Fatigue has finally worn-down title challengers Wrexham, who were held to a 1-1 draw at home to 22nd-placed Barrow this evening. Barrow are likely to get relegated, with just 29 points from their 38 games. It should have been a walk in the park for the high-flying and in-form Wrexham. That’s three draws in a row for The Red Dragons, who in the space of a week have gone from my biggest threat for the title to being at risk of slipping down to fifth.
They still have three games in hand, which could put them two points ahead of second-placed Mansfield if they take maximum points. But I wouldn’t count on it.
The take-away from all this, from my point of view, is that I’m nearly home and hosed. My boys have room to drop a few points in the last seven games, regardless of results elsewhere.
Monday 31 December 2012
Sunday 30 December 2012
Day 260
Simon Russell and Mark Halstead returned to training today, as expected. Both are looking extremely short of fitness, and will likely need a week of training before they’re ready to play any football at all. Then they’ll need a game or two to get match fit.
Saturday 29 December 2012
Day 259
French winger Benjamin Laurant resumed full training today, after four weeks out of action. It’s good timing, since we’ve got three games in seven days coming up at the weekend. Now I can do a bit of rotation between him, Olembé, and Shuker. Fellow wide man Simon Russell should be back tomorrow, following his lengthy spell on the sidelines, along with stopper Mark Halstead.
That’ll leave only Robert Taylor and Chris Birchall in the injury room, with Taylor set to return to training next week. Birchall’s out for the season, but with everyone else fit and available we shouldn’t have any problems making it through the last seven games.
Fleetwood and Wrexham played out a cagey, tense draw. That’s effectively killed Fleetwood’s playoff campaign—they’re eight points adrift of the playoff zone, with fifth-placed Gateshead holding two games in hand. Wrexham’s title hopes took a big hit, too. They’re now 16 points behind us, with four games in hand. If—and it’s a big if—they win all four of those, that’ll still mean four points to make up. With our phenomenal goal difference, they’d have to beat us outright—so that would be five points on us in the final seven matches. That’s a huge ask.
In a couple more weeks, I could have the title pretty much wrapped up. Not a bad debut season for ol’ Juan Day, aye?
That’ll leave only Robert Taylor and Chris Birchall in the injury room, with Taylor set to return to training next week. Birchall’s out for the season, but with everyone else fit and available we shouldn’t have any problems making it through the last seven games.
Fleetwood and Wrexham played out a cagey, tense draw. That’s effectively killed Fleetwood’s playoff campaign—they’re eight points adrift of the playoff zone, with fifth-placed Gateshead holding two games in hand. Wrexham’s title hopes took a big hit, too. They’re now 16 points behind us, with four games in hand. If—and it’s a big if—they win all four of those, that’ll still mean four points to make up. With our phenomenal goal difference, they’d have to beat us outright—so that would be five points on us in the final seven matches. That’s a huge ask.
In a couple more weeks, I could have the title pretty much wrapped up. Not a bad debut season for ol’ Juan Day, aye?
Friday 28 December 2012
Day 258
Nothing at all of note happened today, but I took a look at title challenger Wrexham’s plight before signing off. They’re going to struggle against Fleetwood tomorrow. The Trawlermen have a slightly fitter squad, which could make all the difference when the two teams are both coming off the back of a cup tie (against each other, funnily enough).
Wrexham will be hurting more from the absence of three key players—suspended full-back Gavin Hoyte, forward Adrian Cieslewicz, and winger David Worrall. Their available regulars are, by all accounts, exhausted, and in no condition to play 90 minutes. And their fringe men don’t exactly look fresh, either. I’ll be very impressed if they limp through the next two matches (a home tie against Barrow follows two days after the Fleetwood clash tomorrow) with maximum points.
Wrexham may even fall off the wagon entirely, slipping down to fourth or fifth on the table—behind the on-fire Grimsby and in-form Gateshead, who trail closely on points (albeit with a few extra games under their belt). I’ll be watching closely.
Wrexham will be hurting more from the absence of three key players—suspended full-back Gavin Hoyte, forward Adrian Cieslewicz, and winger David Worrall. Their available regulars are, by all accounts, exhausted, and in no condition to play 90 minutes. And their fringe men don’t exactly look fresh, either. I’ll be very impressed if they limp through the next two matches (a home tie against Barrow follows two days after the Fleetwood clash tomorrow) with maximum points.
Wrexham may even fall off the wagon entirely, slipping down to fourth or fifth on the table—behind the on-fire Grimsby and in-form Gateshead, who trail closely on points (albeit with a few extra games under their belt). I’ll be watching closely.
Thursday 27 December 2012
Day 257
We visited Ebbsfleet today, fielding an unchanged team.
The match didn’t get off to the greatest start. Stavrinou’s cross was too close to our goalkeeper, Elvijs Putnins, but the stopper uncharacteristically fumbled. Michael West reacted first, diving in to poke the ball goalwards. Josh Gowling managed to get in the way, but he could only knock the ball over the line. Nobody expected us to be down 1-0 at the 17th-minute mark, but that’s the way it was.
Olembé and Woods combined three minutes later to test the Ebbsfleet keeper, as we threw players forward in search of an equaliser. The rally didn’t last, however, and my players struggled to control the midfield.
Things turned from bad to worse in the 38th minute when key midfielder Chris Birchall’s run was cut short by injury.
Shuker was dragged down in the box in the 50th minute. Alan Power stepped up confidently…and blasted the penalty high and wide. I couldn’t believe it. Three minutes later Koroma was tripped trying to put away Olembé’s cross. This time Power made no mistake. We were level at last, with 53 minutes on the clock.
Olembé’s wing play undid the Ebbsfleet defence again in the 63rd minute. Shuker lost his man and half-volleyed a shot into the bottom corner while moving away from goal. It was an excellent finish on the winger’s weak foot.
We had them on the back foot from here on out. Olembé outran his man in the 67th minute, crossing with pinpoint accuracy for Shuker to knock home his second of the match. The situation 22 minutes into the second half looked starkly different to that at the same point in the first period.
Barnes-Homer could and should have finished them off with five minutes on the clock, following a brilliant through ball from strike partner Omar Koroma. With the goal at his mercy and the Ebbsfleet keeper poorly positioned, he sent his shot wide.
Ebbsfleet were reduced to ten men in the 88th minute when defender Joe Howe received his second yellow card. After a performance as atrocious as Howe’s, Ebbsfleet weren’t losing much from Howe’s removal.
The match finished up 3-1 in our favour. Olembé destroyed them in the second half, and Shuker pulled the trigger.
Birchall will miss the rest of the season. He strained his knee ligaments after twisting painfully during the game, and is looking at two to three months on the sidelines. We’ll miss him, but I’ve got a strong squad for exactly this eventuality. Diagouraga, Power, Atkinson, and Christophe are all waiting in the wings for a chance to win a place in the starting eleven.
We’re now mathematically guaranteed a playoff spot.
The match didn’t get off to the greatest start. Stavrinou’s cross was too close to our goalkeeper, Elvijs Putnins, but the stopper uncharacteristically fumbled. Michael West reacted first, diving in to poke the ball goalwards. Josh Gowling managed to get in the way, but he could only knock the ball over the line. Nobody expected us to be down 1-0 at the 17th-minute mark, but that’s the way it was.
Olembé and Woods combined three minutes later to test the Ebbsfleet keeper, as we threw players forward in search of an equaliser. The rally didn’t last, however, and my players struggled to control the midfield.
Things turned from bad to worse in the 38th minute when key midfielder Chris Birchall’s run was cut short by injury.
Shuker was dragged down in the box in the 50th minute. Alan Power stepped up confidently…and blasted the penalty high and wide. I couldn’t believe it. Three minutes later Koroma was tripped trying to put away Olembé’s cross. This time Power made no mistake. We were level at last, with 53 minutes on the clock.
Olembé’s wing play undid the Ebbsfleet defence again in the 63rd minute. Shuker lost his man and half-volleyed a shot into the bottom corner while moving away from goal. It was an excellent finish on the winger’s weak foot.
We had them on the back foot from here on out. Olembé outran his man in the 67th minute, crossing with pinpoint accuracy for Shuker to knock home his second of the match. The situation 22 minutes into the second half looked starkly different to that at the same point in the first period.
Barnes-Homer could and should have finished them off with five minutes on the clock, following a brilliant through ball from strike partner Omar Koroma. With the goal at his mercy and the Ebbsfleet keeper poorly positioned, he sent his shot wide.
Ebbsfleet were reduced to ten men in the 88th minute when defender Joe Howe received his second yellow card. After a performance as atrocious as Howe’s, Ebbsfleet weren’t losing much from Howe’s removal.
The match finished up 3-1 in our favour. Olembé destroyed them in the second half, and Shuker pulled the trigger.
Birchall will miss the rest of the season. He strained his knee ligaments after twisting painfully during the game, and is looking at two to three months on the sidelines. We’ll miss him, but I’ve got a strong squad for exactly this eventuality. Diagouraga, Power, Atkinson, and Christophe are all waiting in the wings for a chance to win a place in the starting eleven.
We’re now mathematically guaranteed a playoff spot.
Wednesday 26 December 2012
Day 256
Midfielder Michael Woods was singled out for praise by my assistant manager today. Martin O’Connor said that Woods has made great progress in training lately, spurred in part by his exposure to first-team football. It’s easy for me to forget that Woods is only 20; he’s such an integral part of the team, with a maturity beyond his years.
We’ve been drawn as Evens to beat Ebbsfleet tomorrow. Yep, the bookies won’t even take bets on us, such is their confidence that we’ll win. I’m actually surprised, because Ebbsfleet are in eighth place and still an outside chance for a playoff spot. That said, our previous meeting went 3-1 in our favour, thanks to a brace from Omar Koroma and a goal from Rui Marques.
We’ve been drawn as Evens to beat Ebbsfleet tomorrow. Yep, the bookies won’t even take bets on us, such is their confidence that we’ll win. I’m actually surprised, because Ebbsfleet are in eighth place and still an outside chance for a playoff spot. That said, our previous meeting went 3-1 in our favour, thanks to a brace from Omar Koroma and a goal from Rui Marques.
Tuesday 25 December 2012
Day 255
Backup left midfielder Nicky Nicolau resumed full training today, after five weeks out of contention with an ankle injury. I could have really used him two weeks ago; now he’s just going to waste away in the Reserves, as he has all season.
Monday 24 December 2012
Day 254
Mansfield and Wrexham both drew their matches today, putting us closer to clinching the title. Mansfield are now five points short, having played one game extra, while Wrexham sit 12 points behind us in third—but they’ve played four fewer matches than we have.
