[retired_amitesh]

During the close season I brought in 12 players including Fordyce & Masaryk from my old club Leyton Orient and Peter Crouch to lead the attack at 34. The first game of the season was away to my old club Leyton Orient. We dominated the first half but thanks to some inspired keeping we went in 1-0 down. We continued to boss the game in the second half. It took until 6 minutes from time when Scott fired home a 20 yarder on his debut to get us the equaliser. A really good performance that on another day would have seen us win rather than draw 1-1.

We travelled to Cardiff next. After a forgettable first 45 we played well in the second half. Cardiff scored after 50 minutes. We then battered them for the rest of the game but couldn't find away through and lost 1-0. It was back to back home games in the league next, starting with Dagenham & Redbridge. We produced a stunning first half performance and went on 4-0 up thanks to doubles from Crouch & Moussa. Goals in the second half from Hunt & Cook sealed a 6-0 demolition of Dagenham & Redbridge as we kick started our season. Rotherham were next to visit. This was a very even game that finished 2-2, with our goals coming from Hunt & Crouch.

League Cup duty next as we hosted Plymouth. After a poor first half performance we went in 1-0 down. Hunt equalised right after the interval only for Plymouth to take the lead again 10 minutes later. We had chances to equalise but couldn't take them and we lost 2-1. It was away to league leaders Grays next. We destroyed Grays and somehow lost 2-1 with Hunt scoring our goal. It was Wrexham at home next. We played well in this game but could only manage a draw thanks to a Crouch goal.

We travelled to Notts County next. We dominated this game from start to finish. Just as it looked like we would draw another game Elliott scored with 2 minutes to go. Am injury time penalty from Crouch made the final score 2-0. A 0-0 draw with Taz's Scuunthorpe followed. We need to start turning some draws into wins if we are hoping to challenge for promotion. It was Boston away for our next game. We had a shocking first half and we went in 2-0 down. A fine second half performance saw us rescue a point thanks to goals from Moussa & Elliott. The session finished at home to Barnet. We fell behind after a bad mistake by our keeper only for Hunt to equalise a few minutes later. Elliott gave us the lead only for Barnet to equalise. Hunt put us ahead again only for Barnet to equalise for a second time. It finished 3-3. This was another game we had the best of and should really have won. This left us in 16th place after 10 games, 8 points from top spot. If we can turn draws into wins we still have a chance of automatic promotion.

[retired_ck8300]

During the winter transfer window I total overhauled the squad bringing in 16 new players
at a cost of £13.5 million and selling most of the older players in the squad receiving £13.0 million one of them being M.Richards which I wasn't really happy with but with only 1 year left on his contract £6mil seemed to good to turn down I couldn't take the risk of him leaving for free at the end of the season, another big player who could leave at the end of the season for free is D.Sturridge I think I will see if I can get him to sign a new contract before January but if he doesn't I will try and sell him then and get a bit of money for him. The biggest signing I made was for a 20 year old Brazilian striker for £4.2mil I was not sure if I wanted to spend that much on a player but when other teams where offering £9.5mil for him after my bid was excepted I felt I couldn't let him get away.
When the season started I looked back on the comings and going to the club and I felt the squad was allot strong with more depth and allot of quality starlets who could only get better as time goes on, and all this for about £500k, the only problem being the shear number of new players and how long it will take for them to settle along with the average age of the squad going from mid to high 20's to low 20's is this really to young to consistently perform, but as some one once said if you are good enough you are old enough.
As for my prediction for the season well I am not sure the media says I will be fighting relegation but I think I have the players to be right up there so if I make the playoffs that will be a good season.
So far we have played 7 games and we have 9 points a average start lying mid table.

[retired_chris1952]

alright al just havin a look at the old clan hope your gettin gubbed again ha only jokin send me an email ill be home for good in november and ill join up again ...jonni

[retired_amitesh]

Monday's session started at home to Walsall. We made a fast start with Moussa firing home a free kick after 7 minutes. Crouch doubled our lead 7 minutes before half time only for Walsall to reduce the lead before half time. Both sides had chances to score in the second half before Crouch scored in stoppage time to seal a 3-1 in. A midweek trip to Darlington followed. We went behind after 2 minutes, but 2 goals in 2 minutes after the interval from HUnt turned the game around. Van Den Broeck sealed another 3-1 win in stoppage time.

