Our opponents for the 1st round of the FA Cup were League One side, Shrewsbury. The Shrews come into the game in 15th place in the 3rd tier. Confidence will be low for them, having lost 4 of their last 5 games, but there will be an obvious difference in quality on the pitch that we will have to contend with.
It was easy to see who was the professional side and who were the part timers on the match stats!
But somehow we managed to progress to the 2nd round with a massive win! Jimmy Spencer had two decent chances in the whole game and comfortably tucked away both to give us the victory!
I was hoping we might draw another non league side in the next round which would give us a chance of making the 3rd round and drawing one of the big boys from the Premier League. However, I didn’t get my way and instead we have a really tough away tie at Ipswich to come!
A win and a loss followed in the league against two sides that are both in the top 6. We were brilliant against FC United and you could argue a little unlucky against Brackley as their first two goals were bangers from well outside the box that wouldn’t have gone anywhere near the goal another day!
Our first venture into the FA Trophy this season saw us take on an FC United of Manchester side that we had completely dominated only 2 games ago in the league. However, this time we only managed to play out a 0-0 draw….even with extra time.
Which meant a replay was scheduled for just 3 days before our FA Cup clash with Ipswich, so I decided to take a risk and play a rotated team, leaving out as many as 5 first choice players from the starting lineup.
It didn’t matter though as the lads that came in produced a phenomenal performance to well and truly thrash the Manchester club.
And then, incredibly, we are victors in the FA Cup as we knock out League One opposition for the 2nd time this season! Ipswich were on top for virtually the entire game and we only managed to get 5 shots on their goal, but with some clinical finishing from our lads and some die hard defending, we pulled off an amazing result that means we’ll be in the 3rd round draw…..please can we have one of the big Prem clubs at home!
We got the home draw, but it wasn’t one of the big boys that we got. Instead, it’s Birmingham from the Championship that we welcome to The Citadel. It should still be enough to draw a decent crowd in though and make some extra ticket money, even if we don’t have a sell out.
The money we’ve already earned from the FA Cup this season has seen us repair the financial damage at the club. We started the season over £170k in the red, but the bank balance now reads £3,000 in the positive!
6 points from our next 3 league games has seen us rise to 8th in the table and just 2 points outside the playoffs now. We find ourselves a good 11 points off top spot, so it’s unlikely we’ll be challenging for any titles this season and the playoffs look a more realistic target.
Lower league side, Grantham Town, were no match for us as we progress to the 4th round of the FA Trophy.
Things might actually be coming together a little as we then win 3 league games back to back for the first time this season, scoring 10 goals in the process!
Which set us up nicely for our FA Cup meeting with Birmingham City. A club worth about £88.5 million more than us, with a national reputation, who were overachieving in the Championship this season. It doesn’t look good for us getting anything at all from this game!
I didn’t expect it to be a sell out, but turns out it will be and we might be able to cash in on this tie after all.
We did, unfortunately, get our arses handed to us, but it was to be expected and we can still be very proud of our run in the competition this season!
Back to league action and we faced a visit from top of the league Gateshead. These are the games that we really need to win if we are going to close the gap on the leading clubs in the division.
So I was naturally delighted that my lads delivered! They seem to be really getting to grips with my new formation now.
It took Harrogate (2nd in the National League) two really hard, gruelling games to knock us out of the FA Trophy. A valiant effort from my lads against one of the competition favourites.
Back in the league, against Leamington we were really bad!
Against Kidderminster we were better!
And against Fylde we were just solid!
So we are still 8th, but our good form has seen us close the gap to the team at the very top to just 5 points, and we have at least 1 game in hand over every time above us. Maybe we could challenge for this title after all.
Alfreton and Chorley are just about the same positions in the league as us, with hardly any points separating us, so it was two games that we really must win if we’re going to move into the playoff spots again.
So of course, we failed to win either!
Another bad result followed against Blyth Spartans and we looked like we were throwing away all hopes of making the playoffs this season, before an upturn in form got us back on track again and we now find ourselves on another 4 game unbeaten run.
Which meant that with 8 games to go, we were very much back in the playoff mix. The league title looks out of reach but if we could make the top 3, then we’d save ourselves an extra playoff game, which would be a bonus.
The game against Buxton brought up my 100th in charge at the club! A 56% win rate so far ain’t bad at all!
It was a shocker of a youth intake with no standout players who look like they could be future stars for the club. Hugely disappointing.
