FM 12 - Rise of the Spartans

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dec 26, 2011 (morning)
Lots of decisions to make with so many games looming on the schedule. Starting to day at Gloucester, we have 7 leagues matches in the next 17 days and that stretch culminates with our FA Trophy 2nd round match against bitter rival Gatehead on 1/14, so it's really 8 matches in 20 days.

In order, we'll face BSBN teams/at ... #20A, #11A, #15H, #16A, #10H, #13H and #17A. Then Gateshead.

That last one is big for us I think, so we want our absolute best ready to go there. But how do we manage that without killing ourselves in league play, we simply aren't that deep at some positions.

GK - Knight > Hartley ... Hartley is starting to seem like a whiny bitch but given Johnson's struggles in reserve play, he's clearly the #2 now. Hopefully we can get away with simply alternating them here, although 2-3 in a row isn't a big deal afaic if someone really starts to slump.

D - The RWB/RFB is pretty set. D'Laryea & Purvis are a good pair & of late D'Laryea has been a tiny bit better. We can rotate them for fitness quite comfortably. Groves is obviously an option but we probably need him more at MF.

The DC's aren't badly set either. Jones is a clear cut starter & I'm not hesitant about figuring Mellish as the second starter there. Buchanan ought to be better than he is but we may have to try him again after he was pretty much relegated to the reserves following an awful outing against Belper in the FA Cup opener. Sawyer seems to be better at MF but he's likely an option here as well.

The left side is where it feels so tricky. Kendrick is THE guy, but we're going to have to use him at MF at least some. Slaughter is the second option but he's also got to play some MF. Giddings & Kulsten might be answer(s) but both are severely lacking in match fitness, not sure how that would work out.

MF - Again, the left side is the tricky part. Kendrick/Slaughter both are fine here & Matondo is in the mix. Phillips is still 10 days away from returning to even light training and we certainly miss him. There's no help here in unused reserves or even U18's either. Before it's all over we may end up with one of the veteran LWB's trying their hand at LMF.

On the right side we ought to be okay. Emms set piece ability keeps him in the mix, Vipond is the other primary option. There's McCabe & Osborn but both are old & have no stamina, so you pretty much have to figure a sub there even if you start one of them. Groves could play here in a pinch but he's needed elsewhere.

In the CMF, Hooks/Sawyer are defensive options, Groves as well really (if he isn't forced to the back line). Matondo an offensive option, Vipond is more than capable here of course. Problem is those last two are needed elsewhere. White can slot in here as well, but he's likely to be seeing a fair bit of action at forward. It's going to be a hodgepodge most likely, whoever is freshest & available probably gets a call.

F - Duh. Mole & Armstrong are the guys here. Problem is that we haven't found a consistent third striker, much less a fourth. White is making a push to be the 3rd guy (and I like him as a sub since he can play MF) but Taylor has fallen off of late & Chinthengah hasn't show much in his chances either. Bannister may see some action as a sub, despite having played very poorly in three previous starts (5.9). How to keep the two stars fresh while needing to play them pretty much every match is a big concern.

Oh, did I mention that Mole & Emms are both one yellow away from an automatic suspension? You just know that's gonna happen at some point in all this.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dec 26, 2011
Blyth (8th, 10-2-7) at Gloucester (20th, 3-7-10)

The Tigers have gotten off to a rough start & have only one win in their last 19 matches, that coming at the expense of last place Guiseley. They run an odd 4-2-4 so we could face pressure up front very quickly, we'll look to hit them on the counter most likely.

We'll start out 4-4-2 Counter today, try to slow things down a bit & preserve fitness as well as possible. We go with what might be considered "Lineup B"here, with some very key members of the "A" unit sitting in reserve if needed. Let's hope we don't need them very much. We're a 6:4 favorite today.

GK - Hartley
D: Giddings - Buchanan - Mellish - Purvis
MF: Slaughter - Sawyer - Groves - Emms
F: Armstrong - Taylor
(Available subs: Mole, Kendrick, White, Jones, Knight)

7:07 - Emms plays a pass up to Taylor who starts down the right channel, starts to cut inside & thinks better of it ... dribbles in deeper then puts a pass into the area for Armstrong ... shoots ... scores (1-0) good timing by the captain, he didn't wait too long, shot halfway between the spot & the box

22:58 - We'll switch to Defensive, try to conserve a little energy maybe & kill time when we can

27:42 - Hartley makes a sliding save at the edge of the box to deny Glouchester. The threat started when Lock purely bulldozed Groves from behind at midfield but no foul was called

37:00 - Armstrong is going to need some treatment on the side after being knocked down hard by Lock.

Halftime - Not the prettiest half in the world that's for sure. Outshot 3-2, only 41% of poss and our passing has been atrocious (53%) ... but we've got the lead. Giddings & Armstrong fitness is a bit concerning, we'll get what we can out of them before going to the bench though. I give them a little encouragement, reassuring them (perhaps) that winning ugly is still winning. We'll look to Counter early in the half, maybe get another goal here

56:43 - We've got a corner coming up after Slaughter's cross was headed up & over by defender Coupe. Somewhere along the way Taylor has taken a knock & is really struggling (51% fit). We've got to get him off I think, White on for Taylor a.s.a.p.

57:04 - Emms corner is headed clear by Grainger ... Purvis flicks the ball toward Groves but it's taken away ... but only briefly as a nice tackle and a spin move just a moment later lets Groves fires off a quick boomer from 25 yards out... it's curving to the left ... and IN (2-0) His first goal of the season might be a big one ... Taylor comes off for White

68:15 - Hartley punches out a dangerous shot from close range, Mellish clears it deep & we draw a foul just across midfield

Sub Jones on for a spent Geddings, he gave us what he had. We'll try Sawyer out of position at LM, Buchanan out of position at LCM, drop Slaughter back to LWB

75:50 - Mustoe for Gloucester, plays a free kick into the box ... Coupe's header is in, and this one is going down to the wire apparently (2-1) Poor ball mgmt at midfield gave them possession & that opportunity

Kendrick on for Buchanan, Slaughter back to LMF, Sawyer back to LCM

85:45 - Slaughter already hurting, takes another knock & gets called for a foul as well. Physio on for a long time to try to keep him running for a few more minutes. Afterwards, it's a yellow card for him.

91:32 - With 4 mins of extra time, going into a full defensive Contain now. We've conceded a corner which gets Couple another try but Groves clears it after Hartley punched out a save. Still in danger, an offside call lets us breath for a moment. A long goal kick & we stall out the rest

Fulltime - I'm happier than most of the assistants, we got three points even while clearly seeing how tough it's going to be. This was not a good side we faced but we certainly didn't dominate in spite of the two goal win. Shots ended up even at 6 each, we gave up a bit of possession (46-54) and our passing was pretty rough (64%) But it's a win.

Hartley 6.6
Giddings 6.9, Buchanan 7.0, Mellish 7.0, Purvis 7.1 & 1 assist
Slaughter 6.8, Sawyer 6.8, Groves 7.5 & 1 goal, Emms 6.9
Armstrong 7.2 & 1 goal, Taylor 6.9 & 1 assist
Subs: Jones 6.4, White 6.3, Kendrick N/A
(Gloucester's Matt Coupe is MOM, 8.2 & 1 goal)

Dec 26, 2011 (post match)
I'm happy at the presser, I praise Coupe's performance as well as Armstrong's early goal which sparked us to a Boxing Day victory.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dec 27, 2011
Less than 48 hours to get ready for the next match, but we'll take a moment and congratulate Danny Groves for his selection to this week's BSBN Team of the Week first eleven.

We also make a move that should please a number of players who've been griping lately. We hire Matt Burton as our new fitness coach, a 30 year old who is decent at Fitness and great with Youngsters (18).

Dec 28, 2011
Blyth (5th, 11-2-7) at Workington (12th, 9-2-9)
Match postponed due to waterlogged field at Borough Park. Rearranged for Wed Jan 18.

Umm ... I guess this is good, but now my plan to rotate the lineups is kinda screwed up a bit. We'll figure it out before Saturday

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dec 31, 2011 (morning)
Our U18's lose to Colwyn Bay 1-0 on a goal in the 71st minute. Not a bad game, the squad is just missing guys like Bennett who is still out with an injury.

In the past 48 hours we've begun contract negotiations with several player on the current roster, we have very few under contract for next year so it seemed reasonable to try to tie a few more of them up now.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dec 31, 2011
Blyth (7th, 11-2-7) VS Colwyn Bay (15th, 7-8-7)

The Seagulls beat us 1-0 at their place in the second game of the season, we'll try to return that favor with interest here at Croft Park. It might be a little easier than it would have been otherwise since their second leading scorer (4g/7a) Sean Doherty and 3rd leading scorer Lee McEvilly are both out with injuries.

We'll start out 4-4-2 Standard, look for an early jump perhaps. We're a tiny 5:4 favorite today with a draw being 11:5 and CB just 7:4 dogs.

GK - Knight
D: Kulsten - Jones - D'Laryea - Pearson
MF: Kendrick - Matondo - Hooks - Vipond
F: Mole - Chinthengah
(Available subs: Purvis, Groves, Armstrong, Sawyer, Hartley)

0:52 - it takes less than a minute for problems, Kendrick gets a yellow for a lazy trip
2:30 - it takes less than two more minutes for our mood to improve. Hooks finds Chinthengah at the arc, he passes short to Vipond beside him ... the ball is immediately tackled away and rolls into the area ... Chinthengah makes a beeline for it & shoots from about the penalty spot .... GOAL ! (1-0)
Lucky break there gets us off to a flyer

29:00 - Rain starts falling fairly heavily. Jones has picked up a yellow card to join Kendrick in a bit of jeopardy

30:12 - Vipond crosses for Mole, they win the aerial battle & knock it outside the area ... straight to Matondo who dribbles in and fires ... GOAL !!! (2-0) Another perfect bounce leads to a goal

Halftime - Hard not to be happy with that half. We outshot them 5-0, had 57% poss., passed great (80%). Kulsten is getting tired, Hooks too, but overall we're in reasonable shape aside from the 2 guys with yellows hanging over their head. We remind the team how quickly things can turn, to keep their focus & it seems to have had a good effect on them.

52:05 - Jones heads a pass out of our midfield & a long distance the other direction ... Mole catches up with it & has open field in front of him ... the keeper has no choice but to come out ... Mole has no choice but to put a little air under ball & plant it in the back of the net (3-0)
We'll back off a bit & switch to Counter

67:05 - Noon splits two defenders & is point blank on goal ... Knight knocks it away ... Newby pounces on the rebound but Vipond clear his pass away ... meanwhile a few minutes earlier Mole picked up a yellow, so we'll leave him on instead of subbing, since he's going to have a one match suspension to deal with ... Kulsten is well & truly spent at this point, so Sub Sawyer on for him (Kendrick to LWB, Matondo to LMF) ... switch to Defensive

75:00 - Groves on for a spent Kendrick, no choice but to play him out of position

87:03 - Purvis on for an exhausted Hooks (Groves to CMF, Purvis now at LWB)

Fulltime - Nicely done gents. Hard to top that first half, shots end up 7-4, Poss. 55% our way, we didn't allow a cross all day. It's a challenge to manage a tired lineup but the players themselves did great.

Knight 6.9
Kulsten 7.3, Jones (MOM) 8.1 & 1 assist, D'Laryea 7.5, Pearson 7.6
Kendrick 6.9, Matondo 7.9 & 1 goal , Hooks 6.9, Vipond 6.9
Mole 7.7 & 1 goal, Chinthengah 7.7 & 1 goal

Dec 31, 2011 (post-match)
As we knew, Mole will miss a match after getting his 5th yellow of the season
Nothing remarkable in the presser really.

We've extended the contracts of Richard Slaughter & Shaun Vipond through next season

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 1, 2012

No shortage of news & info as we ring in the new year.

