Torquay United v Cheltenham Town - 21/8/12

[AustrianAndyGull]

The Gulls are back at Plainmoor for the first home league encounter of the season when Cheltenham Town are the visitors making the relatively short journey down the M5. Martin Ling and his players will be looking to build on a solid if unspectacular performance away at FL new boys Fleetwood Town on saturday and will seek to gain some semblance of revenge against the side who dumped us out of the play offs last season. I feel we will require a little more urgency, positivity and movement in attacking positions than we saw at the weekend and i'd like Mackers given a starting berth preferably.

We all know about the Robins and their capabilities and boss Mark Yates has added experienced striker Shaun Harrad on loan from Bury and also former Gull Chris Zebroski who signed on a 2 year deal from Brizzle. They also have quality players like Marlon Pack and Jermaine McGlashan who can turn a game. Yates was quoted this week as saying that Harrad will score 20-25 goals this season with a good runout, i think he's clinically insane but i like his confidence.

They got their campaign off to a winning start by beating Dagenham & Redbridge 2-0 at Whaddon Road at the weekend with goals from Harrad and McGlashan but interestingly the stats show that the Daggers had far more attacks, far more shots at goal and far more corners. It's early days so a defeat is not the end of the world but i just feel that Martin needs to inject more pace and aggression into our performances at times. Make no mistake we're in for a hell of a season again and if we can bag the points on tuesday night then we'll have set the wheels well and truly in motion.

Obviously i won't be going to this one but if we can get in a good crowd and get some support going then i reckon we can cheer the lads on to a 2-0 victory. I don't know if any of the singers who usually frequent the pop will be going in the bench, it will effect the volume if so but i'm sure you lads on the back step will do us proud in my absence!!

So all in all, a 2-0 win for us, Howe and Morris and Zebs getting the arse on and getting booked then subbed!

Roll on tuesday!

[Trojan 67]

Chipnickers 2 Robins 1

:~D

[Dave]

Looking forward to this match, I think this game will be a very good early test of excatly were our squad is, I do admire the job Yates has done at Cheltenham and think he has built a very good team there with the right blend of young and experienced players.

I know this is only the second game, however I think it will go a long way to showing whether we are geniue promotion contenders or not, as there is little doubt in my mind Cheltenham will be in the mix come the seasons end.

Going to be a real tough game this one make no mistake about it.

[Hubert Parry]

Hello again! Good preview there and I think you will win. We played at pre-season friendly pace on Saturday and we shall have to play much better to come away with anything on Tuesday. I do think we have a slightly stronger team and squad, but I think Ling organises a side so well that it should come as no surprise to anyone if Torquay are pushing at the right end yet again this season. You will fortunate to not come up against Mohamed or Bennett on Tuesday and our squad in a 4x2x3x1 formation will be:

Brown

Jombati
Hooman
Elliott
Jones

Penn
Pack

McGlashan
Deering
Zebroski

Harrad

Roberts, Lowe, Andrew, Hanks, Graham, Goulding, Duffy

I think you will win a close encounter. We shall come away with some valuable lessons to learn and build for a promotion push for the rest of the season.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Cheers Hubert, i actually think you've got a very strong squad now and, like Forever says, i expect to see you up there come the end of the season too.

[Colorado Gull]

It will be a very tough game no doubt about that, whether you like to admit or not, Cheltenhamshire have a very good side and very similar to ourselves. I know a few lads from the singers are going down the end for this game (which I think is absolutely pointless) so the middle will have to work hard to get the atmosphere going, I'm sure we will! I think we could get the victory, but I predict that it'll be a draw!

[AustrianAndyGull]

Danny, just off topic mate did you get any footage from the Fleetwood game?

[Colorado Gull]

Yes I did Andy, I've got two videos that I took yesterday haven't been able to upload them yet. As I've got some time now, I'll start it now! It does take a while, however.

[AustrianAndyGull]

no worries mate, i've just been looking back through your archives on the youtube channel and loving every minute of them! Keep up the good work pal!

