Torquay United v Eastleigh

[bixieupnorth]

can't believe boreham wood did that to dover! luckily halifax lost and both guisley and alty pegged back. still deep in the brown stuff with two very tough games on the horizon, and a hopefully winnable game in hand v chester sandwiched in between. scary stuff!

the rest of the conference fixtures are here, a few inter relegation team skirmishes to come, but this will def be up there with our many great escapes if we do do it!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/nat ... e/fixtures

come on you yellows!!!

[Deanothegull]

First game I have been to in a long time was a shame about the result but we are just lacking in that final third just need someone who knows where the net is was a good performance shame we just switched off in the first 5 minutes but we had Eastleigh on the back foot for a good amount of that game says it all when a team 7th in the league have to resort to time wasting if we carry on like that we should be fine just trying to stay positive as most of the lads did put work in today onwards and upwards COYY!

[gateman49]

Some positives:

Cheney played well in the pocket behind the front runners (perhaps his only weakness was trying to be too ambitious threading passes through very tight situations)

Young came through unscathed.

We didn't look too unbalanced by the loss of Durrell.

[TUST_Member_Rob]

weird game really, neither keeper actually had a save to make,

bar, just thinking the Eastleigh keeper after a McDonald shot

Yet again the opposition did the basics better than us, we try things that just aren't on,

Not a game for Allen or Ajala to make a difference, a heavy pitch is not what is required!

Somehow - despite his usual 'love a fight' antics MacDonald didnt get booked

[arcadia]

In the position we are in it was a good performance but not quite good enough. We missed Harrod up front as we had individuals instead of a team effort up front. Wright is a good player but Blisset needs an unselfish player along side him strikers don't hang on to the ball like Wright does. Chaney could make a place for himself behind the front two I thought he played very well. Rees and Racchi did ok and once again BIG McDonald was my man of the match improving all the time.
After a heavy defeat and defensive changes forced it was common sense to set the team up as Nicho did. Racchi did a good job in front the back four and the mid-field we dominated for long periods it was up front where we failed but it could have been so different if Blisset had finished one of his chances.
Thought the game was to big for Iffy and Wright could have switch to out wide when the changes were made. In all we deserved a win but you don't win games not scoring.

Added in 2 minutes 44 seconds:

can't believe boreham wood did that to dover! luckily halifax lost and both guisley and alty pegged back. still deep in the brown stuff with two very tough games on the horizon, and a hopefully winnable game in hand v chester sandwiched in between. scary stuff!

the rest of the conference fixtures are here, a few inter relegation team skirmishes to come, but this will def be up there with our many great escapes if we do do it!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/nat ... e/fixtures

come on you yellows!!!

WHITES!

[davidcaldwell123]

45-54 points, Welling stayed up on 45 points, this was on goal average last season, 51 points kept Hereford up on goal average 2013/14, 54 points 2012/13, 2011/12 46 points, 2010/11 46 points.

Its going down to the line?

[Burnhamgull]

45-54 points, Welling stayed up on 45 points, this was on goal average last season, 51 points kept Hereford up on goal average 2013/14, 54 points 2012/13, 2011/12 46 points, 2010/11 46 points.

Its going down to the line?

All aboard the Guisley express!

[portugull]

After a bright start we conceded an awful goal when Cooks free kick from way out on the right seemed to evade everyone and squirm in at the far post.

A lucky goal but an awful one to concede. I still feel it pays to put a defender on each post because we have conceded too many scruffy goals like this.

In truth there was nothing between the two sides and Bliss had 2 great chances but just failed to connect.

The key to our survival will surely be the 3 home games between April 5th and 12th. Chester,Altrincham and Tranmere.

[Dave]

Fed up to the back teeth of these awful tactics we're playing at the moment. I said it in my opening post on this thread, I can understand playing a tight and compact midfield away from home, especially against one the top teams, but at home, WHY ? its utter bollocks, come on Nicho don't morph into a stubborn so and so, Eastleigh looked a poor excuse for a team chasing the play-offs they were there to be beaten today, sad thing is, we never at any point looked like our team would win.