We finished the season really strongly, losing only 1 of our last 8 games despite playing a number of teams in the top 8 in the table! We’re also on a solid run of 3 games without conceding a single goal and this finish the season is the complete opposite to last year.
Our strong finish ensures a 4th place finish and again we will compete in the playoffs. Hopefully this season we can get the job done!
The board are clearly delighted with my performance again this season, despite what happens in the playoffs as they offer me another new deal.
Chorley were to be our opponents in the playoffs. We have a very mixed record against them over the last couple of seasons with 2 wins each and a draw. This could go either way!
And it was our way it went! A solid defensive performance ensured that Tom Hewlett’s strike inside the opening 60 seconds was enough to see us into the Playoff semi finals.
Next up for us was Spennymoor – another club we have a very even record against and another game that is really hard for the bookies to call. We’ve shared a couple of goalfests this season with Tom Hewlett bagging 3 goals in 2 games against them, so he would be my choice of striker for this one!
Another year of playoff heartache! Unfortunately, it was a pretty rubbish game with not much quality on show at all and we’re just edged out by a single goal which means it’s a third season for me in the National League North.
Squad dynamics look good again after (what has to be seen as) another successful season.
Everyone in the best eleven scored an average rating of more than 6.80 but I was definitely expecting a bit more from a number of these players and there will be changes this Summer as some of these will be moved on.
Fan’s Player of the Season = Maziar Kouhyar
Young Player of the Season = Maziar Kouhyar
Signing of the Season = Sam Fielding
Top Goalscorer = Tom Hewlett (21 in all comps)
Most Assists = Maziar Kouhyar (18 in all comps)
My Player of the Year = Maziar Kouhyar
My Young Player of the Year (U23) = Tom Hewlett
Most Disappointing = Alex Denny
Squad sorted in order of appearances
We brought in some extra cash via sponsorship this year and our FA Cup run saw the club bring in over £100k in prize money. The other sources of income remained about the same. There will be no transfer budget again (as expected) but the wage budget has been raised to £7k p/w for next season which might help me get in one or two improvements.
Unlucky on missing out on promotion again mate! If you're not too far ahead in the future I'd have a look at the u23/u18 teams of Premier League clubs to see if any players have their contract expiring soon and see if you can nab some loans - even if it's from League 2 or National League sides
Unlucky on missing out on promotion again mate! If you're not too far ahead in the future I'd have a look at the u23/u18 teams of Premier League clubs to see if any players have their contract expiring soon and see if you can nab some loans - even if it's from League 2 or National League sides
This post is just to look at some of the transfer business we've done so far!
A few players that featured prominently in the first team over the past couple of seasons have been allowed to leave as we look for improvements this Summer. Jimmy Spencer had scored 23 times over the last 2 seasons, whilst Joel Byrom has been my captain for the last 2 years and played 69 times under my management, but age is catching up with him now (35) and I think we can get better.
Our top goalscorer and my young player of the year was Tom Hewlett, so it would have been criminal if I didn’t attempt to re-loan him for another season from Burton Albion. Thankfully they accepted my proposal and he will be with us for another year.
My first ‘new addition’ of this Summer is Morecambe’s 21 year old right back, Marcel Elva-Fountaine, who joins on loan for the season. The right back position wasn’t one of our strongest last year and at least one of my right backs will be leaving this Summer, so Fountaine will be their replacement.
Another loanee for the season is Tranmere’s Finlay Macnab. The 20 year old central midfielder has a good eye for a pass and we’ll be looking to him to be Joel Byrom’s replacement (35 years old now and will be let go this Summer) in the middle of the park as our ‘ball sprayer’ pinging passes to the front men.
Declan Weeks is my first permanent signing this Summer as he joins on a free from Chester. He was a big part of their squad that was promoted two years ago so has been there and done it in our division and that experience will be invaluable for the younger lads in the side.
George Hornshaw is another central midfielder who joins the side and it’s pretty obvious I’m looking to strengthen my midfield triangle in the middle of the park. He hasn’t made a senior club appearance yet so is a bit of an unknown quantity as he signs on a free from Scunthorpe, but his work rate is undeniable for a box to box role that I like to play. Likely to start off as a backup but could play his way into the side.
Possibly my most exciting signing of the Summer is 20 year old American wide man, Matteo Ritaccio! He’s joined from Liverpool….not on loan, but on a permanent deal!! He becomes one of the highest paid players at the club, but he could prove to be well worth it…and some!