Ass't coach Graham Fell says that Phil Cave & Glen Taylor have failed to impressing training lately but GK Kyle Barlow has made strides with Handling.
Among the younger players, Matty Hunter & Andy Williamson (both Strength) have stood out while Hassan Janneh has shown little sign of progress

Lots of annual awards have been announced, including
World Golden Ball - Daniel Alves of F.C. Barcelona
World Player o.t. Year - Mario Gotze of Borussia Dortmund
African Footballer o.t. Year - Samuel Eto'o of Anji Makhachkala
Asian Player of the Year - Shini Kagawa of Borussia Dortmund
Asian Young Player o.t. Year - Rhys Williams of Middlesbrough
Oceana Player of the Year - Michael Boxall of the Vancouver Whitecaps
Irish Player of the Year - Jonathan Walters of Stoke City
U21 Player of the Year - James McCarthy of Wigan Athletic
Irish Young Player of the Year - McCarthy
Welsh Footballer of the Year - Gareth Bale of Tottenham
Welsh Young Player of the Year - Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal

BSN Player of the Month for December is Winger Daniel Sparkes of Histon, with 3 goals in 5 games. Bishop's Stortford's Lewis Thomas & Leon Osborne were 2nd and 3rd

BSN Manager of the Month for December is Rod Stringer of Bishop's Stortford, with Kevin Wilkin of Nuneaton 2nd and David Livermore of Histon 3rd.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 1, 2012 (continued)

We've extended a contract with Graeme Armstrong through next season, and signed Sam Sawyer to his first professional contract which will keep the youth player here through next season as well.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 2, 2012
Blyth (5th, 12-2-7) at Altrincham (16th, 8-2-12)

A 4-1 win over The Robins very early in the season at Croft Park helped get us off to a good start. Now the question is whether we can win on the road with players who are really in the grinder lately. They're a little beat up two with several starters, although not stars, missing with injuries.

We'll start out 4-4-2 Defensive,conserve some energy & maybe let them punch themselves out a bit. They're officially a Pick'Em favorite, us & Draw are both 11:5. Today mark the first team debut for youth D Tom Seery, an 18 y/o that we think has a good chance of handling the pressure in this spot start.

GK - Hartley
D: Giddings - Seery - Mellish - Purvis
MF: Slaughter - Sawyer - Groves - Emms
F: Armstrong - Bannister
(Available subs: Jones, Osborn, White, D'Laryea, Knight)

1:25 - Bannister puts one low to the right but the keeper makes the save
3:50 - 4 fouls in the first 5 mins by Altrincham, including two yellow cards
09:17 - Giddings hobbles off for treatment
18:12 - Mellish sends a header wide off a corner by Emms
21:54 - Armstrong gets a yellow card for tripping, in spite of the fact the attacker didn't go down & was pulling Armstrong by his jersey on the play
23:51 - Giddings shoots wide on a long free kick

Halftime - A fairly quiet first half, shots (6-3) and poss (54%) favor us, neither team is passing well in the rain today, nor crossing well. We're tackling better & winning most of the aerials & that's kept them at bay. Giddings toughed out his injury for a half but he really needs to come out.
Sub White on (Purvis to LWB)

58:22 - Reeves strips Slaughter near the centerline & takes off on the run, has space, one on one, he beats Hartley ... and clangs it off the near post ... Groves kicks it out for a throw

59:31 - throw-in goes right to Groves in the box, he heads it perfectly out to Armstrong ... and the captain gets himself stripped clean by Densmore, the ball goes straight to Reeves, who immediately shoots & buries it. Damn. Just damn. Switch from Defensive to Standard ... wait a minute ... the goal has been disallowed, Reeves has been flagged for offside, Altrincham is ticked ... Lozano-Calderon gets a stern talking to by the ref who has had just about enough lip I believe.

We're gonna change things up a bit here, shift to our 4-4-2 Diamond, with White playing more toward the CMR than the MR.

70:00 - Sub D'Laryea for Armstrong (White & Bannister up front, back to a regular 4-4-2, Groves moves to CMF

77:36 - Slaughter with a throw in from the right corner ... to Bannister who turns and looks ... shoots a pass across to Purvis at the spot, he can't handle it ... recovers quickly & scoots left to pick up the ball & shoot .. GOAL !!! (1-0) past the diving keeper who didn't anticipate a shot coming after the bobble ... As you might suspect, we'll switch to Defensive strat here.

79:00 - Osborne on for Slaughter

81:00 - A long ball for Calderon deep into the left channel ... it looks like a foot race that we can't win, Hartley comes off his line & decides to stop, the ball will be going out ... except Calderon somehow catches up & and fires one toward an empty net ... Groves out of nowhere to head it to safety ... Rocket shot follows, Hartley can only tip it over for a corner, which is booted halfway downfield by Seery

87:08 - Tolson is free in the area, Hartley catches easily
90:00 + 3 mins of added time to survive, we switch to Contain mode
92:31 - Emms just missed from the right side, cold have clinched it

Fulltime - I'll take it. Outshot 12-8, our defense saved us time & again today.
Props to young Mr. Seery, his debut was solid indeed

Hartley 6.5
Giddings 6.8, Seery 7.3, Mellish 7.2, Purvis (MOM) 8.3 & 1 goal
Slaughter 6.8, Sawyer 6.8, Groves 6.9, Emms 6.9
Armstrong 6.5, Bannister 6.8 & 1 assist
Subs: D'Laryea 6.9, White 6.1, Osborn N/A

Jan 2, 2012 (post-match)
Narada Bernard (remember him?) wants to see me. He's not happy with his status being changed from Key Player to Rotation (how the hell I ended up with him as a Key in the first place is beyond me). I suggest that he's a professional & needs to keep doing his job. He aggressively asks if I'm trying to make things worse. I apologize since I meant no offense (I really didn't, I thought that was pretty neutral) and he seems satisfied by that, if not particularly giddy with excitement.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 3, 2012 (morning)
Five Blyth players were named to this week's BSBN Team of the Week first eleven: Knight, Pearson, Purvis, Jones, and Matondo. Nice.

Jan 3, 2012 (afternoon)
Oh goodie, Bernard wants to see me again. Wants out. I calmly point out that he's being unprofessional & disrespectful to both me and the club. He feels he has no other choice. I'm am oh so tempted to give it to him good but frankly, he's here on a per appearance deal & his ratings ultimately didn't indicate any reason to put him on the pitch ... so I let him go. Jackass takes his gripe to the media after I grant him his release. "Balanced" personality my aunt fanny

Physios tell me that Jack Harrison has a virus that we don't want circulating around the club, so he's sent home for 3 weeks to recover.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 4, 2012 (morning)
We announce an agreement that extends the contract of GK David Knight through next season.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 4, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (5th, 13-2-7) vs Vauxhall (10th, 8-9-5)

This will be our first meeting with The Motormen, a team that has a dangerous striker in Leighton McGivern (10 goals) and a solid defender in Ryan Casey (7.15) but not necessarily many other true standouts. They're midtable, the sort of team that we need to beat at home if we're genuinely contenders for promotion.

This two day turnaround is rough, we're really showing signs of wear & it was tough to put together a lineup that didn't have players that were already fatigued. We'll open up 4-4-2 Standard & hope to grab an early lead, maybe be able to coast a bit at times to conserve energy. We're 4:6 favorites at Croft Park today, with breezy conditions, light snow & 32 degree weather. MF Hassan Janneh makes his first team debut, D Matthew Martin is available & could debut as well.

GK - Knight
D: Cave - Buchanan - Jones - D'Laryea
MF: Kendrick - White - Janneh - Vipond
F: Taylor - Mole
(Available subs: M.Martin, Osborn, Armstrong, Groves, Hartley)

07:49 - D'Laryea makes an ill-advised slide tackle on Casey as he entered the area along the end line, that's a foul and that's a penalty ... McGiven will take it for Vauxhall ... high & wide left, we dodged a bullet there

10:43 - Egerton corner kick ... plays it to Casey in the box ... header eludes Knight (0-1)

23:11 - Casey turns outside the area & plays it to McGivern coming down through the arc ... he's got space ... he's got a goal (0-2) Defenders were playing far too softly there, gave him too much room & now we're in a deep hole. We'll switch to Control & see if we can't get some possession to slow The Motormen's roll.

28:00 - Jones has picked up an injury, need to take him off here, sub Jones in for him

30:40 - D'Laryea takes a long shot that almost handcuffed their keeper, the ball bounces loose in the crease but it's finally cleared out. Almost a miracle goal there

44:55 - Moles, who picked up a knock earlier, gets an open shot & misses it wide by at least 15 feet.

Halftime - Dismal. And the team knows it, but inexplicably they look lost. Mole is "playing without confidence", Vipond & Buchanan have been poor, Janneh is nervous but at least that's understandable. We've actually outshot them 8-3 & took control of the ball well enough (54%), but our defense of crosses has been awful (50%) and we're getting beaten in the air.
Let's roll the dice a little bit, open the 2nd half in Attacking mode. Fatigue is going to be a problem in the front 2/3rds, better try to get a goal while we can.

64:45 - Kendrick corner, D'Laryea header ... over the bar
Sub Osborn for Janneh, he's just not in shape for a full match yet

70:00 - Sub Martin for Kendrick, might as well save a little energy, this one appears to be over.

Fulltime - Just a lifeless performance, not sure if the injury to Jones took it out of us or what. We managed only 2 shots in the second half, gave up the ball a lot, could pass to save our lives, didn't compete in the air. I make it clear that this should have been a win. Mole has taken a bizarre turn into the toilet mentally & nothing I say seems to get through. Maybe we just don't like snow.

Knight 6.6
Cave 6.7, Buchanan 5.6, Jones 6.1, D'Laryea 6.8
Kendrick 6.1, White 6.5, Janneh 6.7, Vipond 5.9
Taylor 6.1, Mole 6.5
Subs: Groves/Martin 6.5, Osborn 6.5

Jan 4, 2012 (post-match)
The injury to Jones doesn't appear to be anything serious, which is a relief.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 7, 2012 (morning)
Our U18's get a 2-1 win over Gainsborough, with first half goals from Rory McKeever & Louis Laws (penalty in extra time). Tamer Dalton picks up the win in goal, Janneh played well (7.4) on short rest, and Tom Seery looked good (7.0) as well.

Jan 7, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (5th, 13-2-8) vs Hyde (14th, 8-6-10)

A chance to shake off the horrors of the Vauxhall disaster will have to wait ... today's match has been postponed due to a waterlogged field. It has been rescheduled for Jan 25.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 10, 2012 (morning)
A bit of news from the higher elevations, as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is reportedly on the verge of being fired according to The Daily Mirror. The club currently sits 8th in the EPL, 18 points behind Man U and only 6 points ahead of relegation.

Jan 10, 2012 (afternoon)
After the rain out, we've had an opportunity to get enough rest as to have a fairly fit squad worth of options. There's a league match against Harrogate tomorrow and then the FA Trophy match against fierce rival Gateshead. The latter has to be a priority for us I believe, it could be a huge shot in the arm to win that one because of the opposition.

We also know what lineup we want for that match, hopefully we can steal points against Harrogate (who we beat earlier in the season 2-1 with a pair of goals from Glen Taylor) with a lineup that doesn't involve any of those players.

Tentatively we're planning to use Knight - Kulsten - Jones - Purvis - D'Laryea - Kendrick - Matondo - Hooks - Emms - Armstrong - Mole against Gateshead

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 11, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (6th, 13-2-8) at Harrogate (16th, 8-5-11)

32 degrees & sleet in the forecast. Our old pal Stuart Duncan as the referee. A match against Gateshead coming up next. Yeah, we're going to keep our key players as far from this mess as possible I think. It's one match out of dozens, but Saturday's FA Trophy tilt is more than that. We'll play 4-4-2 Defensive, hope to shorten this as much as we can.

GK - Hartley
D: Giddings - Seery - Stevenson - Pearson
MF: Osborn - Sawyer - Vipond - McCabe
F: Taylor - Bannister
(Available subs: Buchanan - Whitely - Chinthengah - Christensen - Forster) first time we've not dressed a backup GK

24:45 - A slide tackle at midfield by Nowakowski levels Vipond, no call, and our MF stays down ... the work the ball around efficiently, find Brayson just outside the box on the left ... he shoots & scores, right past Hartley to the narrow space to his right. (0-1) How Duncan could swallow his whistle on that tackle I can't understand. He's up slowly now, wants to stay on so we'll try to squeeze a little more time out of him if we can.

27:30 - Nowakowski gets a yellow for upending McCabe

Halftime - We've been outshot 4-1, have only 32% possession, haven't completed a cross, only completing 59% of our passes, trailing 0-1 ... and I tell the club that we've just been unlucky. Mind game seems to have worked, every player seemed to show renewed motivation.

47:00 - Harrogate appears to be in full on time-wasting mode early, we'll switch to Standard strategy
50:19 - Briggs missed on open net wide left, lucky for us.
58:40 - Osborn comes into the area, marked tightly by two men ... somehow he maintains possession and works his way toward the middle ... shoots ... GOAL !!! (1-1) The veteran has drawn us level with his first goal of the season.
Sub Chinthengah on for Bannister (ineffective) and Sam Christensen makes his first team debut on for Seery (ineffective)
65:00 - Pearson saves our bacon, clearing a ball off the line as Harrogate put us under intense pressure with a pair of shots at close range
66:06 - Chinthengah makes a long run, gets past his man & fires off a shot ... off the post and Liburd puts it out to safety
72:28 - Nowakowski plays the ball to Brayson about 5 yards outside the area ... he turns & fires ... and beats Hartley to the near post (1-2)
Sub Whitely for McCabe (tiring), switch to Attacking
76:27 - Vipond takes it deep into the right channel ... crosses into the area .. Osborn is there and ... GOAL !!! (2-2) A quick shot that simply beat the keeper, a huge clutch play right there ... We switch to Counter strategy
81:00 - Allen finds himself alone in the area, Hartley has to tip it over ... Osborn clears the corner & is playing his heart out ...
83:00 - Giddings picks up a yellow card
87:00 - Pearson gets a foul but avoids the yellow
Fulltime - It's only a draw but there were some positives for sure, the players are delighted by my reaction. What else could I say, we flat out stole a point here. Outshot 12-5, only 38% of possession, but the 39 y/o Osborn would not let us come away empty handed. What a performance, totally unexpected, even moreso since he was playing on the unfamiliar left side today.

