Panpardus

Season Two - Conference National



Pre season went well, the players had trained hard in preparation for the new season which was a good sign, unfortunately Doug had decided against making the club fully professional so trying to get players was a battle when competing against teams in the same division that were professional, it turned out to be a full time job in itself.

I spent days on the phone and I think poor Jessica’s fingers were worn from the endless amount of faxes that she had to make on my behalf, I tried to get any keeper that looked better than the ones I had and believe me there was a few.

The odds came in for the season and as expected were odds on favourite for the drop, but 40-1 long shots for promotion, I think if all things went well we could secure a mid to low table finish, our biggest problem was depth and keepers.

2 days before the first game and one of my biggest problems had happened. Jessica paged me on the Intercom “Your wife on line 2 boss, says it’s important”.

“Thanks Jess”

“Hey ***, whats up”
…..
…..
“ahuh, good news first then”
…..
…..
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“yep…..ahuh….well that’s good then, so he’ll be back soon?”
…..
“what do you mean it ties in with the bad news aswell”
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“oh f**k, please tell me your not serious”
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“f**k f**k f **k f**k, …. Three f**king months, oh for f**ks sake I knew selling Danny would bite me on the arse”
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“Na ill be in here for awhile now, have to find a left back now, and they way it is at the moment trying to get a keeper I’d say my chaces are somewhere in between slim and f**k all getting someone soon……just chuck it in the microwave for me, I gotta go ***, I’ve got a crapload to do”
…..
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“Love you too,.. Bye”

I pressed the intercom button to get Jessica on the line “ Jessica can you get Gallo and Ordy here asap please we have a problem”

“No prob boss” she replied

Gallo and Ordy turned up and when I told of them dilemma they were as shocked as me to the seriousness of Chris Adams injury, 3 months with an achilles injury and then trying to get some fitness back we’d be lucky to get him playing again before the new year.

Me: “So chaps what options do we have”

Ordy: “Fickling and Rattlespurr could play there in a pinch”

Gallo: “Don’t want to move Fickles if we don’t have to he’s our best centreback, we’d be robbin peter to pay paul so to speak”

Me: “My sediments exactly Gallo, I don’t like Jon on the wings either he’s a bit iffy there, anything from the youth squad that might be able to take the step up?”

Gallo: “Lee Jukes is a name for the future, designated left back, good tackler, decent eye for a pass, works hard, gets caught out of position a bit but I think he’s a better option than Rattlespurr.

Me: “Thoughts Ordy”

Ordy: “Can’t hurt to give him a go”

Me: Ok then get him to training with the seniors tomorrow so we can have a look how he goes, we will make an assessment then, thanks again for coming in fella’s”

I rang both my scouts to see if they had any prospects, there was a few names so I fired off some enquires to the relevant clubs.

Panpardus

Season Two: Conference National

“Brent Goulet please”
…
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“Its Matt Burnie, Droyls…. Australian Manager”
…
…
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“Hey Brent, thanks for that, and good luck in your new job aswell…. So whats the big bad U.S doing on the first of next month”
…
“Want to come down to Sydney then?”
…
“Excellent, well I’ll talk to you later, see you in Sydney”.


My first act as an Australian coach, organising a friendly, now all I had to do was inform the relevant people, well I’ll just ring Johnny Kosmina and he can do that before I have to get on the coach to London.


Looking around the coach we had 5 new players all making their debut’s tonight including 17 year old Lee Jukes he looked impressive in training, but training is a bit different than a game, we’d see how we went, he did look extremely nervous though.

Here we were about to play Dags & Red, predicted to come midtable but they were playing down here, I wasn’t nervous about the outcome, what ever happened happened. I was hoping for a good effort.

It wasn’t a good start 2 down after 20, they were hurting us down the wings, young Lee was in trouble from the start, and Williams on the other side was on the same boat. To their credit they settled a bit and some good defending seen us go into the break still 2-0 down, our passing was good and we had as much of the ball as them as well, the only difference was we weren’t setting up our chances as good as them.

During the break I told my back 4 to push up a little more and don’t give them as much room, and we were to go a little more attacking as well, we had nothing to lose really, we all knew it was going to be a hard year might as well have a decent crack at it.

It seemed to work as Steve Daly netted 2 before the 10 minute mark had passed, his first a nice little effort when a defender failed to remove a corner, it seemed to bobble around in the box forever before he got a decisive shot on it, and his second was through some good play from debutant Matty Wolfenden as he brought the ball inside and hit a pinpoint pass to Daly who first timed it to the right of the keeper.

