NEW: v Northampton Town - GAME ON!!!!

[ferrarilover]

Plenty of records broken tonight.

NTFC have replaced Mansfield as the worst side I've ever seen (including Kings Lynn).
Manse's performance was the worst individual shift I've ever seen (including anything Mo Camara or Jodie Banim produced)
Nico takes second prize in the same category.
Poke takes bronze.
And finally, the decision by the referee that the challenge on Bodin was a fair one is the worst refereeing decision I've ever seen (including the Darren Fletcher Champions League semi-final red card and the Henry handball v Ireland in the WC qualifier a couple of years ago).

If the ref isn't being paid by Loanee FC to give them the match by hook or by crook, he sends off their bloke, they don't score either goal and we win about 3-0. As it is, the ref needs a new kitchen so accepts the bribe and does nothing.

For those who weren't there, well, Northampton are surely doomed. It's no exaggeration to say that was a performance from Torquay which would have been punished by even a basically competent side to the tune of at least 4-0. If we play to the same standard against Chesterfield (at the risk of sounding like Tezza) we will lose at least 6-0.

Both sides indescribably poor. Northampton's only two shots on target went in (just like every week this season). Torquay so poor they lost to a side who look odds on to suffer back to back to back relegations to the Calor Gas Premier. It's hard to imagine how two teams full of people who are paid to do nothing but play football could do so badly. Imagine if the F1 was full of blokes who drive like my Nan after a heavy night on the gin, this was the football equivalent.

Matt.

[tomogull]

Forever and Bengull have said it all really. Matt has exaggerated - Northampton had a game plan to close us down very quickly and they stuck to it effectively. With Emile Sinclair in their side and now John Marquis, they have players who can score goals which will win them matches. Northampton won't be relegated - full stop. Chris H can have no illusions about the difficult job he's got on his hands. For whatever reason, we didn't compete tonight and yet we didn't deserve to lose. Labadie's shot which their keeper spilled would have gone over the line on a dry pitch. Instead, the sodden ground slowed the ball down.

I like to stick with players who have served the club well but I have to say Mansell, Nicholson and Benyon contributed little to tonight's match. Benyon works his socks off and huffs and puffs, but quite honestly, what's the end result? There was too much humping the ball up in the air in Stockley's direction and hoping. As it happens, he won very few headers. Chapell clearly had the beating of his fullback and yet the ball was rarely played out to him even though at times he was in acres of space. One of the few times the ball was played to him, he left the full back for dead and crossed perfectly for Hawley who headed just wide. I'm not a great fan of Hawley but thought he looked quite sharp when he came on. I think he's a better bet than Benyon.

For me, the biggest disappointment was the crowd. For Hargreaves first home game and a crunch game at that, I expected a gate nearing 3000. Just over 2000 of us cared. Pathetic.

[GazTheGull]

This sums it up perfectly for me.

[Yellow4life]

But seriously, can Connell get charged for spitting at Labadie and calling him a c*nt?

He didn't spit at him, I was right in front of the incident. Although he did spit, it was at the floor(with aggression).

On first viewing, I did not think it was a foul on Bodin. The ball got away from him on his touch and was free. It was a very hard challenge but a fair one, just. Both of their goals were too similar for me, they targeted the space between Nicholson and O'connor.

I'm not convinced by O'Connor at CB, he plays around with the ball too much in dangerous areas.

When we scored on 45, I thought we had a chance to get back in to it but we never really teasted Duke in the 2nd half.

My all round MOTM would have been Stockley for his encouragement and actually wanting to win. Others include Pearce and Chappell.

[Behind-the-Gulls]

Exceptionally disappointing tonight. Northampton were fired up, were strong and aggressive, and got stuck into us right from the first whistle. We in comparison were laboured, struggled to get going, and had no answer to their forceful bombardment. They had clearly been told to rough us up, and we couldn't deal with it. Its part and parcel of football and you would expect the same of any club desperate for the points. Wind the home team up, wind the fans up, see the game out. Referee was poor, but not the reason why we lost, an early booking would have put paid to the hours of timewasting, but he was far too weak to do that.

We just can't get any momentum going at all, all the positivity after the Wimbledon and Portsmouth matches (plenty to go round) dissipated because of the postponements, we have had too longer periods of inaction after good victories and any continuity has fallen by the wayside.

Full credit to the ground-staff for all their tireless endeavours, I would not want this to be construed as a sleight against them at all, but I am pretty sure the decision to let the match go ahead was touch and go. It looked impossible to get any sort of fluent, incisive football going not to mention the unpredictable bounce of the ball. With that in mind you have to be able to play direct football properly. We can't. Neither Stockley (or Hawley latterly) won a single header and our long balls forward ranged from aimless to useless. To compensate, this resulted in large periods of frustrating sideways and diagonal passing which didn't lead anywhere. We struggle to create chances, our best normally created by the poor technique and decision making of a very dodgy goalkeeper.

Somehow we managed to get a goal on half time, you would expect this to have a massive downer on them, a catalyst for us, there should have been the Alamo in the second half, sadly I agree with others there was no real sense of urgency. Chapell the one flickering bright spark.

