Torquay United Fans Forum

Grecian71 wrote: ↑28 Aug 2017, 19:26 A quick eye witness account from a Grecians fan at the game - I live in a village not far from Woking and thought I'd take in some football. I'll keep it short as you probably won't appreciate a City fan having witnessed that - but just to say that for the sake of professional football in Devon I do hope you turn this around.

I didn't really understand your line-up given the circumstances, far too attacking leaving a back four of limited ability, and low in confidence, exposed. You were outnumbered in midfield and while I guess Luke Young is a decent player he didn't have a great game today - tidy enough when in possession but offered little protection to the back four when in defensive mode. (Watch the third goal to see how he bounced off the Woking player who then crossed for a decent finish).

Their first goal should have been a save all day long, but it looked like the keeper saw it late, still got to it but then misjudged the trajectory and appeared to palm it into the net. Poor defending on your right from a routine throw-in on the halfway line led to the second. And then you get back into it with a great strike following a long throw which was cleared well enough, but returned with interest.

That just went to show how brittle Woking were, they briefly went to pieces at the back and you had a decent penalty shout straight afterwards which if given would have put them down to 10.

However normal service resumed in the second half, no changes to personnel or tactics and the third goal followed, which as I say resulted from poor midfield cover (and a non-existent left back) followed by a smart finish around the six-yard line. The fourth was another good finish from someone who again had too much space to attack the back four.

I understand the doom and gloom but I honestly think that was a game you could have got something from with a more defensive set-up, hit the channels for wide runners and then relied on set pieces. At this point the management should be just stemming the bleeding and accepting some grubby 0-0 draws, or with luck a one-nil win against the run of play. Some of the basic ingredients are there - Gosling can deliver a good cross, you've got your guy with the throw, and judging by Keating's record he's got an eye for goal.

Some final points;

- good positive away support, though I didn't wait for the end to hear the reception at the final whistle
- I honestly think the players kept trying despite everything.
- Fallon offered very little, he just gets in the way of players with more to offer.