[Colorado Gull]

Thanks Andy! I will post them onto the 'TorquayFans.com YouTube channel' thread when they have successfully been uploaded! Was good to meet you for the first time on Saturday

[ferrarilover]

Not often I approach a game with a lack of confidence, but I think Cheltenham have the best squad in the division. They seem to me to be a bigger, faster version of last years team. I have a feeling that, unless we can play to our best and see past the flaws in Cruise (which we will) and Morris (which we won't), then we could be well beaten.

Matt.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Yeah likewise Danny although you looked a lot younger than i expected for some reason, how old are you? 18/19 summat around there? Not that it matters though!

[Hubert Parry]

Not often I approach a game with a lack of confidence, but I think Cheltenham have the best squad in the division. They seem to me to be a bigger, faster version of last years team. I have a feeling that, unless we can play to our best and see past the flaws in Cruise (which we will) and Morris (which we won't), then we could be well beaten.

Matt.

Matt. Whilst I think we have the potential to be as you say, we are far from being at that level after two competitive games. At this stage, results mean little in terms of how the table will finish. The performance and even the result will not determine whether we are promotion candidates or not. I think we are both two of the 12 or so that has a realistic ambition of promotion. I think you will win 1-0 or 2-1, but we shall finish slightly higher than you overall. I genuinely hope that it is in 1st and 2nd place although I fear it is more likely to be a playoff match up!

[ferrarilover]

Three points in August count for just as much as three points in May. Results do matter at this stage of the season because league points are at stake. Granted, we have much longer to overtake the teams we fall behind if we're a little off the pace early on, but once those three points are gone, they are gone forever, they cannot be 'made up', because the next three points which are won were available anyway.

You've kept the majority of last year's squad (so far as I can tell from my limited following of the ins and outs) and you have added Zedders (fast and big) and Harrad (not the goalscoring legend he is portrayed by some, but still decent enough for this level). I'm very worried by the looks of the team that strolled past Dagenham: Zebro[w]ski, Harrad, McGlashan, Deering, Pack, all excellent players who are more than capable of being much more than L2 on their day. If our midfield lines up as per Fleetwood, that line-up will smash us all over the place. Fortunately, Cruise (who, in all fairness to him, was a CB being played on the left wing) will be replaced by the much improved Macklin and hopefully Morris (who IS bloody frustrating, does a bunch of terrible things, then manages to redeem himself in the nick of time with a piece of neat play, which, for me, isn't enough to get him a starting place ahead of the excellent Nathan Craig) will be replaced by someone featuring the name Craig (either Nathan Craig or Craig Easton) to give us much more reliability, strength and creativity in the midfield.

Perhaps I'm being a little pessimistic, which wouldn't be like me at all, time will tell.

Matt.

[GazTheGull]

Three points in August count for just as much as three points in May. Results do matter at this stage of the season because league points are at stake. Granted, we have much longer to overtake the teams we fall behind if we're a little off the pace early on, but once those three points are gone, they are gone forever, they cannot be 'made up', because the next three points which are won were available anyway.

You've kept the majority of last year's squad (so far as I can tell from my limited following of the ins and outs) and you have added Zedders (fast and big) and Harrad (not the goalscoring legend he is portrayed by some, but still decent enough for this level). I'm very worried by the looks of the team that strolled past Dagenham: Zebro[w]ski, Harrad, McGlashan, Deering, Pack, all excellent players who are more than capable of being much more than L2 on their day. If our midfield lines up as per Fleetwood, that line-up will smash us all over the place. Fortunately, Cruise (who, in all fairness to him, was a CB being played on the left wing) will be replaced by the much improved Macklin and hopefully Morris (who IS bloody frustrating, does a bunch of terrible things, then manages to redeem himself in the nick of time with a piece of neat play, which, for me, isn't enough to get him a starting place ahead of the excellent Nathan Craig) will be replaced by someone featuring the name Craig (either Nathan Craig or Craig Easton) to give us much more reliability, strength and creativity in the midfield.

Perhaps I'm being a little pessimistic, which wouldn't be like me at all, time will tell.

Matt.

Don't worry, if we wanted an optimistic post, we would wait for Brucie

Doubt I'll make it to this game cos of Dad working, and difficult travelling from North Devon and back up to North Devon after a Torquay match (using public transport), so will be looking ahead to Rochdale on Saturday when he isn't working.