retired_jgirl87

This time it's a case of me following chesterfan2 (sorry - 'in joke') in handing out the praise.

Excellent writing, blanklook. KUTGW :thup:

retired_Genesis777

Cheers, Chesterfan & Spav.

***

May 2007 Part IV: The Conference Playoffs Final


I woke early on the morning of the playoff final. This wasn’t a good sign. It didn’t take me too long to figure out why I’d woken early: there were people in the room. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have minded; all I usually got was that goat demanding food, or to be milked, or walkies or something. But I was in Stoke’s most luxurious hotel (that Worcester could afford) and these people were clearly journalists.

Spotting I was now awake, one of the whipped out a camera and took a photo, while another quipped ‘what do you make of the rumors linking you with the Wrexham manager’s job?’

‘What?’ I might have replied, though it was probably something wittier. ‘They’ve fired what’s-his-name?’

‘Yep; earlier this morning. Anyway, sources are saying that they want you to replace him. What do you have to say?’

By now I’d woken up slightly more and I had a vague memory of Wrexham being the lowest league side not relegated. So, I told them, ‘why would I want to join a club that’s going to be fighting relegation from league 2 next season? I’m already at one.’

They should have cackled. There should have been a bolt of lightning. Instead, they just smiled before turning and leaving my room. But I knew, when I woke several hours later, that now I had to win or I’d wind up looking like an idiot. And I didn't need the press helping me with that; I could do it on my own.

***

Kidderminster vs. Worcester (Conference National Playoff Final; 20/5/07)

Starting line-up: Ottosson; Holt, Williams, Bishop, McDonald; Rigby, Chandler, Aberg, Brown; Griffiths, Zeb
Subs: Palmer, Bouzis, Jones, Dean Marshall, David Gallagher

90 minutes, with the possibility of a further 30 and a penalty shootout separated me from a return to league football and it was all that separated Worcester City from league football for the first time and all the possibilities that would unlock. There was nervous anticipation until Rob Senior blew his whistle and we kicked off.

It didn’t start well as within 90 seconds of kickoff Tobias Ottosson was already diving to his left to keep a Tom Smith header from crossing the line, but costing us a corner in doing so, which they wasted. The match quieted down for a short while after that, but when the next scoring chance came, it was again a Tom Smith header. Ottosson had less to do this time, but still couldn’t hang onto the ball, relying on Steven Rigby to hoof it clear. Kidderminster continued to dominate and the first goal was to come as a result of a dominant patch for them. It was cut short when Steve McDonald slid in on Tom Smith before hoofing the ball clear. It fell to Zeb on the left wing and he held play up for a moment, before passing into Griffiths, who was immediately tackled by Kidderminster captain Liam Reid. But the ball bobbled straight to Steven Rigby, who completed a short run into the box, before whacking the ball past the helpless Mark Henry and straight into the net. That seemed to break Kidderminster’s spirit for a while, but they got it back and once more were playing the better football. But we counter-attacked and got a chance as a result. This time, it came as Ian Chandler crossed into Griffiths, whose header grazed the wrong side of the bar. A dull first half came to a close with 2 incidents in quick succession. First, Mark Robinson knocked Kyle Brown to the floor. He got straight back up, but it was obvious he was struggling. And we almost paid the price when he allowed Robinson to shoot unmarked. It was from 20 yards through and it flew harmlessly over the bar and into the Worcester supporters, where it remained as the Rob Senior blew for half time and we headed back into the changing rooms.

