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Swindon Town: December 2010
Greetings from Canada and welcome faithful readers to the next installment.
With a difficult Christmas schedule ahead I decided to throw caution to the wind and send a 4-3-3 formation up the M5 to Preston. Just before we set off on our trip we heard the news that we had been drawn at home against League 2 side Exeter in the FA Cup Third Round. The new formation in part somewhat paid off as we had the lion’s share of the possession but as usual ended up chasing the game, falling behind just after half time. Tomas Pekhart equalized for us after 53 minutes with a lovely shot on the turn but despite our dominance we failed to get the ball into the net.
Our midweek game was at home to Sheffield United and I felt confident that this could be a three pointer for us and we couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. Our Ivorian striker Jonathan Kodja put us ahead after only 2 minutes with a beautiful glancing header from a Lansbury cross. United though pulled one back sixteen minutes later but when Lucas Neill was sent off I thought we had the game in the bag. Sheffield though defended sternly but Kodja managed to find a hole and scored a second just after half time. We held onto our lead for the rest of the game but would have liked a bigger margin of victory.
The following Saturday 19th place Watford visited the County Ground and we felt another victory was on the cards. Unfortunately the weather played a dominant role in this game and both sides found it difficult to move the ball around on a cold and frosty field. Again I went with the 4-3-3 formation but my front three were as cold as the field especially Kevin Dupuis who has gone 10 hours without scoring. Pekhart and Kodja both had reasonable chances but Scott Loach between the Watford posts played a blinder and we had to settle for a goalless draw.
Up next for us is a trip to Everton, Bristol City and finally home against Reading. This is a huge Christmas schedule for us and I need our strikers to start scoring.
The trip to Goodison Road is one I’d rather forget about. We were thumped 3-0 even though we had the greater possession. The game started badly before the referee blew his whistle as Jonathan Kodja announced again that he didn’t like Wiltshire and to top that Jacob Mellis says he can’t handle the media attention that the local television and newspapers are giving him.
Onto the game and Everton went ahead following a goalmouth scramble that keeper Tom Heaton did his best to stop but couldn’t hold onto the ball. Twenty minutes later disaster struck as Henri Lansbury was injured following a lunging tackle by Dan Gosling who added the insult by scoring 5 minutes later. Everton dominated the second half easily breaking down any attacks we put together and Leon Osman’s 35 yard effort was almost the final nail in the coffin. That came in the 89th minute as my young striker John Guidetti was also injured.
The news wasn’t good the following day as Lansbury will be out for 3 months and so will be returning to Arsenal. Guidetti’s recovery time will be at least 6 weeks which leaves just Pekhart up front as I’ve had enough of strikers Dupuis and Kodja they will both be listed for the January transfer window. My other striker Febian Brandy will not be fit until next month so Michael Mifsud may make a surprise return to the first team.
Our Boxing Day game matched us up with bitter rivals Bristol City at Ashton Gate. I decided to draft in Callum Kennedy (ML) and Michael Mifsud from the reserves to cover the injuries. Mellis was to be benched with Munoz taking an attacking midfield role behind Pekhart. I was nervous of another beating and tried not to show it. We started off brightly passing the ball around well and putting Bristol under pressure. We were rewarded for our efforts after 24 minutes when Iriekpen who had returned from injury headed us in front from a corner. Munoz could have made in two – nil moment’s later but blasted the ball into the stands from close range. City pulled one back after the break and with Munoz missing another I decided to replace him with Mellis who scored after just 20 seconds from coming on the field. To defend the lead I sent instructions to counter and we caught them on the break with Mellis sprinting ahead of the chasing pack to slot home a third. After the nightmare at Everton this was sensational!
Our final game of 2010 was against our other “M4” rival Reading, just two days after beating Bristol City. Although confidence was high the team was tired and this reflected in a slow drawn out first half. We did try to step things up after the break with Douglas and Gasmi both coming close but to no avail. Our injury crisis continued and Tomas Pekhart ripped a calf muscle and he will be gone for four months.
We’ve ended the year then in a play off spot and I’m more than happy with that. I’m not too happy about my striker situation as they are either injured or don’t want to play which means I’m going to have to find a player on loan as soon as the transfer window opens up.
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