Darren Trott's Managerial Journey!
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1st vs 3rd, the clash of two over-performing teams, or whatever you may want to call it - this is as big a game as it gets from our perspective. Oxford are fairly comfortably leading the table with a 4 point game where as Plymouth are right behind us in the 4th spot. Oxford are on an 8 match unbeaten run and this game is quite challenging for us!
We got off to a flying start. A cross from the right wing was poorly dealt with by the Oxford defense, allowing Straker to capitalise on the error. 1-0 up after 4 minutes - dream start! Despite our lead, we didn't really look all that threatening but we held tight. Ilesmani, Lowe, McCombe and Nolan formed a wall at the back for us. Our football wasn't the prettiest, but it was determined.
Just as we were heading to the 45 minute mark, Oxford equalized. It was Hary Panayiotou who scored. It was a very Suarez-y goal with a nutmeg and some silky touches. **** it! I was hoping we'd go into the break with the lead. It was a brilliant goal though, one for the season highlights reel.
My half time team talk was all about reassurance at the break as I told the players I liked what I saw and to continue what they were doing. But Oxford were a different side in the second half. That goal gave them a lot of confidence as they passed brilliantly and attacked us with impunity. From the restart till the 70th minute, about 20 minutes of the game was played in our half. We were barely hanging on.
Then I decided that I've had enough of this. Oxford were brilliant but our players were backing off without putting in the tackles. This is exactly the sort of thing Russ Penn excels at - breaking off opponent attacks. Sigh! It looked like our unbeaten run was about to end.
I replaced our DM Tom Platt with a defender and gave him some instructions to pass on to others.Tackle hard; and press more. Once we did that, Oxford's threat steadily decreased. They still created chances but with less frequency, and we managed to survive.
1-1 at the final whistle. I'll take it! Oxford would probably be wondering how they didn't win. But it doesn't matter to me.
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1st vs 3rd, the clash of two over-performing teams, or whatever you may want to call it - this is as big a game as it gets from our perspective. Oxford are fairly comfortably leading the table with a 4 point game where as Plymouth are right behind us in the 4th spot. Oxford are on an 8 match unbeaten run and this game is quite challenging for us!
We got off to a flying start. A cross from the right wing was poorly dealt with by the Oxford defense, allowing Straker to capitalise on the error. 1-0 up after 4 minutes - dream start! Despite our lead, we didn't really look all that threatening but we held tight. Ilesmani, Lowe, McCombe and Nolan formed a wall at the back for us. Our football wasn't the prettiest, but it was determined.
Just as we were heading to the 45 minute mark, Oxford equalized. It was Hary Panayiotou who scored. It was a very Suarez-y goal with a nutmeg and some silky touches. **** it! I was hoping we'd go into the break with the lead. It was a brilliant goal though, one for the season highlights reel.
My half time team talk was all about reassurance at the break as I told the players I liked what I saw and to continue what they were doing. But Oxford were a different side in the second half. That goal gave them a lot of confidence as they passed brilliantly and attacked us with impunity. From the restart till the 70th minute, about 20 minutes of the game was played in our half. We were barely hanging on.
Then I decided that I've had enough of this. Oxford were brilliant but our players were backing off without putting in the tackles. This is exactly the sort of thing Russ Penn excels at - breaking off opponent attacks. Sigh! It looked like our unbeaten run was about to end.
I replaced our DM Tom Platt with a defender and gave him some instructions to pass on to others.Tackle hard; and press more. Once we did that, Oxford's threat steadily decreased. They still created chances but with less frequency, and we managed to survive.
1-1 at the final whistle. I'll take it! Oxford would probably be wondering how they didn't win. But it doesn't matter to me.
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Straker injured
Anthony Straker, the goalscorer in the Oxford draw was injured during the later stages of the game. While preliminary reports suggested it was a minor issue, a full report says something different.
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With Coulson and Carson still out, we are now without a proper left winger. Ellis Bellamy is returning from his injury and can play on the left wing but it's not his natural position.
