April 2013

We made it two wins in a row with our first game of the final month of the season against Newport County, in a 2-0 victory. Denis Behan grabbed both goals; his 16th and 17th of the season, in a match which we dominated. Newport rarely threatened our defence, with no shots troubling Alex Cisak in goal. An away fixture at Rushden and Diamonds followed. Rushden had been in the play-offs for the majority of the season, and were currently occupying 5th spot, so it was going to be a tough game. However, Behan scored his 4th in 3 games to give us the lead after only 15 minutes. Rushden responded with 5 minutes left of the first half, and despite them losing a man on 60 minutes, that was the way it finished; 1-1.

We hosted Kidderminster Harriers next, who had beaten us 4-0 when we played them at their ground. This time it wasn't much better either; they scored an early goal, but Ryan Charles levelled things up for us in the first half. Alex Cisak then put the ball into his own net to give the Harriers the lead, and their victory was completed with a stoppage time goal in the second half. If I was to choose our 'bogey team', it would definitely be them.

Forest Green Rovers were our next opponents in a fixture that had to be rescheduled from last month due to a waterlogged pitch at their ground. It was a comfortable victory for us; Ryan Charles grabbing both goals in a 2-0 win. Two more wins followed this; away at Burton Albion (2-1, with goals from Charles and Richard Offiong) and home to Grays Athletic (2-0, with two goals from Charles). Incidentally, Ryan Charles' second goal in the Grays match was his 20th of the season, and 6th in 4 games. He really does seem to love the end of the season.

Despite a run of three victories, we still found ourselves in 9th place, and with only one game to go, we couldn't make the play-offs this year. This was disappointing but at the same time it was encouraging; if someone had said to me at the start of this season, "you're going to finish 9th", I would've bit their hand off, as the saying goes.

The final game of the season saw us travel to Altrincham. Simon Davis started at centre back, as it was his last game of his loan spell before he returned to Crewe. He left us with a bang though; Lewis Montrose laid the ball off to Davis on the edge of the box from a free kick, and the defender smashed the ball into the back of the net. It was his first goal for us, and unless I decide to bring him back on loan or permanently, it would be his last as well. Denis Behan doubled our lead on 64 minutes with his 20th of the season, and that was the way things stood. Davis received the Man of the Match award for his performance.

We finished the season in 9th place; a commendable and respectable position if I do say so myself. Once the play-offs have finished next month, I will do a season summary with screen shots.