When Griffiths was shown the red for a dangerous two footed tackle on Jags on the hour, my hopes had risen for a first up win in the division, but sadly they were crushed when Makali-Smith got his second in the 68th and completed his hatrick 4 minutes later when young Jukes was caught dilly dallying on the ball. That little experiment had failed so we subbed him out for Jon Rattlespurr who didn’t really inspire the confidence. We lost 4-2 in the end, although I would of loved too I didn’t go off at the players or strangle Jukes for his costly errors, I just thanked him for his help and said I’d be paying attention to his efforts in the reserves with some good performances there he would see more time in the seniors.

Home versus Stafford would be a good test for us they had a first up win and were predicted for a midtable finish, so we could get an early indication of how we fared.
We played well and took the lead when Nick Maas scored his first goal for the club from a Jagielka interception and great through ball, now all we had to do was hang on to lead for another 70 odd minutes. The defence was outstanding and besides from a penalty chance that Tandy gave, Stafford got no other good ones. The penalty shot was hit strait at Phillips who managed to hang on, and we had our first win for the season in front of 1400 fans.

Another long trip toward London would see us play Stevenage, tipped for a chance at promotion we were going to be hard pressed, and we were, they outclassed in most areas which resulted in a comfortable 2-0 win for them, our defence tried hard and new signing Cryan was good for us, but our forwards failed to make an impact having a 6 shots with none of them on target.

Sutton were coming to town, and we were to have more bad luck, Richard Hughes the new signing from Notts Forest came down heavily after jumping for a header in training and broke his shoulder, It would see him spend a month on the sidelines, that made 4 now with Banim, Fearns, Adams and himself.

Despite the bad luck we had a great start, Maas headed in a super cross from Tandy on the 8 minute mark, and then Wolfenden capped off some great passing in the 26th minute, the move included new signing Somner, Jagielka, and Maas all which played some great one touch passes. A great sign for us was the willingness of the players to keep pushing with the 2 goal lead and when Jagielka hit a nice cross from deep right, the pressure was enough that Teague made a mistake and headed it into his own net for us to take a 3 goal lead in at the break.

After the half and with words that I was thrilled with our performances so far, the team rested back on the first half performances, instead of pushing for another to keep Sutton on their toes we sat back and let them come at us, and just after the hour they clawed one back when fumbly Phillips made an error and let a easy one through. Sutton kept pressing and we kept sitting back no matter how much I yelled from the sidelines and 2 minutes before the end of regular time Elvins put through his second, some bad defence and some worse keeping aided his cause. A good crowd again of 1400 plus people held their breath as Sutton had a few chances to equalise, luckily we held on to secure our 2nd win of the season and win 3-2, A wins a win at the moment and ill take them any way I can get them What’s pleasing is that Fickley has done well on the left for us and Rattlespurr seems content to play in the centreback role, its not ideal, but its working at the moment.

Before the end of the month I pick my first Australian Squad, with the likes of Cahill, Kewell and Bresciano in the squad I’d kill to have them at the Bloods. I resisted the temptation to call up Zak, although I don’t think he’d do badly I don’t think he’s ready and there’s plenty of people better at the moment.

The reserves had their first game which was played at home, something I’ll endeavour to come and watch when ever I can, and Gallo had the boys doing well, with Young Robinson doing well and getting the honours in 1-0 win

Panpardus

Season Two – Conference National

Following the Southport game at their home I did my first radio interview, it’s a new experience but one I can expect to happen a lot more now that I'm Australian manager as well. It’s a bit nerve racking, but I'm happy to get the experience before the tv interviews start to come.


“We have Droylsden and new Australian manager Matt Burnie here to talk about today’s game at Southport, where Droylsden were unable to sneak away with any points in a close encounter, how did you see the game today Matt?”

“Well Tim, I don’t think we did too badly, our passing was good today and we had as much of the ball as them if not a bit more, the big difference is that they were able to create a few more chances than us, and it showed in the 3-2 result.”

“You have played 5 games in the division now any first impressions?”

“The teams are obviously a lot better, especially at home, we’ve had 3 away games now and struggled to get a score until today, but as we go on we’ll adjust and get better, you’ve got to remember that our captain Jody Banim and other influencial striker in Fearnsy are out at the moment, aswell as our first choice left back Chris Adams, but with our good home record so far we were sitting in 12th before this game so it’s not all bad”

“It’s a good start we agree Matt, and you will look a better team with Jody and Fearns back in the team, so what do you say about Southports manager's Paul Cook comments about he didn’t see anything today that would suggest you will stay up”

“I’m not going to be drawn into commenting about other manager’s comments about us, we will just play our own game and see where we are at the end of the season, but honestly ill be disappointed if we can’t manage around 15th this year, we have the talent to do it, Tandy has stepped up this year in Zak’s absence and his first goal for the club is great confidence boost for him, and the fighting spirit shown when we scored another near the end, shows the other teams we wont give in”

“Thanks for your time Matt and all the best on the season ahead….”