Our maximum tally for the season—if we win every game—is 110 points. Mansfield’s is 102 points. Wrexham’s is 108. If we win all of our eight remaining fixtures, we take home the crown. We’re not safe yet, but boy are we getting close.
Our maximum tally for the season—if we win every game—is 110 points. Mansfield’s is 102 points. Wrexham’s is 108. If we win all of our eight remaining fixtures, we take home the crown. We’re not safe yet, but boy are we getting close.
Day 253
Salomon Olembé made the Team of the Week for his brilliant performance on return from injury at the weekend. It’s his third time awarded a spot this season.
I watched my current Under 18s and the youth candidates face off in a friendly today. It was a poor match, save for two brilliant goals—a free kick from Parmenter and a long-range lob from Allen. The Under 18s took it out 3-0.
I let my assistant manager sign the youth candidates he thought were worthwhile; I’d only take two or three, if it were left to me, but then we wouldn’t have a team next year.
I watched my current Under 18s and the youth candidates face off in a friendly today. It was a poor match, save for two brilliant goals—a free kick from Parmenter and a long-range lob from Allen. The Under 18s took it out 3-0.
I let my assistant manager sign the youth candidates he thought were worthwhile; I’d only take two or three, if it were left to me, but then we wouldn’t have a team next year.
Saturday 22 December 2012
Day 252
We took on a new batch of youth players today. Of the 16 youth candidates, I’d say only two have any real chance of turning pro—attacking midfielder Samuel Hancock and goalkeeper Sam Clarke. I agreed to watch them play the current youth team in a friendly tomorrow. We’ll definitely be keeping Hancock; I’m not so sure about anyone else.
Friday 21 December 2012
Day 251
Our remaining eight fixtures are against Ebbsfleet, Hayes & Yeading, Bath, Braintree, Forest Green, Mansfield, Grimsby, and Darlington—in that order. Of those, four are in the top half—Mansfield in second, Forest Green in sixth, Grimsby fourth, and Ebbsfleet eighth. Last-placed Braintree should offset the more difficult matches in there. It won’t be an easy finish, though, with four strong teams closing out the season (Darlington are in 13th, but with ten points deducted for going into administration, which would otherwise leave them in ninth). Next match is in six days.
Day 250
My iMac tried for a little apocalypse of its own today. I had finished the blog entry (we won 2-0 the first time round) and was just waiting for the game to finish processing the day so I could save and exit. Nearly an hour later, it finally finished (normally this would take a few minutes, tops). But before I could do anything, the computer froze. I got a kernel panic. It rebooted automatically…into a spinning beach ball of death. I manually rebooted. It wouldn’t start. I cycled the power (pull the plug, wait a few minutes). There’s some life left in this beast after all. Here’s take two of Day 250. If this happens again, I’m throwing in the towel. Too much pain, too much angst, and too much time (I lost the best part of four hours to this crap tonight).
Salomon Olembé returned to the side today after missing eight games with a twisted ankle. His match fitness was in a sorry state, but I desperately needed a left winger. I put him in from the start, intending on subbing him off towards the end of the match—whenever he looked to be running out of juice. Samba Kanouté also returned, after being rested for the previous game, but the rest of the team was unchanged from the side that lost in the closing stages to Fleetwood four days ago (through an own goal, of all things).
The pre-match ticker reminded us of the stakes both teams had riding on victory: “Lincoln hold their fate in their own hands, and know that they will clinch the Blue Square Bet Premier title if they win their remaining fixtures; By winning the forthcoming fixture, York can move up to 7th in the table and will hope to leapfrog Fleetwood.” It’s make or break for them and the title to lose for us.
We had a point to prove after the loss to Fleetwood, and my players came out flying. They fought hard for every ball and put York under serious pressure after just five minutes. Marques looped a header from the edge of the six-yard box inches over the bar. Then two minutes later Olembé rifled a shot in from the edge of the area, putting us one goal up.
Barnes-Homer doubled the lead in the 18th minute. Koroma showed great pace to craft the chance from Woods’s lofted pass, then squared the ball to his strike partner—whose venomous shot went in off the underside of the bar.
Assistant Manager Martin O’Connor cautioned that the gap between our midfield and attack was too large, reducing the effectiveness of our passing and leaving the strikers stranded at times. I moved Chris Birchall from a defensive to supporting duty in his deep-lying playmaker role at the centre of the midfield. It didn’t appear to alter the statistics I was watching—pass completion percentages and overall possession—but O’Connor seemed happy with the change.
We had some nervous moments in the closing moments of the first half, as York twice looked like scoring, but we were two up at the interval.
Olembé needed treatment on the sidelines on the hour mark. His condition plummeted, but he got the all-clear to continue. I prayed he wasn’t carrying an injury. I subbed him off 18 minutes later as a precaution.
In the meantime, he earned us a penalty. Jon Challinor impeded the winger when he tried to get on the end of a cross from Koroma. The referee called foul. Substitute Jean-François Christophe fired the penalty into the top-left corner, giving us an unassailable three-goal lead with twelve minutes to play.
Olembé received man of the match honours for his stellar display, while the team as a whole was very impressive. The Cameroonian winger more than did his job, bringing balance to the team and incisiveness to the left wing that culminated in two goals. I’m delighted with his contribution, and doubly pleased to see that he’s not injured.
Mansfield did their title campaign significant damage by dropping points at home to Bath—their 3-0 defeat leaves them six points adrift, with an impossible deficit in goal difference. Eight games to go.
Salomon Olembé returned to the side today after missing eight games with a twisted ankle. His match fitness was in a sorry state, but I desperately needed a left winger. I put him in from the start, intending on subbing him off towards the end of the match—whenever he looked to be running out of juice. Samba Kanouté also returned, after being rested for the previous game, but the rest of the team was unchanged from the side that lost in the closing stages to Fleetwood four days ago (through an own goal, of all things).
The pre-match ticker reminded us of the stakes both teams had riding on victory: “Lincoln hold their fate in their own hands, and know that they will clinch the Blue Square Bet Premier title if they win their remaining fixtures; By winning the forthcoming fixture, York can move up to 7th in the table and will hope to leapfrog Fleetwood.” It’s make or break for them and the title to lose for us.
We had a point to prove after the loss to Fleetwood, and my players came out flying. They fought hard for every ball and put York under serious pressure after just five minutes. Marques looped a header from the edge of the six-yard box inches over the bar. Then two minutes later Olembé rifled a shot in from the edge of the area, putting us one goal up.
Barnes-Homer doubled the lead in the 18th minute. Koroma showed great pace to craft the chance from Woods’s lofted pass, then squared the ball to his strike partner—whose venomous shot went in off the underside of the bar.
Assistant Manager Martin O’Connor cautioned that the gap between our midfield and attack was too large, reducing the effectiveness of our passing and leaving the strikers stranded at times. I moved Chris Birchall from a defensive to supporting duty in his deep-lying playmaker role at the centre of the midfield. It didn’t appear to alter the statistics I was watching—pass completion percentages and overall possession—but O’Connor seemed happy with the change.
We had some nervous moments in the closing moments of the first half, as York twice looked like scoring, but we were two up at the interval.
Olembé needed treatment on the sidelines on the hour mark. His condition plummeted, but he got the all-clear to continue. I prayed he wasn’t carrying an injury. I subbed him off 18 minutes later as a precaution.
In the meantime, he earned us a penalty. Jon Challinor impeded the winger when he tried to get on the end of a cross from Koroma. The referee called foul. Substitute Jean-François Christophe fired the penalty into the top-left corner, giving us an unassailable three-goal lead with twelve minutes to play.
Olembé received man of the match honours for his stellar display, while the team as a whole was very impressive. The Cameroonian winger more than did his job, bringing balance to the team and incisiveness to the left wing that culminated in two goals. I’m delighted with his contribution, and doubly pleased to see that he’s not injured.
Mansfield did their title campaign significant damage by dropping points at home to Bath—their 3-0 defeat leaves them six points adrift, with an impossible deficit in goal difference. Eight games to go.
Wednesday 19 December 2012
Day 249
At 6-4 odds, we’re favourites to beat York in the league tomorrow. Apparently our home advantage gives us an edge. What about our quality advantage? Our 35 extra goals scored? Our 28-point lead on them in the standings? Nope, only our home advantage. Idiots.
I’m not saying this will be a pushover. It could be, but I fully expect them to give us a tough game—they’ve beaten us once this season (in the FA Trophy) and held us to a draw the other time. But we have a stronger team available tomorrow than we did in those previous meetings. The midfield, especially, is much better.
I’m not saying this will be a pushover. It could be, but I fully expect them to give us a tough game—they’ve beaten us once this season (in the FA Trophy) and held us to a draw the other time. But we have a stronger team available tomorrow than we did in those previous meetings. The midfield, especially, is much better.
Tuesday 18 December 2012
Day 248
We had a backroom meeting today, for the first time in a couple of weeks. I was offered some strange advice, like changing Chris Shuker’s squad status from key man to “backup to the first team.” What has Grant Brown been smoking, to think that Shuker is anything less than vital to our success? He did give one piece of good advice, however, which was to add Chris Birchall to the corner-takers list.
Birchall is the best set-piece taker in the club, with a rating of 12 for corners and 11 for free kicks coupled with excellent crossing and mental attributes. Young left-back Alex Billington is actually one of the best, too. I put him as second-choice for corners on the left side and second choice for free kicks on both sides of the pitch.
This is why I need a backroom staff—to remind me about little-yet-important things like this.
Birchall is the best set-piece taker in the club, with a rating of 12 for corners and 11 for free kicks coupled with excellent crossing and mental attributes. Young left-back Alex Billington is actually one of the best, too. I put him as second-choice for corners on the left side and second choice for free kicks on both sides of the pitch.
This is why I need a backroom staff—to remind me about little-yet-important things like this.
Monday 17 December 2012
Day 247
Title challengers Wrexham just gave themselves two more games to play by beating Vauxhall in the FA Trophy Fourth Round Replay this evening. They face Fleetwood in the semi final next, which is played over two legs. They now have more than two games a week over the next five-and-a-half weeks. I pray that fatigue catches up with them, because they’re unstoppable at the moment.
Wrexham have lost just once in the past five months. They even beat us and drew with Mansfield in the league in January. If we fail to win the title, I expect it’ll be Wrexham that knicks the trophy from us.
Wrexham have lost just once in the past five months. They even beat us and drew with Mansfield in the league in January. If we fail to win the title, I expect it’ll be Wrexham that knicks the trophy from us.
