Results
Our opening match saw us suffer a
0-2 defeat at home to Bradford. It was goalless at half-time after an entertaining first half. The game remained too open for my liking. We weren't doing enough to get on top, and it was the visitors that took a 56th minute lead.
We were pushing for what would have been a deserved equaliser, but debutant central defender
Christos Koukolis received a red card in the 86th minute for a two-footed tackle.
Andy Carroll compounded the misery in the 90th minute, with a goal that completed the scoring. Bradford keeper
Connal Trueman was named Man of the Match.
Next up was a trip to
Notts County. Koukolis was suspended, so I brought in on-loan central defender
Jake Williams for his debut. The young New Zealander was lucky to escape with just a yellow card in the 22nd minute for a two-footed tackle, but committed exactly the same offence again twelve minutes later, and this time received his marching orders.
Despite our numerical disadvantage, we made a game of it. Both teams could have won it, but the
0-0 draw was a fair result. This time it was our keeper,
Gary Woods who received the Man of the Match award.
We then faced
Championship side
Newcastle in the 1st round of the
EFL Cup. We were the better side against our full-strength opponents, but it went to penalties. Newcastle could only convert one of their four spot-kicks, while midfielders
Jacob Butterfield and
Ivan Roca along with striker
Michael Smith, all successfully converted their's, to ensure that we won the shootout
3-1.
Back to
League One action, and our first goal of the season was enough to get a
1-0 win at home to Oldham. We'd been wasteful in the first half, and was also unfortunate to hit the woodwork a couple of times. We eventually broke the deadlock in the 60th minute when on-loan midfielder
Gary O'Neil headed in a corner by left back Rasmus Lindkvist.
Two days later we had a trip to fellow relegated side
Southend. I made ten changes for this game, as every outfield player's condition was below 95%. We played well in the first half, and right midfielder
Jordan Kirkpatrick met a cross to the far post by on-loan left midfielder Luke Gambin to give us a 32nd minute lead. Our hosts were better after the break though, and scored a deserved 70th minute equaliser to ensure the game finished
1-1.
We then faced Exeter at home. Right midfielder
Jordan Kirkpatrick scored his second goal in two games, to give us a 3rd minute lead. We went
2-0 up in the 32nd minute through striker Jahvan Davidson-Miller, who's excellent volleyed effort was his first goal for the club.
Davidson-Miller then scored his second goal just before half-time, by getting on the end of a cross by Kirkpatrick, to make it 3-0. The visitors pulled one back in the 72nd minute, but we were deserved victors.
Next up was
Premier League side
Everton at
Goodison Park in the 2nd round of the
EFL Cup. Our hosts were at full strength, but some good goalkeeping by
Gary Woods kept our opponents at bay. They eventually broke the deadlock through
Moise Kean in the 62nd minute, who added another two minutes later. Woods capped a very good display, by saving a penalty from
Juan Mata in the 73rd minute.
Back to
League Two action, and a
1-1 draw at Cheltenham. The hosts took a 35th minute lead, but
Jahvan Davidson-Miller headed in a corner from left midfielder Luke Gambin to give us a 39th minute equaliser. Wastefulness in front of goal cost us all three points.
We then faced another trip to
Southend, this time in the 1st round of the
EFL Trophy. Striker
Matt Godden scored a 67th minute penalty won by central defender Mark O'Hara, but we failed to kill the game off, and conceded an 88th minute equaliser to take the game to penalties.
The shootout went against us this time, and Southend won it 3-2.
Back to
League Two action again, and a
2-2 draw at Salford - our fourth consecutive away league draw. The hosts took an 11th minute lead after club captain
Serge Leuko gave away a penalty. Midway through the second half, striker
Matt Godden missed two good opportunities to level the score, so we went in behind at half-time.
It looked like it wasn't going to be our day.
Jahvan Davidson-Miller hit the woodwork in the 52nd minute, then midfielder
Jacob Davenport did the same in the 57th minute.
The equaliser eventually came in the 60th minute when Davidson-Miller headed in a cross from the right by Jordan Kirkpatrick.
We were playing well, and
Davidson-Miller headed in another effort in the 67th minute, to give us a 2-1 lead. We were unable to hold on for our first away victory of the season though, as our hosts equalised in the 77th minute.
Davidson-Miller headed an effort against the bar in the 88th minute, to deny him a hat-trick, and us what would have been a deserved winner.
We put that frustration behind us with
a 1-0 win over Lincoln. Matt Godden scored in the 8th minute in what was a more entertaining game than the scoreline suggests. The visitor's keeper made several saves to prevent us from doubling our lead, while
Lincoln were quite wasteful in front of goal.