How many times especially in the first half, did either of the full backs, or central midfield find themselves desperately looking for an attacking out let, but there wasn't one, both left and right attacking channels empty, 30 yards of space with no one there, why ? because once again we're playing with 4 central midfielders, and were narrower than the smallest feeler gauge, no width, no pace, easy afternoon for the Eastleigh back line, and midfield.

Eastleigh a team that had not won away from home since the 8th December 2015, just pick up the cheapest 3 points away from their ground probably in long. long time, pathetic.

Blisset looked disinterested today, hardly a surprise with the poor service he was receiving, although should have scored with the one and only ball put in the right place, as a team we were reduced to hoofing balls straight down the middle, most over hit because of the lack of width.

Had any two of Ajala, Wright or Allen been out wide, it would have given our team the opportunity to stretch the Eastleigh defence, and in turn forced their midfield line to drop in.

As for individuals, Chaney agreed he was man of the match, only player in a White shirt who looked like could create something for The Gulls, Richards can not fault his work rate and attitude, MacDonald sound again at the back, but, when, when will he ever learnt to stop getting involved, so, so lucky not to get booked in the last minute, he's had far to many cheap, avoidable yellow cards this term, and is walking the tightrope of another suspension, which the team just can't afford.

Did the team deserve to win today, no, absolutely not, pure delusion if we think that, based on what I saw today, taking into account how poor the opposition was certainly should have taken a point though, only if the team were set up to have a go at them, well, who knows what they would got, frustrated.

[Swanny]

I thought you could sum up today in one word - inevitable. Yes we may have had the majority of the game but we rarely looked like scoring and Eastleigh contained us quite comfortably. We conceded a soft early goal from a free-kick and Eastleigh showed little adventure for the rest of the match and you could argue that they need not need to. I cannot comment too much on Torquay's makeshift defence as they did not have much to deal with although I suspect they could have done better defending Eastleigh's free kick that led to the goal. Gerring did a good header off the line in the second half but at times was clumsy on the ball. Verma at right back - well at least he is athletic but we will see how he copes defensively with attacking teams . Crowd 2,081 with about 100 from Eastleigh, sponsors MOTM Chaney who was our bright spark in the first half.

Torquay started brightly but were a goal down in 5 minutes from Eastleigh's first attack. A long range free-kick was put in low, alluded many players and turned in at the far post. It was a calamitous start for Torquay and after our 5-0 drubbing 2 days ago it was the last thing Torquay needed. In fairness, Torquay responded well and had the bulk of the first half. There was some good approach play but the fact was that we rarely worked their keeper. There were times when inviting low crosses went across the 6 yard area but there was no one in a white shirt (yes we played in our away strip again) to finish off. At the end of the 1st. half we finally had some proper goalmouth excitement when following a corner the ball was saved on the line twice. Chaney, who I believe was playing at the head of our diamond formation, showed some lovely neat ball control and was our biggest threat in the first half. There was decent effort from the team but the end product was missing.

The 2nd. half was a similar story with goalscoring chances few and far between. Butler put over a beautiful cross for Blissett for a clear header but mistimed it. Often after good approach play the final pass was poor. We used all our subs and Allen at least upped the tempo when he had the ball. Luke Young made a welcome return but played too deep for my liking. Surely he is the only player of ours who you would trust troubling their keeper in a scoring position. We tried some long range shots and one from MacDonald brought a good diving save from their keeper. The time ticked down and Eastleigh helped to run the clock down showing typical gamesmanship like taking an age to take a goal kick. Eastleigh should have sealed it a couple of times at the death but missed a couple of sitters. As for Torquay, I think we could still be playing now and we will still be waiting for a goal.

My thoughts after today - we are not good enough no matter how hard we try. We can't score and rarely look like scoring and at the other end I expect our makeshift defence without Berry will be found out against sterner opposition starting with Gateshead away on Saturday. It was good to have Racchi back today and I hope Smith will be back soon. I thought MacDonald was excellent today but again showed a lack of self disipline near the end of the match with Tubbs and was lucky to escape a yellow card. Chaney showed really good inventiveness today but was rightly subbed in the 2nd. half as he faded badly.

