'Oh When The Saints Go Marching In' - A St. Albans City Story

[Mark Heath]

great storytelling crouchaldinho, really enjoying this one

[Wegason]

Best of luck in the BSP

[crouchaldinho]

AUGUST 2009

Well, we’re finally here in the big time of non-League. Every game is a big one this month! I feel like we’re not good enough to be here when I look at some of the sides we have to play in August.

We kick off with an away game against Burton and follow it up with another match on the road against Northwich. What a tough way to begin the season. Our last away game of August comes at the end of the month against Rushden. Burton and Rushden are top sides and I’m not targeting much against them. Northwich, on the other hand, are relegation battlers and so I feel we’ve got to go for the win there. 3 points is the target.

At home, we play Hyde and Cambridge. Hyde are relegation candidates while Cambridge are one of the title favourites. I’m aiming for 4 points.

7 points from 5 games would be a great total to get us up and running this season. Come on you Saints!

Burton 1-2 SAINTS (Blue Square Premier)

Well, here it is, our very first game in the Conference under my leadership. This season really could go any way. I’ve no real idea how we will do. Last season, we beat some of the lower teams in this division in the cups. We’ve also improved the squad and some of our youngsters have now had a couple of years of experience playing football for us. In addition to this, we have a professional and determined bunch of lads. I’ve also got plenty of different options with a pretty big squad. I feel that we can make the game physical or technical depending upon the situation with different players coming in. It could be a really decent season for us despite the fact that we are being predicted to come second from bottom. However, we do have a number of young and inconsistent players in the side.

Today, I play a fairly balanced system with the emphasis on counter-attacking our opponents. I feel we have a physical advantage over Burton and I concentrate on fielding a side with pace and power. Sulaiman and Smith start on the flanks and provide lots of pace. Andrew Ifil makes his debut up front and provides lightening pace and acceleration. Clive Platt partners him and gives us power and strength. It’s a slightly different side to the eleven I would pick normally but I’m looking to really challenge our opponents today and to give them a good physical battle.

We dominate possession today with the hard-work ethic really paying off. We are all over them from the off and Hassan Sulaiman, in particular, is a real threat down the right flank. New signing Andrew Ifil is the real threat though and his outstanding pace causes all kinds of trouble for Burton. He puts us in the lead just before half-time. George Collins plays in Sulaiman who tests the ‘keeper with a low drive. The shot is saved but comes out to Ifil, who fires into the empty net. Come on you Saints!

The second-half is more of the same for us. George Collins is running the game in the middle of the park and we’re playing really well. However, Burton take advantage of some tired legs and equalise on 70 mins. It’s a set-piece situation and the marking is atrocious. I’m angry about it but there isn’t anything I can do. I make some subs and hope that we get the winner that we deserve for our great performance in this game so far.

The goal comes eight minutes later. The lad Tromans is on as a sub in the ‘enganche’ role. He feeds another sub, D’Agostino, who crosses into the box. There to meet it is Andrew Ifil to score his brace and get us our first win of the new campaign! Get in!

In the end, we’ve won this at a canter, playing some decent football too. Burton saw little of the ball and did even less with it. Some solid debut performances today from Jack Metcalf, Matt Turner, Andrew Ifil and Clive Platt. Delighted with this result!

Saints scorers: Andrew Ifil.

Saints MoM: Andrew Ifil (with a terrific brace).

League pos: 5th – 3 points from 1 game.

Northwich 2-1 SAINTS (Blue Square Premier)

At this early stage of the season, we might consider this a ‘six-pointer’. They’re one of the sides predicted to be battling down at the bottom of the table. They also got a result against the odds in their first match of the season, defeating title favourites Notts County 2-0 at home. So this one is going to be a big test for us. Also, it comes on the Tuesday after the Burton game, so we’ve only had a couple of days to prepare. With some of the players still tired from the opening game, that means rotation is a necessity.

