Non League to Champions League

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September 2019
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We kick-start the month with a new signing...
View attachment 1138868
Terry Mupariwa, signed for a year on a very low contract (£160pw). He has fantastic crossing and dribbling as well as having a high work rate and being very quick. He can play on either wing and at 18 years old will hopefully reach his 5 star potential.
View attachment 1138869
Alfreton - A bore draw! 4 shots made by both sides, a horrendous game.
Spennymoor - I'm fed up of seeing the site of Spennymoor Town and in particular Bradley Fewster who smashed us apart again.
Southport - Finally a win in September, Chambers scored a brace and Niall Heaton opened up his account for the season.
Mildenhall - We progress through to the 3rd qualifying round where we face Gainsborough after a comfortable 3-0 win with Dunkerley grabbing a brace and Lofts also scoring.
AFC Telford - Back to losing ways as we fall to a 3-1 defeat at home, Luke Lofts giving us a glimpse of hope but they deserved their win.
Wrexham - We end the month how we started it, with a draw. Ashley Chambers got us off to a flying start and Adam Plant, given his first career league start, scored his first career goal!

After Chambers scored in a minute against Wrexham he picked up an injury, guess what injury that was?....
View attachment 1138870You guessed it! A blooming pulled hamstring again! This time however it is for 2 weeks only. Charlie Dunkerley is more than capable to replace him as well.
View attachment 1138871
Another poor month which saw only one league win sees us end September in 16th on 12 points. We are 4 points off Gainsborough in the relegation places and 5 off Salford in the last play off spot.

Next Update - October 2019 Round Up
 
October 2019
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Will we ever go a month without a striker getting injured, this time its not Chambers pulling his hamstring though...
View attachment 1138891Lofts is out of the month with a twisted ankle, Dunkerley and the returning Chambers will play up top together.

View attachment 1138890
Gainsborough - We fall out of the FA Cup with a disappointing 3-1 defeat at the hands of Gainsborough, Dunkerley getting on the score sheet.
AFC Fylde - Another defeat, this time against table toppers Fylde away from home, should've been a heavier defeat in all honesty.
Kings Lynn - A drab 1-1 draw, a point rescued thanks to Tom Lloyd who scored his first career goal.
York - We finally win in October thanks to a Tom Elliott penalty and an Ashley Chambers brace against his former club. He then missed a penalty and a chance to grab his hat trick.
Gainsborough - We play Gainsborough again this time at home in the league and go 2-0 down. We then go attacking and Dunkerley grabbed a goal before Chambers rescued a late draw for us.
View attachment 1138892After the Kings Lynn draw, I changed formation to this. Most our best players are central midfielders so I thought id overload the middle of the park with Elliott, Hedley and Lloyd ahead of Hare who will mop up behind them all in their favoured roles. Our back 4 will play as a flat back 4 and concentrate solely on defending. We will play with a high tempo, exploiting the middle where most our players are and aim to go direct to the advanced forwards and poachers.

View attachment 1138893
We climb a place to 15th on 17 points, 5 points ahead of Boston United. We are 6 points off Salford who remain in the last play off spot. A good run of form could see us head up and challenge for the play offs.

Next Update: November 2019 Round Up
 
Hopefully those last three games are the start of something better. It's a real long slog this, I bet it's frustrating!
 
November 2019
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At the end of the month I signed another player...
View attachment 1139111
Kai Sanders - The ex Watford academy graduate can play left back or left wing back. Is physically very quick, gets forward often and has good determination, crossing, tackling, marking and passing. At the age of 18 he is bound to improve. Also with Sanders in the squad we can now play 3-5-2 with wing backs.

Oh and of course we had another injury...
View attachment 1139113After getting himself fit, Lofts then picks up an injury during the Lowestoft match to keep him out for 2 months.
View attachment 1139112
Chorley - We start the month with a win! A good team performance and another goal for youngster Tom Lloyd.
Lowestoft - A 0-0 where I cant even recall of a single highlight, horrendous game!
FC United - Somehow we lost this game, I cant believe we didn't even score, we were absolutely fantastic, probably the best we've been all season but fall to a 1-0 away defeat.
Worcester - 11 changes and 6 youth products fall to a deserved 2-0 defeat against Worcester in the FA Trophy.
View attachment 1139114
A mediocre month leaves us in a mediocre position. 14th in the table on 21 points. 7 points ahead of Kettering who we face next and now 9 points off Tamworth in 7th placed.

Next Update - December 2019 Round up
 
December 2019
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After the acquisition of Kai Sanders, I decided to go for yet another new formation...
View attachment 11391283-5-2. A flat back 3 with King, Heaton and Field making up the defence. Tom Elliott and Kai Sanders as wing backs aiming to get forward supporting the attacks. This is emphasised with the hit overlap instruction. 3 midfielders all assigned as central midfielders but with different roles, Ben Hedley on defend, Tom Lloyd as automatic and youth product Adam Plant as attack. Charlie Dunkerley and Ashley Chambers to maintain their partnership up front with Luke Lofts still out with broken ribs. The only other team instruction is low crosses due to Chambers, Dunkerley and Lofts all being under 6ft.
View attachment 1139129
Kettering - A 1-0 home win and a clean sheet, a well deserved victory secured by a Charlie Dunkerley goal.
Tamworth - Away at our rivals and against the run of play we manage to win 3-1. Niall Heaton scoring a header from a corner, Ben Hedley with a free kick and Chambers finishing off a counter attack.
Harrogate - A fantastic 1-0 win again against the run of play as a 36 second opener from Ashley Chambers seals the win.
Solihull Moors - Our best performance of the month ends in a 2-0 defeat!
Salford - Back on the road and back to winning ways thanks to goals from both our strikers to see off a fantastic December for us.
View attachment 1139130
A fantastic month sees us rise to 9th in the table on 33 points. We are now 13 points off North Ferriby in 20th and are now only 2 points off Salford in the play off spot. If we can maintain this form hopefully we can see ourselves rise into the play offs towards the back end of the season.