Woking at home was next. Crouch put an early penalty miss behind him to turn in a man of the match performance with 2 late goals to give us a 2-0 win. 2 away games followed with the first at Tranmere. After a very even game a shocking mistake from our stand in right back on the hour mark turned the game. Wilson decided it would be a good idea to slot the ball past our keeper from about 30 yards. As a result we had to chase the game and it all went horribly wrong. as we conceded 3 more to lose 4-0. We looked to bounce back away to Oldham. This was a pretty even game and it finished 1-1 with Crouch scoring our goal. It was JPT next as we travelled to MK Dons. We were awful fro the first hour and found ourselves 3-0 down. Elliott pulled one back with 15 minutes to go before Hunt reduced the deficit to 1 with 5 minutes to go. We pushed for an equaliser but couldn't find it.

Back to league duty as we played Chester at home. After losing a goal inside the first 60 seconds we settled down. Scott struck 7 minutes later to equalise and Hunt scored just before half time to give us a 2-1 lead at the break. Crouch added a 3rd on the hour mark. Chester pulled one back with 15 minutes to go but we managed to hold on to win 3-2. We looked to build on this when Brighton visited. A Moussa free kick in the first half and an own goal in the second half put us 2-0 up before Brighton pulled one back with 5 minutes to go. We held on for the remainder of the match to win 2-1.

We travelled to Mansfield next. A good first half saw us go in 1-0 up thanks to a Hunt goal. We had a shocking second half losing 2 goals to make the final score a 2-1 loss. Long term injuries are beginning to disrupt our season. Hopefully we will not get any more or we will really struggle. We had a break from league duty as we travelled to Rushden in the FA Cup. We had a poor first half and went in 1-0 down. Hunt equalised shortly into the second half. Rushden went back in front before Felicio scored from the spot just past the hour mark. Both sides created chances to win but had to settle for a 2-2 draw and a replay.

We finished the session at home to Grimsby. Hunt gave us the lead just before the half hour mark. An own goal just before the hour mark doubled our advantage. Hunt sealed the win with a goal late on to make the final score 3-0. This left us in 6th place only 7 points from the top.

[retired_ck8300]

In Mondays session I made a few changes to my tactics trying to more attacking in the attempt to score more goals as I felt my defence was pretty strong, the results where mixed even though we bossed possession and created the majority of chances in the majority of the 8 league games and 2 cup games we played, there was only 1 game we looked the worst team and we got deservedly beat even though the 4-1 score line was a bit excessive, but after that game we started score more goals and getting better results, this may not be down to the tactical changes I made but down to the new players signed at the beginning of the season starting to gel - one player was Adriano a 20 year old Brazilian striker I signed for £4.3mil as up to this point he was playing quite poorly considering the price tag but in the last 4 games he did start to score and play well, the results from these games where 3 wins and a draw that was in the last match against a bottom 3 side where we couldn't break down there defence.
So during the session we played 8 league games getting 14 points scoring 11 goals (may not look great but it did start to improve the longer the session went on) and conceding 10 goals (this may also not look great but we did concede 4 in 1 game so 6 in 7 games is pretty good), so all in all not a bad session and we are now starting to play better football and have started to push our way up the league even though we still lay some way of automatic promotion but only 2 points off a playoff.

[retired_amitesh]

Thursday's session started with our FA Cup replay at home to Rushden. We were poor in the first half and were lucky to only be 1-0 down at the break. We played better in the second half with Hunt equalising with 20 minutes to go. We probably had the better if extra time but couldn't find a winner and it went to penalties which we 2-0 after Rushden missed 4 in a row. Back to the league and we travelled to Torquay. This was a tight game that was decided in our favour when Scott scored with 10 minutes left.

It was FA Cup next as we travelled to League One leaders Swindon. This was probably our best performance of the season so far. We out played Swindon from start to finish winning 5-1 with goals from Hunt, Crouch, Scott and a Felicio double. It was Peterborough at home next up. We fell behind early on before Masaryk scored from a free kick just before half time. We played well in the second half with Scott scoring the winner 12 minutes from time to make it 2-1. We travelled to Carlisle next. After a poor first half we played much better and won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Crouch on the hour mark.

