December! My favourite month of the year! Everybody is in the Christmas spirit, and football has a certain buzz as we approach the new year. This post will cover the last of our 2017 action, with cup action mixing with our regular league football, including a festive double-header!
The board seems fairly happy with our progress since the start of the season, especially in the transfers department, which will have been helped hugely by the performances of Jake Watkins. The squad are happy to be under me, atmosphere will always take a time to build but I’ve had no real squad issues so the managerial support has steadily grown which is great to see.
TRURO CITY (13TH) VS ST ALBANS (15TH) – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
After a good performance in the cup, why change too much? Jake Watkins comes in up front and grabs a goal after 9 minutes. Usually a great start, but that’s an equaliser for us, as after an appalling start we went behind after 2 minutes through David Noble. After about 20 minutes the game looks to be passing us by, we’re hardly seeing the ball and not creating anything, so I push us to attacking and hope to grab the game by the scruff of the neck a bit. Just before half-time Connor Riley-Lowe, still playing out of position at wing-back, meets a deep cross to put us 2-1 ahead. The second half kicks off with no changes and the game settles into a very scrappy affair. We’re looking comfortable as we enter the last 15 minutes, but then the inevitable crash. Riley-Lowe, so good in the first half, gives away a penalty and Ben Herd converts to level the game. Such a bitter blow, we’ve had all the good play and deserve better. Connor doesn’t seem to like the thought of letting the team down though, and bombs forward with 4 minutes left to cross for Andrew Neal to finish! A wonderful climax to a thrilling game, and a performance from Connor Riley-Lowe to show me that this 3 at the back might just be worth sticking with!
He really did play well, hopefully it continues!
WELLING UNITED (4TH) VS TRURO CITY (10TH) – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
After his late winner against St Albans I thought Andrew Neal was probably due a start, so in he comes as the Advanced Forward with Jake Watkins dropping back to a supporting Target Man role. Tyler Harvey takes his place on the bench. Another scrappy game, we were looking okay without having much of the ball early on. We started attacking again after the way we played last game, but we just didn’t look all that threatening. With Welling doing well in the league, and their confidence presumably high, I dropped us back to Counter and allowed them on to us, we weren’t having a load of the ball anyway, and I was hoping we could nick something at the other end. Oh boy did it work. A River Allen penalty on 35 minutes put us ahead and it stayed that way until the break. We did a really good job of shutting them down in the second half, and added the icing on the cake in the 65th minute through Jake Watkins. We were so clinical here, it might be my favourite performance since I started here.
Just before our FA Trophy 1st Round game, we get the draw for the 2nd Round should we progress. It’s an interesting draw, we’ll either get another Regional Divisions side, or more likely Woking, sitting in the league above us. Good to know, but we need to get there first.
TRURO CITY VS GLOUCESTER CITY – FA TROPHY 1ST ROUND
Ooft. This came out of nowhere, and it hurt. We only made one change from the last game, Ed Palmer came into the center of midfield to play as our ball winner. He came to me and asked for games, and when he was told he didn’t fit the system he was determined to learn a new role so he would fit. I love that attitude, so this is his chance. Ignore the stats at the bottom, hell even ignore our goal, all they do is make this look closer than we deserve. We made nothing all game, they were absolutely rampant. For Chris Todd to grab a goal after conceding an own-goal and then instantly concede again straight from kick-off shows how poor we were here. Moving on.
TRURO CITY (9TH) VS GLOUCESTER CITY (7TH) – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
We made some changes for this one, understandable really considering just how poor we were. One small tactical change as well, as in the last game I noticed that a lot of their play came through their left midfielder, who was playing as an Inverted Winger. They set up the same in this game, so I asked Billy Palfrey at RWB to really push forward and attack, keep the width and give them a problem to think about. We didn’t really play any better here than in the cup to be honest, we had far more of the ball but only one shot on target the whole game. Luckily it turned out to be the winner, because as bad as we were, Gloucester were worse. Jake Watkins grabbed the goal just before the break, but the big talking point here was the injury to Connor Riley-Lowe. Hopefully nothing serious, as he is really doing well in an unfamiliar LWB role.
Well, this is not what I wanted to see…
Four months, this is a really cruel blow. Ignore the fact that he’s one of my best players, he’s a major part of why I like this 3-5-2, and I’m not sure how we’ll do without him. Jordan Copp will come in and fill the role now, but I’ve also asked Chris Todd (Player, Assistant Manager and now it seems acting Head Scout) to suggest players who could come in on loan and cover the position. He gives me two, and I give them a scout, we’ll see what January brings for that.
POOLE TOWN (15TH) VS TRURO CITY (7TH) – VANARAMA NATIONAL SOUTH
I didn’t know this until recently, but in non-league, your Boxing Day and New Year’s fixtures are against the same team, as far as I’m aware grouped as close together as possible to avoid loads of travelling over Christmas. That’s such a great touch, it just shows that fixtures lists can be thought through! Our double-header opponents are Poole Town, who haven’t been doing too well lately. Jordan Copp comes in for Riley-Lowe, and Danny Racchi comes into the center of midfield, replacing Cody Cooke. 10 minutes in and we’re a goal behind, Matt Jay putting Poole ahead with a smart finish. The game stayed this way, and fairly even in all honesty, until the 58th minute, where Danny Racchi gave away a penalty, and Matt Jay gratefully doubled Poole’s lead. Well worth bringing Racchi in then. Off he goes, Cooke on, let’s go and get back into this. We had chances, but never really the sort of golden chances you dream of, a few snapshots and long-range strikes, admittedly we did very well to hit the target with most and at least make their keeper work. Jake Watkins did grab a 93rd minute consolation, but by then the game was gone, and 2017 ends in defeat.
With January looming, I received information that a large amount of my squad were going to be out of contract in 6 months. I’m not hugely concerned about pre-contract approaches, I can’t imagine they happen too much down here, but there were certainly some players I wanted to tie down. Tom McHale and Jake Watkins signed on, McHale is very good for this level and could even do a job in the National League I’d say, should we make it there at some point. Jake Watkins was a no-brainer, he’s been our key man since he signed, without a doubt. I also offered contracts to Cody Cooke and River Allen but bombed the talks, we’ll go back in at another time. Tyler Harvey is a difficult case, although I’ve not always been convinced by him, his talent means I had to at least try to tie him down, but he won’t even consider an offer, apparently our squad isn’t at a level to match his ambitions. I’d love to see him tell the rest of the boys that in the changing room. The other players on the list, I’ll decide later in the season. I don’t want to tie everyone down and be left with very little room to bring in new players next season, because we’ll certaintly need some no matter what happens.
NOTE FROM AUTHOR ADAM TO MANAGER ADAM: TAKE SCREENSHOTS OF THE LEAGUE TABLE EACH MONTH!
So unfortunately I don’t have a league table to show, but going into 2018 we sit in 8th place, just two outside the play-offs. Don’t get me wrong, if I was offered that at the start of the save, I’d have bitten your hand off. Our target is mid-table and I honestly thought I would struggle to deliver that, so I’m delighted with our position. I’m just left with the lingering feeling that there’s more left to give, every time we look like we’re building up a head of steam it tails off, and I just want to see a little bit more consistency from the side in the second half of the season.
So that’s it for this month, and indeed this year! 2017 is over, 2018 awaits and there’s plenty more to come. Next time we’ll have January’s action, and any transfer news that comes along too! Thanks for reading.
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