A new start at an old age - The Mark Colindale story

(Screenshots of the first fourteen parts were never taken since it was too annoying to upload them on Facebook, where I started keeping this story. I will try and add some from part fifteen going forward!)

Introduction

Mark Colindale, age 67, born and raised in London, UK. Mark has been a blue collar worker for his entire life, starting out in sales and later on making his way up to be the manager for the customer service department of a mid sized insurance company in Edgware, London. He makes standard income but realised at his age he has reached his limit within his company, who are glad to see him retire to bring in some young blood. So, on December 1st 2023, that is exactly what Mark did. Being able to live on his retirement fund he has decided it is time for a second start in life.

Mark has always been a big fan of The Game and visited lower league football matches in and around London for decades. He is a season ticket holder for his favourite team in the city, Charlton FC and visits every home game.
Mark's wife passed away 2 years ago and to fill a void in his life, he has taken up training the team of his 10 year old grandson. Being a trainer has been enjoyable for him, so he decided to start studying for some professional coaching licences. He soon realised that without actual experience at the touchlines, it was quite hard to sign up for an official course. Mark decided to start sending applications to football clubs around the country and even abroad, to try and get his foot in somewhere to gain actual experience and who knows, maybe start a second career at his ripe old age.

Easier said than done is what people told him, but Mark is persistent. He never had any ambitions in his past career and was always comfortable where he was. But with all the changes in his life he felt he should also change his attitude and no longer take ''no'' for an answer and to strive for more, to be better.

After a bunch of very polite worded letters saying ''We're not going to interview you'', a letter from Cornwall arrived in the week before christmas 2023. It contained therein an invitation to interview for the vacant manager position at Truro City Football Club in Truro.
After a good talk and interview, where Mark connected with the owner and shared their ideas about football, he got a call later that day. They wanted to give him a chance at a half year contract to try and save the club from relegation out of the Vanarama National League South. The offer for a €150 per week contract was negotiated by mark to a whooping €170 per week and then signed.

The goal was simple: avoid relegation at all costs. No promises for what happens after, but the owner let it slip that a new contract could be expected if the target was met and, very important for the club: the atmosphere in the dressing room was good.
So the hunt for an apartment began, which wasn't easy with that income, but supplemented by his pension payments and knowing his house in North-London was mortgage free and always his backup, Mark found a small place to live in Truro, packed his bags and left for Cornwall.

New beginnings, exciting times ahead and above all: hard work!

Part One
Arrived at the club and took stock. The players aren’t a bad bunch, I don’t see why they're so low in the league. There’s just not a lot of them, so they have to play a lot of matches. I find fitness training to be very important for this reason and so my first request to the board is for more trainers. Me, my assistant and 2 coaches aren’t gonna cut it. The request was denied instantly. Guess this is what it is for now then.

We also need to professionalise the club if we are to stay up and become a stable National League club. There is currently NO ONE working in the scouting department, we have no Director of Football and no Head of Youth Development. Job adverts have gone out straight away to find people for these positions, so the upcoming youth intake can be properly assessed and development of local players can start.

Tactics:
Since I’m jumping in mid season, there won’t be a chance to test things in friendlies, we’re being thrown straight into the deep end. Looking at the players available, I see no wingers, so it’s going to be playing through the middle and exploiting the strengths I think we do have. I have an idea behind how I want the team to play; counter pressure, or as it is commonly called: Gegenpress. Usually I wouldn’t immediately go for this with a lower league team, but we have a mountain to climb if we are to stay up this year and a very small team to do it with. High intensity football is demanding, but also the quickest way to get these lads to play as a team. Under pressure, the men will be separated from the boys. This is an all in attempt, we either win big or we fail as a collective. No two ways about it.

The 3 man midfield will have Deep lying playmaker, a ball winning midfielder, both dropped back a bit to make sure we are stable between defence and midfield. A central midfielder will be responsible for connecting our plays toward the front where two attacking midfielders and an advanced forward are set up to score goals.
That’s the idea on paper, now we will have a game in two days (vs the #4 in the league) to see how it plays out. I’m going to hold on to this playstyle for 6 games to get some rhythm going and see how it pens out. I am not above admitting I was wrong and should the results and the way we play not line up with my ideas, I will go back to the drawing board. The goal? 6 games with a max of 2 losses. 4 draws would be disappointing but acceptable to start with, but if we can peg a win or two, I will be happy.

Part Two:

First game against Havant & Waterlooville, the league's number 4 at the time of the match.The pre-match speech was simple: It’s been enough. Our bad form ends here, today. Go out there and show what you are capable of. Results matter, but today what I want to see is 11 grown goddamn men who play for the shirt and give it their all. t I want to see blood sweat and tears for all of those 90 minutes, regardless of the scoreline during the game. Don’t look at the scoreboard until the game is over as I want your eyes on the ball and on your team mates. No excuses.

And what a game it was.. A confident performance that shows we have more in us than our current spot on the roster. A solid 5-3 win. Sad to say 2 of the 3 goals were completely unnecessary and it literally looked like the defense was napping. Our 30 year old striker Andrew ‘’Andy’’ Neal scored all of our goals and was impeccable in attack today. What I notice is that the lack of squad depth is appalling. I had no suitable players for any of the positions I wanted to make changes in at the 70th minute, although some players really could have done with being subbed off. This means I have some solid work to do in January. Looking at the squad now, I might need to bring in at least 6 players. With literally zero budget to spend on buying players and roughly €1000 a week unspent wage budget, this will be challenging. But honestly, at this point in the season and with our goals being what they are, I don’t need good players. Not even mediocre players. I just need players to fill some gaps should we get injuries and to rotate some players out when the game asks for a fresh pair of legs.

Second game, first of a double header against Torquay United, the media’s undisputed championship contender. Away first. Pre match conference and the negativity from the media was palpable. They even criticised Andrew Neal, saying he wasn’t good enough to get along in my playstyle. Little did they know.
We got an unexpected lead, only to get overwhelmed in the space of 5 minutes with Torquay turning our 0-1 lead into a 3-1 for the home team. They ran us ragged and I expected the game to go on like that. Half time I got the lads together and told them a draw was possible and it would shut a lot of people up. Focussed them more on playing through the centre and hitting early crosses. And it paid off! Andy Neal scored another 2 goals, both stunning and we kept it tight in the back, bringing home a very unexpected and welcome 3-3 draw. Now Torquay will come to our grounds and we get yet another chance to shut our biggest critics up by showing them what we are capable of.

Thats 4 points in 2 games and slowly looking up, 1 point above the dreaded redzone..

After this game I finalised some signings. I forgot the semi-professional nature of the club's structure that allows us to sign players outside transfer windows and managed to bring in a 22 year old attacking midfielder/central midfielder that I think can really add something to the team, on loan from Yeovil Town. Also signed 2 young players, 1 left and 1 right back. Not particularly promising, but fills up some voids and gives me some options. The left back is mainly a quick lad, someone to storm forward and cause some chaos and confusion by making a quick rush. If I can teach him to cross a ball every now and then he might actually be useful. Both were placed with my under 21’s, but got bumped up to first team instantly. The pundits might say they’re not good enough, but I don’t see them putting on a jersey and helping out, so I’m just gonna ignore their comments. And so my squad size grew from a meagre 18 to 21 and I have some breathing room when it comes to squad selection and substitutes. None of these signings are professional players so none are getting a fixed wage.

Signing number 4 is an exciting 16 year old centre back, who my (non existent lol) scouts rate as having very high potential with the potential of being a key-player for the club. Again, adding squad depth for zero signing costs and on a minimal contract. The club is buzzing with these new players coming in off the back of a new manager taking the lead and the positive results (both score wise and play-style wise) in his first matches. Some more deals are in the works too! But first.. Torquay United at home, game 3 under my lead..

Part Three:
Fourth game of the season and 4/6 before I’m going to assess the results and tweak the tactic where needed. Already have some ideas on that. We’re playing Dover Athletic away, they’ve been overperforming all season and it won’t be an easy game. But coming off the back of a good run, we should have something to show here.. Sad to say we played an absolute rubbish first half, where we got just over half of the possession but no shots on target, Yikes. Second half with some tweaks was not much better, 8 shots, none on target but still controlling possession with 60%. I like to play a possession based style, but what is the point if we can’t get our shots on? The lads let themselves down and this is unacceptable. The result in itself isn’t even what pisses me off. It’s the fact we displayed zero will to win. Some water bottles may have been thrown in the dressing room after this game. We are still 1 point above the relegation zone and I am still going to give it two more games before drawing any conclusions. But don’t blame me for looking for some quality to add to the squad in the attacking third of the pitch. Can’t stay up if we don’t score more goals.