Sunday 16 December 2012
Day 246
Left winger Salomon Olembé was unfortunately not fit enough for the match squad today. At 79% condition he’s not much use to anyone. Hopefully he’ll be right to start on the weekend.
Omar Koroma was fit, however, and the talented striker replaced Ben May in attack—all set for his 25th Lincoln appearance. Kanouté and Diagouraga also dropped out of the side. Bore and Woods replaced them. I expect Kanouté will only miss the one match—he needs a rest, but I’ve been so impressed by him lately that I consider the young defender my first-choice right back. Sam Smith made the bench for the first time in a month.
Fleetwood went close after just 39 seconds. Striker Magno Vieira found himself in a one-on-one against Putnins. My keeper stood strong and tall, and Vieira couldn’t slide his shot through—Putnins parried it out for a corner.
Back and forth, we traded blows. Shuker and Woods managed the best of our chances, while Vardy and Magno Vieira kept my defence busy. But it was Barnes-Homer who next looked likely to score. The striker snaked in behind the Fleetwood defence, then slipped his shot past the keeper…and unfortunately just on the wrong side of the post. It was a nervy, entertaining first half. I demanded a better, more secure second period from my players.
Nothing changed. Both teams caused problems for each other, and I worried about our inability to control the play. Several times, Fleetwood broke through my defence. Then disaster struck in bizarre circumstances. A poor clearance got knocked back to the edge of our defensive area. Bore beat goalkeeper Elvijs Putnins and Fleetwood striker Magno Vieira to the ball, but he only managed to send it goalwards. Putnins raced back, and he appeared to grab it safely. But he fumbled the ball, and it spilled out. He dived on it again, but this time only managed to bundle it over the line. Fleetwood had the lead, with less than 15 minutes remaining.
We threw caution to the wind and desperately sought an equaliser. Koroma had a shot stifled at close-range, then substitute John Nutter tried to chip the keeper. On 82 minutes we won a free kick just outside the box. Shuker put his shot inches over the crossbar. Substitute striker Sam Smith scored a minute later, but it was disallowed for offside.
I looked on in disbelief as an exhausted-looking Fleetwood side held on for dear life. Luck was clearly on their side, as 50-50 challenges and ricochets always turned to their favour. My players weren’t helping matters by giving possession away cheaply, however. In the end we lost the scrappiest match I’ve seen in months. How could two skilled, in-form teams play such terrible football? It was action-packed, sure, but the passing was woeful from both sides.
I threw some chairs and told them it was unacceptable. We’ve come too far to throw away the championship with performances like that. Mansfield are now three points behind; Wrexham trail us by 12 points, but with four games in hand. If they win all four, we will be top only by goal difference. We can’t keep dropping points.
Will the return of Olembé fix things? I hope so. Nine games to go. Anything less than first place at the end will be unacceptable, after we topped the league for so long.
Omar Koroma was fit, however, and the talented striker replaced Ben May in attack—all set for his 25th Lincoln appearance. Kanouté and Diagouraga also dropped out of the side. Bore and Woods replaced them. I expect Kanouté will only miss the one match—he needs a rest, but I’ve been so impressed by him lately that I consider the young defender my first-choice right back. Sam Smith made the bench for the first time in a month.
Fleetwood went close after just 39 seconds. Striker Magno Vieira found himself in a one-on-one against Putnins. My keeper stood strong and tall, and Vieira couldn’t slide his shot through—Putnins parried it out for a corner.
Back and forth, we traded blows. Shuker and Woods managed the best of our chances, while Vardy and Magno Vieira kept my defence busy. But it was Barnes-Homer who next looked likely to score. The striker snaked in behind the Fleetwood defence, then slipped his shot past the keeper…and unfortunately just on the wrong side of the post. It was a nervy, entertaining first half. I demanded a better, more secure second period from my players.
Nothing changed. Both teams caused problems for each other, and I worried about our inability to control the play. Several times, Fleetwood broke through my defence. Then disaster struck in bizarre circumstances. A poor clearance got knocked back to the edge of our defensive area. Bore beat goalkeeper Elvijs Putnins and Fleetwood striker Magno Vieira to the ball, but he only managed to send it goalwards. Putnins raced back, and he appeared to grab it safely. But he fumbled the ball, and it spilled out. He dived on it again, but this time only managed to bundle it over the line. Fleetwood had the lead, with less than 15 minutes remaining.
We threw caution to the wind and desperately sought an equaliser. Koroma had a shot stifled at close-range, then substitute John Nutter tried to chip the keeper. On 82 minutes we won a free kick just outside the box. Shuker put his shot inches over the crossbar. Substitute striker Sam Smith scored a minute later, but it was disallowed for offside.
I looked on in disbelief as an exhausted-looking Fleetwood side held on for dear life. Luck was clearly on their side, as 50-50 challenges and ricochets always turned to their favour. My players weren’t helping matters by giving possession away cheaply, however. In the end we lost the scrappiest match I’ve seen in months. How could two skilled, in-form teams play such terrible football? It was action-packed, sure, but the passing was woeful from both sides.
I threw some chairs and told them it was unacceptable. We’ve come too far to throw away the championship with performances like that. Mansfield are now three points behind; Wrexham trail us by 12 points, but with four games in hand. If they win all four, we will be top only by goal difference. We can’t keep dropping points.
Will the return of Olembé fix things? I hope so. Nine games to go. Anything less than first place at the end will be unacceptable, after we topped the league for so long.
Saturday 15 December 2012
Day 245
In a rare twist, our opponents are favourites for tomorrow’s match. Our respective odds to win are very similar, but it’s a nice change to be considered underdogs again. Fleetwood are on a good run at the moment; they’ve won six of their past eight matches. And they’ve got a lot to play for, being at the make-or-break point of their season. Sitting in 7th place, seven points adrift of the playoff zone, they need to win.
We beat them 1-0 in the reverse fixture back in October (some five-or-so months ago), thanks to a goal from Matthew Barnes-Homer. That was with Koroma being deployed as a winger, with Shuker injured and Christophe and Power as the central midfield pairing. Even with the injuries in the squad at the moment, we’re much stronger now than then. Koroma’s back tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll have that cutting edge we’ve been missing of late.
We beat them 1-0 in the reverse fixture back in October (some five-or-so months ago), thanks to a goal from Matthew Barnes-Homer. That was with Koroma being deployed as a winger, with Shuker injured and Christophe and Power as the central midfield pairing. Even with the injuries in the squad at the moment, we’re much stronger now than then. Koroma’s back tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll have that cutting edge we’ve been missing of late.
Friday 14 December 2012
Day 244
Star winger Salomon Olembé resumed full training today, following five weeks out with an ankle injury. Olembé’s missed a lot of games this season—almost half of them, in fact. It hurts to see him sit in the stands so often. If we manage to hang onto the Cameroonian over the summer, I hope next season goes more smoothly for him. I expect we’ll need his magic more then, too, since League 2 is a tougher and stronger competition than the Conference.
Tuesday’s match against Fleetwood will come too soon for Olembé, who I’m now rating a 50-50 chance for the bench. His condition is at 70%. If that gets up to 85%, I’ll put him in the match squad and try to give him 20 minutes at the end. Anything less than 85% and he’ll be a liability—no matter how desperate I am to put a specialist left winger back in the team.
Tuesday’s match against Fleetwood will come too soon for Olembé, who I’m now rating a 50-50 chance for the bench. His condition is at 70%. If that gets up to 85%, I’ll put him in the match squad and try to give him 20 minutes at the end. Anything less than 85% and he’ll be a liability—no matter how desperate I am to put a specialist left winger back in the team.
Thursday 13 December 2012
Day 243
We played host to Southport today. Our previous meeting saw Matthew Barnes-Homer and Josh Gowling put the Southport defence to the sword, leading us to a determined 2-0 victory. I was hoping the two key performers could repeat their magic today. Unlike last time, however, we had midfield dynamo Chris Birchall on hand to pull the strings. I expected him to make the difference.
Robert Taylor started on the right wing, as a reward for his fine performance in training of late. With Woods injured, Diagouraga kept his spot—despite a disappointing debut. Shuker stayed on the left wing in the absence of any specialist left-sided midfielders. I went with an unchanged backline—they’ve been brilliant recently—and gave Ben May one last chance to prove himself alongside Barnes-Homer in attack.
Barnes-Homer nearly scored from the kickoff. Less than two minutes into the game, in our first passage of play, the striker powered forward and struck a beautiful shot towards the top corner. Southport keeper Tony McMillan did well to tip the ball wide for a corner.
Barnes-Homer turned provider a few minutes later, setting up strike-partner Ben May for a chance outside the box. Chris Birchall showed great skill to get round his man and test the keeper with a stinging shot in the 7th minute. It looked to be only a matter of time before we scored.
Five more efforts followed before the 20-minute mark, but we could find no way past McMillan. Taylor was next to go close, in the 25th minute, with a fine volleyed strike from 15 yards out. Once again McMillan saved well.
Southport nearly broke the deadlock after half an hour, thanks to a sudden turn and shot from Jamil Adam. Our opponents started to work their way into the match in the final 15 minutes of the first period. It looked to be anyone’s game at the break.
Southport hit the bar in the 54th minute. I started to get nervous around this point.
Taylor came off injured in the 57th minute. I took the opportunity to tweak our tactics, pushing further forward but taking caution to hold possession.
Gowling had a header cleared off the line in the 61st minute; we still couldn’t find a way to break the deadlock.
I made a more fundamental change to our tactics in the 74th minute when Shuker and Birchall came off the pitch. Diagouraga, Christophe, and Power formed a three-man midfield. Ben May stood up as target man in the centre of the forward line. Barnes-Homer and Laurent had duties of running off May. I instructed the players to run everything through Power, who is excellent at distribution (with great passing and creativity).
We traded blows for the remainder of the game, with the best chance coming to substitute Jean-François Christophe in the 89th minute. The midfielder’s striker cannoned off the crossbar, flying several metres up into the air. That proved to be the final opportunity in a tense encounter. You could argue Southport got off light, although the best chances of the match went to their strikers.
The only positives I was able to take away were stand-out performances from young fullbacks Kanouté and Billington, together with a solid overall defensive display. Our attacks lacked a cutting edge, while in the midfield Diagouraga is clearly still settling in—which resulted in some disjointed passing.
As luck would have it, Wrexham were also held to a draw, which means that we still have at least a three-point cushion at the top—potentially more, depending on how their games in hand play out.
Young winger Robert Taylor will be out for four to five weeks with a thigh strain. I feel sorry for the lad, who had finally earned a first-team look-in.