Straker injured
Anthony Straker, the goalscorer in the Oxford draw was injured during the later stages of the game. While preliminary reports suggested it was a minor issue, a full report says something different.
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With Coulson and Carson still out, we are now without a proper left winger. Ellis Bellamy is returning from his injury and can play on the left wing but it's not his natural position.
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Time to visit East London to take on the Daggers. Strake is out, Penn is suspended. Thankfully, Lester and Coulson are back, although Coulson is not yet ready to play more than 20-30 minutes. So, he'll start on the bench.
The start to this game was action-packed. End to end stuff from both the sides! After a fast paced start, the game decreased in tempo with both sides focusing on strong defending. Daggers were getting a bit sloppy with their defense as time went on and in the 40th minute, they paid the price. Lester crossed into the box trying to find Oliver but playing his first game after injury, Lester looked rusty and cross looked like it was going to go out for a goal kick. But Nyron Nosworthy made a mess of the cross, misjudged the direction of the ball and deflected it into his own net. That was the last significant moment of the first half. 1-0 up.
View attachment 204437Despite leading, the game was fairly balanced and the home side could equalize any moment. Time to see this game through and not get complacent. I made a couple of changes and the players were out onto the field.
The second half was a bore. We were presented with next to no threat by Dag & Red. I'm pretty sure their manager would be ****** off by the lack of intent among his players. It was going smoothly for us. And things got better when Coulson doubled our lead in the 87th minute. Coulson was on the pitch for just 5 minutes and he latched onto a looooooooooong ball by Lester (the ball went directly from our box to the opposition box) and rounded the keeper to score. 2-0 up with 3+1 minute left.
Well deserved victory. And we extend our unbeaten run to 20 league games!
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Time to visit East London to take on the Daggers. Strake is out, Penn is suspended. Thankfully, Lester and Coulson are back, although Coulson is not yet ready to play more than 20-30 minutes. So, he'll start on the bench.
The start to this game was action-packed. End to end stuff from both the sides! After a fast paced start, the game decreased in tempo with both sides focusing on strong defending. Daggers were getting a bit sloppy with their defense as time went on and in the 40th minute, they paid the price. Lester crossed into the box trying to find Oliver but playing his first game after injury, Lester looked rusty and cross looked like it was going to go out for a goal kick. But Nyron Nosworthy made a mess of the cross, misjudged the direction of the ball and deflected it into his own net. That was the last significant moment of the first half. 1-0 up.
View attachment 204437Despite leading, the game was fairly balanced and the home side could equalize any moment. Time to see this game through and not get complacent. I made a couple of changes and the players were out onto the field.
The second half was a bore. We were presented with next to no threat by Dag & Red. I'm pretty sure their manager would be ****** off by the lack of intent among his players. It was going smoothly for us. And things got better when Coulson doubled our lead in the 87th minute. Coulson was on the pitch for just 5 minutes and he latched onto a looooooooooong ball by Lester (the ball went directly from our box to the opposition box) and rounded the keeper to score. 2-0 up with 3+1 minute left.
Well deserved victory. And we extend our unbeaten run to 20 league games!
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Cbarber871
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nice form your on 
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In other news, Arsenal lift the League Cup and have two trophies in their cabinet this season. Ipswich were the giant killers in the League Cup as they beat Man City in the quarter finals, and Liverpool in the semis. I was hoping they'd beat Arsenal too but lost the game on penalties.
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In other news, Arsenal lift the League Cup and have two trophies in their cabinet this season. Ipswich were the giant killers in the League Cup as they beat Man City in the quarter finals, and Liverpool in the semis. I was hoping they'd beat Arsenal too but lost the game on penalties.
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Youth Intake
Excellent time of the year, this. I always look forward to fresh and young talent. 16 youngsters are assigned to our youth candidate team, and it'll be up to me to decide if any of these are good enough for the club.
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I'll attend a game to judge their potentials. Cresswell has given me brief reports on those he finds are a cut above the rest. We'll see!
Youth Intake
Excellent time of the year, this. I always look forward to fresh and young talent. 16 youngsters are assigned to our youth candidate team, and it'll be up to me to decide if any of these are good enough for the club.