Next Update - January 2020 Round up
 
January 2020​
For the first month in ages, I have no injury news or transfer news, so straight into the results...
View attachment 1139137
Boston - We play relegation threatened Boston and play out a complete bore draw, no half or clear cut chances for either side, 2 points dropped especially at home.
Darlington - We got absolutely battered for 90 minutes, they took the lead with 7 minutes to go before youngster Collins' shot came off the post and hit Jake Barrett to rescue a point away from home for us.
North Ferriby - An important win after 2 successive draws, Dunkerley, Chambers and Tom Lloyd scoring the goals.
Stockport County - Back to back 3-2 wins. We went into ht 2-0 up and had squandered that lead 5 minutes into the second half. However the returning Luke Lofts came off the bench and snatched a dramatic 92nd minute winner!
View attachment 1139140
Another decent month sees us finish the month 2 points off Salford still however with a much inferior goal difference. We are 20 points off Kettering in the relegation places and 20 points off Harrogate at the top of the table so both are highly unlikely now.

Next Update - February 2020 Round up
 
Much better recently. After I saw Lofts injury and the poor month I did worry slightly about how you'd struggle to get the goals but the rest have stepped up and now he's returned you're stronger than ever. Safe to say Harrogate can't really be caught by yourself but the playoffs are definitely possible, as much as we know how they can be a right pain...
 
DefinitelyTaylor said:
Much better recently. After I saw Lofts injury and the poor month I did worry slightly about how you'd struggle to get the goals but the rest have stepped up and now he's returned you're stronger than ever. Safe to say Harrogate can't really be caught by yourself but the playoffs are definitely possible, as much as we know how they can be a right pain...
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Yeah we were struggling for form before Lofts got injured and when that happened I feared for my job slightly. Chambers especially has stepped up and been superb! Yeah top spot has long gone but hopefully play offs although ive never had a great record in them!
 
February 202 and Youth Intake​
We do start the month with injury news, however it isn't Lofts or Chambers this time...
View attachment 1139152Our new signing, Kai Sanders, strained his groin so is out for 4-5 weeks. He and the formation change has been a big factor to our recent great form. I chose to keep the 5-3-2 formation and did a straight swap at left wing back with Juwon Hamzat coming in.
View attachment 1139157
Spennymoor - We finally beat Spennymoor! Chambers and Dunkerley keep up their impressive scoring streak.
Alfreton - A screamer by Adam Plant got us up and running before Lofts then hit a brace.
AFC Telford - Another brace for Lofts aswell as one of Chambers sees us undeservedly beat Telford 4-1.
Southport - Another game we should've lost however Chambers leaves it late to rescue a draw as we ended the last 15 minutes in an attacking 4-3-3.
AFC Fylde - We got absolutely bossed for 90 minutes, should've been a heavier defeat than just 2-0.
View attachment 1139158
Again we finish the month in 8th 2 points off the play offs. However our next game is against Wrexham so hopefully we can leapfrog them at the start of March and push on from there.

A reasonably decent youth intake, I offered contracts to anyone with 3 star potential and over, therefore anyone above Liam Langston was offered a contract. Here were the best two out of the bunch...
View attachment 1139154
Andy Close - A winger/attacking midfielder, he is a quick player with decent technical attributes, is a technical player with flair and high work rate.
View attachment 1139155Scott Reed - a 6ft 3inch 15 year old goalkeeper. Fantastic reflexes, handling, communication and aerial reach however his physical and mental attributes need to improve.

Next update - March 2020 Round Up
 
March 2020
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Injury news :(...
View attachment 1139177Ashley Chambers had a long spell without injury however that has unfortunately ended after he pulled his knee ligaments therefore will be sidelined for 3 weeks. Dunkerley and Lofts will play up top together with Lewis Collins going onto the bench.

However I had some personal positive news...
View attachment 1139179
View attachment 1139180Wrexham - A well fought 2-2 draw away from home against play off contenders Wrexham. Hedley and Dunkerley with the goals.
York - Another impressive away performance ends 3-1 to us with Lofts, Lloyd scoring and a first career goal for youth product Lewis Collins.
King's Lynn - A poor performance and result to match as we lost 1-0 at home.
Lowestoft - Another lacklustre home performance ends in a goalless draw against Lowestoft.
View attachment 1139181
Another month where we finish it in 8th. Despite a positive start to March we tailed off and finish the month outside the play offs however a point off Wrexham with the goal difference now down to 3 goals in it. Alfreton have already been relegated and runaway leaders AFC Fylde have secured a play off spot at least.

Next Update - April 2020 round up
 
It's going to be a tough battle to get inside those playoffs. It would be helpful without all the injuries, you've been really unlucky with them. Good news on the new contract though.
 
Congrats on the new contract. Ashley Chambers seems to be injured every other update throughout your career....nightmare!
 
DefinitelyTaylor said:
It's going to be a tough battle to get inside those playoffs. It would be helpful without all the injuries, you've been really unlucky with them. Good news on the new contract though.
Click to expand...
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Yeah hopefully we end this season better than I did last year! Are you still doing your Havant & Waterlooville story, was looking forward to it?

BallyC7 said:
Congrats on the new contract. Ashley Chambers seems to be injured every other update throughout your career....nightmare!
Click to expand...

Thanks mate, yeah he's the non league Ledley King, plays on a Saturday and rests Monday - Friday but still picks up injuries
 
Gutting that. All we need is a strong start to the season and hopefully it'll continue onwards. You'll get promotion eventually, I'm sure.
 
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