So it's been a disastrous Easter - 2 defeats, no goals scored, goal difference inferior to the other teams again, Berry out for the season, no decent options in defence. We are back to square one again in this horrific season and quite frankly we fully deserve to go down. The recent revival was a false dawn to delay the evitable. Well that's the way I see it. I've had enough of this misery week after week and the sooner this season finishes the better.

[Glostergull]

we got what i thought we would get from these two fixtures. but the next few are really important. i don't expect us to get anything out of Gateshead or Tranmere. In fact i can see Tranmere putting a few past us but I remain to be surprised. we haven't got the strength in depth to cope with them yet. Duress injury is a big blow. no a massive blow.. the defence hasn't got the balance it once had. and if we can't cope I think Nicho might return to playing to bring some calm. But we didn't do too badly today..They are a team doing well and we matched them in many departments. they just had the killer touch when it was needed. If we can apply ourselves against Chester. Altrincham.Bromley , Barrow and Guisley. I think we will still do it..they are all winnable games now..once I could not say that with any confidence but now i can..we may yet drop points to a couple of them. but I think we will get the 10 points we need.
Looking at each to the teams around us..

Gusley have a horrible run in and fewer games to get results than we do. Eastleigh. Cheltenham. Macclesfield. Boredom Wood and us to play.
Boreham word look their best chance of points.. I would lime to think we will be much sterner opposition. even though they will be playing at home that day i think we will take a yellow army up there and it may be like the Barnet great escape day years back. They aint gonna get anything out of Cheltenham. I don't think they will out of Eastliegh either. Macclesfield could be a draw but they blow hot and cold. so anything could happen. But with only 6 games to go for them time is running out. if they do lose to Cheltenham and Eastleigh I think they will be on the way down. they have been on a free fall type run for a while. I expect they will only get another 4 points. providing we don't press the self destruct button.

Boredom Wood have what on paper looks like a good run in. Chester. Halifax. Guisley. Welling.Southport. Aldershot. Out of those if they drop points then Aldershot will be the team. but they could win any of the others. although i think southport will beat em. they are likely to beat Welling. and Guisley. they are going to draw with Chester and Halifax so I think they will get another 8 points. I hope not.

Halifax have an interesting run in. (Understatement of the week) Dover..Boreham Wood. Aldershot. Cheltenham. Eastleigh. Forest Green. and Macclesfeild. wow thats not a run in I would want..although they have been picking up points lately. they then tripped up and lost a couple. and i really can't see them getting a point out of Cheltehham or FGR. although both have lost to surprisingly low teams this last few weeks. I also think they won't get anything out of Dover, or Eatleigh. Draws against Macclesfield and Aldershot could be 2 points picked up and i can see they might get the whole 3 points out of Boring Wood so a possible haul of 5 points could see them go down after I honestly thought they were turning the corner. luckily for us they have tripped up. even if they win one of the game they could draw the still won't be enough i don't think, so although they have 7 games to go they have the toughest run in of any of us. although they have a tougher run in than Guisley. they should being the bigger team have more strength in depth so should do better than Guisley. Points 5

Altrincham. have 7 games to get out of trouble. games in order go. Kiddy. Dover. Bromley. US. Eastleigh. Welling.,and Braintree. now with the best will in the world I don't see them beating Braintree. Dover or Eastleigh. I would like to think we will pick up all the points too. But the depends if we can keep up our best form. I think Bromley is another one that could go either way. Kiddy is a good bet for 3 points. and Welling is likely to be a win for them. so their haul is likely to be baed on current form. 7 points.

Chester I will include as they are too close for comfort. they have 6 gamed left. but have the best points haul so only need 4 more. games left in order. Boring Woof. Us. Lincoln. Welling. Grimsby. and Gateshead. now that should see them ok but they have been wobbling. They have lost 3 out of 4 with a draw the other result out of the last 4 games. with the last 2 games against Grimsby and Gateshead where the opposition will more than likely go home with all the points i think they could get nervous and lose the lot.although Boring woofs Welling and Us could be a good points haul they could easily trip up so i am guessing they will get a possible 6 points. But I think they will (I hope) lost he rest and hopefully only draw the others.