So a terrible performance and somehow we have let a desperately poor Northampton side get 3 points nearer to us and safety. You can certainly see why both teams are currently 91 and 92 in the Football League.

Yet, tonight was not really a disaster, we haven't dropped any places and due to the tightness of the league we are still not cut adrift. We have to hope that there are no psychological effects from losing to the only team statistically worse than us, that we can pick ourselves up and move onto the next one, at least we will have a massive point to prove.

Such a shame that Hargreaves' homecoming was such a damp squib, the honeymoon is over and he has hard decisions to make and a lot of work to do. Our home form is pathetic. With a pitch that isn't going to improve discernibly for the remainder of the season we have to formulate a plan where somehow we can pick points up at Plainmoor on a regular basis. Failure to do that will, in my opinion, be what might ultimately cost us.

Plenty of games to go, plenty of twists and turns to come, lots of bad teams in the league. Not worried yet, we just need some consistency. Already gearing up for Chesterfield, we can get a result there, stranger things have happened.

[tauntongull]

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.

If you didn't know that Hargreaves was our manager, would you have known that Knill was not still in charge? No real attacking impetus on our part as far as I was concerned. Back again to stroking the ball back and forth across the pitch, remarkably on occasions turning an attack into a retreat to our own 18 yard line. Want to see midfield players driving into the box, committing defenders and at least taking the game to the opposition. Far too slow out of the blocks 'again' looking like we really haven't played football for 5 weeks. You have to win your home games and pick up points on the road if you can. I have real concerns over our pitch and if the weather persists into May as the media predict it will, god help us. I know it's the same for both teams but I think the current state of our pitch is a factor in our performances to a point and may undo us.

Regardless of the manager in charge, this is a team of professional players who know how to play football. When Chappell got the ball and whipped in a cross, we looked like we could create something. Without that it was the long ball to Stockley / Hawley (who I have to say is not a personal favourite of mine!). Northampton played aggressively, albeit a little too much so at times but at least they had fire in their belly's something seriously lacking from us - you would have thought they were playing at home. Some of the team need to look at their contribution and decide whether they think they earned their money last night.

Mansell at right back wasn't a great performance; I think he tried but he certainly isn't the same player - something is not right! Lost count of the number of times again we couldn't get a ball accurately between two players. Thought Poke was poor for their second goal, right through his legs. Although O'Connor should have got a challenge in earlier.

Was impressed with Stockleys work ethic, I thought Pearce played well too again. O'Connor in my opinion played better at right back, still think we have a real problem at left back for fear of repeating myself again and again. I am afraid Nicho isn't even doing the things he used to do well anymore. Crossing the ball straight to their keeper on countless occasions is just wasteful. Another goal for our centre backs and our only shot at Duke resulted in it nearly going through his legs - why on earth do we not shoot more ? (answers on a postcard please!)

Northampton were shocking; certainly one of the worst sides to visit Plainmoor but then again I have seen a number of poor sides come to Plainmoor and steal a win; so what does that say about us.

I am as ever optimistic we can stay up but we have to start putting a real shift in, battling for every point otherwise we are going to find ourselves running very short of games. Strategy wise we have to be more creative and our midfield have to start trying to create more opportunities. I am not sure why Ladabie didn't get forward more last night as usually he is a more attacking midfielder as opposed to Lathrope who sits further back. We also need to start games at a faster tempo with an urgency behind getting the first goal.

Onward to Chesterfield and a hope that our performance is raised when we player better sides in the league.

[brucie]

Agreed with that. For once I would agree with FL - the referee must have been paid by Northampton. How else could you explain his performance.
Its exactly as I thought - if you hadn't known you would have thought that Knill was in charge of that team.
We were strangely subdued - I do wonder whether we really exected the match to go ahead last night.
Hargreaves sounded very downbeat after the game - I wonder if he knows the writing is already on the wall.
For me our chance went when Hawley replaced Benyon - I actually think he looked completely disinterested and managed to spurn a great chance heading wide.
Hargreaves sustitutions were really just as predictable as Knills.
The blindingly obvious second half change for me would have been to have taken off Mansell shifting the offensive O'Connor combining him with Chappell down the left flank which was the only one playable.
As well as giving us a more attacking option it would have given us Downes aerial threat at set pieces. Northampton looked vulnerable with balls going to into their box.

[taunton_gull]

I couldn't get to the game last night but I really feel for the poor 2,000 souls who made it. What I can't understand is that against Portsmouth, I thought Tonge looked very solid and had about his best game in a Torquay shirt despite a generally shaky time at Plainmoor so far. So why was he dropped in favour on Manse at RB? Like so many others I've felt for so long Mansell and Nicholson simply aren't league standard anymore. What seems disappointing is that for a third manager in a row the team is picked on the basis of who's been at the club the longest. Not since the days of Buckle has the best players regardless of their status at the club been picked to do the job. I really feel this will end up seeing us go down. Of course no-one expects us to compete with the changes Northampton have made but we continue not to make the best use of the players at our disposal it seems to me.

