The Nottingham Derby

Here we go my friends, time for a new update in my Football Manager 2010 story! Things were going well for my Notts County, we were top of the table at the end of September and we were qualified for the 4th round of the Carling Cup. October was full of big games to play, first the Nottingham Derby and then the impossible battle at Old Trafford with Manchester United in the Carling Cup.

But we had a lot of work to do until those games, we had to keep the points flowing in. The first game of the month was away at 23rd placed Preston, the team that we defeated last season in the Carling Cup semi finals. They had a very bad start this season and I hoped to beat them easily. We dominated the game and Gergely Varga scored the opening goal from a penalty kick. It was his first ever goal for the club, he’s becoming a very important player and I already received offers for him from most of the big Premier League clubs. We could have scored at least 3 more goals in the first half but my lads missed unbelievable chances. We did make things clear in the 2nd half though and young midfielder Carlos Martinez scored his first goal for the club, I was happy for him.

The fans were happy with our performances and they filled the stadium for our next game, at home with 22nd placed Leicester. With 20,000 people in the stands pushing us forward we had no choice but to attack and that’s exactly what we did. We missed quite a few good chances in the 1st half and it was youngster Carlos Martinez who scored with a well timed close range volley. He was becoming an important first team player, he’s playing much better than I would have hoped. It seemed that we were heading for a narrow win but Leicester scored a last minute goal… I thought it was offside but the ref saw it differently…

I looked at the replay after the game, it did look offside! What do you think?

I was disappointed with the results, especially because we had so many fans in the stands for that game, it was a new gate receipts record!

We had to bury the regrets and keep marching forward, we had a very difficult game coming up, at home with 11th placed Ipswich. We didn’t play too well in the first half but we managed to be one goal up at half time, Szalai set up Alibec and he didn’t miss. Ipswich dominated the second half but they had a great goalie in front of them, Ben Amos was absolutely fantastic. I hoped to get away with a draw but Alibec returned the favor, he set up Szalai with a perfect pass and we won the game! We were quite lucky to get the three points though, we had to produce better performances in the next games.

The next game was one of the most important matches of the season, the Nottingham Derby! The last competitive derby between Nottingham Forest and Notts County was played back in 1994 with the Magpies winning it 2-1. There’s fierce rivalry between the two sides and our fans were hoping for another win after all those years. Nottingham Forest were right behind us in 2nd place, so it was an important game for the Championship table too.

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The game was fairly even but very entertaining, bot teams wanted to attack and to score goals. Tomas Pekhart gave us the early lead with a corner kick header but we had to fight right till the end, both teams played with great determination. It was one of the best games I’ve seen so far in FM 2010, lots of chances to score and again a great goalkeeper, Ben Amos. I was very pleased with my strikers too, they made the difference with their clinical finishing. The game could have gone either way though but I was pleased with the determination that my players showed out there, our fans deserved that.

Next up, the mission impossible at Old Trafford. Everybody said that we had no chance of winning that game and I agreed with that opinion after the first half. Although we scored a goal in the first 45 minutes it was quite clear that Manchester United were much better than us, we couldn’t cope with their midfielders. The scoreline at the end of it was quite decent for us but we had to thank Ben Amos for that, he saved a few impossible shots. I was a bit disappointed with my lads but I don’t think they could have done more.

The last game of the month was away at 4th placed Queens Park Rangers, a solid team. My lads were quite tired and upset after the Manchester United game, they made lots of errors in midfield and defense during the first 45 minutes. Q.P.R. were 1-0 up at the break, they definitely deserved that. I made all three substitutions at half time and things got a bit better, we dominated the second half but the damn ball just didn’t want to get in… Q.P.R. were under siege in the last 15 minutes, I even sent Ben Amos in their box for the corner kicks. Eventually it was a corner kick that saved us, Kamil Grosicki headed it in when almost everybody gave up hope. It was a game that we could have won though, we just had to play a decent first half…

That result relegated us to the 2nd place but we had two games in hand, we were the only unbeaten team in the Championship at that point.

We’ll have two very difficult games in November, at home with Southampton and Newcastle, but I hope we’ll be able to get back in 1st place at the end of it.

That’s about it, a very tough month of October was over and despite some poor performances and the Old Trafford defeat everybody around the team was happy, we defeated Nottingham Forest at The City Ground after 17 years!

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