View attachment 204095
I'll attend a game to judge their potentials. Cresswell has given me brief reports on those he finds are a cut above the rest. We'll see!
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Huge Blow!
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Ouch! This is a big blow for us. Vadaine Oliver has been in scintillating form recently, scoring 8 goals in the last 13 games. He is our second best goal scorer and he'll be out for over a month, and could well miss out on a good chunk of the remainder of the season.
Time for Hyde and Thompson to step up!
Huge Blow!
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Ouch! This is a big blow for us. Vadaine Oliver has been in scintillating form recently, scoring 8 goals in the last 13 games. He is our second best goal scorer and he'll be out for over a month, and could well miss out on a good chunk of the remainder of the season.
Time for Hyde and Thompson to step up!
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York U18s vs. York Youth Candidates
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To say that our U-18 team got outplayed would be a severe understatement. The youth candidates, who are all somewhere around 16 yrs old played without pressure and turned on the style at times. I was watching the game from the stands and some of the passing and solid defensive work amazed me. I am a huge fan of solid defending and I was impressed.
I offered contracts to six of them, and they all accepted. Excellent!
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Tony Watson (MC) and Alan Fleming (DC) look particularly promising.
York U18s vs. York Youth Candidates
View attachment 203475
To say that our U-18 team got outplayed would be a severe understatement. The youth candidates, who are all somewhere around 16 yrs old played without pressure and turned on the style at times. I was watching the game from the stands and some of the passing and solid defensive work amazed me. I am a huge fan of solid defending and I was impressed.
I offered contracts to six of them, and they all accepted. Excellent!
View attachment 203473
Tony Watson (MC) and Alan Fleming (DC) look particularly promising.
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Barnet aren't having the best of the seasons and are struggling near the bottom of the table. We have an opportunity to extend our unbeaten run and put pressure on Oxford and Portsmouth, who are above us in the table. Hyde replaces Oliver, and Coulson starts for the first time after his return from injury.
Barnet started strongly as they tried to catch our slow defense by launching long balls forward. It troubled us early on but when I told our defense to drop deeper, their strategy was nullified and the game continued at a rather slow tempo. Barnet threatened near the end of first half as they won three corners in a row. When we cleared the fourth, we started a counter attack. 10 passes later, the ball ended in the back of the net. Brilliant! It was the only proper attack we orchestrated and Coulson put the finishing touches.
Although we were leading, it wasn't exactly the strongest. Conceding just before half time encourages most teams to push hard from the start.
And Barnet were one of those teams. With modified tactics, Barnet looked a lot more dangerous, especially on the wings. Their tempo was too much for us to handle; so I asked the lads to slow the game down a little bit to disorient the away side's attacks. I'm not going to say it worked perfectly but there were times when Barnet produced next to nothing in terms of attacks. Strictly speaking, neither did we but atleast we had the lead.
At the final whistle, the players and supporters of The Minstermen celebrated. It was a victory, but far from a convincing one.
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Barnet aren't having the best of the seasons and are struggling near the bottom of the table. We have an opportunity to extend our unbeaten run and put pressure on Oxford and Portsmouth, who are above us in the table. Hyde replaces Oliver, and Coulson starts for the first time after his return from injury.
Barnet started strongly as they tried to catch our slow defense by launching long balls forward. It troubled us early on but when I told our defense to drop deeper, their strategy was nullified and the game continued at a rather slow tempo. Barnet threatened near the end of first half as they won three corners in a row. When we cleared the fourth, we started a counter attack. 10 passes later, the ball ended in the back of the net. Brilliant! It was the only proper attack we orchestrated and Coulson put the finishing touches.
Although we were leading, it wasn't exactly the strongest. Conceding just before half time encourages most teams to push hard from the start.
And Barnet were one of those teams. With modified tactics, Barnet looked a lot more dangerous, especially on the wings. Their tempo was too much for us to handle; so I asked the lads to slow the game down a little bit to disorient the away side's attacks. I'm not going to say it worked perfectly but there were times when Barnet produced next to nothing in terms of attacks. Strictly speaking, neither did we but atleast we had the lead.