17 year old keeper Isaac Appleby joins the club on a free and looks to have some potential.
A new striker added to the ranks in the form of Bradley Fewster. He joins from Whitby Town on a free so this is a step up for him, but he has 23 goals in 33 games for them last season so he knows how to hit the back of the net! He works harder than any of our current strikers as well.
I don't think I'm done just yet, but with the additions we have to the squad now, these are the two formations I'll be switching between over the next season. My trusty 4-1-2-3 and a new 4-2-3-1 which will give us a more attacking approach to certain games. As with all my tactics, each player is given individual roles and instructions based on their strengths and weaknesses (ie. I tell a player with poor dribbling not to dribble often, a player with poor passing is told to take less risks etc...)
Dan Lafferty is the newest recruit as he joins on loan for the season from Coventry. I’ve taken a slight risk here as I want to play him in a position he currently doesn’t play. With his passing ability and technique and decision making, I think he’ll make a great advanced playmaker in the AMC role so I’ll be looking to retrain him here! As a backup plan, he can play the DLP role a bit deeper if he doesn’t take to the more advanced position.
With the experience he brings, adding Gareth Barry to the coaching team has got to be a good move right?!
After Joel Byrom’s departure from the club, Sam Fielding takes over the captain’s armband.
We had the most impressive pre-season since I’ve been at the club with some good wins over a couple of Premier League U23 clubs as well as a thrashing over our supposed ‘senior’ affiliate Salford.
But despite looking better than ever and despite the fact we finished 2nd and 4th over the past 2 seasons, the bookies still only have down to finish 10th this season. For the first time though, we do have a player in the media dream eleven!
Everyone needs a big Scottish lad at the back right? Well now we’ve got ours as 6ft 4” Neil Slooves joins the club on a free transfer! A great addition to the defence! He joins from Barrow on a free, where he played 27 times in League Two last season!
A final look at the board’s expectations. A top half finish is sufficient, but personally I’ve got bigger ambitions based on the previous two seasons and the fact I think this is the best squad I’ve had!
There were no fewer than 6 new faces in my starting lineup for the opening game of the season and my lads delivered the perfect start! A comfortable victory over league newcomers, Ashton United, with two of the new boys getting debut goals as well.
Darlington massively got away with one in our 2nd game! I mean, someone please tell me how we didn’t win this game!!
We made up for missing all those chances against Darlington, by hammering home 4 goals against Kettering!
Spennymoor Town up next, the side that knocked us out in the playoffs last season! Was revenge on the cards?
F***ing right it was!
Halifax Town were relegated from the National League last season, so I expected them to pose a real threat to our unbeaten start to the season.
An absolute goal fest and an important win for us this early in the season.
Bradley Fewster was sensational as he bagged 4 goals in that last game. My only question mark upon signing him was whether he could get the goals at this higher level, but he has quickly put to bed any fears I had after scoring 6 in his opening 5 games for the club.
And Fewster’s goals have been a major contributor to our unbeaten start to the season, taking 13 points from our opening 4 matches!
Our next six games included 4 more wins, whilst we also suffered our first defeat of the season at the hands of Southport….a game we should never have lost on the balance of play!
York City won this division 2 years ago and being back down at this level this season, they’re right up there amongst the favourites to win it again! So that win was a huge one for us and we did it in extra special style coming back from 2-0 down!
Dan Lafferty is quickly taking to his new AMC role that we’ve been retraining him into, and he already has 3 goals and 2 assists to his name.
Our solid start to the season sees us 2nd after 11 games, with only title favourites Boston ahead of us!
One of the highlights of last season was our FA Cup run in which we knocked out League One clubs, Shrewsbury and Ipswich. It’d be nice to have another little run again this season and our first outing in the competition this year was against lower league opposition.
Complete and utter domination and we probably should have scored more.
Back in the league, we took on a Gateshead team that, like us, have made the playoffs for the past 2 years, so this has to be seen as a good point away from home.
Another lower league opponent followed in the FA Cup qualifying rounds in the form of Grantham Town who we knocked out of the FA Trophy last year.
We barely had to get out of 2nd gear.
A late, late Sam Fielding effort gave us all three points at Telford back in the league.
We remain in 2nd place after 13 games and Boston United are proving their worth as the bookies favourites to lift the title this season! It’s still early days though and plenty of time for everything to change yet!
