New Club Formation – The Tale of Gee Cross Football Club

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Stuart 1971

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New Club Formation – The Tale of Gee Cross Football Club
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It’s the 11th​March 2014, entrepreneur and billionaire businessman Ken Wright has just watched his boyhood team, Hyde United, be comprehensively beaten 3-0 by fellow Football Conference Premier side Alfreton Town. A defeat which has finally relegated Hyde back to the Conference North after a 2 year stay.
Ken has decided enough is enough, he wants some success, some glory, some good times, but he has no intention of ploughing his money into Hyde, he is going to build his own new team within the town.


The season reaches its climax with Hyde only managing to record 1 win, 2-0 away at Welling United; they ultimately finish the season with a league record low of 10 points, some 34 points from safety.


It’s now 1st​July 2015, 16 months have passed and the 24 players recruited for newly formed Gee Cross Football Club have reported for duty at their new 4,100 capacity Werneth Low football stadium.
 
Months earlier, and with a transfer budget of £1.5m allowed by his friend Ken Wright, rookie manager Stuart Docherty set about the recruitment process. The team was assembled mostly with players from Sky Bet League 2 teams, with a lot of persuasion and convincing the players that silverware was possible immediately. With the planning of the past 16 months and the complete backing of Ken Wright the recruits were convinced that anything was possible.

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 [FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]There's a definite lack of quality up front, but Ashley Chambers has played in that position and scored a number of goals whilst with his previous club York.[/FONT]


 
The best 3 players’ recruited being:

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Brian Murphy – the 32 year-old Irish goalkeeper was purchased from Portsmouth, he had previously played over 100 games for Irish Premier Division team Bohemians. He will be pushed by 2nd​ choice keeper Artur Krysiak.


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Nathan Ralph – the 22 year-old left footer is equally adept at left back and as a left winger. Having started on a youth contract at Ipswich he was purchased for Gee Cross from Newport County.

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Matty Pearson – this towering defender standing at 6' 3”, can play in any position across the backline. He will mostly play as a central defender alongside club vice-captain Andy Parrish.






 
[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]A backroom staff of 4 was recruited, the most notable being the ex-Manchester City and Blackburn midfilelder Garry Flitcrift, employed as the Director of Football.[/FONT]


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[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]Incidentally, Hyde United were again relegated whilst the new chairman was hatching his master plan, Hyde being replaced in the Conference North by their new local rivals Gee Cross.[/FONT]
 
105

Pre-Season Frendlies:

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5 friendlies were scheduled, the most pleasing result being the 1-0 home win against Burton.

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Although we didn't have as much of the ball or as many shots as Burton, we played a 4-5-1 formation on the counter with Roarie Deacon pouncing on a mistake from their keeper in the 54th minute.


 
Home v Nuneaton


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Nuneaton were heavily tipped in the press to be one of the title contenders this season.

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To be able to restrict the title contenders to only one shot on target in 90 was a delight, unfortunately for us they scored with that shot, and even worse for us it was right on the stroke of half time.

Our goal was a wonder-strike late on from our left winger Gerardo Bruna.

Right back, Seth Nana Twumasi pinged a diagonal ball for Bruna to run onto and hit a ferocious shot across the Nuneaton keeper and into the roof of the net from the edge of the area.​
 
Away v North Ferriby

North Ferriby came into this game with little confidence after losing all of their pre-season games and also losing their opening game of the season 4-1 to Tamworth but I wasn't taking them lightly.

With having only played Nuneaton 3 days earlier I made 6 changes to the outfield positions, with Matty Pearson moving to right back.

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We got off to a fantastic start scoring in the 2nd minute. It was a very similar goal to the one in the Nuneaton match but this time our striker Sam Hoskins was the provider.

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The match finished 5-1 to Gee Cross with all the goals coming in the first half, left winger Roarie Deacon sealing a hat-trick in his first ever competitive start for us.
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Corby v Gee Cross

We're back to full strength again after a few of the players were rested for the midweek game. I stick with the 4-2-3-1 formation that has served us well so far this season.

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The game is very even with the only goal coming in the 41st minute from our attacking midfielder Max Kretzschmar.

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We lose our left winger Gerardo Bruna for up to 4 months in the 11th minute with a torn hamstring.

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Gee Cross v FC United


My formation has changed slightly due to the injury to Bruna in the last match and again with rotating players. The wide men are better suited to sit a little deeper.

I've pushed Nathan Ralph further forward for his first match at left midfield.