At the final whistle, the players and supporters of The Minstermen celebrated. It was a victory, but far from a convincing one.
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10 games left...
10 games left...
View attachment 202965With 10 games in the League left, we are currently sitting second in the League, 5 points behind Oxford but only ahead of Portsmouth on goal difference. There is a decent gap between the last automatic promotion spot and playoff spot - which is good news. With 10 games to go, this is how our run-in looks:
View attachment 202964
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We face a team from the top 10 only twice in the remaining games, which is good. We have four games against teams battling for survival - easy games on paper but they'll be tricky. 5 home games and 5 away games - so fairly balanced. If we manage to get a good result against Plymouth and Portsmouth, I think we have a good chance to gain automatic promotion!
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Ah, AFC Wimbledon! We lost to The Dons 1-0 at Bootham Crescent and this is a chance to get our revenge! In fact, our last defeat in the League was to AFC Wimbledon, after which we started our undefeated streak, which currently stands at 21.
Wimbledon threatened us quite a bit in the early stages and brought back some memories of our previous encounter where we were outplayed in the midfield. Thankfully for us, most of the chances created by the home side ended up safely in our goalkeeper Flinders' safe pair of hands. The game continued that way till half-time and we were a touch lucky to be on level terms.
"This is the time to get revenge for our home loss to them. Go out there and exact revenge!". My half time talk was very simple and I made sure everyone realized the importance of a win here.
View attachment 202960The second half started on more even terms but Wimbledon were still creating the bulk of the chances, albeit more intermittently than the first half. With Oliver injured, our strike force was looking off-colour. But when Hyde came on in the 70th minute, things started to change. We were able to create some chances and put Wimbledon under pressure. And it paid off with 5 mins left when Summerfield scored a lovely goal from 20 yards after a neat passing move. 1-0 up with 5 mins to go.
That goal gave the players a lot of confidence and for the last 5 minutes, we were able to completely outplay the home side. We even managed to double our lead in the 90th minute as Hyde beat the offside trap to latch onto a through ball, and coolly pass the ball into goal. He deserved the goal for his performance off the bench. 3 points today is most welcome, especially after a poor first half.
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Ah, AFC Wimbledon! We lost to The Dons 1-0 at Bootham Crescent and this is a chance to get our revenge! In fact, our last defeat in the League was to AFC Wimbledon, after which we started our undefeated streak, which currently stands at 21.
Wimbledon threatened us quite a bit in the early stages and brought back some memories of our previous encounter where we were outplayed in the midfield. Thankfully for us, most of the chances created by the home side ended up safely in our goalkeeper Flinders' safe pair of hands. The game continued that way till half-time and we were a touch lucky to be on level terms.
"This is the time to get revenge for our home loss to them. Go out there and exact revenge!". My half time talk was very simple and I made sure everyone realized the importance of a win here.
View attachment 202960The second half started on more even terms but Wimbledon were still creating the bulk of the chances, albeit more intermittently than the first half. With Oliver injured, our strike force was looking off-colour. But when Hyde came on in the 70th minute, things started to change. We were able to create some chances and put Wimbledon under pressure. And it paid off with 5 mins left when Summerfield scored a lovely goal from 20 yards after a neat passing move. 1-0 up with 5 mins to go.
That goal gave the players a lot of confidence and for the last 5 minutes, we were able to completely outplay the home side. We even managed to double our lead in the 90th minute as Hyde beat the offside trap to latch onto a through ball, and coolly pass the ball into goal. He deserved the goal for his performance off the bench. 3 points today is most welcome, especially after a poor first half.
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AndySams10
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Another one of the top stories on here and brilliantly laid out to make it easy to keep updated with everything.
Keep up the good work mate. Promotion for sure.
Keep up the good work mate. Promotion for sure.
Another one of the top stories on here and brilliantly laid out to make it easy to keep updated with everything.
Keep up the good work mate. Promotion for sure.
Thanks for reading. Promotion is looking more and more likely with every passing game.
