Hello folks and welcome to a fresh episode of the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 story! I hope you still remember the last update in which I told you about our matches in November 2012, a great month that saw my team grabbing a new record win, 8-0 at Oxford! We were top of the table at the end of November, four points clear of second placed Southend, but we had no less than 8 games to play in December (including a league derby against Southend). Let’s see what happened.
The first game of the month was the FA Cup second round clash with fellow League Two side Bradford. We started the game very well and missed a few good chances before striker Darryl Duffy broke the deadlock four minutes before half time. I was forced to make three substitutions at half time due to several fitness problems within my first eleven and that choice backfired just eight minutes into the second half when centre back Daniel Pappoe left the field on a stretcher. We were down to 10 men but we held out until eight minutes from time when Bradford leveled the match with a superb goal. Luckily we restored our advantage just three minutes later when Omar Koroma slotted home with a perfect finish and we managed to go through to the next round. We got 27,500 pounds in prize money for this win, not bad at all! The bad news was that I had two major injuries to deal with: defender Daniel Pappoe and midfielder Nathan Rooney were going to be out for a whole month.
We had another cup game coming up, the Johnstone’s Trophy North semi final against League One side Rotherham. The match was fairly even but both sides could have clinched it in the second half as Rotherham missed a good chance and we hit the crossbar in the 89th minute. The match ended goalless and went straight to the penalty shoot-out. Unfortunately most of my players were unable to keep calm so Rotherham won the shoot-out and knocked us out of the competition.
The first league game of the month was at home against 14th placed Leyton Orient, I was hoping that my lads were not too affected by the shoot-out defeat. The opening five minutes were quite entertaining as my lads hit the post before the visitors were denied by the crossbar. Omar Koroma broke the deadlock 10 minutes before the break with a fine individual effort but our opponents leveled the match just before the hour mark with a superb goal that saw the ball bouncing in off the underside of the crossbar. We hit the woodwork again seven minutes from time and then we finally managed to clinch it when Shane Williams weighed a perfect through ball for Darryl Duffy who slotted home. Unfortunately Duffy picked up a slight injury during the game and he was going to be out for two weeks.
We had a tough game coming up, away at 7th placed promotion contenders Lincoln. We were second best throughout the opening half hour, Lincoln were dominating the game, but we struck on a counter attack that was finished by loanee Luke Williams with a spectacular lob from distance. We were not incisive enough after the break but our opponents were not looking too strong either. Unfortunately they caught us napping on a counter attack and leveled the match four minutes from time. The draw wasn’t a bad result but Southend were just two points behind us!
Our next game was at home with second placed Southend, we had to get at least a draw to stay top. Go to the next page to see what happened!
Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.
Plobdork
22 декабря, 2010 at 16:15
Wow johnny this is a really good story good result against southend good luck in next half of season
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 07:54
Thanks mate.
Laxeyman
22 декабря, 2010 at 16:27
Great month again Johnny, the win over Southend was really important. I wouldn’t worry about the game against Morecambe, you’re still 13 points clear of 4th place and almost a certainty for promotion. Hopefully you can pull of a shock and beat Crystal Palace, good luck!
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 07:54
Thanks Laxeyman. The table situation looks good but I hope the team will recover from that last defeat and start playing well again.
Sears
22 декабря, 2010 at 17:11
Your team seem to score a lot of goals Johnny, that’s always a boast. Hopefully you can maintain your current form and I think you can beat Palace in the FA Cup as well. Good luck!
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 07:55
Thanks Sears, that FA Cup win would be a very nice bonus :)
Kevin
22 декабря, 2010 at 21:07
Hi Johnny
I think it’s always nice to lead the pack come the end of December so well done in maintaining that top position. Looking forward to a «giant killing» result in the FA Cup against Palace. Anyway, great update and entertainment as usual.
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 07:56
Thanks Kevin. We’re leading the pack but that last performance was a total wreck, I hope I won’t see any of that again until the end of the season!
