[Greyfriars Bobby]

December 2013

As the first half of a season draws to a close, Wantage Town are doing just about as well as we were predicted to do. Tapped to finish ninth in the preseason media outlook, we find ourselves in tenth place in a very tightly packed league, with nine points separating the team in fourth from the team in 16th. When we win a match, we find ourselves leaping up the table; when we lose, we plummet alarmingly toward the bottom. I have to discipline myself to avoid overreacting to these turnarounds, because they're really much smaller than they seem.

We're out of the FA Vase, our only cup competition. On 9 September, we beat Chessington & Hook, 2-0, but a month later we were sent out of the tournament by South Park, who scored an extra-time goal to defeat us, 1-2.

That loss, plus another defeat at home to Flackwell Heath, caused me to rethink my tactical approach a little bit. The squad is full of players with a high work rate, and even though I didn't prioritize it, I ended up with a decent amount of pace on my back line. Why not try pressing a bit higher up the pitch? The results were very encouraging at first. We took 7 points from our next three matches, outscoring our opponents 10 goals to 3 on aggregate. Since then, the results have been more mixed, and lately, we've been suffering an agonizing run of bad luck. We'll bang a shot off the bar, and it will bounce out for a goal kick. They'll do the same thing, and it will ricochet against the upright and into the goal. Three of our last four matches have ended up 0-1, and twice we clearly outplayed our opponents.

Still, we remain one of the tougher teams in the Hellenic Premier to score against. Chris Beesley has been the league's top 'keeper so far, with the highest average rating at his position and the most clean sheets (8). Center back Jonathan Booth, who was struggling so much in the season's early weeks that the fans were calling for him to be benched, turned things around in a big way. Now he's the league's top-rated defender.

Captain Andy Williams has been very good, running up and down the left wing tirelessly and chipping in two goals and three assists. He's been the best of the midfield corps, and I'm still trying to put the right pieces together in that part of the team. Ryan Ryder, who hasn't started regularly, has played so well that perhaps it's time to give him a run in the first team...or should I leave him in his "super-sub" role, ready to step in and relieve almost anyone in the team who's having an off day?

Paul Douglas, the not-so-typical target man, has been terrific so far. He's assisted on eight goals, most in the league. Strike partner Tom Logan leads the team with seven goals, although it's been five matches since he found the net. At one point, Tom was second top scorer in the league. Charlie Sutton of Ardley leads the scoring table with 12, and I remember one of his goals very well. On 7 December, Charlie scored the equalizing goal in a 2-2 draw, with a screamer from 25 yards out that caught Beesley flat-footed.

Right now, I'm resisting the temptation to change too much. I might tinker with my tactic a little bit, trying to sort the midfield out a bit better, but I don't think I'll make wholesale changes to the team. There was a time when I would probably over-manage this club, and quite possibly make things a lot worse.