View attachment 202682Anthony Straker and Ben Godfrey are back from injuries. Right on time, if you ask me. While neither of them are automatic choices into my first team, they provide much needed depth to the squad and provide me with a solid choice when needed.
Heading into the final few games of the season, we have a near full-strength squad, which is very encouraging. Oliver's absence upfront is still being felt but atleast we have plenty of options in the middle of the park.
Heading into the final few games of the season, we have a near full-strength squad, which is very encouraging. Oliver's absence upfront is still being felt but atleast we have plenty of options in the middle of the park.
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Hirst has been doing well in the U-21 team and I decided it was time for him to get some first team football. The experience would do wonders for the lad. He is a pretty good prospect for most League 2 sides, and I'll have a chance to evaluate him once he returns from loan. Meanwhile, I've told my scouts to keep an eye on his performance at Cheltenham.
Hirst's attributes:
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Hirst has been doing well in the U-21 team and I decided it was time for him to get some first team football. The experience would do wonders for the lad. He is a pretty good prospect for most League 2 sides, and I'll have a chance to evaluate him once he returns from loan. Meanwhile, I've told my scouts to keep an eye on his performance at Cheltenham.
Hirst's attributes:
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Cbarber871
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he did ok for my AFC Fylde team
xJamieWilliams
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Come on mate! Promotion is on the cards! Loving this
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Crawley are at the bottom of the table and their survival chances are, well, negligible. Crawley have been a rather industrious and determined side this season but their quality has been poor. I am expecting a midfield tussle as the game is about to start.
The first half can be summed up by two embarrassing misses. We were let-off the hook when their striker skied a shot from 10 yards with just the keeper to beat. Phew! Our best chance came in the closing moments of first half but Jake Hyde proved that he is the master of messing up chances by missing a free header from point blank range.
Hyde's wastefulness made me bring on Thompson for support in the 66th minute. And then this happens:
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It looks like our strikers want to perform as substitutes - Hyde did it in the last game, coming on for Thompson and today, it was the latter. Doesn't matter as long as we're ahead. Fortunately, that goal shell-shocked Crawley, who found it difficult to hold onto the ball in the next 20 minutes.
An in-form team would've made us pay today but Crawley simply didn't have it in them. Another sub-par performance got us the win today, and only because Crawley's display was worse than ours. A couple more performances like this, and our run could very well end.
View attachment 202257
We crawled to a victory today (sorry for the bad pun
).
Crawley are at the bottom of the table and their survival chances are, well, negligible. Crawley have been a rather industrious and determined side this season but their quality has been poor. I am expecting a midfield tussle as the game is about to start.
The first half can be summed up by two embarrassing misses. We were let-off the hook when their striker skied a shot from 10 yards with just the keeper to beat. Phew! Our best chance came in the closing moments of first half but Jake Hyde proved that he is the master of messing up chances by missing a free header from point blank range.
Hyde's wastefulness made me bring on Thompson for support in the 66th minute. And then this happens:
View attachment 202256
It looks like our strikers want to perform as substitutes - Hyde did it in the last game, coming on for Thompson and today, it was the latter. Doesn't matter as long as we're ahead. Fortunately, that goal shell-shocked Crawley, who found it difficult to hold onto the ball in the next 20 minutes.
An in-form team would've made us pay today but Crawley simply didn't have it in them. Another sub-par performance got us the win today, and only because Crawley's display was worse than ours. A couple more performances like this, and our run could very well end.
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We crawled to a victory today (sorry for the bad pun
).View attachment 201996
Big game this - probably the biggest one in the upcoming fixtures. Oxford are leading with 76 points, Portsmouth and us are tied with 74. Plymouth are 4th with 69 points. A win here would give us a huge advantage but a loss would put pressure on us. A draw is good, too.
Plymouth started with very high intensity and made their intentions clear. They were going for the win and we pushing players forward right from kick-off. We had the best chances in the opening 10 minutes one of them being a clear cut chance, which ended up being one for the blooper reel as Hyde missed a sitter.
