FMstory

Hello friends, we are reaching half way to the 2013/14 season and we are currently lying in 7th place, the last play-off spot. We reached the peak last month going through an unbeaten run and chalking up good results. The defence seems to be playing better after i switch the philosophy back to rigid. For the first 2 weeks of the month, we will be without our top scorer Izale Mcleod, loan striker Roel Smit will replace him and i hope he can shoulder most of the goals at this time. We had some difficult games coming especially first game of the month, we are meeting Rochdale, leaders of league 2. Lets take a look how we fare against them and the rest of the teams.

Another month of great results as we started the month with a victory over the leaders Rochdale and progressed  to 3rd round of the FA cup. We have been unbeaten for fifthteen matches in all competition ever since the loss to Burton in October. Seems like the players are enjoying their football and lets hope they can continue producing the goods for the coming new year.

First game of the month was against Rochdale, the current leaders of league 2. The media predicted them to finish 16th, they have really exceeded the expectation of the media just like we are the surprise team. The match began as Rochdale creating chances and shooting from long range without any threat. In the 5th minute, we took the lead through a counter attack, Mitchell McPike slide a through ball to the path of Thomas Hitchcock and he doesn’t disappoint,  putting the ball pass the on rushing keeper to the net. We were holding them well until just before the break, they equalized with a well taken goal . Immediately after the break, we caught them off-guard when Roel Smit received a pass and holding the ball well in the left flank and passed to Mitchell McPike at the edge of the box. No defenders were marking him and he made no mistake in guiding the ball to the left corner. For the rest of the half, both team had chances and my goalkeeper did a great job in saving a number of shots to keep the score remained as it is.

Next was against 20th place team Darlington. I fancy our chances against them and opt for a control strategy but it wasn’t to be our day.  Although we created loads of chances but i think we had a poor game. Passes was going astray and we always lost possession to the opposition. They managed to take a lead in the 41st minute when they managed to get behind my central defender to pump in a goal. Their goalkeeper was in magnificent form today, stopping every shot and clearing every aerial crosses coming his way. We eventually grab the equalizer when a mis-interception by their player allow Roel Smit to power in a goal. The game ended 1-1 with their goalkeeper being Man Of The Match. Roel Smit had picked up a knock and it was later confirmed that he will be out for 3 weeks. I was a bit disappointed with his injury as he had been performing well and he had been the highlight of this game. Luckily Izale Mcleod will be back soon.

This is the match of the FA cup 2nd round replay against Oxford except this time we will be visiting their home ground. I strongly wanted to win this match as the next round will be against Aston Villa and will be play at Villa Park. Bigger stadium mean bigger attendance and we will get a bigger slice of the tickets revenue. This match will not be easy for us as my loan signing are all ineligible for FA cup fixtures. Though Izale Mcleod just returned from injury but i had no hesitation in throwing him into the frame. And the move paid off when he had a goal and 2 assist which is scored by Thomas Hitchcock. Thomas Hitchcock was excellent today and he score a hat-trick. I took Izale Mcleod off at half time as he was not match fit. Though at certain times, i had my heart on my mouth as they came back to the game a few occasion, pulling 3 goals back. But we held on till the final whistle and will be visiting Villa Park next round. It was a pulsating match as there is a lot of goals the media reaction ” What a game” which i totally agreed. After the game, we got a prize money of 27k and some revenue on gate receipts, we are currently only 50k in debt.

Our next game was against Bradford that was relegated from league 1 last season. Their team had 2 very good strikers in DJ Campbell and Cavin Zola. Though we were playing at home but i opt for the counter strategy and rely on the pace of Izale Mcleod to pose some problems to the opposition defence. Our first real attacking shot turn into a goal when Izale Mcleod slide a through pass to the right and Moreno Marra sent a diagonal shot pass the goalkeeper into the net. They soon equalized when my defender failed to clear a cross and we conceded a headed goal. Thomas Hitchcock who was having a good game smashed in a goal to the top corner from 25 yards to doubled our lead. The first half ended with us leading 2-1. We were doing most of the defending in the second half and couldn’t really get the ball away from our half. I tried to send in a defensive midfielder for a striker to try and protect our lead, but we still conceded a goal in injury time. Although our performance was poorer than Bradford but to concede a goal in the injury time disappointed the fans a lot. That is 2 points lost in their opinion.

