Season Review – September

September. Ah September, is this the month that County kick start their season? Well for starters it`s a very mixed month.

With England on the road playing at Old Trafford on the first Saturday in September, County`s league game against Bristol Rovers was moved to an unusual Sunday afternoon. Rickie Lambert had just signed for Rovers at the end of the transfer window, and his debut would be against County – although he was on the bench. Two Glenn Murray goals gave County a 2-0 lead, before Lambert came on and gave Rovers a bit of tempo. They grabbed a goal back through Richard Walker, but it was all too late for a fight back and County recorded their first win of the season.

But a defeat at the hands of Boston United soon put doubt in the supporters minds, would be County signing at a later date Anthony Elding scored the winner after Jason Taylor had equalised for County. 2-1 to Boston, and County slide back down to 22nd. Real doubts were getting into the minds of County fans, and with a home game to Shrewsbury the following Tuesday the pressure would be on the players.

Any pressure that was on the players clearly affected them as Andy Cooke scored a hat trick at Edgeley Park and Shrewsbury ran out 3-0 winners. A small gathering of fans at the bottom of the Cheadle End were telling Jim Gannon what they thought, County slid into the relegation zone and were booed off the pitch.

The pressure definitely was building. There was no confidence what so ever in goalkeeper James Spencer, and Jim Gannon made a move that would make or break the season and possibly his job. He brought in young goalkeeper John Ruddy from Everton for the home game against Wrexham, and it definitely was the biggest game of the season so far. David Poole was also brought in on loan from Yeovil Town.

Poole & Ruddy were handed their County debuts but it was the Adam Le Fondre show as he scored four goals and County ran riot, scoring five past Wrexham in a 5-2 win. This wasn`t the County that had turned up against Shrewsbury, and John Ruddy had installed a different confidence in the team that wasn`t there before. What the County fans really wanted though was a clean sheet, so that we had the confidence that we could take a 1-0 win and defend the lead for an hour or so without conceding.

And the wish came true next weekend at Grimsby. County`s first away win of the season was indeed a 1-0 win, thanks to a Keith Briggs 30-yard wonder volley and a performance that Arsenal would be proud off as County torn the fishermen to threads. We even had the chance to miss a penalty and still win, as the Grimsby keeper saved Mark Robinson`s effort.

But reality struck again, with two defeats ending the month on a bad note for County. Firstly, a Tuesday night trip to Notts County gave nothing for County. Junior Mendes got the only goal of the game for Notts County.

Then Peterborough put up arguable the most impressive performance that County had seen at Edgeley Park to date, Trevor Benjamin got the only goal of the game just after half time as Posh took all three points from Edgeley Park.