After a 2 week break, which saw Lee Minshull and Cemal Ramadan score for the under 23’s, our next game came against 5th placed Boreham Wood who are 2 points ahead of us. Unfortunately the 2 week break didn’t allow us to bounce back as, much like the last game against North Ferribly chances were hard to come by which eventually saw Boreham Wood win the game 2-0. With back to back losses it was time to turn to the aggressive team talks which seemed to go down well with the players before, hopefully that has an effect in the next game.
A week later and it was time for our next fixture away to Chester. Looking to turn around our recent form I went for an aggressive team talk to get my point across. The message seemed to seep onto the pitch as Elford-Alliyu broke the deadlock after 25 minutes for his 9th goal in 24 games. The goal came after Minshull found the striker running beyond the defence with a well measured long ball before he knocked the ball home. Chester were down to 10 men just before half time and thankfully we were able to take advantage. A raking ball from Thomas O’Connor to Dennis on the right wing before he hit a driven cross into the box which was finished by the opposite winger David Martin.
However, matters off the pitch have come to the forefront again as in an attempt to balance the books a bit more I’ve somehow convinced Sergio Torres to take a pay cut seeing as he’s sidelined for 5 months and luckily I’ve been able to get the board to have a look for a senior affiliate club to try and help with finances.
Hopefully we can make it two wins in two though as we play the rock bottom side in the league Braintree who have lost their last three games. Long balls to Elford-Alliyu have seemed to become quite frequent when using this tactic and the Braintree game was no different as O’Connor played him through into the box but the 24 year old could’nt take advantage this time.
But in true football manager fashion, the chances that aren’t taken come back to bite you as just before the break after a counter attack Braintree go 1 up through a player called Cheek and somehow we’ve managed to lose against the worst team in the league… time for the players to get another hairdryer treatment.
I was just hoping the message got across before the next game against York City who are one place above us in 11th. Going into the game with such inconsistent results using the 4-1-2-3 I was also tempted of going back to the attacking 4-4-2 but chose to give it another chance. But getting on my last nerve another goal was leaked on the break as York’s Johan ter Horst who I’m familiar with from a Gateshead save previously, causing me to switch back to the 4-4-2 at half time, bringing Ben May back into the side to accompany Elford-Alliyu up front. Sadly though the change did nothing and Bromley slid down to 14th in the league causing me to lose my head yet again which made it out to the presses.
The last game of the month saw us play another team in our territory who are becoming quite familiar in Woking, whose star man Gozie Ugwu is still in form, hitting 15 goals in 23 games. But before that we had the draw for the FA Trophy, which saw us draw Mangotsfield or Hemel Hempstead.
But anyway back to the Woking game, which saw me revert back to the 4-4-2 formation but unsurprisingly we couldn’t stop Ugwu from scoring against us again as he rifled a left footed effort into the top corner. He then doubled his tally with a glancing header which really made me rethink the recent form at the club. He then went and got himself a hat trick after the break finding space in the box before shooting across the keeper.
So after 4 losses in the last 5 games we’ve dropped to 14th at the half point in the season. Things must improve from December onwards!