Hello good friends and welcome to another quickly turned around update. Now that the pressure has eased off at work I can get back to relaxing with my favorite hobby :)
With the New Year celebrations over which we reluctantly had to fore-go we started our first game of 2011 on January 1st against Crawley. French right winger Francis Laurent whom I’d picked up for free made his debut and within twenty minutes had forced an own goal though it looked like more his goal. We looked a bit more slicker but again failed up front until the late introduction of Fofana who, returning from a long injury, smashed home our second.
As the transfer market was now open again I approached the board about making extra funds available for salaries and surprisingly enough they approved and added an extra £2,000 a week for a total of £ 20,000.
So instead of discussing anything else I went and signed Oliver Nicholas as I wanted to inject more youth into an aging back line.
Two days after the Crawley we travelled away from home to play Altrincham. Youngster Jay Harris came up from the reserves for this one and his determination in midfield led him to winning the ball and his direct pass set up Fofana for the opening goal after eight minutes. Altrincham fought back but we caught them on the counter and Cieslewicz’s sprint down the right flank and pinpoint cross was glanced in by the head of Marc Williams to make it 2-0. We held firm at the back until the home side forced a goal on the hour and minutes later Pogba who came on for Fofana missed an open goal but the two we already had were enough to take the three points.
Due to being knocked out of the FA Cup we got a bit of a much needed break and I was able to choose from a fully fit squad for the visit of 8th placed Histon. Shane Williams who would go on to achieve a rating of 9.0 got things started with a through ball to Lyskov who buried into the back of the net after seventeen minutes. Lyskov run and telling cross into the box found the foot of Fofana to make it 2-0 and we were cruising. Chris Blackburn tapped in third from a corner before half time and although Histon created a nice goal for themselves in the second half they added one to our tally as well with their goalkeeper putting the ball into his own net. Overall it was our best perfomance in quite sometime and I was pleased with the debut performances of DC Oliver Nicholas and ST Wesley Ngo Baheng.
Next up was a trip to the Riveracre Stadium to play Johnny’s Motermen in the FA Trophy. Chris Blackburn headed us into the lead from a corner after just ten minutes and a stunning strike by Fofana after the half hour put us into a comfortable 2-0 going into the interval. Vauxhall committed more men forward in the second half and eventually beat the offside trap twelve minutes from time. Cieslewicz quickly restored our two goal lead just a few minutes later thanks to some poor goalkeeping and so we were through to the next round.
It was back to the league and another away game this time against Fleetwood. Ismael Fofana gave us an early lead with another excellent strike following a good interchange of passes that started with left back Steve Kinniburgh. We pressured the Fleetwood box for much of the first half but were unable to add to the scoreline. An injury early in the second half to DC Oliver Nicholas forced a change which Fleetwood took advantage of as we re-organized and they got their equalizer after forty nine minutes. Wesley Baheng had two simple chances to put the game beyond doubt but missed both though finally made up for lost opportunities bagging the winner with a lovely curling shot three minutes from time.
The final game of a busy month was at The Racecourse Ground with the visit of Forest Green. Chris Blackburn headed in the opening goal from a Fofana corner inside twenty minutes after which we laid siege to the visitor penalty area but were unable to get a second. Early in the second half we doubled our lead with thanks to some well executed passing ending in an intelligent ball from Williams to Wesley Baheng who made the score 2-0. It was a good solid performance though perhaps we should have added to the scoreline.
By then end of January we had a 100% record in 2011 which was just stunning as we had really been struggling the last little while. The signings of Baheng and Laurent have made a difference and Shane Williams seems to get better and better. All this resulted in a nice little lead at the top of the table. Oh, and the return of Fofana was also instrumental in our current success.
League Table
February Fixtures
Another fairly busy month coming up culminating in two critical back to back games against fellow title contenders which should be tough indeed.