“Thanks Tim”

“And now back to the studio with the latest results”

Sean06

Absoulutely great :thup:

Panpardus

Season Two – Conference National

The first of September seen Cloughy’s Burton Albion come to the Butchers Arms ground and I was quietly confident of getting a result against a team below us on the ladder and also picked as relegation battlers, but things didn’t start well for us Rattlespurr got sucked into a midfield heading contest from our goal kick in which he was beaten and seen the ball go back towards the goal where Rattlespurr should have been, Clare pounced on the loose ball ran into goal with only Phillips to beat, the season he was having he’d have as much chance producing a save as Chelsea would have in showing restraint and not buying a player for the season. Needless to say we were 1 down.

Burton stepped up there pressure and our defence was having a hard time hitting a target, but against the run of play with a lucky clearance that Jagielka had to run full tilt to get to he managed to pick out Somner in the middle who managed to flick a header over an opponent for Tandy to pick up on the left, he continued up field and with an early cross that picked out Daly on the near post we were all square. Our second came just after the break once again it was Jagielka who started the move with a fine through ball the newly promoted youth player Mark Jackson ran onto beating the offside trap in the process, carefully placing the ball under the charging keeper he scored his first ever senior goal for the club.

True to form though in the dying minutes of the game a comedy of errors seen Burton draw level, a shocking backpass by Rattlespurr and a heinous clearance attempt from Phillips seen him pick out a opposition player who would be sending him a gift basket in the post as he scored the easiest the goals when Philips didn’t even make an attempt to get back to guard his net.

What can you really say to the players when they deserve praise for how they played only to have a one wreck the result, I told them I was pleased with their effort, and told Phillips I was furious with his performance, I might have said more if I didn’t have to immediately go to Manchester Airport and catch a plane for my first ever game in charge of Australia.


Australian National Team

The Manchester to Sydney flight and the resulting taxi seen me get to the ground with 3 hours to spare, meeting the squad and generally going over a few minor things, I have thank my assistant greatly for getting everything done in time, Johnny Kosmina had done a good job. I was a bit nervous before the game but more excited not everyone gets to coach their country and this would be something I would cherish for the rest of my life and at the end of game it was time to talk to the SBS crew Les Murray and Robbie Slater in my first television interview before I had to jump on a plane again and get back to England.

LM: “So how does it feel to coach your first game for Australia?”

Me: “I’m rapt Les, It’s a great honour to coach Australia and one I’ll cherish for a long time, the result could have been a bit better but I’m not disappointed with how the lads played”

RS: “Matt you came out with a fairly attacking team, but failed to create as many chances as we expected, whats your thoughts on that”

Me: “It’s all good Slats, we didn’t create an abundance of chances but the ones we did were pretty good, and the U.S are no slouches in the world game, looking at the positives we had 5 players earn their first caps tonight, with Schwarzer and Kalac both retired from internationals we need a keeper to step up and Danny Vukovic played well tonight for a young keeper I think he has a big future in the game. Neil Kilkenny also started tonight he didn’t set the world on fire but it was a good first up appearance and at 21 he’s only going to get better, throw in Thwaite 24, Sarkies 20 and Teinert 27 all making the debuts via subs I think it was a good result.”

LM: “Lets talk about the goal how did you see it?”

Me: “From the bench Les, just like my assistant”

This brought a few chuckles from Robbie Slater.

Me: “It was a good goal, well crafted, and had all the names really that you expect in a good move for Australia, Neill started it down back with a good tackle and passed out to Brett at right back, he played young Kilkenny in with a nice pass who first timed it out to Bresciano on the right wing with a quick run down the line he picked out Viduka on the far post with the quality you expect from him and Mark had no trouble putting in the back of the net, it was a quality goal all round, Two minutes after that Timmy Cahill had a chance to put us 2-0 up with that shot that had the posts rattling for some time”

LM: “And the equalizer?”

Me: “They got the equalizer just after we made a few subs and caught us before we settled, it’s a friendly and we want to a try a few new things, the younger players need to get some good game time up also, all in all it was a good performance I thought”

RS: “So Qatar next month at their home in Doha, how do you see it?”