Hartley 6.6
Giddings 5.9, Seery 5.8, Stevenson 6.7, Pearson 7.0
Osborn 8.8 & 2 goals, Sawyer 6.5, Vipond 6.9 & 1 assist, McCabe 6.0
Taylor 6.7 & 1 assist, Bannister 5.8
Subs: Whitely 6.9, Chinthengah 6.6, Christensen 6.3

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 13, 2012
Gateshead coach Ian Bogie tells reporters he's not my biggest fan. I respond by acknowledging that we don't see eye to eye on much. A little rivalry fun I suppose.

The media really pounded the rivalry angle, probably the most questions I've faced in a pre-match press conference.

Jan 14, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s manage a 2-2 draw against Basingstoke, all the scoring coming in the first half. Sam Christensen put us in front at 5', they tie it at 27', Andy Williamson puts us back in front at 31', they tie it in extra time against backup keeper Matty Hunter And that's how it ended. Hassan Janneh was MOM with an 8.3 rating behind two assists.

Injury news from the match as well however, as Ewen Fairgreave tells us that Christensen will miss a couple of weeks with a bruised rib while Matt Rickard is going to be out for a couple of months with a badly sprained ankle.

One other youth note, we sign 19 y/o GK Anthony White, he's going to be some stiffer competition for Tamer Dalton I believe.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 14, 2012 (evening)
Blyth (6th BSBN) vs Gateshead (3rd in BSBP) - FA Trophy 2nd Round

We've spent weeks getting ready for this match, let's hope it works. You already know the situation. The Tynesiders are tough, led by Newcastle loan Phil Airey, a striker that's got 10 goals for them. He's got plenty of help, with Liam Hatch & Jon Shaw scoring 9 each on the season. GK Tim Deasy has 7 clean sheets in 13 games, has allowed only 6 goals in league play.

We'll start in a 4-4-2 Defensive, probably switch to Standard fairly quickly, just don't want to get jumped on quickly. They're 1:2 favorites, we're 9:2 underdogs. The weather could be brutal, forecast calls for gusty winds, 37 degrees, and hail possible.

GK - Knight
D: Kulsten - Jones - Purvis - D'Laryea
MF: Kendrick - Matondo - Groves - Emms
F: Armstrong - Mole
(Available subs are Mellish, Hooks, White, Slaughter and Hartley)

14:00 - Matondo gets a warning after tripping up Newton, but no card. Gateshead has picked up two yellows already, one for Newton & one for Carruthers. Only 1 shot so far, that was by Gateshead in the opening minute, a harmless affair that went well wide.

20:21 - Emms passes to Matondo just inside the arc, his quick shot misses wide left by about 3 feet

34:20 - Airey outruns our defense, gets a shot away one on one with Knight ... parried fairly easily & Purvis puts it out of play

38:00 - A little mixup in the box, Airey wants a penalty but the ref will have none of it

38;45 - Mole trips up a defender, gets the benefit of the doubt. Tough for Gateshead, they've been booked four times already

Halftime - Outshot 6-1, only 45% of poss ... but it's scoreless & that means we're still in it. We've been sloppy up front, solid elsewhere. Kulsten & Matondo look to be tiring but we'll stand pat for now.

47:50 - Airey grabs a rebound just inside the spot, turns & fires a right footer past a diving Knight (0-1) ... Switch to Standard, we've got to find some offense now

64:48 - Emms with a corner from the left side ... swings it across the area to Jones at the far post ... high in the air ... GOAL !!! (1-1) All even.
Sub Slaughter for Kulsten (tired), Hooks for Kendrick (knocked & tired)

77:01 - Matondo takes a crack from the left side high in the, couldn't get it to curve and it sails harmless far wide right

80:16 - Airey with a thunderous drive that's well high

85:00 - Slaughter with a throw in to Matondo, lays it to Armstrong in the area ... wicked shot that's blocked & quickly punted into the stands by a defender. So close right there, so very close
Sub Mellish for a gassed Matondo (Slaughter to LMF, Purvis to LWB)

88:50 - D'Laryea fouls Airey just across midfield, gets a yellow ...
90:00+ - 3 mins of extra time ... Odihambo finds Airey with a centering pass at 92:30 ... his header is true, just past Knight (1-2)

Fulltime - So close, so very close. Can't fault our effort, and I tell them so.
Outshot 16-4, it's a miracle we kept it in doubt for more than 90 minutes. Airey is just at a different level than most people we see, much quicker & smoother, and it made the difference. Hopefully the fans will be as understanding as I was.

Knight 6.6
Kulsten 6.0, Jones 7.4 & 1 goal, Purvis 6.6, D'Laryea 6.6
Kendrick 6.8, Matondo 6.8, Groves 6.6, Emms 6.9 & 1 assist
Armstrong 5.9, Mole 5.5 (lost 9 of 14 headers combined)
Subs: Slaughter 6.7, Hooks 6.5, Mellish N/A

Jan 14, 2012 (post-match)
There were some positives to take away from the match, and that's what I tell the badgering reporters. And no, I don't expect to make lineup changes based on the game (gah, what a dumb question)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 16, 2012
Yes, I know our roster is bloated. Yes, I know we've signed a ridiculous amount of players. And yes, we've just added two more.

We've signed veteran FB Frank Sinclair from Colwyn Bay on a free. The 40 y/o has been out of contract for some time & seemed delighted to sign with us through next season (yes, I know how old he is). In 22 league matches this season for Colwyn Bay, he had 3 assists & a 6.78 rating. His stamina & fitness are remarkable for his age, mentally sharper & tougher than anyone we've got, and he's good in the air or on the ground. The fans agree & are excited by the signing.

We've also reached an appearance fee agreement with DC Gary Pinch, who has been with Welshpool in the Mid Wales League 1. In 21 league matche, he had 1 goal, 2 assists, 1 MOM and a 7.15 rating. At age 26, he's a depth player for us right now, could fight his way into the regular rotation along the back line. We shall see.

Jan 17, 2012
Simon Osborn was selected in the BSBN Team of the Week first eleven. After his Superman performance against Harrogate, I should think so.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 17th, 2012 (night)
Time to stop lamenting the loss & start looking at the rest of the season. We've got a fair chance at a playoff spot & while I'm struggling with some mixed feelings about possible promotion so quickly, I'm certainly keeping those things to myself & trying to give us the best chance to win as much as possible.

There's 4 leagues games in the next 11 days for us, Wed/Sat pairs each week. This week it's @#15 Workington, home vs #4 Bishop's Stortford, next week it's home vs #13 Hyde and at #9 Worcester. Then things ease up with virtually nothing but Saturday matches currently scheduled down the stretch (one Sat/Mon quick turnaround in mid-April)

I'm thinking we go "B" lineup then "A" lineup for this 4 game sequence, then we'll be set (barring rain/reschedules) to go mostly "A" the rest of the way.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 18, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (6th, 13-3-8) at Workington (15th, 9-5-10)

41 & drizzle, which actually seems like an improvement over recent match day weather. We beat them 1-0 back in August, a goal in the 37th min by Mole stood up in spite of being down a man for the last 15'. That was a Stuart Duncan game that gave us 6 yellows & 1 red, hopefully things will be calmer today. 4-4-2 Defensive to start, hopefully we'll get comfortable & maybe open things up a little more before halftime. Frank Sinclair makes his Blyth debut today (at his age, you don't put things off much). They're 6:4 favorites but we're only 13:8 ourselves.

GK - Hartley
D: Martin - Sinclair - Mellish - Pearson
MF: Slaughter - Sawyer - Groves - Vipond
F: Armstrong - White
(Available: Giddings - Whiteley - Taylor - Phillips - Knight)

0:00 - I noticed that their morale is pretty bad, we're in a pretty good state of mind as a team right now. I'm changing our strategy to open as Standard, maybe get a goal & put them completely down in the dumps & cruise.

10:30 - Hartley makes a heck of a save from point blank range to keep it scoreless

16:10 - White blasts a free kick just a shade too high
32:45 - Vipond hangs up a corner that Mellish heads just a bit wide. Close.
Halftime - 13 shots overall, 8-5 for us. Possession about even, we've had some decent chances really, just nothing going in yet. No big changes, just gotta score here.

54:00 - Mellish misses another header too high. Flip-flopping him & Sinclair, let's see if the veteran has better luck if he gets a chance in the same spot.

58:00 - Armstrong hits the crossbar with a hard shot
60:12 - Armstrong grazes the top of the bar with a long shot
65:00 - They make a couple of subs, so will we asap.
68:00 - Giddings on for Martin (injured), Taylor on for White (apparently knocked, down to 47% fit)

77:00 - Sawyer plays one down the left channel for Slaughter, who has room to run ... cross into the box for Taylor ... has to gather it, now shoots ... GOAL ! (1-0) Right between the keeper's legs to put us in front

78:31 - Pearson with a takeaway in our end, plays a long ball ahead to Taylor who takes off ... long run into the area on the right side ... quick pass to Armstrong at the goal line ... boom (2-0) Could hardly have missed at that range, two goals in two minutes
Sub Whiteley for Slaughter (tired), switch to Defensive

Fulltime - 14-7 shots advantage, finally ours started to drop in. Good to get a road win, exactly the kind of result that makes the difference between playoff teams and midtable teams.

Hartley 6.9
Martin 6.6, Sinclair 6.9, Mellish 7.3, Pearson 7.2
Slaughter 7.8 & 1 assist, Sawyer 6.9, Groves 6.9, Vipond 6.9
Armstrong 7.5 & 1 goal, White 6.5
Subs: Taylor(MOM) 7.9 & 1 goal & 1 assist, Giddings 6.9, Whiteley N/A

Jan 18, 2012 (post-match)
Although I don't discuss the specifics at the press conference, I'm told that Matthew Martin will be out 2 months to recover from the broken ribs he suffered in an accidental collision. Bad break (no pun intended), we were about to sub for him prior to the injury.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 19, 2012 (morning)
Just signed Jack Pinch needs a couple of weeks off from football, we send him on leave, along with one week breaks for Jack Harrison & Hassan Janneh

Meanwhile, what did yesterday's win mean for us? Besides the likely boost to morale, it basically allowed us to keep pace with the rest of the contenders. Teams with 26 matches unless noted

Nuneaton 49 pts
------------------
Histon 48 pts
Hinckley 47
Bishop's Stortford 46
Droylsden 46 (1 less played)
------------------
Blyth 45 pts (1 less played)
Staylbridge 41
Vauxhall 40 (1 less played)

At the bottom, just while we're looking, Boston Utd appears to be in deep trouble, just 18 pts & 7 shy of avoiding relegation. Guiseley is 2 pts short, Gloucester is 5 short, and bubble team Eastwood actually has a game in hand on them all.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 20, 2012
We have a difficult conversation with David Coulson, a defender that really hasn't shown the ability to remain in the squad or even break into rotation. Our salary situation is kind of tough at the moment, he's an expiring contract, has at least a scrap of value on the market perhaps, and most of all there's a possible signing on the horizon that could be very big for us and I need to clear some salary off the books. I'm as gentle as I could be about it but let's say he didn't take it very well. It's a tough business

And no, a cautious plea to the board for just a bit more money didn't work either. I understand, but it seemed worth a try.

