October 2014

Lewis Montrose returned to the squad for the next match against Forest Green who were struggling towards the bottom of the table. We were in front almost immediately when Michael Noone fed in Ryan Charles who hit a low shot into the corner from about 10 yards. We looked comfortable for the rest of the game, amassing a total of 14 shots, 10 of which were on target, but perhaps somewhat surprisingly we only managed one more goal. It came in the 86th minute when a Netan Sansara free-kick was parried to the feet of Sam Pitman who fired in his first senior league goal to make the final score 2-0.

Shortly before the next game against 4th placed Stevenage, our parent club Aston Villa signalled their intent on sending a youngster on loan to us for the rest of the season. The player in question was 19-year-old attacking midfielder Ray Smith, and the deal was finalised in time for Smith to make the bench for the Stevenage game. We now had six very strong centre midfielders, with Smith adding to a list that already included Lewis Montrose, Callum Harrison, Mitchell McPike, David Fox and Michael Noone. With no goals coming in the first half, I decided to throw on a couple more attacking options in the 67th minute by bringing on Smith for his debut, as well as Joe Benjamin up front. It didn't take the latter long to change the game; less than five minutes after being introduced, Benjamin was played in by Mitchell McPike, took one touch of the ball then powered a curling shot into the far corner of the goal to make it 1-0. Sam Pitman was brought off injured shortly after, but we managed to hold on and went away with the 3 points.

We made it four wins on the trot in the next game against Salisbury, despite going behind early on from the penalty spot and Michael Noone missing our own potential-leveller from 12 yards 30 minutes later. Mitchell McPike headed in shortly after the break to eventually equalise, and then substitute Ryan Charles' 7th goal of the season sealed the victory for us with 15 minutes left on the clock.

Our winning run unfortunately came to an end the following Saturday when we travelled to Aldershot, who were sitting in 3rd. An own goal from Ryan Charles in first half stoppage time gave the home side the lead, and their advantage was doubled from the penalty spot with just over 10 minutes of normal time left. An 89th minute tap-in from Paul Green, his first goal for the club, proved not enough and we went back to Shropshire empty-handed.

Fleetwood Town, who were tentatively floating around the relegation zone, then made the trip to New Bucks Head. We won the game 2-1 with goals from Ryan Charles and Richard Offiong, despite them having only 3 shots to our 16. Nevertheless, a win is a win.

The final game of October was an FA Cup tie against Stafford Rangers of the Blue Square North. Stafford were performing well in the league, sitting in 2nd place, but had lost two in a row going into our game. A rare start was handed to Lewis Alessandra which proved worthwhile as the striker got on the end of Lewis Montrose's pass for his 3rd goal of the season. Richard Offiong made sure of our victory in the 51st minute and we comfortably progressed to the 1st Round of the competition, with a tie at home to Guiseley to look forward to.

12 points from a possible 15 in the league meant we ended October at the top of the tree in 1st place, a point ahead of our nearest rivals Cambridge, who we play next month. The rest of November's fixtures are against bottom-half sides, sandwiching the FA Cup 1st Round tie.

September 2014

Jordan Watson was called up to the Northern Ireland U21 squad and therefore missed the first game of the month against Kidderminster Harriers, who at the point of playing us, sat at the top of the league. We found ourselves 2-0 down within 60 minutes, which left us a bit of a mountain to climb in order to salvage something from the fixture. Richard Offiong and Callum Harrison were brought on for Max Wragg and the injured Lewis Montrose and the formation was changed to an attacking 3-4-3. An 83rd minute Netan Sansara free-kick from the edge of the box brought us back into the game at 2-1, and then in the 2nd minute of stoppage time, Sansara was once again involved when his cross was met by Tom Parkes at the back post, who headed past the Kidderminster 'keeper to level things up and ensure we didn't go home empty-handed.

