Torquay United Fans Forum

An AFC fan of mine tells me that Wimbledon do not want this game. Basically they don't even want to acknowledge that MK Dons even exist and by playing against them they would legitimize them. There's serious talk of a boycott if the game happens, at least amongst fans.

Everywhere you go with Yellow army segue is great. Usually leads to longer Yellow Armies as people are already singing.
Though as Everywhere is pretty generic whoever's leading could adapt it to suit the occasion midway through before going into yellow army. Would make us Torquay fans look well witty and that.

Basically we defended very narrowly and deep, letting Oxford pump balls into the box only for Branston and Ellis to clear pretty much every single time. If Oxford had stopped to think for one second and tried another approach then they probably would have got back in the game. In the end for all their possession and what seemed like 20+ corners Bevan didn't really have that much to do, other than the fantastic save from Constable in the first half.

Rose was subbed because he clearly wasn't going to put in the shift that was required to hold Oxford at bay, plus he looked pretty unfit for me. Clearly Robbo on a right back with Mansell moving to midfield worked.

Everyone was excellent, with special mention to Benyon who's reward for chasing everything down was to get hacked all game, Wroe who rubbished the belief that he is 'lightweight' and Branston who unfurled his full range of 40 yard clearing headers and hoofs.


Matt Green was useless

I'll be going.
Just wondering if anyone's driving up from London or nearby that I could hitch a lift with. I'd normally go by train but the grounds about 20 minutes on a bus from the station if I remember. A ride would be fantastic, PM me...

Maybe making Ellis captain on occasion would entice him to stay...

If the team was doing well then I would rather Charnock came in to partner Ellis.
As it were on a bad run and Branston is an excellent leader which right now makes up for his lack of finesse.

SouthamptonGull wrote: Not that I found it funny either, but to be fair, the reference word elephant was used regarding his weight, not anything racist.

yeh thats what i hoped, but its pretty borderline. Anyway if something obviously racist is said I'd like to think we could sort it out amongst ourselves rather than running off to the stewards.

Hemmings wasn't that great today. Quick but had his head down and usually lost the ball. He did however make one nice run and a great cross to Gritton near the end, so he is promising at least.

Just got back.
Thought we were pretty poor, creating very little throughout and giving the ball away constantly. The fear that grips us when we are have a bad run was in full force today, Pretty much everyone tried to get rid of the ball first time even when there's time to control. Also most of our play involved hoofing it long to Benyon who's never going to beat CB's in the air. Beavon was excellent apart from one early flap, Nico was excellent and O'kane showed some nice touches.

Gillingham were pretty crap as well, but looked the more likely to win. The worst support i've ever seen, not a peep until their goal. £23 for open air scaffolding, pitch looked dreadful as well. Bayo is now massive and fun was had, but whoever shouted "Your Dad washes elephants" a few times is a total moron in my book.

Ref lost it at the end, booking everyone left right and centre although we did seem to loose our discipline.

Often these kind of results, where we nick a point right at the end can give the moral boost needed to kickstart the season. Lets hope this is the case.

Hear about the footballer who found God?

What a pass that must have been...

Anyway, reckon we can get a draw. 0-0 or 1-1. Despite crying out for 4-4-2 for the past few weeks this is exactly the sort of game where playing 1 upfront would be acceptable.

I thought we played pretty well today, apart from the last 15 minutes when we reverted to classic Torquay. The 998 minutes is clearly no fluke as the defense is imposing and not prone to the usual league 2 mishaps. Hopefully Ellis is alright, the whole stand could hear the crunch and were very relieved to see Mark up on his feet (anyone else recall Valencia in midweek?)

Not sure how to call todays game. Either we hit the woodwork three times and were unlucky to score, or we were lucky to hit the woodwork three times. What I will say is that after 60 minutes we lacked ambition and settled for a point, Buckle didn't try and force the game by bringing on Kee/Benyon for Wroe or Stevens. And while we probably are punching above our weight when leading the table, we should be putting our foot down against the likes of Stevenage.

We shouldn't play 4-5-1, except against obviously superior teams, as it gives us nothing going forward. Gritton had an impossible job today, he was double marked throughout and even when he won the ball often had no-one to give it to. It was either hoof or attempted tiki-taka through a congested midfield, and we are not yet FC Barcelona.

Stevenage's set pieces were odd to say the least. They seemed to be trying to confuse us but in the end it just wasted even more time, infact I thought they were sometimes looking for penalties by running fast and hard at our defenders. Basically if you man-mark at set pieces (so everyone then), you not going to be confused and we coped fine.

As for the ref, In the first half Gritton won a header then in the next challenge went in high with his foot and caught their player in the chest. However it was obvious that there was no intent whatsoever and therefore the ref only gave a warning. Pitty that this common-sense couldn't be applied to the rest of game then, we finished near on 5 o'clock and there were more breaks than a test match.

few points about our players....

Branston.
Brilliant as always. At one point in the second half he had to defend our box on his own and so headed the ball straight up in the air before heading it clear under pressure, like a volleyball player setting himself up.

Wroe,
Did a good job of breaking up the play with Mansell but unfortunately seemed to be under instruction not to go anywhere near the Stevenage penalty area. People moan about Wroe being anonymous but actually he's irrelevant most of the time as the play bypasses the midfield. Buckle heeds to push Wroe further forwards alongside O'Kane, if we have to play 4-5-1.

Stevens,
I've realized that Danny Stevens is the best winger in the division, for 15 minutes. After that the full back gets a grip and he's ineffective. In the first 15 minutes he skinned everyone on their right and hit the post, but hen didn't have much joy for the rest of the match.

Zebs
Had a great battle with their left back, who probably won in the end. Zebs had enough skill to get round him most time, problem was the full back was very strong and always managed to get his foot in at the last minute. Was great watching this personal battle within the b game.

Nicolson
Well worked freekick to hit the post. However his set piece delivery was not up to the usual standard and often seemed to be aimed towards Gritts who was double marked all game. Height is an issue now if the Centre Backs aren't up, basically its Gritton and a lanky Zebroski offering any aerial threat, So work something else out for set pieces or its a total waste

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