Aldershot v Torquay United

[Dave]

The fixture pile up cause by postponements and the F.A Trophy certainly isn't having an effect on the team from a results perspective, apart from a few knocks and tweaks the squad seems to be holding up fairly well also, this Saturday the team travel to Aldershot for the next chapter in The Great Escape.

Must admit, I don't know what to make of this game, The Shots go into the game of the back of an embarrassing 8.2 away defeat at Chester, and we know how they feel having seen our team go down 7.3 at home this season. Will that provoke a reaction from The Shots ? It's hard to say, maybe their current form is down to their league position, Aldershot had a very good January winning 4 of their 5 match's which some what confirmed them in the mid table and in a position where they can't get promotion, and barring a complete meltdown will not face relegation either, maybe the majority of their team are already on holiday.

Reading through reports from Shots fans at the game, it appears they were caught out by pace Tuesday evening, with James Alabi, a trialist rejected by us in the summer scoring 4 goals, former Gulls defender Joe Oastler has come for heavy criticism for his performance in the Chester match, and another former Gulls favourite Damon Lathrope is likely to miss the rest of the season through injury, with Shots fans seemingly divided over Lathrope, some feel his latest injury has been part of the reason for their teams loss of form, others feeling he's an injury prone luxury they can ill afford.

For Gulls fans attending the match

http://www.footballgroundguide.com/leag ... round.html

I believe through reading facebook earlier, that all TUFC fans will be in a seated area, and the standing terrace will not be open to away fans.

Aldershot top goalscorers

Charlie Walker 11
James Stevenson 5
Rhys Browne 4
Sam Hatton 3
Cheye Alexander 2
Ross Lafayette 2
Alfie Pavey 2
Jake Gallagher 1
Damon Lathrope 1
Sean McGinty 1
Tom Richards 1
Jack Saville 1
Dan Walker 1

Current form

Aldershot Town; W-D-L-W-L-L

30 Jan Aldershot To. 1 - 0 Kidderminster
13 Feb Aldershot To. 0 - 0 Tranmere
20 Feb Gateshead 3 - 2 Aldershot To.
27 Feb Welling Utd 0 - 1 Aldershot To.
5 Mar Lincoln City 2 - 0 Aldershot To.
8 Mar Chester 8 - 2 Aldershot To.

Last time out

Chester 8 - 2 Aldershot Town

1 Smith
12 Alexander
2 Oastler Booked at 66mins
15 Browne
3 McGinty
14 Beckles
8 Stevenson (Saville 84'minutes)
16 Gallagher
17 Rasulo (Hatton 59'minutes)
23 Lafayette (Pavey 69'minutes)
19 Walker

Substitutes
5 Saville
7 Hatton
13 Thomas
20 Pavey
24 Ralph

Aldershot Town boss Barry Smith told BBC Surrey:

"It's hard to explain it but it's totally unacceptable performance and we apologise to all the Aldershot Town fans because that was a performance that we're not proud of.

"I take full responsibility and it's me who has put that team out onto the pitch and it wasn't good enough. I felt it was right for me to apologise to them personally.

"I think Damon Lathrope has been a big miss because he's the one player who can get the ball down and pass it to get us into good positions. We will be in tomorrow to make sure the boys know that performance was unacceptable."

From a Torquay United point of view

Tuesday night we saw the team pick up a very good home point against what, I think we all agree was a very well drilled and organised Braintree side, dare I suggest just a few short months ago we'd have been buried in such a game, so fair play and credit all involved at the club from the board, to the manager and players, it does show just how far they've come in a short space of time.

The Gulls came out of this match with two injury concerns, the highly impressive Blisset limped off, however the greater concern was goalkeeper lavercombe who did not take any kicks for a large part of this game.

13 points from the last 5 games is a haul many of us thought was unthinkable, after seeing us surrender at home to Gateshead back just a few weeks ago, I, like many throw the towel in after that match, and despite what some say, not one of us who did could be blamed for doing so.

We needed unity, we've got it now, the board, team management, players, fans, and TU related forums, all now at last singing from same hymn sheet, and a mention for the support Tuesday night, it was first class, and no doubt it will be again Saturday, I'm sure they don't need telling, but complacency can't set in amongst the squad now, I think we're benefitting from the new players settling in, the impact of Blisset is very much in the limelight as he's scoring goals, but for the me unsung hero in our turn around has been Racchi, he has brought experience and know how to the middle and got a pass on him as well, seen him described as the plainmoor Pirlo in the H/E, for me he reminds more of Chris Hargreaves the player, this game isn't a must win, however a win here would put us in such a great position, if you can get and support do, the team need you now.