Jan 21, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s managed a 1-1 draw with Eastwood, Whiteley scored for us in the 82nd minute but Eastwood tied it in the 89th minute. The bigger loss for us is D Phil Stevenson, who suffered a torn hamstring while chasing down a loose ball and will be out for 3-4 months while seeing a specialist. The 19 y/o has shown some promise and actually appeared in 3 Cup matches and 1 league match for us this year, with ratings of 6.70 to 6.83 on the first team, including a goal against Carlton in our FA Trophy 3rd Qual Rd win.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 21, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (6th, 14-3-8) vs Bishop's Stortford (4th, 14-4-8)

Obviously from the standings, our match against B.Stortford is pretty important.
We're a slim 6:4 favorite but those odds may not be so great ... your favorite referee and mine Scott Duncan gets the assignment today. Maybe some of the expected hailstones will knock him cold early on & we can actually have a match instead of a card game. 4-4-2 Standard, with instructions to stand off & tackle cautiously

GK - Knight
D: Kendrick - Jones - D'Laryea - Purvis
MF: Matondo - Hooks - McCabe - Emms
F: Mole - Taylor

7:00 - Jones draws a yellow card for a handball
8:42 - Taylor draws a yellow card for tripping
15:15 - McCabe misses a shot at the high left corner by mere inches
16:00 - Taylor is denied on a last second save, we got heavy pressure there
23:50 - Matondo misses wide on a blast from the left channel
37:22 - Hooks with a pinpoint pass downfield to Mole ... he's free & clear into the area ... shoots ... GOAL ! (1-0) .... switch to Counter for the rest of the half

Halftime - A stout first half, outshooting them 6-0 and generally looking sharper than Bishop's. No changes, just need them to keep it up.

51:44 - Emms with an out-swinging corner ... right to D'Laryea .. GOAL! (2-0) Well done indeed on a header from well outside the box

60:21 - After several players on both sides get warning instead of cards, Matondo earns a yellow with a tripping foul

Sub Osborn for McCabe (tiring) and Phillips on for Taylor (Matondo to F)
Back to Standard strategy, let's see if we can put this one away

64:00 - Kendrick with a free kick played to D'Laryea, he just missed another one

71:00 - Hooks to Matondo in the area, reflex save
73:00 - Phillips is hurt and will have to come out ... Mellish on, Kendrick to LMF, Purvis to LWB ... switch to Defensive

76:08 - Matondo holds up at midfield ... now sees Mole streaking down the middle & feeds him ... keeper comes out & gets abused (3-0)

77:55 - Sappleton fires from the arc ... right past Knight (3-1)

85:25 - Jones with a long ball to Mole in the area ... chips, ball bounces slowly past keeper ... Mole follows up & bangs it into the empty net for his hat trick (4-1)

Fulltime - Yowzah. 12-4 shots including 6 on target. A serious outburst by Mole but lots of people played very well on the day. Just a major case of delivering when needed.

Knight 6.9
Kendrick 7.3, Jones 8.2 & 1 assist- D'Laryea 8.2 & 1 goal- Purvis 7.3
Matondo 7.8 & 1 assist - Hooks 7.8 & 1 assist - McCabe 6.8 - Emms 7.6 & 1 assist
F: Mole(MOM) 9.6 & 3 goals, Taylor 6.8
Subs: Osborn 6.9, Mellish 6.6, Phillips N/A

Jan 21, 2012 (post-match)
Wayne Phillips suffered broken ribs from an accidental collision. He'll be out 4-5 weeks. Sigh.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 24, 2012
Three Blyth Spartans were selected in the BSBN Team of the Week first eleven: Jamie Mole, Neal Hooks and Nathan D'Laryea

The win over B.Stortford moves us into 3rd place, one point behind Nuneaton and three points behind Histon ... with a game in hand over both. GD is currently +17 for both us & Histon (Nuneaton is +26). We're that close to the top spot at the moment, with 13th place Hyde and 11th place Worcester coming up this week. How long can we keep this going?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 25, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (3rd, 15-3-8) vs Hyde (13th, 9-7-10)

We played the Tigers to a 1-1 draw at their place back in August, another one of those Duncan reffed matches. 7 yellows & 1 red (Armstrong) in that one, Mole scored on a penalty at 27', a goal by Havern equalized for them at 42' and that was it. We dominated possession (59%) in that one but couldn't steal the win on the road. They're without their 2nd leading scorer (Berkeley - 7 goals) but are still capable with Scott Spencer up front (10 goals) and a supporting cast that features three players with 4 goals each. It'll be 4-4-2 Control for us to open, let's see if we can dominate possession but actually score this time around. Warmer today, 42 degrees, with showers likely, we're favorites at 6:4.

GK - Hartley
D: Giddings - Sinclair - Mellish - Pearson
MF: Slaughter - Sawyer - Groves - Vipond
F: Armstrong - Chinthengah
(Available: Cave - Osborn - Taylor - Christensen - Knight)

1:20 - Groves narrowly misses a goal on a header from a corner by Vipond
1:57 - Armstrong doesn't miss a left-footer from close range after a nice pass by Sinclair [b](1-0) We retained possession after the quick save, took advantage of it for the proverbial flying start

13:15 - Hartley makes a save & then scurries over to gather up the rebound after we were put under pressure while temporarily a man short as Slaughter had hobbled off the extended treatment

Halftime - We tackled & defended as well as I've seen all year. Good thing, since we've been outshot 6-2 and outpossessed 46-54. We're passing well enough, they're just being patient when they have the ball. In fairness to the squad, we played about 10 minutes of the half a man down because of the knock suffered by Slaughter. He returned to gut out the half but I can't ask any more of him today. Sub Osborn for Slaughter. We'll switch to Standard strategy to open the half.

46:35 - Another save by Hartley, who turned away Poole one-on-one in the area

47:30 - Chinthengah takes a long shot from the high left side, narrow miss
51:25 - Osborn just misses a whistling free kick from the arc
61:45 - Sawyer just misses a long try from the high left side
65:00 - Sub Christensen on for Chinthengah, switch to Counter
74:15 - Hartley with another save, this time of a rocket by Broadbent
77:16 - Carey finds Broadbent in the area with a free kick, Hartley makes the save
85:00 - Armstrong appears to be hurting after a challenge by Minnock, he'll need extended treatment ...
Switch to 5-4-1 Contain, Sub Cave for Armstrong

90:00+ - Four minutes of added time to survive now. We're in full on kill the clock mode
93:40 - a blocked shot sails over the end line, we give up a corner ... played to the near post but Groves heads it clear

Fulltime - Certainly not the most usual formula for us to win a match, outshot 11-6, possession 50-50, but our defense has never looked better. Hartley may have had the best day for a keeper we've seen this year, he stepped up and met every challenge, including 4 clear cut chances. The assistants are rather meh, I'm a little more pleased than that but I remind the club not to get complacent about the next match. To my surprise, the reaction to that admonition was mostly positive.

Hartley 6.8
Giddings 7.1, Sinclair(MOM) 8.1 & 1 assist, Mellish 7.3, Pearson 6.8
Slaughter 6.8, Sawyer 6.8, Groves 6.9, Vipond 6.9
Armstrong 7.2 & 1 goal, Chinthengah 6.7
Subs: Christensen 6.6, Osborn 6.5, Cave N/A

Jan 25, 2012 (post-match)
I'm happy but cautious afterwards, but we are now in 1st place, by +1 GD over Histon. (Anybody who thought that was going to happen at this point in the season please send me your suggestions for lottery numbers. )

[JonInMiddleGA]

Jan 28, 2012 (morning)
Our U18's managed a 1-1 draw at Salisbury City today, with Tom Seery providing the equalizer in the 36' with a close range header.

Jan 28, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1st, 16-3-8) at Worcester (11th, 10-8-9)

We beat City 2-1 draw at home in early September, getting an early goal from Mole before going to the half tied , then the game winner from Carl Jones at 52'. They've played well of late, winning 4 in a row before losing at Stalybridge last weekend. They're a Pick'Em favorite, we're 11:5 underdogs

We'll go back mostly to the lineup that played so well against Bishop's Stortford & hope for a similar result, but we'll open here on the road in a 4-4-2 Defensive. The weather ain't pretty, 35 degrees with hail possible.

GK - Knight
D: Kulsten - Jones - D'Laryea - Purvis
MF: Kendrick - Matondo - White - Emms
F: Mole - Taylor
(Available: Sinclair, Vipond, Armstrong, Groves, Hartley)

14:15 - O'Conner lets fly a hard shot that Knight knocks away, the rebound is shot wide

20:41 - Mole lets one fly from outside the area, skimmed the bar and went over. Our first shot of the match, to their 5 so far.

31:15 - Carey-Bertram shoots one into the side of the net after once again skipping past Matondo en route to a good shooting position in the area. The pressure has been intense, 9-2 shots for Worcester, and nearly 2/3rds of possession so far.

45:00+ - Just a minute of extra time and that's winding down now. Kendrick with a throw-in from the corner, lobs it to Matondo who heads it into the box but there's no one there, defender Ayres plays it off his knee ... right to Jamie Mole ... off-balance shot ... GOAL !!! (1-0) Are you kidding me?

Halftime - Outshot 12-3, only 41% of poss., only 58% passing, barely winning half our headers while giving up nearly 3/4, haven't completed a cross all day ... and we're up by a goal. I have no clue what to say, finally I settle for telling them that I know they're capable of even better. We'll try to help them with that, switch to 4-4-2 Counter to open the 2nd half. We've got to come up with something, no way we can withstand that kind of pressure for another 45 minutes

55:00 - Second shot in two minutes by Taylor that went harmlessly wide left
56:00 - Kendrick gets taken down in the area but no penalty despite his claims
66:40 - Weir cranks off a shot that skims the crossbar. That's Worcester's first shot of the 2nd half ... Sub Vipond on for Matondo
73:45 - They get a half chance & shoot it wide left ... Sub Groves on for White
78:54 - Symons has an empty net to shoot at ... and misses ... he was offside anyway
81:50 - Groves fires off a shot from the arc, caught easily by Dormand
82:20 - They make their last sub, so do we, Sinclair on for Taylor ... switch to 5-4-1 Contain and try to hold on here
88:15 - McGregor fires from the arc ... had Knight beaten but it's high & over
90:00+ - 3 mins of extra time ... we conced a corner at 92' ... Jones heads it out but they recover ... Kulsten knocks it out at 93:05 ... another corner, Kendrick heads it to safety ...

Fulltime - Whew. By the skin of our teeth I reckon. Outshot 16-6, improved our possession to 46% for the match, never did complete a cross. Survive 4 corners, 3 clear cut chances, 4 half chances, and 5 on target shots. But the key word there is "survive".

Knight (MOM) 8.4
Kulsten 6.8, Jones 7.5, D'Laryea 6.9, Purvis 7.3
Kendrick 6.8, Matondo 6.8, White 6.8, Emms 6.8
Mole 7.3 & 1 goal, Taylor 6.8
Subs: Vipond/Groves 6.7, Sinclair N/A

Jan 28, 2012 (post-match)
The win gives us a two point lead, as Nuneaton moves into second with a 2-0 win over Gainsborough while Histon lost at Altrincham 1-0. I'm told that Lincoln boss David Holdsworth was in the stands for the match, reportedly to see Paul Matondo in person as the BSBP club may have their eye on him. I guess that comes with success.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 1, 2012

Training feedback from Gavin Fell. Glen Taylor & Simon Osborn (tactics) as well as Sam Sawyer (Strength) have impressed, Phil Cave & Brendan Gallen have caused concerns. Among the youth Jordan Kay (strength) has been a standout.

BSBN Player of the Month goes to Harrogate Town's striker Paul Brayson

BSBN Manager of the Month is Gainsborough's Andy Cale, David Livermore of Histon is second, and lookie, I'm third. I guess going 5-1-1, winning 4 in a row and finishing the month as the hottest team is the league isn't all that impressive.

Jamie Mole still leads the league in goals (19) and Avg Rtg (7.55), he's also the most accurate shooter at 62% on target (next is 56%).

Danny Groves is our good luck charm apparently, leading the league in games won (16).

The board is very pleased with my overall leadership. Our fantastic league performance is the highlight, the fans are still disappointed about the loss to Gateshead and are slightly concerned that we've been less than exciting to watch. The board is content with my control over payroll, in spite of me now being some $500 over my weekly budget.

A couple of matches played this afternoon, including one that juggles the standings a bit. Hinckley beat Worcester 2-0 at home, that moves them into 2nd place, virtually tied with us with 54 pts each but our +19 GD is better than their +15, plus they've now played one more match than us. Nuneaton is 3rd with 52 pts, Histon 4th with 51, Droylsden is 5th with 48 but they've got a game in hand. Don't count out Bishop's Stortford either, they've got 46 pts, Vauxhall & Stalybridge have 44 each and still have a fair shot if they get hot. On the other end of the spectrum, Boston Utd is dead last with 19 points & hasn't won in 16 matches. Long way to go before we start scoreboard watching though, still 14 matches left to play.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 4, 2012 (morning)
Our U18's lost to Eastleigh 1-0 on a goal in the 90th minute. Hard luck for Tamer Dalton who has played brilliantly since joining the club.

Feb 4, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1st, 17-3-8) vs Solihull Moors (12th, 11-5-12)

We beat The Moors 3-1 back in September, another of those Stuart Duncan reffed affairs that saw 10 yellows & 2 reds (1 each) handed out before all was said & done. All the scoring came between the 45' (extra time) and the 54' mark, with us striking three times in about 7 minutes, one each for Mole, Mellish and Armstrong before giving up a goal to make it a little closer.

