Vauxhall FM 2011 Story: January 2011

Hello folks and welcome back to the town of Ellesmere Port for a fresh episode of the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 story! As you already know we had a very good run in the closing months of 2010 and the results pushed us into fourth place at the end of December. We had to confirm that good run though as we had to meet most of the promotion contenders in an action-packed January, let’s see how it went.

The first match of the new year was scheduled right on January 1st so there were no long celebrations for me and my players on the previous night :) We had to meet 11th placed Droylsden away from home and I was quite worried since quite a few of my players were not nearly fully fit. We had a rather unconvincing first half and missed the only good chance that we created before the break. Things got even worse after the interval as the hosts took the lead on the hour mark thanks to a stunning goal, you’ll see it in the highlights. We were not playing well at all but striker John Kennedy leveled the game five minutes from time with a great solo effort. I was quite happy with the draw under the circumstances but my lads suddenly woke up after the equalizer and banged in another one as Neil Prince pushed in a low cross from Mukhtar Mohammed. We got the three points but we suffered a big loss: Shane Williams, our best player, picked up a severe knock and was going to be out for eight weeks! Ryan Carolan was already injured so I had my best two lads playing chess in a hospital!

We had an even more difficult game coming up, at home with second placed Workington. We managed to move up in third position after the last win but I was very worried because of the injuries and also because of the fatigue that was accumulating since the game was being played just two days after the last one. Anyway, we were welcomed by a frozen pitch and just over 100 fans at Rivacre Park, not a good day for football. The first half saw each of the two teams blaming bad luck as we missed a huge chance early on and then Workington hit the crossbar from distance. I made two changes at half time and they made an instant impact: a great run down the left from Neil Prince gave him time and space to square it for Suleiman Leluu who kept cool and fired it in. There wasn’t much going on after the goal but Workington leveled the match 15 minutes from time with some good help from my defense. We started pouring forward to get the winning goal but Stefan Connor missed quite a few chances before finally firing one in just before the final whistle. We grabbed the very important three points and moved in second position!

We had another difficult home game coming up against 5th placed Gainsborough and things got even tougher when striker John Kennedy had to leave the pitch on a stretcher just three minutes into the match. Luckily his replacement, Rhys Henry, fired one in just a few minutes later after receiving a good through pass from Kurt Hammonds. The rest of the game was something that vaguely resembled the sport called football, there were more yellow cards than shots on target. Stefan Connor got sent off during injury time but we grabbed the three points. The bad news was that John Kennedy‘s injury was quite serious and he was going to be out for two months! With Shane Williams and Ryan Carolan already sidelined I had my best three players out of contention!

Next up, an away game at 17th placed Stafford, a team that climbed off the relegation spots despite having a harsh 10 point deduction. We got off to a great start again as midfielder Rob Davies netted a missile shot from a free kick just three minutes into the game. A better goalkeeper might have saved that one though… Anyway, we played a good first half and missed a couple of chances before the break. We could have regretted that in the second half as the hosts took control of the game but we held firm and grabbed another victory. The three points were even more valuable as leaders Nuneaton dropped some of theirs and we moved top of the table! Another injury struck our team though, midfielder Alex Stockinger was going to spend a month on the sidelines…

We had a cup game coming up, the FA Trophy second round match with fellow Blue Square North side Eastwood. The visitors took the lead after a rather boring first half, my lads gave the ball away quite cheaply and we got punished by a good shot from the edge of the area. We started to play better after that mishap but we were quite lucky to score the equalizer from a corner kick as centre back Gerwyn Jones bundled it in. We continued to push forward and things could have gone our way during the dying seconds but luck turned against us as we hit the crossbar just before the final whistle.

The replay was scheduled four days later and we had a poor game, Eastwood took the lead with a corner kick goal after the break and we were unable to react. I was disappointed with the cup exit but I also was secretly happy as that gave me the chance to have a lighter schedule for the following months. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

Next up, the biggest match of the month: at home with former league leaders Nuneaton! They were just one point behind us so we had to avoid defeat if we wanted to remain top of the table. We had a pretty good first half, most of the action saw us pushing forward but we didn’t manage to create any decent chances before the interval. The game changed immediately after the break, Nuneaton punished us on a counter attack that was converted with a lovely chipped finish. I wanted to see more from my lads and they were trying their best, we were pushing forward and got the reward on 62 minutes when a cross from Rob Davies was headed in by left midfielder Joe Lamplough. We were chasing the winning goal and that finally came seven minutes from time when man of the match Rob Davies fired in a perfectly placed shot from 20 yards out! It wasn’t over yet and Nuneaton had a good chance to make it all square during injury time but goalkeeper James Gilpin pulled off a great save to hand us the three points.

The last game of the month was at home with 13th placed Gloucester, I was hoping to add another three points to our tally. After a full month of scrappy narrow win we finally managed to get more goals past our opponents, the game ended 3-0 and it saw a great display from my lads. Stefan Connor, Rhys Henry and Mukhtar Mohammed found the back of the net and I was pleased to end a great month in style. It was our eighth consecutive league win!

We are now top of the table, four points clear of Nuneaton and with a game in hand!

The next two months will see us playing decisive games against Eastwood and Nuneaton, if we’ll end those games unbeaten then we’ll surely get a surprising promotion.

Last time I told you that I was going to look for a few loanees to improve the squad… Well, I did but I had no luck at all despite having a parent club. So I decided to go for another few free transfers to add some strength to our team, five new players joined the club.

I brought in a pair of young full backs, Michael Duckworth on the right flank and Danny Fitzsimons on the left. Both of them are 18 years old and fairly talented at this level.

With all the injuries that struck us this month I had to bring in two new central midfielders in order to cope with the crisis. These are emergency signings but I guess they have decent potential to spend some more time at the club. First there’s Maltese under21 international James Paris, an 18-year old with some skills, and then there’s Glenn Reay, a backup English player.

I also needed some more cover for the left winger position and I had to settle for Northern Irish youngster Robbie Hume, a very modest lad since he accepted a knock-down wage of only 15 pounds per week! He has some talent though so I might give him a decent contract in a few months.

Five players came in, five went out and I’m happy to say that our wage expenditure is now lower than it was before the January transfers! We are under the wage budget and the board is quite happy with that.

Our average age is now just 19 and our oldest player is 23!

The player that I would like to single out this time is not a goalscorer but a hard worker: meet right back Michael Abnett. He always put in above average performances and managed to make three assists along with two man of the match awards. I have no fears for the right flank when he’s playing and I hope he’ll stay clear of injuries until the end of the season.

That’s about it for now folks, thanks a lot for reading this update. We are top of the table now and that’s quite pleasing especially since we were forced to get by without our three best players. Fortunately Ryan Carolan has recovered from his injury and he will probably give us more reliability at the back during the crucial games that are coming up.