Four in, seven out, a Vital away day and defeat to Walsall’s kids. The January review!
January:
Played 5; Won 2, Drawn 1, Lost 2; For 5, Against 3, GD +2; Points 7 Position: 15th
Chester 0-3 Solihull Moors
In short: New Year’s delight as Osborne, Daly and White secure big victory
Starting XI: Lewis; Nortey, Kettle, Daly, Franklin; Murombedzi, Osborne, Byrne (Obeng), Carline; Sterling-James (Mwanyongo); White (Asante)
Goalscorers: Osborne, Daly, White (p)
Debutants: Pearson Mwanyongo
Solihull Moors 0-2 Gateshead
In short: Improving Gateshead end Moors’ five game unbeaten run
Starting XI: Lewis; Nortey (Maye), Daly, Kettle, Flanagan; Murombedzi, Byrne, Osborne (Mwanyongo), Carline; Sterling-James; White (Asante)
Goalscorers: N/A
Debutants: N/A
Solihull Moors 1-2 Walsall CC
In short: Moors undone by Sangha brilliance in limp display
Starting XI: Lewis; Fagbola, Daly, Kettle, Kelly; Obeng, Murombedzi, Nortey, Mwanyongo; Sterling-James (Rodgers); Asante
Goalscorers: Rodgers
Debutants: N/A
Boreham Wood 0-0 Solihull Moors
In short: Icy pitch helps scupper quality in bore draw – so much for a Vital away day
Starting XI: Baxter; Green, Daly, Kettle, Flanagan; Murombedzi (Nortey), Maye, Byrne, Carline; Sterling-James (Sammons); White (Rodgers)
Goalscorer: N/A
Debutants: Nathan Baxter, Kristian Green, Ashley Sammons
Solihull Moors 2-0 Maidstone United
In short: Moors returning to winning ways in convincing home victory over bright Maidstone
Starting XI: Baxter; Green, Daly, Kettle, Flanagan; Murombedzi (Mwanyongo), Maye, Byrne, Carline; Sterling-James (Nortey), White (Rodgers)
Goalscorers: Kettle, Carline (Sterling-James)
Debutants: N/A
Solihull Moors 0-1 Lincoln City
In short: FA Cup Fifth Round and expected champions are made to fight to beat Moors
Starting XI: Baxter; Green, Daly, Kettle, Flanagan; Murombedzi, Nortey (Sterling-James), Maye, Carline; Sammons (Mwanyongo); White (Rodgers)
Goalscorers: N/A
Debutants: N/A
Goalscorers:
12 – Akwasi Asante
10 – Harry White
7 – Omari Sterling-James
6 – Andy Brown
5 – Jamey Osborne
2 – Ryan Beswick, Jack Byrne, Liam Daly
1 – George Carline, Joel Dielna, Jordan Fagbola, Joel Kettle, Shepherd Murombedzi, Luke Rodgers
Assists:
4 – Connor Franklin, Omari Sterling-James
3 – Jack Byrne, Darryl Knights, Shepherd Murombedzi
2 – Akwasi Asante, Ryan Beswick, Liam Daly, Jordan Gough, Jamey Osborne
1 – Andy Brown, Joel Dielna, Harry White, Eddie Jones
If 2016 had been extraordinary, 2017 started off perfectly.
It was New Year’s Day and, as is often the case in the lower divisions, we were meeting our Boxing Day opponents in the alternate fixture. However given the lack of Midland clubs in the National League our New Year derby was the return fixture at Chester – a fun morning journey for those still nursing a hangover.
This would be worth the effort.
After a positive start, Liam McDonald’s men took the lead. Liam Daly won his aerial duel only to see his header bounce off the post, fortunately Jamey Osborne was on hand to pick up the resulting clearance and fired through the crowd to give the visitors the lead.
Shepherd Murombedzi has often been lauded for the maturity he shows on the pitch but this was a game he showed all of his attacking qualities. He was a nuisance in the build-up to the opening goal and was fouled once again on the edge of area allowing Harry White to have a crack on goal. The free-kick rebounded up into the air and fell kindly for the enormous right boot of Daly to belt a volley into the empty net. A proper centre-halves finish.
