Vauxhall Story: November and December 2011

Hello my friends and welcome back to the Vauxhall Motors Football Manager 2011 Story! As you know we had a terrible run in October, only one win out of five league games, but despite that we were still in 4th place. I was sure that a similar run would have knocked us out of the top five though so I was hoping to see better form and especially better finishing from my players. Let’s see what we managed to do in November and December.

The first game of November was away at struggling 19th placed Kettering. Things were not looking very good for us as the home side hit the crossbar three minutes into the game and then my right winger, Pietro Palladino, received his marching orders for a reckless tackle. Kettering smashed another one against the woodwork a few minutes later but we took the lead just before the break when substitute Michael Abnett volleyed in a cross from Sam Hart. Then we managed to keep things fairly quiet in the second half, the hosts had just one good chance but fortunately they wasted it. We were lucky to get a win this time but we really needed the three points.

We had another away game coming up and we were going to face another struggling team, bottom of the table Barrow. The first half was a dull affair, there was just one chance but my lads missed it, I could describe it as a sitter… The second half was not much different, we had a goal ruled out on the hour mark and then Barrow netted a lucky late winner, a deflected free kick that put it past our keeper. We produced a lousy display but I guess we would have deserved a draw.

We had a much more difficult game coming up as 5th placed Mansfield were coming at Rivacre Park. They knocked us out of the FA Cup in October, I wanted revenge but I was unsure of my team’s strength. The first half was quite entertaining, both teams hit the crossbar before the break but we could have taken the lead with better finishing. Things cooled off after the break, the game was turning into a boring affair but experienced striker Michael Ricketts finally smashed in his first goal for the club from a Danny Uchechi assist. Ricketts could have killed off the game a few minutes later but we held out well and clinched a well deserved win.

Next up, a tricky away game at 12th placed Kidderminster. My lads were playing very well, I was impressed with their display apart from the wasteful finishing. We threw away two immense chances before left winger Sam Hart pushed in his first goal for the club on 31 minutes. The home side leveled the game three minutes before the break but we were creating loads of chances and Danny Uchechi restored our lead deep into injury time. Then we continued the festival of missed chances in the second half, we had no less than 8 clear cut chances before the end of the game but at least we grabbed the three points…

The last game of the month was at home with 5th placed Histon, a tough game against a promotion contender. We were enjoying good possession but my lads were quite uninspired, we were unable to create chances before a defensive blunder gifted Histon the lead. The game passed the hour mark and we were staring at defeat when centre back Oliver Nicholas came to the rescue with a corner kick header. We were not playing well but we were keeping the opponents under pressure and that paid off a minute from time when Michael Ricketts pushed in the winning goal!

With four wins and one loss we managed to climb up into third place, just two points behind new leaders Cheltenham!

And since we were going to meet both Cheltenham and second placed Luton in December I guess you can understand that I couldn’t stop the game there! :) So please go to the next page to see how we did in December! ;)

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

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…