We went into our next match against Ebbsfleet without Jordan Watson who was still on international duty, and Lewis Montrose who was injured in the previous game. David Fox replaced the captain with Chris Robertson taking the armband, whilst Richard Offiong replaced Lewis Alessandra up front. A spectacular 35-yard effort from Ryan Charles put us in front after 12 minutes, with Tom Parkes' 2nd goal in as many games doubling our lead before the break. The decision to include Richard Offiong in the starting line-up proved to be a good one, as the striker grabbed a second half brace, either side of a consolation reply from Ebbsfleet's Jamie Forshaw. Offiong was named Man of the Match; an award that could've gone to any of the 14 players involved on the day.

A disappointing goalless draw away to York City was followed by another win; this time against last season's runners-up, Wrexham. Ryan Charles converted a penalty after 12 minutes, only for the Welsh side to grab one back on 35 minutes. However, in first half stoppage time, Richard Offiong put us back in front with a neat finish after he found himself one-on-one with the Wrexham 'keeper. The game finished 2-1 after a rather uneventful second half.

Our unbeaten run, which spanned seven games, came to an abrupt end when we travelled to Histon, as they beat us 3-1. Having come on as a substitute in the previous game for his first appearance for the club, Sam Pitman made his first start, replacing Max Wragg at right-back. Despite having 18 shots (double their efforts), including four clear cut chances, two shots that hit the woodwork and four blocked shots, we just couldn't find the finishing touch, and a Lewis Alessandra goal with not long left on the clock was merely a consolation.

We hosted AFC Wimbledon at New Bucks Head, hoping that we could get back to winning ways. Michael Noone partnered Mitchell McPike in the centre of midfield, as David Fox was taken off injured in the previous match, and unfortunately would be out for 3-4 months with a damaged Achilles tendon. The visitors scored first; centre back Leon Johnson rose at the back post to head in from a free-kick after 19 minutes. A scramble in the box just before half-time though, saw the ball fall to Jordan Watson's feet, who passed it into an empty net for his first goal for the club and to level things up, and this was the way things finished, at 1-1.

The final game of the month was an away fixture at Burton Albion, who found themselves second to bottom in the league, making it on paper an easy victory for us. It was far from that though. Two Michael Noone goals gave us a good start; the first a 25 yard shot into the top corner, and the second a penalty; but in the second half Burton responded with two goals of their own to draw themselves level. In an effort to find a winner, Lewis Alessandra was brought on to add some extra firepower, and the formation was changed to 3-4-3. It worked; on 75 minutes, Darius Charles was sent off for bringing down his namesake Ryan in the box and we were awarded yet another penalty. There was only one man who was going to take it; Michael Noone. He didn't disappoint, and cooly converted it to give us the lead and seal his hat-trick. Richard Offiong rounded things off with a low shot just minutes later, leaving the final score 4-2 to us.

We finished September in 2nd place behind Cambridge who were just a single point ahead of us. It was yet another good month, so all I can say is: more of the same next month... please.

August 2014

The first game of the 2014/15 season brought us up against Barnet at their ground. They had finished in the bottom half the previous year, and we'd won all four previous meetings over the past two seasons so it's safe to say we were the favourites for the match. Jordan Watson was the only new face in the starting line-up, beginning the game on the left of midfield. Mitchell McPike and Joe Benjamin made the bench, with the other new arrival, Sam Pitman, unavailable through injury. We had a good start though; Netan Sansara floated in a free-kick from the right hand side which was pushed into the net, rather strangely, by Barnet 'keeper Ross Rehman. Things got better for us when Denis Behan scored from another free-kick, and we went into the break 2-0 up. The Barnet manager must've said something spectacular in the dressing room though; as within 8 minutes of the restart, they were level. We piled on the pressure, with Benjamin, McPike and Lewis Alessandra all coming on as substitutes; one of them in place of David Fox who had to be brought off through injury after 62 minutes. It looked as though we were fighting a lost cause until in the third minute of a possible four minutes of stoppage time, Jordan Watson floated the ball into the Barnet box, and Mitchell McPike rose above the defence to head in from 10 yards. Not a bad way to introduce yourself really.

