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Unchanged for the long midweek trip to Yeovil, who we didn't manage to beat last season. I try to drum into the lads that all they need to do is replicate Saturday's performance...

...however, I'd left the all important scout report on the coach, so I couldn't give the players any specific markers to watch out for. So it was rather embarrasing for me, personally when Crookes was easily beaten by the obviously dangerous striker David Whyte. I immediately dispatched a message to Woods to double up on him and help the defender out, which did seem to tighten things up a little. By half time, in fact, we were 2-1 up thanks to Peacock and Fortune-West. Leo helps himself to his 10th of the season, and his 4th man of the match award, in the second half's only action.

Conference Game 8. 10th September 2002
Yeovil 1 Stalybridge 3 Whyte 28 / Peacock 36 Fortune-West 45,59

We get back to Stalybridge to find a letter from Wrexham with a formal approach for the services of my assistant Tony Barratt. Depressing news at a time when the league table shows us in a lofty 4th place.

Suitably on Friday 13th, Tony Barratt accepts Wrexham's offer. He heads off to the Racecourse Ground to work alongside new manager Mark Harrison. He will be a great loss, and it's obviously the season for staff appointments, as Sheffield Wednesday approach Spencer Field.

Trying to concentrate on matters on the field, it's an unchanged team again for the trip to Stevenage. Collins is back from injury, but not fully fit so sits another game out. Their strike partnership of DJ and Martin Williams are on fire, and will need careful attention. In fact even two markers can't keep Williams quiet as he opens the scoring. We find no way back until the second half, when Ommel heads home after a penalty box melee. Less than ten minutes later Williams has escaped his marker again. Worse is to come as Fortune-West is dismissed for a second yellow card. Woods is sacrificed for Allison, and DJ Campbell takes advantage of the lack of marking to score a third for Stevenage. There is a brief glimmer of hope in the last five minutes, as Stevenage keeper Afandiyev is given his marching orders for bringing down Allison. The ex Tranmere man gets up and buries the penalty with some relief, to claim his first goal for the club, but time has run out.

Conference Game 9. 14th September 2002
Stevenage 3 Stalybridge 2 Williams 18,58 "DJ" Campbell 64 / Ommel 50 Allison 88(pen) (Stalybridge's Leo Fortune-West sent off, 63, Stevenage's Farhad Afandiyev sent off, 87)

The defeat pushes us down to 7th and Stevenage up to 5th, and Spencer Field is off to the Owls. Unknown 58 year old Ashley Wilson joins as a coach, and I will internally assess him alongside Pointon and McCall to choose my next Assistant. Soon after, Barry Smith joins as a replacement scout. Neither are as good as the original, but they're all that is available at the moment!

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With no scout report to work with, I am left reading a newspaper report of 3rd place Woking's last league match to try and figure out their strengths and weaknesses. Collins comes in for Woods, who is unfortunate to miss out, but the rest of the team remains the same, and it looks like it's the fowards we really have to watch out for.

We open strongly, as Heaton crosses for Fortune-West to head in, an endlessly repeatable action, is seems. Try as we might, we couldn't add the second to get daylight between the teams, and in first half injury time Warren Patmore, perennial Conference striker, found space in the area and scored his first of the season. Collins is released from his out of position marking job on winger Edge to mark central midfielder Walker, and celebrates by getting forward and blasting home his first goal for the club. Woking missed some good opportunities as the injury time minutes piled on, but we held out magnificently. Leo gets the man of the match award, mainly I would suggest for his first half performance.

Conference Game 10. 21st September 2002
Stalybridge 2 Woking 1 Fortune-West 9 Collins 54 / Patmore 45

Another player who hasn't played a part for the club for a while is Ged Murphy. I call him into the office and ask if he thinks it's to move on. He agrees and I put out the word he is available. Elgin City snap my hand off, and he's off to the Highlands for £6k.

Ged Murphy (Stalybridge 1/8/01 - 24/9/02) Played 7 Goals 0 Assists 0 Man of the Match 0 AvR 6.29

Woods comes into central defence for Crookes, as I give the player a run due to his recent good performance in midfield. He's not likely to get Collins' place from him, so he better get used to defence! The rest of the team remains the same. New scout Smith cannot pick out an attacking threat from Scarborough, so no extra marking is specified. Which is unfortunate, because with their first attack Scarborough score. Two goals in three minutes give the scoreline a more favourable view at the quarter hour mark, and Cameron marks the half hour with a third. But, by halftime it's 3-3, with Darryn Stamp the hattrick hero for Scarborough. Neither side could break the "deadlock" in the second half, and it's 2 point dropped as far as I am concerned.

