TorquayFans.com | Torquay United Fans Forum

Still on way home so can't post full report.......

We were great, unlucky not to win. Some of the passing was outrageously good from us. Tactically spot on.

Ellis badly at fault for first goal, caught in possession. Had a poor game by his standards but fortunately branston and robbo were on top form. Shrews only came near our goal twice, bevan won't need to have his kit washed this week.

Eunan O'kane was outstanding, it's worth trying to find a way of accomdating him. Had added a bit of bite to his game. Mansell was outstanding too, wroe started well but his head dropped after the penalty miss and he was never quite the same again.

The penalties - first one never ever should have been given, keeper cleanly got the ball in my eyes so justice was done. Second one was stonewall, don't know how the ref hesitated. Shrews fans were berating the ref for the whole game and will probably blame the result on him - that's just a smokescreen for their own shortcomings.

Carlisle nearly had a goal of the season contender, but hit the post.

To sum up, things aren't all bad. More than matched one of the league favourites on their own patch, just like at vale. 4-5-1 does work SOMETIMES, perhaps not all but it does have it's place. I wasn't at the home games this week, but things certainly aren't all doom and gloom on the pitch as I thoughtthey might be.

Right, where to start. That ground was the best League 2 ground I think I've ever seen. It looked brilliant, and it was very professional, with shuttle buses going from places all over the town, and with the mini pitches and such just outside, I can imagine that renting them out brings just a little bit more money into the club.

Onto the game.

If I were a Shrew tonight then I'd be pleased to come with our unbeaten home record still in tact.

As Jeff says, we were excellent. Passed them off their own pitch, and the football was the best I have seen since the days of Alex Russell splashing the ball out left right and centre. O'Kane, Mansell and Wroe were great; I was delighted with the way Wroe reacted to missing the penalty. It was a terrible penalty; but as Jeff says, one that probably shouldn't have been given as I think both keeper and Elliot touched the ball at the same time. The second was a blatant penalty, only spotted by the lino, and the keeper was close to that one aswell, but thankfully it snook in.

After their goal, and Wroe missing, I feared the worst. I had thoughts of a 5/6-0 demolition job coming our way. But no. We didn't panic. We stayed calm, passed it around, bided our time, and that worked perfectly. Shrewsbury were played off the pitch; Zebs caused havoc down one side, and Nicho and Stevens worked well on the other. O'Kane was everywhere - one really impressive thing for me was when Shrewsbury broke from our corner - O'Kane sprinted back 70 yards, right to our own goalline, to tackle their winger and pass it away. Commitment, that was.

Benyon was struggling with any aerial balls put towards him, but that was to be expected against 6 footers Sharps and Cansdell-Sherriff.

We were extremely unlucky as we continued to pass the time away, when Wayno hit the post in the 88th minute or whatever.

It was our best performance of the season - miles better than the games last month, and hopefully a sign that we're out of that bad patch.

One negative for me was the fact that we moved to 8th in the table, but its still fairly early days, and its not as if the top 7 are miles ahead already.

Congrats to Paul Buckle and the team for a performance that was a total joy to watch, and also well done to the drummer (awayday?) for creating a decent atmosphere in quite a tough stand to do so in. I'd imagine you'd need 300/400 to make some decent amount of noise in there, but we did well today.

Oh and one more thing, well done to the fans for not getting on the players backs, shouting at them. We kept supporting, and were unlucky not to come back with 3 points. Shrews fans were very fickle.

I think the fact that a Shrewsbury fan came up to me and my dad after the game saying 'how the bloody hell did you lot lose 3-1 to Macclesfield last week? You were brilliant today'

Echo the above reports although I thought it was Branston that slipped up for their goal, not Ellis.

Brilliant performance, full of passion and commitment and sublime passing. All our players worked their socks up and I also had Shrewsbury fans saying how good we were and that we deserved all three points.

If we continue to play like this then we'll be in the mix come the end of the season.

**Makes note to take glasses with him to football from now on :Oops:

First game of the season for me (thank you Kenny!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Ellis I do believe was at fault for the goal.
Branston, O'Kane and Stephens I thought were excellent.
Man stood next to my dad at Brooklands hotel looked much like Southampton gulls mugshot
Passing was fantastic, just need to get some goals in.

HRG wrote:First game of the season for me (thank you Kenny!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Ellis I do believe was at fault for the goal.

Passing was fantastic, just need to get some goals in.

It was indeed Ellis - although I thought he'd passed it across the box instead of just dallying with the ball.

As for the goals; thats one problem with the 4-4-1-1. If we could have another striker on then we would be unplayable (if we played like we did yesterday).

Still, teams like Liverpool and Arsenal do one up top, with the goals coming in from midfield and the wingers aswell. If Zebs can start scoring again then we could be well away.

I still think that 4-4-2 is necessary at home games though. We have to pressurize teams more.

To anyone who says O'Kane cant battle and midfield and cope with the physicality of league 2 - You are wrong, O'Kane made some great tackles yesterday and never stopped running, he looks like an even better player when Wroe is in centre mid, speaking of wroe, I thought his performance was an improvement, he made some good one-two's when wayne came on, and made some great passes to Danny the other side of the pitch. Yesterday in the first half, we set out with 4-5-1, but they seemed to sit back a hell of a lot, so we seemed to go almost 4-3-3. Maybe that could be an option at home, obviously if 4-4-2 doesnt work. Overall yesterday, we played some good football, and came away with a great result, onwards and upwards!

O'Kane wan't playing in a 4-4-2 though yesterday was he?

HRG wrote:Man stood next to my dad at Brooklands hotel looked much like Southampton gulls mugshot

Your Dad didn't get half his pint knocked out his hand at the bar (by the bloke looking like the mugshot) in Brooklands did he????

brucie wrote:O'Kane wan't playing in a 4-4-2 though yesterday was he?

Does the formation affect one's ability to tackle?

Face it, O'Kane is class and will continue to be until the day we sell him for a six figure sum.

Matt.

ferrarilover wrote: Does the formation affect one's ability to tackle?

Face it, O'Kane is class and will continue to be until the day we sell him for a six figure sum.

Matt.

Exactly.

Glad to hear we put it together yesterday. Thanks for the reports, lads!

Cheers

Bruce

Awayday wrote:
Your Dad didn't get half his pint knocked out his hand at the bar (by the bloke looking like the mugshot) in Brooklands did he????

Oh dear, no, pint remained firmly in hand.

SouthamptonGull wrote:**Makes note to take glasses with him to football from now on :Oops:

I wished I remembered you posted this whilst we were at Swindon.....and I quote.

SG - I can't see a bloody thing without my glasses :evil: !!!!
Awayday - Where did you leave them :?
SG - They are here in my coat pocket
Awayday -