We're 4:6 favorites today, and will start in a 4-4-2 Standard on a breezy 37 degree day with sleet likely ... and guess who is reffing? Have mercy on us, it's Scott f'n Duncan again

GK - Knight
D: Kendrick - Jones - Sinclair - D'Laryea
MF: Matondo - Hooks - Groves - Janneh
F: Armstrong - Mole
(Available: Purvis, Slaughter, Taylor, Osborn, Hartley)

12:27 - Sinclair with a corner, Hooks header goes high over the bar
17:20 - Armstrong plays it back to the arc for Hooks, he blasts it high again
22:15 - Armstrong shoots this time, Acton makes the save, punching it out
22:50 - Short passing game on the left side ... ball back outside to Hooks with the ol' 1-2 ... a rocket shot from 30 yards ... GOAL !!! (1-0) The hard work to improve his power game may not have been as successful as we'd hoped but it sure looked like it paid off right there.
32:38 - Matondo on the left side, into the area for Armstrong, back outside to Hooks ... BANG !!! (2-0) Almost the same exact play as the first goal

Halftime - Welcome to the Neal Hooks Show. We've outshot them 7-4 but it's the two blasts by Hooks that are the difference. We're tackling well, controlling the pace, and have only picked up one yellow card so far (Armstrong), as have they. I remind the club how quickly things can turn around, and notice that Hooks looks angry with me. I have a word with him personally & praise his play, seems to satisfy him. Otherwise it looked as though a few players did hone their focus after the reminder.

63:43 - Kendrick picks up a foul ... and a yellow card
67:27 - Hooks picks up a loose ball & fires from his favored spot ... high and a bit wide
Sub Slaughter for Kendrick and Osborn for Armstrong

76:00 - Moors mount a counter, work the ball down into the area ... Johnson spots Beswick on the left wing, he beats Knight with a shot to the far post (2-1)

We'll switch to a 5-4-1 Defensive, sub Purvis on for Hooks (tired)

90:00+ - Four minutes of added time ...

90:47 Slaughter intercepts a free kick & launches a little counter ... plays it across midfield to Osborn who scoots a beautiful pass to Matondo who is off to the races, but he's forced wide ... so he crosses into the box for Mole for a header that he banks off the post ... GOAL (3-1) That ought to do it

Full time - That'll do nicely. 11-7 shots edge, 58% of poss, tackled great, stayed out of serious card problems, what more could we want? Hooks was spectacular and D'Laryea and Groves played quite well.

Knight 6.8
Kendrick 7.1, Jones 6.9, Sinclair 7.0, D'Laryea 7.2
Matondo 6.9 & 1 assist, Hooks(MOM) 8.8 & 2 goals,
Groves 7.1 & 1 assist - Janneh 6.9
Armstrong 6.9 & 1 assist, Mole 7.4 & 1 goal
Subs: Osborn 6.7, Slaughter 6.5, Purvis N/A

Feb 4, 2012 (post-match)
Today marked Simon Osborn's 500th league appearance.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 7, 2012
Neal Hooks was selected in the BSBN Team of the Week first eleven. Gee, ya think?

With our U18s enjoying two weeks off until Feb 25th, and the first team only scheduled for one match each week for a while, we'll try to get a couple of reserve friendlies on the docket. We'll play at Whitley Bay (who beat us 2-1 in a previous friendly) this Sunday and at Durham next Sunday.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 11, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1st, 18-3-8) at Gainsborough (18th, 10-4-15)

This will be the third time we've faced The Blues this season, losing to them in League play at home 1-0, beating them 2-0 on the road in the FA Cup 3rd Qual. Round. An own goal suffered by Wayne Buchanan cost us the first match, while Mole & Armstrong scored early in the second half to give us the edge in the sequel (a Stuart Duncan reffed affair that featured 8 yellow cards)

They're actually 5:4 favorites, we're 7:4 underdogs. In spite of that, we're going to open up here 4-4-2 Standard, damned if I'm going to play scared of a team that's barely out of the drop zone, even if they have won 5 of their last 7.

GK - Hartley
D: Kendrick - Jones - Purvis - D'Laryea
MF: Matondo - Hooks - Groves - Emms
F: Armstrong - Mole
(Available: Sinclair, Sawyer, Slaughter, Taylor, Knight)

8:35 - Mole crossed beautifully to Matondo in the area, he missed a narrow angle shot at an empty net. Should have been a goal

19:52 - Purvis drags down Connor with a little tug of his shirt about two steps inside the area ... that'll be a penalty ... cowan takes it, a left-footed shot that simply beats Hartley to his right (0-1) We dug that hole for ourselves quite neatly

25:10 - Hartley has to make a save on a shot by Yates, almost found ourselves down by two

34:24 - Yates crosses to Williams just left of the spot, he turns on it & hooks one into the upper right corner of the net (0-2). This is not going well.

Halftime - Grr. Outshot 5-3, only 44% of poss. we're doing diddly defensively. D'Laryea, Jones, Kendrick, Hooks, Matondo are all having poor games, Armstrong & Kendrick are down in the dumps, the captain most visibly. My combo of "you've got to do better than this" team speech & individual talks with more players than ever may have helped a little but not a lot. We'll switch to a Control strategy, let's see if we can slow their roll a bit and get back in this.

47:14 - D'Laryea plays the ball ahead to Armstrong in the right channel ... he runs deep, all the way to the end line, finally scoots the ball to Emms nearby ... a quick pass across the area to Matondo on the opposite side of the box ... header is true (1-2) A spark of life perhaps?

53:14 - Stamp got behind the defense, possibly offside, and buries a shot with ease (1-3) ... Hooks was badly abused by Stamp at midfield to start the sequence, now he's hobbling & down. Sub Slaughter on at LWB (Kendrick to LMF, Matondo to LCM)

64:00 - Crisp midfield passing sets Armstrong free into the area ... plenty of time & space ... he misses the net by a good ten feet wide to the right. I've seen enough. Sub Taylor on for Armstrong, sub Sinclair on for Jones who is having perhaps the worst game I've seen from a Spartan all season. Switch to Attack strategy, if we're going down then it'll be with (hopefully) some effort at least.

68:21 - Free kick from distance by Yates ... falls right to Clark in the area & he beats Hartley high (1-4). Switch back to standard, no sense giving away goals now.

Fulltime - Egads we were awful. Unspeakable almost. Just a terrible outing out of nowhere, ending our 7 game winning streak quite unceremoniously. Outshot only 9-6 but they put 7 on target to our 2. There wasn't a phase of the game we played well in, and the ratings reflect that. I aggressively express how bad we looked out there, about half the team appears fired up by that response, the other half look like they're ready to hang themselves en masse in the shower. I'm not too worried about that happening, today they'd just try to kick the chair away & miss wide right.

Hartley 6.2
Kendrick 5.7, Jones 5.3, Purvis 5.5, D'Laryea 5.0
Matondo 7.3 & 1 goal, Hooks 6.0, Groves 5.8, Emms 6.8 & 1 assist
Armstrong 5.8, Mole 6.0
Subs: Sinclair 6.7, Taylor 6.3, Slaughter 6.2

Feb 11, 2012 (post-match)
Amazingly, and undeservedly, we're still in first place by 1 point over Nuneaton. They were tied 1-1 by FC Halifax, Histon drew 2-2 with Harrogate & is still in third place 2 pts back, and Hinckley falls to 4th after having a day similar to our own, losing to Solihull Moors 3-0.

Wasn't much I could say in the post-match presser except that we've got work to do ahead.

Guiseley has fired their coach Steve Kittrick after a 2-0 loss to Staylbridge. They're 20th at the moment and 4 pts behind Eastwood.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 12, 2012
Our Reserves traveled to Whitley Bay and avenged a previous loss by winning 3-1. Down by one early, Taylor scored at 37', Bannister at 65' and an own goal provided the cushion in extra time. Bannister was MOM, Taylor, Chris McCabe, and Jordan Kay all played particularly well. It was a fitness opportunity mostly, but anything to get the foul taste of the previous day out of my mouth was welcome news.

Feb 15, 2012
John Alexander has asked that I remove him from the transfer list. I agree.
I mean seriously though, WTF? He's here with an expired contract, working on a per appearance basis. I have no interest in having him appear, what difference does his list status make really, he's free to leave whenever the mood strikes him.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 17, 2012
I decide to hold a team meeting, let's nip this thing in the bud.
Me (calmly) - "We've been playing fantastically all season, don't let this little blip affect our promotion chances, keep your heads up"

Nice, almost neutral, reassuring even. Right?

Morale deflates across about half the team. 4 players (Armstrong, McCabe, Buchanan, Sawyer) all appear to have something to say. I offer the floor and Sawyer reluctantly says "We're trying our best out there, I don't think it's going to make anyone feel any better by making comments like that"

Umm ... WTF!!!!

I ask Armstrong to speak, maybe the captain is a voice of reason, right?
Armstrong (assertively, to Sawyer) "Exactly right Sam, absolutely correct".

DOUBLE WTF!!!

Fine assholes, (cautiously) "I have to say I'm disappointed with that reaction"

16 players reacted badly, one player (Phillips) reacted well.

That was the most head scratching thing I've seen in the game to date. It was as though the game bugged & read something other than what I said, there were certainly options where the reactions I got would have made sense, but in this case - and I carefully read the words on screen to make sure I had said what I wanted to say - the responses made no sense to me whatsover.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 18, 2012
Blyth (1st, 18-3-9) vs Guiseley (20th, 6-5-19)

So, we've had an awful team meeting, morale is just so-so across the board at best. We've just had our butts handed to us by a team that honestly shouldn't be beating us, not even at their place.

The schedule gods have smiled upon us however, we're hosting Guiseley, losers of four straight shutouts, with a brand new head coach name the day before the match. 45 y/o Steve Castle, most recently an assistant at Bishop's Stortford, has taken over & will try to find a way to steer The Lions clear of relegation. If he can, more power to him ... but not today please.

We played at their place earlier in the season, winning 2-1 on a pair of goals by Mole.

We'll avoid trying to react to their 4-5-1 alignment, something we've hardly seen this year, we'll just go 4-4-2 Standard, try to keep it simple & just win this match. We'll also try to find a lineup that isn't too demoralized to perform. Recently signed Gary Pinch will make his first team debut. We're 4:6 favorites at home.

GK - Knight
D: Giddings - Sinclair - Pinch - Pearson
MF: Kendrick - Matondo - Vipond - Janneh
F: Mole, Taylor
(Available: Jones, Osborn, Armstrong, White, Hartley)

20:00 - 2 shots each, none anywhere near the net
26:45 - Taylor with a run into the area, keeper comes out, Taylor's shot is blocked easily ... the following corner produces nothing
28:54 - Pearson crosses one into the box for Mole, his header is too high
36:40 - Pinch gambles on a steal in the area & misses ... Walshaw plays a pass to O'Connor, who beats Pearson & then beats Knight too. (0-1) That's their first goal in over 400 minutes.

Halftime - 5-4 shots edge means nothing at the moment, neither does the 55% of possession. Our passing has been sub-par, we're getting killed in the air. I try to encourage them that this can still be won. We're switching to Attack strategy, with instructions to be more direct with our passing and to drill crosses.

47:50 - Vipond with a corner to Pinch, his bouncing header is denied, the rebound is knocked over the end line. The next corner provides nothing
52:20 - Mole to Taylor in th earea, his shot is blocked neatly
60:30 - Sinclair gets away with a warning after a foul at the very edge of the area.
61:13 - Free kick, first shot is blocked, rebound is drilled home by Walshall (0-2) That was a 50-50 loose ball that Sinclair should have taken

62:53 - Meechan fouls Giddings at midfield, a lengthy discussion ... a yellow card, that's his second & he's sent off. But do we have time to score at least twice even a man up?
Sub Osborn for Giddings (5.8), (Matondo to LMF, Kendrick to LWB) ... sub Jones for Pinch (5.3)

70:43 - Kendrick with a long pass downfield to Taylor ... he's in space & into the area ... shoots ... past the approaching keeper GOAL (1-2)

71:00 - Sub Armstrong for Taylor ... go Overload & gamble
72:54 - Janneh crosses into the box for Mole ... header is just a bit too high
75:49 - Mole outmuscles Bower in the box & shoots ... Harwood is there but he bobbles it & it's an own goal (2-2) Switch to Control
79:33 - Mole plays it ahead to Armstrong down the middle .. swings a pass to the left for Matondo & he shoots from the left edge of the area, it's blocked by a defender ... rebound goes straight to Vipond at the edge of the box, Harwood blocks that one but the rebound comes right back to Vipond & he stuffs it home (3-2)

84:00 - Switch to Counter
95:03 - Final whistle

Fulltime - Talk about an escape. Conflicting advice from the staff on what to say to the team after that, first time all year I've seen any real disagreement among them on that. Rather than warn against complacency with a team that's having major morale problems, I praise them for the comeback instead. They appear mostly delighted with that reaction, although morale is still a big concern. So too is how awful we played for most of the match before finally overpowering them with our offense. 11-5 shooting edge, 58% possession (so Control was the right call early in the 2nd half I think), we definitely picked up things ... but that's a lot easier to do when they're playing with only 10 men and you get an own goal gifted to you.

