Torquay United v Tranmere Rovers

tufc si · Post by **tufc si** » 09 Apr 2016, 16:53

This is what happens when you don't take your chances!...

OllieGull · Post by **OllieGull** » 09 Apr 2016, 16:56

Was always going to be a hard game, positives that it was only by one goal, no booking for Macdonald, and pretty much every team around us lost bar Altrincham who drew. Big game on Tuesday now.

standupsitdown · Post by **standupsitdown** » 09 Apr 2016, 16:58

Altringham were the only one of our six rivals to get a point today, so despite a defeat, with games running out we're probably in a slightly better position than before today's games.

markw · Post by **markw** » 09 Apr 2016, 18:29

Well if ever a team was created in the Managers image that was Tranmere today , moaning, gamesmanship or very "professional " you can call it .
Can't believe that Angus wasn't booked , on a another day he would have been when their player throw himself to the floor after Angus pushed him .

KeithMalone · Post by **KeithMalone** » 09 Apr 2016, 18:35

Today showed the difference between top half and bottom half teams in this division. Like Eastleigh before them Tranmere came took one of the very few chances that came their way and took the points. We just don't seem to create anything clear cut against the top teams at home when the onus is on us to do so. Thats not knocking the lads, it is credit to the opposition and something we must learn to do moving forward.

We go again on Tuesday and I would bet a lot of money that if Altrincham came and performed as Tranmere did we will get a minimum of a point as they won't be so ruthless in front of goal. Certainly results have gone our way today, but we cannot keep relying on them to do so across the final 4 matches, we need to find 4 (with a win over Altrincham) or 6 points (should we not win on Tuesday) to guarantee our safety.

As for Brabin and Tranmere's gamesmanship I don't care, we're still well up following the win over a Brabin Cambridge team at Wembley

brucie · Post by **brucie** » 09 Apr 2016, 18:58

Devastated - that was such a coin toss game that had we scored first we would have won. Tranmere can thank their keeper for the win though as he pulled off an astounding save to prevent Luke Youngs injury kick going in. His cross the box free kick looked in all the way until their keeper somehow swung out his left leg and diverted it wide.

A tight game but if anyone was going to shade it I thought it would be us. We defended brilliantly and I couldn't see them scoring. That's tough to take - we definitely didn't deserve to lose that.

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 09 Apr 2016, 19:09

I agree with brucie.

The Tranmere keeper won the game for them.

Superb pass from Iffy to Bliss who shot on target and the keeper pulls off a fantastic save.

Luke Young hits a brilliant free kick 2 minutes from time and somehow it is deflected.

United are a different team since January and the improvement is so heartening.

Altrincham is a must win and I think we are now good enough to win this if we create AND take our chances.

lucy6lucy · Post by **lucy6lucy** » 09 Apr 2016, 19:14

Sounds like a decent performance today, beat Altrincham on Tuesday and we will be ever so close to league survival. Despite the loss we couldn't have wished for the other results going our way.

Swanny · Post by **Swanny** » 09 Apr 2016, 19:45

This was always a tricky looking fixture against the "big boys" of the National League and today the Gulls fell just short in the end. It was a decent performance and a decent match to watch and Torquay created enough decent chances to earn at least a draw. It was no disgrace losing to Tranmere today but we all know points are all that matter in this situation. Crowd a decent 2,264 with 300+ from Tranmere, sponsors MOTM going to another commanding display at the back from MacDonald.

Tranmere put Torquay on the back foot for the first 10 minutes or so and played some great one touch passing in their build up. Torquay were hanging on in there,just. Racchi in front of our back 4 was having a great game with his composure on the ball and accurate passing. In one instance a Tranmere player was about to pull the trigger in the box and would have probably have scored but Racchi got his toe in first and nick the ball away to safety. Verma has adapted to right back well and as the half wore on Torquay came into the game. Chaney had a couple of decent efforts with one long range effort just whistling over the bar. Allen put himself around and was a threat whenever he was on the ball, whereas our other winger Ajala generally messed up what he was attempting to do. He still put in a decent shift and tackled well at times. MacDonald had our best chance of the half and his far post header just whisked across the goal and wide.

Ironically Tranmere's goal came when Torquay were mainly on top when a header was powerfully planted in the corner of the net. Torquay used all their 3 subs in the 2nd. half and Racchi looked injured when he was replaced by Young. Chances came for Torquay, a Blissett shot was parried by their keeper, Davies. We had plenty of corners and crosses into the box and were "knocking on the Tranmere door". Even in added time a Young swerving free-kick was saved by the keepers legs and scrambled clear. It was harsh on Torquay, I've seen them play a lot worse and win and unlike the recent Eastleigh home match 0-1 defeat, today Torquay DID look like scoring.

