February 2012

We had won three on the bounce going into our first match of the month against Corby, who were sitting comfortably in 12th place, two places below us. Goalkeeper Alex Cairnes was injured towards the end of the previous game against King's Lynn, so Ryan Young stepped in to replace him, in what was the only change. Ryan Charles played in Lewis Alessandra on 12 minutes for the striker's 8th goal of the season, and then in the second half, Charles himself got on the scoresheet to double our lead, and seal the victory.

A hard-fought 1-0 victory against Blyth Spartans followed, with Alessandra once again grabbing a goal; this time an 87th minute near post header off Netan Sansara's cross. Stafford Rangers provided us with a much tougher test in our next game. They were 3rd in the league, although they were in a bit of a poor patch of form. Nevertheless, we weren't going to be too complacent, despite our brilliant form. Stafford opened the scoring on 5 minutes, but a Matthew Duffy free-kick levelled things up mid-way through the first half. Two Ryan Charles goals either side of half-time completed the comeback and the win. The second was Charles' 5th goal of the season, and he was rightly given the Man of the Match.

A week later, we hosted Gainsborough, who were struggling in the league, and luckily for us, had a few key players missing, including striker Luke Beckett. Ryan Young's record of conceding only one goal in three appearances meant he started his fourth game in a row, even though Alex Cairnes was back to full fitness. Lewis Alessandra scored his 10th of the season, and in fact, the only goal of the game, in a 1-0 victory. We had now won seven on the trot, four of which were 1-0 victories.

Needless to say, I once again won the Manager of the Month award. We're now 6th in the league, 12 places above where we were when I started, and level on points with Redditch in 5th. Since I took over, we've played 14 games, won 11, drew twice and lost just the once. Quite a good record if I do say so myself. Let's just hope it continues.