Torquay United top goalscorers


Nathan Blissett 5
Dan Butler 2
Nathan Smith 2
Andre Wright 2
Toby Ajala 1
Iffy Allen 1
Durrell Berry 1
Exodus Geohaghon 1
Shaun Harrad 1
Angus MacDonald 1
Courtney Richards 1
Aman Verma 1

Current form


Torquay United; L-W-W-W-W-D

30 Jan Tranmere 2 - 1 Torquay Utd
20 Feb Boreham Wood 0 - 1 Torquay Utd
23 Feb Torquay Utd 2 - 0 Welling Utd
1 Mar Macclesfield 1 - 2 Torquay Utd
5 Mar Torquay Utd 3 - 2 Kidderminster
8 Mar Torquay Utd 0 - 0 Braintree

Last time out


Torquay Utd 0 - 0 Braintree

21 Lavercombe Booked at 17mins
29 Berry
5 MacDonald
16 Richards Booked at 45mins
3 Butler
18 Smith
14 Ajala (Allen 66'minutes)
10 Racchi Booked at 90mins
4 Rees (Verma 73'minutes)
17 Blissett (Wright 22'minutes)
12 Harrad

Substitutes
1Fisher
7Allen
22Gerring
25Verma
28Wright

TORQUAY UNITED: Braintree Town boss Danny Cowley says Gulls fans are best in National League


"By the way, that's the best crowd we've played in front of all season.

"It was a good turnout (1,462) for a Tuesday night, they made a real noise and got behind their team all night – they were fantastic.

"My lads loved playing here – I think it lifted them in a way."

Great credit to Dannyrv for work on the drums, and to all those who support and join with the group of fans doing their best to create a good atmosphere at the games.

Player-manager on our goalless draw...



“The lads put their bodies on the line,” he said. “We looked flat in the first half, as if we were waiting for them to do something.

“But we spoke about it at the break and went on to have the second half, so when you weigh it up, a draw was probably a fair result.

“It’s not a bad point, particularly as we were not fully at it. I’d say it was an interesting game without being fully fantastic.

“The biggest improvement is the mentality, character and will of the players. They worked so hard and this kind of attitude and determination is everything for me.

“I’m fortunate to have a group of talented players here now with the right kind of attitude. They are working for each other and it’s a real team effort.

“If we can keep this going, it will get us places and now we are ready to go again at the weekend.”

Read more at http://www.torquayunited.com/news/artic ... z8RQK7A.99

Head to Head meetings

Against the re-formed club only


English Conference Premier

15.08.2007 Aldershot Town 0-3 Torquay United
03.03.2008 Torquay United 1-2 Aldershot Town


English League Two

29.09.2009 Torquay United 1-1 Aldershot Town
13.04.2010 Aldershot Town 0-2 Torquay United
28.09.2010 Torquay United 0-1 Aldershot Town
08.03.2011 Aldershot Town 1-0 Torquay United
16.08.2011 Aldershot Town 0-1 Torquay United
06.03.2012 Torquay United 1-0 Aldershot Town
02.10.2012 Torquay United 4-3 Aldershot Town
19.02.2013 Aldershot Town 1-0 Torquay United


English Conference

25.08.2014 Torquay United 1-1 Aldershot Town
06.04.2015 Aldershot Town 2-0 Torquay United


English National League

03.10.2015 Torquay United 0-2 Aldershot Town

[Jeff]

There is no reason why we shouldn't be expecting at least a point here. Aldershot have a pretty poor home record (the poorest of the teams we have to play on the road - they were 18th in the "home" league table prior to Tuesdays games) and have I believe the second worst home attack with 16 goals from 17 games.

You'd assume that after shipping 10 goals this week, their number 1 priority will be to keep it tight at the weekend. Couple that with a side who don't score that many goals anyway and you'd think that "Aldershot 0" might be fairly short odds on the weekend. Whether we can make it "Torquay 1" or better, I don't know.