I told my side that all we needed to do was hold onto this lead and we’d get what we’d came for: promotion, then sent them back out for the second half knowing we needed to improve. It didn’t start well as Brown’s injury got worse and he had to come off. Stylianos Bouzis took his place on the field. Then, just as in the first half after Brown was injured, Robinson found himself unmarked and shot from 20 yards. It went wide, but I did nothing to remove my fear that an equalizer was inevitable. My fears were somewhat dispelled when we showed our attacking touch once more with Zeb rushing into the box and firing the ball at Mark Henry. For a moment, the rebound seemed destined to fall to Griffiths, but fate (or, rather, Liam Lee) intervened and whacked the ball at the touchline. The game moved into the final half-hour and Kidderminster continued their constant attacks as captain Liam Reid dispatched a free kick over the wall and towards the corner. Fortunately, Ottosson can do the impossible and somehow found himself in its path. Griffiths was clearly suffering a match of match fitness and for a moment I contemplated using the opportunity to switch to a 5-4-1. But, the lead was just a single goal I reasoned and sent David Gallagher on instead. The immediate effect was for Kidderminster to put together a move that in other circumstances, I’d have considered a wonderful piece of football. It didn’t result in a goal, just Ben Cross whacking the ball out of the ground, but it was obvious that we needed to improve since I wasn’t sure we’d make it through the next 20 minutes unscathed if we didn’t.

I made some changes and tried to get my players to play differently hoping to wrap up promotion. The effect was immediate as Steve Bishop passed to David Gallagher, who ran forward a little before hitting a ball past the last defender to Zeb, who was left to simply finish his run into the box and hit the ball past the keeper for his 15th goal of the season, and probably his most important one. Amongst the masses of cheering Worcester fans, there was a very audible sigh of relief. Now that Kidderminster were two goals behind, they tried every trick in the book to pull one back, focusing exclusively on attack. But our counter-attacking style was at its most effective when they played like that and we got to try an old trick in our book: the “lure the keeper to you and then pass to the free attacker” trick. David Gallagher tried it with Zeb, but he struggled to get a shot in against his marker and the poor result was saved effortlessly by Henry, before being booted away by a defender. But there was still time for 1 last Worcester attack and as the clock ticked over to 94 minutes, we made our last touch in conference football the most appropriate possible. The duty fell to Aberg, who headed Rigby’s cross into the corner of the goal.

Final Score: Kidderminster 0-3 Worcester
Scorers: Rigby 24', Zeb 77', Aberg 90'
MoM: Ian Chandler (Worcester)
Attendance: 11,679

retired_Genesis777

As Patrik Aberg’s header smashed into the top corner, shaking the net, a massive cheer went up around the Britannia Stadium. But it was nothing compared to the cheer 30 seconds later when Kidderminster kicked off for the fourth time, only for the referee to blow the final whistle before the kick had even reached anyone. In an instant, I was running along with the substitutes and assorted others rushed onto the pitch and there was much jubilation amongst the blue and white striped shirts of the Worcester team and our hundreds of cheering fans. Meanwhile, Kidderminster seemed to disappear very quickly, along with their fans.

Before long, the Kiddermister players reemerged to be given their runners-up medal’s as we loitered impatiently near the stage. Then, on we streamed as I joined my players and staff in having a medal put round my neck, with only Tobias Ottosson left to collects his playoff winner’s medal. As captain, he was left the duty of lifting the trophy. And he did so as half a dozen fireworks went off haphazardly and a car backfired outside the stadium. Except that wasn’t what happened, and I realized that about halfway between what felt like being hit in the chest and falling backwards off the stage.

retired_Genesis777

James’s father smiled as he watched me fall off the back of the stage, and quickly set about putting his sniper rifle back in his case. It didn’t take him long to do it; he’d practiced a thousand times, after all. Once that was done, he ran, rushing into the confusion of thousands of fans not sure what to do, before he set off for the car park. Once he’d reached it, he ran past the mass of parked cars, his feet pounding the concrete. He practically leapt into the car James was waiting for him in. When James didn’t start the car, he turned to his son and yelled, ‘what the hell are you waiting for?! Drive!’

‘Good afternoon,’ I said from the back seat of the car.

A flood of obscenities was his response to my voice. He only stopped when he saw the police officer that had appeared outside his window. ‘How’d you stop me?’ he asked, calmer.

‘I’ll answer that,’ said Brian from beside me. ‘I knew James was up to something illegal, so I needed to find out what and let the police know. Once I'd found out what you were planning, I informed the police of your plan and they agreed to arrest you when you came back to the car.’

‘Yeah, but how’d it survive?’

