Making a Manager - The Story

Four signings on the opening day. Barry was brought in to improve the quality we had at right back. Signing Black & Jones was massive. They were too highly rated youngsters who had already played regular first team football at lower levels. They were expected to become Premier League players in the future. Harness added a bit of a spark in wide attacking areas. He was expected to be a squad player but good form would be enough for him to stake a first-team place.

The year of 2021 started with Kabongo being Kabongo and netting a hat trick against Exeter City in the league. We followed that up with a disappointing draw against Colchester before returning to winning ways with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Cheltenham Town in the EFL Trophy. Back-to-back defeats followed in the league, before we wrapped up the month with a draw and a win against Port Vale and Notts County respectively.

Kabongo was on a mission. He scored five times during January, including an incredible hat trick and an important brace. Words don't do Kabongo justice. Kabongo > Messi?

Just the one point separated us and Colchester. A mixed run of results hadn't helped our cause but, in truth, we weren't feeling the pressure. We had bee in similar situations before and the squad was full of winners. I was confident they would go on to win the title, especially after January's set of new recruitments.

The cost of playing in the EFL had not done our finances any good. We were in a position where we could spend money on new players, but at a risk. We knew that if we didn't win promotion, the spend on players would be seen as a poor decision. Hopefully the new signings would push us onto new heights.

Bristol Rovers awaited us in the EFL Trophy quarter finals. With the match televised, we were anticipating a decent pay-off, regardless of the result. Despite the competition not being well renowned, we wanted to get our hands on any silverware possible. We also had a few league games coming up.

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We loved cup competitions. The month of February began with a bang as we recorded a penalty shootout victory over Bristol Rovers in the EFL Trophy. We followed that up with back-to-back wins in the league over Grimsby Town and Stevenage. We experienced a hiccup in the form of Barnet, who were as talented as they were resilient. However, the result did little to upset us as bounced back to cruch Southampton U23s in a thrilling EFL Trophy Semi Final encounter. A draw against Crewe rounded up a largely successful month.

His name's Kabongo. He's from the Congo. Olé, Olé. Olé, Olé.

Just the one point separated us and Colchester, still. Colchester had kept pace with us and the points gap neither increased or decreased. Did that worry us? No. We knew we were capable of flushing any team in the league, we just needed to remain professional and grind out the results we wanted.

With promotion looking more and more likely, our drop in financial standing did not upset us too much. We were quite confident that we would make the jump required to secure our future.

Ooh baby, what a month ahead! We had the opportunity to continue our title challenge with four reasonably winnable fixtures. The big event, of course, was set to be an EFL Trophy final against Manchester City U23s. Another trip to Wembley, another fruitful one perhaps?

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Oxford City continued their 100% cup final record under manager Ryan Ferguson with a rampant 6-2 victory over Manchester City U23s in the final of the EFL Trophy at Wembley. Attacker Jack Bearne scored a sensational hat trick against a side which boasted the likes of former Argentina international goalkeeper Agustín Marchesín, promising midfielder Brahim Díaz and legendary striker Sergio Agüero.

Oxford City were slight favourites heading into the game but didn't need much time to take the lead at a place they have had much success at in recent seasons. The in-form Jack Bearne put Oxford City into the ascendancy after just two minutes as he played a one-two with Josh Ashby before feeding a low finesse shot beyond Marchesín from just inside the box.

From kick-off, Oxford City wrestled back possession of the ball and soon found their second goal of the game. Ryan Longman and Kgosi Ntlhe combined on the left for the Oxford club before the former picked out Jack Bearne on the penalty spot. The young attacker took one touch before smashing a shot at goal, ricocheting into the back of the net. The goal was given as a Yeboah Amankwah own goal for some reason.

Manchester City fought back and managed to level the game in the first half with two quickfire goals. The first came from a simple cross and header as Luke Bolton set up Omar Lewars to halve the deficit. The second goal also came from a header as defender Harwood-Bellis was assisted from a Brahim Díaz free kick.

Oxford City were rocked for the remainder of the first half, having conceded a two goal lead. However, harsh words may have been exchanged at half-time with manager Ryan Ferguson as the players came back onto the pitch for the second period with a look of real desire and energy in them.

Oxford City made the second half their own and regained the lead through Ryan Longman. Following a long spell of possession, Longman cut inside from the left and curled a superb long-range effort beyond the reach of goalkeeper Marchesin and into the far corner. It was a sign of things to come.

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Jack Bearne combined with Kabongo Tshimanga to double Oxford City's lead. Bearne ran with the ball at speed down the right wing before picking out the iconic striker in the middle. Kabongo turned on the spot before playing Bearne through on goal and, twenty yards out from goal, Bearne finished with a cool low finish.

Aguero have been misfiring at one end but Kabongo Tshimanga got his goal at the other. Ntlhe delivered a number of dangerous crosses within the space of half a minute before one eventually dropped to Kabongo Tshimanga, who got his customary Wembley goal with a first-time driven effort.

Jack Bearne completed his hat trick, and the scoring, in stoppage time with a finish much more simple than his previous two. Josh Ashby spread the play out to the marauding Kabongo Tshimanga who in turn picked out Jack Bearne in the box. The young attacker saw his first effort parried by Marchesin but Oxford City's star of the season made no mistake with a coolly finished rebound. Game over. Lights out for Manchester City.

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Win, win, win, win, win. It was perfect. We began with a truly professional performance in a narrow one-goal victory over Plymouth to start the month and we kept up the momentum after. Bury, Forest Green and Wycombe didn't stand a chance as we claimed four wins from four in the league.

The big game was at Wembley. It was the small matter of an EFL Trophy final against Manchester City U23s. We wiped the floor with them. After going into half-time at two goals apiece, we scored four non-answered goals in the second half to obliterate a team that had Sergio Aguero as captain. Agueroooooooooo? NO!

What a month it was for Jack Bearne. The teenage attacking sensation was either scoring or assisting in most games and he bagged himself a cup final hat trick at Wembley, against Manchester City (U23s). We picked him up for free in the summer and there were a number of Premier League and Championship clubs sniffing around for his signature.

The gap had grown. Colchester had slipped up enormously and we powered on to a seven point gap ahead of new-second placed Notts County. With a game in hand, we were confident of securing the title with a few more victories.

The cup final saw our balance steady, somewhat. We were still in the red but it wasn't bad, and we knew we had a lot of money coming in at the end of the season for sponsorship, etc.

What a busy month ahead! Due to the cup final, we had games rescheduled to give us a whopping seven-fixture month in April (and start of May).