Vauxhall Story: September 2011

Hello friends and welcome back to Ellesmere Port for another month’s worth of Blue Square Premier action. Our debut month saw the team producing a confusing set of displays with three wins, one draw and two well-deserved defeats. We were in 9th place at the end of August but that didn’t tell too much about the team’s strength or of it’s season perspectives. I was hoping to see better form in September, let’s see if the players managed to please me.

The opening game of the month was away at 14th placed Hayes & Yeading, I was quite curious to see my lads in action in another away game after losing the last one 2-0 at leaders Cambridge. This time things seemed to go our way right from the start, Danny Uchechi scored the opener nine minutes into the game with a cool finish that rounded off a nice team move. We created another pair of chances before the break but we only managed to double the advantage after the interval when Shane Williams played a good pass for Omar Koroma who displayed a great first touch and a good finish. Twenty minutes from time Williams capped a great performance with a goal of his own, I was very happy with his display. Unfortunately Oguzhan Ozyakup picked up an injury that was going to keep him out of the team for six weeks.

After the game I managed to complete another signing: 18-year old Irish central midfielder Nathan Rooney. I didn’t really need another CM but this lad seems to have great potential so when the scout presented his report I just couldn’t resist the temptation. Kurt Hammonds will leave the club in January as a result, his transfer has already been confirmed.

Next up, a home game with Kevin‘s Wrexham, they were down in 15th place. I was expecting to grab the three points but our display was disappointing, we only managed to get one shot on target and another one against the woodwork. It ended goalless and our inconsistency was showing yet again.

Luckily we had two more home games coming up so we had the chance to make it up to our fans. The first one saw us playing hosts to 10th placed Macclesfield and the game was made easy by striker Danny Uchechi again with a brace inside the opening 20 minutes. The visitors put on a very good second half display but we could have added more goals on counter attacks. Unfortunately we were hit by another injury, left winger Pablo Navas was going to spend a month on the sidelines.

The last home game of the month was against 15th placed Newport County. The game saw another clinical display from Danny Uchechi, he bagged another brace after an opening goal scored by centre back Oliver Nicholas. It was a dominant display and I was extremely pleased to have gone four matches without conceding.

The last game of the month was away at struggling Forest Green, they were down in 19th position. We got off to a good start again as centre back Oliver Nicholas headed one in six minutes into the match, just like in the previous game. Then we hit the woodwork before Leigh Smith made it 2-0 by sliding in an Omar Koroma low cross. The hosts could have gotten back into the game before the break but they missed a penalty kick. We could have killed off the contest before the break as we missed two great chances and Forest Green looked determined to produce a fightback after the break. There was space four counter attacks though but unfortunately Danny Uchechi missed two very good breakaway chances. The home side pulled one back eight minutes from time but we held firm and grabbed another three points.

The great run pushed us up in third place but we have to be cautious, we played only against teams from the lower half of the table this month.

The player that I’d like to single out is centre back Oliver Nicholas, he put on a string of very good displays since the start of the season. His only rating below 7 was in the opening day of the season, then he never went below 7.1 and also bagged four goals in the process. He is establishing himself as a key player in my defense and surely makes Ryan Carolan‘s departure easier to digest for our fans.

We’ll have a few more difficult games next month (Gateshead, York and Wimbledon) so we’ll know more about our strength after playing those matches.

That’s about it for now, we had a very good month but the games were against rather weak opponents. It’s too early to shout «promotion» but I guess we might be in with a chance. Thanks a lot for reading, I’m looking forward to your comments.