‘Well, a few months ago, I got a visit from an ex-college of your sons. Since that made me fearful of what he might do, the police agreed to let me have a bulletproof vest.’ It was true enough, especially since the police were present.

‘Anyway,’ said the policeman, ‘we need to take these two to the station, so if you two gentlemen don’t mind-‘

‘One last thing,’ interjected James’s father, ‘what’s my name?’

‘It’s … er, um … I don’t know.’

‘That’s just perfect.’

And with that Brian and I got out of the car and watched the car speed off into the distance. I watched, deep in thought, wondering whether I was the one to blame for all that had happened.

retired_Genesis777

The Random Transferring of the Summer Months: Part III: 2007


I didn’t delve much in the transfer market that summer, preferring to instead invest in other markets, mainly alcohol. However, the few transfers I did do were brilliant, naturally.


Transfer In

Abbas Hamdani D/AM R Norwegian 4 caps/0 goals 22years
New £18,000 signing from Bodo-Glimt who becomes our second international, after Daniel Edgar (who we miss every single day.) Generally plays as a winger but I’m a good enough manager and he’s a talented enough player for him to be first choice in the right-back spot.


Transfer Out

Patrik Aberg M LC, Swedish 16 years
Newcastle used a rarely-known loophole in the Bosman rule to take our most promising youngster off us without having to pay a penny in return, despite me being promised £80,000 if he signed for them a few weeks before. I’m sure we’ll manage to find another left winger soon (we keep losing them when they’re sixteen. First Edgar, now Aberg. It’s annoying.)


Released Players

Steve Sullivan
Chris Wilson
Michael Atkinson
Ben Clark
Cakir Tayfun
Richard Jones
Matthew Buckley

retired_Genesis777

183 words. That was interesting, in a not actually interesting kind-of way. 1 paragraph? That was wrong, surely. I was procrastinating, I knew I was procrastinating, and I knew I wasn’t going to do anything about my procrastination. It continued as I used the AutoSummarize and looked at the results, then yawned. Yep, I thought, you’ve gone through the entire “Tools” menu. Was it worth using the thesaurus? Probably not, but what the hell. I couldn’t find anything though, and soon gave up. After that, I stuck in a note about Daniel Edgar in the obituary of Patrik Aberg (the traitor was dead to me), and contemplated sticking in my old thought about Edgar being an anagram of Aberg. Except it wasn’t. The “b” needed a mirror for that to be true. Haven’t I already mentioned that somewhere? I can always check later.

I was procrastinating for one simple reason: it was what I did in the evenings at Worcester. It was what I’d always done in the evenings, since it was far too risky to go out. Two years in this world wasn’t enough to make me forget everything that I knew. It certainly wasn’t enough for me to learn enough about this world. There were billions of years I needed to replace my knowledge of. There were films that had never been made, books that had never been written, people that had never been born. And then there were the occasions where these things had happened, but simply under a different name. But, on the bright side, there were classic films that I’d never seen before, brilliant books I’d never read and centuries of brilliance that I simply hadn’t seen before. I was finally enjoying life in this world, now that I knew I was never going back, whatever I tried.

***

I’d learned that a few months ago, in the car park at the Britannia Stadium, after they had taken James and his father away. Brian and I had stood awkwardly watching the car being driven away, not sure of what to do. After a while, we started walking away, towards nowhere in particular.

‘So how’d you get us to this world?’ I asked after a while.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Brian replied. It was a lie, but I didn’t know it then.

‘Any chance I can go back?’

‘No.’

‘Why?’

‘It was too messy doing it once. If we do it again, anything could happen.’

‘Messy? What do you mean?’

‘Ah, of course, you wouldn’t know about that. You see what happened was that we took a little bit more than we meant to. The entirety of Brown Tower for a start, as well as parts of nearby buildings.’

‘Didn’t people notice a building appearing out of thin air?’

‘No. I’m not sure how he did it, but the bloke who took us through made sure we’d land in a warehouse.’

‘Brown Tower wasn’t small. How’d it fit?’

‘Everything came through as it was, but it seems this world is at an angle to the old one, so everything appeared to come through on its side.’

