A Tale of Woe (Well hopefully not!)

Comments:

Thank you all for your replies, our form and results so far this season have been sensational. I have played through to March now to get a few more results behind us. I am obviously not going to spoil anything for anyone but there are certainly some surprises

Pushing on

Following our success in the 2nd round of Qualification for the FA Cup, October saw us taking on Hartley Wintley to see if we could progress further into the competition. A team in a lower league than ourselves, facing us whilst we were in great form, was only ever going to result in one thing – a win for us; we dispatched them in style winning 4-1. Our final qualification match saw us pitched against Eastleigh, a team within our very league. Thankfully, their form saw them sitting 20th in their table and again allowed us to take the victory (2-1). It is safe to say that the draw for the 1st round of the FA cup has been kind to us, it sees us away at Newport County, a team who are battling for promotion from Sky Bet League 2; the gate receipts from a game such as this good do very well for us, though naturally, a result would be an extremely difficult accomplishment.

October has been an especially busy month for us featuring no less than 6 games! It is hard not to notice the fatigue in the team. I have added a couple of extra rest and recovery sessions to training to help combat this. I have also taken a few more players in on trial so find some further backups to players.

Despite the number of games and the fatigue within the squad, players were still working exceptionally hard during games. At one point, this dedication and passion shown by the players resulted in half of the league’s Team of the Week been dedicated to our players.



It is safe to say that October has been another GREAT month for the club, I am so glad I took this job over the others which I was offered – The run continues!

Flying high mate, incredible!

Smashing month! The goals are flying in, 21 in 6 is incredible!

Another brilliant month of results and qualification into the 1st round proper of the FA Cup; a real success!

Comments:

@mGriffin2012 Cheers mate!
@Justice Draper has been incredible!! Such a good loanee!
@ScottT well.. keep reading

New Players

October’s successes saw the Manager of the Month award taking pride of place upon my desk once again! Whilst I may only be managing within the lowest league in England (playable at least) successes such as these must be keeping me in a good place for further development and will hopefully allow other teams to keep watch of me for when I decide to move on.



I opted to keep 3 of the players whom were on trial with us. These players look good all-rounders. I don’t want to upset the balance of the team too much by bringing them straight in, especially when things are going so well, however I believe it vital that we have additional players available to us.





November saw us playing in just 3 league games. Thankfully, we remained unbeaten for all 3 of these games! [2 wins, 1 draw] however our FA cup visit to Newport County was to be, by far, the biggest game of the month, and perhaps, our season.

The team battled long and hard during the game and, whilst did commit an especially large number of fouls, remained close the Newport throughout – even managing to earn a replay with a 3-3 draw!!



The replay for this game also took place in November. This time, however, we played better than Newport and, quite unbelievably, managed to defeat them 2-0

This result was exceptionally pleasing as Newport were pushing for promotion themselves.



You may also notice Grimsby in 17th in the same table – these were our FA Cup 2nd round opponents. We certainly went into this game on a high and believing that we can potentially cause another upset. Sure enough, after a fairly even game, we found ourselves 2-1 victors and our fans celebrated us passing on into the 3rd round of the competition.

Wow! Three incredible results to book your place in the 3rd round of the cup, where the financial benefits are huge for clubs such as Chelmsford. Absolutely amazing results once again and it seems nothing is going to stop you and the team this season.

Amazing! Hopefully you draw one of the big boys!

Brilliant performance in the FA Cup! Hopefully you get a fixture which gives you a good chance of reaching the 3rd round, where the big boys enter!

Christmas is here!

December was, yet again, another extremely busy month. Rather than playing in the FA cup, we saw ourselves facing teams in both the league and the FA Trophy.
Overall, December was a fairly quiet month, allowing us to continue to rack up points in the league and surpass expectations by progressing through to the 2nd Round of the FA Trophy.



The main excitement from December didn’t come from a game. Instead it was the anticipation for the draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup. With the big teams entering in at the stage of the competition, a small team such as us is going to hope for one of 2 outcomes – another small team we can beat and subsequently progress further into the competition as a result or a large team, such as a Championship or Premier League team, against whom you don’t expect to win, but rather welcome the financial windfall. Our prayers were answered as we were drawn away at Bournemouth, a game to be our first fixture in January.

Whilst a valiant effort was made by the players, Bournemouth did manage to beat us 2-0, knocking us out of the competition. A 2 goal loss against a side so much further above us is still a result to be proud of. Reaching this stage of the competition is not something neither I, nor the board, expected. It is even more unbelievable, however, that after 5 months of competitive fixtures, a Premier League side is the only team to have beaten us.

We may well have been knocked out of the FA Cup, however our place in the FA trophy remained. A 1-0 victory over Blyth Spartans saw us pushing forward through into the 3rd round.



As you would imagine, another manager of the month award came my way based on January’s performances/results. It is a great honour to be continually honoured for my successes with the team. Whilst my tactics may be important, the hard work continually given by the lads is surely the key to my success.

A very good set of results, and you did well to get to the third round of the FA Cup!

Great progression being made as the months go by. Fantastic to see you progressing well in the FA Trophy, alongside a great run to the 3rd round of the FA Cup in a tie with a Premiership side too. Memories made for the supporters, I'm sure.

Comments:

@Justice @ScottT Thank you both for your continued support with this story! It is great to see that other people are reading at least! The club have definitely made great progress, and the board are really happy with me. I figure the biggest goal I can have is to leave any club that I am at better than it previously was - a bit like the American Hippocratic Oath for Doctors - do no harm.

Dropped Points & a Glimpse of the Future?

The continually hectic schedule is certainly beginning to affect my players. Tiredness creeps in from all sides whilst playing a large number of games during the month.

For this reason, it is perhaps no surprise that we began dropping more points in February amassing 11 out of 15 points – a more than adequate share I am sure.
Our role in the FA Trophy continued, with both the 3rd and 4th round matches appearing whilst we are still in February. Fylde and Dover Athletic both failed to impress and lost to us, seeing us through to the FA Trophy Semi-Finals.



Sadly. Ben Herd is annoyed with his play-time. I have agreed to let him go as soon as an offer is made for him. With no teams interested I have also had to advise him to make his own way forward and try to secure a deal himself.
It is going to come as no surprise to anyone who reads this story that we are currently first in the league. In fact, our position is extremely strong within the league and, after winning our first game in March we have mathematically secured our place in this year’s play-offs; there are still 9 games remaining! (potentially 27 points).



I forget whether I have mentioned it anywhere else, but I have managed to complete my first qualification so my skills will continue to grow!

I can feel an FA Trophy Final coming up!

18 point gap with 9 games to go! That means that, as of writing this, 10 points from a possible 27 will guarantee the title. In reality, you not even need one more!

Amazing to see you are still unbeaten this season!