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The training report comes in and I’m happy to see three players have Impressive Performances and especially pleased that Ben O’Donnell is one of them. I think he is the key to our long-term success.
We lost almost £122,000 in September, a slight improvement over August. Oddly, the board insisted on meeting to discuss the transfer budget. It’s my first time being called into the principal’s officer so I’m a little worried that I’ve been losing too much money. Nope! They increase the transfer budget up to £5.8m. It had dropped to £837,280. What the hell am I going to do with an extra five million?!
Also on 1 October we had a Friendly against Rayners Lane U18s. I only played my second stringers to get some more Match Fitness and integrate the three new players. We won easily five-nil. I used the Spade and Stephen Dunne got POM. The other new kids on the block did well with Duggan getting an 8.9 and Dixon getting an 8.1. Dixon was subbed out at 71’ a testament to his low Stamina.
On 3 October I get an email on player development, this time for Terry Barlow and Steve Pearson. Barlow has the potential to be “League Two talent” according to my AssMan. More exciting, Steve Pearson has the potential to be a “League One Talent.” Hallelujah! I’ll offer them Professional contracts when they turn 17.
Remember back in the pre-pre-season when I brought on Alex Rae and Macey thought I was trying to force him out? Well on 4 October I get an email from my Player Liaison Officer that he now no longer feels that way. It only took him starting 14 matches (not including pre-season) and scoring 25 goals to get over that. Ingrate.
Now onto the October matches!
Our next match is against Whitstable who are second in the league with 5 wins and 1 draw. This could be a tough match.
vs. Whitstable, 4 October 2017
Formation: 4-4-2 Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MR, MC r, MC l, ML, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O'Donnell
Subs: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Thompson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae
Four minutes in O’Donnell gets an assist and Macey gets a goal, though his first shot was right at the goalie and the rebound came right back to him. Whitstable likes to do a lot of slide tackles but it backfires on them. On a Macey breakaway from a long pass from our side of the circle their leftback slides in and sends the ball right to O’Donnell for an easy goal. Then five minutes later O’Donnell gets his brace from a penalty; Macey was shoved during a long free kick from Duckett.
Nineteen seconds into the second half and Benny gets his hat trick. He’ll be coming out at 55’ for sure. Three minutes later Macey gets his brace. Duckett is racking up assists like a man possessed. After some more slide tackling karma Carroll sends a great lob right to Rae and he makes them pay. (Hey, that rhymes.) And again 2 minutes later. And with two minutes to go, Chicken Leg rolls the ball to Day and it’s a repeat of the Beckenham game and they draw one back. I have Legg set to distribute via short kicks so of course SI programming makes this shit happens. Fuck you, Myles!
POM: Ben O’Donnell (3 goals, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
In the post-game email dump I get a notice that Maguire is now a Natural at DR. I looked at his history and see that it only took him 22 starts and 7 sub appearances to do that. This happened much quicker than in FM14. Thank you, Myles!
Nothing much happens between the matches, just me looking for some more cheap, exciting young prospects.
at Salisbury, 7 October 2017
Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O'Donnell
Subs: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Donaldson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae
Interesting, the odds of us winning are even. I’ll have a say in that! Oh well, only Macey was inspired by my speech. Our first goal is Smith’s first career goal. It comes off a corner, kinda. It gets headed or kicked toward the goal four times so I don’t think it really counts as a set piece goal. The drought goes on. Four minutes later they pull one back on yet another horrible clearance by Chicken Leg. At 33’ we pull back ahead thanks to Macey, with Pearson providing the assist. Just before the half we extend our lead from a Macey cross from the byline to O’Donnell’s noggin.
Maguire picked up a bruised ankle early in the first so I sub him out to get Clark some DR time. Just over a minute later Barlow gets in on the action courtesy of a long pass from Macey to Benny and his low cross. The rest of the half goes smoothly and we’re on to the next round!
POM: Ben O’Donnell (3 goals, 4 key passes, 3 chances created)
The news on Maguire is as good as could be expected, out for 1 to 3 days. He’ll miss the FA Trophy match against Sheppey so Clark will get a start at DR. New arrival Martin Duggan will be our sub for left DC and Spearing will be the sub at right DC.
FA Vase Fourth Round Draw is today and we are the first team chosen from the pot and we get to face Soham. Mmm…ham… Soham are a level above us but are 17th out of 24 teams in the Isthmian Division 1 North. I feel confident.
I also look at the league stats page and evidently we’ve scored two goals off of corners. Go figure!