Fifth game. Time for a win.. Playing the #5, Worthing, at home. Media not giving us many chances and the automatisms I had hoped for to start developing just ain’t there. The difference in quality was immediately visible on the pitch and after 20 minutes we were trailing 0-1. Like last game, we’re not getting shots on goal. But who else than Andrew Neal turns the tide? 1-1 just before half time gives us hope! In added time Hamon, my goalkeeper, made a save that made him stretch so far I swear he grew 5 cm on the spot.. Then from the following corner I think he saw a bird or something because he let a completely stoppable ball pass and so we went into the dressing room trailing once again, 1-2 half time score. Told the lads I wanted to see something else in the second half, but we let them pressure us from the get-go. Easy interceptions, sloppy passing, everything a manager does not want to see. Game goes on like this for a bit and then, 70th minute we get a corner, their keeper punches it away and on the edge of the box who is there? Is it.. Could it be? Yes of course, Andrew Neal with a scorcher in the far corner: 2-2. Now we gotta show that blood, sweat and tears attitude I hammered on every game I led and bring home a win. I won’t have a voice left come 90 minutes, but if that’s what I have to do to bring across the fighting spirit to the lads so f*cking be it. But it wasn’t to be, one point is all we deserve from this game anyway. Proud we turned it around but far, far from pleased with what I saw on the pitch. I know we can do better but it’s just not coming out like this. One more game to go. If that isn’t a win with a dominant display, it’s back to the drawing board and a serious tactical overhaul. The results elsewhere see us drop back into the relegation zone as well. Not a good day in Truro…Next game FA Trophy fourth round. Probably not something the board wants to hear but I could really not give less of a shit about this competition. But I give a shit about the way we play, so I’m taking it as a positive: a final chance to play this tactic and see if we can tweak it to make full use of the qualities I have seen in the squad without having to care too much about the result as it simply doesn’t matter for my goals this season.

Between the last two games my search for a comprehensive staff team paid off and we’ve signed some people in important positions: head of youth development, head performance analyst, two scouts, a chief scout and a director of football. Nothing that will bring immediate results on the pitch but important in the long run.

Cup time. Team we play is one flight up, so considering we’ve been struggling in our league I’d safely call this ‘’a bit too much’’ for our stature. So it’s gonna be one of them ‘’I don’t care about the scoreline, just about how you play and hold yourself together under pressure’’ games. Huzzah.

Rarely seen a more boring first half: xG of 0.4 vs 0.18 with zero shots on target from either side and near equal possession.. At this rate, one lucky shot gets you a win so… yay? I’m feeling very indifferent if I’m honest. A win would be nice, but I don’t care about the competition and the way we play is horrendous.. Then again, it’s against a much higher rated team. To add insult to injury, one of the best players on the team has to be subbed off in the 60th minute with what looks like a serious injury. The one lucky shot came just before that injury and that’s how the game ended. 1-0, end of the FA Trophy for Truro. Full focus on the league. After the game my fears were confirmed. Harvey, attacking central midfielders is out 5 to 6 weeks. Bummer.

So there we are. 6 games played. 1 win, 3 draws, 2 losses. Considering our expectations I could argue it isn’t that bad but I wanted more. At least two wins were required for me to have confidence in this being our way of play. Now it is back to the drawing board. I feel we have some quality to have people move into channels and I would love to play a little wider, but am lacking players capable of being wingers. So that conundrum is burning a hole in my brain. For now I’m thinking of overhauling the whole playstyle. Screw the fact there’s no suitable wingers, I’ll play inside forwards with an attacking midfielder between them and a pressing forward. An attacking mentality with a box-to-box midfielder / deep lying playmaker tandem on the midfield. Looking for overlap on the left/right and telling the lads to shoot on sight and run at the defence. In transition I want speed, overwhelm the opponent before they can even think to regroup into their style. That means counter press when losing possession, counter when the ball has been won and quick goalkeeper distribution to the full backs, with a preference towards long throws.

On a positive note before I end this entry: in the weekly staff meeting it was made clear to me the players all respect me for having the time to talk to them and for keeping a healthy dressing room atmosphere. Considering that, besides not relegating, was what the owner and board set as goals, I’m not unhappy about that. Now it’s onto another 5 league games with the new more ballsy tactic. Go big or go home.

Part Five:
Time for some points to come in and hopefully steer us clean away from the dropzone. Off the back of some good games with half decent results and with a new tactic and formation, this has got to be it. 15 games to go still, quite a while to gain the necessary points to stay up. Gotta say though, if I request to take a course again in a few games and they say no, I might try and use my new gained experience and credits for keeping this team up to find different employment… They wouldn’t be taking me very seriously as their manager if they can’t even afford a few bucks to get me a diploma right?

Anyway, league game 9 under my leadership. Away vs Hampton & Richmond, low flyer at #15 in the league. Possibilities here, even though our away form hasn’t really been good this season. But we gotta take the positives from last game and build on that, for if we can’t get some form of streak going, we are not going to stay up. Harsh words but true nonetheless. A few points here and there won’t cut it. I want a solid streak of wins now to build on that confidence.