Conference Game 11. 24th September 2002.
Scarborough 3 Stalybridge 3 Stamp 5,36,43 / Hart 10 Fortune-West 13 Cameron 30

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Our reserves hammer our next opponents, Stafford Rangers, 6-1, with some excellent performances from our youngsters. I'm more concerned with the their first team Striker, ex Blackpool man John Murphy. Rangers are doing well, sitting one place behind us in the table. Crookes back in for Woods at the back, whilst Leo is serving his ban so Allison comes in. The third choice striker gets a quick goal thanks to a dubious penalty decision, and Cameron backs it up with a second two minutes later. The winger is scoring some quality goals at the moment. Despite some double marking, Murphy gets one back, before we have a more genuine penalty claim turned down. We restore our two goal lead before the break, when the Stafford keeper drops the ball at Gary Hart's feet. Hart may not be scoring many this season, but he isn't going to miss a chance like that! Ommel has a second half goal turned down for being offside himself, and it's the last action he sees in the game. As usual, the second half is a quiet affair and Hart gets the man of the match award.

Conference Game 12. 28th September 2002.
Stalybridge 3 Stafford Rangers 1 Allison 7(pen) Cameron 9 Hart 42 / Murphy 27

Stafford were clearly a one man side, and I fear for their season if they lose the services of Murphy.

September ends with us lying 5th, 9 points behind early pace setters Dover and Barnet, with 3rd and 4th place Woking and Stevenage within 3 points.

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The 1st of October brings me not only a lot of birthday presents, being the very popular manager that I am, but also a player of the month award for Fortune-West. It also brings the Qualifying Round draw for the FA Cup, and yet again we have a tricky away tie against Southern Premier side Moor Green. We travel to Slough for our first game of the month, and again it's a striker we have to watch. Ex Crewe man Paul Tait is in his second season at the club and put away 23 goals last season. Fortunately, on loan Reading midfielder Joe Gamble is suspended.

Fortune-West returns from his enforced rest, and replaces Ommel as Allison did enough in the last game to retain his place. He does enough again early on, popping up in the box unmarked in the first minute. 1-0 the visitors. Once the home team get into the game, it's clear that the threat is going to come from midfielder Scott Bettney, so Collins is deployed to keep an eye on him. We struggle to create chances for the rest of the half, and the one goal lead is looking decidedly dodgy, as Tait is seeing a lot of the ball. Fortunately he fades out of the game in the second half and we can hold on, forcing the Slough keeper into some good stops. Allison carries away his first man of the match award, being the only player to really go out of his way to play well for us.

Conference Game 13. 5th October 2002.
Slough Town 0 Stalybridge 1 Allison 2

Defeats for Barnet and Stevenage, and draws for Dover and Woking mean it is a good day all round for us. We're up to 4th, and 7 adrift of Dover. With a bit of time to spare, I decide to take a quick look at the club accounts. We're in the black to the tune of around £90k, which is good, however I am made suspicious by some very strange entries for this month. So far there is Income of £0, Expenditure of £57, but a documented loss of £279. Curious.

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The coach report for Southport is also curious, as it highlights the threat posed by strikers Sullivan and Burns. However, on closer examination Burns has never played a senior game for the club. My coaching team do a job on the reserves though, as they rack up another big win. Notably, they are picking youngsters in front of some of the more experienced players, so I decide to trim the squad by listing unhappy Courtney and Parr.

It feels good to be able to field unchanged sides, and I have the pleasure again for the visit of Southport. We struggle in the first couple of minutes to adapt to Southport's formation, and just as we seem to be settling down and pushing out, Collins goes eyeball to eyeball with a Southport defender. Not content with receiving a yellow card, he kicked the ball away and got a second for his trouble. I seethe to myself on the touchline, and bring Woods on for Hart. Bushell replaces Cameron shortly afterwards, in an attempt to tie down the strong Southport midfield. It looks like we've got them stumped, as we are starting to look the better side, even a man light, but when Batty elects to punch a Jones cross five minutes before half time, the ball drops to danger man Sullivan and the result of that particular play is inevitable.