Me: “We’ll be going there to learn some more and hopefully pick up a win, at the very least I want a good performance, and of course we’ll be taking over some youngsters to get some time aswell so it will be interesting to see how they go”

LM: “Do you think your son will get a game soon? From all reports he’s quite the player and to be picked up by Chelsea must be a dream for him”

Me: “Zak’s a bit away I think, although he will be picked for the under 23’s Olympic qualifier that’s in a couple weeks, …. there’s a lot of talent in that squad so ill be keeping a close eye on it, anyone that plays well will always have a chance to get in. I think he’s happy at Chelsea, though at the moment he’s at Wolves on a season long loan which he’s doing quite well to answer the second part of the question.”

RS: “Thanks for you time tonight Matt, and we hope to see more of you in the future, our last question for you is how are you coping juggling both jobs at the moment?”

Me: “It’s a busy time, but so far I’m doing ok, I have every confidence I’ll be able to do both and give both jobs the best effort possible”

And with that I was heading back to the airport to catch a plane back to Manchester

Panpardus

Season Two - Conference National

I arrived back in England from my in and out trip to Australia, I managed to get sleep on the plane and along with the excellent facilities on the plane I was kept up to date with the club business, which wasn’t much, I had plenty of time to prepare for our home game against Halifax before I would set out again to Australia for the U23’s qualifying game.

16th versus 14th placed Halifax proved to be an interesting game, we had the running early and should of scored twice in the opening 20, but Youngster Jackson getting his first start was a bit nervous and missed some easy chances, it was Jagielka who opened the scoring for us with a nice turn and shot in the penalty box from a long throw by Maas. Just before half time Halifax equalized when Tate failed to gather a routine ground ball, which went past him for the opposition striker to calmly place in the net. Tate was replacing Phillips who kept making these sorts of mistakes, and I think Tate thought it was some sort of good club to join.

The second half was uneventful except for Halifax’s winner, which was once again attributed to a keeper error, we lost 2-1 in a game where they rarely troubled us with chances, If I didn’t get a keeper soon, I was just going to play one of the Youth team they couldn’t do any worse.

Under 23’s

I flew back to Australia once again and met with the U23 squad there were some names of the future here: Zak, Hollman, Lowry, Musialik, Sarkies, Kilkenny amongst others. We went through tactics which Zak was familiar with as we would use the same ones I use with the Bloods with a few small modifications. It worked well as we took a 2 goal lead, Zak getting both, before North Korea got an important consolation goal in injury time to close the game at 2-1, they team now had to travel to North Korea, but that was a week away, I had a couple club games to take care of before then, so off I went on another plane and flying back to England.

Conference National

Another home game this time we were playing fellow relegation battlers and the team who were propping up the rest of the ladder, Worthington. Once again it was fairly tight although we dominated possession Worthington had as many shots as us, Tate was even playing well by nipping a few attacking plays in the bud early by getting to the thru ball first, it was in the 71st minute when the deadlock was broken, thankfully it was Wolfenden who got onto a lovely lob over the defence from Somner in which he rounded the keeper to his left and placed the shot into the back of the empty. Finally a win and a clean sheet, something to savour.

We were on the road and playing Rushden the bookies didn’t think we stood much chance against the 6th place team, and unfortunately they were right. We made two many errors in the back half, Fickling missing an easy interception was and then the communication error as Tate could of easily got it but thought it would be fun to let the opposition have a shot, which they scored with. Another Tate error resulted in the second being score as he fumbled the shot which rolled into the back of the net. At this stage I was resigned to just playing reserve or youth keepers, Injury time in the first half seen them grab another but atleast this was through good play from them as opposed to crap from us.

I went of my head at Tate at the break, that sort of performance would see him in the reserves and he’d be lucky to get a game there was my message to him and to the rest I wanted a 100% improvement in the second half .

My words fell on deaf ears as we returned from the break and conceded our 4th within a minute, I made my three subs one of them being Halford for Tate, might aswell have an outfielder in there. The 68 minute mark had me seeing red, Daly was tackled near the edge of the box which resulted in a free kick for us, when Daly gets up he looses the plot and plants a headbutt on the defender the ref charges over and instantly dismisses him, to make it worse Tandy comes over and starts arguing about the decision, and Tandy receives a yellow for dissent. Heads will role over this performance. Atleast we hang on and get to the end still only 4 down, with Halford doing the impossible and making a few saves.

Training on Monday was not pleasant.

“You up to my office now” I said as I was pointing at Steve Daly.

“You two there can wait in Jess’s room”pointing out Tate and Phillips

“And you be ready to come up when I’m finished with those two” after pointing at Tandy I stormed up to my office with Steve Daly in tow.