An injury in the previous game to David Fox meant McPike was given his first start for the club in the next game against newly-relegated Darlington. Jake Simpson also missed the game with a twisted knee, meaning Ryan Charles moved to right midfield and Lewis Alessandra started up front. After a goalless first half, we were awarded a penalty on 60 minutes when Denis Behan was brought down in the box. Behan himself stepped up and converted it to give us the lead. Darlington gave little response, and we should've added to our lead many times. It wasn't until the 92nd minute that we did eventually double our tally, with captain Lewis Montrose turning sharply in the box and hitting a low shot in the bottom corner to seal the victory.

Joe Benjamin started his first game for the club in the next match away at Gateshead, replacing the injured Denis Behan. Gateshead were definitely our bogey team; we'd lost all four of our previous meetings, despite them finishing 13th in the last two seasons. By the end of the game, that figure had increased to five wins from five for Gateshead, after a 3-1 victory ensured they went home with all three points. They scored first, but Lewis Alessandra cancelled their early goal out just after half-time. However, two more goals gave them the win, and I just don't understand why we can't beat them.

We were back to winning ways in the next match though, with a convincing 4-0 victory over Droylsden. A goal after just 19 seconds from Ryan Charles, the quickest in the club's history, gave us a very early lead, with Michael Noone doubling our advantage after 13 minutes. Joe Benjamin added a third on 85 minutes with a powerful effort, his first goal for the club, and Lewis Montrose rounded off the win with a 20-yard shot, taking his tally for the season to two, doubling his career goals and tripling his total for the club.

We travelled to Northwich for the next game, and once again went away with three points with a Denis Behan penalty on 27 minutes, followed by a Ryan Charles goal, giving us a 2-0 victory. The final game of the season was at home to 4th placed Macclesfield. Charles' third goal in three games gave us the lead, and although for the rest of the game they had the better chances, they failed to find a goal and we once again went home with 3 points.

This month was certainly one of the best in my managerial career in terms of results, and it was a perfect start to the league campaign. We were in 2nd place, behind Kidderminster, who were incidentally our first opponents in September. The success this month has come despite several injuries to notable first-teamers, including Jake Simpson, David Fox and Denis Behan, which shows the level of squad depth we currently have. I'm hoping for more of the same next month, so we shall see!

June/July 2014

This pre-season turned out to be the toughest in terms of signing players. There seemed to be a distinct lack of talent available or willing to come to the club, and therefore only four players were brought in before the start of the season. The first to join was 22-year-old central midfielder Mitchell McPike, who had been released from the Glenn Hoddle Academy at the end of the previous season. It was a good signing, but we now had a clear abundance of central midfielders, with Lewis Montrose, David Fox and Michael Noone all vying for places in the starting line-up. However, that can only be a good thing I suppose.

My scouts were working overtime; collecting reports on literally hundreds of players, the majority of whom were either not good enough, or not interested in a move to AFC Telford. The England Trial Day wasn't a success either; after scouting every player who had been involved in the two games, nobody was signed. I decided to turn my attention to the loan market, and managed to bring in a trio of youngsters on season-long loans; Hereford's 21-year-old left winger Jordan Watson, Northampton's 23-year-old striker Joe Benjamin and West Brom's 18-year-old full back Sam Pitman. Watson, a Northern Ireland youth international, would provide Netan Sansara with some competition, whilst Benjamin would add pace and stamina to our ever-ageing forward line, as both Denis Behan and Richard Offiong were now 30.

In terms of outgoing transfers, the club was quite busy. Some notable players who followed Graham Coughlan out of the club were Matthew Duffy and Adrian Nevins, who signed for Hednesford and Morecambe respectively. Jon Adams, Andy McPherson, Matt Henry, Paul Gower and Robert Slater had also reached the end of their contract and were released on free transfers.