We have a decent run in. ur form is good and going to Gateshead is no longer a game to worry us. i think we can get a good point there. We should beat Chester. I can't honestly see us getting a pint of milk from Tranmere. But miracles have happened. if so it will be worth a nobel peace prixe if Nocho pulls that one off. We should beat Altrihcham and Bromley and possibly Barrow too. and guisley on the last day. But if we drop points then I would expect it to be at Bromley and Barrow where I think a draw would be the prize. so i think we should and will get 11 points. or possibly.15 based on our last 10 games. two losses in 10 games and both against decent top half or promotion candidates is nothing to be doom merchants about. so lets put a likely table togeether based on my drivel. assuming your still awake to even read it.


Chester 50
Torquay 49
Boreham woof 48
Guisley 46
Altrincham 46
Halifax 45
Welling 37
Kidderminster 32

Yes i still think the escape is on. and on top of that i think we will be 2 or 3 points clear. hopefully enough before Guilesy match to be able to take it easy. Welling could be in a position to do us a favour. I think their relegation will be acknowledged before the last 2 games. probably in the next two weeks.. and quite possibly by the 9th April. so they hopefully will start to play with more freedom and may possibly win the last 2 games against out rivals. if so that could be a big help to us and especially as we have to play Welling ourselves and with our form i expect us to win this one.. (oops have i put my foot in it now)
Ok guys.. what do tho think.. have a go yourselves if you think Im wrong.. Wives and Brucite are banned from this. they will expect all our rivals to win 10-0 and we will also lose 10-0.

Just as an aside. I noted we now only need an average gate of 1972 to break even. which will give us the average gate of 1800 . I wonder why the gates from the cup games were not counted. I can see maybe one or two may have lost money but surely the money from them still counted and could have helped lower the numbers needed to break even. I can imagine the money has already helped us break even.

[lucy6lucy]

we got what i thought we would get from these two fixtures. but the next few are really important. i don't expect us to get anything out of Gateshead or Tranmere. In fact i can see Tranmere putting a few past us but I remain to be surprised. we haven't got the strength in depth to cope with them yet. Duress injury is a big blow. no a massive blow.. the defence hasn't got the balance it once had. and if we can't cope I think Nicho might return to playing to bring some calm. But we didn't do too badly today..They are a team doing well and we matched them in many departments. they just had the killer touch when it was needed. If we can apply ourselves against Chester. Altrincham.Bromley , Barrow and Guisley. I think we will still do it..they are all winnable games now..once I could not say that with any confidence but now i can..we may yet drop points to a couple of them. but I think we will get the 10 points we need.
Looking at each to the teams around us..

Gusley have a horrible run in and fewer games to get results than we do. Eastleigh. Cheltenham. Macclesfield. Boredom Wood and us to play.
Boreham word look their best chance of points.. I would lime to think we will be much sterner opposition. even though they will be playing at home that day i think we will take a yellow army up there and it may be like the Barnet great escape day years back. They aint gonna get anything out of Cheltenham. I don't think they will out of Eastliegh either. Macclesfield could be a draw but they blow hot and cold. so anything could happen. But with only 6 games to go for them time is running out. if they do lose to Cheltenham and Eastleigh I think they will be on the way down. they have been on a free fall type run for a while. I expect they will only get another 4 points. providing we don't press the self destruct button.

Boredom Wood have what on paper looks like a good run in. Chester. Halifax. Guisley. Welling.Southport. Aldershot. Out of those if they drop points then Aldershot will be the team. but they could win any of the others. although i think southport will beat em. they are likely to beat Welling. and Guisley. they are going to draw with Chester and Halifax so I think they will get another 8 points. I hope not.

Halifax have an interesting run in. (Understatement of the week) Dover..Boreham Wood. Aldershot. Cheltenham. Eastleigh. Forest Green. and Macclesfeild. wow thats not a run in I would want..although they have been picking up points lately. they then tripped up and lost a couple. and i really can't see them getting a point out of Cheltehham or FGR. although both have lost to surprisingly low teams this last few weeks. I also think they won't get anything out of Dover, or Eatleigh. Draws against Macclesfield and Aldershot could be 2 points picked up and i can see they might get the whole 3 points out of Boring Wood so a possible haul of 5 points could see them go down after I honestly thought they were turning the corner. luckily for us they have tripped up. even if they win one of the game they could draw the still won't be enough i don't think, so although they have 7 games to go they have the toughest run in of any of us. although they have a tougher run in than Guisley. they should being the bigger team have more strength in depth so should do better than Guisley. Points 5

