November 2013

Bottom-of-the-table Altrincham were the first visitors to New Bucks Head in November, and they were easily brushed aside in a convincing 5-0 victory, an identical scoreline to the previous game against Willenhall. Tommy Lee was injured in training between the two games, meaning Alex Cisak started between the sticks for his first appearance of the season. Tom Parkes and Dale Hannah returned to the starting line-up whilst Lewis Alessandra partnered Richard Offiong up front. It was Alessandra who got the first goal for us with a header from a David Fox corner. 5 minutes later, Alessandra's powerful shot was parried to the feet of Jake Simpson who cooly finished for his first goal of the season. Richard Offiong bagged two goals before the break and Dale Hannah's first goal for the club completed the scoring in the second half.

Grays Athletic, another team fighting for survival in the league, were our next opponents. Offiong's 58th minute goal, and 6th in 4 games, gave us the lead, but Grays equalised and managed to hold on for the draw. It was an overall even game, but one in which, in hindsight, we should've won.

The 1st Round proper of the FA Cup came next, as we were drawn at home to League Two's Northampton, 9th in the league at the time. A balanced first half with no goals kept us in with a shout, but the visitors grabbed a goal in the 65th minute to take the lead. It looked as though we we'd spent all our energy, but in the 87th minute, Dale Hannah was brought down in the box and Denis Behan converted the penalty to earn us a replay at their place. The only dampener on the result was the fact that Ryan Charles suffered yet another injury, this time a pulled hamstring, meaning he'd be out for upto a month. We drew 1-1 for the third game in a row in our next game against 5th placed Salisbury, with Richard Offiong grabbing our only goal.

The winner of the FA Cup 1st Round replay would go onto play AFC Bournemouth in the 2nd Round, and from the off, Northampton looked the better of the two sides. They scored after just 3 minutes, but we equalised through David Fox half an hour later. However, within 10 minutes of the restart, Northampton had scored twice, and added a fourth in second half injury time, meaning we were out of the competition.

A trip to Kidderminster Harriers, 4th in the league, was next in the fixture schedule. We hadn't won in 5 games, and needed a win to keep up with the other teams around the play-off places. However, we didn't start well; Kidderminster scored after just 10 minutes. But, with just over 5 minutes left of the first half, we were awarded a free-kick right on the edge of their box. Netan Sansara stepped up and curled the ball left footed round the wall and into the corner of the net for an equaliser. Our chances of winning the game were given a blow when Lewis Montrose received his second yellow card just a minute after we'd pulled level. Things were even between the two sides, until the 72nd minute when Kidderminster once again pulled ahead. We pushed on though, and were awarded an 83rd minute penalty when William Mellors-Blair was brought down, and Denis Behan converted for his 10th league goal of the season. Our ten men had fought back, but it wasn't enough. A 90th minute Kidderminster goal proved to be the winner, and we headed back to Shropshire with nothing to show for our efforts.

Netan Sansara got his 2nd in as many games as we finally got our long-awaited win, against Droylsden a week later. A goalless draw against Woking was the final game of the month, and left us in 5th place. We were only two points away from 3rd and 4th place, both of whom were on 37 points. Leaders Rushden and Diamonds were on 52 points and hadn't lost all season; they were our next opponents.

November 2012

A 2-1 home win against lowly Barrow began November, taking us up to 4th in the table. Goals from Michael Noone and Ryan Charles won it for us, after an early goal from the visitors. We then travelled to Fleetwood Town, who were also struggling and found themselves in the relegation zone. It was a game which we were expected to win, obviously, and an early goal from Richard Offiong, his 10th of the season, gave us the advantage going into half time. We had the lead until the 65th minute when Fleetwood equalised through former Faroe Islands international Claus Jorgensen, and then gave it all away 10 minutes later when they scored again. Although the stats showed we had wasted several chances, we just didn't really have enough fight towards the end to overcome our visitors.

Our next game gave us a chance to forget about the league, at least for a week or so, as we hosted Hartlepool in the 1st round of the FA Cup. They were obviously favourites for the game, but weren't doing anything special in League One, so we knew we were in with a chance. And it was us who drew first blood; Lewis Montrose played the ball to Ryan Charles' feet, who turned and shot from the edge of the box, and into the top corner. A perfect goal. However, we were brought right back down to earth in the first attacking move from Hartlepool's kick off, just 2 minutes later, when James Brown (Jeff Stelling would be making some sort of joke at this point) found the net to level things up. Things looked destined for a replay back up north when, with a minute to go our hearts were shattered when Ritchie Jones hit a first time volley from 25 yards after Adrian Nevins' failed clearance, and the ball whistled past a hapless Alex Cisak. With hardly any time left on the clock, a late surge was out of the question, and the final whistle went to signal our exit from the competition. However, it wasn't the end of the world; at least that was one less thing to concentrate on.

As if we weren't drained enough after the loss against Hartlepool, we found ourselves up against top-of-the-table Rushden at New Bucks Head. Things started badly; Lewis Montrose picked up a yellow card early on, meaning he'd miss our next game, but was then carried off injured with a twisted knee, leaving him out for upto five weeks. Rusden midfielder Ryan Brobbel then opened the scoring 2 minutes later. However Jake Simpson equalised on 26 minutes after his first shot was saved by Dale Roberts. We had a massive chance to take the lead on 51 minutes when Curtis Osano brought down Netan Sansara in the box, and we were awarded a penalty. Denis Behan stepped up, only to have his spot-kick saved by Roberts. Neither side had any real chances for the rest of the game; Michael Noone and Jake Simpson had the best ones for us, although they were from some distance and never really troubled the Rushden 'keeper.