‘Ah.’ The silence resumed as we walked onwards through the car park. ‘Did you bring me through deliberately?’ I asked suddenly, startling even myself a little.

‘I didn’t, though I can’t rule out James having planned it as punishment for what you did to his father.’

Why did everyone seem to think I had done some terrible thing? I’d sacked someone who’d assaulted me. But, it seemed to be the thought pattern of everyone I met. Perhaps I should get out more.

***

it was thinking back over that thought that eventually made me do what I did and allow what I’d contemplated doing to happen. It was now obvious my life in the old world, with its womanising, alcoholism and general avarice, was now over. It was time to begin a whole new wave of utter misery. It was time I started living again.

retired_Genesis777

Pre-season 2007/2008 Season


Swansea still hadn’t forgiven us for holding them to a draw in the FA Cup a few years back. I knew this because they were still clearly angry, angry enough to steal my staff in almost Newcastleesque style. The staff member in question was my long-suffering assistant manager of two years, Colin Walker, who walked into my office early in July, or possibly August and told me he was leaving for the welsh side.

‘You can’t leave. If it weren’t for me, you’d still be a bum on the streets of Worcester. I created you, Colin. I can destroy you!’

When that didn’t work I offered him a new contract, one that wasn’t written on the back of a placemat. But he turned down my offer of a few dozen quid a week. Instead, he departed for Wales and we received a cheque to cover the rest of his contract, which amounted to a pitiful sum of money. Wondering who or what I’d spend the money on (a haircut, maybe?), I set about doing Colin’s job: arranging freindlies. And I did a better job than he had ever managed.


The Freindlies

Notes: Goalscorers in brackets and all matches were at home.

Wolves W4-2 (Griffiths (x3), Zeb); a complete and utter mauling of a team relegated from the Premiership last season as Griffiths demonstrated phenomenal ability.
Hartlepool L0-2; Zeb had an early goal wrongly disallowed in a game we should've at least drew.
Stevanage[/i] W2-1 (Tom Lee (pen), Zeb);[/i] deserved victory over the League 2 relegatees in a match where both sides scored a penalty.
Burnley W1-0 (Bates); a late goal stole us a victory in a tightly contested game.
Crewe W3-1 (Rigby, Zeb (x2)); 3 goals in the first 15 minutes after half time earned us a win in a tight match.
Sunderland L2-3 (Zeb, Tom Lee); 2 goals in the last 10 minutes pulled us back from 2-0 down, but they got a late goal to earn a deserved win.

While I was satisfied with the morale-boosting effect of those results, I was less satisfied with their effects on fitness, I reasoned as I walked into the physio Richard Richardson’s office to find several members of my first team clutching parts of their body as they lay screaming in agony on the floor. They were, in no particular order other than that in which they were injured, David Gallagher who’d received a fractured arm against Hartlepool and would miss the start of the season. Screaming something in Norwegian was new signing Abbas Hamdani who had fractured his arm winning us that penalty against Stevenage and will also miss the start of the season. Chris Griffiths joined them, having pulled his groin during training. Next to him was Phil Fuller whose damaged spine, obtained against Sunderland, would keep him out for the first month or two.

‘Why are my players lying on the floor, screaming in agony?’ I asked Richard.

‘New treatment,’ he said, briefly looking up from the player’s notes.

‘Fair enough,’ I responded and left to greet our new assistant manager, accidentally stepping on Chris’s hand as I left. ‘Sorry.’

Our new assistant manager was, as all good people are, unemployed when we approached him, having been recently fired from some position at Middlesborough, which he wouldn’t elaborate upon. Steve Sutcliffe was a good coach, from what I’d heard, and would make an excellent replacement for Colin. I’d got all that off his CV, but since he was the only candidate who spoke into the right end of the phone, he was welcomed aboard as we desperately sought to cling onto our league status.

retired_Genesis777

Now that I’d been earning a decent wage for a while, my thoughts turned, as they always will under such circumstances, to acquiring a debt. My preferred method for this was a mortgage and as we eagerly anticipated the start of our new season, I moved into a dank, dark, depressing hellhole. But still, it was better than living in a stable with Goatee as I had for the last two years. In I strolled; walking over some mould I prayed wasn’t poisonous before wondering aimlessly around my house, moving what little stuff I had in. There was my bed, my television, and, of course, my bottle of Worcestershire Sauce. There was a pun in there somewhere. I just knew it and I wasn’t going to rest until I figured it out. It had been bugging me for three months now...

retired_Genesis777

I've decided to adopt a slightly different format from now on, largely to stop the starting of every match with variants of “Next up were...” which, having re-read some of what I wrote, I realised was fairly constant.