We had six scheduled friendly matches, the first of which was against, as usual, Glenn Hoddle's Academy. We won 3-1, with goals from Lewis Alessandra, Denis Behan and Michael Noone. This was followed by a 3-1 defeat at home to Stockport, then a battling 1-0 win against Leyton Orient, in which respectively, Lewis Alessandra and Michael Noone scored. A predictable heavy loss against our parent club Aston Villa was next (6-0) but that was followed by our own heavy win; a 5-0 victory against our feeder club Canvey Island, in which Behan (2), Alessandra, Jake Simpson and Mitchell McPike scored. The final friendly brought us up against Bristol City Reserves, and we won 2-1 with goals from McPike and Ryan Charles.

We were predicted to finish mid-table and given odds of 33-1 to win the league. However, I told the board that promotion would be the season's aim. August will see the league fixtures begin, and everyone at the club is raring to go and up for another impressive season, but hopefully this time we'll have something to show for our efforts.

May 2014

Finishing in 7th place in the Blue Square Premier is a good achievement, but part of me classes it as a disappointment. We had been in the play-off places for quite some time, but a poor couple of months around Christmas meant we were cut off from the rest of the pack, and this proved to be costly when it came to the end of the season. Next year, I believe we can go up, but we'll need to strengthen our side before that can happen.

In terms of the current squad's performance throughout the 2013/14 season, there were several stand-out performers. Denis Behan once again topped the goal-scoring charts, grabbing 20 goals in 47 appearances altogether, whilst Ryan Charles and Richard Offiong both got into double figures for the season. Lewis Montrose once again had a brilliant season; finishing with an average rating of 7.17 in 46 games, 13 assists and a pass completion ratio of 83%; the best in the league. Being made captain hadn't made his performances drop whatsoever it seems. At the back, Tom Parkes and Chris Robertson had solid first seasons with the club, and will look to build on their good performances next year. Max Wragg impressed after coming back from a lengthy spell on the sidelines, whilst Tommy Lee will be hoping he can continue as the club's number 1 next season after conceding 47 in 44 league games with 15 clean sheets.

In order to strengthen the squad, players will need to be sold. 39-year-old centre back and former captain Graham Coughlan, who scored the goal that sealed our promotion to the Blue Square Premier, had his contract mutually terminated. He plans to retire at the end of next season, but there could be a possibility of bringing him back to the club as a coach. Adrian Nevins, Carl Tremarco and Matthew Duffy look set to leave the club, whilst Lewis Alessandra could be one of the bigger names on his way out.

April 2014

Promotion-contenders Kidderminster brought an end to our run of consecutive wins with a 2-0 victory in the first game of the final month of the season. We arguably had the better chances but it was the visitors who converted the chances into goals, and we went home with nothing to show for our efforts. However we were back to winning ways in the next game against Grays Athletic, as we ran out 2-1 winners, thanks to goals from Sean Hines and Denis Behan, with the latter coming on with 20 minutes to go and scoring the winner from the penalty spot. Michael Noone twisted his ankle in the game, leaving him out for the rest of the season, which was a big blow considering David Fox had already been ruled out as well.

The Grays game was followed by two away 1-1 draws, firstly against Salisbury and then against Droylsden. In both games, we scored first and in both games, our opponents equalised within the last 20 minutes, which was very annoying to say the least. Ryan Charles hit his 50th league goal for the club in the Droylsden game, whilst Denis Behan grabbed his 20th in all competitions against Salisbury. The two draws also meant that we couldn't make the play-offs, with 6th place being the best we could achieve. It was disappointing, but 6th place would obviously be an improvement on last year.