Darren Smith
22 декабря, 2010 at 22:00
Hey buddy, like you said the last game should not shadow a great start. Your comfortably top and have been playing some great football. I cant wait to see the second half of your season, goodluck mate. Another promotion is on the cards!
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 07:57
Thanks Darren, I hope that the team will get back to «great football» soon.
James
22 декабря, 2010 at 22:53
Johnny, you’re a managing god! keep it up!:)
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 07:57
Thanks James, you are too kind.
James
23 декабря, 2010 at 23:01
Haha:), but one question, when you change a player e.g. injury or fitness, do you change the positions role?
Johnny Karp
24 декабря, 2010 at 07:11
No, I don’t change the role.
Marius
23 декабря, 2010 at 07:57
Happy birthday Johnny !
Hope you entertain us with many beautiful stories in the years to come !
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 07:59
Thanks Marius, I’m very pleased to see that you are still following the stories :) I guess I’ll see you in a couple of days, take care.
Marius
23 декабря, 2010 at 08:20
Don’t worry about the 3-0 defeat against Morecambe , Real Madrid lost 5-0 to Barcelona but still are in good position to win the title.
And Mourinho doesn’t have your management skills.
Hope he doesn’t read this.
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 10:42
Well, I think that Mourinho should be reading this, he might learn a thing or two. Especially about being modest ;)
hils
23 декабря, 2010 at 08:33
Hi Johnny,good month there!!!!!!!!! Hopefully you will get promoted!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 10:42
Thanks Hils :)
Chris Williams
23 декабря, 2010 at 14:29
Wow! Your stories are excellent! So are your management skills! :)
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 14:38
Thanks for the compliment Chris.
Nick
23 декабря, 2010 at 16:27
great month as usual Johnny. I genuinely think that you are the best football manager player I have ever seen ;-)
P.S. please check out my FM blog and follow it if you like it
http://fmaddict.fmcrowd.com/
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 16:52
Thanks for the compliment Nick. Good luck with your blog (I had a look and I would suggest a less darker theme and also posting actual screen shots instead of photos of your laptop display).
Sayam Khan
23 декабря, 2010 at 18:57
Johnny, good month there, Duffy is playing really really well. Sorry to say this but i think a big club will come for him in the higher leagues :-(
Johnny Karp
23 декабря, 2010 at 20:07
Thanks Sayam. Well, at least I hope those big clubs will come with some money! :) I won’t let Duffy go easily, that’s certain!
Lye Kuek Hin
24 декабря, 2010 at 14:08
Hi Johnny,
Think i am a bit late but still want to wish you a belated Happy Birthday. Well done on the win against Southend and an important win. You will surely go up, the only question is what position you will be. But i believe you will win the title. Darryl Duffy is a goal scoring machine. Good luck.
Johnny Karp
24 декабря, 2010 at 19:08
Thanks Lye, I guess we’ll keep going well if Duffy will keep up his form.
Victor
26 декабря, 2010 at 09:03
Hi Johnny!
I would like to know if you live in Romania?
Johnny Karp
26 декабря, 2010 at 10:33
Yes Victor, I live in Bucharest.
Victor
26 декабря, 2010 at 19:17
Si eu sunt roman. Imi place foarte mult site-ul tau si e foarte bine organizat. Dar tu esti singurul care posteaza pe el, inafara de celelalte story-uri?
P.S.: Daca ai cont pe fmro.ro, cum te scrii?
Johnny Karp
26 декабря, 2010 at 20:37
Mulţumesc. Nu sunt singurul care postează, mai sunt câţiva autori. Nu cred că am cont pe fmro, chiar dacă am n-am mai intrat pe acolo de ceva vreme.
P.S.: Let’s keep the comments in English from now on, OK? It’s a matter of respect for the other readers.
Victor
27 декабря, 2010 at 08:21
Ok. No problem.