cheltenham town v torquay united - 13/5/12

[bixieupnorth]

bookies make us 11/10 to win thurs night, 11/4 by two goals, whihc isnt massive is it? less than 3/1 to force extra time, no away goals count remember!! 15/2 for a 3 goal win in normal time

[bixieupnorth]

9/1 outsiders for promotion now tho

[Dave]

Have we run out of steam, I don't know, is this the real TUFC,and we have just been found out I don't know that either.

At half time I was not worried, though we were unlucky to be 1 down, seem to be undone by a good goal, yet we had enough chances, Lathrope though had a good first half broke up afew Cheltenham attacks, and the defense seem to be together, which was a positive.

What the hell happened in the second half, 1 down you have to at times bust a gut for the ball, we seemed slugish, at walkng pace at times, however keep it at 1.0 not to much damage done.

They geta second from awful defending, sorry I just get this thing with Ellis, he went charging 30 yrds up the pitch for a ball that was droping to Mansell, Ellis called for it, got in Mansell way, Ellis is now right out position, ball breaks to them, crossed in easy header 2.0, now we are right in it.

He keeps doing this, Ellis, just learn at times all you have to do is hold your postion, and let the player in position, deal with the danger, as Mansell would have done with ease.

Saah first class today, best defender at the club by a million miles.

All that said it's H/T and 2.0 is doable, think we need to have a go, just aswell go down fighting, and you never know.

Forgot to say, nice to a few from the forum, Danny, Oxgull, Regiment , Nick and all.

[Northumbergull]

If Man City can do it, so can weeeeeeee!

Well done City, btw. Fergie moaning on about the 5 minutes injury time as if it was time ADDED ON! Hahahaha!

Cheers

Bruce

[gullintwoplaces]

Very disappointed today. We were on top for 15 minutes, then started to lose confidence and our game slowly fell to pieces. Cheltenham gave the Gulls players little space, gobbled up virtually every long high ball and looked more up for it. Having said that, we still created chances, and were unlucky not to score. When we took the ball wide and then either crossed or took the ball into the box, we were dangerous. The long high balls pumped up from the middle after Howe went off were a waste of time, I don't think Atieno won any of these.

We still have a chance, albeit a slim one. An early goal for the Gulls is what we need, fingers crossed.

[Colorado Gull]

Literally just got back and I am very disappointed with the team today. The formation was wrong; we should have played 4-4-2 and shouldn't have played Rene Howe, because he was injured before the game. We looked a threat when in the first 10-15 minutes, but when Howe went off injured we were a different side. We played it around nicely at times, had many chances and should have scored at least one.

In the second half it was simply terrible. Everyone bar Saah was off the pace, with O'Kane, Morris and Atieno playing appallingly! We persisted in playing 4-5-1 until Lathrope came on for LRT. Today was a very disappointing day.

Obviously anything can happen in football, but IMHO we won't be going to Wembley and we will be playing league 2 football next year.

[NW1919]

I thought you were unlucky today not to get at least a goal. When the ball was kept on the deck you looked a decent footballing team but way too many times you relied on "hoof ball" and Cheltenham were winning all those balls.

Good luck for Thursday via SKY I shall be cheering you on.

[Chris B]

Did Morris really play as badly as most are suggesting?!

I notice Gulliball is an anomaly in also putting him in his MOTM list, but for me he was our best player in the 1st half. He looked composed on the ball, retained possession, and had a couple of decent shots. Although he tailed off after the break and got ridiculously trigger-happy, I thought his overall contribution was pretty positive.

[yellow]

Agree with you Forza, but I also think that we have run out of players as well.

I thought the story of the match was that Atieno ain’t no Rene.

Equally NRT is generally used to run down time. But to get a goal back?

But football is a fickle old fellow. If Jarvis had scored that sitter then at 2-1 we would have the momentum. At the moment it rests with Cheltenham. An early goal on Thursday will change that momentum.

Trouble is that we are generally set up to nick 1-0s and to counter attack. This will be unchartered territory.

[Gulliball]

I thought Morris and Jarvis were the best of a bad bunch, bar Saah who had a good game.

Morris got involved and had a few decent efforts. Not brilliant, but the best we had going forward.

[Dave_Pougher]

Cheltenham deserved to win, we didn't. Simples.

Still believe we can pull back the deficit. Can't be as bad as today surely.

Agreed,, although it will take a massive effort one I'm not sure we have in us.

