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Thought we were OK today against a good Newport side. Impressed by both Hurst and Butler. Also thought number 11 looked a real threat. Ajala with better delivery. Is he ours?

We are going 3-5-2 which is bold for a conference side. Exodus looked pretty handy in the centre of the three. His throws are going to cause carnage. We really need a midfield enforcer.

Decent crowd just thankful that there's still a club to support. On today's evidence I'm not expecting us to compete properly until Christmas, there's a lot of work to be done.

Midfield definitely requires attention. Richards has never really regained his confidence from being played at the back.
Luke Young is not exactly a box to box midfielder. Maybe that's part of his game that needs to improve. We do need someone who can break up the oppositions play.

drummergull90 wrote:Thought we were OK today against a good Newport side. Impressed by both Hurst and Butler. Also thought number 11 looked a real threat. Ajala with better delivery. Is he ours?

We are going 3-5-2 which is bold for a conference side. Exodus looked pretty handy in the centre of the three. His throws are going to cause carnage. We really need a midfield enforcer.

Decent crowd just thankful that there's still a club to support. On today's evidence I'm not expecting us to compete properly until Christmas, there's a lot of work to be done.

Agree Hurst and Butler suited 3-5-2 and looked good!

Was 11 Sheppard? if so yes he's signed for us

Not a bad game really, and plenty for Cox to work on . We definitely could do with someone to break up play in midfield, as already mentioned, but also a lump up top. Our full backs are looking like great signings, but my motm today was Briscoe, he looked excellent in the second half particularly, he's creative, put in a shift, and brought others into play. I think he could be important this season.

Sorry to be less positive about today's performance but I think PC has an enormous task to complete the assembly of a reasonable squad.

Succeses include the wing backs, McDonald and Briscoe. Marsh, Murombedzi and Fairhurst were OK.

But for some reason Richards and Yound do not seem to be able to play together - time and again their defence broke up play and their midfield waltzed through ours to set up goals and chances - despite playing three central defenders. Up front we were pretty toothless. Basically the spine of the team looked weak - we need an experienced keeper, another experienced defender, another experienced midfielder and a central striker to replace Bowman.

Didn't see too much to excite amongst the trialists.

OllieGull wrote:Team and subs if anyone wants to try and do some digging on the trialists:
TUFC XI : GK Luke Simpson, Hurst, Butler, Jamie Richards, MacDonald, Briscoe, Young (c), Marsh, Yeoman, Courtney Richards, Geohaghon
Subs: Jide Moake, Fairhurst, Murombedzi, Arlando Lewis, Chaney, Femi Uranugu, James Ball, GK Lavercombe

Thanks for this Olliegull. I now know who the players were ! I don't usually bother with friendlies but curiosity to have a look at all these new players got the better of me ! First impressions? Impressed with the two full backs, Hurst & Butler. Marsh did okay. I thought no. 4 was a triallist - turns out he was Jamie Richards, then. Oh dear - didn't exactly cover himself with glory today. For goalkeeper, read Martin Rice. Simpson did not command the area and looked vulnerable on crosses. Exodus - big guy, big throw but didn't look very mobile to me. Yeoman, so frustrating - just didn't stamp himself on the game.

Second half - Murombedzi had his moments, better than Cameron but not as good as Daniel. James Ball (or was it Hall?) looked as if he was on loan from Galmpton (no disrespect to Galmpton), Jide Moake - sort of okay but didn't stand out. Fairhust is an exact replica of Briscoe but showed more than Marsh or Yeoman I thought. Arlando Lewis - I thought he was O'Neil Odofin - didn't impress me at all. Sam Chaney looked good during the short time he was on and so did Femi Uranugu (I thought for a few minutes that Ajala had returned !!).

Overall view - a work in progress but I have a feeling that Paul Cox will improve the team as the season goes along rather than we start well and fizzle out as we did last season. Of the triallists today, I'd certainly give Uranugu a bit more game time. Not sure about any of the others. Agree that Louis Briscoe was our man of the match. For a friendly, it wasn't a bad game. Ref thought it was all very amusing !