Dominance from the get go! Putting them under pressure as soon as they get the ball and getting 5 shots, 4 on target in 20 minutes. The crosses started from minute 1 and led to a nice goal after 17 minutes, giving us the deserved lead! After a disallowed (offside) goal 2 minutes later, we scored the second goal after 25 minutes. Not too shabby! Nothing more noticeable happened in the first half. Team talk in the dressing room was simple and to the point. I’m happy with how things are going, keep it up, we’ve dominated possession and I wanna see more of that. Second half started out decent, a few more shots but not getting through their defensive block. After 70 minutes they scored a goal back, making me a bit nervous as I really want to go home with a win here. Even after that we kept the pressure on with near constant shots and threats to their 16, but their goalkeeper prevented at least two goals in the space of 5 minutes. At this point I instructed the lads to balance their approach more, take less risks and safeguard our lead. But with 10 minutes to go, Andrew Neal saw Melhado on the edge of the box and with a splitting pass enabled the lad to score an absolute belter of a goal, taking us to 1-3 lead and calming my nerves. The pressure was still on after this from our end and we kept getting shots on goal, making the most of what seemed like their players getting tired and losing faith. And that’s where it stayed. 1-3 win, 64% possession, 2.52 xG with 22 shots and 10 on target. Their xG was 0.95 with 8 shots, 5 on target. This is the dominance I hoped we were capable of and it looks like this new formation is paying off. I just need to stop listening to the backroom staff who want to approach each game with a defensive attitude. Attacking is the way forward!
We moved up to 16th with a decent 3 point gap to the dropzone. Onwards and upwards!

Finally managed to sign a winger, had to pay 2.5k transfer fee which I didn’t have, so shifted around some of the wage budget to afford him.. He’s best on the right, but he’s gonna have to adjust as I badly need him on the left as I had literally no one with the capability to play there and had been playing Andy Neal in that spot… but considering his appetite for scoring goals under my leadership, I really want him as a pure striker. Played 10 games now, including the FA trophy match. 4 wins, 3 losses, 3 draws. Not unhappy with that, but it will all mean nothing if we aren’t going to win another 5 out of the remaining 14 games.. I’m pretty confident that is what we need to stay up. Ofcourse, it has to be supplemented by a couple of draws too.. Exciting times ahead!

Tenth league game, home vs Eastbourne Borough, who are a comfortable 12 points above us in 12th position. Feeling confident based on the last two games and hoping we can extend the win streak to a magical 3 in a row for the first time this season.

Much more shots than the visitors, but the half time scoreline doesn’t reflect it.. 0-0 after 45 minutes. It’s just not coming out, we control possession and keep firing shots, but no clear cut chances. It’s like the lads are having a mental off day, which is unacceptable considering we can extend our winning streak to 3 here and I am dead set on that happening. I’ve got the water bottles ready to start throwing them if the score stays like this at full time..


I had to sit there and watch that.. Somehow the Eastbourne defence managed to keep all of our shots out. Not gonna lie, I’m jealous of their goalkeeper. This is a match we should have won and based on how we play, I know the lads can perform well enough to stay up but to not take the three points at home at this stage of the season is really hard to swallow… I managed to contain myself in the dressing room, no water bottles were thrown… but they aren’t far off getting some thrown at them. We need goals!

Dropped a spot, but results elsewhere sees us steer 4 points away from the dreaded redzone.. Going to try real hard to take the positives from this game but those 21 shots, 9 on target… Well, let’s say at least half of those are gonna be playing over and over tonight in my head between dinner and bedtime. Very frustrating. No new win streak record. On to the next match I guess.

Next up; Bath City away. The last game we were supposed to play was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at our opponents Farnborough. Bath City sit in the top 3 and look a bit too much for my team, but as we have been doing we are going in with a positive attitude and looking to display some attacking football. The game wasn’t much fun to be brutally honest. Not a lot of chances in the first half.. The lads were sleeping again. At the halftime mark we took an injury: my recently signed and much needed left winger had to be subbed off. Doesn’t look to serious thank f*ck. Possession evenly distributed between the two sides when we went for tea.. So I told the lads that they can’t expect to score a goal if they can’t keep the damn ball.. This resulted in more shots in the second half, but sadly we got a goal against through a penalty. I still don’t think it was a hand ball, but the referee couldn’t be argued with (well, not without me being sent off and that’s the last thing we need now..)

So safe to say the lads got Angry Mark at the touchlines after that, which seemed to make an impression. 12 minutes after the penalty the equaliser was scored: header after a corner, leaving their goalkeeper without a chance. A few more skirmishes after that, some shots from our side, nothing more from them: they dug in and hoped to save the point. I guess I’ll take their desire to save the draw as a positive; they didn’t push for the win.
Next up, Hemel Hempstead at home. Time to continue the decent form but this time with a win.