“Well Steve, what the f**k do you call what happened in the Rushden game”

“ummm, we played bad and got beat 4 zip away”

His smart arse answer made angrier, if that was possible

“If you’re going to be a smart arse, ill sign your termination papers right now, call breach of contract, and throw you out of this office via my window” I spat venomously while tossing his termination papers over to get the message across”

This got his attention

“I’m sorry boss I don’t what come over me, we were getting beat badly and then I was tackled hard, I just lost my cool I suppose”

“Well really it’s not good enough, you’ve been strait redded once last year and I let you off with an official reprimand, this time you’ll get the maximum I can fine you which is 2 weeks, also you can **** off for them two weeks and think about what you’ve done, I DO NOT want to see YOU in that time,…. The F.A will look into the incident and if they don’t give you till Christmas off, I will be. You are suspended from first team football till the New Year where I will re-assess my decision based on your performances in the reserves. If you so much as get a double yellow you won’t play again this year. Are we clear on what I’m saying.

“Crystal Sir, I can only apologize and say I will doing my best that this never happens again”

“If it happens again Steve you wont need to apologize, just pack your stuff and leave, and one more thing if I so much as hear a whisper that your disgruntled at not being in the first team I will make sure you don’t play again this year be it reserves or seniors,.. Goodbye Steve”

and with that he turned and left, I’ve never actually gone off at someone like that before, it felt good to release my tension and I think he deserved it, next was these two idiot keepers.

“Greetings fella’s come in and take a seat each,…. Now why do you think your in here?”

“Our performances on the pitch ?” answered Paul Phillips

“Yep that’s right quite frankly both you two have let the team down tremendously this year, and it wont be tolerated, Both of you will going into the reserves and ill find a youth keeper to fill the position or maybe Steve Halford might play there, I don’t see any difference if I play any of you two, or I have an empty net at the moment that’s how strongly I feel about it”

“Yes Boss” they both said in unison

“If your form doesn’t pick up, and I will be getting constant reports from Jason on your progress then you will be cut in the January transfer window”

My mobile started ringing at this point and I told them to leave my office.

It was Dave Colley on the phone my ex-scout now at West Ham, he heard that Chris McKenzie was about to be released from his contract at Shrewsbury, he was a journeyman keeper that new his trade. I was on the phone to him within 20 minutes, I asked him to come on a two week trial, but if he trained well I would sign him sooner, He agreed and would come down to tomorrow nights training. When Jamie came into the room I was feeling a lot better, and just gave him an informal warning about his behavior, if someone headbutts someone else in plain sight of the ref don’t be an idiot and complain about the call. He took it well and went back out on the track.

Chris McKenzie turned up to training the next night and was offered a contract in less than an hour, great news for us was that he signed it the next day.

Panpardus

Season Two -Conference National

It was the middle of September and we were exceeding everyone’s expectations but mine I was hoping for a 15th placed finish but at the moment we were sitting in 18th.

Darlington away would prove a tough encounter they were fighting for promotion while we were fighting for survival, Darlington proved the more determined and within the first 15 minutes they had 5 shots on target, our defence powerless to stop the shots coming in, McKenzie was having a torrid time first up time but he was proving his value already with some great saves. We almost sneak a goal against the run of the play but Fearns is struggling so far this season to hit the target. Fickling is having a tough time aswell, so far very unimpressed with his form for the season so far and he makes another costly error which leads to Darlington taking the lead on half time with a spot kick.

It didn’t get any better after half time, numerous chances were saved by Kenzie but the floodgates would open and the game finished 3 zip thanks to McKenzie if he hadn’t of been in the team then it could well of been 10.

Steve Daly’s verdict was handed down he would serve an official 6 match suspension with 1 already down, but it hardly mattered as he would in the reserves till the new year.

The division leaders were to coming to town and we needed our best effort to be competitive, York were exceeding everyone’s expectations, considered a play off chance before the season started they were now 3 points clear. We seen why they were top of the ladder as they outclassed us all over the pitch, McKenzie in goal once again is under siege, and Fickling is not helping his cause with some poor defending and we succumb once again to a 3-0 result.

Under 23's

The Under 23’s were keeping me busy once again I was off, this time to North Korea, which was a fun trip through custom’s . We played some outstanding football there and the 4-1 win would see us enter the Olympic games asian qualifying group stage, Hollman was very impressive bagging a hatrick.

Conference National

I decided to search the loan markets again, you never know, and went through and offered 15 central defender’s a chance to come and play, other bad news was the our new Australian striker Nick Maas had hurt his shoulder in a training incident and wouldn’t be back for two months.