We had back to back home games with Oxford the first visitors. We played really well in this game and ran out 3-0 winners thanks to Felicio, Scott & Hunt. This game marked the halfway point of the league and we found ourselves top by a point. Cardiff were the next side to visit. We made a good start and took a 2 goal lead thanks to a Hunt double. Cardiff pulled one back just before half time and equalised just after. We created plenty of chances to grab a winner but we couldn't manage to take any of them and had to settle for a 2-2 draw.

We faced back to back away games next starting at Rotherham. We took the lead midway through the first half when Felicio struck. Rotherham equalised just before half time. 5 minutes into the second half Felicio converted a penalty to put us back into the lead, which only lasted 2 minutes. 3 minutes from time, as it looked as if we would only draw, Felicio completed his hat trick from the spot to make the final score 3-2. We finished the session away to Dagenham & Redbridge. Felicio continued his good form when he opened the scoring after 10 minutes. Just before half time Hunt doubled our lead. Dagenham scored late on but we managed to hang on and win 2-1. This was a really good session. We overturned a 7 point lead to top spot to be leading by 1 point with 20 games to go.

[retired_ck8300]

Thursday was a good session for us, but a last game defeat stopped it from being a great session. We played 11 games and from these games we took 23 points winning 7, drawing 2 and loosing 2, scoring 18 and conceding 11. As you can see by the goals scored and conceded we are only winning games by the odd goal, I think in them 7 wins there was only 1 game in which we won by more than 1 goal, this made the last 10 mins. nerve racking. But still I cant complain as we are winning games and playing well just not finishing teams off, in the games we lost we could have got better results especially against Yeovil in which we dominated from start to finish and even more so when they got a player sent off put we where unable to break them down the other game we lost was probably the worst performance of the night but even so we only lost by a single goal.
So we are at the start of the January transfer window and I may try to bring 1 or 2 new players to help us through the backend of the season and hopefully we can get promoted as we currently lie in 6th place within the playoff places and we are realistically 7 points off a automatic promotion place as the 1st and 2nd place teams have a much better goal difference but if we keep playing like we did in the last session I think we have a decent chance of catching them.

[retired_kathy]

JACK SHELDON - DONCASTER ROVERS

After a good, but not incredible first session in charge we found ourselves in 11th place.

Last night's session began with an FA Cup upset, a 2-1 win over Coventry. We were drawn at home to Arsenal in the 4th Round. A match which promised to be extremely difficult. I don't know what happened because I had to disconnect just before this match!

In the league we drew 1-1 with Stockport, a disappointing result before battering 2nd place Swindon 4-1, mainly thanks to a Man of the Match performance from my newly signed centre back.

I finished with my first ever match against a human manager, which ended in a tense 1-0 victory over Southend.

Overall, a good start and we have a decent chance of making the play-offs.

[retired_ck8300]

Mondays session started on the 1st of January so we only managed to play 4 league games and 1 cup game, I left 10mins early so they may have also played the next round of the FA cup without me but we are more concerned with the league so I was happy to leave it to my assistant.
Anyway in those 4 league games we managed 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat scoring 7 goals and conceding 5 which is decent form but not good enough if we are going to catch the top 2 as they are currently 9 points ahead of us with a better goal difference, and with only 16 games left that will be very difficult deficit to make up but we will keep trying until it is impossible to do so. We should really be more concerned with staying in the playoffs as we are currently in 4th position and only 1 point above 7th but I feel we are playing well so hopefully we can pull away from these teams and close on the top 2.
As it is January we also brought in a new wing back who can play on either side of the defence along with a few who will join in the summer.
Thursdays session could be a very important one for us, if we have poor one we may drop out of the playoffs but if we have a good one we should close up to the top 2 teams and make a gap between us and 7th place (hopefully the latter).

[retired_kathy]

[IMG]jackDoncaster[/IMG]

Last night's session was the worst session possible.

After a brilliant start, holding Arsenal to a goalless draw in the cup it all went down hill. We lost the cup replay 2-1 and after that it went horribly wrong.

We lost 1-0 to 21st placed Cheltenham, 1-0 to 1st placed Swansea, 2-1 to bottom placed Port Vale and 1-0 to 4th place Bristol City.

After this run we've now dropped right down the table to 19th!