[ferrarilover]

Northampton were shocking; certainly one of the worst sides to visit Plainmoor but then again I have seen a number of poor sides come to Plainmoor and steal a win; so what does that say about us.

This, for me, is the key to the season. It's a tallest swarf competition (bar Chesterfield, who, from what I've read are the best side in the division by miles), and we are being found wanting. The number of sides to come here (and for us to visit) who have scored with every shot on target that they've had has been unthinkable. Exeter, Plymouth, Morecambe and Northampton from this calendar year alone. Add on those 10 extra points and we're more than comfortable. We gave away those 10 points without Poke making a save.

Teams aren't earning wins against us, their just getting them for absolutely nothing. It's mostly our fault, of course, for not having a FL standard striker among our number. People praise Stockley, but his job is to score goals and he looks less likely to do that than even Hawley.

Matt.

[gullintwoplaces]

I agree with most points made about the team's performance. I was gutted at the end of the game. Such a shame that the efforts put in by the ground staff ended with a very damp performance. I think that both fullbacks were very poor last night. The Northampton goals were giveaways, if we open up like that against Chesterfield we will be crucified.

A final word for the dickhead with the whistle. The worst ref that I have ever seen at Plainmoor, and that is saying something. Ravenhill is a dirty bast*rd and he should have seen red for a very dangerous challenge on Bodin early on (that in a sense led to their goal). He could have broken Bodin's leg. He then carried in in same manner throughout the game. He argued with the ref constantly, yet a word in the tw*t of a ref's ear from a Gulls player led to a yellow card for him! The ref should hang his head in shame, he is not fit to be on the League list.

[nickbrod]

Probably not much more to add to what's already been posted other than to say Northampton wanted it more. They certainly did their homework (eg Labadie made to play deep), not surprisingly with Knill's knowledge of our team, while Wilder's record here must be pretty good. Have either of his teams this season lost away? I don't think so.
After the famous Portsmouth victory it was hard to believe these were the same players. Our home 'form' tells everything we need to know why we are where we are. I agree the pitch didn't help but it was the same for both sides but it's not going to do us any favours between now and the end of the season. In a strange way I think we'll do better away from Plainmoor.
The space afforded to Sinclair was shocking and down to individual errors. Few players came out with any credit but Chappel clearly is a gifted player.
If Hargreaves wanted any confirmation it was there to see: two new full-backs needed and quickly. For me Tonge had a great return at Portsmouth but only on the bench last night also time is right for Cruise to be given another chance. Problems up front too. I thought another loan striker (from Stevenage?) was coming in.
All is not lost and we're not relegated after that defeat and we are not cut adfift of many above us. 17 games and 51 points still to play for!
Final thoughts, although two poor teams last night I don't think Northampton will be one of the two to go down. Where the ref at Portsmouth was the best this season last night's was shocking. How we lost the bookings 3-1 I'll never know.

[brucie]

No I was thinking the same - we are all biased but how can the bookings count have ended 3-1 against us in that match just beggars belief.
How their keeper didn't get booked for jogging back into his goal to take a swig from his water bottle when stood on the edge of his penalty was amazing. Similarly the two footed challenge on Labadie near the end went unchallenged.
When Chapple crossed for Hawley the full back tried to pull him back - nothing.
Was Tonge on the bench last night? - I didn't think he was. Mansell isn't a full back - a poor team selection by Hargreaves. O'Connor is better at right back.

[Dave]

It's right Northampton did come with a game plan, stop us from getting the ball down and playing, then expose Nicho, they did both , we turned our toe's up, they won. In the personal Knill.v.v Nicho battle if there is one as appears, Knill last night, took game, set and match.

Mr Hargreaves, you want to develop as a manager in the football, and Christ everyone else involved with the club wants that, this NOT personal criticism of Nicho, but if you persist with him in the team, expect to concede goals, yes he loves the club, yes he's legend, but nature has caught up with him, anyone who can't see that , needs and urgent eye test.

[Gullscorer]

I agree with you, forever. But this defeat may be a blessing in disguise, if it teaches Chris Hargreaves as a new manager that some tough decisions must be made, sooner rather than later given the relegation battle the team is in, and that he must have the courage to make those decisions, the first of which must be that, although Mansell and Nicholson have given excellent service to the club in the past, they can no longer be considered automatic first team choices and must begin to make way for younger players to come in, and the second must be to toughen up as a manager: instilling some team spirit and motivation into the squad must not be done at the expense of being too friendly with the players and losing his authority as a boss. To be fair to Chris, I'm sure he is already aware of these issues, and the group mindset of the squad which developed during Ling's tenure, continued under Knill, and was perhaps led by one or two players, was never going to be changed completely until such time as he is able to build a squad which is completely his own. In that sense at least, Paul Buckle was the ideal role model for Hargreaves to follow. But Chris must now have the courage of his convictions and build on what he has achieved so far by introducing something of the ruthless quality which all the top managers must at times display.

[chippygull]

Heard the result on my way back from a meeting in Chipping Norton. Got that sinking feeling now!! There's still time but I fear the worst.

That's two black clouds over Chipping Norton last night then!!!