After the break, Southport tighten things up, making the man advantage count. We stutter and struggle, but we can't get past their defence. With 15 to go I play my last roll of the dice, replacing Allison with Ommel. Still nothing. The clock ticks down and the fourth official indicates 2 minutes to play. Sullivan breaks free, and this looks like game over, but instead of going round the keeper, he blasts it from outside the area and it sails over the bar. From the restart, there is an obstruction offence awarded. Bushell dinks the freekick out wide and Ommel spins on a sixpence, curling the ball into the top corner. The ten men had equalised, and with virtually the last kick of the match! Unimaginatively, the man of the match award is given to big Leo, who admittedly ran himself into the ground the whole game.

Conference Game 14. 12th October 2002
Stalybridge 1 Southport 1 Ommel 90 / Sullivan 40 (Stalybridge's Lee Collins sent off, 10)

Dover won heavily, but Barnet and Woking drew, so we didn't lose any ground on 2nd or 3rd. Bids come in from Hayes and Southend for Parr. I'd prefer him to go outside the conference, and Hayes aren't happy when I ask for a delay. Fortunately, that is not a big concern, as Southend stump up the £50k asking price. The deal is done and dusted by the end of the week, and the 28 year old steps up a division.

Kevin Parr (Stalybridge 1/8/01 - 18/10/02) Played 26 Goals 1 Assists 1 Man of the Match 0 AvR 6.77

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With that out of the way, it's time to focus on the Cup. We need to take the game seriously, as a good cup run will do us wonders like last year. The scout report for the opposition not surprisingly tells us that they are nothing special, but I'm not resting players in this competition, so it's unchanged again. It was as easy going as I hoped. Cameron, with his 5th of the season, and Allison got early goals, and Crookes made it 3 with his first of the season. We eased off in the second, but sub Matt Woods was unlucky not to open his account for the season when his headed attempt was ruled out for the slightest of offside infringements by Allison, who was later awarded the man of the match award.

FA Cup Qualifying Round. 19th October 2002
Moor Green 0 Stalybridge 3 Cameron 2 Allison 9 Crookes 35

The good thing was that we had come through the tie unscathed. The draw for the First Round proper will please Matt Hocking, as we travel to his old team York, currently 15th in Division 3. I'm quietly confident, although we've not played at a league ground before during my short time at the club.

Remember Darren Bastow? Well he's off on loan for the rest of the season, to play at Roker Park. Roker Park, Stotfold that is, which is apparently somewhere in Hertfordshire. They play in the United Counties League, level 8 in the footballing pyramid, and he should really be a star at that level.

So. Telford next. Boy are they going to be up for this match, after the 7-1 drubbing we handed out to them last season. Their 33 year old winger, Martyn Chalk, is identified in our scouting report as the biggest threat, but he hasn't pulled up many trees yet this season. He does have league experience though. Woods comes in for the suspended Collins, and we're one up through Leo within 10 minutes again. Determined to make things difficult for ourselves again, Heaton loses control and headbutts a Telford player. Obviously he is sent off, and Allison makes way for Williamson to play out of position again. We're really under pressure now, as if Telford needed another reason to come at us. Martindale is firing shots in from all angles. Fortunately most of them are going wide or high, but he does manage to make one count in injury time.

Martindale gets two more in the middle of the second half, and Telford have their revenge

Conference Game 15. 26th October 2002.
Telford 3 Stalybridge 1 Martindale 45,67,75 / Fortune-West 10 (Stalybridge's Steve Heaton sent off, 22)

Steve Heaton accepts a one week fine on top of his three match ban, and you can almost hear Perkins rubbing his hands together in anticipation of getting his first team place back. Things aren't looking healthy in the league, where we have been pushed back to 6th, 10 points behind the leaders.

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November starts with one of those odd blank weeks, but it's been anything but relaxing:

Winfield Steele comes to me demanding a new contract, but he's picked the wrong time to mess with me, and he leaves the office having been transfer listed. The next player to come and complain at me might not be so fortunate. Fortunately, for him, the messenger delivering the Northwich scouting report had the sense to wait until I was out of the office. The report reads rather strangely, as the player highlighted to watch is a defensive midfielder.

Can the week get any worse? Well, coach Neil Pointon pays me a visit to give me an update on the latest youth products, but he looks somewhat uneasy. Insisting that he spills the beans, I find out that he has been offered a coaching role at Colchester. I don't expect anything other than for him to accept it. Derby, Hull, Rotherham, Oxford, Tranmere, Leicester and Stockport (in no particular order, and over the period of a week) soon catch on to Pointon's availability and table offers. Expecting the worse, I offer a contract to Craig Madden, who I'd been looking at as a possible when Wilson was signed. He accepts.