Meanwhile, back in the FA Cup, we crash out of the competition on penalties to one of our divisional rivals. Disappointing after we’d missed a number of really good chances in the game.
We’ve been struggling to score lately, with only 2 goals in 3 games. Luckily, we haven’t been conceding either but these have got to be seen as missed opportunities against Fylde and Chorley when we created double the chances of both sides.
One of the biggest contributors to our struggles in front of goal is the current goal drought of Bradley Fewster.
So it was good to see him snap out of it with a brace against Halesowen. Let’s hope he can push on from there after finding his scoring boots again.
Brewster is well and truly back as he bags a hat trick against Bradford PA.
We were rubbish in the FA Trophy and crash out early!
And we were rubbish back in the league against Altrincham!
A few minor tweaks to the formation to a more fluid style produced a much better performance as we gained some revenge over FC United after that FA Trophy defeat.
We did produce a decent performance against Guiseley as well but just couldn’t score! Not a terrible result though considering they came into this game on a 7 game unbeaten run.
Boston United were our next opponents. They top the league and are still unbeaten!!!
And they’re still unbeaten as we play out a 1-1 draw. A late, late goal from substitute Tyler Walton earns us a valuable point!
One thing I’ve not done during my first couple of seasons is add players to the squad throughout the year and I am keen to change that this year, to bring something fresh here and there. Kamani McFarlane is the first in since the season started and he adds more wide options, joining on loan from Port Vale for the rest of the year.
A game with Blyth Spartans would cap off the first half of the season and I hoped we could hit the mid way point with a win!
Unfortunately we couldn’t. Blyth are by far the most negative side we have played all season with 10 men behind the ball throughout! What rubbish football for their fans to watch all season!!
On the plus side, McFarlane did come off the bench for a debut goal!
So at the half way stage of the season, we sit 3rd in the table, 4 points behind unbeaten Boston United. Their defensive record is unbelievable having only conceded 8 goals in 23 games, and they look like they’re going to be very hard to beat to the title this year!
One thing’s for sure. We definitely aren’t scoring enough goals and our strikers are in and out of form, lacking consistency. So I decided to bring another striker in. 20 year old, Fidel O’Rourke was let go by Liverpool in the Summer and hadn’t found himself another club yet so we snapped him up on a free and I’m hoping he can bag a few goals between now and the end of the season!
It felt like we plodded through the next couple of months, with some solid if unspectacular form over our next 13 games. Only 3 defeats in there against sides fighting at the top end of the table with us. Apart from the goalfest against Hereford, we’ve been solid at the back not conceding more than a single goal in any of the other 12 matches. Our attackers have been in and out of form, without anyone really standing out and taking the limelight.
A multitude of tactics have been used over the past couple of months, with me finally settling on these three, which I rotate and use for different opponents.
It’s fair to say the faithful old 4-1-2-3 Wide is still my favourite and seems to provide the more consistent performances for me at this stage.
There’s 10 games remaining (for us) and we sit 3rd in the league behind Boston and Guiseley, although we have a game in hand over both of them and could potentially go top if we win it. With only 8 points separating the top 7 teams though, it looks set to be tight and the title is very much up for grabs for a number of clubs.
One thing that is becoming slightly worrying though is the club’s continuing decline in the financial area. With no cup run this year, there has been a real shortage of cash coming into the club and we now find ourselves over £300k in the red.
My performance again this season has been good enough to earn me another new contract from the board.
Three wins from our next four games is the sort of form we need to be maintaining between now and the end of the season!
And that was enough to take us to the top of the league with 6 games left! It’s now officially our title to lose!
So of course in our next game we go out and get absolutely battered by 22nd placed Halesowen Town!! FFS!!
Which obviously meant that we lost our top spot and any advantage we had immediately!
And we followed that up with another defeat against Altrincham who again are struggling in the bottom half of the table! This looks like a repeat of two seasons ago when we are simply doing our best to throw the league title away!!
Going into the last 4 games of the season, any one of the top 5 are in with a good shot at becoming champions. Our matches against Guiseley and Boston will be absolutely massive!
First up was a massive game against Guiseley!
Fair to say I have a team of complete and utter useless bottle job c***s!!!
And our last 3 results prove that we’re just f***ing sh*t!
And to add to that, we had another shockingly sh*t youth intake!
So it’s a 5th placed finish for us and the playoffs for a 3rd year in a row!
And we fall at the first hurdle in the playoffs, losing in extra time to Hereford.