Knight 6.8
Giddings 5.8, Sinclair 6.6, Pinch 5.3, Pearson 7.0
Kendrick (MOM) 7.7 & 1 assist, Matondo 6.6, Vipond 7.3 & 1 goal, Janneh 6.7
Mole 6.8, Taylor 7.1 & 1 goal
Subs: Jones/Osborn/Armstrong all 6.9

Feb 18, 2012 (post-match)
Nuneaton beats Corby, Histon beats Bishop's but Hinckley loses again, this time to Gainsborough. Our lead is 1 pt over 2nd, 2 pts over 3rd but now 6 pts over 4th and 8 pts over 5th.

I handle the presser as best I can, trying to keep an even keel but slightly upbeat so as not to add stress to any of our more sensitive players.

Afterwards I hear from Ewen Fairgreave, GK Matty Hunter suffered a damaged heel during a training session & will be out 2 weeks for treatment.

[larrymcg421]

I haven't had much luck improving player morale. Last season I had a guy that went into a depression for several games. I tried to reassure him that he was doing well and he called BS on me. I then criticized him and he said I was being too harsh.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 19, 2012
So now it's brought to my attention that, with 11 games left, if we can somehow beat FC Halifax next Saturday, we'll assure ourselves of a place is BSBN next season. That would be nice of course since we entered the season hoping to avoid relegation but right now anything less than at least a playoff spot would be a disappointment to me, regardless of how the board or supporters might react.

Our reserve match at Durham was a 1-0 win, with Chris McCabe scoring in the 42nd minute and earning MOM honors.

Feb 20, 2012
Scott Vipond is named to the BSBN Team of the Week starting eleven.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

I haven't had much luck improving player morale. Last season I had a guy that went into a depression for several games. I tried to reassure him that he was doing well and he called BS on me. I then criticized him and he said I was being too harsh.

Thanks for reading.

I've been blessed by relatively few morale issues all season, I guess exceeding expectations helps with a lot with that. But man oh man are these guys fragile, every loss sends them down but even winning that last match didn't help. I've now seen "abysmal" for the first time, kinda rough after a win.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Feb 25, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s lose to Boreham Wood 1-0 on the road, on a goal in the 90th minute.

Feb 25, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1st, 19-3-9) at FC Halifax (20th, 6-5-19)

We beat them 4-2 at home previously, 2 goals by Mole, 1 each by Emms & Armstrong, to build a 4-0 lead before giving up a pair at 83' and 86'. They're 4:6 favorites, we're 7:2 dogs on the road.

We'll start 4-4-2 Defensive, try to


GK - Hartley
D: Kendrick - Mellish - Purvis - Sinclair
MF: Matondo - White - Vipond - Emms
F: Armstrong, Mole
(Available: Slaughter, Phillips, Taylor, Groves, Hartley)

4:33 - After a minute or so of controlled short passing on the wings, a pass to Baker at the arc ... shoots ... scores (0-1) right past Hartley's leap, straight in to the upper left corner of the net for his first ever goal for Halifax

7:43 - Mellish free kick, played by Mole, header sails over the bar for a wasted opportunity
11:52 - White with a blast from outside that skims the top of the bar
14:56 - Sinclair plays a long ball to Mole, he splits two defenders but his shot is wide left
22:17 - White with a weak shot from the arc, wide left
45:00 - Moles lays one to Armstrong in the box, he shoots & scores easily but he was rather clearly offside

Halftime - The asst's want me to tear the team a new one "after watching that garbage". I choose to tell them simply to show me something else in the second half. We've out shot them 6-2, have 56% possession, have passed better, won in the air, just haven't managed to put those shots on net yet. My version seems to have improved confidence for several players, I'm good with that. We'll switch to Standard strategy here though, would love to get a goal before starting to sub & maybe use fresh legs then to steal the win. Gotta tie it up first though.

50:00 - Great chance thanks to good passing between Mole & Emms, it results in a point blank try for Mole in the box but he couldn't get enough on it & it's parried away.

57:45 - Boyle hits the woodwork with a rocket, we dodged a bullet there

61:00 - Sub Phillips for Matondo (tiring)

69:11 - Kendrick with a throw-in ... to the area where both White & Mole await ... whistle ... they've fouled White ... and it'll be a penalty, which FCH appeals to no avail ... Mole to take the penatly kick ... GOAL ! (1-1)

70:00 - Sub Groves on for White (tiring)

82:00 - Groves has the ball stolen away by Holland, who is steaming toward the net ... Hartley comes out to play him, Holland shoots from about the spot ... he got under it too much & lofted it high over the goal

84:30 - Sub Taylor for Armstrong, just looking for fresh leg spark here
89:49 - Groves with a weak shot that goes wide left
91:52 - Holland beats Purvis to a deep ball, Purvis fouls him from behind ... that's a red card ! Free kick forthcoming as the seconds wind down .. Baker simply lays it off to a nearby man, Emms tackles it clear and time expires

Fulltime - Hard luck feel to this one, although it was nip & tuck at the end. We'll take our point on the road & go home with it.

Hartley 6.6
Kendrick 6.7, Mellish 7.1, Purvis 6.7, Sinclair 7.2
Matondo 6.7, White 6.8 & 1 assist, Vipond 6.7, Emms 6.8
Armstrong 6.6, Mole 6.7 & 1 goal
Subs: Phillips 6.9, Groves 6.7, Taylor N/A

Feb 25, 2012 (post-match)
Nuneaton has won, we slip to 2nd place, one point back with a showdown against them coming up next Saturday.

Purvis faces a 2 match suspension for his red card, Graham Fell says he didn't see it, so we go to the tape. Looked close but reasonable to me. We'll live with it, unlikely that an appeal would have helped anything there.
I'd love to chew Purvis good & proper for it, but on replay it was considerably closer than I first thought, we'll just let it ride.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Mar 1, 2012
No awards for us, Nuneaton's boss gets Manager of the Month, Corby Town FB Paul Mayo is Player of the Month.

The board is very pleased overall, with our fantastic BSBN performance a particular highlight. Fans however are still disappointed about the loss to Gateshead in FA Trophy play.

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 3, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (2nd, 19-4-9) vs Nuneaton (1st, 17-11-4)

We're gonna have our hands full. They beat us 2-1 back in October at their place, physically dominating us and we were lucky to keep it as close as we did. (6-17 shots, 47% poss., we didn't complete a cross all day, didn't pass well, etc)

They're dangerous offensively, with ST Mark Leech leading the way with 17 league goals, but they've got four others with 6 goals or more, including two MF's. Defensively they've given up the fewest goals in the league (28 in 32 games), leading to a +34 GD.

They're 4:5 favorites at Croft Park, we're 3:1 underdogs. Dry pitch, 57 degrees today. We'll open 4-4-2 Standard, maybe if we don't play scared we can come up with something.

GK - Knight
D: Kendrick - Jones - Sawyer - Sinclair
MF: Matondo - Hooks - Groves - Vipond
F: Armstrong, Mole
(Available: Slaughter, Phillips, Osborn, Taylor, Hartley)

5:33 - Leech finds himself alone inside the arc, fires, Knight parries & Jones puts it out ... Sawyer heads the corner clear to safety

17:35 - Sawyer recovers a loose ball after a right side throw-in, cycles it out ... Kendrick dribbles across to the left ... works it to Matondo outside .... a perfect pass to Mole in traffic out in front ... GOAL !!! (1-0) Couldn't have asked for better ... Nuneaton cries for offside, no call, Mole was shoulder to shoulder with his man

28:50 - Leech runs away clean, takes a longish shot that Knight gathers easily
34:15 - Kendrick picks up a yellow card on a hard tackle of Armson
34:44 - Knight tips a half chance up & over ... We clear the corner easily
38:09 - Matondo speculates from outside, misses a bit wide left
45:00 - Kendrick lays up a hanging corner ... Sawyer's header is just a bit high

Halftime - Hanging in here nicely. Outshot 6-3 but poss. is 61% us. I'm happy with how things are going overall & tell them so. They look delighted, Hooks & Matondo appear particularly motivated today.

50:37 - Hooks gets away with a dive & draws a yellow card on Thornton
54:40 - Nisevic finds space in the area on the left ... misses wide right pretty badly
Right about here I notice that, in spite of my intentions, we've been playing Defensive strategy. I need another goal, switching that to Counter
66:17 - Groves loses an aerial challenge at midfield, they quickly work it forward to Lee, who finds space past Jones & shoots ... wide right by about a foot.
My instincts say "sub here" but no one looks tired & no one is playing poorly. I stand pat for now.
67:15 - Leech just hit the post not once but twice in a matter of seconds. Knight was beaten on the first shot, even more beaten on the rebound, yet still has a clean sheet. Armson commits a foul to end the threat
Sub Osborne on for Hooks (just a hunch here really) we switch back to Defensive, we don't even have a shot in the half, might as well deal with that reality & try to hang on now.

77:00 - Sawyer gets a bit of a knock, needs to come out ... Sub Slaughter on at LMF (Groves to RWB, Sinclair to RCD, Matondo to LCM) ... Lee gets a yellow for his troubles

82:50 - Groves win a ball away from Lee in the area
83:07 - Thornton's long shot is blocked by Sinclair, it'll be a corner ... Osborn heads it clear to Slaughter ... loooong pass upfield to Mole who is on a beeline for the area ... Noon tackles it away, Mole chases it to the touch line & loses it over and gives them a throw-in

89:00 - Nuneaton uses their last sub, we'll have 3 mins of injury time ... we'll go to contain & try to stall this one away ... Sub Phillips fresh legs on for Matondo

90:00 - Vipond gets invited on down the right side, he tries to cross it back to the middle ... Hadland fouls Armstrong & gets a yellow card

93:30 - Osborn with another takeaway tackle at midfield ... quickly over to Slaughter who waits for the defense to catch up ... spots Kendrick ahead on his left ... acres of space ... a low cross from the edge of the area hits a defender ... it's IN ... (2-0) ... a last second own goal by Willis seals the upset

Fulltime - An unlikely outcome but we're most assuredly take it .. Outshot 13-3, we get the insurance goal without officially taking a single shot in the 2nd half. Possession was the key, they were content to concede us 62% and we passed well enough (79%) that it worked.

Knight 6.9
Kendrick 7.2, Jones 7.0, Sawyer 6.9, Sinclair 7.1
Matondo 7.0 & 1 assist, Hooks 6.9, Groves 6.8, Vipond 6.9
Armstrong 6.8, Mole (MOM) 7.4 & 1 goal
Subs: Osborn/Slaughter 6.9, Phillips N/A

March 3, 2012 (post-match)

I don't really want to discuss their claims about a non-assessed penalty kick on a dicey play by Sawyer (I don't even remember the play honestly) but I will admit that I believe we have a chance to win the league.

If we do win it, it'll have to be without Sam Sawyer, his injury involves damaged knee cartilage & he'll be out 6-7 weeks.

Histon beat Moors 3-1, so there's a virtual tie for second with Nuneaton, but our lead over both is now 2 pts. Vauxhall moves into 4th by beating Bishop's 1-0 to drop them to 5th but they're 7 pts & 9 pts back respectively. Droylsden is in a virtual tied for the last playoff spot but trails on GD.

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 6, 2012
Congratulations to our (now former) ST John Alexander, who agrees to an offer & signs with BSBS side Chelmsford. The 26 y/o played 28 games for Blyth in 2009-10, was on the roster in 10-11 but did not appear, moved to Spennymoor but never played for them before rejoining us earlier in the year. Simply not of the required caliber to find first team action here, we wish him well.

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 8, 2012
Get a call from physio Ewen Fairgreave, Chris Ferguson suffered a calf strain during training today, he'll be out 4 weeks for treatment. This comes on the heels of a torn calf muscle suffered in November & a gashed leg in September, by the time he returns he will have missed 5.5 months out of the last six. I can't help but wonder if the pace is simply too much for a 16 y/o, no matter how promising (6.69 rtg in 14 non-competitive appearances)

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 10, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s salvage a 1-1 draw against Altrincham, thanks to a goal from second half sub D Mark Sullivan. More notable than the result is the damaged elbow suffered by Adam Forster who fell heavily during the match & will be out 2-3 weeks.

