Vauxhall Story, December 2010: The Motormen are Rolling On

Hello folks, welcome to a fresh update to the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 story! We enjoyed a good unbeaten run in November which saw us moving up in 7th place, now we had to end 2010 in a similar manner if we wanted to stay among the top teams in Blue Square North. Let’s see what happened in December…

The first match of the month was at home with 15th placed Corby Town, I was expecting a win. We started the game well and broke the deadlock on 25 minutes when a good cross from Pietro Palladino was headed in by left winger Leigh Smith. We were enjoying a great spell of domination and managed to convert that superiority into another goal five minutes later when a nice ball over the top from Shane Williams put John Kennedy in a perfect position and the striker smashed it home. The game was entirely in our hands but our third goal was a total fluke scored by substitute Mukhtar Mohammed.

It was a very good performance from my lads, we totally dominated the game and left the impression that there was just one possible outcome: a victory for The Motormen!

We had a cup game coming up, the FA Trophy first round match with AFC Telford. I was expecting a difficult game but a great first half booked our passage to the next round. The first goal came as a result of a great pass from Shane Williams who found John Kennedy inside the box and then the striker added another one to his tally by taking advantage of some rather poor defending.

It was a dominant display from us and we could really have scored quite a few more goals. The team appeared to be going from strength to strength but I have to say that it was probably thanks to not having any injuries to first team players during that period.

Back to the league for the next game, away at 13th placed Solihull Moors. We dominated the first half again but this time we didn’t find the back of the net, missed one big chance and also hit the woodwork on one occasion. The home side had one man sent off after the break but we failed to make that advantage count partly due to bad luck because a great shot from John Kennedy rattled the crossbar. Go to the next page to read the rest of the story.

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

Back to our Rivacre Park for the next game, 10th placed Droylsden were coming to visit and they were being described as «promotion contenders». They didn’t look like promotion contenders to be honest, we dominated the game and edged it thanks to two corner kicks. The first one was headed home by Ryan Carolan and he could have bagged a brace but Shane Williams was quicker than him the second time around.

We were 2-0 up at half time and we didn’t have too much trouble in keeping things in control after the break, we kept possession very well and could have added another one or two goals to our tally.

The last game of the month was away at struggling 19th placed Guiseley, I was hoping to grab the three points. We took the lead early on when Pietro Palladino sent a low cross into the box and Leigh Smith pushed it in with a sliding finish.

Many of my players were quite tired though and the home side could have leveled the game before half time but their best chance saw the ball hitting the crossbar. We looked more lively in the second half and could have wrapped up the points on counter attacks but unfortunately we missed three clear cut chances. The three points were ours but I had reasons to worry as Ryan Carolan picked up an injury that will keep him on the sidelines for almost a full month!

We managed to extend our unbeaten run and I was also happy to see that we went six goals without conceding! We moved up in 4th place and now we can say that Vauxhall Motors FC will be fighting to get promoted.

Next month will be very tough as we’ll meet leaders Nuneaton, runners up Workington and third placed Gainsborough! All those games will be at home though and I hope that will prove to be an advantage for us.

Gainsborough are the most in-form team in the league as they won their last six games but we have the best away form and also the tightest defense.

Here are the player stats at the halfway point of the season with Shane Williams and Ryan Carolan being by far our best players.

I hope that Carolan‘s injury will not have a very big impact on the team but it surely will be a lot more difficult to get by without him. I will be trying to bring in a couple more players on loan maybe and I’ll also try to offload some of the players that have been disappointing until now. Thanks a lot for reading, I hope you have enjoyed our goals ;)