Next game was a visit to The Racecourse Ground, stadium of Wrexham that was lying in 21st place at the moment. I employ control strategy in this game and we totally dominated and controlled the game from start to finish. Just 24 seconds into the match, Aaron Wildig  robbed the ball off the opposition player and slide a through pass to Izale Mcleod who made no mistake in putting the ball in the net. We doubled the lead in a 4 minute salvo when Brett Slade passed the ball to Thomas Hitchcock from the right and he smashed the ball pass the goalkeeper easily. From that on its all about Thurrock as we passed the ball around teasing and tearing Wrexham defence to pieces. Brett Slade provided another assist when he sent a cross to the penalty area and Moreno Marra being not the tallest player jumped and headed in a goal.  Before the half time whistle was heard, Paul Sturrock got his first goal from the penalty spot when Izale Mcleod was fouled in the box. Our first half performance was terrific and we stormed to a 4 goal lead comfortably. Brett Slade the best player of the day, got his name in the scoresheet when he pounced on a rebound after a glancing header from Troy Archibad-Henville came back the post. It was one way traffic but my players slacked down a bit after leading with 5 goals and Wrexham must be happy that they need not suffer any more misery.

Wycombe the team lying in 13th place will be our next opponent. We got another early goal in the 4th minute when Aaron Wildig tested the goalkeeper with a 25 yards shot. It was pushed away but fell not far to Thomas Hitchcock and he simply cannot miss in such a close range. The game went on with us taking the game to Wycombe and we had a two goal lead after some nice work from Izale Mcleod down the right flank, he cut the back to Kevin McDonald at the edge of the box , he hit a first time shot but the ball hit Thomas Hitchcock and deflected the ball in the net. We went into the break leading with 2 goals. Aaron Wildig who was magnificent all day scored his first goal for the club after their defender can only cleared the ball to his path and he unleashed an unstoppable shot to the goal in 60th minute. The fourth goal came when Troy Archibad-Henville headed in a goal from a Robbie Threlfall freekick. Troy turned from hero to villain when he received his marching orders 2 minutes later after a second bookable offence. As a result, they pulled back two goals, both long shots which my goalkeeper unable to save. It was still a valuable win for us though i am a bit disappointed that we were unable to keep a clean sheet.

Last game of the month was against Brentford, that was dragged into the relegation fight after suffering a record of 13 defeats in a row. We were definitely looking to pile on more misery on them. But it was no easy feat as they were determined to stop the run of defeats. After squandered few chances, we finally took the lead when Kevin McDonald glanced a header to the left corner of the net after a fine cross from Paul Sturrock. That was the only goal of the game as we couldn’t add to the tally though we created numerous chances. Troy Archibad-Henville was suspended for 2 matches after his sent off in the last game. The defence do look shaky without him and luckily my goalkeeper was having a good game saving several one to one shots. Else the result will be different.

With 4 wins and 2 draws, we had climbed to 5th place in the table. Meanwhile after a good run of results, Luton is the current leader of league 2. Half the season gone and we are among the top with a great chance to gain direct promotion to league 1. If we can produce the same form for the rest of the season, i don’t see the reason why we cannot achieve that. The loan signings that i had made did very well during their time here and all of them will return to their clubs in January and February. I need to secure few long term loans until the rest of the season when the transfer window opens.

Next month will see us playing 6 games with the biggest game for us which is travelling to Villa Park to face Aston Villa for the FA cup 3rd round fixtures. The league opposition that we facing are mostly lying in mid-table, so i will fancy our chances next month to consolidate our position.

Thats it friends, another month of updates on my Thurrock story. Thanks for reading and i will see you in my next post Thurrock-January 2014 results. Bye…

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