Forest Green Rovers v Torquay United – Tuesday 30th Sept

[Dave_Pougher]

Not a good night, only heard that CH,was sent to stands as I walked out, not good, that has to be addressed and soon. Lee Hughes lashed out with an elbow with intent right in front of the ref if that isn't a striaght red don't know what is. FGR are better than Hughes they spread the ball well and had pace that we seemed to lack. Lost count of how many we gave the ball away straight to their player. We only really tested their keeper a couple of times. Their first goal looked suspiciously off side and the Lino went to raise his flag and changed his mind when the ref gave the goal. But on the whole no complaints they were better than us.

[brucie]

So we didn't lose because of the ref - even though everyone is saying that their first goal was offside, We get players sent off repeatedly yet an opposition player lashes out with an elbow doesn't get sent off and our player who gets elbowed gets a yellow card.

[Glostergull]

So you all throw your toys out of the pram with commnet that show you as not being there. Get real guys. Some of you have let our run on success recently go to your heads. and others seriously need to get a life.
Ref cannot be blamed for out performance tonight. We threw it away ourslelves. The first goal for them should have easily been cleared. we lost out form and discipline and it bobbled in front of their guy. if we had done the job properly either the ball should be cleared well before or the guy who scored should have been marked and not allowed to be in the box as free as a bird. I was right behind the goal. so was not quite in the right position to see clearly if anyone was in line with him. several players were in the six yard area and yet he was on his own. We lost out cool after that. No good blaming the ref, The sending off and bookings over the season so far tell its own story. Discipline is costing us and much as I like CH as a guy and so far his playing tactics. His handling of discipline needs looking at. He has to sit down and think about what message he sends to players when he is sent off. Hughes and Achie. I saw most of it. I may have missed a tiny snippet of the action but it was both tangling with each other. Hughes may have been having a go but Achie didn't help himself with having a go back. Both got booked as a result. if Ajalas sending off was fair then the other tackle by their guy was and should have resulted in the same treatment,
That said. we started off brightly. scored when we had the game by the rough of the neck. Now if we can learn from this. and keep our heads while others loose theirs then we will win games. We threw the game away tonight.
Positives. Good support from our fans. Although not impressed by fan who decided to keep the ball when it flew into the crowd, Sorry guys. but its not your proprty and professional balls are around £70 each. theft is theft. If it's not returned . you can dress it up all you like. But you would be round to old Bill in a hurry if it happened to you. Doesnt matter that it was one of FGR balls. it may have even been a TUFC ball. If you have any decency; return it please.
Songs from our lot left me laughing. HAve you ever eaten meat. went down well. and we even had more songs than normal. so why dont we sing em at plainmoor. oops osrry Luanna luanna vanaramam Bananarama stadium.
I know I take the mick out of the food but it does genuinely seem popular Even if the badgers have been culled locally. Not sure what happened at our end of the ground but Police were waiting to arrest someone as they came out the toilets. And there seemed there was a problem at the end of the match too. Hope it wasn't too serious. shame it prevented me having a chat with Lanky. we could have had come faggots chips and peas
Poor support from their lot but then it's a village team in the middle of nowhere and unlikely to gain any more than a few hundred suppporters such is the population of the area. more a rugby area really. funny to hear us sing about them tho. We forgot that you were here and others as well
Oh well onto next game. hope we can get our discepline under control then we can start winning games again

[njgull]

Curious about so many people saying their first goal was offside, commentary said there was no way it was offside, we'd just cleared it off the line so if we had a defender on the line to clear it how could they possibly be offside? Perplexing.

On a more comical note after I lamented on Twitter about the ongoing stupidity of our players one of our players girlfriends unfollowed me. Well, I thought that was amusing but then again I'm easily amused.

[brucie]

Yes its always struck me that their fans are the quietest I have ever seen. I think you are getting the players mixed up though - Ajala didn't play and the incident concerning Hughes was with Macdonald not O Archie, so even though i wasn't there I seem to have a more accurate view of what happened than you did.
Mind you O'Archie and Macdonald are easily confused.

[brucie]

Because if the goalkeeper was further out than the player who scored and there was only one player on the line then he is clearly offside.

[Kernowgull]

Curious about so many people saying their first goal was offside, commentary said there was no way it was offside, we'd just cleared it off the line so if we had a defender on the line to clear it how could they possibly be offside? Perplexing.

On a more comical note after I lamented on Twitter about the ongoing stupidity of our players one of our players girlfriends unfollowed me. Well, I thought that was amusing but then again I'm easily amused.