From the first whistle onwards we were attacking. While the possession could have been more dominant, the shots and shots on target showed what was happening: Truro leading this match. We took an injury in the 29th minute and discipline could become a serious issue, with a total of 5 yellow cards on our side and none for the opponent. But, and this is most important: goals!
Andrew Neal picked up his form of the first few matches again and scored 2 goals, both in the first half. We managed to keep it tight in the back after and even though our shots on target in the second half should have led to 1 or 2 more goals, 2-0 is what we went into halftime with and 2-0 is how it ended. Can’t really find any negatives here; we controlled possession, we had by far more shots (including on target) and we won with a clean sheet. Climbing back up to a comfortable 16th position, 8 points clear of the dropzone and with a game to play still compared to the rest. Avoiding relegation seems to come into sight properly now! And we’re on 5 match unbeaten streak, let’s go!

Part Six:
Time for the postponed match (due to waterlogged pitch) against Farnborough away. The tactic is properly working now. The board and fans expected a draw, the backroom staff said to play defensive. But I’ve become that stubborn guy with no experience that still knows better than everyone else and went with my unedited tactic, no tweaks. That means: attacking football, high pressure. Unrelenting in chasing down possession and bringing that ball forward as soon as we have it. We ‘’only’’ conceded 3 yellow cards this game and went into the half time break with a 0-1 lead but far more dominant on the pitch than the scoreline reflected.

Second half we piled on the pressure and scored 2 more goals (1 penalty, totally deserved and I don’t even pretend to understand why their player wasn’t sent off!). We ended with an xG of 1.61 and the scoreline? 0-3 win! We move on 14th with a solid 11 points gap to the dreaded dropzone. I’m gaining confidence that we have it in us to stay up and do it in style; by staying at least 3 positions away from the relegation spots. With 10 games to go we can even hold a glimmer of hope of finishing in the top half, beating the expectations by a mile! Extending the non beaten streak to 6 games and once again got sights on winning 3 games in a row for the first time this season. Doing so would give a clear signal to the board: I’ve got this. (Now let me get my damn licence and pay for it, cheap f*cks..)

I actually can’t currently ask for them to let me study for a licence so I requested to up the amount of coaches so we can get some more specialisation in training. And they said yes, increasing the number of coaches from 2 to 3. Still not much but hey, it's an improvement! But after trying to negotiate with 3 candidates I determined the max wage I am allowed to pay is so low, I really cba with doing the negotiations myself. Time for the Director of Football to earn his keep and find me a decent coach.




Ten games to go, time to start counting down I guess..

Game 1/10
Away vs Taunton, who are 6 places below us on the table. This is where we gotta start watching against complacency. We’re on a good run, we’re looking up instead of down and now we’re playing a team that, statistically, is less than us.

I want dominance and assertiveness from the start. Not letting them get into their preferred style of play and put them under pressure all the time all the way. Only took 14 minutes for (who else than) Andrew Neal to score the 0-1, his instincts put him in the right place at the right time, finishing a splitting cross from the sideline. Half time score stays just that, 0-1. Should’ve been at least 1 or 2 more, but it is what it is.

The second half was a dreadful affair I’m sad to say. Barely any shots from either side, slowly lulling the public into sleep and the half time score is also the final score. Should have scored more goals, not too pleased about that.. But a win is a win, I guess? Seven games unbeaten and finally got that 3 in a row win as well. The media been saying all season that 50 points is usually what it takes to be safe and with 9 games to go we’re only 3 points of that mark.

Game 2/10
Home vs Chelmsford. Wasn’t feeling well, must have eaten some bad fish ‘n chips. Had to let the assistant manager take this one for me while I was puking my guts out, but I’ll spare you the details. I told him in no uncertain terms to stick to the tactics as I wrote them up, including the attacking mentality. He didn’t disappoint me, with a solid 3-1 win (with a missed penalty for Chelmsford after 5 minutes of injury time). Only two yellow cards as well, so the toning down of the aggressive approach seems to have been brought across to the lads. Possession 54/46.. Both had about the same amount of shots and shots on goal, so all in all quite the equal match, but our individual qualities gave us the edge. Next game in 3 days, hope I feel better then!

Game 3/10
Home vs Weymouth.
Feeling better again so I’ll be on the touchline for this one. If we follow the instructions and continue where we left off after last game, there’s three points up for grabs here. So, a win is what I’m expecting and I made that clear. No excuses.

We’ve kept the ball for most of the opening phase with possession around 65% for Truro. After 17 minutes Andrew Neal scored, on the edge of being offside, and gave us the lead we deserved. We’re getting some good crosses in but toying around with that offside line isn’t doing us good this match. 2 goals disallowed after that for being offside. The pressure is on them but with this small of a lead, any mistakes we make could instantly put us at risk of wasting points here. We’re going into the halftime break with 67% possession still, so if we can keep the ball and keep applying pressure, not giving them the time to gain their intended shape, we’ve got this still and more goals should follow in the second 45.

