Hello everyone and welcome to the next installment.
Following the trip to Elland Road we were subject to a two week layoff due to International fixtures and just before our first game in September my favoured left back Geoffrey Adjet announced he couldn’t settle in Wiltshire. I had the same problem last season with Goran Maric, and let him leave for a month but with Geoffry I banged him right back into the first team and that’s pay dividends with some fine performances
Our first game of the month was against Peterborough who turned out to be an awkward side and we just managed to scrape a win by a single goal but in truth the game wasn’t a blinder by any stretch of the imagination and even the ref was happy to hear the final whistle.
Three days later was a long trip to Southend who came up with us last season and where we lost 2 — 1 . A few of my players were tired after the slug fest with Peterborough and I ended up employing a 4-1-4-1 formation to accommodate the team and it paid off…just. Tomas Pekhart played the loan striker and struck after 20 minutes but Southend instantly replied and from there it was end to end stuff. New signing Jonathan Kodja (ST) was brought on late in the game and latched onto an exquisite Jacob Mellis pass to slot home the winner.
Febian Brandy returned to the line up for the visit of Ipswich Town and the lads asked to stay with the formation from the previous game. I duly obliged as a happy team is a winning team and sure enough we trounced the Tractor Boys by 4-1 with Brandy getting a brace and Mellis finally getting on the score sheet as I pushed him more forward than he has been of late. Some succulent passing between Jacob and Febian produced the third goal after a delicately placed passed by club captain Jonathan Douglas picked out Brandy. By far this was the best performance since I came to the club.
We remained at home for our next game against Leicester City who were struggling near the foot of the table so we fancied our chances in taking all three point at the County Ground. How wrong we were. Leicester got off to a flying start and before we knew what hit us we were down by two inside 15 minutes. We started to fight back and were rewarded with a goal by Jacob Mellis before half time and he followed up with another one on the hour to make it 2-2. Just when it seemed we had control of the game we fell victim to the inevitable set piece and Leicester was back in front. We struck back immediately through Febian Brandy and came close to winning it after Henry Lansbury hit the bar but the final score remained at three apiece.
Our final game of the month was a long ride up north to Blackpool. Febian was in devastating form but it was one of those games where the ball just wouldn’t go in, hitting the wood work three times and having two attempts cleared off the line. Tomas Pekhart came on for him in the second half an immediately scored. That’s football for you. Henry Lansbury who was fantastic throughout the game then made it 2 – 0 being first to react to a loose ball following an attacking set piece.
We made it through the month unbeaten and are now in sixth place. There’s a lot off football still to be played but morale is high and the players are starting to find there preferred positions on the field.