Robert Taylor started on the right wing, as a reward for his fine performance in training of late. With Woods injured, Diagouraga kept his spot—despite a disappointing debut. Shuker stayed on the left wing in the absence of any specialist left-sided midfielders. I went with an unchanged backline—they’ve been brilliant recently—and gave Ben May one last chance to prove himself alongside Barnes-Homer in attack.
Barnes-Homer nearly scored from the kickoff. Less than two minutes into the game, in our first passage of play, the striker powered forward and struck a beautiful shot towards the top corner. Southport keeper Tony McMillan did well to tip the ball wide for a corner.
Barnes-Homer turned provider a few minutes later, setting up strike-partner Ben May for a chance outside the box. Chris Birchall showed great skill to get round his man and test the keeper with a stinging shot in the 7th minute. It looked to be only a matter of time before we scored.
Five more efforts followed before the 20-minute mark, but we could find no way past McMillan. Taylor was next to go close, in the 25th minute, with a fine volleyed strike from 15 yards out. Once again McMillan saved well.
Southport nearly broke the deadlock after half an hour, thanks to a sudden turn and shot from Jamil Adam. Our opponents started to work their way into the match in the final 15 minutes of the first period. It looked to be anyone’s game at the break.
Southport hit the bar in the 54th minute. I started to get nervous around this point.
Taylor came off injured in the 57th minute. I took the opportunity to tweak our tactics, pushing further forward but taking caution to hold possession.
Gowling had a header cleared off the line in the 61st minute; we still couldn’t find a way to break the deadlock.
I made a more fundamental change to our tactics in the 74th minute when Shuker and Birchall came off the pitch. Diagouraga, Christophe, and Power formed a three-man midfield. Ben May stood up as target man in the centre of the forward line. Barnes-Homer and Laurent had duties of running off May. I instructed the players to run everything through Power, who is excellent at distribution (with great passing and creativity).
We traded blows for the remainder of the game, with the best chance coming to substitute Jean-François Christophe in the 89th minute. The midfielder’s striker cannoned off the crossbar, flying several metres up into the air. That proved to be the final opportunity in a tense encounter. You could argue Southport got off light, although the best chances of the match went to their strikers.
The only positives I was able to take away were stand-out performances from young fullbacks Kanouté and Billington, together with a solid overall defensive display. Our attacks lacked a cutting edge, while in the midfield Diagouraga is clearly still settling in—which resulted in some disjointed passing.
As luck would have it, Wrexham were also held to a draw, which means that we still have at least a three-point cushion at the top—potentially more, depending on how their games in hand play out.
Young winger Robert Taylor will be out for four to five weeks with a thigh strain. I feel sorry for the lad, who had finally earned a first-team look-in.
Wednesday 12 December 2012
Day 242
We’ve been given odds of 2-5 to beat Southport tomorrow. If you’ve been betting on Lincoln since day 1 and adding all profits to your betting pool, then maybe you can get a decent return on that. Otherwise steer clear and enjoy the match for the football on display. I’ll try to put on a show.
The only thing I’m worried about tomorrow is the physical toll it’ll take on my squad for the following game against Fleetwood. Three days isn’t much time to recover. The good news is that Woods and Koroma look likely to be ready for the midweek fixture, and Olembé is 50-50. That means I could have three key men coming in fresh after facing Southport.
But it doesn’t stop the fact that Kanouté, Billington, and Shuker will all struggle to get through both matches, and anyone else who takes a knock—big or small—won’t have the extra couple of days they’ll need to recover. I can only cross my fingers that the players stay in good nick.
The only thing I’m worried about tomorrow is the physical toll it’ll take on my squad for the following game against Fleetwood. Three days isn’t much time to recover. The good news is that Woods and Koroma look likely to be ready for the midweek fixture, and Olembé is 50-50. That means I could have three key men coming in fresh after facing Southport.
But it doesn’t stop the fact that Kanouté, Billington, and Shuker will all struggle to get through both matches, and anyone else who takes a knock—big or small—won’t have the extra couple of days they’ll need to recover. I can only cross my fingers that the players stay in good nick.
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Day 241
Youngster Robert Taylor had a brilliant month on the training ground, it seems, improving almost across the board. His strength, acceleration, marking, and heading particularly shot up. I guess it may be related to the 90 minutes of first-team football he got across two matches early in February. The youngster has a bright future ahead of him, so every bit of first-team exposure could make a big difference. He’s likely to get some more time on the pitch this month, while the senior lads shake off the remnants of their injury and fatigue woes.
Striker Matthew Barnes-Homer ranked second on the Player of the Month award, losing to Forest Green’s Britt Assombalonga. Interestingly, Barnes-Homer had the higher average rating and ratio of goals to games (7.62 and four goals in five matches). But Assombalonga got his impressive 7.58 and four goals across six matches, and it’s fair to judge that as being better—Barnes-Homer would have needed a rating of at least 7.4 in his theoretical sixth appearance of the month to match Assombalonga.
I picked up the runner-up spot for the Manager of the Month award. Wrexham’s Andy Morrell was a deserving winner, after guiding his team to five wins in as many matches—including a 7-1 thumping of Stockport.
Our losses flattened out somewhat after taking a nosedive in January. The club lost £59,676 in February, which is less than half of the loss from January. The balance is now £491,173 in the red—not yet “insecure” in the terms of a small club, but getting there.
In other news, Omar Koroma resumed full training today. I expect him to be fit in time for Tuesday’s trip to Fleetwood, but not Saturday’s home encounter against Southport. Hopefully this is the last time he’ll be injured, and hopefully he can carry on his form from earlier.
Striker Matthew Barnes-Homer ranked second on the Player of the Month award, losing to Forest Green’s Britt Assombalonga. Interestingly, Barnes-Homer had the higher average rating and ratio of goals to games (7.62 and four goals in five matches). But Assombalonga got his impressive 7.58 and four goals across six matches, and it’s fair to judge that as being better—Barnes-Homer would have needed a rating of at least 7.4 in his theoretical sixth appearance of the month to match Assombalonga.
I picked up the runner-up spot for the Manager of the Month award. Wrexham’s Andy Morrell was a deserving winner, after guiding his team to five wins in as many matches—including a 7-1 thumping of Stockport.
Our losses flattened out somewhat after taking a nosedive in January. The club lost £59,676 in February, which is less than half of the loss from January. The balance is now £491,173 in the red—not yet “insecure” in the terms of a small club, but getting there.
In other news, Omar Koroma resumed full training today. I expect him to be fit in time for Tuesday’s trip to Fleetwood, but not Saturday’s home encounter against Southport. Hopefully this is the last time he’ll be injured, and hopefully he can carry on his form from earlier.
Monday 10 December 2012
Day 240
Not much on the agenda today. This week is quite the snore-fest. I guess the latest developments on the league table are worthy of discussion, though. At the bottom end, 22nd-placed Barrow gave themselves a lifeline with a 1-0 victory over Newport. They’re nine points from safety with a woeful goal difference, but they have two games in hand on 20th-placed Kidderminster—the only team above the drop zone with any chance of slipping down.
Up the other end, Forest Green have kept things interesting in the playoff zone—which is good, since the first four spots are pretty well booked (the only question mark is over whether Wrexham can leapfrog Mansfield and perhaps my team too). Forest Green are one point above Gateshead, just clinging onto their hopes of a playoff berth. You see, Gateshead have two games in hand and a vastly superior goal difference. If they win both of those games, Forest Green will face a tough task sneaking through. But there’s a psychological advantage to being ahead, even if it is from playing extra matches.
That will likely be the only interesting development in the final six or seven games of the season—the next few matches should finalise everything else that bears any lasting significance.
Up the other end, Forest Green have kept things interesting in the playoff zone—which is good, since the first four spots are pretty well booked (the only question mark is over whether Wrexham can leapfrog Mansfield and perhaps my team too). Forest Green are one point above Gateshead, just clinging onto their hopes of a playoff berth. You see, Gateshead have two games in hand and a vastly superior goal difference. If they win both of those games, Forest Green will face a tough task sneaking through. But there’s a psychological advantage to being ahead, even if it is from playing extra matches.
That will likely be the only interesting development in the final six or seven games of the season—the next few matches should finalise everything else that bears any lasting significance.
Sunday 9 December 2012
Day 239
Striker Matthew Barnes-Homer made the Blue Square Bet Premier Team of the Week for his two-goal heroics against Alfreton on the weekend. It’s his fourth appearance on the list this season, which would be impressive if not for the fact that his average rating is far and away the best in the league.
Barnes-Homer has averaged 7.46 out of 10 in the league this season. Next best is Omar Koroma—the ever-injured, ever-brilliant strike partner of Barnes-Homer—at 7.39 (from ten fewer appearances). Ebbsfleet’s Michael West sits third, at 7.31, way behind both leaders. I guess it speaks to Barnes-Homer’s consistency that he’s only been selected for the team of the week four times in a season that he has so dominated.
Barnes-Homer has averaged 7.46 out of 10 in the league this season. Next best is Omar Koroma—the ever-injured, ever-brilliant strike partner of Barnes-Homer—at 7.39 (from ten fewer appearances). Ebbsfleet’s Michael West sits third, at 7.31, way behind both leaders. I guess it speaks to Barnes-Homer’s consistency that he’s only been selected for the team of the week four times in a season that he has so dominated.
Saturday 8 December 2012
Day 238
I get twitchy on these quiet days. They’re too quiet; I need action, excitement, something to do. At this stage of the season there just isn’t much I can do, however. It’s both too soon and too late to go looking for new players. I know my squad—its strengths and weaknesses. We’re top of the table, so I don’t need to think up a master plan to turn around our fortunes and finish strongly (I do need to find a way to keep us playing well, but that’s an on-the-fly thing).
There’s nothing for me to do right now, and I wonder if other managers have this problem. Do they enjoy the calm before the storm that is the final two months of the season? Or do they wish they could just fast-forward or skip through it, as you would in a game—gloss over the tedious, boring stuff and get straight to business. Waiting sucks; I want to get this thing over and done with. I’m starting to wish I could take this job three or four days at a time, instead of only one. Oh, if my life could be a video game.
A note from your editor
As you might have guessed, the “one day at a time” part of this blogging challenge is starting to grate. I shall persevere, though—I still have lessons that can be learnt about gaming and football management and whensoever the two meet. And I still have a season to finish. Rest assured, dear reader, this experiment will go on.
There’s nothing for me to do right now, and I wonder if other managers have this problem. Do they enjoy the calm before the storm that is the final two months of the season? Or do they wish they could just fast-forward or skip through it, as you would in a game—gloss over the tedious, boring stuff and get straight to business. Waiting sucks; I want to get this thing over and done with. I’m starting to wish I could take this job three or four days at a time, instead of only one. Oh, if my life could be a video game.