***

August 2007


Chesterfield (H): On Saturday, August 4th2007, we drew a really quite pathetic crowd of just 822 people to St. George's Lane, to watch mighty Worcester play their first ever match in league football, against Chesterfield. Nerves got the better of us in the match and Chesterfield walked all over us, their superior class and experience seeing them the dominant force. Indeed, after 18 shots, 5 corners and 17 free kicks, the only thing our opposition had failed to do was get the goal they really deserved. And then, as the minutes tick down, the hundreds of Worcester fans were to see something quite brilliant: the first ever Worcester City goal in league football. Naturally, it wasn't a particularly good goal, since these things never are. In fact, it was a penalty. Steven Rigby had been hacked down receiving a Mark Williams free kick and Simon Wilson had pointed straight to the spot. Up stepped young Steve McDonald, who had never scored a single goal under my management until then. That changed as he wrong-footed Chesterfield goalkeeper Barry Sheridan and put us 1 goal up with just 8 minutes plus injury time for Chesterfield to avoid shock defeat. That was more than enough, sadly. The goal came when they finally beat Tobias Ottosson, and did so with a through ball. Darren Kelly laid the ball on to Neil Bailey who casually kicked it into the Worcester net. To only get a point was a disappointment after the early lead, but it was far more than we deserved, or expected. The only sour grapes we took from the match was that Zeb picked up a damaged foot, that threatened to rule him out for between a week and 4 weeks.

Peterborough (H): 48 more people turned up for our next match, held on a fine Tuesday evening, which was again refereed by Simon Wilson. We played better now that the first match nerves were gone, and Peterborough showed none of Chesterfield's dominance. Our main problem here was the sheer inaccuracy of our shooting, with only 2 of our 9 shots not flying out of the stadium, being whacked at innocent fans, or, as in one case, hitting the corner flag and bouncing out for a throw-in. Despite this, we still managed to score our first goal from open play. It came when Scott Nixon played a fantastic defence-splitting pass that left Andrew Campbell in the clear. With only Chris McStay to beat, Campbell dribbled round the keeper before shaking the net with a low drive. There was, as against Chesterfield, 8 minutes plus injury time left for our opponents to score, but what few chances that created were scuppered as we grabbed our first victory of our campaign. That night, as I was still celebrating that victory, I wrapped up the sale of Simon Gould, who'd disappointed in goal last season, to Darlington for £7,000.

Oldham (A): Boundary Park was our first destination as we finally got out of Worcester for a warm Saturday afternoon match, against a side who as recently as 1994, were in the top league of the land. But times had been hard for Oldham and they’d fallen three divisions. They'd failed in their attempts to crawl back up last year, and we had no desire to make life any easier for them this time round. It didn't show as we were constantly on the back foot, suffering a barrage of constant Oldham pressure, only buckled by the occasional Worcester counter-attack. And it was on one of these that we grabbed our third goal of the season. Scott Nixon was dashing down the wing, his legs pounding as he approached the white by-line. He screed to a stop, and hit the ball in without looking. It looked fairly harmless, but Dean Marshall saw something in it. He dove forwards a few yards and made contact at just the right moment to score a sensational goal. It looked good for us and I hoped we could desperately hold on for a shock away win. But, instead, Oldham showed us the correct way to respond to a goal, putting together a flowing move that culminated in Chris Campbell equalising. We learned from them at that moment how not to lose your head and go into shock. And it showed, as a few moments later we were back ahead with Steve Lee reminding us that he could score as well as defend. Oldham did seem a little shocked as we went back ahead and it took them a full ten minutes to mount their next attack. It came when Nixon breathed on Freddie Williams. He collapsed to the ground, clutching his leg, and was carried away as Richard White got the ball. The few travelling Worcester fans held their collective breath as he started his run up. Only Tobias Ottosson knew what he was going to do, as White hit a tame shot it. Ottosson palmed it away effortlessly, before White belted the ball over. After such an exciting first half, the second half was eagerly awaited and was, by any measure, a total anti-climax. But, the handful of Worcester fans cheered a massive cheer as we returned to our dressing room winners.

