Torquay v Solihull Tues 25th Jan 2022

[standupsitdown]

Kicks off in a couple of hours and no thread yet.

Important game and a loss would be a big step backwards in our (possible) march towards the play off.

[Admiral]

Is this our first Tuesday night game at Plainmoor this season?

Difficult to call..

1-1

[simjones1980]

Great…they have signed Mark Ellis on loan, he will play tonight!

[Nick Potkins]

Not got a great feeling about tonight, lacking central defenders as expected and Mark Ellis signs for then. COYY

[happytorq]

Wright goes off injured after 6 minutes. Holman on.

Not ideal.

[smw1989]

First half was ok…. Second half completely over run and we seem to be running out of ideas from the dug out on how to freshen things up on the pitch when we’re getting battered…. Seems like we’re just playing each game and not making any necessary changes and kinda just hoping for the best?

[standupsitdown]

Losing Wright after 5 minutes made a big difference. Holman gave the ball away far too often
Poor ref didn’t help.
With 15 minutes to go a draw would have been a reasonable result for both sides but Solihull made changes and took our defence apart at the end.

[Gloomy Gull]

Johnson was either too slow or too reluctant to make changes ....until the 85th minute ! Holman seemed to be playing as a solo striker (with some support from CLE) and was struggling badly in the second half. It needed Lolos to come on and give him some help.

Once the first goal was conceded we just seemed to lose any remaining shape and structure.

[Modgull]

That was a wake-up call for those who still harbour hopes for a 40 point run-in to the playoffs. We simply are not strong enough. Yes, there is plenty of skill in the team but we were bullied out of the game by a huge, fit and strong side from around the 70 minute mark.

Up until there was a chance of a 0-0 draw but we rarely looked like scoring - only 8 attempts all game and, whilst 6 were on target, they were generally tame affairs. Holman missed a golden chance to put us 1-0 up and Little did all he could to tee up CLE for a tap-in but that was it. By the end it could, and perhaps should, have been 3 or 4 goals against - McDonald made a great one-on-one save and Dallas blasted over the top when he should have done better.

Thought Little was a deserved MOTM for us but I don't agree that the referee was particularly poor - he certainly did not affect the result.

Couldn't understand why the subs came on so late - by Gary's own admission, they had been running the show well before they took the lead - and we looked desperate for reinforcements for most of the final quarter.

Well done the popside - another outstanding job of trying to raise the performance through the crowd support. Indeed almost 2,500 on such a cold night was an excellent turnout.

[bobbytanz1963]

Well that was a very beige performance ! Toothless in attack, chasing around after what was a reasonable Solihull side and never in a position to threaten. Comes to something when are attacking hopes are solely based on a 37 year old and without him then there’s nothing to worry the opposition.

The squad is paper thin I’m afraid, and oh we could do use a signing like Mark Ellis at the back.

Mid table mediocrity beckons and the season will slowly petter out.

GJ clearly doesn’t trust his bench hence the very late substitutions, and I’m still at a loss to see what Aaron Downes brings to the party as defensively we are naive at best and always back off the attacker allowing serious inroads to be made.

Good crowd though to witness a drab performance. Ref was appalling btw and did we really have claims for two pens brushed aside, felt there was one which could have gone our way.

[Willowgull]

Don't agree with those that say the ref was poor. No way were any of those 2 claims a penalty.
On reflection we competed for about 75% of the game and then ran out of steam. They had players on the bench to come on that would make a difference and we didn't, hence GJ making substitutions when it was too late.
I thought Winter did a decent job playing centre half and Martin played well. CLE was quiet and we had no threat up front.
All in all our squad is too thin to even contemplate making the playoffs.

[culmstockgull]

We were bang average last night, no matter how the manager and other pundits try to put a spin on it, there is no possible defence at this late stage of the season to claim injuries, covid and the lack of available replacements are responsible for a poor performance when the club has sat on its hands and wallet for the past twenty weeks. when wright got injured we were asking midfielders to be out and out strikers without that requisite instinct of a goalscorer. The solihull bench were better and more experienced than any of our players, this is not moaning its a fact.

[Nick Potkins]

We competed very well for 70 minutes, considering what we were up against and the players available. Loosing Danny early on set us further back. Solihul were quite simply bigger and stronger where it counts (in my view).

For the last twenty we became overrun and the writing was on the wall. The referee was poor, but in no way effected the result. Yes on another day we may have been awarded a penalty, but they were not penalties. Hall was not allowed back onto the pitch, which did not help in the build up to the opening goal, but play was still in his area and again the referee followed the rules, maybe harsh.

In summary we need to be bigger and stronger at this level.

[culmstockgull]

As Nick states we competed for 70 minutes considering what we were up against, and Solihull are nothing special for this league. Although not wrong in his assumption that is our reality now. In purely financial terms we are minnows in the Natioanl, we cannot afford a transfer fee let alone 300 K for a player as suggested that Wrexham have just done, we cannot pay 6K a week as suggested for Stockports Sarcevic so what can we do to compete.
Most clubs see the development of younsters as a financial lifeline but it is painfully obvious that Johson has little faith in the present youth set up at the club,it fails to deliver season on season, no one has come through this route in the last three seasons that warrants a regular place on the bench let alone a starting position unless we are crippled by injuries. Even at this late stage in his career I thonk Johnson has come to realise that untried youngsters are not the answer in this ever more competive league unless they have the talent of Sinclair and they are very rare.
The Hyperbole of the last few days where it has been said we need a bigger and stronger squad, is just that, empty words, No one who regularly watches the team believes we are going up or even achieving a play off place this season so why waste money on chasing a forlorn hope. If there is money it should be spent tying the few good players to longer contracts so we do not have another embarassing summer whereby players are introducing themselves to each other two weeks before the season starts.

[standupsitdown]

Sadly the Dagenham & Solihull games have confirmed that we are not as good as most of the teams above us - certainly not significantly better as we'd need to be in order to catch up ten or more points.
But at least since the Barnet & Aldershot defeats we have been picking up points and are easily mid-table, with no risk of going down.
I hope we can continue to pick up points so at least there's a very outside chance of play offs for a bit longer and the season isn't effectively over.