A note from your editor
As you might have guessed, the “one day at a time” part of this blogging challenge is starting to grate. I shall persevere, though—I still have lessons that can be learnt about gaming and football management and whensoever the two meet. And I still have a season to finish. Rest assured, dear reader, this experiment will go on.
Friday 7 December 2012
Day 237
I wasn’t sure what to do today, and nothing much happened at all. I thought about our tactics. We were poor in the midfield and while going forward yesterday (despite the 2-0 win). But I’m sure the problem was people playing in unfamiliar positions. Birchall is considered an accomplished wide player, but he hasn’t been playing there for us. Diagouraga was making his debut. Shuker was playing on the opposite flank to normal. Only one of the four midfielders was in his element (Woods).
Perhaps my problem wasn’t a tactical one, but rather of poor selection. Maybe I made the wrong call for who should start, and who should play where. I was lucky to get away with it, thanks to the defenders doing a fine job.
I think next week I’ll try to pick a team that better plays to our strengths, keeping in mind that familiarity is important. The players get used to their positions, and those of their teammates. I should worry about the team, not the individuals.
Perhaps my problem wasn’t a tactical one, but rather of poor selection. Maybe I made the wrong call for who should start, and who should play where. I was lucky to get away with it, thanks to the defenders doing a fine job.
I think next week I’ll try to pick a team that better plays to our strengths, keeping in mind that familiarity is important. The players get used to their positions, and those of their teammates. I should worry about the team, not the individuals.
Thursday 6 December 2012
Day 236
After thinking it through, I decided to play Chris Shuker on the left wing. It’s incredibly bad luck that every one of my four specialist left wingers is injured—Olembé, Laurant, Russell, and even reserve player Nicky Nicolau. I considered going with John Nutter, but I felt we’d be stronger with Toumani Diagouraga coming into central midfield and Chris Birchall sliding out to the right wing. There were still major question marks over Diagouraga’s fitness, following his recent injury, but I put the ball-winning midfielder in for his debut anyway.
Ben May replaced Omar Koroma up front, again. I really hope this is Koroma’s last injury. We need him. Meanwhile Samba Kanouté returned at right back; Bore dropped to the bench. Jean-François Christophe made the bench, too, in line for an appearance for the first time since he was carried off on a stretcher against York six weeks ago (which itself came after a two-month injury lay-off and month of training).
The troubles we’ve had speak to the importance of my decision to strengthen and expand the squad. I shudder to think how badly we’d be going in the midst of these injuries with the shallow squad depth I inherited at the start of the season.
Alfreton started the more menacing of the two sides. They got three shots off in the opening fifteen minutes—to our zero—and even hit the bar once. I tweaked our tactics in an attempt to grab more of the possession and take control of the game.
Out of nowhere, in the 33rd minute, Barnes-Homer scored. It was excellent team play—a simple triangle of passes, from Diagouraga to Woods to Barnes-Homer—and a composed finish. We didn’t deserve the goal, but I wasn’t going to give up the lead. We kept pushing forward, searching for the magic ingredient that makes us click without Koroma or a specialist left winger.
At half time, things were still tense. Ben May was having a poor game. I tried making him a target man to get the big striker more involved. Michael Woods was carrying us in the midfield, but he was also carrying an injury; I worried that he could not go on much longer.
I subbed Diagouraga off for Alan Power in the 54th minute. He’d struggled on his debut, but he had an instrumental role in our goal. Power was meant to bring more control to the midfield, which needed to keep the ball better.
May continued to look anonymous out there, so I swapped him for Laurent after an hour. Peter Bore also came, with Birchall—who was having a quiet game on the right flank—moving to his preferred central role. We improved right away. Birchall and Power started pulling the strings in midfield, while Laurent did his best to play Koroma’s role as a roaming last man.
Alfreton continued to knock on the door, however, forcing good saves from Putnins and right back Samba Kanouté. There’d be a nervous finish if we couldn’t kill them off.
It’s a good thing, then, that Barnes-Homer scored his second in the 88th minute. A brilliant long ball along the right wing from Kanouté set Laurent off on a run. Closed off at the byline, he passed short to Bore. Barnes-Homer met Bore’s cross with a diving header that was too good for the Alfreton keeper, assuring our victory with two minutes to spare.
It was a disappointing performance on the whole (owing in part to the wet conditions, I expect), but we got the three points and a clean sheet. That puts us one step closer to the title crown. Highlights were solid performances from Barnes-Homer and Kanouté, good defensive rallying in the second half, and a few miscellaneous passes from Birchall and Diagouraga over the course of the game.
Michael Woods will be out for a week following a gashed arm suffered early in the match. He’s likely to miss both the next match against Southport and the following one at Fleetwood.
Ben May replaced Omar Koroma up front, again. I really hope this is Koroma’s last injury. We need him. Meanwhile Samba Kanouté returned at right back; Bore dropped to the bench. Jean-François Christophe made the bench, too, in line for an appearance for the first time since he was carried off on a stretcher against York six weeks ago (which itself came after a two-month injury lay-off and month of training).
The troubles we’ve had speak to the importance of my decision to strengthen and expand the squad. I shudder to think how badly we’d be going in the midst of these injuries with the shallow squad depth I inherited at the start of the season.
Alfreton started the more menacing of the two sides. They got three shots off in the opening fifteen minutes—to our zero—and even hit the bar once. I tweaked our tactics in an attempt to grab more of the possession and take control of the game.
Out of nowhere, in the 33rd minute, Barnes-Homer scored. It was excellent team play—a simple triangle of passes, from Diagouraga to Woods to Barnes-Homer—and a composed finish. We didn’t deserve the goal, but I wasn’t going to give up the lead. We kept pushing forward, searching for the magic ingredient that makes us click without Koroma or a specialist left winger.
At half time, things were still tense. Ben May was having a poor game. I tried making him a target man to get the big striker more involved. Michael Woods was carrying us in the midfield, but he was also carrying an injury; I worried that he could not go on much longer.
I subbed Diagouraga off for Alan Power in the 54th minute. He’d struggled on his debut, but he had an instrumental role in our goal. Power was meant to bring more control to the midfield, which needed to keep the ball better.
May continued to look anonymous out there, so I swapped him for Laurent after an hour. Peter Bore also came, with Birchall—who was having a quiet game on the right flank—moving to his preferred central role. We improved right away. Birchall and Power started pulling the strings in midfield, while Laurent did his best to play Koroma’s role as a roaming last man.
Alfreton continued to knock on the door, however, forcing good saves from Putnins and right back Samba Kanouté. There’d be a nervous finish if we couldn’t kill them off.
It’s a good thing, then, that Barnes-Homer scored his second in the 88th minute. A brilliant long ball along the right wing from Kanouté set Laurent off on a run. Closed off at the byline, he passed short to Bore. Barnes-Homer met Bore’s cross with a diving header that was too good for the Alfreton keeper, assuring our victory with two minutes to spare.
It was a disappointing performance on the whole (owing in part to the wet conditions, I expect), but we got the three points and a clean sheet. That puts us one step closer to the title crown. Highlights were solid performances from Barnes-Homer and Kanouté, good defensive rallying in the second half, and a few miscellaneous passes from Birchall and Diagouraga over the course of the game.
Michael Woods will be out for a week following a gashed arm suffered early in the match. He’s likely to miss both the next match against Southport and the following one at Fleetwood.
Wednesday 5 December 2012
Day 235
We’ve been given odds of 4-7 to beat Alfreton tomorrow. I’m not sure why the bookies are even taking bets on us winning—it would take a reckless gambler to bet against us, and a stupid one to bet on us (because your payoff if we win is just so minuscule it hardly seems worth it). I’ll be gutted and annoyed if we don’t win comfortably, and I don’t plan on giving them much of a chance to prevent that being the case.
The big question mark remains, however, on how we’ll cope with Koroma, Laurant, Olembé, and Russell all injured. We aren’t as dynamic without Koroma up front, and the other three being out leaves me with no specialist left winger. I still haven’t devised a strategy to handle it.
The big question mark remains, however, on how we’ll cope with Koroma, Laurant, Olembé, and Russell all injured. We aren’t as dynamic without Koroma up front, and the other three being out leaves me with no specialist left winger. I still haven’t devised a strategy to handle it.
Tuesday 4 December 2012
Day 234
We held a backroom meeting today. It was the same old, “X should be put on this training regimen, you should scout Y.” The highlight was a suggestion to look at veteran Icelandic defender Ívar Ingimarsson, who’s on his way out at Bournemouth. The former Reading regular has quite the sun-in-his-eyes scowl in his headshot, but if he’s still got enough of his old chops he’d be a great addition to my squad next season.
The initial judgement on him is that he’s better than Gowling but not as good as Marques, so he’d be a chance to earn a regular starting berth for me. I am concerned, however, that he’s bereft of pace. Even this far down the professional footballing spectrum, being that slow could cause all manner of disruption in our defensive game. A quick striker could destroy Ingimarsson without even playing an intelligent positional game. That pace could well get worse between now and the start of next season, too.
I also changed Francis Laurent and Alan Power to backup players in their official squad statuses. I hope they don’t take offence—because I still need them—but that’s the reality of the situation now.
The initial judgement on him is that he’s better than Gowling but not as good as Marques, so he’d be a chance to earn a regular starting berth for me. I am concerned, however, that he’s bereft of pace. Even this far down the professional footballing spectrum, being that slow could cause all manner of disruption in our defensive game. A quick striker could destroy Ingimarsson without even playing an intelligent positional game. That pace could well get worse between now and the start of next season, too.
I also changed Francis Laurent and Alan Power to backup players in their official squad statuses. I hope they don’t take offence—because I still need them—but that’s the reality of the situation now.
Monday 3 December 2012
Day 233
Title-challengers Wrexham were held to a draw in the FA Trophy Fourth Round, forcing a replay match in a couple of weeks. That means they have two games a week for the next seven weeks, having already played twice a week for the previous four. They have at least sixteen more matches between now and the end of the season—probably more, since I’d rate them a good chance to go further in both cup competitions they’re in. My team, by comparison, has just twelve.
Fatigue is sure to hit them hard with an insane schedule like that, which puts us squarely in the driver’s seat for the league title. I know very well how hard it is to keep up a killer run of form when all your key players are injured or exhausted—it happened to me in the first half of the season.
Fatigue is sure to hit them hard with an insane schedule like that, which puts us squarely in the driver’s seat for the league title. I know very well how hard it is to keep up a killer run of form when all your key players are injured or exhausted—it happened to me in the first half of the season.
Sunday 2 December 2012
Day 232
He may have only played half a match against Luton at the weekend, but striker Omar Koroma made the Blue Square Bet Premier Team of the Week. Remarkably, that’s his first appearance in the list, despite being rated best on ground five times, and despite having an average rating of 7.39 from 24 appearances.
Winger Benjamin Laurant fractured his arm in a heavy fall during training today. He has to see a specialist, and is likely to miss the next six weeks—which equates to eight or nine matches. His return looks as though it may be against either Forest Green or Mansfield (games that are only two days apart!) in April. This is a big blow, with Koroma, Russell, and Olembé all currently injured too. I’ll have to play either Nutter or Shuker out of position on the left flank until Olembé’s fit in a week or so.
But that’s football—things turn to shit at the drop of a hat, and injuries often come in twos and threes. It’s a game of skill, sure, but luck has made or broken championship runs, prodigious young talents, one-season wonders, and underachieving teams (I remember the shock of West Ham being relegated from the Premiership in the 2002-2003 season, when they were “too good” to go down).
[Football Manager has always had a sense of the chaos of football, where sometimes things happen that you don’t expect and can’t explain. And it does so in such a way that it feels consistently inconsistent, which makes it hard to develop a grudge against the programming (as I have done in other sports games, like the FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer series’). I’m actually stunned that my team is still top of the table; I’ve never, in my eighteen years of playing the series, had such a good first season with a club. (There’s still time for that to change, of course.)]
Winger Benjamin Laurant fractured his arm in a heavy fall during training today. He has to see a specialist, and is likely to miss the next six weeks—which equates to eight or nine matches. His return looks as though it may be against either Forest Green or Mansfield (games that are only two days apart!) in April. This is a big blow, with Koroma, Russell, and Olembé all currently injured too. I’ll have to play either Nutter or Shuker out of position on the left flank until Olembé’s fit in a week or so.
But that’s football—things turn to shit at the drop of a hat, and injuries often come in twos and threes. It’s a game of skill, sure, but luck has made or broken championship runs, prodigious young talents, one-season wonders, and underachieving teams (I remember the shock of West Ham being relegated from the Premiership in the 2002-2003 season, when they were “too good” to go down).
[Football Manager has always had a sense of the chaos of football, where sometimes things happen that you don’t expect and can’t explain. And it does so in such a way that it feels consistently inconsistent, which makes it hard to develop a grudge against the programming (as I have done in other sports games, like the FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer series’). I’m actually stunned that my team is still top of the table; I’ve never, in my eighteen years of playing the series, had such a good first season with a club. (There’s still time for that to change, of course.)]
Saturday 1 December 2012
Day 231
The Lincoln Reserves hosted Avon Rockleaze in a friendly today. It was a chance for Halstead, Christophe, Atkinson, and Diagouraga to get a bit of match fitness under their belts.
They had a shaky start, but Sam Smith capitalised on weak defending in the fifteenth minute to open the scoring. It looked likely to be one of those games—high on action, low on quality, and high on goals.
Avon Rockleaze equalised five minutes later from a corner, lending credence to instinctual judgement of the match ahead.
Cunningham hit the bar with a great long-range effort in the 27th minute, then Rodney was pulled down while running onto the rebound. Youngster Robert Taylor blasted the resulting penalty wide of goal.
Avon Rockleaze striker Scott Hillier put his side ahead on 31 minutes, nodding a left-wing free kick in from the edge of the six-yard box.
Both goalkeeper Mark Halstead and striker Nialle Rodney went off injured in a woeful first half. Things started to look up in the second period, however, and Lloyd-McGoldrick scored with an opportunistic header in the 55th minute. The Avon Rockleaze goalkeeper was way out of position when Robson crossed to the edge of the box. Lloyd-McGoldrick stooped down and headed the ball towards the empty goal. Scrambling, the keeper was too late. We’d equalised in comical fashion.
Substitute Aaron Rice lasted just a minute on the pitch. He came on for Lloyd-McGoldrick after the goal, then sat down on the edge of the penalty area. He’d hurt himself stretching for the ball, from the looks of it. I wasn’t happy, since I didn’t have another midfielder on the bench to bring on.
My boys looked like the stronger team for the remainder of the match, but they spurned close to a dozen chances. May and Smith both missed easy shots after doing the hard work of setting them up, and May also hit the bar. Laurent, Diagouraga, and Rawdon all wasted opportunities, too. The match ended two goals apiece.
Rice broke his ribs in a strong challenge, and is looking at five to six weeks on the sidelines. That’s a big blow to our Under 18s, for which he’s been playing a starring role.
Mark Halstead is also out for five to six weeks, only for a pulled hamstring. That makes the transition to him as my starting goalkeeper a troublesome one—Putnins finishes his loan at the end of March, but Halstead may not be fit to return until two weeks later (I could potentially rush him back in time for the beginning of April, but that would be risky).
They had a shaky start, but Sam Smith capitalised on weak defending in the fifteenth minute to open the scoring. It looked likely to be one of those games—high on action, low on quality, and high on goals.
Avon Rockleaze equalised five minutes later from a corner, lending credence to instinctual judgement of the match ahead.
Cunningham hit the bar with a great long-range effort in the 27th minute, then Rodney was pulled down while running onto the rebound. Youngster Robert Taylor blasted the resulting penalty wide of goal.
Avon Rockleaze striker Scott Hillier put his side ahead on 31 minutes, nodding a left-wing free kick in from the edge of the six-yard box.
Both goalkeeper Mark Halstead and striker Nialle Rodney went off injured in a woeful first half. Things started to look up in the second period, however, and Lloyd-McGoldrick scored with an opportunistic header in the 55th minute. The Avon Rockleaze goalkeeper was way out of position when Robson crossed to the edge of the box. Lloyd-McGoldrick stooped down and headed the ball towards the empty goal. Scrambling, the keeper was too late. We’d equalised in comical fashion.
Substitute Aaron Rice lasted just a minute on the pitch. He came on for Lloyd-McGoldrick after the goal, then sat down on the edge of the penalty area. He’d hurt himself stretching for the ball, from the looks of it. I wasn’t happy, since I didn’t have another midfielder on the bench to bring on.
My boys looked like the stronger team for the remainder of the match, but they spurned close to a dozen chances. May and Smith both missed easy shots after doing the hard work of setting them up, and May also hit the bar. Laurent, Diagouraga, and Rawdon all wasted opportunities, too. The match ended two goals apiece.
Rice broke his ribs in a strong challenge, and is looking at five to six weeks on the sidelines. That’s a big blow to our Under 18s, for which he’s been playing a starring role.
Mark Halstead is also out for five to six weeks, only for a pulled hamstring. That makes the transition to him as my starting goalkeeper a troublesome one—Putnins finishes his loan at the end of March, but Halstead may not be fit to return until two weeks later (I could potentially rush him back in time for the beginning of April, but that would be risky).
Friday 30 November 2012
Day 230
Central midfielder Toumani Diagouraga resumed full training today. He’d been out for three weeks with a chest injury, which he suffered just five days after joining the club on loan from Brentford. Diagouraga may struggle to get a starting berth, with Birchall and Woods commanding the midfield at the moment. He’s a quality player, though, and he can bring a great defensive grit to our play if needed.
Fresh from getting hurt in a scintillating first-half performance against Luton yesterday, striker Omar Koroma got praise in the media today. He fully deserves it. I hope it doesn’t go to his head. I need him hungry for more.
Fresh from getting hurt in a scintillating first-half performance against Luton yesterday, striker Omar Koroma got praise in the media today. He fully deserves it. I hope it doesn’t go to his head. I need him hungry for more.
Day 229
Defying all expectations I had for them, the Lincoln Under 18s climbed to fourth in Group 3 of the Under 18s league, after beating Colchester 3-1 today. I had expected them to finish near the bottom, but with four games to go they could conceivably end up in third. Unfortunately, none of them will be graduating to the senior team—even Aaron Rice and Jordan Thomas may struggle to stay at the club as reserve players.
Striker Omar Koroma returned to the starting eleven today for the match against Luton. He had been sidelined for ten days with a bruised rib at the start of the month, and didn’t quite make it back in time for the previous game. Ben May dropped to the bench to accommodate the brilliant Gambian. I selected an otherwise-unchanged team.
We were looking to pick up our fourth straight clean sheet and win. Koroma nearly put us on track for that in the 7th minute with a mazy run. His shot was blocked by a diving defender, however. Barnes-Homer found the net a minute later, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
It only took another minute for us to score a legitimate goal. Barnes-Homer played the ball into space outside the box. Koroma, onside because of tardy defending from Luton’s left-back, had all the time in the world to run onto the ball and fire beneath the Luton keeper. We’re a different team going forward when he plays; it’s really something. (I’m actually amazed that we’ve managed to win most of the matches that Koroma missed across his two or three injuries this season.)
Gowling made it two-nil after 20 minutes, nodding Shuker’s corner in from the edge of the six-yard box. The big stopper has an incredible eye for goal—that’s his tenth goal of the season (all from set pieces, I think).
Koroma got his second in the 29th minute, displaying incredible pace to make five yards on his man and then leave him for dead in the race for a long ball. His finish was exquisite, too, given that the deft flick past the keeper came while running at full pelt.
Another long ball from Gowling put him through again less than a minute later, but this time goalkeeper Mark Tyler stood up tall and made a fine save.
Barnes-Homer made it four in the 40th minute, drilling a low shot into the corner after dashing onto a through ball from Woods. This was turning into quite a rout.
Koroma went down injured a few minutes later, filling me with worry—I just got him back, dammit. He picked himself up and carried on, but he was clearly carrying a knock. I subbed him off, unwilling to take any chances on my talisman striker. He’d done his job, anyway.
Luton should have pulled a goal back in the 53rd minute. Danger man Stuart Fleetwood did well to get in behind my defence, and confidently sent a shot goalwards. Putnins made a brilliant save parrying the ball away. Craig Lynch, who was first to the rebound, shot with the goal at his mercy. But he hit the post, amazingly wasting a gilt-edged chance to shake up the game.
Substitute striker Ben May made them pay. He turned round his marker and struck a venomous swerving shot towards the bottom corner, leaving the Luton keeper with no chance. That’s his second goal for the club, and one that’s sure to boost his confidence.
Luton finally got their consolation goal in the 63rd minute. Alex Lawless played an angled ball through to James Knowles, who beat Putnins with a well-placed first-time shot. It wouldn’t make a difference to the result, but I was saddened to see the keeper’s record of over 300 minutes without conceding a goal fall by the wayside before it could really look impressive.
