back after 56 minutes with a breakaway run and finish which motivated the team with Luke Daley scoring a typical powerful effort to make it 2-2 twelve minutes later. Daley turned into superman, flying down the right flank time and time again and was rewarded for his effort as his cross in the 82nd minute was fumbled into the net by the Wimbledon keeper. A brilliant comeback confirmed our path into the next round.
The final game of the month was in league action at home to Bournemouth in which we took the lead off a Jamie Richards header with Walton supplying the cross ball from the corner spot. That good start was quickly neutralized and it was 1-1 after 16 minutes. Nathan Eccleston fired us back into the lead off an inch perfect pass by Walton and he went on to produce a dazzling display which culminated in a second goal on the hour mark. Complacency allowed the visitors a late goal but by then the three points were already secured.
Full Results:
League Table:
Holy mackeral we are in second place, and I never even saw that coming!
Super Sevens:
A great couple of months by Eccleston ensures that he tops this table which is othwewise dominated by defenders.
Fixtures:
We begin December with an FA Cup game at home to Bath City with a top of the table clash with Exeter on the horizon.
Thanks a lot for reading this and have a great weekend.