Hometown Glory

5. Teambuilding

Following our comprehensive win against Clitheroe, we made some moves to bring in more trialists to try to bolster the squad ahead of the start of the season. Because of a lack of funds, I’m hesitant to go all-in on players who I haven’t been able to watch play and train with our current group of players.

The first guy we brought in was 20 year old Jordan Fell, formerly goalkeeper at Mansfield Town, but who was released at the end of the 2013/14 season. He’s not played a competitive match, but he has some good skills and a reasonable head on his shoulders so could be a good addition if he clicks.

We also brought in young striker Macauley Davies, who was born in Stoke-On-Trent, and came through the youth ranks at Port Vale, before being released last season. Macauley’s greatest strength is his finishing ability, and combined with a natural turn of pace he could cause defences some problems.

Former Blackburn defender Antonie Boland also joined us on trial; the 21 year old who also had spells with Tranmere and Stalybridge before his release, and has some real potential in the left-back position if he can fulfil his potential.

I gave some of the new guys a runout against Ashton United in our second pre-season match, hoping to start forming an idea of my starting 11 for the coming season. We certainly needed more depth in the squad, but at that moment my main focus was finding a solid first 11 who could give us a solid starting point for the league campaign.

We started brightly against Ashton; Jason Gilchrist opened the scoring after just 2 minutes, turning on a sixpence to slot home Scott Kay’s cushioned header across the box.

Ashton drew level 15 minutes later through a Jack Dyche strike from just inside the area which gave Jason Fell no chance of stopping it. It was disappointing to be pegged back, especially as our defence had been caught napping, but it highlighted some issues which we would have to work on.

We were ahead again just before halftime; Gilchrist again scoring on the break, following a defence-splitting past from late addition Dieter Downey, a natural left-back who was slotting into the midfield to cover some injuries. The former Accrington man had already picked up a booking, but redeemed himself with a beautiful lofted ball which Gilchrist had run onto. We went in at the break 2-1 up, although I felt it should probably have been more.

I made a few half-time substitutions to freshen up the side ahead of the second half, and Jason Gilchrist completed his hat-trick just after the hour mark, finishing off a fine move which almost exclusively stemmed from those substitutes. Jason Wright intercepted a deep ball, and played it off to defensive partner Tom Eckersley, who moved it to Simon Lenighan just inside our half. He released Jasper Johns down the left flank and Johns’ cross fund Wolfenden on the edge of the box. Rather than shoot, he lifted the ball into Gilchrist’s path, and Jason made no mistake, rifling home from 12 yards.

I brought Gilchrist off, letting him enjoy the appreciation of the fans, and gave Tom Greaves a run-out. Simon Lenighan also came off after 70 minutes, having picked up a leg injury. We were coasting by this point, and several players had given me something to think about.

Full Time: Ashton United 1-3 FC United

You could say Jordan.... Fell out of favour at Mansfield Town. Nice result against Ashton, keep it up!

2017-07-06 20:05#244548 Justice : You could say Jordan.... Fell out of favour at Mansfield Town. Nice result against Ashton, keep it up!

Hang your head in shame! >.> thanks bae

A very in depth post and a really good read too on top of a very good result!

6. Exit, Stage Left

The exit trials are often the last chance saloon for players in the upper reaches of English football, and more often than not those players fade away into the background, and end up as accountants, or coaches, or bricklayers, or anything that isn’t a footballer. They are heartbreaking days for a lot of young men, but sometimes a youngster gets thrown a lifeline; a second chance.

We’re hardly the messiah of football clubs; we’re not going to make a player the second coming of Eric Cantona, but we can at least give a few youngsters a second bite of the cherry at making a living from football. This year, we picked two such youngsters.

22 year old Theo Bailey-Jones started his career at Manchester City, back in 2009. He was released by the Manchester side, and picked up by Crewe in 2010. He spent time on loan at Northwich, before moving to Wrexham in 2013, where he started 21 first team matches, before a switch to Macclesfield, where he played 9 games. A natural on either flank, Bailey-Jones’ natural pace is his biggest threat at this level, and can cause some real problems for defences. He naturally plays further forward than is strictly ideal for us, but he is still young and with some hard work could fit perfectly into our system.

18 year old Jacob Evans was released by Chester, and as a natural central midfielder, could bring us some serious strength in the middle of the park. He’s a natural leader and watching him in the exit trials, it was plain to see that his technique and vision could make a difference at our level.

Both lads have joined us for 4 week trials, and I think both will go on to become integral parts of our squad, and give us a needed injection of fresh young talent.

Very good Story. Like always. Hopefully you make FC of Manchester are good team

Hopefully they impress and go on to become good players!

4 week trials to prove themselves, hopefully they take that chance!

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7. Game Day #2: Hawarden

With only 3 friendly matches left before the start of the season, It was quickly approaching crunch time, and I had to start making decisions about the players we’d keep around this season, and who would be leaving without securing a contract. We’d introduced a number of players to the squad on a trial basis, and so far it had worked well for us, as we picked up two wins from two matches.

Our next pre-season match was Hawarden, and once again we played a slightly rotated squad, to give everyone a fair shot at impressing and winning a contract.

We won a penalty almost straight from kickoff, as Macauley Davies was pulled down as he raced through on goal. George Thomson stepped up, sent the goalie the wrong way and slotted home to put us 1-0 up in style.

Davies was at the heart of the action, and sent Jason Gilchrist clean through on goal moments later with a neatly cushioned pass, but Gilchrist could only hit the ball straight into the arms of the Hawarden goalkeeper.

Jacob Evans was at the heart of everything we did, pulling the strings in midfield with some intelligent movement and crisp passing to release his teammates and keep the opposition guessing, and it was his cross-field accuracy that allowed us to split the opposition open for the second goal. He picked up a loose ball in our own half, and spotted Jason Gilchrist roaming across the face of goal, driving out to the left wing. Evans split the Hawarden defence with a lofted pass into Gilchrist’s feet, and his inch-perfect cross allowed Macauley Davies to fire home for our second goal.

Evans was again at the heart of our third goal, releasing Jasper Johns on the left flank with a no-look pass with his back to goal. Johns floated the ball high into the Hawarden box, and it was Jason Gilchrist who leapt highest, heading the ball into the back of the net.

Matty Wolfenden added our fourth in the 85th minute to cap a fabulous team performance.

Full Time: Hawarden 0-4 FC United

Loving the layout of this, quite unique. Another good win too, can't wait for you to get into the new season.

Very comfortable victory.

A great result and a great in depth review! Great story so far!