Some changes were made for the away clash versus fellow relegation battlers Tamworth, Fickling was sent to the reserves to get some form, while Harford was brought in Jody Banim also started back in the side. It was ominous start for us, Tamworth were peppering our goals but the defence was doing a half decent job at keeping them from distance, the ones that were on target McKenzie saved with ease. Our first attempt at goal was rewarded a good cross from Jagielka was swept in by their defender and we were 1 up courtesy of an own goal. It didn’t last long as another goal keeping mistake cost us goal, McKenzie tried to save a ball going out for a corner from a bad back pass, sliding across the ground he kicked the ball back out into play, that bad bit was it went to their forward who made no mistake hitting the back of the empty net from 25 out. The game degenerated after that into a defencive possession game, the score never changed and we had drawn 1-1 to stop the rot of losses. I was pretty happy with the result, but gave McKenzie a friendly bit of advice to just concede the corner next time.

Back at the office was endless paperwork going through the draw for the Aussie u23’s in the groups, looking over various scout reports and going through the endless rejections from players not wanting to come to our club, the normal run of the day seen me grab the endless rejections screw up the paper and have a shot at the bin that was on the opposite corner just for that task, I was pretty good at it now and rarely missed.

Rejection……. Shoot……….In
Rejection……. Shoot……….In
Rejection……. Shoot……….In

And on it went.

Rejection…… Shoot………In
Accepted…… Shoot ……In
Rejection…… Shoot………In

What the hell I thought and I jumped up and searched through the bin, a quick scrimmage resulted in the find, Joshua Vermooten a 19 year old South African Defender from Leeds had accepted, the paper work was done immediantely so he would available for our next game.

Weymouth currently underperforming in the league and sitting in 22nd would be our next opponent at home, a disappointing first half seen us 0 all at the break even though we had an extra man when one of theirs earned a strait red.

Pressing hard after the break seen us with some nice chances, unfortunately we could not capitalize and the game finished a 0-0 draw, the shining light was Vermooten a Man of the Match performance in his debut and the Leeds player looked like a good acquisition.

Australian Team - Friendly

My next game would see me fly to Qatar with the Australian team for a friendly, where some rumours had popped up that two Americans were now managing their team with some less than native players. The rumours were found to be false and in the stifling heat we squeaked out a good 1-0 win with Timmy Cahill the scorer with a trademark header.

Panpardus

Season Two – Conference National


After the fiasco at Grays we were to play Forest Green on the road aswell, despite a great performance from the lads we went down 2-0, it was a good game all-round with plenty of chances for both teams, the only difference being Forest Green took theirs, I can’t be disappointed but will be looking for a good result at Home versus Thurrock.

Thurrock came to the Butcher’s Arms ground with salvaging a point on their mind, they hardly came forward for the 90 minutes and we couldn’t penetrate their defence, it proved to be a very dull game, Thurrock left with what they wanted a 0-0 draw.

Aldershot were second in the league and looking for a win versus our lot, what they didn’t expect though was us to come out hard early, and in the third minute Mark Jackson scored from a goal mouth scramble that seen him place the ball just out of reach of the Aldershot keeper, the composure he showed belied his 17 years. Our defence again was impenetrable and we ran out winners Vermooten once again picked up the MoTM.

The F.A cup 4th round qualifier was a game to forget for us, Southport were simply magnificent on their home ground, it wasn’t that we played bad it was that they played so good, Kudos to them it was a magnificent performance and they fully deserve to progress into the next round with their 4-0 win.

At the end of month awards I was pleased as Josh Vermooten picked up the second best young player for the month, it was a great month for him and much of our success has been the result of his good work.

Away at Crawley seen Banim return to the side albeit as a sub and without his captain’s armband that honour had now gone to Colin Cryan even though he was a new player his influence on the pitch was evident. Banim played well and scored the our equaliser late in the game, we didn’t really deserve the result but at the moment ill take them any way I can get them.

Our Home game against Wrexham who were relegated from Division 2 last year was not a good one at all, we went behind in the first minute of play and to their credit the boys didn’t give up, Our defence tightened up and we even had a few chances of our own.

The game was stopped for 20 minutes while the ambulance came on to the ground to get Steve Jagielka with what looks to be a broken femur, according to Jo and she’s fairly certain he won’t play again this year and at 30 years old, he might not recover from the injury at all. My heart goes out to him and his family and I'm sure as a club we will support Jags no matter the outcome.