Second half; keeping the ball but they’re dangerously close to equalising on the counter-attack. I’ve kept shouting at the lads to keep their focus and hoping that 1-1 doesn’t happen. But in the 90+2th minute a through ball ends in front of Andy Neals feet and he knows what to do with that…

Lucky as well because not 30 seconds later they hit us on the counter with a stunning shot from outside the box: 2-1. They kept piling on the pressure, 3 corners in the last 2 minutes of injury time, but we managed to prevent conceding another goal. This win was hard fought. Possession stats or xG might not say as much, but we had to fight to keep the points in Truro and that is what we did. Proud of the boys! Solid 13th position, 53 points and a safe 16 points clear of the dreaded redzone!

Part Seven:
4/10, St. Albans away. They’re almost at the bottom of the table… But still my backroom staff advises me to switch from attacking playstyle to cautious.. I swear, if I had the funds I’d fire the assistant manager who keeps being such a pussy and replace him with someone who actually has a pair of balls between his legs… But until I do, I can just ignore him! The tactical familiarity is beginning to show and where we had some bad partnerships at the start of the season, we now have 4 good partnerships going (left back/left wing, right back/right wing, two central defenders and, most importantly for scoring the goals: the CAM and Striker!). We are still looking up and something in the back of my mind says I shouldn’t say out loud what I’m thinking right now, so I won’t… But in another 3 games I’ll spill it if I’m still thinking about it!

Had to make two changes in the starting 11, my players are starting to be fatigued, with the season drawing to an end soon and me playing the same 11 in every game. We’ve kept it relatively injury free but with 46 games in a season (not even counting the handful of cup games) and the high intensity playstyle I’m using, it’s only understandable some of them are starting to walk on their last legs…

Aside from being fatigued, some of the lads are feeling complacent… This is not something we can have. And low and behold, trailing 1-0 after 15 minutes without even having any shots ourselves. Unacceptable! Angry Mark time it is, shouting from the sideline that this can’t be happening and they’re better than this. Thankfully it didn’t take long for one of our crosses to connect with poacher pur sang Andrew Neal, equalising just before the half hour mark. Even that considered, St. Albans is getting many more shots and it was bound to happen… 2-1 a couple minutes later. Same goalscorer and same assist giver as the first goal, they’ve got a nice tandem going there. Half time speech was the old man talking to his children ‘’I’m not angry, just disappointed’’. Show me something different in the second half damnit.



We’re controlling possession and getting more and more shots, but the scoreline stays as it is and I'm starting to think this could well be the end of our streak… Sad to say I don’t have much I can do from the sideline. I subbed out the two players who aren’t usually in the starting 11, hoping the experience and familiarity of the starting 11 makes a difference in the last half hour.

With 15 minutes to go, Andrew Neal (who else?) finds himself in the right place to finish a through ball from the back line and equalises. Now it’s time to pile on the pressure and find the winning goal as well! But it wasn’t to be… injury time, two corners in a row for St. Albans, the second one finds us out of position after a deflected shot and there it is.. 3-2. Not the result I was hoping for.. We did well to claw back into the game, but losing here against a team that is all but certain of relegation, that is unacceptable and I made sure that the team knows this. A nine game undefeated run comes to an end… I’ll be replaying some of the moments in this game tonight over my Mac’nCheese, pondering what we could and should have done better..

5/10, away vs Tonbridge.
Now we have to show character. Late in the season, our streak broke in a game we should have won on paper… Important now to not let this break our spirit and claw back with a win and a dominant win at that. Only by doing that can we make sure we keep raking in the points while the season draws to a close. I’m confident we have avoided relegation already, though technically we could still drop to 23rd should we totally implode and lose all coming games… But I want to finish as high as we can, since it’s all I can do to convince the board to finally let me study for a coaching qualification and maybe convince them to increase the budgets for next season.

