One of the hardest things in the world of management is re-writing the story you tell your players. Essentially, you're telling the players you believe in the system but not in their ability to pull it off effectively. On the one hand, we were three games into the proper implementation of the tactics and formation I felt suited us best - it was in it's infancy. Yet deep down, I knew they didn't have the tactical or positional sense to make it effective and truthfully, this had been going on for longer than just these three league games. We weren't creating enough and simply put, we had to be able to.
Tuesday 14th August 2018 - Hungerford Town (Home) - Walker; Doyley, Young, Hamblin, Connolly; Roberts, Clifford, Parkes, Watt; Constantinou, Kavanagh.
I simplified things to try and find solutions to our problems. The wingers playing higher up the pitch to try and create much more and get in those key positions and new boy Kavanagh partnering Constantinou, in an effort to get another body up top and hopefully score more or even just land more shots on target. I even recalled Lloyd Doyley to the team.
We started the game well and came out flying, leading to an early corner. However, this was cleared, Akpobire outpaced Lloyd Doyley on the counter and fired past Walker - 3 minutes in. Sake. By the 30 minute mark, Akpobire grabbed another as a long ball was horrendously missed by the defence and then Hamblin and Akprobire breached the defence, again, to fire home, again. Raging. Then on the stroke of half time, Akpobire continued his incredible performance with his corner meeting the head of Cairns who made it 3-0. 3 minutes were added on but I raced down the tunnel as soon as I saw the ball cross the line for the third goal. I'd had enough of the underperforming and lack of concentration, I wasn't prepared to let them off of the hook any longer.
What followed was a barrage of honesty from me. I told them a few home truths they weren't happy about but I cared almost as much as they did when they put on that Hemel Hempstead shirt whilst I was in charge. I told them I didn't care if they didn't respect me but that as long as I was manager, they had a duty to undertake my instructions and a duty to perform their best for the fans who could quite easily go support Watford instead. I made a point as soon as they walked into the dressing room that not one of them was allowed to speak for the 15 minute interval and instead they'd shut up, focus and listen to me, if they still wanted a place at the club.
Long story short, we battered them and deserved to win. A quick break from Roberts set up
Clifford to fire home from the edge of the area,
Kavanagh broke his Hemel Hempstead duck with 15 minutes to go after a Hungerford defensive error and a long ball from skipper Parkes was seized upon by Cawley whose effort was tipped into the path of that man
Kavanagh who tapped home again to make it 3-3 with 2 minutes left on the clock. Maybe I was beginning to learn about what made this team click.
Saturday 18th August 2018 - Woking (Home) - Walker; Doyley, Ward, Young, Connolly; Roberts, Parkes, Clifford, Watt; Kavanagh, Constantinou.
The visit of promotion chasing Woking brought with it 800 fans to Vauxhall Road. After Tuesday's game against Hungerford produced a Jekyll and Hyde performance, I was hoping my clear-the-air teamtalk would have a lasting effect on the lads and we'd start to see a run of decent results off of the back of it. Darren Ward came in after Tom Hamblin's mediocre performance.
It wasn't to be. Woking were simply too strong and sharp to match. They took an early lead through Jack Cook on 5 minutes after a corner was poorly defended. Finlay Wood doubled their lead on 42 minutes with a header after a deep, looping cross from the right hand side. It was a disappointing start and felt like we'd be going over old ground in training again but Woking were a stronger side, I could at least see the gulf in class. Jordan Parkes was able to pull back a consolation with 12 minutes left after cutting in from the right and striking from 20 yards out but Woking held on for a 2-1 victory.
After the defeat to Woking, we agreed one year contracts for ex-Newcastle midfielder Ben Drennan, former Southampton right back Connor Langan and Montel Agyemang, who'd scored 8 goals at this level for East Thurrock last season. These signings added squad depth, fresh legs and more competition for places. I was pleased to sign them up after impressive pre-season performances for the Under 18s.
Saturday 25th August 2018 - Welling United (Away) - Walker; Langan, Ward, Hutchison, Connolly; Howe, Clifford, Parkes, Watt; Constantinou, Cawley.
I felt a win was more than possible here and these were the sort of sides that we should be highly competitive against - new man Langan started, Hutchison returned and Cawley started, alongside Constantinou.
We got off to a bad start, again, and conceded from a sloppy set piece, again. Only 3 minutes in. Here we go, I thought. Less than 20 minutes later, Langan found Watt on the left hand side who headed to the back post and there was
Stephen Cawley to head home an equaliser. Delighted! On 35 minutes, skipper Parkes knocked a smart through ball past the Welling defence and
Cawley had enough pace to bypass them and fire past the keeper to grab his and our second. Much more like it.
Then after half time, we carried it on. Joe Howe knocked in a hard, low cross from the right which was picked up by nobody in the Welling defence and once again,
Cawley fired home to grab Hemel's third and claim the matchball. Celebrations were short lived as Welling immediately went on the attack and Ward gave away a penalty, which Mills scored from, but all in all, we dominated in every area and it looked a resounding victory. 2 goals conceded due to poor defensive mistakes but injury worries and lack of form meant any familiarity and confidence building partnerships at the back was hard to find. I have to admit, I was just delighted with the victory and couldn't focus too heavily on the minor points.
Saturday 27th August 2018 - Chelmsford (Home) - Walker; Langan, Corbridge, Hutchison, Connolly; Howe, Clifford, Parkes, Watt; Kavanagh, Cawley.
Our final game of a hectic first month and one I was hoping for a win from after last week's performance. Corbridge came in for the injured Ward and loanee Kavanagh replaced the injured Constantinou. Oddly, we started well and even odder, bagged the first goal. Connor Langan won a header on the halfway line and
Kavanagh outpaced his man to fire home from the edge of the box with a stinger of an effort. On 32 minutes, we doubled our lead and Kavanagh's tally as a long Clifford clearance created a counter attack which beat the Chelmsford defence and
Kavanagh again fired home from the same area.
As well as we played, the conditions and human error cost us a second consecutive win. On 63 minutes, Taylor Miles pulled one back for Chelmsford as his 20 yard effort was tipped into Laurie Walker's goal by, well, Laurie Walker. With 7 minutes left, Barnum-Bobb's jinking run produced a poorly hit effort which Walker somehow struggled with and let beat him at the near post. It was a poor display from Walker and meant Hemel ended up drawing 2-2. This, and the lack of backup, would mean another foray into the transfer market for myself and the addition of Charlton's Ashley Maynard-Brewer on loan until the end of the season.
In conclusion, a busy, hard month with plenty of testing results and circumstances. As always, failure provides lessons to learn and we'd have many lessons to learn from.
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