Rice was in front of the player who scored, so I think he was offside. However brucies comment is laughable. You can blame a ref for a result if you are robbed, not when you look incapable of passing the ball to anyone wearing the same colour shirt for 45 minutes.

[Burnhamgull]

The ref cannot be solely blamed for tonights defeat. Their goal may have been offside but once everybody around you starts shouting and protesting, your judgement gets clouded so I'd have to see if back on TV before I could be certain.

The discipline is a major problem because we are rapidly going to develop a reputation for being dirty and referees will come prepared to dish out cards to "keep us in line". This will result in silly cards and ultimately suspensions at critical times of the season.

The other thing to concern me this evening was our total inability to retain possession of the ball. Time after time, our players punted the ball upfield with no real direction or plan to get it to anyone. It was headless chicken mode. At a time when we were down to 10 men and our manager was watching through the glass door at the opposite end of the pitch, we needed to hold onto the ball but instead we just banged it forward every time we got it. It became embarrassing.

Two defeats in a row doesn't make us a bad team. We have to remember that our wins came against part time teams who will all be struggling come the end of the season. When we play better teams, that's when we'll be tested and so far I'd say we're looking like a mid table team. Something to build on.

[brucie]

Kenowgull - Forest Green scored two goals in the match. If the referee doesn't know the rules then what chance have you got. It doesn't matter how badly we played. Their first goal obviously shouldn't have stood so we wouldn't have lost the match.

[tomogull]

Kenowgull - Forest Green scored two goals in the match. If the referee doesn't know the rules then what chance have you got. It doesn't matter how badly we played. Their first goal obviously shouldn't have stood so we wouldn't have lost the match.

...... and the Radio Devon commentators both agreed there was a blatant foul on Mc Donald before the second goal. However, those who were at the match seem to agree that Forest Green were the better side and that was the impression listening to the second half commentary.

I wasn't there, but before Richards was sent off, he committed a foul which had the commentators saying 'he has to be careful'. I wonder if those who were at the match thought that Wakefield should have replaced Richards before the red card incident ? Presumably on Sat Yeoman and Wakefield will start ...... unless Briscoe partners Bowman up front and Ajala comes back in. Have we got five fit players to fill the subs bench ????

[Kit_robin]

At no point in the game did I think Richards was in danger of being sent off. The ref didn't talk to him at any point and he hadn't committed any borderline fouls either. I actually think the second yellow was fair but took umbrage at the first as an FGR player had had a warning for a similar incident a few minutes earlier.

While were talking about the ref, Hughes made a simulated head but gesture to MacDonald at the end - was this not the same thing Bowman got sent off for against Southport. Didn't affect the game as it was in injury time, but highlights the inconsistency between referees at this level.

I also thought the first goal was offside. Not sure radio devon got it quite right when (if) they said the shit was cleared off the line, as I thought it ricocheted off a pile of bodies that were about 3 yards out, while Parkin was standing on the post.

I agree with others though, the referee was the least of our problems tonight. We had three opportunities to clear the ball for the first goal, and tonge and cruise showed their shortcomings for the second; a terrible clearance from tongue, and a completely static Cruise marking no one on the back post as he watches a forward tap the ball into the net 3 yards ahead of him. I remember many instances last year of him doing the same thing (cost us a goal at accrington being the worst) and this is what REALLY worries me about cruise - not only is he crap, he makes the same mistakes over and over and doesn't seem to learn.

I felt that the team lacked confidence in the second half and were unable to dig themselves out of the pattern of hoof ball they had been forced into by FGRs high pressing. I have no doubt that all the CH hoo hah at HT had an affect - these are young lads and they need guiding, it's very easy to upset young men mentally. Think I'm right in saying that of our outfield players only tonge and Briscoe were over 25. We have to accept that a young team will lose control of some games and find it difficult to show their ability. Im looking for a bit of a reaction on Saturday with a heads up, gutsy display and a bit more belief in their own ability. That's probably down to CH.

[ferrarilover]

We gave them possession at every opportunity, the referee was chairman of the FGR supporters association and it STILL took an offside goal to beat us.

If the boot had been on the other foot, it would have been a massacre.

Two away games in four days, scored 4, conceded 6, three men sent off (despite there only being one bad challenge in the entire 180 minutes). Very strange few days. Back to normality, please Christian.

Matt.

[Scott Brehaut]

Last season we couldn't score for shit.

Now we've found our scoring boots, the defenders have decided to ship in the goals.

So bloody infuriating!!