I made nine changes for the trip to
Burton Albion just two days later. On-loan central defender
Jake Williams made just his second appearance for the club, after being dismissed on his debut earlier in the season. The poor lad suffered the same fate again, and was
shown a straight red card for a professional foul in the 12th minute.
I took off striker
Jerry Mbakogu, and brought on
Jacob Davenport who slotted into central defence, then fifteen minutes later lashed us into a 27th minute lead following a free kick. We contained the hosts well, particularly through captain for the day
Ivan Roca, who won an impressive eight tackles in midfield. This helped us to get that
first victory of the season on our travels.
We finished
September with a
2-1 win over Cambridge. Right midfielder
Lloyd Isgrove headed in a far post cross by left midfielder Gervane Kastaneer, to give us a 1-0 lead in a cagey first-half.
Our wide players combined again in the 52nd minute for our second goal. This time it was our full backs.
Rasmus Lindkvist made a marauding run down the left, then put in a far post cross for right back Chris Solly to drive us into a 2-0 lead.
We struggled to contain the visitors after that. Goalkeeper
Gary Woods conceded a dubious penalty in the 63rd minute, but he saved the resulting spot kick to keep our two-goal advantage intact.
Our opponents eventually pulled one back in the 83rd minute when central defender
Jacob Davenport was beaten in the air following a corner. We stayed solid for the remainder of the game, but
Cambridge will probably feel that they deserved something.
As you can see, things are very congested, with just five points separating the top twelve teams.
It's been a mixed first couple of months. After suffering a defeat on the opening day,
we've remained unbeaten in the nine league games since. I'm encouraged that we've
won our last three games, and that we have the
joint best defensive record in the division.
I'm concerned about the
lack of goals though. I've contemplated whether I should switch from the flat 442 to the attacking version, but I think that some of the players are the problem, not the formation.
Club captain
Serge Leuko has been disappointing at right back. I may have to relieve him of the armband to see if that improves things. There's not many goals or assists coming from midfield, while strikers
Michael Smith, Jerry Mbakogu and
Matt Godden have started
fifteen games between them, but have managed just one goal.
On the plus side,
Gary Woods has been one of the division's better keepers so far.
Rasmus Lindkvist is doing a decent job at left back, providing three assists from his seven starts.
Ivan Roca has averaged 4.4 tackles per game from midfield, which is currently the highest in
League Two, while striker
Jahvan Davidson-Miller is amongst the division's top scorers with five goals from seven starts. His three Man of the Match awards have earned him the Player of the Month award.
There's a couple of players that I'd like to highlight, who arrived in the summer. The first is
Christos Koukolis.
Christos was available for free after being released by
Doxa Dramas. I felt that he looks as though he could do well at this level, and that at
32, is experienced.
The player had a disastrous debut, getting sent off on the opening day, but he's done very well since returning to the side, following the resulting suspension.
The second player I'm highlighting is right midfielder
Jordan Kirkpatrick.
Jordan arrived in a player exchange from
Tranmere, with central defender
Michael Ihiekwe going the other way.
I preferred another summer signing,
Moussa Sanoh on the right for the opening three games, but Jordan got his chance on Matchday 4 against
Southend, and scored on his debut.
The player remained in the side for the next four league games, before I had to leave him (and eight of his team-mates) out of the
Burton Albion game, due to his condition not being high enough.
Two goals and two assists from five starts is a good return. Hopefully that kind of form will continue throughout the season.
Finances
By the end of August, we were
£1.8M in the red. Playing
Everton at
Goodison Park meant that we received a welcome
£400K as our share of the gate receipts. That was closely followed by the board pumping in
£1M to help with running costs.
That meant that we were only
£400K in the red, but our paltry monthly income combined with our huge monthly outgoings saw us lose
£700K in September, meaning we're back to being over
£1M in the red.
Average attendances are down to around
5800. This is currently the
11th highest of the twenty-four clubs in League Two. Our huge wage bill is swallowing up
£600K per month, and ground maintenance/rent is over
£200K per month.
I'll do my best to raise some cash and reduce our outgoings by offloading some players in the January transfer window, but we're going to need those regular cash injections. Ideally they'll be a takeover, and the new board will deposit several million to create a nice cash reserve. I've never experienced that before in a save though, so I don't know how realistic those hopes are.
Hartlepool
My former club are holding their own in the
Championship. They are currently in 18th place, four points clear of the relegation zone. Their regular XI is barely recognisable from my time there. My replacement
Sam Ricketts had put his own stamp on the club. The only players playing regularly that I signed are goalkeeper
Joe Lumley, and central defender
Chey Dunkley.
Forthcoming Fixtures & Team News
Our next game is a trip to 7th place
Colchester. This will be my XI.