However with two games left, we were determined to end the season on a high. The penultimate game of the season came against Woking, who were 21st in the league and looking almost certain relegation candidates. 17-year-old Paul Gower started alongside Lewis Montrose in the centre of the park for his first start for the club. It was the away side who scored first; Chris Pavlou slotting the ball neatly past Tommy Lee after 21 minutes. Their lead only last 9 minutes though, as a scramble in the box left the ball at Jake Simpson's feet, who calmy finished into an open goal. On the stroke of half-time, Richard Offiong broke through the Woking defence to score his 14th of the season, with his 15th coming after a Ryan Charles penalty. The game finished 4-1 in the end, with Offiong receiving the Man of the Match award.

The final game of the season brought us up against Rushden & Diamonds, who had occupied the top spot for over half of the season, and for the other half had been in 2nd behind Wrexham. Going into the game, they had already been crowned champions and had sealed promotion to League Two, so it was a bit of a nothing game for them. We however, could still make 6th place, as we were 3 points behind AFC Wimbledon. Rushden were 2-0 up by the 21st minute though, and it looked as if we didn't have enough to come back, until a goal-mouth scramble allowed Tom Parkes to score his 2nd of the season on 53 minutes, and then just 4 minutes later, William Mellors-Blair was played in by Richard Offiong for his 1st goal of the season in what could be his final appearance for the club due to his loan period ending after the game. After this, we had the momentum but failed to make our chances into goals, as the game finished 2-2. It was a good performance in the end, and one that we could've won on another day.

So that was it; the end of the 2013/14 season. We finished 7th, two places better than the previous year, which was something to build on for next year. The next installment of the blog will be a summary of the season, so look out for it!

March 2014

Shrewsbury Town were the first visitors of the month to New Bucks Head, a team who we hadn't beaten in the three previous games against them, and who were putting forward a strong case for a play-off place. Paul Green replaced Max Wragg at right-back in the only change to the starting line-up, and it was us who drew first blood. Jake Simpson linked well with Lewis Alessandra on the right hand side to bend a cross into the box where Netan Sansara was lurking. Sansara met the ball with his head for his 3rd goal of the season. However Shrewsbury were back level just 3 minutes later, and then, thanks to a Tom Parkes own goal, were ahead after 31 minutes. A powerful effort from David Fox just over 5 minutes before the break gave us an equaliser, but the visitors grabbed what proved to be the winning goal on 73 minutes when Alex Stavrinou scored, to make the final score 3-2 to them.

This game was followed by another defeat, this time at the hands of lowly Chester City, who were dwindling away towards the bottom half of the season. Two goals in the first half proved too much, and we didn't manage a comeback, meaning we went home with nothing. This called for some major changes in the next match at home to 3rd placed Cambridge; Max Wragg returned and Sean Hines started in left midfield, meaning Netan Sansara switched to left back. Tom Parkes partnered Chris Robertson at centre half, with Callum Harrison dropping to the bench, and Ryan Charles came in for Lewis Alessandra, who had taken a knock in the previous game. Jake Simpson's 2nd goal of the season put us ahead after 12 minutes, only for Cambridge to cancel it out 7 minutes later. Simpson unfortunately had to be brought off on 34 minutes after twisting his knee but a Denis Behan double in the space of 3 minutes shortly before half-time, one a header from a Sansara cross, and the other a penalty, gave us a massive advantage. Ryan Charles added a 4th on 62 minutes and David Fox completed the rout with 25 minutes left to make the final score 5-1.

The Cambridge game was followed by two 1-0 wins; first against Barnet when substitute Richard Offiong scored in the 85th minute, and then against Forest Green with Sean Hines providing the only goal of the game; his first for the club. We then travelled to bottom-of-the-table Altrincham for our final game of the month. Michael Noone replaced the injured David Fox for the second consecutive game, whilst William Mellors-Blair played right midfield in place of Jake Simpson who was still out with a twisted knee. Goals from Ryan Charles and Denis Behan meant we went into half-time 2-0 up, and despite a second half goal from the home side, we managed to hold on for a win; our fourth in a row.

A successful March left us in 7th place going into April, and meant we were still in the race for the play-offs. Next month will see the climax of the league, but hopefully it won't be the end of our season.