When play resumed the lads hearts weren’t really in the game but we didn’t concede and at the end it was still 1-0. It was confirmed later that Jags had broken his thigh bone

Panpardus

Season Two –Conference National

All the players and staff went in to see Jags at the hospital and we all wished him the best of recovery’s but when I went in I could see he was depressed, I told him not to worry about his future at the moment, the club would look after him no matter what his decision, and when he had recovered enough he could come down to the club and I’d give him a 1 year extension on the same rate, It was the least I felt I could do.


The trip to Kingsfield Sports Ground might be the turn around we need, In a prematch interview new captain Colin Cryan had told them that the boys were going to dedicate this performance to their injured team mate who was still in the Tameside General Hospital., I was hoping the did give it their all, I’d hate to see us thrashed in the game.

I need not have worried the players were clearly up for the challenge, the passing was second to none and the movement was great aswell. Vermooten who is having a great time down here grabbed his first goal for the club nodding in a Kevin Lynch corner on the back post, the players continued to push and were once again rewarded, 35 minutes gone seen Jody Banim break the offside trap and set up Fearns with a superb pass, that Fearns thankfully put in and his 11 hour run of not scoring had come to an end. Woking hit back strait away and reduced the deficit to 1 when Sankoh fired a hard low shot past McKenzie.

The boys came out after half time determined to win and within 10 minutes of the start we had a 2 goal buffer with Rob Hughes smashing in a shot from just inside the penalty box that gave the keeper no chance. Woking got a bit dirty after the last goal and received two yellows for harsh tackles, and then with 10 minutes to go had Little sent of for a professional foul on Banim, in the very next play Sheridan was sent off for a dangerous two footed tackle on Cryan and they were reduced to nine men which we easily held off and won the game 3-1. It was a great tribute to Steve and I'm glad the boys produced.

More good news was to come when one of our scouts informed me that Ben Davies an attacking right sided midfielder had been released by Shrewsbury, he would fill Jagielka spot easily, Ben was offered a contract and within hours he was a Droylsden boy. Like the saying goes when it rains it pours, and more good luck seen Ryan Malloy DL, Aarun Best DC, Aaron Allanson DC DM, and Ashley Carter ST all agree to come to the club for a trial., they all look promising and will be offered contracts.

An 11 Day break seen Exeter City the favourites for promotion come to pay us a visit, and the boys still riding on Jags injury produced a stunning performance.
It didn’t look good when we conceded a penalty which was converted in the 5th minute but Rob Hughes popped up to ram home another shot from the edge of the box 2 minutes later. New signing Ben Davies showed his class with a good free kick that takes a deflection for his first goal for the club and on debut, his second though after half time is a perfect free kick a dipping curling shot over the wall into the right side of the net, unstoppable. Exeter was stunned and we ran out 3-1 winners.
An away game at Cambridge would signal the half way mark in the season and a deserving 1-0 win to Cambride seen us in 18th place and 6 points clear of 21st placed Weymouth.

A 2-0 away loss to York who were still top of the ladder would see us crash out of the F.A Trophy Cup, once again we were outclassed and if we want to succeed at this level we will need to attract better players, and quite frankly with Doug as the acting Chairman it’s not going to happen, we need to go professional, and get our name out a bit more, were still seen as an obscure club, hopefully if we stay up more people will take notice.

We now had an eleven day break till our next game versus Dagenham and Redbridge at Home they were one spot above us on the ladder and a win would see us become equal on points we were 4 behind on goal difference aswell.


This is the table so far

Panpardus

Season Two - Conference National

The 11 day break is excellent, a time to recharge the batteries, me and Jo both went away to Ireland and stayed there for a week, managed to have a game of golf, and do some lounging about, we went out and had a look at a castle and some gardens, but it was mainly about relaxing only had to do one thing while I was here and that was to talk to Kieran Fitzharris. In the long break Jo wants to come back but do more of the tourist things which might be fun.

The boxing day game had the fans in good voice as they eagerly awaited the game to start, a win here would see us draw level with Dags & Reds, the fans were also eager to see our new signing in action, a signing I made while in Ireland. Kieran Fitzharris a young striker had joined us, he was looking for a club after Coventry released him when he only managed one game as a substitute, he was severely lacking match practice but we’d sub him when he got too tired.

The break had done the team well also, they all looked refreshed, our patience was to be commended we didn’t push to hard as Dags like to hit on the rebound and although there wasn’t many chances the crowd seemed still in good spirits. 3 minutes into injury time seen them rise to the feet and cheer as one when Jody Banim capped off and excellent move which involved over 8 good passes around the midfield, switching from the left to the right and then back to the centre, Lynchy was awarded the assist but it was the whole teams effort.

