The first game of December was at home with 7th placed Chelmsford, I was hoping to continue our winning streak. A stroke of bad luck put the visitors ahead 10 minutes into the game, Fraser Kerr showed poor awareness and put through his own net from a corner kick. My team reacted well though, we were dominating the game but wasted a couple of chances before the break and hit the woodwork twice! We were less incisive after the interval and Chelmsford held out to claim a win despite not having any shots on target at all! That was a bit unfortunate but I was hoping that thing would level out at some point…
Next up, the FA Trophy game against Blue Square North side Altrincham. The FA Trophy was very important to me in order to balance the club’s finances but we got off to a nightmare start as some precarious corner kick defending gave Altrincham the lead. Luckily we hit back immediately through Danny Uchechi but our opponents were playing much better than us. My team seemed to be in disarray as our opponents fired in another two goals before half time! Our unconvincing display continued after the break but midfielder Shane Williams stepped up and rescued us. First he smashed one in from the edge of the area and then played a great long ball for Uchechi who leveled the game and earned us the right to a replay.
And we did much better in the replay, Altrincham had no chance of an upset at Rivacre Park. Danny Uchechi bagged a brace and then Omar Koroma finally ended his goal drought with a corner kick header. The last time he scored was on the 1st of October, no wonder that his confidence was at an all-time low. It was a solid display and I was pleased to see the team going through to the next round.
Back to the league, our next game was away at 20th placed Tamworth. My team wasn’t very convincing this time but we still wasted a good chance before an offside trap error handed Tamworth the lead. We didn’t do better after the interval but we could have snatched a draw with a bit of luck as we threw away a golden opportunity during stoppage time. It was our second consecutive league defeat, things were beginning to look quite bad again.
After two straight defeats we were going to meet the league leaders, Cheltenham! We put on a decent display during the initial minutes of the game and we got lucky on the half hour mark when Chris Pendleton scored a rather fortuitous corner kick goal. It was the touch of fortune that we needed, the lads were playing with more confidence and we managed to double the lead four minutes into the second half when Omar Koroma fought well to win a ball back and then crossed it for Danny Uchechi who headed it in from close range. We found ourselves under pressure after the goal but we held firm and grabbed a vital win!
The league had a new leader after we beat Cheltenham, Luton moved top and we were going to meet them in our next game! We were in a difficult position though as the game was played just two days after the last one so I had to change the first eleven almost entirely. The squad depth proved to be crucial this time as two of my usual backup players worked well together to score the opening goal eight minutes into the game: midfielder Oguzhan Ozyakup played a lovely ball inside the box for Akwasi Asante who finally bagged his first goal for the club! The Dutch youngster was unleashed, Luton‘s defenders were struggling to keep up with him and he scored a sensational goal on 29 minutes, a great run and a perfectly placed finish! We could have scored a few more before the break, I was very pleased with the display. Things got a bit complicated right after the interval when right back Michael Abnett got sent off quite harshly but we held out very well, Luton didn’t get any shots on target despite the one man advantage! We beat the new leaders and moved top of the table ourselves!
The last game of the year was away at 16th placed Crawley, we had to continue our good run to remain top of the table. It wasn’t a great match but it was worth watching for just one moment of magic from Omar Koroma. He scored the winning goal on 67 minutes with a fantastic shot from 20 yards out that smashed against the underside of the crossbar before bouncing over the goal line!
We seem to have found form just when we needed it the most, after two consecutive defeats we managed to grab three wins in a row and moved top of the table. There are 20 more games to play though and given our inconsistency so far I guess the promotion chase will go down to the wire.
I received an interesting message from the board after the last game, they offered me the possibility to change the season expectations. However, changing the season goal would not change the transfer budget or the wage budget (it’s 5.5K at the moment) too much so I don’t see any point in making a change. I still haven’t decided, any suggestions?
That’s about it for now, thanks a lot for reading. From what I see there are no dominant teams, the promotion race is pretty well balanced so I guess we’ll have to be very happy for every scrappy win that would get us another three points…
Laxeyman
4 декабря, 2010 at 11:54
Well done Johnny, overall a good couple of months, although for some reason it seems like your side are better against the bigger sides, and don’t do as well against teams in the lower half of the table. However, you’ve now got a good chance of promotion, and it looks like it’ll be a really exciting race to grab the title! Good luck!