I make one or two changes today and, to be honest, the reaction from the players coming in is poor. Although we take the lead early on with a fine poachers effort from attacking midfielder Danny Maguire, we are lacking that killer instinct. I’ve gone with Andrew Ifil and Clive Platt again in attack today and while the latter is typically solid, the youngster Ifil is poor. Terry Mills, hero of pre-season, comes in and has a shocker.

In the second-half, we go down to two goals from Northwich’s best player in a spell where we are outplayed and pushed back into our half. I make a couple of subs in order to turn the game and it works. On come our more experienced duo of Ben Martin and Hassan Sulaiman but they can’t quite do enough. Charlie Tromans is also introduced and even a good performance from him doesn’t result in a goal.

There’s no question we deserved something from the game. We dominated possession as I felt we edged this game. I’m not going to panic just yet as the team is still gelling but this is a poor result against the sort of team we need to get points against if we are going to stay up this season.

Saints Scorers: Danny Maguire.

Saints MoM: Danny Maguire.

League pos: 11th – 3 points from 2 games.

SAINTS 2-1 Hyde (Blue Square Premier)

Hyde have had a similar start to us. They won their first game and then followed that up with a loss in their second. They are the side that are predicted to come 24th, i.e. one place below us, by the media. Thus, today’s game is particularly significant. It could be another ‘six-pointer’, although we are surely getting carried away by calling it that at this very early stage of the season. Still, it is an important game for us today.

Things get off to the worse possible start for us when Danny Maguire takes down an opposition player in the penalty area. Quite what Maguire is doing, I have no idea, and I’m livid about it. Hyde go 1-0 up and we look uncomfortable.

Next things go from bad to worse, as Terry Mills gets himself sent off. Terry was a star in pre-season but his competitive debut was a disaster and his second game is even more so. An early bath for him and we really are struggling now.

At half-time, the lads get a real going over by me. I’m angry as can be. I know this professional squad will react to my criticism and so I let them have it. The results are excellent as the performance gets better and better. However, the goals just won’t come. So, off come Brendan Skinner and Ashley Watson. On come Hassan Sulaiman and Michael Smith respectively. I make a further sub, bringing off Danny Maguire and giving Scott Lamb, a young promising lad we signed from Grays, his competitive debut for the Saints.

The subs work and I feel pretty smug about it, for sure. First of all, Scott Lamb sends Andrew Ifil through and the young, quick striker scores with a cracking finish. Then, a few minutes later, Scott Lamb is instrumental again. The young ex-Grays attacking midfield sends Hassan Sulaiman on his way down the right with a ‘Hollywood’ pass. Sulaiman makes his way into the box and is tripped by a defender. Penalty! Up steps young youth academy product Michael Smith and he sends the ball to the ‘keepers left. 2-1! What a comeback.

In the end, this is pretty comfortable for us. We’ve had 58% possession and 5 clear cut chances. But we made life difficult for ourselves with the sending off. Nevertheless, this is an important win against potential rivals this season. Come on you Saints!

Saints scorers: Andrew Ifil, Michael Smith (pen).

Saints MoM: Andrew Ifil.

League pos: 7th – 6 points from 3 games.

SAINTS 2-0 Cambridge United

Cambridge United are promotion contenders and expected to finish 4th. It’s yet another team we’ve not met before under my management. They’ve had a similar start to us, picking up two wins and a loss in their first three games. It’s going to be a tough game today, for sure.

For the most part, I stick with my 11 from the weekend. The only change is to bring Hassan Sulaiman in on the right in place of the disgraced (and suspended) Terry Mills.

The most difficult choice is sticking with Andrew Ifil and Clive Platt up front. It’s not difficult from a cerebral perspective. Ifil is a threat to any defence with his pace and Platt is just as solid and consistent as you can get. But from an emotional, sentimental point of view, it is difficult leaving Charlie Tromans on the bench. Charlie is a great player but he is inconsistent. It looks as though he might feature slightly less as a starter this season and more often as a sub. He is still developing as a player, of course, so this might be best for him anyway.