Took about 25 minutes before one of our 4 shots hit the target and gave us a deserved lead. As always, possession stats favour us over the opponent which basically made this goal a matter of time. The rest of the first half was a one team show; Truro had the ball, Truro had the shots. One rare shot from Tonbridge didn’t provide much trouble for our goalkeeper and we went into the halftime break with a deserved but not very comfortable 0-1 lead.
Some great plays to start the second half off with, beautiful passes and a couple of shots but nothing threatening, until the 54th minute. A splitting pass opened up their defence and after deflecting off a Tonbridge defender, the 0-2 was a fact. Goal listed as one of ours, but in reality should have been an own goal but that’s just statistics really. With possession in our favour once again at 64%, we started to wear down their confidence with yet another goal only 2 minutes later, after a pass on the midfield, Andrew Neal solo’d his way into the box and clinically finished with the 3-0. As if that wasn’t enough, 4 minutes later a shot from just inside the box made it 4! Their defence let one of our midfielders slip through unnoticed and they paid the price for it.. And to top things off, in the 90+8th minute, Andrew Neal, poacher he is, scored the fifth and final goal, bringing the proceedings to an end. Tonbridge Angels never stood a chance to weather the Truro storm and with 2 shots on target in 100 minutes of football, didn’t deserve a thing. Terrible performance from them and a very good boost of confidence for the final 5 games of the season for us. And most important: We are SAFE! This win gave us the points we needed and based on the points still to play for and the gap between us and the dropzone, we can now officially no longer finish below the 19th place in the league, which means: Target of avoiding relegation has been met! What a day! 5 games to play and a ten point gap to the playoff places… surely we have no place to be in those, but a man can dream right?

Part Eight:
6/10, home vs Slough. Face off between the numbers 13 and 14. If we want to keep looking up and hope for some mistakes from the teams above us and have a glimmer of hope to go to the playoffs, we have to win all our games. Simple right? Nope. Not simple. Half time score 0-0 with not much happening at all. Their keeper stopped 2 shots, which were our only 2 shots on target. Possession nearly equal and bit of a dull affair all things considered… But there’s 45 minutes to play so I’m going to stay positive. Took a lot of patience, this staying positive thing, if my lads keep missing all their shots. Until they don’t…. Which in this case was minute 85, a shot from the edge of the box found its target and gave us a 1-0 lead. Clinging onto that now for the duration of the game to try and keep the three points in Truro! Even their keeper went forward three times in the remaining minutes when Slough got 2 corners and a free kick, but we consolidated the lead and took the win. 13th now and since we’re safe from relegation, we’re looking up instead of down now… 8 point gap to the magic 7th position and playoffs… Still don’t think we have any business in the National League, but some more games to show what we can do in the playoffs would be nice! But we don’t have it in our own hands and are totally reliant on results elsewhere to keep moving up through the tables.

Some personal success! Won the Vanarama National League South Manager of the Month award for March 2024. Recognition for the form I got this team in. And compared to where we stood when I took over, I don’t think I’m bragging if I say I deserved that. Still cannot ask the board to pay for a coaching course though.. Probably to do with the fact my contract is about to run out. The dilemma is that I don’t know if I want to ask for a new contract yet or use my new gained experience to maybe find a team 1 flight up… I think I’m going to wait and see if we somehow make the playoffs before deciding. Regardless of me staying or going, I just noticed Neal’s contract is about to expire and the club needs him no matter what.. So I offered him a star player contract, he was actually on an amateur contract this season but is leading the league’s goal scorer chart with 25 goals. So I feel he deserves an actual contract and agreed on €180 a week. Had to promise to aim for a top half finish next year and to let him play in his favourite position and role, but he’s already doing that so that’s a promise that cost me nothing. And considering we’re only 2 spots of a top half finish this season, it’s not an unrealistic promise to aim for that next year if you ask me.

7/10, Aveley away, they’re in the dropzone at 22nd and haven’t won a game in 3 consecutive matches. We have an 8 day break till this game, where they have to play another game before facing us. Just statistics I guess, but something to hold on to and see as an increase in our chances to win this one. Considering in the last 12 games we lost once and had a draw twice, I’d say we are in form and should bring home 3 points to keep the dream of playoffs alive.

On it from the first whistle! 3 minutes in and 1-0 up. A penalty half an hour later gave us a two goal lead, but only 1 minute after that it was 2-1 and they could get their hopes up. They were getting more shots than we were…
The second half didn’t bring much more excitement and it took till the 80th minute for stuff to happen. But when it did, it happened fast! 81st minute, 3-1.. 6 minutes later 4-1. Penalty in injury time made it 5 and in the dead last second of the injury time their striker scored a belter of a goal from the edge of the box, bringing proceedings to an end with a comfortable 5-2 win. We conceded 4 yellow cards again, so yeah, discipline is still an issue.

