Tuesday friendly against Argyle

[DevonYellow]

The Torquay United Twitter mentions Craig playing nice cross field pass and trademark free kicks and corners.

It's ridiculous that anyone would want such a player in the first xi. I mean Harding and Mansell have been fantastic all season.

[LukeGull]

Just wrote my ideas about the match and Nathan Craig in particular, but when I clicked submit it seemed to mysteriously disappear...
in short Nathan Craig was very good, he and the left-footed right back were the stand out performers. Craig barely misplaced a pass all game and performed his trademark 40 yard diagonal balls to the wingers with ease. His ability to pass in confined spaces and around corners was also evident. Yes he may not be especially good at the defensive work, but I think he would happily fit into a 4-3-3 alongside the more defensively adept midfielders... at least then the midfield might be able to pass the ball to a team mate

[ferrarilover]

I'm not sure whether to bother mentioning that Nathan Craig was the best player on the park by about three bazillion miles, or whether it's a given. Jeff, he can only beat what's put in front of him and today perhaps even more so than usual, he played extremely well. He misplaced one pass in the 85th minute and that was the extent of his failings.
We lost 2-0, but that was from two awful errors from our worst player, Deaman. He played a suicidal backpass for the first (which was one of those where the striker takes a massive dive over the keeper, but the pen is awarded to punish the keeper's stupidity in coming for the ball, rather than any actual contact). The second was a point forward which should have been hooked clear by Deaman. Instead, he simply watched it bounce and tried to shepherd it back to the keeper who stood no chance
Tyler with the simple but neatly executed lob
Aside from that, second half, we were much the better side. Unfortunately, as good as Cruise and Craig were together, with a little help from Sully, the forwards (particularly once Benyon, who left the ground on crutches, had limped off following a criminally unpunished challenge firmly at the 'agricultural' end of the spectrum) did not make any use of the, at times captivating, approach play. Cole barely made a save and certainly none of note. We brought on a young striker (number 9, if you know the name, Super) who was, understandably, miles of the pace, but looked confident with the ball at his feet. He was a big lad too, so some potential there. The right back, Ives, was very good indeed and looked a better RB than Hutch who is no mug. The real disappointments for me were Thompson, who had one good touch all game and managed to fire a decent opportunity wide on 70 minutes and the goalkeeper who I admired so against Rovers. Turns out, he's a lovely shot stopper, but the rest of his play needs some serious attention. Nothing like the overall quality of C. Thompson. Still, he's very young and presently 4th choice, so not ruling him out yet.

Spoke to Pokey towards the end, there's no definite timescale for his recovery, it'll be ready when it's ready, but he is getting better, so there's hope yet. I noted also that Mozika's car was in the car park, so I presume he was in, once again, getting fitter.

Two defensive mistakes cost us a point today, but a poor showing up front cost us all three.

Matt.

[taxilady]

according to the teamsheet Matt, No 9 was Kevin McCallion; I too liked the look of Levi Ives, but he's very small. Bit concerned about Benners being on crutches.Think it might have been Mozika up at the Away End walking round ?

[taxilady]

according to the teamsheet Matt, No 9 was Kevin McCallion; I too liked the look of Levi Ives, but he's very small. Bit concerned about Benners being on crutches.Think it might have been Mozika up at the Away End walking round ?

[Modgull]

Just got back from the game. It doesn't come accross with the other reports but I thought we were well beaten by a side with far more experience and, dare I say it, ability.

The greatest disparity, however, was between the two defences. Ours was very shaky with Deaman at fault for both goals - Argyle missed a load of good chances as well as hitting the bar and having one goal disallowed. Theirs was very mean, restricting us to only five attempts with only one troubling the keeper.

Pick of our players were Levi Ives who, despite his diminutive stature, hardly put a foot wrong at right back and Nathan Craig who showed his normal fantastic passing ability although unable to really influence the game and sometimes missed his tackles.

Tom Cruise showed why he is not putting more pressure on Nicho for a first team place with a mixed bag performance.

Brucie's other two suggestions to improve the first team, Yeoman and Thompson were, frankly, poor. Sullivan was better but often ran into blind alleys. Lathrope tried hard but he not a creative influence.

Despite this, I expect Yeoman to get on the bench for the next few games because Elliott Benyon was on crutches after the game.

Very disappointing performance and, worryingly, no sign of any cutting edge in front of goal.

[supergulls]

I thought Craig, Sullivan, Hutchings, and the young lad Ives were our best performers today. I also thought Deaman was poor.

[ferrarilover]

Nah, not really, we totally bossed the second half and we played the better elements of football. Argyle's only real plan was to see if they could get it to Harvey and hope he could produce something. Their hooting the bar was a badly hit free kick and their disallowed goal was disallowed because scorer Harvey was about 3 lightyears offside.

Matt.

[madgull]

according to the teamsheet Matt, No 9 was Kevin McCallion; I too liked the look of Levi Ives, but he's very small.

This is why the England team couldn't pass wind, let alone the ball.

[tomogull]

Craig is bossing it - thats why we are two nil down

Er ...... and have you noticed that neither Elliott nor Ashley scored, Brucie ????

[PhilGull]

How did old man Wotton perform for them? Did any of our boys get stuck in and test that leg?

[ferrarilover]

He was fine, just like all the Argyle boys, nothing good nothing too bad. None of them would displace any of our first team, save for the central two (faint praise, since I'd replace our central two with the Chuckle Brothers). There was one nasty(ish) tackle on Tommo right in front of the Bench which prompted him to ask loudly of the referee, "what the f*ck was that!?" No card shown, but it was very funny. The tackle which injured Benyon was clumsy and no where near the ball but not malicious. No free kick awarded though, which was a shame as it was a clear foul.

Matt.

[Yellow4life]

The tackle which injured Benyon was clumsy and no where near the ball but not malicious. No free kick awarded though; which was a shame as it was a clear foul in my opinion, from the angle I was.

Matt.

See red added, yes I do know the referee :na:

[Gullscorer]

But was the ref wearing his spectacles..?? :~D

[ferrarilover]

Evidently not, since he missed a bloke injuring another so seriously that the victim required crutches and all the while getting not within 100 yards of the ball.
Y4, tell your mate he's vastly your inferior and demand that all his appointments are transferred to you, a professional.

Matt.