The next 20 minutes was one way traffic as Plymouth put us under immense pressure. We were barely holding on as Plymouth were overworking our defense. In the 36th minute, Plymouth went ahead. And deservedly so. We were no match for The Pilgrims' physically strong attack in the first half. The goal changed nothing, as Plymouth continued to make our defense look weak. Mark Yeates exerted his physical dominance once again as he leapt above Lowe to head Plymouth's second goal.
2-0 down at half time. Yeates was superb, we simply couldn't contain him. Our unbeaten run is under threat! I made a few changes to our tactics and went with a more attacking strategy. I also gave a very motivational half-time team talk.
A few things changed in the second half which gave us some hope. With three strikers on the field, Plymouth were forced to be more cautious at the back. But their defense was as determined as their offense - most of our chances were half chances and we struggled to convert them.
Time was running out and we needed two goals to get anything out of this game. Berrett sent a 30 yard shot narrowly wide; Hyde rattled the crossbar with a lovely volley. Close, but not yet there.
3 mins of added time was shown. Plymouth were barely hanging on now, in contrast to the first half. Bellamy finally scored in the 2nd minute of added time to give us the smallest bit of hope. But alas, it was too late. A few passes after the restart, the ref blew the whistle!
So, we lost....finally. 23 games unbeaten before this - had to end some time.
View attachment 201995
Big game this - probably the biggest one in the upcoming fixtures. Oxford are leading with 76 points, Portsmouth and us are tied with 74. Plymouth are 4th with 69 points. A win here would give us a huge advantage but a loss would put pressure on us. A draw is good, too.
Plymouth started with very high intensity and made their intentions clear. They were going for the win and we pushing players forward right from kick-off. We had the best chances in the opening 10 minutes one of them being a clear cut chance, which ended up being one for the blooper reel as Hyde missed a sitter.
The next 20 minutes was one way traffic as Plymouth put us under immense pressure. We were barely holding on as Plymouth were overworking our defense. In the 36th minute, Plymouth went ahead. And deservedly so. We were no match for The Pilgrims' physically strong attack in the first half. The goal changed nothing, as Plymouth continued to make our defense look weak. Mark Yeates exerted his physical dominance once again as he leapt above Lowe to head Plymouth's second goal.
2-0 down at half time. Yeates was superb, we simply couldn't contain him. Our unbeaten run is under threat! I made a few changes to our tactics and went with a more attacking strategy. I also gave a very motivational half-time team talk.
A few things changed in the second half which gave us some hope. With three strikers on the field, Plymouth were forced to be more cautious at the back. But their defense was as determined as their offense - most of our chances were half chances and we struggled to convert them.
Time was running out and we needed two goals to get anything out of this game. Berrett sent a 30 yard shot narrowly wide; Hyde rattled the crossbar with a lovely volley. Close, but not yet there.
3 mins of added time was shown. Plymouth were barely hanging on now, in contrast to the first half. Bellamy finally scored in the 2nd minute of added time to give us the smallest bit of hope. But alas, it was too late. A few passes after the restart, the ref blew the whistle!
So, we lost....finally. 23 games unbeaten before this - had to end some time.
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View attachment 201991
The Big Final
After the Plymouth defeat, it's time to focus our attention elsewhere - the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.
View attachment 201990
A special game for both the teams involved. The first JPT final for either of the clubs and it's time to give something to the fans to rejoice. In the press conference leading upto this game, I remained calm and tried to stay clear of all tricky questions.
I was asked several questions about my tacticss, opinions about opposition manager and squad, and how I'm dealing with the pressure. I maintained my calm and deflected all questions with answers like 'I'm focusing on the game instead of these things'.
View attachment 201989
The Big Final
After the Plymouth defeat, it's time to focus our attention elsewhere - the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final.
View attachment 201990
A special game for both the teams involved. The first JPT final for either of the clubs and it's time to give something to the fans to rejoice. In the press conference leading upto this game, I remained calm and tried to stay clear of all tricky questions.
I was asked several questions about my tacticss, opinions about opposition manager and squad, and how I'm dealing with the pressure. I maintained my calm and deflected all questions with answers like 'I'm focusing on the game instead of these things'.
View attachment 201989