An insight on: Demungos’ Debut

By Samantha Luckhurst, currently unemployed

Nottingham-born first time manager in FSL @demungos took charge of tonight’s The Lilacs FA Cup game as his Nottingham Rovers side took on Newcastle in the second leg. The first game was a goalless draw.

Nottingham’s star man this season Vangel Bogdanovic earned his side a win after netting a late winner, his 17th goal of the season in all competitions. They progress to Round 2, where they head up the M1 to play Leeds, who have all but secured their top 3 finish.

I took the time to speak to Demungos after his victory:

Congratulations on the first win, what can you say about the club as a whole? “Having grown up in Nottingham, I’m proud to take the helm of a club which is not where it should be right now. A good cup run would be really nice but all focus is on the relegation playoffs which are must win games.”

Bogdanovic did it again scoring a late winner for the club, did anyone else stand out to you, good or bad? “Of course, it was another mighty performance from Bogdanovic today. I think Valdéz made a great impact coming off the bench by putting pressure on the opposition however we need to work on his final contribution. Pickle was also monumental in centre midfield today.”

Nottingham started the match in a 4213 as they have for the majority of this season, are you planning on keeping them in that shape? “I think I’ll have to assess the players and what would suit them best – we definitely don’t want to continue our form so far this season so maybe I’ll have to take a look at our tactical setups.”

Your next opponent in The Lilacs FA Cup is Leeds City, any comments about that club? “As we all know Leeds is an absolute shit-hole so I’m hoping we can do the job in the home leg despite them being tricky opposition.”

Final question, obviously you’re hoping to do well with Nottingham, but what ambitions do you have as a manager beyond this cup? Of course in the short term we need to be in the top division where we belong. Beyond that, assuming we spend wisely and hold on to our key assets, I see no reason why we can’t establish Nottingham Rovers into a top FSL outfit.

And you personally? “I don’t want to make any big commitments with so much uncertainty ahead but I’d like to think I’ll be a Division 1 manager next season.” It was a solid opening game for the new man at the helm at Nottingham. But was it just a case of the first time is the best – and will they stay up?