The Sheppey United team report comes in and they only have 4 non-grey players and one of them is injured. I think I’ll field my Second XI. Maybe even give the newbies some real match time.
at Sheppey, 10 October 2017
Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Webb, Clark, Spearing, Duggan, Parker, Cullen, McAdam, Jones, Taylor, Martin, Rae
Subs: Friend, Johnstone, Carroll, Smith, Donaldson, Duckett, Nixcon
And they’re off! Just before 4’ Martin sends a cross to the far post for an easy goal by Jones. But they pull one back 7 minutes later off a free kick that bounces around leaving their right CD alone with Webb. Why are we conceding so much recently?! Jones and Rae spend the rest of the half sending balls wide or off the crossbar. I tell the lads to get their act together. I have to bring off Cullen as he’s exhausted. I also switch the tactic to Attacking.
Six minutes in and Clark shows me he can play DR. He crosses from the right corner and it meets Martin a yard out from the far post and Martin puts in a nice header. I was hoping that Duggan would be the only one with a debut but with Rae doing nothing worth a damn I bring in Nixon as Shadow Striker and move Taylor up to Poacher. I really wanted to get Taylor a full game at AMC as he’s not improved at all in that arena. My changes pay off within 4 minutes as Martin feeds Taylor and we’re up 3-1. Thankfully the rest of the match passes without much happening.
Nixon had a good debut though he only rated a 6.7, which surprises me as he had a lot of good passes near the box. Duggan had a 6.4 so that was not too exciting.
POM: Sam Martin (1 goal, 2 assists, 6 key passes, 3 chances created)
So it is on 11 October 2017 that it is time to start working on my U18. I already had a U18 manager and noticed that the board will now allow me to have a U18 AssMan, U18 Coach, and U18 Physio. I put out adverts and wait for the applications to roll in.
FA Trophy Draw Day! And in the Fourth Round we face…Aldershot at their place on 7 November. They are in Conference National so I think it’s safe to say we will not advance to the Fifth Round. But first up is Rochester United!
vs. Rochester United, 14 October 2017
Formation: 4-4-2 Standard (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MR, MC r, MC l, ML, ST r, ST l)
Starting XI: Legg, Johnstone, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O'Donnell
Subs: Webb, Maguire, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Cullen, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae
HOLY COW! Off some beautiful passing Macey scores 14 seconds in!!! It took five passes to get it to him and the goalie was caught flat-footed. Wonderful stuff! His second one comes just before 5’, this time courtesy of Duckett. Five minutes later we’re up 3 off a corner, Smith launched it from just inside the 18-yard box and it hit the crossbar, went straight down and then back up and then fully into the goal box. In the 28’ Rochester are patiently looking for a hole in our defense when Smith intercepts a pass, hoofs it forward to O’Donnell on the right who crosses it perfect for Macey to get his hat trick. Game over, man! /PFC Hudson
Macey got a yellow just before half so with that and his three-fer I pull him at 50’ along with Jefcoate who got his yellow less than a minute into the second half. Aside from Rochester embarrassing Legg nothing much happens. Why oh why is my defense a mess?! He’ll never get a clean-sheet at this rate! Well, at 85’ something does happen, Taylor gets a score. Off a long pass. Nobody has permission to pass long. FM…shake my dumb head. And it happens again (long pass) 5 minutes later but this time the scorer is Rae.
POM: Eddie Macey (3 goals, 2 key passes, 1 chance created)
Finally! Our first week with just one game! The players are resting nicely despite me putting the training at Fitness with High intensity.
vs. Cray Valley, 21 October 2017
Formation: 4-4-2 Standard
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Pearson, Barlow, Smith, Duckett, Macey, O'Donnell
Subs: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Parker, Jones, Thompson, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae
Ohh fiddle sticks! Not even five minutes in and Smith needs to be pulled as he has a serious foot injury. Cray are playing a really narrow formation so after 10 minutes of nothing happening I tell the lads to Exploit the Flanks and kick Early Crosses. Ten minutes later it pays off with Pearson launching from deep and Macey getting on the end of it for a tight-angled goal off the keep’s hands. Not 4 minutes later Macey gets goal number two, this time on an early cross by Jefcoate. And at 40’ Macey gets the hat trick with a low pass from Duckett.
Our fourth goal comes at 52’ from a fluke play by Duckett. He’s about two-thirds the way into Cray Valley territory up against the left side and just launches the ball towards the goal and it goes in. I think it was a deliberate shot as there was no one near the goal to receive a cross. Our final goal comes when I have us set to Defensive but Maguire can’t help himself, sending a long lob forward to Taylor. At least we got a clean sheet for Chicken Leg!