P.S I’m currently second in the Blue Square Premier with Droylsden, I have 41 points from 20 games, hopefully I can do what you’ve done and grab top spot in December :)
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:53
Thanks Laxeyman. We have been quite inconsistent but so were the other top teams so I guess the title is there for the taking. Good luck with your season!
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 12:15
Hi Johnny
Well that was a gruelling couple of months to reach the top but you did it so well done. Very nice wins over your closest rivals to put you in the driving seat. I wouldn’t change your expectations just keep «Motoring » on!!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:54
Thanks Kevin. I’m not sure whether changing the expectations would put more pressure on my players, still thinking about it…
Sears
4 декабря, 2010 at 12:47
They were 2 good months Johnny, your team seems to be performing more consistently now. Regarding the expectations, I guess there isn’t much point changing them. Anyway I’m sure you can secure another fantastic promotion, goodluck!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:57
Thanks for the confidence Sears, I hope that we’ll pull it off regardless of the expectations.
Darren Smith
4 декабря, 2010 at 14:28
Nice couple of months there Johnny, your side really are scoring some great goals. I reckon top spot will be yours this year, you just need to keep up the form and avoid losing to teams around you.
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 16:00
Thanks Darren, there were quite a few good goals indeed. It surely will be a tight race, I can’t see any team running away from the bunch (including us, of course).
Vinners
4 декабря, 2010 at 14:49
Well Done Johnny! I held my breath then when I thought you might’ve been out the FA Trophy! But you smashed them in the replay so it’s ok. I had the same thing in my game with changing expectations but they hadn’t offered me any improvement from what I already had, so I put them at the lowest and moved on so it’d look better when I won the league!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 16:01
Thanks for sharing your experience Vinners, I’m tempted to switch the expectations to «promotion» in an attempt to put more pressure on my players and make them play with more determination. That’s just a hypothesis though, I’ll think about it.
Ana Garcia
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:44
Very close at the top!
Hopefully you can get a good run and push for the playoff places like you said no oustanding team, so it will very tight!
Have my fingers crossed for you! :)
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 16:02
Thanks Ana, we might need all the luck we can get! :)
hils
4 декабря, 2010 at 18:05
Hi Johnny,hopefully your team will push for the play-offs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A quite good month there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 20:53
Thanks Hils :)
dami
5 декабря, 2010 at 01:21
that’s a lot of snow your team is playing in…probably the reason for the inconsistency…
anyway I’m sure the team can fight through it and gather enough 3 points to get promoted or at least get a playoff spot…
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2010 at 08:58
Thanks Dami. I wouldn’t blame it on the snow though, after all it’s not only our team that was playing on frozen pitches, the opponents had the same conditions.
Lye
5 декабря, 2010 at 02:15
Hi Johnny,
You must be frustrated how your team is struggling against the weaker teams. The great thing is you are on top of the league. This will turn out to be an exciting season as there are no clear favorites now but i am putting money on motormen. Keep rolling!
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2010 at 08:59
Thanks for the confidence Lye, I hope there won’t be too many frustrating moments from now on…
warren
5 декабря, 2010 at 11:02
Hi Johnny
A return to form after the indifferent October month. Its really close at the top of the table but I feel that if you have a good few months you can pull away from the chasing pack.
good luck
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2010 at 11:14
Hi Warren and thanks for the comment. I hope we’ll manage to have those good few months, I’d settle for a couple of good months to be honest :)
James Bush
5 декабря, 2010 at 16:50
Johnny i find your stories very interesting and you seem like a great player of FootballManager. Myself, i struggle on the game, any short tips to help me improve?
Johnny Karp
5 декабря, 2010 at 17:20
Thanks for the compliment James. I wouldn’t know where to start with the tips though, so I suggest going through our guides and tactics, here are the links:
https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/category/football-manager-guides/
https://www.footballmanagerstory.com/category/fm-2011-tactics-2/
James Bush
5 декабря, 2010 at 18:26
Okay, thanks for that, i really appreciate it. :)