Written by After the few signings i had made in July, i concluded another two more signings, one midfielder and one right winger. They are Josh Falkingham and Loui Fazakerley.
He was a former Leeds player who was released this season. I am delighted that he had chosen to join Thurrock for the new challenge. He has good technique, first touch and creativity ability, i will employ him as my new play-maker. However his aerial attributes is very poor, i will ask him to stay forward when defending corners. I hope he will blend into the club well and win us some games.
I signed him to compete with Chris Black for the right midfielder spot. He has decent pace and dribbling skills. I hope he will have some trickery on his side to run at defenders and put some decent crosses in for my strikers.
After these two signings, i think i have a squad now whom can compete with the rest to help us to win promotion to the Blue square Premier. It certainly looks promising when i had completed the friendlies.
My new signings had blended into the squad well, though the opposition is not strong but i am delighted with the chances we created and both my new strikers are scoring goals. I am especially delighted the way we thrashed GH Academy 5-1.
These are the players whom i will start as first team regulars.
New signings David King and Lewis Walker will sit in central defence and David King will be my new captain for the team. My loan signing Eddie Oshodi will take the left back position. Josh Falkingham will be the new play-maker and Simon Heslop is used as ball winning midfielder. Chris Black will be the right midfielder. Up front will be Jack Jeffrey(Deep lying forward) and Paul Hakim(Poacher).
Although i had high expectation for my new team, i never expect such a great result in the first month. We went through the month unbeaten, four wins and one draw.
vs Salisbury 2-2
7th August, curtain raiser of the season, a very tough game against Salisbury as they were relegated from the Blue Square Premier last season. I used a counter attacking strategy as we definitely are the underdogs. After start of the whistle, they keep attacking our goal and we were under tremendous pressure. Their striker Matt Tubbs was in great form, he scored a brace, first goal was shoot from 30 yards in 23rd minute and went in from underside of the bar. Four minutes after the break, he scored again, this time from the edge of the area. Just when i thought we were going to lose the match, Chris Black scored his first goal for the club at close range from a corner. My team seems galvanized by this goal and we created more chances after that. We were finally rewarded when Simon Heslop scored a screamer from 35 yards to give us a precious point. I was delighted by my team’s late showing. This was our only draw for the whole month and we chalked up four straight wins after this game.
vs Dover 2-0
They are the 5th place team last season, i use the same strategy counter attacking for this game.I never expect us to control the game from start to end. David King gave us the lead through a corner in the 7th minute. We keep attacking but could not find a way in. 2 minutes after the normal time, Paul Hakim collected a pass by Matt Paine from the left at the edge of the area. He scored a wonderful goal by curling the ball into the far corner. I was delighted with my new signings, they have listen to my instructions and played really well.
vs Western-Super-Mare 2-1
They were expected to finish 21st place by the media and we were slightly favorites to win this game. I employ a control strategy for this game. Just when i thought it would be an easy game, we went behind from a corner. My left back mistimed the interception and their player scored in close range to give them a lead until the break. I told my players to perform better as i could not accept this kind of performances. They did not disappoint me, Paul Hakim received a cross from Matt Paine from the left, side-step his marker and scored from close range to level the game. Just when i thought the game was heading for a draw, my captain David King was pull down in the penalty area during a free kick and we were rewarded a penalty. Simon Heslop stepped up confidently to score and win us the game. It was a great comeback. I was proud with the team.
vs Chelmsford 1-0
They were the better side in this game and hit my goal post at least twice, but we were lucky as their strikers are having a bad day. Through a free kick, a mistake by their player allowed my captain David King to head in the goal from close range to give us three points in the bag. I got to admit even though we never play well but we were extremely lucky to win this game.
vs Gloucester 1-0
They were a non-league team just promoted, we beat them 3-0 in a friendly earlier in July. I thought it will be an easy game and employ a control strategy. However they proved to be a very tough nut to crack and it was a dull game as very few chances were created between the two sides. My left midfielder Matt Paine is not playing well, i replaced him with Alex Smith but in the central position and Simon Heslop is moved to the left. It was a well change move as Simon Heslop provided a curling cross to the penalty area and Jack Jeffrey was there to knock it in. This win was our fourth in a row and my first time for a series of win since managing Thurrock.
The unbeaten run saw us glancing down the rest of the teams in Blue Square South which the players will find very unfamiliar with. But i need to instill this winning mentality to the players and keep the good run going.
The good run also saw me winning my first manager of the month award for August.
Few players need special commendation as they really performed very well to keep us unbeaten for the month. I am very happy with my new signings as quite a number of them achieved an average ratings of 7.00 and above. Most impressive is David King, he has two goals, one assist and two MOM in just five games. Second is Josh Falkingham with two assists to his name.
I hope we can keep the good run going, if we can produce these type of performances consistently, then we will have a really good chance of gaining promotion.
Well done. That's a brilliant start to the season, and impressive how your team managed to fight back.
Just as a fun fact, my QPR team only beat the GH Academy 3-0 in our pre-season after we were promoted. No disrespect, but puts into perspective just how poor my team were during pre-season, and that score flattered us. We scored 2 penalties and from a corner.
Thank you, i have been very pleased with their late comeback, this is very rare in the last season. I hope they can maintain their good form and keep on surprising me.
Wow, you are doing well. I hope you can get Thurrock on the football map by moving them up the leagues. Good luck and I shall be keeping notice.
Thank you, i am encouraged by the good start but at the same time not getting carried away. If my team can give me the same results in the next few months, i will surely think that we can make it this season.
Well done Lye, great start! You can make it, don't worry
Thanks for the encouragement, Johnny. I will do my best to get us promoted at the end of the season.