And with that I quit! I’m sorry but I just can’t bring myself to play a 4th season in this f***ing division. You can probably tell with the excessive swearing in this latest post that I am royally p***ed off! I need to get into another save that is going to revamp my love and enthusiasm of this game as this save has really drained me over the last season! The dire financial situation, the extremely poor youth intakes, the total inconsistency of my team and the fact that we've totally bottled two run ins out of 3 seasons - when you add it all up, I just can't bring myself to continue!
Right, I’ve had some time to calm down and have decided to continue with this save after all. I’ve invested too much time and effort into it, to just give up! And to be fair, right up until the end of the last season, I have really enjoyed it too!
So my end of season review…firstly the board set the budgets for next year. Naturally, there is no transfer budget, but despite the club being in a few hundred thousand pounds of debt, they seem to have found a bit extra for the wage budget anyway!
The biggest financial hit this season was the fact we made over £100k less in prize money after doing pretty poorly in the cup competitions.
I don’t think the 4-2-3-1 formation we used for majority of this season got the best out of most of our players. Only 4 managed average ratings about 7.00! I think I’ll be looking to change things up amongst the squad and with the way we play next year. The fact that we had a midfielder who finished as our top scorer shows how poor my front men were this year, and I think it shows we need to go back to 2 up top down at this level.
Fan’s Player of the Season = Joe West
Young Player of the Season = Joe West
Signing of the Season = George Hornshaw
Top Goalscorer = Maziar Kouhyar (14 in all comps)
Most Assists = Maziar Kouhyar (8 in all comps)
My Player of the Season = Maziar Kouhyar
My Young Player of the Season (U23) = Joe West
Most Disappointing = Finlay Macnab
I’ve still got plenty of support from my players, but we finish the season with a poor dressing room atmosphere after the disappointing finish. It seems the players are as p***ed as me at playoff failure for the 3rd season in a row.
Right, I’m off for what I think will be a busy Summer. Surely, next season is our year!!
July 2023
I’m going to go back to my previous style of writing from here on out with a month by month, game by game review.
Before we get on to the Summer signings, these were the players I released. A couple of names here who have featured a lot for me over the past 3 years. Luke Parkin played over 80 times for me, Ben Atkinson featured in more than 50 matches and Tyler Walton got over 40 appearances under my management.
My first Summer signing was centre back Calen Gallagher-Allison who joins on loan from Chester. The 20 year old featured 27 times for them in the National League last year and although he didn’t set the world alight, that experience should prove valuable for a season with us at the lower level.
Next in was 18 year old Jamal Wilson, another loanee, this time from Chesterfield. The hard working midfielder hasn’t made a senior appearance yet, so is a bit of an unknown, but I was happy to take a punt on him as we are contributing none of his wages.
With the formation I am looking to play this season, it is well worth keeping Kamani McFarlane around for another year, so I renewed his loan deal from Port Vale.
Danny Rowe has the potential to be my signing of the Summer as I bring him in on a free from Solihull Moors. He has loads of experience at a higher level than this and could be very important for us this year.
Ahmed Salem also comes in on a permanent deal (from Chorley). The winger has played for them 60 times in the past 2 seasons and has been an important member of their squad, so I am happy to bring him in and hope he can have an impact.
Kane Thompson-Sommers is another player that is a bit of an unknown quantity as he hasn’t made a competitive appearance yet. He’s come through the youth system at Birmingham and was released by them so we snapped him up. I’m hoping that at 22 years old, he is ready and mature enough to really kick start his career with us.
Fabian Mrozek joins on a free to become my 2nd Polish keeper in the squad. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be number 1 or number 2 yet though.
At just 17 years old, striker Keren Tal looks promising. Not sure exactly how much football I’ll give him this season, but with 2 strikers back in my new formation, he’ll likely get a shot at some point!
A striker that will be getting plenty of game time is Gary Noel who joins us on loan for the season from Stockport County. At 33 years old, he offers some much needed experience to the side and having scored 114 goals in his career to date, he should be able to find the net for us a few times down at this level still.
Talking of my new formation, this is how we’ll be lining up to start the season. A much more attacking approach with a really high press, with 2 up top again and utilizing our strength out wide. I have tried to add players to my squad with higher work rates this Summer, with it in mind that I’m looking to build a hard working side for this new setup.
Pre season proved that we should be scoring a lot of goals with this set up, although we’ll likely concede a few as well. I’m taking a new approach of simply trying to outscore our opponents this year…it should be an exciting ride for the fans.
