Hello friends and welcome back to yet another installment of my football manager story.
The first game of the month saw us travel to Southport and a stellar performance by Ismael Fofana ensured we came away with all three points. We took the lead after the half hour following an inch perfect pass from left back Kinniburgh that Fofana cheekily chipped over the Southport keeper. He added a second after the interval darting into the box to meet a drilled cross from strike partner Baheng and substitute striker Marc Williams killed the game off latching onto a through ball from Gilmour.
With promotion now the key goal of the club I decided to field a changed starting eleven for the FA Trophy game against Redditch. It became evident very quickly who out of my squad were the better players though thanks to veteran defender Franck Sinclair we had a 1-0 lead at the half. Although we were not playing well we seemed to be in control until loanee goalkeeper Jake Butland dropped a simple cross that was pounced on by the Redditch forwards and it was 1-1. The scoreline remained the same so a replay is in the offering.
As there was no league game scheduled our next game was the FA Trophy replay against Redditch. The “reserves” had a chance to redeem themselves and they did that in comfortable style. A quick turn and strike by Pogba gave us the lead after 18 minutes with left winger Emanuel adding a second six minutes later. Although we had a variety of opportunites to score more we had to settle for the 2-0 win and a trip to Darlington in the next round.
It was back to the league and a home game versus Kidderminster. On a frosty and difficult surface we found it hard to make any headway though I wasn’t convinced it was all the playing surface’s fault when going into the interval scoreless. A stern half time talk did the trick with Shane Williams responding first with a lovely pass into the box which Fofana neatly put away. Midfielder Brian Gilmours forceful run into the 18 yard area created a penalty which Fofana drove straight and true and it it was Gilmour again who set up Cieslewicz to tuck home the third of the afternoon to the delight of The Racecourse fans.
Our next game involved a trip along the south coast to play Eastbourne and with two difficult games coming up I was once again sent out the resereve eleven. It required another stern half time talk to get the team to do anything with Pogba pouncing on a through ball to give us the lead which we held until thirteen minutes from time when the inevitable equalizer arrived from the home side. On a soggy and damp night we had to settle for a draw.
We now had three dificult games coming up all aginst teams that were in the top five. Two of these were league encounters and the third and FA Trophy match. Let’s see how we made out….
The first of these games was away to Rushden and although the stat’s look like it was a fairly even game the home side got off far more shots than we did and overall our perfromance was just terrible. We had no creativity about us and it looked liked nobody wanted the ball or step up to take charge of the game. Rushden on the other hand were the complete opposite and should have won the game by more than a single goal. We also lost our best left back Steven Kinniburgh to an injury which may keep him out the rest of the season.
Next we faced Wimbledon whom having missed a penalty early in the game fell to a rocket of a shot by Fofana to give us the lead after 10 minutes. Wimbledon though equalized fairly soon afterwards beating the offside trap and from there on in it was a painful exhibition of wasted oportunites. After such a good start to the year we’ve simply reverted back to our December form.
So with those two poor performance Luton managed to close the gap on us.
The final game of the month was the FA Trophy quarter final away to Darlington. We were fortunate that the home side were reduced to ten men early on and so we took advantage of that with Lewis Emanuel heading in the opener off a free kick and Franck Sinclair adding a second from a headed corner to give us a 2-0 lead after 30 minutes. Darlington refused to capitulate and pulled one back almost immediately but when Pogba headed in a third after the interval the game was secured and we were through to the semi-finals where we will face Wimbledon.
Current League Table
February has not been a good month for injuries with RB Declan Walker suffering the worst.
Coming up we have EIGHT games in March which is just insane and I’m not sure if I have enough quality and depth in the squad to cope with such a barrage of fixtures. The season is definitely on the line now.
Thanks for reading!!
Darren Smith
5 декабря, 2010 at 21:33
Hey Kevin, seems like that old injury bug has hit yet again. You’re still holding onto top spot though and hopefully you wont lose any more players. Im still confident you’ll finish top mate, the dip in form is nothing to worry about. Goodluck pal.
