Archive for January, 2008

We lost the game against Cambridge. Score was 4-2 again, but the other way round. In the next game we lost to Northwich.

.Then it was a game against Oxford. I didn’t expect to get anything out of it, but we managed a 2-2 draw, which was nice. We’re currently in thirteenth place in the league. Not far enough from the relegation zone to be comfortable.

After that, it was on an FA Cup game against non-league Alfreton, which was confident of winning… until Alfreton’s Dairus Hall scored twice in the first five minutes. Ouch. I checked his stats and they full of green numbers. In fact, most of Alfreton’s squad had lots of green numbers. Why don’t my players have green numbers? I mean, there are a few, but several members of my first team don’t have a single green number. I’ll admit, I was feeling hard done by at this point.

So I gave up, I changed my tactics to Attacking and at half time, when it was still 2-0, made three substitutions so that my best players wouldn’t get too tired.

And then we scored a goal. And another. And then there was a penalty and we were somehow 3-2 up. But then Alfreton scored to level it and, just as I was thinking a draw would be okay, we scored a fourth, to put us through to the next round of the cup. Amazing scenes!

So, it looks like the loan thing is a bug. Annoying, but not fatal.

Anyway, as I got this McGarry chap I thought I’d play him. Possibly a mistake, as I lost 2-0 to Altrincham and he got a five out of ten rating, which is very rubbish indeed. And then in the first training session after the match he injured himself and is now going to be out for two months.

So, that loan was worth it…

After the loss against Altrincham I really needed a win in the next match, a home game against Cambridge. We scored early from a penalty, but then Cambridge scored two. Before half time, though, we scored another to level the match. The second half was all ours. We added two goals and didn’t let any in. A great 4-2 victory and just what we needed.

And so to a home match against Grays, one place below us in the league table. I was hopeful of a good result and things seemed to be going well until the 27th minute, when Opinel, in his first match back after suspension for his red card, decided to slide in with a terrible two-footed tackle, getting himself sent off and leading to us conceding a goal from the resulting penalty. I rejigged the formation and moved people around to try stop us from conceding any more, but five minutes later Grays scored again.

That was my cue to tell the team to attack more. That may seem like the height of idiocy, being down to ten men and with only a lone striker upfront, but I really wanted to try and narrow the gap. It didn’t work. We didn’t have a single shot on goal (and only one off target) and near the end of the game Oli scored again, completing his hat trick and leading to us losing by three goals.

I’m really going to have to have words with Opinel. He’s been a cornerstone of the team, but if he’s going to get himself sent off all the time then he’s simply a liability. I’m going to give one more chance. After that, the reserves beckon.

To add to my woes, Waterhouse, who did so much in the first twenty minutes of his first game with us, was completely anonymous today.