By John Taylor
The iconic Accrington Stanley were in town for the first action of the month with new loan signing from Colchester, David Perkins on the bench as the side was unchanged from Wednesday's Grimsby clash. Stanley, as ever, proved to be well-organised and hard-working with a real team spirit which gave us too many problems on the day. They proved adept at breaking up our play and the game was always disjointed. Even the introduction of Perkins for Niven and Talbot for Lester well into the second half appeared to have little effect as the game wore on. With a few minutes to go, however, we got the breakthrough as Small advanced into the box and was clattered by keeper Dunbavin and the ref duly pointed to the spot. Dunbavin was booked for his troubles but redeemed himself by an excellent save of Lowry's spot kick. Just when the points appeared to be shared, up popped Small to smash the winner in injury time to give us the kind of win we've been lacking in recent times. It was all very satisfying.
Wade celebrates the goal which rpoved to be his last appearance in October
Next on the agenda was Huddersfield Town in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy second round. We were up against history if we were to progress in this one with a 0% success rate in cup competitions against the Terriers. New loan signing Mark Little was included in place of Phil Picken, but the diminutive theme was not continued as Wade Small was omitted for Drew Talbot. A good first half saw the visitors generally on top with their higher division status telling. The second period was all-action as Talbot put us ahead on 56 minutes with a header (the first at home in over a year) from McDermott's cross, but the Terriers swiftly struck back with a goal by Pilkington. Talbot scored his second on 73 as we worked a fine move on the right and 89 we looked to have sealed it as substitute Bowery scored his first senior goal with an accomplished finish. Early in injury time, Little made an excellent tackle which was scandalously adjudged a foul by the ref and Pilkington reduced the arrears with a well-taken free-kick. Unfortunately this then led to prior-season's panic stations and Tommy Lee gifted the visitors an equaliser as he dropped a corner for Clarke to hammer home. This looked like yet another impossible Town cup defeat when in the box seat, but it was not to be. Predictably the penalty competition was to be held at the visitors end and the excitement really began. Pilkington, who'd scored the Terriers' 20-yard second, was less impressive from 12 yards, ballooning his shot somewhere in the direction of the opticians on Newbold Road. Lowry scored with confidence with our first, showing no nervousness after his miss against Accrington. Williams and Lester then scored and Lee made up for his howler with a fine save from Goodwin. Gray then scored like a veteran and Kay then netted as he always does at Saltergate to leave us 3-2 up. McDermott took the next one with the pressure on and scored with ease then went on a run round the pitch like a lunatic waving his shirt about and grinning like a daft Irishman-great fun indeed. The victory earned us a home tie against Carlisle United.
Drew bagged a brace against the Terriers
Next up was the trip to table-topping Bournemouth where we'd done well of late after years of doing nothing. Given their unbeaten home record and our dismal away form, there was only going to be one result and we duly got it with a victory that surprised the pundits, but probably not many town fans. Robertson and Niven missed out from Tuesday's epic with injury to be replaced by Picken and Perkins. Town looked confident from the off and Talbot scored on 14 after Jalal's error and unwilling assist from former Spireite, Steve Fletcher. The Cherries hit us hard after this but Lee was equal to the task when our resolute backline was breached. Just before the break, we broke from defence, Lester held off the attentions of 2 defenders and found McDermott. The Irishman advanced and fed Talbot and the Tyke hit a low first time shot straight in the bottom corner for a gem of a goal. His old-fashioned tough-Yorkshireman celebration added immensely to the moment.
Drew celebrating again this time at the seaside
The home side upped their game after the restart, as one would expect from a side at the top and we had to withstand a real battering with little respite. With 15 minutes left, Hollands scored after Little and Lee got in each other's way when attempting to clear and at this point, the chances of hanging on looked slim. Hang on, we did though and the final whistle was a very sweet sound indeed.
A week later we were at struggling Hereford, so, of course, we lost this one, but not without considerable controversy. Whilst our performance was somewhat lacklustre, we had more possession than the hosts, who looked to be lacking in confidence and we should have won this. We were not popular with the officials though on the day. They allowed an assault on Talbot who was sent crashing into the pitch surround with the perpetrator not even being spoken to. Rob Page was adjudged to have fouled Marshall on 57, seconds after having been penalised and warned by the ref. It wasn't very bright on the Welshman's part, but the resulting penalty was very harsh indeed. Valentine smashed home the penalty to give Hereford the lead when they'd looked like they'd not score all month. Worse was to come when substitute Boden headed a fine equaliser, latching onto a rebound from Allott's shot, only for the linesman to signal offside. He looked wrong watching the thing live. Television replays confirmed the assessment. So, a game we should have won ended in defeat, to continue our miserable away days.