POM: Eddie Macey (3 goals)
The butcher’s bill comes in. Smith will be out 12-14 days with pulled ankle ligaments. Fudge. He should be back in time for the Aldershot match.
Back in April I asked Macey to mentor Scott Thompson and six months later it’s over and Thompson gained very little. Drat. His Determination improved but only from 7 to 9, which is a shame because Macey’s is 18. I get some more Player Development emails, one indicating that Robert Webb is a “Potential League Two Talent” and Simon McAdam is a “Potential Conference National Talent.” I can live with that. For a couple of years.
With Smith out, Jefcoate tired, and using the Spade, the only strong relationship on the field right now is Maguire and Pearson. Maybe I’ll emphasize exploiting the right side if things get off to a slow start. Now it’s time to tan some fine Corinthian leather hide.
at Corinthian, 25 October 2017
Formation: Spade (GK, DR, DC r, DC l, DL, MC r, MC l, AMR, AMC, AML, ST c)
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Parker, Barlow, Thompson, Pearson, O'Donnell, Duckett, Macey
Subs: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Jefcoate, Jones, Cullen, McAdam, Martin, Taylor, Rae
It takes almost 28 minutes but O’Donnell, having already missed several shots, manages to get the rebound off a Pearson cross that hit the near post. Nine minutes later the inverse happens, Duckett crosses to Macey for our second goal. Everything is calm until the 82’ when a generous Macey has a clear shot but passes to Pearson instead and he does not fail me. And once again, Legg gets a clean sheet.
POM: Steve Pearson (1 goals, 1 assist, 4 key passes, 1 chance created)
Now that I have enough U18 coaches in late October I go a-looking to stock the squad with players. Plus, there were just too many good Irish youth available. I offer contracts to six youths.
I don’t fully understand how the scouting packages work in FM18 and at some point in August or September I had blown the budget and no longer had any packages. So I don’t know how this Jordanian kid is even showing up in my list of players to scout. He was released on a free by Bristol Rovers on 30 June 2017. I’m signing him sight-unseen. Don’t care. He has great physicals and plenty of really good Mental Attributes.
He signs right before our next match and immediately goes on International duty.
Our next opponent is not Wrexham but Wroxham, who are currently Second in the Eastern Counties Premier league, which is at the same level as us. Lots of tired bodies today so we’ve had a bit of a shuffle. Notably Nixon getting his first start at AMC now that he’s Match Fit.
vs. Wroxham, 28 October 2017
Formation: Spade
Starting XI: Legg, Maguire, Day, Carroll, Jefcoate, Barlow, McAdam, Jones, Nixon, Martin, O'Donnell
Subs: Webb, Johnstone, Clark, Spearing, Duggan, Macey, Cullen, Donaldson, Dunne, Taylor, Rae
Well, putting in Nixon at Shadow Strike certainly pays off quickly, 1:55 into the match to be exact. It came off a sneaky back-heel, no-look pass from O’Donnell into the box. Cheeky! Wroxham play a physical style, knocking many players off the ball, sometimes from behind, but no cards so far. Aside from that early strike, the rest of the first 45 the lads look like boobs, getting nothing done. Until 39’ when Nixon gets a powerful, up-close shot from 5 yards thanks to Martin’s impeccable cross from the endline. We go into the half feeling good so I slow things down a bit. I praise the team with a little extra for the defense because they’ve held the opponent with no shots on goal; they give me no reaction.
In the second half I get just what the doctor ordered: everything calm and peaceful until 2 minutes left when Donaldson get his second goal of the season off a Rae feed. And then 2 minutes later, Rae gets rewarded with a goal of his own. We’re on to the next round. In a rare move, I actually kept a player on who had a brace with the hope of getting the hat trick. Sorry, Nixon, it didn’t work. I did manage to do the right team talk at the end with six players being delighted. Also of note, Stephen Dunne finally makes his debut.
POM: Mark Nixon (2 goals, 1 key pass)
It’s draw time for the Southern League Cup. We’re going on down to South Park, gonna leave our cares behind. Friendly faces everywhere, humble folk without temptation. We’ll visit them on 9 December.
Shadi al-Ziod did well, rating a 7.8 for the Jordan U19 squad in a friendly against Yemen.
A damn good month! Not a loss and we eventually improved on defense once Chick Legg settled in. I know our streak will end at the beginning of November when we face Aldershot. Our morale is high and the players are learning their craft pretty well. I am very satisfied.
