Thurrock-January 2011 results

Dear friends, half a season gone and we are the leaders of Blue Square South, five points clear of second place Chelmsford. I need my players to be at their best for the remaining games in the next few months, any slip-up will allow Chelmsford to overtake us for the top spot and all our efforts before will be in a waste. It will be a busy schedule in January as we need to play seven games, the most important game will be away to our closest rival Chelmsford. If we can win this game, it will be very difficult for them to catch us as the rest of the opposition we faced is not very strong. Here is the results.

vs Welling 3-0
It was a fairly easy game for us, we dominate the game and doesn’t allow them to create much chances. Jack Jeffrey opened the scoring in the first half to give us a lead. Then David  King head in from a corner and Matt Paine scored in close range in the second half to give us a very comfortable lead. Though we create a few more chances but we could not score anymore. I have one bad news, my physio informed me that Josh Falkingham suffered a injury and will be out for 2 months. That is a blow to my team as he has been performing very well.

vs Salisbury 2-0
It was not easy against Salisbury, they have been challenging a play-off place all season. Josh Falkingham is out injured, i gave a chance to my veteran midfielder Alex Smith to replace him. The game turned out to be easier than i expected, we produced a superb first half performance to take a two goal lead. The scorers were Jack Jeffrey and David King. Salisbury never really show that they want the game back and the scores remain as it is, we could not increase the score either. Another injury bad news, David King will be out for 2-3 weeks, i am a bit worried about it as he is in the best form of his life now. I hope it doesn’t affect our results while he is out.

vs Dover 2-1
Both team were fairly even match throughout the game, we took a lead scored by Simon Heslop through a spot kick. But they make things level five minutes later. I think luck was with us as with fourteen minutes left, their defender scored a own goal to give us another three points in the bag.

vs Western Super Mare 3-1
They are the relegations favorites and occupying the last spot now, their defence conceded the most goals, and it really shown in this match, within five minutes after the starting whistle, we were 2-0 up, both goals scored by Paul Hakim. They manage to pull one goal back in the 63 minutes but Paul Hakim scored his hat-trick to put the game beyond them in the 75 minutes to consolidate our position on the table.

vs Basingstoke 3-1
Another relegation candidate who is struggling in the bottom half of the table. We established a comfortable three goal lead inside 47 minutes, Paul Hakim scored the first goal and Jack Jeffrey scored a brace inside each half  to the delight of our fans. Though they managed to pull a goal back but thats just pure consolation. This is our fifth win in the row, and i am delighted the injuries of Josh Falkingham and David King did not affect our results too much.

vs Chelmsford 1-3
Next up is against Chelmsford, currently ten points behind us. Based on current form they are the only team that is capable of catching us. They were very determined to reduce the gap between them and us, they performed magnificently and we were no match for them. They kept attacking and were rewarded with three goals, though Jack Jeffrey scored his fifth goal in six games to make the scoreline much more respectable. But i got to admit that we performed badly and they deserved to win the game. This reduce the deficit to seven points.

The last game against Gloucester was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch in their home ground, but you know what, Chelmsford had suffered a shock defeat and still seven points behind us but we have a game in hand.

I was awarded another manager of the month award after leading the team to five victories in six games. I am feeling quite confident now that we will be able to achieve promotion this season based on the current form of my players. I am particularly delighted with Jack Jeffrey, he had trained well and scored more goals in this month alone compare to him managed just four goals in the first half of the season. I believe he will become a key player for the team in the coming games. We will be playing four games in February and this is a key month for us, if we can keep up the momentum, nothing is going to stop us for running away with the Blue Square South title.