What a great day yesterday and what a result. It was my first time at Cheltenham since 2004 and I, like many other fans would have taken a draw from this game. However, with Cheltenham in poor form as of late and with us winning ALL games in 2012, maybe I should have been more optimistic. I spoke to some Cheltenham fans in their supporters club, who were very friendly and said and I quote “You are the team to beatâ€. They are absolutely right and, I don’t know how, have won ALL 7 games in 2012. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the season......I’m going to say no-one.
As for the game well we played some very nice football. When we got the ball down and passed the ball we looked like the better side. “We only win 1-0†should be a new song for the Yellow Army as it was our 4th in a row, but if we keep it tight at the back (which is what we are doing) and take the chances that we are creating, we will stay at the top of the table fighting for promotion.
The goal was a sign of how good our central defenders are when going forward. The movement of Ellis was class. He moved ever so slightly towards the ball which leads two defenders to mark him. Then Saah was left alone to head the ball across to Morris who put it in the net. Our defence is on top form at the moment, defending very well and clearing away the danger as soon as possible. We are now a threat at set pieces as well. We kept it tight throughout the whole game and deserved the victory. The only thing I was disappointed in was that we weren’t going forward too much in the 2nd half. We were sitting back and defending, we defended well but I would have liked it if we went forward to try and get another goal (which I thought we could have got).
Bobby: He made some great saves to keep the score at 1-0 and made some brave challenges to retrieve the ball. I got into the ground 45 minutes before kick off to watch the players train and I have to say the goal keeping warm up is fantastic .Nonstop shots are aimed at Bobby; it really was great to watch. Bobby put in his usual 100% effort and played very well. Some of his kicks went a little wayward, but that can’t dampen his performance at all.
Oastler: Joe was brilliant on the right last night. He defended fantastically well and he did well going forward also. He was put under pressure a lot of the time, but dealt with it well at the back. I think he enjoyed his new song too.
Saah: He was my MOTM last night, he defended superbly. He headed and cleared the ball very well and set up the goal. But his highlight was a quite stunning header of the line. The ball was going in, it went over his head, but he managed to head it out and clear. A fantastic performance from Saah and he has replaced Robbo fantastically well straight away.
Ellis: Mark played very well at the back also. The whole defence was put under pressure in the 5 minutes of stoppage time and Ellis was very cool and cleared away any danger. He also headed very well; I think Saah and Ellis are a very good pair at the back.
Nicholson: Nico was very good on the left and was also put under pressure at the back like Oastler. However he also dealt with it superbly and cleared away danger brilliantly. He passed the ball linking up with Eunan, Morris and Mansell very well. His cross from the corner was a good one; it was high and went straight onto Saah’s head. His footballing brain is very important in our team.
Mansell: Manse put in his usual 100% effort, tackling and passing really well. He did very well at RB in the last 5 minutes, defending to try and keep the score at 1-0. However he is much better in the middle and he is a great skipper.
Lathrope/Mcphee/Howe: Damon started very well tackling and passing with class, but unfortunately he had to go off. A free kick was awarded to Cheltenham and Lathrope closed down the player who took the free kick. The ball was struck very hard and it bounced off Lathrope’s foot. He got up straight away but he could not continue. This was a great opportunity for Mcphee to get a chance in CM. There wasn’t much confidence in the fans (including me) when we saw Mcphee getting ready to come on. But I was very impressed by Mcphee’s performance. He tackled well and linked up with Oastler and other players well also. Sadly Mcphee had to go off, due to a nasty cut to the nose, when he defended at the back. He showed bravery when going into a collision with Bobby and a couple of Cheltenham players. Howe came on to replace him and was a great presence up front and helped keeping the ball in the corner.
O’Kane: Eunan showed us his class in the middle, beating players and passing well. He linked up with Mansell, Nicholson and other players with skill. He made a couple of mistakes, but luckily our defence was on top form to put an end to any incoming danger.
Morris: Ian is getting better and better each game. He is doing very well on the wing, linking up with players around him and finding himself in good positions to have a shot at goal. He was in a great position for the goal and scored that all important goal. He defended quite well towards the end of the game too.
Atieno: Tai played well at the front last night. I thought that he played better in the first half than the second half, but his overall performance was good. He got up well for headers and linked up with Eunan, Danny etc very well.
Stevens/Rowe-Turner: Danny played well on the wing and when he used his pace he went passed 2 or 3 players with ease. He was a very tricky player to defend and he linked up with players as well. Danny is also getting better and better each game and long may that continue. When Stevens came off LRT replaced him. Rowe-Turner did his part defending and made another great run up field to keep the ball in the corner. LRT is a great player to bring on with about 10 minutes to go to keep the play tight, neat and tidy. He gives you confidence when he comes on, because you know he is going to put in 100% effort to defend.
The Torquay fans were brilliant as usual. 461 made the journey and I’m convinced that if the game was on a Saturday that number would have doubled. The atmosphere was fantastic and it got better towards the end of the game. The drum was superb as usual and a lot of the fans came together to sing their hearts out!
I have two videos from the game and I will upload them onto Youtube ASAP.
I love being a TUFC fan at the moment and I am overwhelmed by the way we are playing and the results we’re getting. Who would have thought that we’d get 6 points from the last couple of games? Again I’m going to say no-one. But every fan is loving the football and I hope it can last and I hope we can go on now and fight for an automatic spot.
Yellow Army!
Formerly dannyrvtufc4life.