Our impenetrable shell shattered, we started making mistakes at the back. Sloppy defending in the box—mostly an inability to quickly clear the ball from danger—handed Luton their second goal of the match. Somewhat worryingly, it was their star man Fleetwood who got the goal. I don’t want him spurring a comeback.
We held on to the three-goal lead, however, and now stand eight points clear of second-placed Mansfield. Wrexham, the team that I’m more concerned about, thrashed Stockport 7-1. They remain nine points behind, with two games in hand. Wrexham are the ones who could steal the title from us. We gotta watch our backs.
Omar Koroma may have only played half the match, but he was awarded man of the match for his excellent brace. The bad news is that he came out with a bruised thigh. He’ll be out for another two weeks. His average rating is now 7.42. I wish he would stop getting hurt.
Striker Omar Koroma returned to the starting eleven today for the match against Luton. He had been sidelined for ten days with a bruised rib at the start of the month, and didn’t quite make it back in time for the previous game. Ben May dropped to the bench to accommodate the brilliant Gambian. I selected an otherwise-unchanged team.
We were looking to pick up our fourth straight clean sheet and win. Koroma nearly put us on track for that in the 7th minute with a mazy run. His shot was blocked by a diving defender, however. Barnes-Homer found the net a minute later, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
It only took another minute for us to score a legitimate goal. Barnes-Homer played the ball into space outside the box. Koroma, onside because of tardy defending from Luton’s left-back, had all the time in the world to run onto the ball and fire beneath the Luton keeper. We’re a different team going forward when he plays; it’s really something. (I’m actually amazed that we’ve managed to win most of the matches that Koroma missed across his two or three injuries this season.)
Gowling made it two-nil after 20 minutes, nodding Shuker’s corner in from the edge of the six-yard box. The big stopper has an incredible eye for goal—that’s his tenth goal of the season (all from set pieces, I think).
Koroma got his second in the 29th minute, displaying incredible pace to make five yards on his man and then leave him for dead in the race for a long ball. His finish was exquisite, too, given that the deft flick past the keeper came while running at full pelt.
Another long ball from Gowling put him through again less than a minute later, but this time goalkeeper Mark Tyler stood up tall and made a fine save.
Barnes-Homer made it four in the 40th minute, drilling a low shot into the corner after dashing onto a through ball from Woods. This was turning into quite a rout.
Koroma went down injured a few minutes later, filling me with worry—I just got him back, dammit. He picked himself up and carried on, but he was clearly carrying a knock. I subbed him off, unwilling to take any chances on my talisman striker. He’d done his job, anyway.
Luton should have pulled a goal back in the 53rd minute. Danger man Stuart Fleetwood did well to get in behind my defence, and confidently sent a shot goalwards. Putnins made a brilliant save parrying the ball away. Craig Lynch, who was first to the rebound, shot with the goal at his mercy. But he hit the post, amazingly wasting a gilt-edged chance to shake up the game.
Substitute striker Ben May made them pay. He turned round his marker and struck a venomous swerving shot towards the bottom corner, leaving the Luton keeper with no chance. That’s his second goal for the club, and one that’s sure to boost his confidence.
Luton finally got their consolation goal in the 63rd minute. Alex Lawless played an angled ball through to James Knowles, who beat Putnins with a well-placed first-time shot. It wouldn’t make a difference to the result, but I was saddened to see the keeper’s record of over 300 minutes without conceding a goal fall by the wayside before it could really look impressive.
Our impenetrable shell shattered, we started making mistakes at the back. Sloppy defending in the box—mostly an inability to quickly clear the ball from danger—handed Luton their second goal of the match. Somewhat worryingly, it was their star man Fleetwood who got the goal. I don’t want him spurring a comeback.
We held on to the three-goal lead, however, and now stand eight points clear of second-placed Mansfield. Wrexham, the team that I’m more concerned about, thrashed Stockport 7-1. They remain nine points behind, with two games in hand. Wrexham are the ones who could steal the title from us. We gotta watch our backs.
Omar Koroma may have only played half the match, but he was awarded man of the match for his excellent brace. The bad news is that he came out with a bruised thigh. He’ll be out for another two weeks. His average rating is now 7.42. I wish he would stop getting hurt.
Wednesday 28 November 2012
Day 228
The bookies think tomorrow’s home tie against Luton Town will be a close game. They’ve given us only slightly better odds—6-4 versus 13-8. The danger-man has been identified—quite rightly—as Stuart Fleetwood, their star striker. He’s scored 19 goals in 31 matches, with an average rating of 7.1 out of 10. His only standout quality is his determination, which makes it tricky to figure out how we can keep him quiet.
We last met them five months ago, winning 3-1. Fleetwood was poor that day, so perhaps Marques and Gowling have his number. I’m counting on it.
I had a look through the remaining fixtures. We have seven out of thirteen games against a team currently in the top half of the table. Second-placed Mansfield do, too, while third-placed Wrexham have seven out of fifteen. Of those games, we have one against Mansfield, and Mansfield and Wrexham have one against each other. I’d say that Wrexham have a slightly easier finish than either us or Mansfield, but that’s with two more matches to play and at least three points to make up on us (nine if you count their two games in hand, which are both against weak opposition). It should be an interesting title race.
We last met them five months ago, winning 3-1. Fleetwood was poor that day, so perhaps Marques and Gowling have his number. I’m counting on it.
I had a look through the remaining fixtures. We have seven out of thirteen games against a team currently in the top half of the table. Second-placed Mansfield do, too, while third-placed Wrexham have seven out of fifteen. Of those games, we have one against Mansfield, and Mansfield and Wrexham have one against each other. I’d say that Wrexham have a slightly easier finish than either us or Mansfield, but that’s with two more matches to play and at least three points to make up on us (nine if you count their two games in hand, which are both against weak opposition). It should be an interesting title race.
Tuesday 27 November 2012
Day 227
I checked in on the club finances, and didn’t much like what I saw. The gradual flattening of our losses has been blown out by an awful January in turnover. The club lost £144,786 in January—more than the previous two months combined. Lincoln City Football Club’s balance is now £444,959 in the red. Half a million below positive cashflow. I don’t know what our overdraft limit is, but at this rate we’ll be in serious danger of falling into administration by the end of the season.
And there’s nothing I can do to stop it, except keep winning matches. Good results bring more fans into our home games; the league title comes with significant prize money. I’m not sure why we’re haemorrhaging money, but I’m willing to bet the fact that our home games only fill out a quarter of the stadium is instrumental. The thing is, however, that attendances of ten thousand are pretty much unheard of at Conference level. There are aspects to the way this business is run that leave me questioning the intelligence of my bosses. I far exceeded expectations by getting us into top position and staying there this late in the season, yet the finances are set up in such a way that anything less than first place will cost the club its financial stability. Crazy.
[All of this makes me curious how the real Lincoln City runs its finances, and whether they’re in this same danger of slipping into administration.]
And there’s nothing I can do to stop it, except keep winning matches. Good results bring more fans into our home games; the league title comes with significant prize money. I’m not sure why we’re haemorrhaging money, but I’m willing to bet the fact that our home games only fill out a quarter of the stadium is instrumental. The thing is, however, that attendances of ten thousand are pretty much unheard of at Conference level. There are aspects to the way this business is run that leave me questioning the intelligence of my bosses. I far exceeded expectations by getting us into top position and staying there this late in the season, yet the finances are set up in such a way that anything less than first place will cost the club its financial stability. Crazy.
[All of this makes me curious how the real Lincoln City runs its finances, and whether they’re in this same danger of slipping into administration.]
Monday 26 November 2012
Day 226
I realised today that it had been a while since I last did any serious match analysis. I dove right in to the data.
Some of the most interesting observations came from studying average positions of my players, together with the team’s positional heat map, across the past ten matches. It turns out that there are some patterns that correlate to our performance.
When we struggle, the more defensive-minded of my central midfielders spends much of the game sitting deeper than his teammates. When we dominate matches, he is just beyond the halfway line and to the left of centre—directing play. I believe that his influence—lately this has been Birchall—is vital to our attack. If he is caught up in deeper or more central positions, we lose the ball and fail to get plays off the ground.
We also get caught playing narrower in the defensive and middle thirds of the park. I think this is tied to the same problem, which affects distribution of the ball. But what is causing it, and how do I fix it?
This chart from the 2-1 loss against Wrexham shows the problem quite clearly, except that here both central midfielders have been caught playing deeper and more central—killing our wide play. You see we have very little width at all. In the previous image, we see dark spots across the entire middle third, from one side to the other. In the Wrexham match, it’s more like the middle eighth. Our play was compressed in both directions, stifling the creativity and pace of the wingers. With Koroma missing, there was no central player moving wide with the ball to create space.
Comparing the passing chart from the Gateshead win to that from the Wrexham defeat, my reasoning shows true. Passing against Wrexham was mostly longer forward balls through the middle, heaviest just inside our own half. Conversely, against Gateshead the passes are mostly shorter balls—in all directions—to and from the attacking side of the central third, spread across from one wing to the other.
Those are the big things I noticed; there were a few smaller observations that I feel aren’t consistent enough to judge on. I’ll keep an eye on the situation and bring them up if/when appropriate.
In the meantime, how do I fix this major issue? And what’s the root cause, in personnel or tactics?
I’m thinking that there are three things I need to watch. What are the opponents who keep us from playing our game doing differently to everyone else? How do I replicate Omar Koroma’s attacking dynamism on the forward line when he’s absent or marked out of the game? And how do I ensure that both central midfielders get the time and space to pull strings and pick out the runs of the wingers and strikers?
Now that I have a more quantitative perspective on this, I’ll hopefully be able to stamp it out before the inevitable run of losses hits.
Some of the most interesting observations came from studying average positions of my players, together with the team’s positional heat map, across the past ten matches. It turns out that there are some patterns that correlate to our performance.
When we struggle, the more defensive-minded of my central midfielders spends much of the game sitting deeper than his teammates. When we dominate matches, he is just beyond the halfway line and to the left of centre—directing play. I believe that his influence—lately this has been Birchall—is vital to our attack. If he is caught up in deeper or more central positions, we lose the ball and fail to get plays off the ground.
We also get caught playing narrower in the defensive and middle thirds of the park. I think this is tied to the same problem, which affects distribution of the ball. But what is causing it, and how do I fix it?
This chart from the 2-1 loss against Wrexham shows the problem quite clearly, except that here both central midfielders have been caught playing deeper and more central—killing our wide play. You see we have very little width at all. In the previous image, we see dark spots across the entire middle third, from one side to the other. In the Wrexham match, it’s more like the middle eighth. Our play was compressed in both directions, stifling the creativity and pace of the wingers. With Koroma missing, there was no central player moving wide with the ball to create space.