Kevin
5 декабря, 2010 at 22:11
Hi Darren
Yes, those darn injuries and just at the wrong time. Hopefully the rest of the league will suffer too :)
Sears
5 декабря, 2010 at 21:36
Hello Kevin,
Your lead may have been reduced to just 3 points, nevertheless a good March should more or less wrap up the title. It’s very congested and although your players will be very tired, hopefully you can win the majority of the fixtures. Good luck.
Kevin
5 декабря, 2010 at 22:14
Hi Sears
It’s worriesome there are so many games ahead and hopefully I’ll pull through. Sounds like an operation :)
Laxeyman
5 декабря, 2010 at 21:48
Hi Kevin, unfortunately your side has been hit by injuries just at the wrong time, but you still did quite well there, and you’ve got a good chance of promotion. Hopefully your squad can cope with that ridiculous March fixture list, good luck!
Kevin
5 декабря, 2010 at 22:16
Hi Laxeyman
Thanks for your comment. The fixtures ahead are ridiculous :(
Johnny Karp
6 декабря, 2010 at 05:53
The race is on and you’re in pole position, I reckon you’ll remain top despite the massive March schedule. I will have a similar schedule in my game come March so I guess it’s the Blue Square Premier test month :) Good luck!
Kevin
6 декабря, 2010 at 17:40
Thanks Johnny
I was quite shocked to see how many games I have. I’ll probably sacrifice the cup with reserve players.
Arjuna
6 декабря, 2010 at 09:53
Hey Kevin,
You may have some hard fixtures, but you should be fine. Good luck for the rest of the season!
Arjuna
Kevin
6 декабря, 2010 at 17:42
Hi Arjuna
Thanks for the well wishes.
Ben
6 декабря, 2010 at 12:02
Hey Kevin, :)
really enjoying this story keep it going!!!
promotion for sure!
Kevin
6 декабря, 2010 at 17:53
Hello Ben!!
Greetings from Canada and thanks for taking the time to make a comment. Glad you like to the story and keep checking in :)
FMStories2011
6 декабря, 2010 at 16:06
Hi Kevin,
You are doing a good job. I believe that you will be able to win the title.
Good luck!
fmstories2010.blogspot.com
Kevin
6 декабря, 2010 at 17:54
Hello FMStories2011
Greetings form Toronto.
I hope I can win the title but it’s going to be a close finish. I’ll be sure to check out your blog too.
warren
6 декабря, 2010 at 19:10
Hi Kevin
Its a shame that you have got a bit of a injury problem at this stage in the season but like you said I feel that you have a better strength in depth than other team around you in the same position so you should pull though just fine
good luck
Kevin
7 декабря, 2010 at 19:27
Hi Warren
Hopefuly things will not worsten and we’ll make it.
hils
6 декабря, 2010 at 19:38
Hi Kevin,good month there!!!!!!!!!! I hope those injuries dont affect your team!!!!!!!!! Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kevin
6 декабря, 2010 at 20:25
Hi hils
Hopefully there will not be anymore. Thanks for the well wishes!!!!!!!!
Ana Garcia
7 декабря, 2010 at 00:12
No wonder you have so many injuries with that amount of games to play a month!!
8 games in 24 days…..
Asking for trouble really! But you do have a lead and hopefully sides around you will also start dropping points, may be better to play a weaker side in the cup and focus your best eleven on the league.
Good luck though! :)
Kevin
7 декабря, 2010 at 19:29
Hi Ana
Yes that’s exactly what I’m doing saving my best players for the league.
By the way 100cm of snow in London Ontario in just 4 hours :)
Lye
7 декабря, 2010 at 10:15
Hi Kevin,
So many games to play in March, i hope you will pull it through. You are still in pole position. Just need to take note of fatigue and keep on fighting. Good luck.
Kevin
7 декабря, 2010 at 19:30
Hi Lye
Keep fighting is all we can do at this point and hope for the best.