Darlington (A): Riding high after the pair of victories, we headed to Darlington brimming with confidence on a very hot Saturday afternoon, as talk of a heatwave swept the countries newspaper's front pages and our winning streak swept the back ones (at least in Worcester). That confidence was plain for all to see as we played our best football of the campaign and were, for once, the better team. But ex-Worcester goalkeeper, Simon Gould, who I had only just sold to them, produced the sort of form I had hoped he'd manage to produce in the Conference and it was this that kept us at bay. It looked like Gould was going to get me back for selling him off after his form in the Conference North. But, as the match drifted off, there was a glimpse of why Gould was at best a good Conference North/South player, and it came at the worst possible time: when we had a promising attack. It came as Vegard Engseth Baardson played in Andrew Campbell. Gould missed the interception, allowing Campbell an easy goal, which would transpire to be the lone one in a 1-0 win for my side.

Ipswich (A; League Cup First Round): After our recent form, we were hopeful of grabbing something from this game, though we still didn't really expect anything from the Championship team. We were duly handed a lesson in football, with Ipswich the better side from start to finish. It took just 5 minutes to start, with Ryan Wain beating Ottosson for their first goal of what would be three. Though, I'm proud to say we didn't get too downhearted and succumb like we had in our 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Brighton. They still scored again though; Matt Hood blasting past Ottosson for 2-0. it actually looked like we might escape with the scoreline a respectable 2-0 for a large portion of the game, but it wasn't to be as Steve Lee found himself in the way of Chris Ferguson's shot. Fortune favoured Ipswich that night, and it rebounded into the path of Andy Clarke. Despite the nature of the goal, it was no more than Ipswich deserved and we headed back to Worcester dejected.

Colchester (H): Back in the league and back at home as we broke through the thousand-attendance barrier. We did so with a performance that rank of being a hangover from the cup defeat and it was actually no surprise when Colchester took the lead they really deserved. It came as Steven Morgan was allegedly pushed by Steve McDonald. McDonald was booked, but the real punishment came in the form of Morgan's free kick which flew into the corner to put us behind. But, we fought back and managed to steal a goal on the break. David Gallagher found himself before Matt Brooks, who parried his shot straight back at him. He volleyed it back in and Brooks, who still hadn't recovered from the first shot, could do nothing about it as it hit the back of the net, sending a ripple along it and through the crowd. After the break it was more of the same: Colchester dominating, while we tried to steal a goal on the break, except this time it was sans goals.

Leyton Orient (A): We were given just two days to recover from that and get down to London for this encounter, but the lack of rest seemed to affect Orient more than us as we played the better football early in the match. It took a while for us to score though, and when we did it came as Paul Evans, making a rare appearance courtesy of Zeb's lingering injury, was dashing towards goal and looked certain to take it past goalkeeper Steve Hemmings and ram the ball in the net. He didn't, mostly since Adam Booth stole his stability with a heinous tackle. As Evans sampled Orient's mud, James Johnson ran into the area, ordered Booth off the pitch and gave us a penalty. Kyle Brown looked a little bored as he examined the ball, before he did his job and dutifully placed it in the corner of the net. A dull patch marred the last quarter-hour of the half as only Orient captain Mark Bowen produced a worthwhile assault on goal. That patch ended, and with a goal, albeit a penalty. Again, it was Worcester who scored and again the penalty came as Evans was pushed, this time by Bowen. Our perverse system of deciding penalty takers meant Steven Rigby took this one, and put it in the corner. With us 2-0 up at the break against a ten man side, we were confident of getting all three points. We didn't. Orient played better after the break and the immediate quarter hour saw them playing brilliant football, which resulted in Scott James volleying in a goal. So what? We thought, no more than a consolation. Then, our arrogance was proved wrong as Steve Robinson put James in the clear, and he hit the equaliser into the net. We were shocked, and while we didn't concede again, it was a much-needed wake-up call about the superior quality of opposition.