August 2023
Again this season, the board are only expecting a top half finish, but after making the playoffs 3 seasons in a row, we have to have our sights set higher than this!
And again, the bookies don’t fancy us for a playoff spot. We’ve defied the odds for the past 3 seasons, so why not again? Kouhyar again makes the media dream 11 as the best right sided player in the division.
Hmmm, I’m surprised it’s taken 3 full seasons for this to happen if I’m honest, but Plymouth came in with a bid for Kouhyar and I asked them for £250,000, so they quickly pulled out. However, it seems to have upset my player who would now like a move to a bigger club and has formally handed in a transfer request despite all my best efforts to persuade him to stay.
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 1
Southport vs Farsley
4-2-4 Wide; Wusiewicz, Richards, Fielding, Gallagher-Allison, West, Rowe, Wilson (Hornshaw 79), Kouhyar, Ritaccio (Salam 61), Noel (Tal 61), O’Rourke
Really not the start I was looking for. Southport are a decent side, but when they went down to ten men within the first 3 minutes and then we took a 2-0 lead, I really didn’t expect to be sharing the points at full time!
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 2
Farsley vs Kettering Town
4-2-4 Wide; Wusiewicz, Richards, Fielding, Gallagher-Allison, West, Rowe (Hornshaw 72), Wilson, McFarlane, Ritaccio (Salam 62), Noel (Fewster 62), O’Rourke*
After battering Kettering’s goal for a full 90 minutes, we finally got our goal in stoppage time!
Guiseley up next and we have an abysmal record against them, having failed to beat them in the league in 3 years, and failing to score a single goal in our last 3 outings against them.
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 3
Guiseley vs Farsley
4-2-4 Wide; Mrozek, Richards, Fielding, Gallagher-Allison, Smith, Hornshaw, Wilson, McFarlane, Salam (Thompson-Sommers 60), Noel, O’Rourke (Fewster 60)
FFS!
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 4
Farsley vs Bradford PA
4-2-4 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Fielding, Gallagher-Allison, Smith, Ritaccio, Wilson, McFarlane, Salam (Thompson-Sommers 69), Noel*, O’Rourke (Fewster 69)
We look just as sh*t at the start of this season as we did at the end of last!
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 5
Farsley vs Darlington
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Fielding, Slooves, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Ritaccio, Kouhyar (Fewster 48), Thompson-Sommers (Noel 66), Salam, O’Rourke
That’s better! A change in formation seemed to bring about a much better performance and got us back to winning ways.
Well, nobody will be buying our star player for a while after he broke his leg against Darlington and will now be out for more than half the season!
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 6
Alfreton Town vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Fielding (Sent Off 31), Slooves, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Ritaccio (Hornshaw 64), McFarlane, Thompson-Sommers (Cogill 31), Salam, O’Rourke (Noel 64)
We only had 10 men. They only had 2 shots!
Not our best start to a season, but wins in our last 2 matches has got us back on track.
September 2023 Vanarama National League North – Matchday 7
Hereford vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Slooves, Cogill, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Ritaccio, McFarlane, Thompson-Sommers, Salam (Fewster 45), O’Rourke (Noel 45)
Sh*t performance, sh*t result to kick off the month!
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 8
Farsley vs Gainsborough Trinity
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Slooves, Cogill, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Hornshaw (Ritaccio 60), McFarlane, Noel, Salam (Thompson-Sommers 22), O’Rourke* (Fewster 79)
We won’t get too carried away. Gainsborough are bottom of the league without a single point yet!
Another of my wingers will now be out with a long term injury as well.
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 9
Stourbridge vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Slooves (West 60), Cogill, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Hornshaw, McFarlane, Reid, Thompson-Sommers, O’Rourke* (Fewster 60)
Back to back hat tricks for Fidel O’Rourke. Still not getting carried away – Stourbridge are about as rubbish as Gainsborough.
Devante Rodney joins the squad as I sign him on a free following his release from Port Vale. I don’t exactly need another striker but I couldn’t say no to a man who scored 20 goals in 31 games for Fylde in this division when on loan 2 seasons ago!
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 10
Farsley vs Telford
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Fielding*, Cogill, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Hornshaw, McFarlane, Reid (Ritaccio 86), Thompson-Sommers, O’Rourke (Rodney 69)
Telford came into this one top of the league, so I was interested to see how we fared against a proper side. The answer – not too bad actually! Good to see Devante Rodney coming off the bench for a debut goal as well!