The third came when Murombedzi again caused problems, this time crossing with his weaker left foot and forcing a handball. Penalty given and White was never going to pass up the opportunity.
January would see the turnover in players continue and Eddie Jones was the first to depart making way for the permanent addition of Nortei Nortey from Wrexham. He would celebrate by beginning the game against Gateshead – our first defeat in five matches.
Gateshead were going to be a rather awkward opponent, a side that had not just ended Barrow’s extraordinary unbeaten run but smashed it like a sledgehammer going through glass.
The North East outfit were pushing for the play-offs and went ahead through Gus Mafuta who showed great feet to beat his man and find Nyal Bell who took one touch and beat Danny Lewis.
Controversy reigned when Sterling-James’ pace threatened Liam Hogan who took evasive action – rugby tackling him to the ground. Incredibly, the referee gave a yellow card. We chased the game but Sam Jones’ cheeky backheel meant a 2-0 home defeat.
If Gateshead was frustrating, it was just about acceptable, one of those games. Losing at home to Walsall’s Development Squad was another matter.
McDonald made plenty of changes but the starting XI ought to have been strong enough to beat a Walsall side made up solely of youngsters hoping to break into the first team and Luke Rodgers gave Moors the lead in the second half. Jordan Sangha stepped up and his individual brilliance led to a wonderful strike before a solo effort that was eventually rebounded to Peters a couple of yards out. Our Birmingham Senior Cup crown had gone.
There was an 11 day gap until our next fixture which gave McDonald more time to continue the overhaul of his squad. Joel Dielna followed Eddie Jones to AFC Telford, Jordan Fagbola and Curtis Obeng departed and Jordan Gough joined Brackley Town.
The elongated transfer saga involving Grimsby Town, Marcus Bignot, Jamey Osborne and Akwasi Asante was finally ended, the duo joining Bignot in the North East to earn much deserved full-time contracts.
Joining an ever-thinning squad was Nathan Baxter to give Danny Lewis competition in goal, Kristian Green having excelled as part of Stourbridge’s FA Cup run and Ashley Sammons, another former McDonald prodigy who has a penchant for scoring goals from midfield.
With the new boys in, Vital Solihull Moors saw it fit to make our first ever Solihull Moors away trip heading to Boreham Wood and bringing our little brothers along – mine hasn’t returned since!
The Hertfordshire outfit had their pitch inspected prior to kick-off and we were surprised to see it had passed given that you could still see the ice in the shaded area. Their central defender sliding in on Sterling-James had been wincing.
Both clubs had done well to be sitting mid-table during the middle course of the campaign but neither side really got the tone going, the awful pitch unquestionably playing its part with passes and first touches going astray – Calum Flanagan and George Carline were bent over laughing at one Boreham effort on our side.
Back in Solihull it was not quite as cold by the time Maidstone United visited but the rain was pouring with the Maidstone United fans handily parking themselves in our brand new stand – the one we had bought from Maidstone United!
They were right on hand to witness Joel Kettle smash home a volley from all of three yards early on and when the skies cleared, George Carline was on hand to head home at the near post. The visitors gave it a good go in the second half but were picked off on the counter-attack, unfortunately we couldn’t make our efforts count.
The month ended on a disappointing but prideful note, Lincoln City visiting the Automated Technology Group Stadium on the back of their FA Cup fourth round victory at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
We put up more of a fight than Lincoln’s more illustrious opposition at the weekend but came up empty-handed, not even Ashley Sammons’ full debut, and the delivery from set-pieces that came with it, could secure a goal for our boys. Jack Muldoon scored the winner in the second half.
There was a big bonus later on that evening, transfer deadline brought about Wigan Athletic’s signing of Grimsby Town star Omar Bogle. Moors had a bonus from any sell-on fee. Here comes the money!
Two wins, one draw, two defeats. The kind of month expected from a mid-table outfit. And that’s what we were proving to be – a mid-table National League outfit.