Despite our poor form by the end of the season, we had by any measure, had a far better opening to the campaign than we really had any right to expect. But, those last three matches had demonstrated that we were far from being the invincible force we had felt like in the early month and reminded me that we could stumble and start losing at any point. To try and avoid this, I decided to bring in someone with a proven track record. In came Alex French, the quality Nottingham Forest striker, for just £3,000. His arrival signalled the end of Paul Evans's career had come with winning the penalties against Orient, which as it didn't involve the striker scoring, was probably appropriate. The August awards saw Steve Lee given a weird-looking gold thing as he was named player of the month, thanks to his goal and his defensive performances this month. Hopefully, he, along with the rest of my side, can keep it up.

retired_Genesis777

September 2007

Notts Co (H): A closer match than the scoreline suggested, though it cannot be said that I actually care. David Gallagher scored all three of the match's goals early on to wrap up our victory. The first came as he headed in an Ian Chandler cross. The second came only after a period of constant pressure from our opponents, which ended as David Gallagher volleyed in another Chandler cross. The third goal took little time in coming after that. It came as Mark Marshall pressured Mark Morgan, forcing him into a backpass to Carl Reed. Alex French intercepted the backpass, and, with Carl Reed between him and the net, he unselfishly handed the 40-yard shot to David Gallagher, who couldn't help scoring with no-one between him and the goal. There were chances after that, but you could tell County's spirit had been broken. We got the best of the remaining chances, as Derek and David Gallagher linked up to provide Zeb with a chance to score. He could only manage a tame shot, but by then the match was already dead.

Southend (A): After our confident performance against Notts County, our form leapt away and all but a few players in the red and black stripes of the Worcester away kit were utterly awful. The best moment came just 8 minutes in, as Rigby nodded a Campbell cross goalward and had the goal he deserved stolen from him by a fantastic Michael Atkinson save. Then the Southend domination began. It started as Danny Brookes crossed the ball in to David Quinn. Steven Rigby, his marker, struggled with him, and managed to do enough to force his shot over the bar. Shortly afterwards, a flowing Southend move ended with Brookes hitting in a powerful shot. Ottosson leapt towards the ball, but even he could only parry it away. Quinn was nearby, but thankfully his shot skimmed the wrong side of the crossbar. Then, the match went about 40 minutes without a single shot being hit, and you could see the boredom in the faces of the fans. I know that, because I simply couldn't watch this dull excuse for a football match. When the substitutions started, the match improved and the few fans who hadn't left in disgust or died of boredom actually got to witness a shot, even if it wasn't on target. It came as Southend substitute Matthew Baker played a ball into his fellow substitute Joe Evans, who volleyed it well wide of the goal. That was that for the match, which Southend had been the better side in, but neither side deserved as much as a point for their performances therein. We were still going to take the point, though.

Macclesfield (H): A better match, but no classic. It started well for us, with Dean Marshall's shot smashing against Ian Roberts. His rebound effort was very poor, and Ryan Skinner managed to stop it, before lobbing the ball downfield. We continued our quality attacking play, as Alex French had two chances in four minutes to get his first Worcester goal. David Gallagher flicked the ball to him for the first effort, which Adam Spencer knocked out of play with his save. There was nothing Spencer could do about French's next effort though. He didn't need to as the free kick flew into the stands. Then, Macclesfield started to strike back, with a long, flowing move finding the ball in the possession of Gary Young. His pass gained a beneficial deflection off Derek Gallagher that confused Lee Miller's marker and allowed him a clear shot. Thankfully, it was a poor one. Just 1 minute later, Miller had another shot, earning it after a lengthy dribble, which he promptly smashed goalward. Ottosson reminded us quite how good a goalkeeper he is, producing an exquisite save. After the break, neither team seemed particularly creative and there were few chances. But, this long period was ended after what seemed like an eternity as Ian Chandler streaked down the wing. He whacked the ball into David Gallagher, who beat his marker and volleyed the ball into the net for his fifth goal of the season. Macclesfield struck back, creating chance after chance as we sat through 25 minutes of agony, watching Macclesfield's attacks being scuppered at only the last moment, as Ottosson leapt across the goal, using his fingernails to knock the ball wide or as James Daly slid across the muddy goalmouth, encrusting his kit with filth as he kicked the ball away. But we hung on, and recorded the 1-0 victory.