Next up, the number last away, Chippenham.. 8/10

75% possession in the first 30 minutes, that’s a lot even for us. But so far we failed to turn it into anything more than passing the ball around. Barely any shots somehow. Second half I want more of the dominant possession but I want more shots, the lads need to be more assertive when they have the ball! Neal had a small injury so I subbed him off to prevent it getting worse and directed the players to focus their play through the middle more, as that is where the opponent seemed weakest. His replacement was wide awake and the first time he got the ball in the box led to a goal, 0-1 in the 65th minute. In the 80th minute the frustration at Chippenham at probably relegating showed, when their central defender made a shocking two feet forward ‘’tackle’’ on one of my players, who was lucky to keep his legs and somehow walked away uninjured. The red card was, needless to say, deserved and if there was a dark-red he would have deserved to get that. The 0-1 turned out to be the only goal of the game, with 14 shots and 8 on target, I feel we should have gotten 1 or 2 more, but once the game is over there’s nothing more we can do, so we accept it and move on. The 3 points are what counts and those are going back home to Truro! The gap to the magical number 7 spot is not 6 points with 2 games to play. We should probably give up on the dream… unless everything goes our way, since our GD is a lot better than the current number 7. But there are also 3 teams separating us and the chance of all their remaining games going our way… No chance. Our remaining games? Maidstone at home, the league's number 2 and then the final game, Dartford (16th) away.

Part Nine:

Neal only out with a 1 day injury means he’ll be back in action for the final two games, that is a major relief… The last game vs Chippenham sealed the deal and they were relegated. Youth intake day also happened and we got 3 top rated talents and 6 good ones coming through. I’ll be honest and say that I’m probably just signing them all, considering the squad depth and little to no youth team, we can use anyone with 2 legs who can hit a ball. If they turn out to be actual talents, good. If not, well, they can fill spots on the team when needed.

Game 9/10, home vs Maidstone, the number 2… Hard game but coming off the back of our current streak I’m smelling a chance here to cause an upset. And the upset started after only 9 minutes! Andrew Neal finished a clinical cross by being right where he should be, a poacher through and through. 1-0!
Now a less optimistic manager would already start telling his lads to take less risks, but that ain’t me. If we’re keeping the points at home, I want a more comfortable lead. And I didn’t have to wait long. Pollock got the ball just outside the box, had some space to move in and put it clean away in the far corner, 2-0! Half time stats have me seriously wonder how this team is second in the league.. Possession 61/39, they had 1 shot and 1 on target compared to our 11 - 4 shots… Let’s just hope we can bring home the win and keep these 3 points in Truro and then pray and hope for the results elsewhere to go our way. After this game we either still have a glimmer of hope, or we have to accept it isn’t going to happen.

Second half and Maidstone have woken up! Getting their shots on and one lucky deflected shot led to the 2-1 and giving them hope and making me nervous. Regardless of how things are going elsewhere (I’m not looking during the game), I want a win here. No matter what! We are still in control of possession, so I’m not too concerned yet, but one slip up in defence and it's all equal again… But, that didn’t happen and we actually got the better of them in the final 10 minutes, with lots of shots but no more goals. Come 90 minutes, we lead 2-1 and the final whistle blows. Now it’s time to look at the results elsewhere.. Will the dream stay alive?

THE DREAM IS ALIVE!
We move up to 9th, and with only 1 game to go, the gap to 7th…. Is 3 points. Our GD is better than number 8 ánd number 7… So this is what we need: Braintree in 7th to lose against Eastbourne in 5th and Havant & Waterlooville in 8th to lose against Torquay United in 3rd. We are playing Dartford in 16th! Statistically we are allowed to hope and dream here. They all have more difficult matches on paper… Nerves are beginning to play up though; what a result it would be if little Truro City can actually make it to the playoffs. Regardless of how we do there, making them is like the cherry on the icing of what already has been a great second half of the season.

10/10 Dartford away. This is where we have to put blinders on, not look at any update for results elsewhere and just play our own game. Our own result is the one we control, not the others. A quick through pass and finishing from almost on the goal line got us the lead and a penalty 2 minutes later doubled it. In the first half injury time an exact copy of the 0-1 led to the 0-2 and that was the halftime score. We’re doing what we have to. Now we have to keep up and keep doing what we do and in about 45 minutes we look at the scores elsewhere and we will know.. Dartford hasn’t had a shot on goal so far and possession is 40/60 in our favour. 70 minutes in a trough ball reaches Andrew Neal who scores his hattrick and makes it 0-4. Four minutes later a free kick from 3m outside the box made it 0-5. We can’t say we didn’t do our part, we just have to be hopeful now. We got a little bit sloppy and conceded a goal in the 85th minute, but followed up with a close distance header making it 1-6. And that’s where it ends. The season is over and we did what we had to; avoid relegation and make for a great run in the second half of the season. Now for the results elsewhere.

Braintree vs Eastbourne: 2-3, check…
Torquay vs Havant & Waterlooville: 2-1.. Check

WE DONE DID IT!!! Truro City FC is going to the PLAYOFFS!

Brilliant story mate just caught up on it all. Best of luck for the playoffs! Surely Andy will provide the goals needed to gain promotion. Come on Truro!