It was nice to be back at Plainmoor this afternoon albeit for a friendly. I think the game was very even in the first half but after half time, we lost all shape and composure and most importantly a few of the regulars were rested so it was a team of misfits.

I liked the look of Butler, Marsh and in particular Hurst. I also liked the look of Geoghan at the back. He'll certainly make his presence felt at corners and has a decent long throw. Does anyone know who the number 12 was in the second half up front? He looked decent and I'd like to see him again. Wasn't impressed by Fairhurst in the second half but the support and creativity of Briscoe and Young was gone by then.

We definitely need to strengthen the midfield though as I'm afraid Courtney Richards doesn't look good enough for our level.

Finally, a nice positive to end on......Lavercombe looked very comfortable this afternoon and I think (fingers crossed) we have a real gem in the bank with him.

I'm not sure what sort of side we sent but we won the tournement at Weymouth today. Beating Weymouth & Bournemouth both 2-0 but we lost to Totton 1-0.

Burnhamgull wrote: Does anyone know who the number 12 was in the second half up front? He looked decent and I'd like to see him again. Finally, a nice positive to end on......Lavercombe looked very comfortable this afternoon and I think (fingers crossed) we have a real gem in the bank with him.

Basing my answer on Olliegull's line up and a process of elimination, I think no. 12 was Jide Moake. Agree with you about young Dan. If Simpson is signed, Lavercombe will be our no. 1 keeper for sure !

I thought Moake was No 6;think Arlando Lewis was No 12.

taxilady wrote:I thought Moake was No 6;think Arlando Lewis was No 12.

Ah - you could be right. I assumed with a name like Arlando, he most be a central defender ..... like Exodus. If you are right, I'm wrong in my previous post. It was the central defender who came on in the second half who didn't impress me. If Arlando Lewis was no. 12, he was okay-ish.

Looking on Wiki for a couple of players background, Luke Simpson was once wanted by both Man Utd and Celtic so he must have something about him. He was offered a short-term contract with Accy but turned it down and left them in January. It doesn't say what he's been doing since January so he might be rather match rusty. Wiki says he's 6ft 3 ins. Didn't look it to me. Femi Uruganu who I thought looked quite good when he came on for about 20 mins at the end played for Gloucester City last season but only played 4 games. Everton paid Southend £30,000 for him at one stage but he didn't stay there long.

Arlando Lewis wasn't a centre half - played in attack at Tiverton and did absolutely nothing - I am suprised he got another game yesterday.

brucie wrote:Arlando Lewis wasn't a centre half - played in attack at Tiverton and did absolutely nothing - I am suprised he got another game yesterday.

Thanks for that, Brucie. He was sort of okay yesterday but nothing more. It's harsh to judge on just one match. The centre half who played in the second half yesterday must have been Jide Moake. Don't know anything about him but he looked worse than average - completely out of his depth. By the way, what did you think of Jamie Bell, another triallist, at Tiverton? I wasn't impressed with him yesterday.

AlexGulls wrote:I'm not sure what sort of side we sent but we won the tournement at Weymouth today. Beating Weymouth & Bournemouth both 2-0 but we lost to Totton 1-0.

Forgot about that, given the current squad I'm guessing the first 11 fans that turned up got given Torquay shirts and pointed towards the pitch...

PhilGull wrote: Forgot about that, given the current squad I'm guessing the first 11 fans that turned up got given Torquay shirts and pointed towards the pitch...

Bit on the website about it now. I only know who scored through Twitter and had never heard of any of them. Though for those that care we the ones who scored were Ollie Pearce and Liam Quinn in the 2-0 win against Bournemouth (http://www.afcb.co.uk/news/article/tour ... 56113.aspx) and Tevin Summerfield and Ollie Pearce scored against Weymouth.
(http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/sport/13463 ... ent_prize/) also notes we had Gus Jauss and goalkeeper Matt Cafer playing for us.