March 10, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1st, 20-4-9) at Stalybridge (10th, 13-9-11)

Coming off the huge win over Nuneaton, this has the makings of a trap game for us. Thing is, I'm not sure if it's a trap or not, Celtic handed us our ass 4-1 at Croft Park earlier in th eyear & other than Glen Taylor hardly anyone played well for us. We were awful defensively and just generally sucked. Hopefully we'll acquit ourselves better today against their 4-4-1-1. They're 5:4 favorites, we're just 7:4 underdogs, and we'll start out in a 4-4-2 Defensive on the road.

GK - Hartley
D: Kendrick - Jones - Mellish - Sinclair
MF: Matondo - Hooks - Vipond - Emms
F: Mole, Taylor
(Available: Slaughter, Phillips, Osborn, Armstrong, Knight)

1:10 - Hartley punches out a save, almost went down in the opening minute
3:57 - Heavy pressure by Celtic early, we've weathered it so far
6:08 - Slowing things down a bit with short passing in the midfield ... Jones works it ahead to Matondo & he starts the attack ... passing ahead to Mole in the left channel .. works into the area & shoots a left-footer, Woodhouse saves ... rebound comes straight back to Mole, right-footed shot this time, just inside the far post GOAL !!! (1-0) Credit Matondo with a pinpoint pass to set that one in motion
16:50 - Narrow miss for 'bridge on a header from a free kick
20:00 - Emms with a corner toward the far post ... Mole is there with a header ... it bangs off the crossbar ... Hooks chases down the rebound & feeds Matondo for a shot that's tipped over
22:22 - Taylor misfires at an empty net, had Woodhouse beaten and just poorly struck a weak ball wide
25:19 - A blistering shot by Taylor from the right side of the area whistles wide left
32:53 - Atkinson misses wide left from outside the arc, might have beaten Hartley if it had been on target
43:28 - Bembo-Leyta finds a little crease in the arc, beats Hartley who gets a hand on it but it trickles past & in (1-1)

Halftime - Outshot 10-6 despite a slight (54%) poss. edge, we seemed to fall asleep a bit after the early goal. I encourage the boys a bit, we'll switch to Counter strategy for the 2nd half. I think we can beat them deep on the left side, if we can just get Matondo & Mole the ball with room to work.

55:35 - Sub Phillips for Taylor (Matondo to LF, Mole to RF)

71:30 - Sub Slaughter for Sinclair (knocked, 69% fit), shift Vipond to RWB
73:30 - Mellish is denied on a cross, he screams for a penalty but gets no call
88:00 - Hooks missed high, 3rd time this half he's had a crack at it
89:42 - Jones header is high after Kendrick free kick
90:00 - 3 mins extra time ... 92:24 Buckley beats Hartley & shoots into an empty net ... but he was offside

Fulltime - A total of 26 shots (14-12 us) but only one goal each. A half-empty glass, we get a point on the road but if we could have crossed anything (7%) or defended any crosses (42% for them), we might have gotten more than just a draw here. Taylor played poorly in his spot start & I mention my disappointment, which seems to fire him up. We take this & move on, nothing else to be done here.

Hartley 6.6
Kendrick 6.7, Jones 6.6, Mellish 6.6, Sinclair 7.1
Matondo 6.9, Hooks 6.7, Vipond 6.9, Emms 6.7
Mole (MOM) 7.4 & 1 goal, Taylor 6.0
Subs: Slaughter 6.7, Philips 6.6

March 10, 2012 (post-match)
I blow off the questions about the possible penalty, I was honest about thinking it was probably the right call. I also admit a little frustration that we didn't win "with the side we put out" (I guess they noticed the start for Taylor & considered it irregular).

The draw complicates matter considerably. Histon beat Gainsborough 2-0, Nuneaton beat Hinckley 3-1, so there's a three team tie at 65 points ... but GD drops us all the way to third. Bishop's Stortford & Droylsden are tied for 4th place, both 7 points back of the trio at the front.

We learn that Gloucester has fired David Mehew, reportedly more due to financial management than their 21st place standing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 12, 2012
A few interesting possibilities in our youth intake group. They play our U18s to a scoreless friendly draw. Out of 14 combined shots, a grand total of 1 was actually on target (by Hassan Janneh). MOM was a D prospect Lokman Kaymaz (7 interceptions) although statistically there wasn't a lot to choose from.

Graham Fell recommends signing at least 11 of them, I think that might be a bit much frankly, not a lot in the group as far as I can see.

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 17, 2012 (morning)
Our U18s got a 2-1 away win over Dover, courtesy of an own goal in the 28th minute. Graeme Mockler had put us in front 1-0 at 15', they scored at 77'. Mostly trialists played in this one, only a few familiar names showed up as second half subs.

March 17, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (3rd, 20-5-9) vs Corby (8th, 15-6-13)

Another game against a team that beat us in the first meeting, a 2-1 loss at Corby in September. We didn't play well, particularly on the wings. They've got a threat up front in Sam Mullarkey (11 goals) but will be missing their other dangerous ST Andrew White (10 goals) due to injury. We need a win here against a good club, both Nuneaton & Histon are playing teams currently in/near the drop zone & are likely to get points. Corby are actually 5:4 favorites today, we're 7:4 on a drizzly 55 degree day. We'll be in a 4-4-2 Standard set.

Oh lookie ... Today's ref is Scott Duncan, who has handed out 202 yellow cards & 13 red cards in 33 games this season.

GK - Knight
D: Kendrick - Mellish - D'Laryea - Sinclair
MF: Phillips - Matondo - Vipond - Emms
F: Armstrong, Mole
(Available: Hooks, Slaughter, Groves, White, Hartley)

1:51 - We get a turnover in their end but Mole shoots high from the spot
6:40 - Kendrick with a throw-in to Armstrong deep & wide on the left ... he quickly crosses into the box for Mole ... header ... GOAL ! (1-0) Great start for sure
09:15 - Stimson with a quick pass to Mullarkey right in front ... he slides on & shoots ... Knight had no chance there (1-1) Just a nice pass by Stimson there
11:53 - Emms in-swinging corner misses everything & sails over the touch line
13:20 - Lob pass to Gorman in the box ... D'Laryea missed a tackle ... Gorman puts it past Knight (1-2)
24:41 - Mole from the arc with a pass to Phillips cutting into the area from the left ... dribbles in ... shoots ... GOAL ! (2-2) He sucked the keeper to him, took advantage of the angle & put it past
43:30 - Corby will have to replaced Delroy Gordon, he went down hard on a scrum in the box on a corner
45:00 - 3 mins of extra time ... 46:58 - Emms with hanging corner ... Mellish is there ... GOAL ! (3-2)

Halftime - Well that was certainly interesting. We've outshot them 11-2, had 62% poss, passing great, we've stayed out of foul trouble & the like ... and we only lead by one. "Things are going well but I know you're capable of even more". We'll continue to stand off & tackle cautiously for at least a while longer, we've avoided the customary cards so far, I'd like to keep it that way

56:00 - We defend two corners, they get a third and Mellish is there again ...
64:00 - Another corner, this time it's Knight who comes out & makes an acrobatic save, the best we've seen all season
68:08 - Mellish rushes out toward midfield, takes down Mullarkey on an aerial challenge & gets a yellow card for his troubles
77:55 - Emms with a pass ahead to Mole in space ... he's offside
Sub Groves for Sinclair (tiring), Sub Slaughter for Phillips (tiring) ... switch to Counter strategy
80:40 - Matondo finds Armstrong in the area ... he shoots wide
82:11 - A rebound leads to a Corby chance, Knight makes the save
87:30 - Slaughter gets a great shot on goal, saved & Corby launches a counterattack ... Towers comes into the midfield & he's dragged down by Vipond, that's a well earned yellow card
89:00 - Sub Hooks for Emms (Vipond to RMF) ... switch to Contain
91:20 - Groves fouls Gorman in the left channel ... that's a free kick ... Vipond heads it over the touchline ... Throw-in goes to the area, Hooks punts it out past the center line

Fulltime - Whew. 15-4 shot advantage, 61% poss., turned into a thriller. I remind the team not to get complacent, appeared to have stressed out most of our forwards, may have helped focus most of the rest of the first team.

Knight 6.9
Kendrick 6.8, Mellish 7.4 & 1 goal - D'Laryea 6.9, Sinclair 6.9
Phillips 7.4 & 1 goal, Matondo 6.9, Vipond 6.9, Emms 7.5 & 1 assist
Armstrong 6.8, Mole (MOM) 7.9 & 1 goal & 1 assist
Subs: Slaughter/Groves/Hooks all N/A

March 17, 2012 (post-match)

As expected Histon wins easily, 3-0, over Guiseley but 19th place Eastwood shocks Nuneaton 2:1. That leaves us tied with Histon in points & trailing in GD, Nuneaton slips to third. Bishop's Stortford & Droylsden are 10 points back of us, tied for 4th. Vauxhall is 6th, a point back of the tied duo, Hinckley is 7th and 3 back of a playoff spot

In the FA Trophy semi-finals, Gateshead goes through with a 7-5 aggregate win over Kettering. They'll face Luton who advanced with a 4-1 aggregate win over Fleetwood

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 24, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (2nd, 21-5-9) vs Hinckley (6th, 16-7-12)

The first meeting was a 3-3 draw, as Hinckley drew level in the 83rd minute. We didn't actually play all that well but stole a point on the road anyway. They'll be hoping to get at least a point here since they're still in the playoff hunt (55 pts, 3 back of 5th) but let's hope we do better today at Croft Park, with 44 degrees & drizzle in the forecast. We're surprisingly 2:5 favorites today, Hinckley being longshotted at 13:2. Maybe not quite as surprising when you realize they're missing four players who have started 20 games or more, 3 to injury & 1 to a red card suspensions, three of them are in the midfield. We'll start again in 4-4-2 Standard and see how things go.

Once again, it's damned ol' Scott Duncan with the whistle.

GK - Hartley
D: Kendrick - Jones - Mellish - Sinclair
MF: Matondo - Hooks - Vipond - Emms
F: Armstrong, Mole
(Available: Phillips, Slaughter, Purvis, Taylor, Knight)

3:00 - Emms whips in a corner but Hooks tramples a defender and gets called for a foul, wiping out a good chance.
9:28 - Mole in the right channel ... pass into the box for Armstrong but his header goes over
11:56 - Multiple chances in the area, Emms finally shoots it wide
13:47 - Chamberlain misses a very good chance for Hinckley, just a bit wide
19:06 - A brilliant fingertip save is all that denies Armstrong, after a great feed by Mole
20:15 - On the ensuing corner Emms swings it out for Jones ... header ... GOAL (1-0) High in the going to his left he somehow knocks it to the right & in
25:10 - Chamberlain has everyone beaten ... except Hartley who makes an easy save
25:33 - Armstrong draws a yellow card for a midfield foul
27:24 - Mellish's header off the corner is tipped up & over
39:48 - After a nice Pass from hooks Armstrong finds himself one on one ... and rattles it off the far post ... rebound is loose ... Mole battles with McAughtrie ... it's in the net ... (2-0) an own goal extends the lead
45:00 - 1 min of extra time ... 45:52 ... Emms corner is headed out but Mole tracks it down & tries to find some room ... instead he finds Matondo in the area on the left side ... shoots with his off foot .. off Andrew's hands & in for a goal (3-0)

Halftime - We've outshot them 11-3, yellow cards are even at three apiece (Sinclair, Hooks, Armstrong). Hard to complain about much, as long as we don't fall apart here.

45:33 - Law easily takes the ball away from Vipond at midfield off the kickoff, plays it long ahead to Chamberlain who outruns the defense & simply beats Hartley (3-1) Well that didn't take long.
48:26 - Armstrong with a weak attempt that's blocked, a long pass & it's Chamberlain on the break again. This time Hartley comes far out to grab it before any damage is done.
49:44 - Armstrong finds Mole on the edge of the box, he buries a shot but was offside
52:00 - Matondo with a long range rocket that's high & over
55:37 - Emms swings in a corner to Jones, it bounces short & Dudley clears it off the line
61:00 - Hooks pounds a loose box out of the box to safety
63:25 - Vipond with a pass to Mole in the area but he fires it wide left

71:22 - Sub Purvis for Sinclair, sub Phillips for Hooks
76:55 - Mole wins a battle in the offensive end & spots Armstrong downfield ... in space ... shoots ... off the right post again ... Dudley tracks it down along the end line & puts it out for the throw
We switch to Defensive
86:36 - Sub Taylor for Armstrong

Fulltime - I sure am happy that Hinckley came out a little flat today, outshooting anyone 19-5 with 59% poss. is kinda fun. Jones was a beast in the air (10/10) and other than Chamberlain we handled them pretty well.

