We lost the game against Torquay, as expected. It wasn’t a total disaster, though. We only lost 2-0 and it gave some other members of my squad a chance to show me what they’ve got. No individuals messed up horribly, so I don’t think I’ll be dropping any into the reserves quite yet. I’ll keep an eye on that, though, because players are probably better off getting some games there rather than rotting away in the first team but never playing a match.

(Incidentally, playing against Torquay was an odd experience because they’re the team I managed in the original Football Manager Handheld and some of the players were ones I was using back then. I had a great “yeeessssss!” surge when Bedeau scored, only to realise that he wasn’t actually one of my players in this game and I’d just conceded, not scored, a goal. Oops.)

The next match, against Droylsden, was incredibly frustrating. In the first minute, Opinel decided in his infinite wisdom to kick the ball away after he’d been given a yellow card and was sent off. We duly conceded a goal from the free kick. Opinel had been very tired and I’d been working him way too hard, so I’m not going to hold it against him. I had to pull Nadé back to play in midfield with a single striker upfront and play Stacy Long out of position on the left, where he actually acquitted himself very well. (Opinel was my only – only! – uninjured left midfielder in the squad for this game.) The rest of the game saw me raining shots down on the Droylsden goal, only to see them all saved. (I need to work on my corners. Of my twelve corners, I don’t think a single one reached one of my own players.) And, then, completely against the run of play, they scored another. So that was a loss.

Before the next game I managed to loan a left midfielder named Joey Waterhouse. His stats didn’t look too great, but he was at Wigan, so I thought there must be something to him. Indeed, in the next game he was instrumental in getting us three early goals, before his lack of fitness showed and he hardly had a touch for the next hour. Indeed, the tiredness of the squad as a whole really showed, with us conceding two goals in the second half. We did, however, managed to hang on for a win. It should probably have been more convincing, but my strikers had a terrible time of it. Even the usually reliable Ebrienne ended the match with a 5 out of 10 rating after coming on as a sub early in the second half.

We’re currently in tenth place in the table. I’m going to have to see if I can get any more loan players in to cover the weak spots and I might have a look at training, see if I can improve my squad’s fitness levels. If we start matches in good condition I think we might be able to make the playoffs this season.