Today’s performance is surprising solid for a side that are still in the process of gelling. We get the lead after half-an-hour as our new defender Matt Turner heads home from a George Collins corner. We look totally in charge in the first-half and end up being rewarded by a second goal. This time attacking midfielder Danny Maguire gets the ball in the box and fires home from close range.

The second-half is a different story altogether. This is mostly because I withdraw our captain, Skinner, plus Sulaiman and Maguire. Some of the younger players come on and the performance seems to suffer somewhat. However, solid defending sees us through to full-time with an excellent clean sheet to be proud of.

An excellent day at the office and a terrific result against a big club in this division.

Saints scorers: Matt Turner, Danny Maguire.

Saints MoM: Matt Turner.

League pos: 4th – 9 points from 4 games.

Rushden 3-0 SAINTS (Blue Square Premier)

This is an immensely disappointing result from a game where we deserved much more. This one really could have gone either way to be honest.

We bossed the first-half, took control of possession and posed all kinds of problems for Rushden. Clive Platt even had the ball in the net at one point, only for it to be ruled out for offside.

The second-half brought trouble though. Rushden just looked more fired up than us. It’s almost like frustration set in on our part, because we’d done so well up until their first goal a few minutes after half-time. We started to look tired and I made some substitutions. D’Agostino was one of them and he had an absolutely awful game. In the end, we just seemed to let this game slip from our grasp entirely, conceding twice more in the last 20 minutes.

It’s a really disappointing result considering that fine first-half performance and taking into account the fact that we weren’t 3 goals worse than them. After the match, the local press described this one as ‘The Diamonds strike lucky’ and I couldn’t agree more because we deserved a point.

I guess this is just one of those things that can happen when you’ve bought in a number of new signings and the side hasn’t gelled yet. We will look to bounce back as soon as possible.

Saints scorers: None.

Saints MoM: George Collins.

League pos: 10th – 9 points from 5 games.

MANAGER JOURNAL

This month has seen the mighty Saints having a solid start to life in the BSP. An excellent performance away to Burton was rewarded with a great win 2-1 and this was undoubtedly the highlight of the month. The home wins against Hyde and Cambridge were also terrific, both requiring some real fighting spirit from the lads. We can be a little disappointed with the defeat against Northwich and extremely disappointed with the thrashing at Rushden. The latter has put a slight dampener on the month. However, we really ought to be cheered at this beginning, with an ungelled young squad punching above their weight at the moment. I’m feeling encouraged and I hope we can improve as the team comes together and settles down.

My Saints Player of the Month: George Collins – A series of solid performances from our holding midfielder.

Other News: Team Bath, the team promoted with us, are unbelievably top of the Blue Square Premier division. They have made an amazing start to life in the top division of non-League football.

Local rivals Hitchin Town have had a terrific start in the BSS. They are sitting in 7th position at this very early stage.

Meanwhile our local rivals, Stevenage in League Two, are sitting in mid-table position.

Local side Luton Town have made a slow but steady start to life in League One. They are sitting in the lower half of the table. I’m hoping they get relegated!

In the Championship, our neighbours Watford have started well and are up at the top of the table.

Nothing else to report from around the leagues at this early stage of the season.

[JSwheat]

just wondering if you lived in St. Albans. i go to the games every Saturday and i can't believe anyoe is being them on Football Manager let alone writing a story on it. In real life not doing too great this season though

[crouchaldinho]

Hello JSWheat - yes, I'm a regular at Clarence Park too!

Why not manage them on FM yourself? I always like managing the Saints and seeing how far I can take them! Great challenge and lots of fun!

Haven't done too badly in real life this season considering last year. I predicted mid-table mediocrity at the start of this season and 11th is about as mid-table as you can get!

C.

[williamshankley]

Come on the Saints Nice to have you back Crouchie

[Furai]

What happened to this career? I did a search of the forums of 'St Albans' as I am currently managing them in Fm11 and came across this extremely well written career! Did you just stop playing the save game?

[gavrenwick]

I am all for appreciating a great story, however, the resurrection of dormant threads I am not. You could have just sent him a message asking him.