January 2014

Our first fixture of 2014 was an away fixture at Histon, who it's fair to say, were struggling in the league. Nevertheless, we were 2-0 down at half-time, once again conceding early goals; something we'd annoyingly done all season. So now we were stuck with the task of scoring three second half goals. After changing the team's mentality to attacking, we grabbed a goal back through a 25-yard strike from Ryan Charles. With Histon not offering much in terms of attack in the second half, we were allowed to press for an equaliser. Richard Offiong replaced Max Wragg with the formation altering to 3-4-3, and within 4 minutes of his introduction, Offiong had got on the end of a Lewis Montrose through ball to level things up for us. We definitely had the momentum, and with 7 minutes left on the clock, Montrose was again the provider, this time for Charles, who shot from the right hand side across the 'keeper for his second goal and the eventual winner. There literally is nothing better in football than a come back.

We were on a high, but our next opponents Stevenage were also on form and doing well in the league in 5th place. For 70 minutes, things were level, with us having arguably the best of the chances. However it was our visitors who opened the scoring with some slick passing that cut open our defence. After the goal, Richard Offiong was once again brought on, with the hope of recreating his super-sub performance in the previous game, along with Michael Noone who replaced David Fox in centre midfield. With less than 5 minutes to go, Offiong received the ball on the right hand touchline and played it back to Lewis Montrose in the centre of the park. Montrose then played the ball across to Michael Noone who hit it first time from 30-yards into the back of the net. It was a brilliant goal, and one that earned us a thoroughly deserved point.


We had to cast our thoughts onto the FA Trophy for the next game, as we faced Macclesfield in the 2nd Round of the competition. Once again though, we were 2-0 down at half-time, again adding to the leaky-defence-in-the-first-half stereotype we seemed to have. Michael Noone was brought on after the break and on 62 minutes, for the second consecutive game, produced a moment of sheer brilliance. Picking up the ball from Ryan Charles in almost the exact same position as he scored from against Stevenage, he hit a first time curling shot into the top corner that even Roberto Carlos would've been proud of. Richard Offiong was brought on shortly after we scored and less than 10 minutes after his introduction, he had drawn us level when Jake Simpson's cross was clumsily spilled by the Macclesfield 'keeper to the feet of Offiong, who had the goal at his mercy and simply tapped the ball into an empty net. It finished 2-2, setting up a replay at their place within the next few days.

The replay was an overall disappointing affair, to say the least. After we'd shown we were no pushovers in the previous match, the game at The Moss Rose in Macclesfield brought us right back down to earth. We lost the game 3-1, with Richard Offiong getting our goal. It meant we were now out of both the FA Cup and the FA Trophy, leaving us with no choice but to concentrate on the league for the rest of the season; starting with an away fixture at AFC Wimbledon. We were put on the back foot when the home side opened the scoring after 21 minutes, but Ryan Charles' 9th goal of the season ensured we travelled back to Telford with a point.

17th placed Gateshead were the next visitors to New Bucks Head, and we were out for revenge after their 3-0 drubbing of us earlier in the season. However it was not to be, and we lost the game 2-0. Burton Albion were our final opponents of the month; another team who were pushing for a place in the play-offs. Lewis Montrose missed out through injury, meaning Callum Harrison moved to centre midfield from centre back, with Tom Parkes filling his empty space at the back. There was also a new face in the starting line up; 17-year-old Sean Hines, a pacey left winger signed on loan from Crewe until the end of the season. Hines' inclusion meant Netan Sansara dropped back to left full back. Burton scored first after 22 minutes, but more or less straight away in the second half, Michael Noone pulled us level with another brilliant strike from 25-yards. It was his 4th of the season, and all the goals he'd got were from 25 to 30-yards; and this most recent goal was voted the Goal of the Month, with Ryan Charles' goal against Histon coming 3rd. Charles then put us ahead with his 10th of the season, and it looked as though we'd done enough to finish the month with 3 points, but unfortunately that wasn't the case; a goal-mouth scramble saw the ball roll to Charles Reece on the edge of the box and he managed to squeeze a shot through the mass of bodies and past Tommy Lee in our goal, to end the game at 2-2.

The results in January left us in 13th place in the league, although we were still only 4 points away from York in 5th; so all is not lost. I wouldn't mind a few wins in February though, just to get our morale going again!