Dags and Red pressed us after the half but the defence did well, Phillips was back in goal after Chris McKenzie suffered a training accident which would see him out till the middle of January, and actually pulled off a few good saves. Vermooten as good as always, we had put in a request to extend his loan and were awaiting the reply back from Leeds.

Stafford away was out last game of 2007 and the worst game I’ve seen us play, actually I take that back it’s the worst I’ve two players play, unfortunately both players happened to be in goals at the time. Phillips had a absolute shocker, the first goal Vermooten passed one back to him and he just missed it, the team was shocked, even Phillips was, but we were 1 down on six minutes, and then 2 down on 11, 13 minutes gone and it was 3 with Phillips directly responsible, he was subbed on 14 minutes, Tate was told not to disappoint, and he didn’t for the first 4 minutes. A weak shot at Tate should of seen him gather the ball but instead he went with the double fist punch which didn’t really go anywhere but the striker who was sitting 5 metres in front of him, needless to say we were 4 down after 18. The 25 minute mark seen Vermooten awarded his second own goal and the boy was clearly dejected, a simple header back to the keeper had a bit to much pace on it and Tate couldn’t stop it from going in the back, if McKenzie had of been there I don’t think it would have been a problem, even though it wasn’t really Tate’s fault.

Thank god for small mercies we managed to get into the break only 5-0 down, and we weren’t playing that bad we had our own chances, but it seems we were the only team playing crap keepers. I didn’t even talk to Phillips at the break what can you he’ll be left in the reserves now with no chance of getting his contract renewed. And Tate wont be far behind him. He gave away a penalty with 10 minutes to go and im surprised he wasn’t given a red card, which of course was converted. A 6-0 Thrashing was not good for morale and when Leeds accepted our offer, I knew it didn’t really matter, Vermooten would be leaving, he did come to me though which I appreciated and told me face to face.

As it turned out 6-0 was our worse defeat ever and became a club record a thought I told my players to think about as they did nothing but running in the next few training sessions, the good thing was that it wasn’t the worst result of the round Kidderminster won 10-0 against Worthington, the bad news was we were to play them at home next game.

News years day and the Kidderminster game brought a good crowd, I would be happy to get away with a draw, the team was told to keep it tight, there would be no moving up into attack for any in the back 4 and Lynch was told to be extra cautious aswell. Tate was starting in goal and was told in easy to understand language that if he made a mistake and it led to a goal his contract that I held in my hand would be torn up here on the spot. Daly also made a return to the team after his long time spent in the reserves.

It was a good game with both teams having many chances, but neither sides defence was giving anything away, it was no surprise the game ended in nil all draw but I was pretty happy with the result.

Going over the ladder and fixtures I realize I made a mistake, it’s actually 23 games for the half way mark, not 22 as I said, anyway with the draw we were still in 18th place, equal on points with 17th but seven points behind 16th. We were comfortably infront of the relegation spots with 8 points separating us and 21st placed Weymouth.

Our second home game for 2008 seen Stevenage come to the ground, they were on a poor run of 4 strait losses and we were hoping to make it 5. Ben Davies slammed home another free kick and we took the lead 8 minutes into the match and were looking confident, Hughes put us 2-0 up on the quarter hour, but Lynchy had to come with a badly corked thigh. Fitzharris brought the crowd to their feet when he got his first ever for the club, a superb assist from Fickling put him on goal behing the defenders and he sidestepped the rushing keeper to hit his goal into the open net. Celebrations were short lived though as Stevenage clawed one back just before half time.

Stevenage came out firing after the break and reduced the lead to one on 51 minutes. The players buckled down after the goal and we started to win back the possession, we received a penalty which would of closed the game for us, but Ben Davies fired it strait at the keeper who made no mistake saving it, Stevenage realized they were still in the game and kept coming at us, but we survived to win 3-2 and inflicting Stevenage’s 5 loss in a row.

Another 2 week break was coming up and with the Australia friendly coming up we had a 4 day meeting between me and my 2 assistants, Johnny Kosmina and Johan Neeskens, we went over everything the latest players to do well, injuries, the Asian teams we were due to face in the upcoming qualifiers, and we had to do all that aswell for the under 23’s. We could of spent more time going over the finer points but we looked to have a squad for each covered. February was going to be a hectic time again with me flying in and out regularly and with leaving the Droylsden post at the end of the season was kept on coming into my train of thought. I wouldn’t make any decisions yet, if we went professional then I would stay on but I don’t really need the pressure of 2 jobs.