Comparing the passing chart from the Gateshead win to that from the Wrexham defeat, my reasoning shows true. Passing against Wrexham was mostly longer forward balls through the middle, heaviest just inside our own half. Conversely, against Gateshead the passes are mostly shorter balls—in all directions—to and from the attacking side of the central third, spread across from one wing to the other.
Those are the big things I noticed; there were a few smaller observations that I feel aren’t consistent enough to judge on. I’ll keep an eye on the situation and bring them up if/when appropriate.
In the meantime, how do I fix this major issue? And what’s the root cause, in personnel or tactics?
I’m thinking that there are three things I need to watch. What are the opponents who keep us from playing our game doing differently to everyone else? How do I replicate Omar Koroma’s attacking dynamism on the forward line when he’s absent or marked out of the game? And how do I ensure that both central midfielders get the time and space to pull strings and pick out the runs of the wingers and strikers?
Now that I have a more quantitative perspective on this, I’ll hopefully be able to stamp it out before the inevitable run of losses hits.
Sunday 25 November 2012
Day 225
Central defender Rui Marques made the Blue Square Bet Premier Team of the Week for the third time this season, thanks to his stellar performance against Kidderminster on Saturday. The veteran Angolan’s form is at an incredible 8.02 out of ten for the past five matches. I hope he can keep it up, but realise that’s unlikely.
Today’s game came too soon for Omar Koroma, whose return from injury is going well. He wasn’t fit enough to be involved, but he’ll be ready for the home tie against Luton on the weekend. In-form defender Samba Kanouté had to sit this one out, too, because of fatigue. Michael Woods and Peter Bore returned to the starting lineup, with Alan Power dropping to the bench.
A brilliant left-wing run from Benjamin Laurant nearly got us an early lead. Just two minutes into the game, the winger picked up the ball inside his own half and dribbled past four Stockport players before shooting from the edge of the box. Unfortunately the finish didn’t match the run, and he fired wide of goal.
Shuker opened the scoring in the 19th minute, tapping in from close range to complete a fine passing move by Billington, Laurant, and Birchall. Stockport looked incapable to prevent a rout. If my players wanted to score big, I got the distinct impression that they would.
Stockport had a goal disallowed for offside on the brink of half-time. It was their one and only attacking move of the first period. After watching such an anaemic resistance, I worried about complacency in the second half. My players seemed to respond positively to a team talk warning about exactly that.
Laurant started the second half much as he had the first, twice using his dribbling to cause problems for the Stockport defence. He first set up Barnes-Homer for a lunging chance (he missed the ball), then hit the side netting on a solo effort.
Barnes-Homer found the back of the net in the 54th minute, but the goal was ruled out as offside. Then Woods got upended just inside the box. Chris Shuker confidently dispatched the penalty for our second of the game.
Substitute Alan Power added our third ten minutes later. In what was probably his third touch of the game, the playmaker struck a thunderous drive from the edge of the box that left the Stockport keeper helpless.
Good goalkeeping kept Rui Marques from making it four just moments later, as Parisi reacted quickly to stop the in-form defender from nodding a corner ball home. We had several more half-chances as the match wore on, and still Stockport had no reply.
Three-nil is how it stayed. Chris Shuker was awarded man of the match, although Benjamin Laurant’s performance is the one that turned my head. Young left back Alex Billington also impressed, as did fellow defenders Peter Bore and Josh Gowling. Marques and Birchall were the same steady, calming influence that they always are. The result marked our third consecutive clean sheet.
Today’s game came too soon for Omar Koroma, whose return from injury is going well. He wasn’t fit enough to be involved, but he’ll be ready for the home tie against Luton on the weekend. In-form defender Samba Kanouté had to sit this one out, too, because of fatigue. Michael Woods and Peter Bore returned to the starting lineup, with Alan Power dropping to the bench.
A brilliant left-wing run from Benjamin Laurant nearly got us an early lead. Just two minutes into the game, the winger picked up the ball inside his own half and dribbled past four Stockport players before shooting from the edge of the box. Unfortunately the finish didn’t match the run, and he fired wide of goal.
Shuker opened the scoring in the 19th minute, tapping in from close range to complete a fine passing move by Billington, Laurant, and Birchall. Stockport looked incapable to prevent a rout. If my players wanted to score big, I got the distinct impression that they would.
Stockport had a goal disallowed for offside on the brink of half-time. It was their one and only attacking move of the first period. After watching such an anaemic resistance, I worried about complacency in the second half. My players seemed to respond positively to a team talk warning about exactly that.
Laurant started the second half much as he had the first, twice using his dribbling to cause problems for the Stockport defence. He first set up Barnes-Homer for a lunging chance (he missed the ball), then hit the side netting on a solo effort.
Barnes-Homer found the back of the net in the 54th minute, but the goal was ruled out as offside. Then Woods got upended just inside the box. Chris Shuker confidently dispatched the penalty for our second of the game.
Substitute Alan Power added our third ten minutes later. In what was probably his third touch of the game, the playmaker struck a thunderous drive from the edge of the box that left the Stockport keeper helpless.
Good goalkeeping kept Rui Marques from making it four just moments later, as Parisi reacted quickly to stop the in-form defender from nodding a corner ball home. We had several more half-chances as the match wore on, and still Stockport had no reply.
Three-nil is how it stayed. Chris Shuker was awarded man of the match, although Benjamin Laurant’s performance is the one that turned my head. Young left back Alex Billington also impressed, as did fellow defenders Peter Bore and Josh Gowling. Marques and Birchall were the same steady, calming influence that they always are. The result marked our third consecutive clean sheet.
Day 224
We’re favourites against Stockport tomorrow. No surprises there—we beat them 3-1 last time out, and we’re pretty much at opposite ends of the table (they sit in 21st while we hold top spot). I don’t want to get overconfident, though, because we’ve lost easy games before. With Olembé injured and Koroma struggling to get fit in time, we have to be doubly cautious.
Friday 23 November 2012
Day 223
Matthew Barnes-Homer is streaking away with the highest average rating in the league. At 7.42, he’s well ahead of the field given how far into the season we are. With fourteen matches to play, it seems unlikely that next-best Michael West (7.35) or anyone else will make up the difference and earn bragging rights as best performer in the Conference League this season.
Barnes-Homer is also fourth on the scoring charts, five off the pace set by Grimsby striker Liam Hearn. If Omar Koroma can stay fit now that he’s once again back from injury, he might be a chance to leapfrog both of them. The Gambian striker has been in scintillating form since shaking off some jitters early in his Lincoln career. Koroma’s also third on average ratings, at 7.33, but is unlikely to be crowned best performer due to lack of matches played (just 23 out of a possible 32 so far).
Barnes-Homer is also fourth on the scoring charts, five off the pace set by Grimsby striker Liam Hearn. If Omar Koroma can stay fit now that he’s once again back from injury, he might be a chance to leapfrog both of them. The Gambian striker has been in scintillating form since shaking off some jitters early in his Lincoln career. Koroma’s also third on average ratings, at 7.33, but is unlikely to be crowned best performer due to lack of matches played (just 23 out of a possible 32 so far).
Thursday 22 November 2012
Day 222
We travelled to Kidderminster today, hoping to further cement our place at the top of the league. I kept Samba Kanouté, Alex Billington, and Alan Power in the starting lineup after their heroics against Cambridge. Woods and Nutter made the bench, while Bore sat out entirely for the second successive game. Matthew Barnes-Homer returned to the side after being rested last week. Francis Laurent dropped to the bench. Youngster Robert Taylor failed to impress against Cambridge, so French winger Benjamin Laurant was drafted in to start on the left flank.
Barnes-Homer hit the side-netting twice in the first four minutes of the game. The striker looked in a goalscoring mood, making both chances himself. He nearly got his goal in the 15th minute, following a scramble in the Kidderminster box. Both Barnes-Homer and strike-partner Ben May were kept out thanks to desperate defending.
There was no keeping out defender Rui Marques, however, as the experienced Angolan tenaciously converted a corner from Chris Shuker for our first goal in the 22nd minute.
Kidderminster striker Nick Wright was booked for diving after half an hour. I breathed a sigh of relief, because Wright had found himself in a one-on-one with my keeper. Only a woeful first touch kept the striker from firing a shot off. The dive was clearly an attempt to salvage something from the chance.
The players looked nervous during the second period. Neither side really made any headway, snatching at chances and giving the ball away.
With ten minutes on the clock that changed, however. Substitute John Nutter, playing in midfield instead of his usual left-back role, played an incisive through ball for Barnes-Homer. The striker streaked away from the Kidderminster defence, took a touch, and buried his shot beyond the keeper. The closing stages were just a formality from then—everyone on the pitch knew that scores would stay as they were.
Highlights for me were another strong right-back showing from Samba Kanouté and a stellar display from veteran centre half Rui Marques—perhaps my most consistent performer this season.
Mansfield lost to Fleetwood, which means we’re now six points clear (although Wrexham could peg that back to three if they win both of their games in hand). There are still fourteen matches to play, but we’re looking increasingly likely to run away with the title.
Barnes-Homer hit the side-netting twice in the first four minutes of the game. The striker looked in a goalscoring mood, making both chances himself. He nearly got his goal in the 15th minute, following a scramble in the Kidderminster box. Both Barnes-Homer and strike-partner Ben May were kept out thanks to desperate defending.
There was no keeping out defender Rui Marques, however, as the experienced Angolan tenaciously converted a corner from Chris Shuker for our first goal in the 22nd minute.
Kidderminster striker Nick Wright was booked for diving after half an hour. I breathed a sigh of relief, because Wright had found himself in a one-on-one with my keeper. Only a woeful first touch kept the striker from firing a shot off. The dive was clearly an attempt to salvage something from the chance.
The players looked nervous during the second period. Neither side really made any headway, snatching at chances and giving the ball away.
With ten minutes on the clock that changed, however. Substitute John Nutter, playing in midfield instead of his usual left-back role, played an incisive through ball for Barnes-Homer. The striker streaked away from the Kidderminster defence, took a touch, and buried his shot beyond the keeper. The closing stages were just a formality from then—everyone on the pitch knew that scores would stay as they were.
Highlights for me were another strong right-back showing from Samba Kanouté and a stellar display from veteran centre half Rui Marques—perhaps my most consistent performer this season.
Mansfield lost to Fleetwood, which means we’re now six points clear (although Wrexham could peg that back to three if they win both of their games in hand). There are still fourteen matches to play, but we’re looking increasingly likely to run away with the title.
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