November 19, 2005
home vs Oldham (currently 17th, only 3 points behind us)
S: Showunmi/Howard/Hammond
AMC: Bridge-Wilkinson
DMC: Johnson/Chambers
D: Carbon/Davies/Coyne/Keane
GK: Beckwith
It's been 10 days since our last game, so most of our players are at 100% condition, except the few who had been called up for international play. Because of injuries to both Matthew Blinkhorn and Bartosz Tarachulski, left footed Enoch Showunmi makes a rare appearance as a starter. So rare in fact that my assistant manager is telling me that he "severely lacks in match practice". We'll see how he does, but his backup is reserve player Roscoe D'Sane, who's not played once for the senior squad this season. I also give the start to keeper Rob Beckwith, since I've seen him improve his handling skills two whole points in the last two weeks, while Usual starter Mark Goodlad has given us some very ordinary performances in the last few games...
I jumble my tactics a bit, based on information gathered here and there on these forums. I have not been happy with our goal scoring and I want to try and create more chances. I first put my centrebacks on zonal marking, as opposed to the man marking they had been on since the middle of last season (thanks Desnudo). Also, being at home, I decide to allow my defensive middies to go forward a bit more, and to do so, I give them the forward arrows (thanks daedalus). To compensate, I take off the forward arrows on both my fullbacks. We'll see how it goes.
Game starts well, although I can't say it's because of the tactics switch, since our first goal comes on a great set pieces kick by middie Richard Johnson, from just outside their penalty box. We're up 1-0 after only 4 minutes. 21 minutes later, Oldham move the ball well, just outside the box, nothing to be worryied about, right? WRONG! Beckwith is caught napping as they score on a 30 yard strike, now tied 1-1. I'm pissed at Beckwith for letting that one go in, I was just about to ask Goodlad to warm up and go take his place, but I take a deep breath and the game goes on. The 63rd minute brings another great set pieces play by Johnson, as he pumps a neat bal to Curtis Davies, who had come up from his centreback position, all the way into Oldham'S penalty box, he converts for his 1st goal of the season, we're up 2-1.
A few minutes later, I realize that Elvis Hammond is burned out and since I have more confidence in putting Mark Jones in instead of the unproven D'Sane, I switch to a 4-2-2-2 formation, dropping the middle striker to a second attacking midfielder postion and that's where Jones goes. That tactic change served another purpose, as it is a bit more defensive, allowing us to control the ball a bit more and protect our 2-1 lead.
In the 90th minute, I see their keeper holding the ball up for like the 3rd time in the last 8 or 10 minutes. A few minutes before that, he almost created the tying goal with an amazing long kick right to one of their strikers that was waiting by one of my centrebacks. Amazingly, Steve Robinson, who had come in to replace a burnt out Bridge-Wilkinson, decides to go challenge him, and STEALS THE BALL FROM HIM!!! He'S left with an empty net, which is hit with a kick from the corner of their penalty box., We're up 3-1, and they will not catch us... I like wins with more than a tiny goal
Final Score: Luton 3, Oldham 1
Shots (on target): Luton 9 (6), Oldham 8 (3)
MoM: Richard Johnson with a ratings of 8 and two critical set pieces play
I like the ratio of shots on/off target and looking at the only two 8 ratings on the team going to my defensive middies, I'd think the tactic was fairly effective...
We move up to 8th place with the win.
Looking at the league table, I see that position 1 through 6 have a different background color. From the league rules, under promotion, they say that the top two teams win promotion to Championship, and under playoffs, they say that teams placed 3rd-6th qualify for Playoff.
Anybody know what that means? I'm kind of confused.
Does the winner of the playoff also qualify for promotion? Is so, darn, I'm really close to being part of the playoffs!!!
FM