Hello friends, after the shocking results last month, i change my tactics from attacking back to standard and the tackling to become default. We seriously need to improve our form  as our rivals are not dropping too many points as we are. The table is pretty tight so we need to win as many points as possible to prevent us from dropping out of the title race. Not too many games played in this month, 4 BSP matches and 1 FA trophy match. Lets take a look on the results.

Very good set of results there, besides the defeat on the FA trophy game, we actually won all of the BSP games. What a big contrast compared to last month. Most likely we don’t have the players who have the attributes to start a attacking strategy. I still can’t figure out why. Anyway this is the tactics that suit my team best so i will stick to it till the end of season.

First game of the month was against Kidderminster who is lying in mid-table. They were having a good run winning their last 3 games. Immediately after the start of whistle, there were plenty of action. Steven Leslie gave us the lead in the 3rd minute scoring in close range after a goalmouth scuffle. But straight after the kick-off they equalized though their player is suspicious of an offside position. They took the lead after my players lost possession in their penalty area, a swift counter attack saw their player scored from the edge of the 6 yards box. We had a injury when Troy Archibad-Henville had a clash in head and it was confirmed that he had a fracture skull and will be out for 2-3 months. I expect a better performance from my players in the second half and they didn’t disappoint me. Marc Richards took advantage of a mistake from their player to make things level in the 57th minute. A late penalty in the 83rd minute completed the comeback, the fans were totally delighted about it.

They were once our close rival last season but they had been struggling to recover the form shown last season. They seem to have difficulty in beating us, the last 3 meetings between saw us winning 2 and draw 1. This was a game that we dominate the possession again and were the better team. Steven Leslie fired himself into the record books being the fastest goal scored when he scored inside the first minute after the starting whistle. But we couldn’t keep the lead and conceded a goal just before half time. We came out in the second half determined to preserve our 100% record against them and my young Spanish defender Ignasi Miquel scored his first goal for the club from a corner. After our second goal, they never really try to come back into the game and we went home with 3 points in the bag.

Next up was a FA trophy match against our rivals Ebbsfleet. I gave a rest to several of my key players as my focus now is the BSP title. Nevertheless i believe the players whom were on the pitch definitely had the quality to win this game. But their players were having a good game, we conceded 1 goal in each half, though we managed to pull a goal back, we were unable to find the equalizer and went out of the FA trophy match. The fans were definitely not too happy about it as they hate losing to one of the rivals. But i had to do what is best for the club, to compensate their disappointment by gaining promotion to league 2.

Undoubtedly this is the biggest game of the month, we were hosting Cheltenham one of our title challenger in our Ship Lane stadium. I am wary of the quality they have in their players especially one regen player, a young striker loaned from Everton. He got amazing attributes and was good enough for any league 1 team. But the game went on with us controlling the game from start to the end. Izale Mcleod gave us a lead in 11th minute and the score stayed as it is until the final whistle. I was glad that their players were having a off day, with so much quality in their side, they only managed to create 4 chances with no shots on target. I was delighted with the win as it opened up the gap between them and us.

Last game of the month was against Barnet a team lying at the bottom of the table. Once again we were very strong at home and we control everything in this game, Izale Mcleod was in devastating form and he scored a hat-trick in this game. He wrote himself into the Thurrock record books by becoming the highest scorer in a season with these goals. Though they got a consolation goal but this doesn’t seems to affect the atmosphere in the stadium.

I was awarded my third manager of the month award with the results in this month. 4 wins in a row once again saw us climb to the top of the table having same points as York but with a better goal difference. Accrington is lying in 3rd place 2 points behind us and Cheltenham suffered a dip in form this month and dropped to 4th place with 6 points difference from us. I am glad that my players return to winning form this month, as long as there is no repeat of the performance in November, we should be in for a great chance laying hands on the title come April.

There will be 5 games to be played in the brand new year and 1 or 2 opposition will cause us some problems. The players need to keep the good form running and i hope to gain 9-12 points in January.

Dear friends, this is my latest update for my Thurrock story. Thank you for reading and i will see you in my next update Thurrock-January 2013 results.