We're looking a decent unit and today's bench looked strong regarding midfield and attacking options. We don't look like a relegation team anymore but let's hope we can pick up points soon, starting next Tuesday against Altrincham.

goodluckgull · Post by **goodluckgull** » 09 Apr 2016, 21:03

Came away from the game feeling that TUFC really deserved at least a point and then discovered that some b......d had hit my brand new ford fiesta parked at Cary Park and driven off. Both doors on the driver's side are badly scraped and dented and mirror damaged too. Just hoping that somebody may have seen the culprit....

arcadia · Post by **arcadia** » 09 Apr 2016, 22:21

Thought we lost the midfield after the substitution and maybe could have gone a bit longer without a change as we were on top. A silly freekick was the cause of the defeat, it was a great shame as we were getting to look a good side.

McDonald was an English youth International and he's now playing like he was one, thought he was top class today.

tomogull · Post by **tomogull** » 10 Apr 2016, 00:25

Good match summary from Swanny. You could see why Tranmere have won so many games 1 - 0. McNulty organised their defence superbly and they've got a very capable 'keeper. Nevertheless, I thought we deserved a point. Racchi was having a great game until his substitution which was due to a tight hamstring apparently. Someone posted on the MoM thread that the ref was good (I don't think he was being sarcastic). I thought he was dreadful and missed lots of things. He couldn't possibly book Macdonald because he didn't see what happened. he was running the other way. Tranmere might scrape into the play offs but I reckon we'll be playing them again next season .......

SBP · Post by **SBP** » 10 Apr 2016, 09:16

Always interesting reading other posters match summaries.

Unless I was watching a different player I thought Racchi was poor. I agree he made a good intervention and put his foot in saving a good chance but he was playing in front of the back four. I thought he gave the ball away to easily and defensively the Tranmere midfield were basically running rings around us with good passing and movement. Chaney was playing too advanced to help the midfield but too far away from Blisset to create much going forward. Toby A was dreadful going forward. I still think he plays too narrow, probably being told that I guess but it doesn't suit him.

I thought the goal came against the run of play, however it was some cross and header. I thought we looked far more productive when Young and Harrad came on. Goodness knows what Wright was doing, he looked like he had never played a game in his life. What did they do to him back at WBA.

PL21gull · Post by **PL21gull** » 10 Apr 2016, 09:56

Tranmere were well-organised and rugged, and their ball-control, passing, throws-in, and support play showed us to be lacking in those areas. We looked edgy in the first half and were too quick to boot the ball hopefully up to Blissett, who was often lacking in support.
Playing a 4-2-4/4-2-3-1 formation when one winger was hopeless made it very difficult to create goal-scoring chances from open play, and we were reduced to trying our luck from distance. When we did put crosses in, they were either over-hit or behind any players we happened to have in or near the penalty box. Why do we never attack the space between the keeper and his defence?
Shooting - all too frequently over the bar, why do we never shoot low and make the keeper scramble as per Luke's free-kick which looked in all the way?

COYY, the effort is there but not the basics in control and teamwork.

Lloyder5 · Post by **Lloyder5** » 10 Apr 2016, 10:52

Overall all I thought we were worth a point. We gave them their good start, a combination of minor errors and poor communication. Tranmere had 2 corners in quick succession as a result of doing basically nothing. Although I do concede and a number of the more successful teams in this division are set up to be solid and capitalise on their opponents mistakes, so they did apply the pressure that led to the mistakes. However, we did get ourselves back into the match and for the middle third were playing the more attractive football. I was disappointed we didn't manage to isolate McNulty and exploit his massive bulk, before KO I was hoping to see Blissett or Chaney running at him. Crossing in the first half was weak, Butler had quite a poor game in that respect and in general held on to the ball too long. In mitigation, though our front players don't run the channel for an out-ball very well. Ajala had a very bad day at the office, which he knew. On the positives, Chaney showed glimpses of what a good player he could be, linking well with Blissett for the volley that went wide in the first half. Allen was great, really focused on making an impact and showed he can track back with the last ditch tackle on the edge of the box. One thing I would say is that I wish he would use more pace and less attempted trickery. As a former defender I was always happy to see step-overs and check-backs, just gave the defence more time to set itself, pace is harder to defend against.

In summary, Tranmere won through three bits of quality, a great cross and header for the goal and two excellent saves from their keeper. We had three great chances McDonald's header, Blissett's shot and Young's free-kick, we didn't take those so it was a case of what might of been.

Hopefully, no injury concerns and onwards and upwards to Tuesday, COYY

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