Alive And Kicking: Season One, Episode Six

Hello everyone and welcome to your daily dose of retromodern Football Manager goodness. If you were at Town's game last night then I hope you've dried out and if you bought a programme then I hope you enjoyed my brief cameo discussing my favourite Town shirt. If you missed yesterday's instalment and want to catch up then you can do so by clicking here. 


Unfortunately, our poor run continues as we fall to yet another defeat against another promotion chasing outfit in Luton Town. We're never really in the game and we perhaps didn't deserve anything from it anyway despite Clive Mendonca grabbing us a late equaliser with ten minutes left so it was perhaps justifiable rather than 'unbelievable' when Chris Kamara wins it for the home side at the death. 


Sometimes football has a way of kicking you in the teeth in the most agonising of ways, Oxford probably thought that when we beat them earlier in the season and we're made to feel it when we lose 4-3 to West Ham in a humdinger of an encounter at Blundell Park. We rally well to turn a 2-1 half time deficit into a 3-2 lead with twelve minutes to go but out defensive frailties rear their heads again when we concede an avoidable equaliser although we're completely powerless to stop Ian Bishop from curling home the latest of late winners to kick us squarely in the knackers. 


Luck isn't on our side again when we travel to Roker Park for our next outing. We're unfortunate to go behind in the first half but recover well and our pressure is rewarded nine minutes from time when Jim Dobbin nets us a deserved equaliser. We're then gifted a golden opportunity five minutes later when Tony Rees was adjudged to have been fouled in the Sunderland area, sadly Dobbin's pen is easily saved by Tony Norman to deny us what would have been a priceless three points. 


On the absolute flipside of the two performances that came before, we're soundly beaten by Peterborough United. If we continue to play like this, we deserve to go down there are no two ways about it. What's more galling is that Peterborough are occupying the 'punching above their weight with an outside chance of the playoffs' spot that I originally had us earmarked for! 

The result leaves us teetering on the edge of the relegation zone with Bristol Rovers breathing down our neck while Brentford are rapidly disappearing from view once place above us but seven points clear. The quicksand is starting to get a bit overwhelming, we might need one hell of a great escape to get out of this one. 


See you tomorrow, #UTM

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