Now he has a broken leg, Maziar Kouhyar apparently no longer wants to leave the club.
FA Cup – 2nd Qualifying Round
Banbury United vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Wusiewicz, Rowe, Slooves, Cogill, Smith, Wilson, Ritaccio, McFarlane (O’Rourke 65), Noel, Thompson-Sommers*, Rodney (Fewster 65)
Disposed of lower league opposition in the FA Cup easily enough, even with a little bit of squad rotation.
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 11
Fylde vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe (Richards 86), Fielding, Cogill, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Hornshaw, McFarlane*, Reid (Ritaccio 65), Thompson-Sommers, O’Rourke (Rodney 65)
Back in the league, we beat another of the division’s better sides. Are we good now?
That was an extra special result too as it brought an 8 game unbeaten home run to an end for Fylde.
Our good run of form has lifted us to 3rd in the league and just a point off top spot!
October 2023 FA Cup – 3rd Qualifying Round
Farsley vs Burscough
4-2-3-1 Wide; Wusiewicz, Richards, Slooves, Cogill (Fielding 83), Smith, Wilson (Reid 62), Hornshaw, McFarlane* (O’Rourke 62), Noel, Ritaccio, Rodney
More lower league opposition easily dispatched in the FA Cup.
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 12
Farsley vs South Shields
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe (Richard 58), Fielding, Cogill, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Ritaccio, McFarlane, Reid, Thompson-Sommers*, O’Rourke
Newly promoted South Shields put up a brave effort against us but we’re in the form of my managerial career at the moment.
See, we’re breaking records and everything!
FA Cup – 4th Qualifying Round
Kettering Town vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Wusiewicz, Richards, Slooves, Cogill (Fielding 50), Smith, Hornshaw, Ritaccio, McFarlane (O’Rourke 50), Noel, Thompson-Sommers (Fewster 62), Rodney
Awful. Just bl00dy awful! No money making cup run this year – well, not in the main competition anyway.
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 13
Blyth Spartans vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Fielding, Cogill, Gallagher-Allison, Wilson, Hornshaw, McFarlane, Ritaccio, Thompson-Sommers, O’Rourke
Blyth were predicted to finish above us this season, so I guess this a good point away from home.
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 14
Farsley vs Spennymoor
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Fielding, Cogill, Gallagher-Allison (Slooves 78), Wilson, Hornshaw, McFarlane (Ritaccio 63), Reid, Thompson-Sommers, Rodney (O’Rourke 63)
Another opponent predicted to finish above us. Another good point?
Fidel O’Rourke has been sensational for us up top so far this season, with 10 goals in 17 games in all comps, but we’ll have to do without him for the next few matches after he picked up an injury against Spennymoor.
Despite failing to win either of our last 2 matches, we still made it to the top of the league this month. It’s tight though with only 6 points separating the top 11 clubs!
November 2023 Vanarama National League North – Matchday 15
York City vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Fielding, Cogill, Smith, Wilson, Ritaccio, McFarlane, Reid (Noel 68), Thompson-Sommers, Rodney*
That’s 4 games without a win now.
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 16
Farsley vs Altrincham
4-2-3-1 Wide; Mrozek, Rowe, Fielding, Cogill, Gallagher-Allison (Slooves 61), Wilson, Hornshaw, McFarlane*, Ritaccio (Noel 61), Thompson-Sommers, Rodney (Fewster 61)
Back to winning ways thanks to a McFarlane double!
Vanarama National League North – Matchday 17
Gateshead vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Wusiewicz, Rowe (Richards 61), Fielding, Slooves, Cogill, Wilson, Hornshaw (Noel 61), McFarlane, Ritaccio, Thompson-Sommers, Rodney
I suppose we should take the positives that we’re not losing to the bigger/better sides in the league.
FA Trophy – 2nd Round
FC United vs Farsley
4-2-3-1 Wide; Wusiewicz, Rowe, Slooves, Cogill, Smith, Wilson, Hornshaw, McFarlane (Rodney 85), Reid, Ritaccio, Noel (Fewster 85)
No cup run at all this season. We were really poor here against an FC United side that hadn’t won in 6 games….worrying!
We’ve dropped down to 3rd in the table, but still very much in the mix. If we can keep picking up draws against the big sides and beating everyone else, we’ll stand a good chance of having a decent season!
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