Thurrock January & February 2021 results-Unbeaten run saw us climb to 2nd place

Hello friends, this post will cover January and February results as my January results had nothing fascinating and i am eager to know how my team goes. We are currently sitting in 3rd place with a chance to overturn the top 2 teams with an automatic promotion spot under grabs. Meanwhile the transfer window will be open and there is some transfer activity going on. First of all lets take a look on my transfer activities.

Players Out

Sam Allen and Ignasi Miquel were released as they could not command a regular place and had been unhappy about it. Pretty good money for two fringe players.

Players in

Danny Montague is a young English left back. I signed him with future in mind. Gabriel Torje returned back to Peterborough after his loan expired and i ask for his services once again as he is a wonderful backup player. Pawel Czajka and Harry Hermans both play in midfield as i need some cover due to the injury of Colin Madden. Pawel came in on loan from Hibernian while i spent 300k to sign Harry from FC Twente. It seems that the money was not well spent as he is still finding his feet in the games that he had played.

January Results

The injuries to Colin Madden and John Leonard had hit us real hard. Even though we were unbeaten in January but there was no wins either.

The Games

We had four draws in the league games against Stoke, Middlesbrough, West Ham and Notts County. Its frustrating to see the games ended up in draws as we had complete domination in all four games with more shots and possession. But somehow the players struggled to put the ball in the net. The other game was the FA cup 3rd round against our promotion rivals Bristol City. I changed the whole eleven players putting in all reserves in order to focus in the league. My club financial is quite stable so i can afford not to rely on the prize money. The game turned into a thriller as we create the highest goal record in the FA Cup. It was a goal feast for the fans as we went out of the FA Cup losing 5-6 to Bristol City.

Top 6 Teams

Even though we did not have a great month but we are still lying in 3rd place 4 points off 2nd place Bristol City and 8 points off 1st place Wolves. Next month will be critical for us as we will be meeting the top two teams

February results

There are only four games to be play in February. We had a great month. The return of Colin Madden and John Leonard from injuries had really helped. Jim Beardsley was absolutely on fire this month helping us to win three out of the four games.

Home against Wolves

We welcomed 1st place Wolves to our Ship Lane Stadium for our first game of the month. It was a sell out home game. Both team played cautiously for the first 20 minutes as few chances were created. It was Thurrock who took the lead after a Jose Cosme cross found the head of Alexandar Lafuente and we were 1-0 up. We couldn’t keep the lead for long as Wolves found some space and equalized seven minutes later. It was 1-1 in the first half. Both teams were guilty of some poor finishing after the break and it ended with both teams sharing the points.

Away at The Keepmoat Stadium

Next was an away game against 11th place Doncaster. From the start, they could not find an answer to our fluid passing game as we raced off to a two goal lead both goals scored by Jim Beardsley. The first was suspicious of scoring in an offside position while the second goal was scored through a counter attack. Jim Beardsley turned provider in the last minute of the first half when he headed to the path of John Leonard to give us a 3-0 lead. We were not slacking down in the second half and Doncaster couldn’t find a way back to break down our defence. Substitute Gary Lewis completed the rout four minutes before the final whistle after he turned in a goal from a Alexandar Lafuente cross.

Home against Bristol City

Next was the most important game for us as we were up against 3rd place(we are in 2nd place points level with Bristol City with a better goal difference). Another sell out home game for us. The fans wants to cheer us on in this game. They were having a poor run of form in the last few games, probably the distractions of FA cup games had got into them. We got off to a great start in the 4th minute when John Leonard received the ball from Jim Beardsley at the edge of the box and placed a shot in. They had trouble containing our front two strikers as 5 minutes later, John Leonard played his striker partner through and Jim Beardsley used his left foot to curl a ball in to the top corner. The game was as good as over when Jim Beardsley scored his second goal of the game from a counter attack in 32nd minute. The game turned into a stalemate in the second half as they had no creativity while we were wasteful of some chances. It was a good win against one of our rivals.

Away at Walkers Stadium

Last game of the month was against relegation threatened team 22nd place Leicester. The bottom teams that we met always managed to raise their game against us. We did not play well in the first half as Leicester looked likely to score a goal with their attacks. But we were extremely luck to find ourselves one goal up. This was due to the brilliance of Jim Beardsley. He hit an unstoppable shot to the far corner in 28th minute. The second half saw us improved our performance and that made it more difficult for them to come back into the game. We got our second goal when a goalmouth scuffle saw them scoring an own goal. It was a bit harsh on Leicester as i thought they deserved something out of this game.

Table

We saw a big improvements in our position as we had overtook Bristol City to 2nd place. However looking at the table, Southampton seems to be secretly launching a late charge on the promotion as their form has been awesome recently. It seems the two promotion spots will be contented by the top four teams. I am glad for the fixtures from now on as we have finish the meetings with the other top three teams while Wolves, Southampton and Bristol City have to play each other out in the later date.

Young player of the month

I think we have the best young talents here in Thurrock as for the first time, we swept all three spots in the young player of the month awards. Jose Cosme who is on loan from Arsenal has an outstanding month chipping in few assist while the other two spots are occupy by John Leonard and Colin Madden.

March Fixtures

We have five games waiting for us in March. The teams that will pose us some problems will be Derby, Reading and Newcastle. But confidence is high in the camp and i think we have a great chance of consolidating our position.

Wrap Up

We have been unbeaten for two months now and i hope complacency do not show in the next few games. Will this season finally saw us plying our trade in the Premiership? Please stay tuned and find out. Meanwhile thanks for reading and i hope to bring you some good news in my next report.