If Aldershot were hurt by pace, perhaps its not the end of the world if Blissett ends up sitting this one out and we go with Wright up front. He looked good against Kiddy, quick and great feet and that could be what we need. Also, if Allen is back to fitness he could also be ripe for this one. Not sure if Nico will make too many changes to a winning team, but swapping Rees for Allen and playing a conventional 4-4-2 might be the way to go against the Shots.

I'm hoping to be there for this one - love a trip to the Rec. Great atmospheric ground

[lucy6lucy]

There is no reason why we shouldn't be expecting at least a point here. Aldershot have a pretty poor home record (the poorest of the teams we have to play on the road - they were 18th in the "home" league table prior to Tuesdays games) and have I believe the second worst home attack with 16 goals from 17 games.

You'd assume that after shipping 10 goals this week, their number 1 priority will be to keep it tight at the weekend. Couple that with a side who don't score that many goals anyway and you'd think that "Aldershot 0" might be fairly short odds on the weekend. Whether we can make it "Torquay 1" or better, I don't know.

If Aldershot were hurt by pace, perhaps its not the end of the world if Blissett ends up sitting this one out and we go with Wright up front. He looked good against Kiddy, quick and great feet and that could be what we need. Also, if Allen is back to fitness he could also be ripe for this one. Not sure if Nico will make too many changes to a winning team, but swapping Rees for Allen and playing a conventional 4-4-2 might be the way to go against the Shots.

I'm hoping to be there for this one - love a trip to the Rec. Great atmospheric ground

I agree, let's tinker with the squad for this one( only slightly) we need blissett and others fully fit for the big 2 matches that follow this match. We can win this one without the odd player having a rest to cure their niggles. Incidentally is lavercombe ok?

[midtable]

After Aldershot lost on Saturday 2-0 to Lincoln their manager publicly insisted on a reaction to the defeat by playing better against Chester! According to the local Chester newspaper Aldershot played a very high line of defence that was constantly broken by a fast Chester player. The Shots manager refused to change tactics and they were swamped. Defending at corners was also inept as apparently expert balls floated in by ex Torquay star Jordan Chapell were a constant menace leading to more goals. The standard message when reading reports about Aldershot seems to be that the "defence is a bit soft". No confidence, terrible home record and manager on the brink of the sack. What could possibly go wrong for Torquay?

[tomogull]

The standard message when reading reports about Aldershot seems to be that the "defence is a bit soft". No confidence, terrible home record and manager on the brink of the sack. What could possibly go wrong for Torquay?

Whoa !! Let's not get too carried away. Every game is different and it's a certainty that we will see a different Aldershot than the team that didn't turn up at Chester last night.

[Colorado Gull]

Looking forward to this one. A good number are coming up on the coach, myself (with the drum) included, always like going to Aldershot.

[DJ Gull]

Really want to go to this one! Stupid work!
However I will tune in to radio Devon at 3pm, lots of noise lads!
2-0 Win for the gulls, Racchi + Wright

COME ON YOU YELLOWS!!!!

[northlondongull]

Bit of a worry that Lavercombe is an injury doubt for this one:

http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/T ... story.html

Still, being the optimist that I am, I predict a 2-1 win with Wright and Ajala on target.

[wivelgull]

We might get a point. Thus:
Aldershot (0) 0
TUFC (0) 0

Att: 1657

[Lloyder5]

We might get a point. Thus:
Aldershot (0) 0
TUFC (0) 0

Att: 1657

When did you last see the team play?

[ROADRUNNER]

Looks like Lavercombe is out, So its either fisher or a loan.

[Richinns]

Lavercombe out for three weeks. Emergency loan of a goalkeeper now essential. We cannot take a chance on Fisher.

[Gulliball]

We simply have to sign a loan keeper - our future depends on the next 12 games and we cannot afford not to play a professional goalkeeper in potentially half of them.

[standupsitdown]

Looking forward to this. Always a good atmosphere at Aldershot. A proper old fashioned lower league football ground.
And looking forward to seeing the rejuvenated Torquay!

[tomogull]

We simply have to sign a loan keeper - our future depends on the next 12 games and we cannot afford not to play a professional goalkeeper in potentially half of them.

If this is confirmed, it means that Dan will miss at least half of our remaining games. There's no argument - the club will have to bring in a replacement 'keeper from somewhere.