AFC Telford: October 2010

Tweet

Hey again everyone and welcome back to my AFC Telford story. The last time i posted we were sitting in a mid-table position. My goal for this month was to stay in the same position, if not better it. The main problem seems to be in the defence as they make a lot of stupid mistakes however sometimes they can be brilliant and save the game for us, The Left back position is by far the weakest in the squad but I thought we could cope without another signing , prehaps I was wrong.

The first game of the month was going to be yet another difficult challenge against promotion contenders Histon. Atleast we were at home  so we could possibly claim a point.

I was actually quite happy with the result and, if we’d of taken some of our chances, we could easily of drawn. The game was very disinteresting and ther was little to get excited about. A quick counter attack before half-time by Histon let Danny Wright score one-on-one against our keeper. Aside from that slight lapse in concentration, we looked as capable as them all over the pitch and were unfortunate not to score as we hit the woodwork and had a couple of clear cut chances. The final whistle blew and i decided to praise the guys on their performance, they haven’t had much of that lately so maybe they’ll buck up a bit.

The tough games keep on coming becuase next we had to play Mansfield at home. A similar display as the game against Histon should atleast give us a point in this game but we seem to be a bit inconsistent at the moment. I decided to tell the strikers that I have faith in their ability as they’ve not been scoring as much as i’d like so far this season.

Another draw! I cant have any complaints though as we were pretty fortunate once again. We got off to a good start however as Aaron Moses garvey spun his defender to tuck one away! My happiness was shortlived however as 4 minutes after Mansfield converted froma corner kick. No more chances were really coming for us or them but in the 31st minute there second shot of the game somehow found the top corner. I was angry with the defence again as they just dont seem to be able to cope at the moment. However 4 minutes later Craig King scored a beautiful chip to give us an equalising goal. Despite that goa,l the defence fell asleep  and clearly thought that that it would be enough until half time, which wasnt the case as their striker was able to convert  inside the box to give Mansfield the lead going into half time. My team-talk was very mixed as i was happy with the strikers and midfielders, but the defence was letting us down, so I told them I was angry with them. Something seemed to have worked as in the second half they managed to keep a clean-sheet. I dont quite understand how they can change so much after a 15 minute break. Our goal came quickly after the break when a Ollie Hotchkiss cross deflected cruelly off there defender and past his own keeper. We held on till the final whistle for a deserved point.

After a pretty poor start to the month, I expected us to fire some goals against Blue Square North team Chester City in our FA cup qualifier. All that I expected from the team twas a clean-sheet, a good performance and a couple of goals to go with it, not too difficult then seeing as we were at home.

Well I got exactly what I wanted but it was no where near as easy as i thought. They played as well as us on the day, but the finishes by us were top-class. Simon Heslop opened the scoring with a beautiful 30 yard screamer to open his account for the season. Chester kept the score the same till half -time wher eI made a couple of substitutions including Moses Ademola, and Stephen Thompson and as you can see, those subs were inspired. Ademola made an instant impact when a quick move from the kick off provided him with some space and he fired home. Stephen Thompon killed the game off in the 70th minute when a whipped cross by Rhys McCabe provided him with a tap-in finish. Despite the victory we sustained 2 long term injuries to Simon Heslop and Daryl Westlake both of which will be out for 3 months!
The last 2 games of the month were away games, so it’ll be a very difficult ending. First up was Rushden who are easily a top half team and are performing well in the league. With 2 key players out injured I wasn’t so confident about our chances. To replace the 2 injuries I had to use 2 backup players who were just fringes of the team.

2 first half goals defeated us on the day and both of them were very well taken and were probably deserved. I can have no complaints about the loss, we were just outplayedWe had a couple of chances to score but none looked like hitting the net. However it looks like some training is paying off as our shots on target have vastly improved since last month. We have yet another long term injury aswell to Stephen Thompson, not quite so vital as he’s not a first team player.

Without a win in the league for almost a month, our last chance for 3 points was against Salisbury who are of the same quality as us at the moment and beatable. I wanted to end the month on the high and a win would boost confidence going into November.

A last minute goal prevented us from that elusive win, though the end result was fair. Ollie Hotchkiss finsihed well in the 10th minute after taking on a defender to give us a lead. I pushed the lads on to get a second but they couldn’t do it, some great saves by their keeper certainly helped them. It seemed the game was won but a last gasp corner saved Salisbury a point. Its a shame we couldnt hold on but I cant deny that they deserved it.

Well that was the end of a very difficult month against 3 top half team and because of our inability to win we dropped down 2 place sto 14th, i’m not too worried though as we can wasily pick up some more points over the course of the season. Heres the league table:-

My player of the month is going to go to Ollie Hotchkiss for the couple of goals hes notched in and some nice assists.

Thanks for Reading! Please comment and stay tuned!

P.S I just noticed the word count on here is more than my current geography essay! Proves which activity I prefer eh?

Tweet

Buy FM 2012!	Keep in touch!
	If you like the stories subscribe to the RSS feed, the future posts will come to you fast as lightning! You can also subscribe to the Email Newsletter, the new posts will be sent directly to your inbox! Join us on our Facebook Page! Download and install our community toolbar, it works on Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari!