by @FMDoop
This part has been the hardest one to write (click here to find the first three installments of this new save adventure). Every game has been crucial. With the season's objections already met, any more is a bonus, right? The problem is, the minute you get a taste for success you want more. It's like a drug. With automatic promotion in our own hands, anything less will be a failure.
We are 8 games away from the promised land.
Burton (h)
Burton are a strange team. They play 5 at the back with two DM’s which in turn makes them extremely hard to break down. I decided to switch the system around. I brought our DLP DM up into the AMC slot as a shadow striker. This should give the attacking players a better balance resulting in overloads with an IF on both sides and allowing us to create some space in the final third of the pitch. This looked to be working very well to start with. After 10 mins we created a lot of great chances, but we missed a sitter or two. After 14 mins of Cheltenham pressure, Burton's defensive wall started to crack. Our stand-in SS, Taylor Perry, found some space on the penalty spot after his late run into the box and a low-driven volley found its way past the Burton keeper. 1-0! Pause. With that goal, rightly or wrongly, I decided to drop the midfield three back into their normal position and roles. The way we have played all season. The way we have been so successful all season. On the next highlight however, we see Burton attack down our left-hand side, a ball whipped in for Gassan Ahadme to jump the highest and nod the ball past Southwood in goal. 1-1. I HATE THIS GAME! They have nothing. This was their first chance all game. Minutes after we take the lead. I know they say you are at the most risk of conceding straight after you score. But this was a kick in the teeth.
After their goal I reverted to the system we originally started with and freed up the shadow striker. However, after the sucker punch, the game slowed down. We struggled to break Burton down and this resulted in us sharing the points.
Lincoln (a) & Ipswich (h)
Lincoln was the best game of the season! (I have just realised that it is very hard to portray sarcasm in a text format). These two games took place over the Easter break. First up Good Friday. For a game that took place on Good Friday, the Friday was the only good thing about it! 5 total shots and that was all in the first half. If I could have got up and walked away, I would have. All that went in our favour was the fact that I had it on key highlights and the only highlight I got in the second half was when our goalkeeper booted it long. Say no more. 0-0. 3 draws in a row. The only positive is that the news piece popped up congratulating our team for going 20 games in a row unbeaten. A bit of a bittersweet moment after 3 draws in a row and seeing us drop out of the automatic promotion places and down to third.
We hosted Ipswich 3 days later, on Easter Monday. Can we resurrect our form versus the runaway leaders? No. Just no. We were outplayed on the day with Ipswich showing just why they already have the promotion bus cleaned and fuelled. The gap between us is huge. They were first to every ball and just seemed to want it more. That loss sees us drop to 4th. No chance of automatic promotion now. We f*cked it!
Our last five games consist of challenges against two relegation candidates and 3 promotion-chasing teams. No game is a given. We must turn up. The last few games have been so poor. It’s almost like once the lads knew that we were safe, they had the flip-flops on and headed to the beach. We started the first of the five games with an away trip to MK Dons. The Dons have been great this season. They have been sitting in the play-off places all year, and showed that class by beating us 2-1. This wasn’t helped by the fact that Sean Long (Our RB) was sent off with the scores level. Once we dropped to ten men, their second goal was just a matter of time. With the missing man, we were given the run-around. Yet another gulf in class. I feel it is just a little too soon to be setting our sights on promotion.
Morecombe (a) and Forest Green (h)
Both Morecombe and Forest Green are battling for safety, and it looks like one of these teams will go down. Looking at it, we could play a huge part in this. First up, Morecombe. If football was played on paper this is an easy 3-0 to us. We have better players, a better manager and yet we just couldn’t get going. Again! It was so frustrating and to top it off, we conceded the most bullshit FM goal in the world. Heads gone. What is this form? I’ve tried everything. Team talks, team bonding training sessions, playing more defensive, playing more attacking, I’ve even reset the luck modifier and nothing. In five must-win games, we have picked up 2 points. This isn’t promotion form. It’s relegation form. That 200-mile bus trip back down to the Cotswolds would have been fun.
On a side note, we were never meant to be in this position. To have 3 games left and be in with a good chance of playoffs is great. I would have snapped your hand off to be safe at this stage. But to put this in perspective, we are guaranteeing Cheltenham their highest-ever league place. Promoted or not. We have to be happy.
Forest Green at home is the first game that the fans would have marked on the calendar. We’ve mentioned the ‘El Glosico’ before. A win here will put the shitters on FGR. With results not going their way, they find themselves in the drop zone. Time to put one over on the Linda McCartney sausage eaters. I held my own individual players meeting, praising them that deserve it, criticising them that don’t, and praising the conduct of those whose performances were average. This is something I like to do after a bad turn of form. I feel it produces a better outcome than a group meeting. Plus, group team meetings are not always available to do.
We started the game strongly. Our wide players find a lot of joy against the Forest Green wingbacks. They seemed to be cheating. What I mean by that, is they seemed to be on attack. They focused more on being pushed up the pitch and left considerable spaces in behind. Cheating on their defensive responsibility. I noticed this on the first few highlights and put my plan into place. I swapped the IF into Wingers - At. I wanted the boys to push the width and space out wide and in behind. I also changed the attacking width to wide and activated "run at defence". The first half was great. We looked like the old Cheltenham. We did everything bar score.
The second half started just as the first ended, with us on the front foot. A long ball is played in behind the left wing-back and Broom sweeps it up. He enters the box and is brought down. Cheltenham penalty! Recently brought on Aidan Keena slots it home. Once the ball hit the net the Forest Green manager, Gary Monk, dropped his WBs back and they reverted to a more conventional role. So, we countered with the wingers swapping to Inverted Wingers. This didn’t seem to work for us until very late on. Sercombe turned brilliantly in the center circle. He delayed his pass allowing Ben Williams space to time an inverted run in behind the FGR now back-three. A great run paired with a beautiful pass. Sercombe found Williams and he slotted it home to make it 2-0. FGR offered nothing. I can see why they are at the bottom. But the performance was awesome. I’m very pleased. 2 games to go!
Wycombe (a)
This is the big one. If we pick up points, we are in the playoffs. If we lose, Wycombe leapfrog us into the playoff place. Now. A draw is enough. I would love to have a section about how I mastermind a 3-0 win to sprint over the line. But a draw is enough. I would love to tell you how I balanced an attack-minded system to try and win the game. However, a draw is enough.
Welcome to the tactic I made famous. The Highlight Killer!
35% Possession, 2 shots. 0 goals scored. But more importantly, 0 goals conceded. We are in the playoffs. We follow this game up with a very good win at Charlton too. This means that we will face Charlton again in a two-legged tie, with the hope of making a trip to Wembley to play either MK Dons or Sheffield Wednesday.
Charlton Playoff games.
So, it’s time to play dirty. We shouldn’t be at the top table. But we are. We have just beaten Charlton at home. So, my thoughts are that we need to still be in this game in the second leg. Therefore, it’s time to bring the highlight Killer back out. It was all going to plan, until the 9th minute. Charlton’s midfielder Corey Blackett-Taylor attempted to rearrange Alfie May’s left leg. Red carded! Charlton are down to 10. I reverted to my normal system and pushed to end the tie in the next 80 minutes. However, no matter how hard we pushed forward and created chances, we just couldn’t score. It’s just like the whole of this blog post. Very annoying. Time to welcome Charlton back to Whaddon Road just 9 days after the last time we had them over.
After two months of awful form and just downright terrible play. We needed to step up for this sellout. We opened strong, playing our way, our normal way. Looking great, working hard, and creating so many chances. After 15 minutes of knocking on the door, Keena breaks down the left. He finds himself at the by-line, He turns and floats a ball to the back post. Olayinka jumps the highest and makes it 1-0. Only 15 minutes later, May picks the ball up on the center spot and then does his best Forest Gump impression and runs with the ball past 5 Charlton players. He slots the ball into the bottom left corner. 2-0! Start booking the London hotel. Our high press and high intensity pays off just after the second half. Broom wins the ball very high up the pitch, plays it into the middle and Keena strokes it home to make it 3-0. Game over.
So, this is it! After all the ups and downs. The trials and tribulations. We are one game away from the Championship. A date with MK Dons in London. I sat on the tactics screen for a while. Let’s not forget, we played MK six weeks ago and they taught us a lesson. The plan was set. Let’s run the highlight killer, til 70/80 minutes. Stay in the game. Then go all out. Right at the end. See if we can nick it. A set piece. Something. Anything. I line the team up, with no suspensions or injuries. We had our best 11 to give it our all. However, are we giving it all if we park the bus and smash and grab at the death? No! So, let’s go with plan B. Let’s play the way we have played all season. The way that has got us here.
The first 5 minutes were tense. I was scared. I just didn’t want to see a silly mistake or some FM bullshit. In the 9th minute, Perry had a free kick down by MK’s corner flag. He lofts one to the back post and is met with a brilliant header by Taylor which produces a world-class save by the MK keeper. It drops to Baggott’s feet and he powers it home. 1-0 Cheltenham! What a start. Just four minutes later, MK created some space on their right with the wing-back overlapping. He carries the ball into the box. Freestone comes to meet him and in doing so, commits a foul. Penalty MK! They convert and it’s 1-1.
In the ten minutes since the penalty, it’s been all Cheltenham. We are creating chances and looking dangerous. It’s only a matter of time. Rea finds some space and loops a long ball over the top for Keena to slot home brilliantly. 2-1! But wait. There’s a flag. It was tight. So close. Right before the end of the first half MK start to get on top. Working the ball well. But struggling to break us down. Baggott wins the ball back after a long spell of MK possession. He hoofs a long ball up top to clear. The MK defender on the halfway line misses the header. May runs onto it and squares it to Broom who puts us back in front just before the first half ends. 2-1. Sometimes the FM gods are on your side. While the lads are tucking into their halftime oranges, I’m thinking about changing the system again. However, a quick look at the match stats convinces me to keep it as it is. More shots, more on target, more passes, and more possession. Something is right. I expect MK to come out with all guns firing this half. We are 45 mins away.
Amazingly the next time we see a chance is in the 86th minute. In the meantime, we have slowed the game down. Invited MK on to us. They haven’t had much. They are pushing and pushing which is opening up space for us all over the park. It’s playing into our hands. Freestone has all the time in the world as he walks into the MK box and powers a shot hard and low into the bottom corner. 3-1. This is followed by a highlight straight from kick-off. Which results in Keena scoring his 30th goal of the season. We have done it. Cheltenham town are playing Championship football next year!
We have shocked the world. What an incredible season. We have been given £3m to spend and double the wage budget. Can we survive in the Championship? Thank you so much for reading. We will see you on the next one. Much love!
Be sure to follow Doop over on Twitter and Twitch as well as catching him every Monday with the rest of the gang on 5 Star Potential, the longest running weekly Football Manager podcast.