An away trip to 4th placed Kidderminster followed, and it was an overal disappointing game, in which we were totally outplayed. Lewis Montrose missed his first match of the season through suspension (although he was injured so wouldn't have played anyway) so Adrian Nevins stepped up from centre back to replace him in midfield. We ended up losing the game 4-0, the biggest defeat I'd endured whilst manager of AFC Telford.

Lewis Alessandra returned to the squad, and the starting line up, for our final match of the month against Burton Albion. It was the 100th game of my managerial career, so that added a little more incentive to come away with three points. We had a good start; Ryan Charles netted after only 5 minutes but the visitors drew level shortly after. Charles was then taken off injured and replaced by Richard Offiong, leaving him out for upto 6 weeks. However, Offiong proved to be a more-than-capable replacement for him, as it was his two goals in the space of 3 minutes that sealed the win for us.

The victory left us in 7th place at the end of November, a standing which has been greatly helped by our superb home record, the best in the league; we'd played 11 at home and were unbeaten, winning eight and drawing three, whilst scoring 26 goals, and conceding just the nine. Next month brings my tenure at AFC Telford to its year anniversary, so everyone will be hoping to continue our good set of results.

May 2010 - November 2011

I wanted to get straight back into football after leaving Harrogate, but I had to wait until the end of the 2009/10 season had finished for the job offers to come in.

Applications were sent initially to Staines, Hyde and Dorchester, who had all sacked their manager at the end of the season. However Boston Utd and Nuneaton Borough, both promoted to the Blue Square North for the 2010/11 season, approached me and asked me to fill their vacant managerial positions. I mulled over it for quite some time, and looked at both their squads. They were pretty weak, and it would be a big job just to keep them in the division. The three teams I applied for earlier did look more appealing, so for that reason I decided to reject the two offers, a decision which I would sincerely regret for over a year after.

It seemed as though my greed had got the better of my when Staines, Hyde and Dorchester all found new managers. Unsuccessful applications were then sent to Tonbridge, Cambridge City and Sutton United, and I even sent a bit of a cheeky application to the Brazilian, Italian, Spanish and Argentinian national sides. I was rejected from all. Things were getting tough; the papers were beginning to talk, "Alex Blackburne's career is over" they said. But it wasn't, and I knew that.

The next realistic position came in November the next year, when Bath City sacked their manager. I applied, only to be rejected again. I was literally on the brink of retirement when AFC Telford came calling. The small club from Shropshire were sitting in 18th in the Blue Square North, and had recently parted company with their manager. They offered me a decent wage, and the squad actually looked pretty decent. I accepted the offer and was unveiled as their new manager on the 7th of December.

November 2009

Hinckley were our first opponents in November, in what would turn out to be the first of three matches against the Knitters in just over two weeks. They stood in 6th place, nine spots above us, so we knew it was going to be tough to bounce back with a win after the defeat the Redditch the week before.

I went with a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Simon Harrison replacing the injured Matt Bloomer at right back for his first start of the season, and Matthew Wood coming in for Ian Cox, who dropped to the bench. In the 11th minute, Simon Heslop played the ball into Nic McDonnell's feet, who then turned and scored from 20 yards. McDonnell doubled his tally 20 minutes later, with a dubious goal that could've easily been given offside. I wasn't complaining though, and neither were the fans. McDonnell had now scored five in four games. And that's the way it finished; we held on for the rest of the game, and quite comfortably if I do say so myself!

Four days later, 3rd placed Droylsden travelled to Wetherby Road, in what was another tough game for us. Droylsden had the best of the chances, but they insisted on wasting possession by going for long range shots, none of which troubled Gareth Stewart that much. Eventually, we managed to hold them to a goalless draw.

We then travelled to Gainsborough, 7th in the league at the time, hoping we could salvage something from yet again, a difficult game. Things looked as though they were going our way in the 27th minute, when Gainsborough defender Ryan Toulson brought down Nic McDonnell in the box, and we were awarded a penalty. McDonnell stepped up himself, only for his shot to be saved by the 'keeper. Then, in the second minute of first half stoppage time, Matthew Wood brought down Gainsborough's Luke Beckett in the area, and the home side were given their own penalty. Beckett made no mistake, and slotted the ball past Stewart. This was the way the match finished, in what was a very scrappy 90 minutes.

The next match gave us a chance to take our mind off the league for the time being, and focus on the FA Trophy. We were drawn against Hinckley in the 3rd Qualifying Round, after only playing them two weeks before. A 0-0 draw at their place meant a replay, and a third meeting of the month with Hinckley was in order. We ended up winning 1-0, thanks to McDonnell's header off a cross by David McTiernan, setting up a 1st round tie away to Kidderminster.

Ilkeston Town were our final opponents of the month. We played them at the wrong time though; they were unbeaten in their last seven games in all competitions, winning six of them. We had most of the possession throughout the game, but a David Graham goal after 78 minutes was enough to see Ilkeston over the line. Lawrie Dudfield almost made an instant impact when I introduced him on 80 minutes; he hit the woodwork from 20 yards, literally 15 seconds after coming on, and straight from the kick off.

So, that's November over and done with. A win, a draw and two defeats in the league leaves us in 16th place going into December. However, all four of our league opponents were on form, or pretty high in the table, so I'm not worrying too much. Next month does get a bit easier for us, but then again we do have to face Blue Square Conference side Kidderminster in the FA Trophy. I know I've said something along the lines to this every month so far, but things things will pick up! Watch this space.