I have nothing but respect for ML and his team and what they have done this season.

The wrting was on the wall I feel when no loans were brought in at the end of the loan window. A decision I can't help think wasn't Lingys. We had a once in a life time opportunity this season to be Devons top club and it's probably now gone.

With respect to the board and all they have achieved,we need on big occasions to think big time not small time, we currently think small time in the boardroom and that has to change.

[stevegull]

Morris was fine, just a few wasteful efforts from distance, but at least he was trying to go for it!

For me the biggest disappointment was Atieno. His first touch was terrible and he won little or anything in the air. Even when it was played into his feet he lost it most of the time. It shows how crucial that 'leading forward' role is in our team. They need to hold the ball long enough for people to bomb on past them. But Manse and O'Kane could hardly get forwaard to help him, let alone Nico and Oastler. I hope we go for it on Thursday, I'd even like to see McPhee up top with Atieno. Apparently McPhee knew where the net was at Kiddy, so no harm in getting him on the pitch.

[oxgull]

Have we run out of steam, I don't know, is this the real TUFC,and we have just been found out I don't know that either.

At half time I was not worried, though we were unlucky to be 1 down, seem to be undone by a good goal, yet we had enough chances, Lathrope though had a good first half broke up afew Cheltenham attacks, and the defense seem to be together, which was a positive.

What the hell happened in the second half, 1 down you have to at times bust a gut for the ball, we seemed slugish, at walkng pace at times, however keep it at 1.0 not to much damage done.

They geta second from awful defending, sorry I just get this thing with Ellis, he went charging 30 yrds up the pitch for a ball that was droping to Mansell, Ellis called for it, got in Mansell way, Ellis is now right out position, ball breaks to them, crossed in easy header 2.0, now we are right in it.

He keeps doing this, Ellis, just learn at times all you have to do is hold your postion, and let the player in position, deal with the danger, as Mansell would have done with ease.

Saah first class today, best defender at the club by a million miles.

All that said it's H/T and 2.0 is doable, think we need to have a go, just aswell go down fighting, and you never know.

Forgot to say, nice to a few from the forum, Danny, Oxgull, Regiment , Nick and all.

You too Forever. I can't see us getting away with this one and it's so disapointing to slip from 2nd in the league to bowing out in the PO semis. Yes I know we could pull it around but, to me, it looked like we have run out of steam. Ellis was at fault for the second when he went on walkabout and was awol right at the wrong time. As you said we may as well go for it all guns blazing and go down 0 - 3 over all as long as we have a go. Fair play to Cheltenham today as they were the better side and got in behind us far too easily and we were pretty punchless upfront for the most part. Still, the future could be bright for us if the right players come in during the summer and a few make for the exit door as always happens. Fingers crossed for an early goal on Thursday and lets see what happens.

[royalgull]

Unfortunately this decision to not add to our squad whoever it was by has completely backfired and this season which could have been so unbelievably great has now fizzled out into just being a well done that was excellent season but nothing ultimately achieved. Make no mistake this tie is absolutely 100% over as without Howe there is no chance of us scoring twice.

Onto today well I'm still annoyed at our 2nd half display. 1st half was ok, we created a couple of good chances of which Jarvis and Howe should have both done better but as ever we fail to make those chances count. Eunan was pulling the strings, Cheltenham never looked like hurting us and we're 1-0 down.

The 2nd half was just awful, Cheltenham were light years better than us, should have scored about 5 goals if it wasn't for a couple of last ditch blocks and clearances, what summed us up was their centre forward makes it 2-0 with a header. We go straight up the other end and hit the bar with a 10x easier one.

We just never score any goals as our forward players other than Howe are substandard at best and not good enough at worst. I can never fault our effort or endeavour but sadly in Cheltenham I saw everything we don't have. They look like a L2 promotion side, power and strength at the back, tidy central midfielders, rapid wingers and a massive depth in strikers. 4 to be precise. If things didn't go Cheltenham's way today they could look to their bench and bring on Duffy, Goulding, Smikle, we're losing and we bring on a left back to play out wide. A complete lack of depth in the forwards and plan B has ultimately killed us this season. You will nearly always see the teams with the best strikers go up and if I was a Cheltenham fan I'd feel very confident right now that they could win the whole thing.

What a waste.

[rodneyjackjackjack]

I thick we should start planning for next season as of today. Very disappointing....again