Dutchgull wrote:Great win, just a pity the Cornish scum cheated a penalty win against the mighty Rochdale ! Well done Morecambe ! Look fwd to reaction from Brucie !!
He will ignore it, or pretend that today was "lucky" or that "Northampton had an off day" or some such bollox. I expect that Hector and Wivelgull will agree with whatever nonsense he comes up with.
Me, I am over the moon. A win over AC Northampton, whose fans think that their team is stranded in League 2 by misfortune, is just what we need. Great stuff, wish I could have gone up today.
brilliant 3 points today, well done lads time to build on it, we have a winnable game next week - if we can turn that 2nd half performance into the standard over 90 minutes we'll start to go places!
excellent, brilliant, fantastic, ecstatic, well happy, here we go then off and running, first one of the season. lets build from here. positivity from now on please.
now, everybody stand up wherever you are and sing the verse at the bottom.
You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).
Great win,great confidence builder and now off and running,only problem is next match is Hartlepool at home who are bottom of the league and without a single goal,sounds like a typical Torquay scenario!!!prove me wrong and continue the great work.
In some fairly naff conditions (strong wind, and rain in the air), we were absolutely taken apart in the first half. Northampton could conceivably have gone in at the break 2 or 3-0 up, such was their dominance.
We actually started quite nicely and looked sharp on the ball. Ball and Hawley were holding it up nicely and allowing others into the game, and we were looking good without being particularly threatening. But after the first 10 minutes or so, the onslaught started.
First, Downes’ horrendous header back to Rice was picked up by their winger Emerton, but he couldn’t beat Ricey one-on-one who came rushing off his line to make a brilliant save.
Shortly afterwards, Pearce blasted a backpass at poor old Ricey who could only slice a clearance 20 yards or so straight to the opposition, but the Cobblers resultant effort ended going up narrowly wide.
Emerton was causing Nicho all sorts of problems down our left, beating him for pace every time and delivering wicked crosses that were headed just wide several times, before Blythe finally connected properly with one after half an hour and headed past a fairly hapless Rice for 1-0.
Half time came and it had been a very subdued performance. Little attacking outlet, lost every battle in the midfield, no creativity and the defence all over the place. It could only get better...and thankfully it did.
Northampton actually came out of the traps quicker in the second half coming close a couple of times, before the Gulls suddenly decided to make a game of it. First, Ball sent a left-foot curling shot just past the far post after a great surging run from Chapell. Then Cameron found himself through on goal on the left with only the keeper to beat, but fired straight at him.
The Gulls were on top and, roared on by a great travelling contingent, continued to push for the equaliser. Pearce forced Duke into a brilliant reflex save to tip his header over from a corner, before a brilliant counter attack from Ball and Hawley saw Chapell played in, who calmly slotted past the keeper from just inside the box. 1-1!
Shortly afterwards, a brilliant crossfield ball (sorry, can’t remember who!) found Chapell, who cut inside the fullback and struck a brilliant shot past Duke into the far corner with the outside of his boot to send the yellow army into delirium.
6 minutes were added on, but the Cobblers couldn’t find a way back. Job done, season started.
RATINGS:
Rice – 8 – Did everything required, some excellent saves, good kicking. No chance with the goal.
Tonge – 6 – Not overly impressed. Slow and had an error-strewn game. Hopefully a one-off.
Pearce – 7 – Like what I saw. Some terrific tackling and rarely beaten.
Downes – 7 – Dependable as ever. A few shaky moments but solid as per.
Nicho – 5 – Liability. Beaten every time by his man, and barely found his man with pass all afternoon.
Chapell – 10 – MOTM – Sublime. Goals were wonderful, but a constant thorn in NTFC’s side all game.
Harding – 6 – A few nice touches here and there, but the ‘game passing him by’ seems believable.
Manse – 7 – All action, great tackling, couple of lovely through balls too.
Cameron – 6 – Quiet. One chance one-on-one which he fluffed. Tracked back well though.
Ball – 8 – Excellent, particularly in the second half. Great with the ball at his feet, and holds it up.
Hawley – 8 – Constant menace for the oppo. Great running, came close so many times, and looks a real gem.
SUBS:
Bodin - 7 - Thought he looked really good when he came on. Few excellent touches and saw the game out well.
The others didn’t make much impact.
REF:
Pretty good, didn’t do anything awful.
FANS:
Yellow Army in pretty good voice. Cobblers’ group of 20 spotty teenagers in the Main Stand an embarrassment as ever.
Last edited by miltonkeynesgull on 24 Aug 2013, 18:28, edited 1 time in total.
First half we played hoof it in the air and they played decent ground football. Second half was an about change and Chappell finished beautifully to give us the win.
Would agree with MKG's summary other than maybe Nicho was seemed to be left with no cover time after time in the first half. Yes he was well beaten but how many times did that have to happen before anyone decided that he needed more cover? Not impressed with the tactics or the nouse of those around him because we could all see it happening and yet nothing changed.
Great result and let's see more of the proper football in the second half rather than the big boot.
Just got back to Luton after the game. Great turnaround but boy did we make it hard for ourselves. Still concerned about the Mansell and Harding partnership. I am not sure if the weather was such a factor or whether our midfield simply can't get the ball on the floor and play football and even if they did would they create anything? For most of the first half Ricey was kicking a boomerang as it was simply headed back missing our our midfield completely. Northampton were aggressive in the challenge moved the ball quickly and were accurate in their passing and didn't give the ball away cheaply. Something we must also try to achieve. Chappells goals were both great finishes and Aaron downes apart from a couple of difficult headers in the wind played well. Still haven't seen enough consistency of form from Cameron. Hawley is going to be a really good addition and I like the way he plays. I heard a number of complaints about Callum Ball today as well but I still feel he will improve further. My biggest concern for fear of repeating myself is Nicholson and if there was ever any evidence to justify this then you just needed to watch the first half. I just do not know why nobody else sees it.
Otherwise a great day out and at last we turn over Northampton in their own back yard having watched 3 failed attempts previously it feels good. Lovely to see Alan Knill coming over to the fans talking up to the stand before the game about the difficulty getting to the game and at the end too! Nice touch.
May not be the original, but I am the best 'TauntonGull' .... See I can do signatures too, coz I am a real boy!
. PATIENCE !!!! .... Play off position, same time next week 
COYY