Bournemouth (A): Tobias Ottosson had already made 4 saves by the time we reached the tenth minute of this game. Apparently, bad Worcester were back and hungering for defeat. There best chance of the first half came as Anthony Jordan was storming down the pitch. He stopped, and shot, kicking the ball goalward. Mark Williams saw this and slid in before him, the ball bouncing off his body as he slid across the wet ground. However, the ball was to wind up with Simon Townsend, who was also tackled. However, the referee believed it to be a foul, referring to Andrew Campbell's harmless tackle as a trip. Townsend himself would be the one to take the penalty, and he made no mistake. Being behind seemed to awaken my players from their sleep, with Zeb unlucky to have a seemingly goalbound shot saved. But, he didn't let his head drop, and as half-time approached, he played a wonderful ball to Darren Bates, who dribbled round Lee Grant, before sticking the ball in the net, his first Worcester goal. You could see the confidence build in bates and after the break, he had two shots in the first two minutes, hitting both wide. That pretty much set the theme for both sides in the second half, as the few accurate shots were broken up by streams of poor finishing. Still, it was a point on the road, and that was invaluable.

Wrexham (H): The team who I had been linked with at the end of last season were our next opposition, and I was determined to teach them a lesson. In retrospect, that made little sense, but it made sense to me at the time and in the end, that's all that matters. The first 45 minutes of the match were awful, with little attacking play of note and absolute dominance by defence. Injury time, however, was brilliant. First Ian Chandler picked up yet another assist as he played in Alex French, who took the ball on the bounce, shot and celebrated the goal. Barely moments later, we had a second injury time goal, with French playing in David Gallagher who smashed a volley at the top corner and scored a great goal. The dullness returned in the second half; Wrexham looked like they'd given up, while we were happy to settle for the 2-0 win. This changed, with just a quarter-hour to go, as Chris Worthington was spotted pulling Mark Marshall's shirt. He went for an early bath and we went back on the offence. First, French received the ball from a Hamdani pass. He kicked the ball goalward, and watched it float harmlessly over the bar. Just a minute later, he was more accurate, heading in a Chandler cross to make it 3-0. He had a chance to wrap up the hat-trick, but his shot was effortlessly palmed away by Paul Thomas.

Tranmere (A): Our final match of the month saw a suspiciously odd number of fans, 10001 in all, streaming into Prenton Park, where they would witness a close tie. The match opened with Tranmere's Mike Baker putting the ball past his own goalkeeper, something which was ruled out for offside in a poor refereeing decision. Tranmere took strength from this, going on the offence with both Ricardo and Gary Duncan forcing Ottosson into saves. Then, Zeb showed them how it was done, hitting the ball in from 30 yards and scoring what was somehow just his first goal of the season. Moments later, we were 2 goals up, with Nixon’s corner finding Steven Rigby who put the ball in the net. But, Tranmere struck back and, wioth half-time barely seconds away, Kees Tol pulled one back for the home side. There were more chances in a tight second half, but no-one managed to produce anything that deserved a goal, until injury time, when Zeb floated the ball into French, who volleyed it straight past the goalkeeper to make it 3-1 and send our few fans into raptures.

The end of the month awards saw quite a few Worcester squad members getting the credit they undoubtedly deserved. Firstly, James Daly was awarded the young player of the month award. The top two places in the grown-up equivalent went to Ian Chandler and Vegard Engseth Baardson, in that order. I was also voted manager of the month. Those awards summed up just how good we had been in September. The only problem would be maintaining this form.