Meanwhile, someone gives Allison a kick in the ribs in training, and he'll be unavailable for a week as a result. Perkins also gets a knock in training and books himself 10 days sick leave, losing out on that first team opportunity he was releshing.

But at last it's time for a football game. Collins returns in midfield, in what is a relatively easy choice, but I have a severe full back problem. Young Mike Lewis was handed his first start for the club, begrudgingly, because I'm not sure he's ready for it. A nightmare start leaves us 1-0 down after just two minutes, having been caught fast asleep. We battled and battled to try and get back into the game, and slowly we inched possesion up the field. Having gained the upper hand in midfield, we started creating chances, but Northwich keeper Lee Ellis was having an excellent game. He could do nothing about a point blank header from Fortune-West as the half drew towards a close, and the whole Northwich side were left helpless by a trademark Cameron run and shot which sent us into the break 2-1 up.

Cameron repeats the trick in the second minute of the second half, and it looks like we've averted another disaster. Collins makes sure in the dying minutes, as he finishes off a parried Peacock shot. Andrew Cameron was the obvious choice for man of the match, but working away quietly in the background, and earning himself 3 assists, Sergio Ommel could have had a claim

Conference Game 16. 9th November 2002
Stalybridge 4 Northwich Victoria 1 Fortune-West 36 Cameron 45,47 Collins 87 / Baldwin 2

Young right back Lewis had a surprisingly good game. I take back everything I said about him!

Unbeknown to me, we're in the Vans Trophy draw this year. I was of the opinion that only the top 6 from the previous season qualified, but what do I know. It'll be another opportunity for the youth team to get a run out. Meanwhile, in the important competition we are back up to 4th. We drew Wigan (2nd in Division 2) away, by the way.

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Having found out they've drawn us, and quite obviously running scared, Wigan manager Steve McMahon makes a £75k bid for Steve Bushell. This is over his listed value, so they obviously want him, so I request his release clause plus a bit, to cut out the painful, drawn out negotiations.

The FA Trophy draw gives us an all Conference tie at Woking. Another run out for the reserves then! First of all, we have the FA Cup at York to deal with. Scout Dolan is telling me that they're not much different from the conference sides we've been encountering recently, and there key player is a defender!

A little late for the party, Portsmouth table a bid for Pointon. If only I could play these sides off against each other, I could make a fortune for the club. It looks as though I might just make that fortune anyway, as Wigan happily stump up the £300k for Bushell! Unbelievable! The stupidity of football club staff sometimes!

Terrible news before the York game though, as we lose in form Cameron with a strained neck. I ask him if he could just avoid heading the ball for 90 minutes, but the physio just shakes his head and smiles. I hate doctors. Perkins will be back though, and Pointon has finally made his mind up to go to Division 1 Leicester. The starting eleven for the York game includes some surprises. Lewis holds on to his place, despite Perkins being fit, and another youth player, Dean Harris, gets his first start in place of Cameron. Most surprising of all, perhaps, is that Gary Hart is dropped to the bench to allow club captain Steve Bushell to take the field for what will most likely be his last game for Stalybridge. I'm expecting miracles from him, what with being "worth" £300k and everything!

Stalybridge fans have made the trip in numbers. It's our first big FA Cup way day as a family, and there are flags and banners festooning the Bootham Crescent away end. The first half is a tight affair, with first Harris and then Bushell having chances to open the scoring for us, whilst at the other end Alex Mathie and Lee Nogan look dangerous. Bushell was warned by referee McGrath after a bad challenge in the centre circle. A case of big headedness maybe, but I suspect that if this wasn't his last game at this level it would have been a yellow card offence. He got himself a yellow card 10 minutes later, and will have to watch himself in the second half. The half was settled by a penalty in the last minute. Leo was pushed over in the area and got up to score his 15th goal of the season in front of the 5100 plus crowd.

We are beaten back in the second, and it's only a matter of time before the equaliser comes. But we hold on, and get the draw. Leo takes the man of the match, and it'll be a replay at the Bower Fold.

FA Cup 1st Round. 16th November 2002
York City 1 Stalybridge 1 O'Kane 65 / Fortune-West 45(pen)

Steve Bushell's probable last match was not one for him to remember. He was one of the less impressive players on our side. I hope Wigan know exactly what they are getting!