Before I close just an off topic note. As most of you know by now I live in Toronto, Canada and have a very demanding work schedule and a two hour commute each day. Consequently due to that and the time difference I can’t always keep up with your wonderful stories in a timely manner or sometimes forget to check altogether for which I apologize. I am however very thankful for all your supportive and more timely comments on my current story. I hope to do better in the future.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!!
Johnny Karp
4 декабря, 2010 at 11:04
Excellent job, the title seems to be closer than ever! I couldn’t help being amazed by your 20K wage budget, almost four times bigger than what I have at Vauxhall! Nicholas is a great signing, he played very well for me so far, and I guess you’ll wrap up the title chase pretty soon.
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 11:59
Hi Johhny
I celebrated the «New Year» with a ncie hot cup of Tim Hortons!! I saw nicholas was doing great for you so I had to go for him. I also managed to load a video now. LOL!
Laxeyman
4 декабря, 2010 at 11:43
Well done Kevin, that was a great start to the new year, and now the title is all but yours. Nicholas is a good signing, I have him at Droylsden and he’s been pretty good. I also highly recommend Derrick Williams if you want another defender, he’s been brilliant for me :) Your wage budget is huge, mine’s about £7,000 a week, so you should be able to get some quality players if you need them. Good luck for the rest of the season.
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 12:08
Hi Laxeyman
I have a couple of tough games in February so I’ll just hold off a little while longer before celebrating the title :) Thanks for the player tip as well. Much appreciated!
Sears
4 декабря, 2010 at 12:42
Hello Kevin,
wonderful to see your team playing to there maximum potential again. I’m sure you’ll wrap up the title in the next few months.
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 13:50
Thanks Sears…I hope so too :)
warren
4 декабря, 2010 at 13:59
A much better month and it seems that you have found your form again which is always good. A good signing made in Nicolas and I hope he can progress into a fine players
good luck
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 22:01
Hi Warren
I’m happy with both Nicholas and the form too. It make much more entertaining viewing.
Darren Smith
4 декабря, 2010 at 14:22
There we go, your back mate!! I knew you would turn the form around and look at your league position. I reckon the chasing back will really struggle to keep up with you now. Well done mate.
ps Don’t worry if you’re a bit late commenting on stories mate, we all understand. A 2 hour commute is very demanding.
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 22:03
Hi Darren
Thanks for having confidence in me :) If I can win those two crucial games at the end of February I could be home and dry!
Ana Garcia
4 декабря, 2010 at 15:41
My commute is turning into a 2 hour one with this bloody snow!! Thankfully its starting to melt so I can hopefully get to work!
Back on topic! Your side are in great form you have a nice advantage over second place and the league is definatly winnable now.
Good luck Kevin, I have my fingers crossed that you can win the title!!
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 22:04
Hi Ana
I feel so sorry for you as it seems Cumbria got hit real bad. Keep those fingers crossed with two tough games coming up!
hils
4 декабря, 2010 at 18:01
Hi Kevin.your team are on great form!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you win the title!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kevin
4 декабря, 2010 at 22:06
Hello hils
Yes, we seem to have finally hit our stride. Thanks for your support and I think you are using more exclamation marks than in my old Torquay game?????????????????? :)
Lye
5 декабря, 2010 at 02:00
Hi Kevin,
What a great month. You are in the driving seat and it’s difficult to see you losing the lead. I saw Oliver Nicholas is a Eritrea international. He has yet to decide whether to represent England or Eritea in my game. I don’t know how he performs up front in Blue Square Premier. He scores load of goals for me in Blue Square North. So far he has 13 goals, a bit like Ryan Carolan in Johnny’s Dorchester team. Great to see him playing for three of us. He is a must sign in the lower league. Good luck for the rest of the games, i believe you will win the title.
Kevin
5 декабря, 2010 at 09:35
Hello Lye
If I get through those copule of difficult games at the end of the month I’ll feel more confident. I’ve got Nicholas playing on the right side of the central defence so no goals as yet. Chris blackburn plays on the left as he’s got more heading ability. Yes, it’s pretty cool that we all have him.