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We dominate much of the match going 2-0 up before FC United get a goal late on to make it a very nervy last 15 minutes.

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Worcester v Gee Cross

Reggie Lambe is back in the team after being rested for the FC United match. Today he plays on the left side of midfield for the first time after usually playing on the right wing.

Nathan Ralph returns to his left back slot.

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Another very even game with Sam Hoskins netting his 3rd goal of the season mid way through the first half.

Things are made a little easier for us when Worcester midfielder Sam Geddes receives his 2nd yellow card in quick succession after 80 minutes.

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Gee Cross v Harrogate

For the first time this season I field an unchanged team.

Once again it is very evenly matched but this time we fail win and only manage to achieve a 1-1 draw.

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Harrogate take the lead following a good save from our keeper Brian Murphy, but Paul Clayton is the first to react to the rebound

Gee Cross are level after 79 minutes with Sam Hoskins scoring his 3rd in as many games.

Towards the end we close up shop as our captain, Marcus Bean, gets his second yellow in 3 minutes.

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Stalybridge v Gee Cross


For our final match of August against local rivals Stalybridge I have made changes again, this is again due to the regularity of matches, and that our 2 international players Marcus Bean and Reggie Lambe are away with their countries. A nicely timed suspension for Marcus!

Nathan Ralph has again moved further up the pitch to fill in for Lambe, altogether there are 6 changes in personnel from the Harrogate game.

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Another good away win in a match where we dominated possession and had the majority of shots.

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Nathan Ralph got his first for the club following more good work down the right hand side from full back Seth Nana Twumasi.

Sam Hoskins scored in his 4th consecutive match before half time to ensure the points were ours.
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August 2015 Review

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7 games, 5 wins and 2 draws, which puts us 2nd in the table behind Alfreton who have been on top since day 1.

The team appears to be playing better away from home having won all 4 matches, and interestingly we seem to be winning bigger when I rotate the team and take out 4 or 5 first team starters having beaten North Ferriby 5-1 and Stalybridge 3-1 when this happened.

The whole squad has contributed the success we have had with 8 different scorers and 9 players assisting. The top goalscorer for the month was Sam Hoskins with 5 goals in the 7 games he played.
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September 2015

Only 5 games this month, 4 league and 1 FA Trophy qualifier against an unknown side as yet.

The games against 1st placed Alfreton and 3rd placed Boston Utd will be real tests. There is also the added discomfort of the match against local rivals Stockport.

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Gee Cross v Alfreton

Bean and Lambe, (sounds like a stew) our 2 international stars are still away with their countries.

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We have the better chances in the game and also the majority of the ball but we just cannot hit the back of the net.

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Boston Utd v Gee Cross

Bean and Lambe are back from International duty and are straight back into the team with Ralph returning to his left back spot.

I've also changed the formation slightly by dropping Tom Champion a little deeper into a defensive midfielder role as I don't think he's been playing to his potential a bit further forward.

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I think we are a little fortunate to win with Hoskins scoring yet again.

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Our captain Marcus Bean gets injured in the match just before half time and will be out for up to 3 months with a torn groin muscle.

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Top goalscorer Sam Hoskins will also be out for up to 2 weeks.

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Gee Cross v Stockport

Not being particularly convinced with our performance and formation in our last game against Boston I have decided to revert to our 4-2-3-1 formation for the next few games.

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With the contest being pretty even I think we were lucky to escape with a 1-0 win against title favourites Stockport who are battling against relegation.

The goal came on the hour mark via an own goal from their Welsh international left back Gareth Roberts when defending a corner at the near post.

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The best player on the pitch was our Irish goalkeeper Brian Murphy who managed to keep his 5th clean sheet in 10 matches.

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Lowestoft v Gee Cross

Today we take on bottom of the table Lowestoft.

They have only won once this season, so with our excellent away form I fully expect us to come away with the 3 points.

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We again start with the 4-2-3-1 formation which has served us so well recently.

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We get off to a good start with Max Kretzschmar converting a penalty on 3 minutes after Ashley Chambers was fouled in the box.

Lowestoft levelled after 19 minutes though Ryan Jarvis.

Jordan Gibbons got his first for the club after a scramble in the box after 40 minutes.

15 year-old Stuart Docherty got injured after 78 minutes and will be out for 12 months after suffering a damaged cruciate ligament.

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The 3 points were secured on the 90th minute when Ashley Chambers got his first goal of the season after pouncing on a mistake from Adam Smith.

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