Postponed Home Games- Friend or Enemy.?

Dazza · Post by **Dazza** » 06 Feb 2016, 11:44

Neither the weather or Torquays pitch show any sign of improvement.

A string of home games in March and April now looks likely. If the wet winter doesn't lift we could see Tuesday and Thursday fixtures. With a small squad this will not assist us. We may have to arm ourselves with a few non contract signings if it is possible.

At the same time many opponents will travel to these fixtures in one day, some not massively worried about the result given the stage in the season. It might theoretically play to our advantage from that viewpoint.?

Clearly it is a negative in terms of attendances.

What do people think.

Burnhamgull · Post by **Burnhamgull** » 06 Feb 2016, 12:30

Huge enemy.

The season we got relegated under Hargreaves, we had the same situation at the start of the year with games being called off left, right and centre. There was no chance to gain momentum because of the prolonged gaps between games.

Although I have no confidence in the manager and team currently and am certain we are heading for relegation prior to the January/February weather, the re-arranged games will punish us further.

lucy6lucy · Post by **lucy6lucy** » 06 Feb 2016, 19:25

Burnhamgull wrote:Huge enemy.

The season we got relegated under Hargreaves, we had the same situation at the start of the year with games being called off left, right and centre. There was no chance to gain momentum because of the prolonged gaps between games.

Although I have no confidence in the manager and team currently and am certain we are heading for relegation prior to the January/February weather, the re-arranged games will punish us further.

Agree. However, we have to use these midweek games at home to our advantage. Few teams will stay over night for a night match, so geography for once can help us.

arcadia · Post by **arcadia** » 06 Feb 2016, 20:51

I drove past Plainmoor at 4.45 and heard the biggest roar all season it was the relief that we did not lose thank goodness the game was off.

Yellow-Collins · Post by **Yellow-Collins** » 14 Feb 2016, 22:08

Further increase in games next season? Not just us and Truro, but another team as well? Got chatting to a Teacher from Torquay Academy last night, apparently she is under the impression that the Academy football team is also due to play their Wednesday school games at Plainmoor / LWS. She said this was agreed as part of the deal to allow us to use their facilities. Sounds plausible. Dont know how true this is, but this could seriously affect the pitch with possibly 3 games a week on it. This could lead to further postponements and rearranged fixtures for 3 teams. At the moment we cant even play 1 game without a pitch inspection. Is this common knowledge, or has anyone else heard if this true?

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 14 Feb 2016, 23:36

Most definitely an enemy. Sat-Tues-Sat-Tues-Sat = 5 games in 15 days. Players inevitably pick up knocks during matches and playing so many games in a short time gives no chance for full recovery. It's a fair point that teams won't want to come down here on a Tuesday night and we have to take advantage of that. The other advantage is that it means Luke Young may be available for more matches than we anticipated as he makes his way back to fitness, but it will be a few games before he is fully match fit. But all in all, not good. The Macclesfield replay is a real bummer.

Post by **Dave** » 15 Feb 2016, 19:54

This season the postponed games could work in some ways to be, both an enemy and a friend. Of course, as pointed out above there will an inevitable fixture backlog, however this is where a bit of skilful coaching needs to come to the fore, adapt the training and rest periods correctly, will help the players stay as fresh as, is possible, there is also options in the squad now to rest and freshen up, the odd position along the way, although, admittedly not much room to manoeuvre.

The difference between this, and the Hargreaves season is player recruitment, Nicho has brought in virtually a whole new squad over these last few weeks, the postponed games may work in our favour, from the point of view it will give time for the squad to gel, settle down and to get to know each other.

Also there's the Luke Young question, if, and it is a big "if" Luke Young can get back to full match fitness for the last month, if we still, have 7 games to play instead of 4, say, to coin a strap line "every little helps"

gateman49 · Post by **gateman49** » 25 Feb 2016, 22:11

Just been reading this on the BBC website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35654207

We're not alone with our postponements. The other point of interest is that their coach is one Darren Attwood. Who remembers him?

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