Hello friends and welcome back to another installment of my football manager story.
A new month and the same story as the previous. Lot’s of chances, no goals and another frustrating afternoon this time against rival Hereford who snatched the only goal of the game in the 36Th minute. We’ve now only scored once in our last FIVE games!
On top of these poor performances comes poor financial results as the club continues to lose money with each passing month. Unless our fortunes turn around on the field I fear this situation will only get worse.
We travelled to Burton for our next game which was a JPT second round clash. Our loanee goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli was kept busy in the opening 5 minutes pulling off a string off fantastic saves but without any real support from the defense he couldn’t keep it up and we fell behind after 8 minutes. Burton kept the pressure on and added a second just after the half hour and there was seemingly no way back for us. The second half began with the dismissal of young DC Kai Edwards and being reduced to 10 men suddenly made us play a lot better and we were rewarded with a goal by ST David Nwaogu who heaed in from a corner. Nathan Modest missed an easy chance to tie the game and so the score remained the same and we were out of the competition.
Our next game was back at home and morale was the lowest since I took over the club. Along with that I had no less than five players on international duty so I wasn’t expecting anything from this game. We started off with a bit more purpose than we had done for a long time with Fonana and Baheng having great chances but were both denied by the reflexes of the Bradford keeper. Brian Gilmour commanded the midfield and sprayed the ball around but to no avail. As the second half was drawing to a close young right back Jack Metcalf played a long ball to Knight-Percival whose first time ball from the left flank found Fofana and it was 1-0!!! The whistle went shortly after and at last we had gotten a victory.
Following that last minute win against Bradford I was hoping victory would ignite the team back into action as we faced Morecambe at home. That’s exactly what happened though we had an initial scare as Morecambe took the lead after 22 minutes but we equalized through Baheng right after the re-start. A clearance by Lough found Smith who battled for the ball and his cross found Fonana who had no trouble in putting the ball past the keeper. Baheng had to come off at the half and Asante took only 5 minutes to add the third picking up on a lovely sliding pass from Fofana. Morecambe did their best to get back into the game but when Nicholas headed in from a corner to make it 4-1 the game was most definitely over.
We faced Port Vale in or next match and Fofana could have given us the lead inside the first minute but his early attempt on goal hit the side netting. He would have to wait until the second half to get on the score sheet as McArdle’s long clearance from defenxe fell nicely to Fofana and he ran on with the ball to place it under the Port Vale keeper. The home side would find an equalizer with a cracking 25 yard effort near the end so we had to settle for and away point.
The last game of the month featured Luton Town as our opponents and whom we clinched that all important 2-1 victory over to win the BSP Title last season. We started off tremendously with chances galore in the opening 15 minutes but our finishing would have been more suited to Rugby than football. Eventually on the half hour we got the breakthrough with a good build up down the right flank and a cross by Asante found Fofana in the box and he tucked it in for the opening goal. We kept up the pressure for the next 90 minutes but the ball wouldn’t go in for us and once again we conceded a very late goal dropping two vital home points.
Current League Table
I was quite surprised to see us in second place at the end of October as I really thought we would be further down. However our bitter rivals Shrewsbury are in first place so that will not be pleasing to the fans and players alike.
Fixtures
Five games on the card then for next month including the start of The FA Cup. I would really like to at least get to the third round as that presents the opportunity of facing a Premier League team and the chance of some well needed revenue.
Thanks for reading and if I don’t get to do another post beforehand I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy Festive Season wherever you are in the world.
warren
21 декабря, 2010 at 11:51
You’ve lost top spot which is a shame but your still doing fantastically well in your first season back in League 2. I hope that you can re-capture the form you had that got you into the top spot soon.
good luck
Laxeyman
21 декабря, 2010 at 11:55
Hi Kevin, good that your form sort of returned towards the end of the month, and the league is very open so you still have a good chance of promotion. January will be an important month, hopefully you can regain top spot. Good luck!
Ana Garcia
21 декабря, 2010 at 14:09
Nice to see that your form has turned for the better and a nice win over Morecambe!
Financially the club is like mine! But hopefully you will able to sign a few players in the next transfer window to help the club.
Good luck Kevin!
Johnny Karp
21 декабря, 2010 at 14:24
I think that the team recovered well after the initial poor run. Your boys created a lot more chances this month and I guess they will start popping them in sooner rather than later. Good luck in November and don’t worry about the finances, those are not that important :)
Kevin
21 декабря, 2010 at 18:26
*** General reply sent from work***
Thanks warren. I’m feeling that a return to form is iminent and that we will start to flow better very soon.
@ Laxeyman
Thanks. I hope to keep in the promotion race as I think I have a good enough team except for maybe the right midfield?
@ Ana
Yes the Morecambe win was a welcome relief. Some addtional funds would be nice also :)
@ Johnny
You are right. There were a lot of chances and playing Fofana as a left striker seems to have made the difference. I can’t help looking at the finances due to having and $800,000 operating budget in real life. Habit I guess :)
hils
21 декабря, 2010 at 19:00
Hi Kevin, a better month there!!!!!!!! Nice win against morecambe!!!!!!! Good luck!!!!!!!!
Daniel Monksfield
21 декабря, 2010 at 20:00
Hey Kevin, great win against Morecambe, should be a good confidence booster! You are doing well, lets hope you can stay in the promotion spot and keep the automatic promotion :D
I just started blogging about my own career on Aid The Boss, so it’s good to see others blogging about there careers!
Darren Smith
21 декабря, 2010 at 20:08
Hey Kevin, your form has improved but can still get better. Hopefully the form will pick up a little more and your promotion challenge will be sustained. Keep it up mate.
Kevin
21 декабря, 2010 at 20:23
*** Consolidated reply from work**
Hi hils
I enjoyed that win too. lifted my morale if not the players :)
@ Daniel
Thanks for you comment. I’ll be sure to check out your story as well.
@ Darren
There is room for improvement but at least the signs are a little more positive now.
Sears
21 декабря, 2010 at 23:56
You improved a lot Kevin, hopefully your team can now play more consistent!
Kevin
22 декабря, 2010 at 00:09
Hi Sears
Yes i hope we can be as consistent as back in August…that would be nice :)
Lye Kuek Hin
22 декабря, 2010 at 09:29
Hi Kevin,
Your form is a bit worrying but soon the players got to winning though you are having draws in the last two games. So tight at the top and one loss will see the teams sliding down the table. Hopefully you can find the form back and start pushing for the summit. Good luck.
Kevin
22 декабря, 2010 at 21:00
Hi Lye
Yes the form is of concern and as you say one or two losses ands suddenly we are mid-table.