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It's a good weekend for money. Pointon eventually heads off to Leicester, netting £26k compensation, whilst Leigh Bradley plays his 10th League game for Glenavon, triggering £10k appearance money. And then there's Steve Bushell, who accepts Wigan's offer and trundles off to the JJB Stadium for a cool £300k. Three Hundred Thousand Pounds. Read it and weep. Oh, and if we beat York in the replay, we'll have Blackpool (21st in Division 3) at home.

Steve Bushell (Stalybridge 1/8/01 - 18/11/02) Played 55, Scored 13, Assists 9, Man of the Match 4 AvR 7.05

A loan request arrives for Kevin Aitchison from Cheltenham Saracens, another level 8 club playing in the Hellenic League. They're willing to pay a whole £20 p/w towards his wages, and he needs the match practice, so I agree. He ought to run the game at that level, I just hope he doesn't get injured.

I waste no time in spending some of my now sizeable pile of cash, approaching Blackpool for Attacking midfielder Neil Mackenzie. He is more than a match for Bushell, and may even challenge Hart for a first team place. To my surprise, they agree and negotiations begin for his contract. Even more surprising is that I manage to negotiate down his salary request to £675 p/w. He's taking a £225 p/w pay cut to come to a Conference club. The price? £22k If we get as far as playing Blackpool, it will be even sweeter.

Cameron is back and fit, but he won't play in the Trophy game, as it's a reserve team that I field. This was the plan all along, but is made even more important because of the FA Cup replay on Wednesday. Keeper Brown, Centre backs Howells and Roberts, and winger Clemence all make their debuts, whilst Peters, Salt, Courtney, Woods, Lewis, Harris and Perkins get rare starts. Experience comes on the bench. Mackenzie will get a run out at some point, all being well.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Woking open the scoring. The goal comes from a corner as the unfamiliar defence struggle to deal with a set piece. But the youngsters react with passion, Harris and Peters combining to equalise within 3 minutes. In the second half we continue to struggle from set pieces, and more disappointingly, Woods is not performing, obviously trying to make a point that he shouldn't be playing with this team. So when Howells is injured I throw on the heavyweights. Allison, Mackenzie and Cousins for Peters, Clemence and Howells. Within a minute we are 2-1 up, Mackenzie setting up Salt. Courtney had the ball in the net again, but the referee ruled it out for no apparent reason. Woods, of course, was made to stay on until the end.

FA Trophy 2nd Round. 23rd November 2002.
Woking 1 Stalybridge (Reserves) 2 Evatt 23 / Peters 26 Salt 74

They will face an even trickier away tie at Stevenage in the Third Round in January.

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There are some tricky decisions to be made before I can announce my team for the York replay. Mike Lewis' recent performances at right back make it difficult to drop him, but Heaton is back after serving his suspension, and Perkins is champing at the bit and whinging that he should be a first team regular. Meanwhile on the other side of the pitch new club captain Kenny Munro is struggling for form (it must be something about the captain's armband!). Perkins will, therefore, play. But not in his preferred position. The rest of the team picks itself, with Mackenzie getting a full debut after his run out in the FA Trophy. Batty will carry the dreaded armband.

We are labelled as favourites by the press because of our record against league clubs at The Barrow Fold, a fact which annoys me as I preferred the underdog status. News from York suggests that striker Alex Mathie might miss the game, after being injured at the weekend, with new signing Scott Oakes set for a debut.

We kick off at a gallop, with Cameron setting up Ommel for a goal withing 2 minutes. 6457 fans, 43 short of a full house this time, go wild. They're cheering again shortly afterwards as it's 2-0 after 15 minutes, with another trademark Cameron goal. It remains 2-0 until half time, and we can't c*ck it up from here can we? Indeed not, as Mackenzie hits his first for the club after an hour. We play out the last third in simple fashion and it's a bit of an anti-climax really, as I expected a bit more fight from York. Cameron took the man of the match award after a performance which may have opened the eyes of a few league managers, especially when they see his goal on match of the day! It's difficult to pick out a bad performance from the lads today, although Perkins and his left back replacement Munro left a little to be desired.

FA Cup 1st Round Replay. 27th Novemeber 2002
Stalybridge 3 York 0 Ommel 2 Cameron 16 Mackenzie 61

Bring on the seasiders.