Next up was the first visit of Burton Albion to town in a much-anticipated fixture with our neighbours. We had a better crowd than normal as the Brewers fans turned up in number for the short trip. A couple of hours later, they probably wished they'd stayed at home. A training ground injury to the unlucky Jamie Lowry, putting him out for the season, meant a return for Derek Niven, whilst Phil Picken was replaced by the fit again Gregor Robertson and Danny Hall came in for his first start of the season for the suspended Rob Page. The former Gretna man made a swift impact in unexpected fashion as he opened the scoring on 12 minutes, finishing in style after Allott's shot was blocked. Allott himself doubled the lead on 25 minutes with his 50th league goal, hammering in from the edge of the box after a rehearsed corner routine went slightly awry, but to good effect.
Allott of smiles against the Brewers
No further addition was made to the score before the interval and the second period kicked off at cracking pace with Talbot and Lester going very close whilst the visitors managed the occasional foray. Webster pulled one back on 72 with a fine shot from a free kick, but just as at the Pirelli, Town were not fazed and the 2-goal cushion was swiftly restored as Lester chased down an overhit, high Little cross, left Krysiak on his backside and belted in an astute third. Lester was instrumental in a fourth with 2 minutes left, teeing up Talbot for a goal of absolute quality involving first-time passing, excellent off-the-ball movement and a crisp finish through the keeper's legs. A struggling Danny Hall should have been replaced, having sustained a deadleg, but he wasn't and conceded a free kick just outside the box and the visitors pulled one back with an odd sort of finish from Harrad. Not to be outdone, McDermott made his mark with a fifth goal deep into stoppage time as Perkins and Talbot worked well to set up the youngster for a fine finish.
The last action of October saw Barnet in town for what was undoubtedly going to be difficult, given the Bees history at Saltergate. The game followed the usual pattern with Barnet being big and fast and very difficult to play against. They dominated the first half without actually creating much, mainly down to our well-drilled defence with Danny Hall continuing his good performance of a week earlier. Robertson was having a torrid time, however, especially with the pacy Adomah and was cautioned for his 3rd foul on the winger, though not without Adomah stopping down in mock agony until the Scot had received the card. The incessant ranting at the officials from the away dugout was typical and frustrating whilst, in the end, fruitless. Against the run of play, Town almost took the lead as Cole made a fine save from Lester 5 minutes before half time.
Scott Boden bagged his first against the Bee's
The second period took a similar shape until Mr Sheridan intervened with an astute substitution on 55 minutes bringing on Boden for Niven and pushing Talbot back and reorganising midfield. This moved Perkins more central and it improved the midfield immensely. Halfway through the period, we took the lead as young Boden showed his striker's credentials, chasing down Lester's pass to force an error from Cole and scoring with a cool finish. No further goals were scored and yet we finished the game in some comfort, keeping a clear sheet for once which was extremely satisfying. As Donal McDermott was leaving us on the expiry of his 3-month loan spell, he did an emotional lap of the ground at the conclusion of the proceedings and was warmly sent on his way with generous applause from all around the ground. I'm sure he's enjoyed his experience with us and we've certainly enjoyed having him around.
Other significant Saltergate action in the month saw Dave Bentley's youth team outclass Mansfield Town, winning 4-1 in the FA Youth Cup in very inspiring fashion. The lads, sporting an unusual kit with blue numbers on blue shirts played a game of fluid passing play allied to hard-tackling endeavour, which is an impressive mix. This victory was on the back of beating Kidderminster in the Midland Youth Cup 2-1, also at Saltergate earlier in the month.
On a sort-of playing front we appeared on Sky's Soccer AM programme mid-month and achieved an unusual distinction of having 2 of our number succeeding on the crossbar challenge with Messrs Small and Crossley being successful. On the other hand, Martin Gritton's effort was embarrassingly bad.
Away from the play, work proceeded apace on the new B2Net affair on Whittington Moor and already the place is starting to resemble a stadium with the structures of 3 of the stands in evidence. We secured the services of Terrell Lewis (who we saw in pre-season action in our colours) from Chalfont St Peter, of all places, whilst Mark Little and David Perkins have both had their loan periods extended by one and two months respectively.
Loans extended
In summary we've had a pretty good month that's seen us progress to a play-off position, progress in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy and win in dogged fashion as well as in exciting, attacking fashion. We're starting to show what we can do, but we still need that steel away from home. There's signs that this will come and the competition for places is hotting-up, even with the departure of Donal McDermott. So things could be on the up in the world of CFC. Not that we're getting carried away, of course, especially with the FA Cup (sponsored by E-On) just around the corner.
All that remains is to identify the month's highlight and we've had a few contenders. Tommy Lee's save in the Huddersfield penalty shootout, Jack Lester's opportunistic strike against Burton and Drew Talbot's brilliant goals against Bournemouth and Burton are all up there. Donal McDermott's lunatic run after his penalty against the Terriers was also fantastic but, for me, Wade Small's winner at the death against Accrington does it. We've done so little of pinching late winners in recent years that this was the stand-out moment of the month.
