Southampton: Championship Kick Off

Hello everyone and welcome back to my Southampton Football Manager Story 2011. Last time we saw The Saints ease through their pre season so lets see how we got on as our Championship  campaign began.

August 2011:

It was time for the season to get underway and our first opponents were Derby County at Pride Park. We arrived full of confidence but were sent home with our tails between our legs suffering a 3-0defeat and a harsh lesson of life in The Championship.

An easier game followed where we defeated Aldershot 2-0 in the League Cup with newly arrived  striker Marcus Haber coming on as a late sub and setting up the second goal. Back in league action we scraped a 1-0 wing over Doncaster thanks to a penalty converted by Conor Clifford.

I didn’t really need another striker but just for the heck of it signed Marcus Haber as he is Canadian!

We travelled to Nottingham next to play Forest which saw Eric Botteghin head us in front early on with Bakambu playing his heart out in fabulous first half display, eventually doubling our lead early in the second half with a powerful low shot. Forest would pull one back late in the game but this indeed was a great result for the club.

Three days later we faced Premier League side West Brom in the second round of the League Cup. It was a gruelling game which by the end left my team thoroughly exhausted but on an emotional high having eliminated West Brom with two headed in goals by DC Davies and Morgan Schneiderlin.

We still had two games to play before this month would end and both against better teams from Yorkshire in Barnsley and Leeds United.

Barnsley proved to be a very tough team to play and after going behind in the 29th minute we fought our way back into the game eventually equalizing early in the second half through Tom Cleverley – his first for the club. We should have really won the game with the amount of opportunities created but the ball just wouldn’t cooperate in going over the line for a second time.

The final game of the month was away to Leeds and the fans had really been looking forward to this one. Jason Puncheon opened the scoring being the first to meet a low cross by Cleverley but then Leeds very much took control of things but strong defending ensured we held onto a slender lead. The equalizer came in the 70th minute as Leeds caught us off guard with a swift counter attacking move though Brazilian Eric Botteghin headed us back into the lead 7 minutes later. Leeds poured forward as we moved into injury time and a smashing breakaway by Bakambu from inside our own half was superbly finished off by the young Frenchman to make it 3-1.

League Table:

So after a frightening start at Derby we  composed ourselves nicely and are very much in the thick of things after the first month. There’s a along way to go of course but this is a very encouraging begining.

Fixtures:

September will open up with a derby match against Portsmouth and in the League Cup we will face another Midlands team in Birmingham City.

Well that completes this update and thanks for taking the time to read it.

The last day of voting for my FM2012 team will be tomorrow October 1st so if you haven’t already please feel free to choose a team below but  it very much looks like Plymouth is the popular choice and has been the front runner from the start.

Many thanks to all who have voted and I never imagined over 200 votes would be cast.