Hartley 6.9
Kendrick 6.9, Jones 7.6 & 1 goal, Mellish 6.9, Sinclair 7.0
Matondo(MOM) 7.7 & 1 goal, Hooks 6.9, Vipond 6.9, Emms 7.4 & 1 assist
Armstrong 6.9 & 1 assist, Mole 7.0 & 1 assist
Subs: Purvis/Phillips 6.7, Taylor N/A

March 24, 2012 (post-match)
The fans are jubilant, and with a 6 game winning streak I should hope so.
FC Halifax gives us a gift, beating Histon 1:0, while Nuneaton dispatched relegation candidate Boston Utd 3-0. That means we're back in sole possession of first place, 3 pts ahead of both of them. Bishop's Stortford & Droylsden are tied for 4th now 12 pts back, Vauxhall trails that pair by 2 pts, Halifax now trails them by 3 pts.

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 25, 2012 (morning)
Simon Osborn wants to see me. Wants first team football, yadda yadda. I'll try to work him in.

March 25, 2012 (afternoon)
Our Reserves lose at Whitby 1-0, second straight loss to them, kind of embarassing considering we had plenty of players with first team experience playing throughout. Our midfield was particularly weak, the backline & frontline played reasonably well. Oh well, this was really for fitness purposes anyway. Much worse than the loss was news of a bruised shin that will keep Glen Taylor out for 9-12 days.

March 31, 2012 (afternoon)
Phil Cave wants to see me. I don't see first team football in his future, so I agree to let him go at the end of the season. I try to convince him to agree to terminate his contract now but he wants no part of that. Seemed worth a try at least.

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 31, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1st, 22-5-9) at Eastwood (19th, 9-11-16)

We beat these guys 2-1 at home in our first meeting but they've been playing well of late, winning three straight. We have to avoid a letdown, today is a big opportunity for us since Nuneaton & Histon play each other. One of them could be 6 points back with 5 games to play, or either of them could find themselves in first place on GD. Eastwood are slight favorites, 6:4 to our 13:8, on a wet pitch at Coronation Park.

We're going to start 4-4-2 Counter


GK - Knight
D: Kendrick - Mellish - D'Laryea - Sinclair
MF: Matondo - Groves - Osborn - Vipond
F: Armstrong, Mole
(Available: Purvis, Slaughter, White, Hooks, Hartley)

1:30 - Knight makes a diving safe after a free kick nearly got tipped in from the box
7:58 - Vipond takes a crack from outside, keeper had to tip it over the bar ... Kendrick's outswing corner comes to nothing
17:47 - Knight turns a hard shot 'round the post
20:53 - Osborn finds Armstrong in the area ... he's offisde
36:17 - Armstrong passes to Matondo in the left channel with a head of a steam ... low cross toward the near post hits defender & caroms straight to Mole who shoots on the run ... GOAL !!! (1-0)

Halftime - 5-3 edge on shot (4 of ours on target), 60% poss. and the lead. I'll take that even if we aren't tackling nor heading well so far. We'll stick with the same plan as the first half for now

64:00 - Sub Slaughter for Osborn
71:30 - Sub Hooks for Vipond
78:00 - Switch to Defensive strategy
79:00 - Kendrick's free kick from just outside the area goes a bit high
89:00 - 3 mins of added time coming up ... Sub White for Kendrick (tired) (Slaughter to LWB, White to RCM, Matondo back to LMF) ... switch to Contain

Fulltime - Wasn't thrilling to watch, only 6-5 shots for the game, but it's three points & I'll take that. Mellish was great defensively, 7/9 in the air and 6 interceptions

Knight 6.9
Kendrick 6.8, Mellish(MOM) 7.7, D'Laryea 7.0, Sinclair 7.1
Matondo 6.9 & 1 assist, Groves 6.8, Osborn 6.8, Vipond 6.9
Armstrong 6.9, Mole 7.2 & 1 goal
Subs: Hooks 6.7, Slaughter 6.5, White N/A

March 31, 2012 (post-match)
Nuneaton beat Histon 4-2 & moves into 2nd place, 3 pts back of us. Histon drops to 3rd but they're 6 pts ahead of #4 Droylsden, 8 pts up on Bishop's Stortford after they drew with Altrincham. 5 games to play for everyone in contention. Today's result guarantees us at least a playoff place.

[JonInMiddleGA]

April 1, 2012

Dan Holman of Histon wins Player of the Month honors. Simon Johnson of Solihull Moors was second, Mark Leech of Nuneaton third.

Well how about this: I've been named BSBN Manger of the Month, edging out Andy Cale of Gainsborough & Graham Drury of Corby.

The board is very pleased with my overall leadership of the team. There's not anything of note in the way of negatives, the fans were even happy with the rather drab 1-0 win over Eastwood.

Jamie Mole is 2nd in league Goals (25, trailing Dan Holman's 26), 2nd in league Average Rating (7.40 to Daniel Sparkes 7.45) and 2nd in MOM (10 to Sparkes 11). Joe Kendrick & Danny Groves are good luck charms, leading the league with 20 games won. Graham Armstrong leads the league with 85% Pass Completion rate, Chris Emms is tied for 4th in Assists (12, to Sparkes 16)

April 2, 2012
A tough bit of scheduling coming up for us, first in a long while. We host last place & virtually certain to go down Boston Utd on Saturday, but then have a short turnaround to play at Histon on Monday. The solution is obvious, but points are points ... can we risk a virtually all reserve lineup against even the worst team in the league? That's a plan that hasn't really worked out well for us this year so far.

April 4, 2012
Jordan Mellish wants an improved contract, and at only $30/wk he certainly deserves one. Problem is, I'm already some $500/wk over budget and can't improve on his deal at all right now. I convince him that we'll discuss it at a later date.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Apr 7 , 2012 (morning)
Our U18s lose to Hinckley 1-0, Russell Atkinson allows a goal in the 10th minute & that was it for the scoring, as we were outshot 18-4. That was ugly & I'm not thrilled to see our youngest/least skilled players starting while our best either subbed late or didn't play at all.

April 7, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (1st, 23-5-9) vs Boston Utd (22nd, 5-12-20)

Our first meeting was a 3-0 win at home, with Sawyer, Mole, and Mellish all scoring while Groves was MOM with an 8.1 thanks to an assist & generally being everywhere all day (12 interceptions). I don't want to take anything for granted but feel like we pretty much have to rest the regulars before playing Histon some 48 hours from now. Let's see if our reserves can get the job done. We're Pick 'Em favorites in spite of being at home today

We'll go 4-4-2 Standard to start

GK - Hartley
D: Martin - Jones - Buchanan - Purvis
MF: Phillips - Harrison - Janneh - Whiteley
F: White - Chinthengah
(Available: D'Laryea, McCabe, Slaughter, Mole, Knight)

04:13 - Austin with a header that hits the bounce & bounces clear
10:41 - White with a free kick that soars harmlessly high
20:24 - White finds Phillips high in the box, his shot is way over the bar
23:00 - Mannix shoots wide after a brief run into space
25:10 - Chinthengah with a free kick just outside the area on the right ... he aims for the far post, it's tipped by the keeper ... hits the crossbar & ricochets into the net GOAL !!! (1-0)
31:22 - Great defense turns to disaster as a clearance falls to Highdale 35 yards away, he fires & it beats Knight by hitting the crossbar & falling in (1-1)
33:15 - Chinthengah gets another crack at it, misses high from the arc
38:09 - White puts it high & wide

Halftime - This group is so young they look nervous, I'm not sure I calmed them much if at all. White took a knock just before the half, not sure how much more we can get from him but we're going to try, I'd rather not use Mole unless absolutely desperately necessary. We outshot them 7-4 and had 57% poss, can't cross for crap & have been lousy in the air. Our back line is really keeping us in this one so far.

46:48 - Harrison hits the post with a shot from the arc, so very close
50:36 - Mannix banks a shot in off Hartley & suddenly we're behind (1-2) Jellyman played a low cross nicely to him & he turned Hartley inside out
60:00 - Switch to Attack
66:00 - Sub McCabe for Whitely, Sub D'Laryea for Buchanan
76:00 - Sub Mole for Chinthengah (knocked) ... I guess I'm desperate enough

Fulltime - Just damn. We got what we deserved. It's on me, but it was a gamble I felt we had to take or risk having a tired squad get pounded by Histon. I'm not happy with our performance - regardless of who was on the pitch - and I calmly let the players know that.

Apr 7, 2012 (post-match)
Nuneaton beat Droylsden 2-1, tying us with 74 pts & taking over 1st place on GD.

[JonInMiddleGA]

April 8, 2012
Our Reserves beat Spennymoor 1-0 in a friendly meant for fitness purposes. Chris McCabe scored in the 35th minute and Max Johnson posted a clean sheet.

April 9, 2012 (afternoon)
Blyth (2nd, 23-5-10) at Histon (3rd, 20-8-10)


We lost to Histon 2-0 back in November after a scoreless first half we gave up a couple of goals in the final 20 minutes. We'll still be no worse than 2nd place if we don't win here but three points would certainly put the pressure on Nuneaton.

We'll go 4-4-2 Defensive to start, and of course Scott Duncan is the referee today.

GK - Knight
D: Kendrick - Mellish - D'Laryea - Sinclair
MF: Matondo - Osborn - Groves - Emms
F: Mole - Armstrong
(Available: Jones - Vipond - Taylor - Slaughter - Hartley)

5:39 - Sinclair intercepts at midfield & drives the ball ahead to Armstrong, Weaver tackles it away but can't control ... Armstrong back on the ball & shoots ... GOAL !!! (1-0) Stadelman couldn't react quickly enough to the surprise shot. That breaks a drought of more than a month for the captain
09:00 - Knight comes out & robs Sparkes who had launched a rocket but it was parried with authority
10:30 - Armstrong comes forward & narrowly misses a shot, pushing it wide left
12:28 - Emms with a steal & a lovely ball ahead to Armstrong ... quick pass to Mole ... he's got space & misses wide left
24:04 - Holman works himself free & into the area, misses wide left
25:22 - Holman misses wide right
34:09 - Kendrick crosses for Mole, Stadelman misses the interception attempt and Mole buries it (2-0) Histon is furious insisting
36:04 - Trademark strike from Holman who just abused Knight (2-1)
Brought it into the area, lost D'Laryea easily & pounded it home
40:00 - Sinclair picks up a yellow card for impeding Sparkes
42:11 - Matondo has space after a pass from Kendrick, misses wide of the far post

Halftime - It's a close one, 7-5 in shots, 51% poss, we're going to have to keep on our toes & if anything improve our effort if we're to hang on here. Mellish (5.8) must be thinking about his contract worries, Osborn bitched about not starting & is already running out of gas. No changes yet, but they're surely coming.

52:54 - Brilliant cross by Armstrong to Matondo ... he misses the shot by inches. No excuse for that one not being in the net honestly

59:30 - Armstrong & Mole advancing ... the captain decides to launch one from well past 30 yards away ... it's IN !!! (3-1) The ball just kept rising & locked onto the back of the net

68:49 - We can't stand prosperity ... Holman finds himself alone in the area & fires it past Knight (3-2)

71:00 - Sub Slaughter for Emms (knocked) ... Sub Jones for Mellish (6.0)
Switch to Defensive ... Histon changes to a 4-1-2-3

79:00 - Sub Vipond for Osborn (tired)
85:29 - Mole gets a yellow card seconds after Armstrong narrowly missed a hat trick as Stadelman bobbled a tight angle shot

90:00 - 3 mins extra time ... 91:20 - Matondo plays a great looking ball for Armstrong who has only the keeper to beat ... he missed it high ... switch to Contain

92:00 - Holman has a clean look ... he misses wide left

Fulltime - I'm not entirely sure we deserved this one, but I'll certainly take it.
We outshot them 12-11, they had 51% poss, we did just enough.

Knight 6.8
Kendrick 7.7 & 1 assist, Mellish 5.6, D'Laryea 6.9, Sinclair 6.9
Matondo 6.8, Osborn 6.8, Groves 6.9, Emms 6.9
Mole 7.9 & 1 goal & 1 assist, Armstrong 8.8 & 2 goals
Subs: Slaughter 6.7, Jones 6.6, Vipond N/A

April 9, 2012 (post-match)
The two goal outburst by Armstrong ended a scoring drought of 679 minutes.

Nuneaton keeps pace, pounding Vauxhall 4-1. Histon falls to 9 pts back in third, Bishop's Stortford is 13 back in 4th, Droylsden is 14 back in 5th. Corby & Hinckley are both 16 back of first, 2 back of the last playoff spot. Now 3 games left to play all around.

[JonInMiddleGA]

April 10, 2012
Graeme Armstrong was selected in the BSBN Team of the Week first eleven.