A Long Term Challenge

Not a bad start to the league after a great pre season. Keep going and you will get promotion again

2013-09-25 15:04#135833 wellsy1498 : Not a bad start to the league after a great pre season. Keep going and you will get promotion again

It wasn't the worst start and I think I may have over reacted when I wrote my post and gave it its title. I am sure things wil get better and that we will do well this season...I do think promotion may be some way off yet; I am just looking to retain our position in the league.

Unfortunately this is another competition that I don’t really want the club to exert ourselves in but instead just go into the games, obviously with the intention of winning but if we don’t not to let out heads drop in the next league game.

Obika got us off to a great start by scoring on the counter attacking and slotting a inch perfect shot past the United keeper. Thirty-three year old Niculae hit a scorcher for United and I looked to stop him getting the ball to his feet so that he wouldn’t even get another shot on goal during the game.

Gomelt, a recent loanee signing from our parent club Spurs, decided to make his mark on the game and help himself to his first two goals for the club. I am not too sure why he was the one who stepped up for the penalty but can only put it down to my first few choices not being on the pitch. However, I would quite happily let him take another penalty as he rifled it into the top corner. Straight after half time he helped himself to his second goal after a well worked passing move. Despite United getting another goal back two minutes later I could tell that it was going to be our goal as we dominated in all aspects.

I am pleased that we have won the game but part of me is hoping that the run in the competition doesn’t go on for much longer as we can focus on the league campaign which is the most important thing for this club at the present time.

Good win but I understand where you are coming from when you say you want to focus on the league. Hopefully you can get the right balance between league and cup which will be key in staying up

A good win in the cup. Nice update as usual

2013-09-25 20:22#135861 Walter : Good win but I understand where you are coming from when you say you want to focus on the league. Hopefully you can get the right balance between league and cup which will be key in staying up

The league is definitely the priority as we could easily just go straight back down to League Two. I won't be taking any of the cup competitions too seriously this season.

2013-09-26 14:45#135936 wellsy1498 : A good win in the cup. Nice update as usual

It was a pretty good match to watch. Hopefully there will be more of the same soon!

What a fantastic month! It was good to see us progress to the next round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, however, the results that really matter to me are the ones in the league. I think as a result of the match against Sheffield Wednesday and the two this month against the red side of Sheffield, I think we have probably come out on top of the fierce rivalry.

Again the number of goals we are conceding is the biggest concern for me with us only managing one clean sheet all month which is frustrating. Despite this I am always confident of us going into matches and getting more goals than our opponents but it would be nice to see Elliott Parish (our goalkeeper) manage to stop letting the ball past him. I do think the high conceding rate is as a result of me chopping and changing the back four and not allowing partnerships to form. There is no particular reason for me doing this apart from maintaining fitness for the long term. I am sure as the players continue to gain match fitness I will settle on a first choice back four which will then hopefully help reduce the number of goals we concede.

Despite Revell getting on in age terms he is still definitely in his prime and capable of scoring goal after goal against any opponent. He has formed such a good understanding with Obika and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are both up towards the top of the goals coring charts in the league. The pair of them are managing to keep out Daniel Nardiello out of the side who I am sure will soon start to complain about the lack of game time. I already know I want to get him out of the club which will help increase the wage budget available which will allow me to bring in a younger replacement.

Player of the Month – Alex Revell

Great update and great results

Wow what a month, the team are playing out of their socks recently, keep it up.

You may want to change the league table picture...

Wellsy1498: Thank you. A perfect month is always good!

Walter: It came as a great surprise to see the players put in so much effort and they reaped the rewards big time!

Pixel: I don't know what you are on about Thanks.

Romping through the Npower League One! Fantastic work James!

2013-09-28 13:06#136141 Pauker : Romping through the Npower League One! Fantastic work James!

Yeah we appear to be doing much better than I thought we would! Happy days!

So another domestic competition is in the fixture list that I have no desire for the club to take part in and my team go and progress to the quarter final round! I have made it quite clear that our only concern needs to be with retaining our league position and not going on any giant killing cup run even though it would garner a lot of extra cash which we are in desperate need of. If we retain our position in the league then I am confident that in the following season we can push for promotion to the Championship. It is a lofty ambition and it is one I feel will not be accomplished if the players focus too much on domestic cup competitions.

Despite this ethos, the players put in an ok performance against Scunthorpe and we were extremely lucky for it to have gone to penalties, which we won to progress to the third round. Due to the players being so fatigued so early on in the season, I set the team up in a defensive 5-4-1 formation which resulted in very few chances being created; however, we did control the possession. We were fortunate to get the goal from Grant Hall who scored from a corner and at that point I was hoping for the team to sit back and defend the one nil lead. Unfortunately, despite our reasonably solid defensive approach, Luke James managed to grab himself a goal in open play.

Extra time does not occur in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy (something I was not aware of) which meant we were thrown straight into penalties. The outcome did not look positive as my highest rating for finishing was 13 and that was from the youngster Obika, who in the end did not need to take a decisive fifth penalty. Thankfully our keep Elliott Parish stepped his game up and comfortably saved two poor penalties which helped us grab the 4-2 win in the shootout.

Despite us being 16 places above Scunthorpe we had been seen as the underdogs so despite my lack of desire to go far in the competition, the players did deserve praise for exceeding expectations. We have managed to grab ourselves a quarter final place and it will be interesting to see who we are pitted against. I will admit that if we make it to the semi final then my interest in the competition will increase...ever so slightly.

Lucky win in the shootout, hopefully your players will still be able to focus all attentions on League One