Altrincham. have 7 games to get out of trouble. games in order go. Kiddy. Dover. Bromley. US. Eastleigh. Welling.,and Braintree. now with the best will in the world I don't see them beating Braintree. Dover or Eastleigh. I would like to think we will pick up all the points too. But the depends if we can keep up our best form. I think Bromley is another one that could go either way. Kiddy is a good bet for 3 points. and Welling is likely to be a win for them. so their haul is likely to be baed on current form. 7 points.

Chester I will include as they are too close for comfort. they have 6 gamed left. but have the best points haul so only need 4 more. games left in order. Boring Woof. Us. Lincoln. Welling. Grimsby. and Gateshead. now that should see them ok but they have been wobbling. They have lost 3 out of 4 with a draw the other result out of the last 4 games. with the last 2 games against Grimsby and Gateshead where the opposition will more than likely go home with all the points i think they could get nervous and lose the lot.although Boring woofs Welling and Us could be a good points haul they could easily trip up so i am guessing they will get a possible 6 points. But I think they will (I hope) lost he rest and hopefully only draw the others.

We have a decent run in. ur form is good and going to Gateshead is no longer a game to worry us. i think we can get a good point there. We should beat Chester. I can't honestly see us getting a pint of milk from Tranmere. But miracles have happened. if so it will be worth a nobel peace prixe if Nocho pulls that one off. We should beat Altrihcham and Bromley and possibly Barrow too. and guisley on the last day. But if we drop points then I would expect it to be at Bromley and Barrow where I think a draw would be the prize. so i think we should and will get 11 points. or possibly.15 based on our last 10 games. two losses in 10 games and both against decent top half or promotion candidates is nothing to be doom merchants about. so lets put a likely table togeether based on my drivel. assuming your still awake to even read it.


Chester 50
Torquay 49
Boreham woof 48
Guisley 46
Altrincham 46
Halifax 45
Welling 37
Kidderminster 32

Yes i still think the escape is on. and on top of that i think we will be 2 or 3 points clear. hopefully enough before Guilesy match to be able to take it easy. Welling could be in a position to do us a favour. I think their relegation will be acknowledged before the last 2 games. probably in the next two weeks.. and quite possibly by the 9th April. so they hopefully will start to play with more freedom and may possibly win the last 2 games against out rivals. if so that could be a big help to us and especially as we have to play Welling ourselves and with our form i expect us to win this one.. (oops have i put my foot in it now)
Ok guys.. what do tho think.. have a go yourselves if you think Im wrong.. Wives and Brucite are banned from this. they will expect all our rivals to win 10-0 and we will also lose 10-0.

When do we play welling again in the league? Are the national league allowing us to play them again out of sympathy

[SBP]

I was disappointed with that performance today. as Forever mentions above no width what's so ever. Trying to make difficult passes into impossible channels. I don't like these tactics at all.
What pi"sed me off was seeing Bill Phillips up there as well.
Eastleigh must of enjoyed our tactics, apart from 1 great cross late in the 1st half , which how on earth nobody was even within 10ft of the ball, we never stretched them. There keeper was forced to make a good stop and that was about it.
Eastleigh controlled the second half with time wasting and free kicks. We huffed and puffed but in truth we never looked like scoring.
We are certainly lacking in the final third.

[standupsitdown]

I’ve estimated a two point range for each club involved.
I see us beating Altringham & Barrow and drawing with Chester, Bromley & Guiseley – for 47 points – beat Chester or Guiseley and it’s 49.
I think 49 will be enough but 47 may not be.
These estimates include us beating Altringham and not losing to Guiseley. If we don’t get those results we are likely to go down.
It will go to the last game but hopefully we’ll be ahead of Guiseley and only need a draw.

Boreham Wood 48 – 50
Halifax 47 - 49
Torquay 47 - 49
Altringham 46 - 48
Guiseley 44 -46
Welling
Kidderminster

[Glostergull]

Wellling is in about 2 or 3 weeks if I'm not mistaken.