[Neal]

So you all throw your toys out of the pram with commnet that show you as not being there. Get real guys. Some of you have let our run on success recently go to your heads. and others seriously need to get a life.
Ref cannot be blamed for out performance tonight. We threw it away ourslelves. The first goal for them should have easily been cleared. we lost out form and discipline and it bobbled in front of their guy. if we had done the job properly either the ball should be cleared well before or the guy who scored should have been marked and not allowed to be in the box as free as a bird. I was right behind the goal. so was not quite in the right position to see clearly if anyone was in line with him. several players were in the six yard area and yet he was on his own. We lost out cool after that. No good blaming the ref, The sending off and bookings over the season so far tell its own story. Discipline is costing us and much as I like CH as a guy and so far his playing tactics. His handling of discipline needs looking at. He has to sit down and think about what message he sends to players when he is sent off. Hughes and Achie. I saw most of it. I may have missed a tiny snippet of the action but it was both tangling with each other. Hughes may have been having a go but Achie didn't help himself with having a go back. Both got booked as a result. if Ajalas sending off was fair then the other tackle by their guy was and should have resulted in the same treatment,
That said. we started off brightly. scored when we had the game by the rough of the neck. Now if we can learn from this. and keep our heads while others loose theirs then we will win games. We threw the game away tonight.
Positives. Good support from our fans. Although not impressed by fan who decided to keep the ball when it flew into the crowd, Sorry guys. but its not your proprty and professional balls are around £70 each. theft is theft. If it's not returned . you can dress it up all you like. But you would be round to old Bill in a hurry if it happened to you. Doesnt matter that it was one of FGR balls. it may have even been a TUFC ball. If you have any decency; return it please.
Songs from our lot left me laughing. HAve you ever eaten meat. went down well. and we even had more songs than normal. so why dont we sing em at plainmoor. oops osrry Luanna luanna vanaramam Bananarama stadium.
I know I take the mick out of the food but it does genuinely seem popular Even if the badgers have been culled locally. Not sure what happened at our end of the ground but Police were waiting to arrest someone as they came out the toilets. And there seemed there was a problem at the end of the match too. Hope it wasn't too serious. shame it prevented me having a chat with Lanky. we could have had come faggots chips and peas
Poor support from their lot but then it's a village team in the middle of nowhere and unlikely to gain any more than a few hundred suppporters such is the population of the area. more a rugby area really. funny to hear us sing about them tho. We forgot that you were here and others as well
Oh well onto next game. hope we can get our discepline under control then we can start winning games again

People have got carried away with the good run, where we did have some luck by the way, yes well deserved after last season, but an average team will not continue with results like that when the luck turns, simples!

[CP Gull]

It's funny how you get an impression of a game while listening to a radio commentary ... which was that we were robbed by poor refereeing decisions for the two goals and that our indiscipline cost us again with Richards sending off.



Then you get the chance to look at the highlights and I come away with the impression that I didn't see too much wrong with either of their goals BUT I do think that the sending off of Richards was an extremely poor decision and don't think that has anything yo do with indiscipline ... just a poor decision from a referee who has probably never played the game!

The first goal, is in my opinion, another Ricey mistake! Poor positioning has made what should have been a straightforward save more difficult and yet even then he should have done better than parry it. Whilst there DOES appear to be an FGR player in an offside position, it doesn't appear (to me at least) to be the goalscorer (Parkin) although the player concerned is stood in the middle of our six yard box ... but could be deemed as not interfering with play under the present rules, daft as that sounds!

As for the second goal, it's not clear whether there was a push or not from the highlights, but what is clear is that the ball was given away too cheaply up the pitch by Tonge which caused us the problem in the first place! Likewise, Cruise should have been more alert to the situation and not given Norwood the space in the box.

As for the Richards sending off, well all he has done is attempt to bring a ball that is about waist high under control. He has done that, but an FGR player has come in from the side and got knocked over. Richards has not gone in over the top with the player in his sights, he has simply made a genuine attempt to control the ball. RIdiculous!

On a positive note, the goal from Ofori-Achiempong was superb. Great work from Richards to win the ball in midfield (although given what he was sent off for I am amazed this particular referee allowed it!)
and a really composed finish from the big man ... just a shame his booking will mean he will have to sit out Saturday now.

I also thought, from the brief highlights, that we looked the better footballing side and actually created the better chances on the night and if we hadn't of been unjustly reduced to ten men would surely have gone on to claim at least a point, if not all three. Ah well, time to move on, a very tough game on Saturday and would probably take a draw now to be honest as we don't want to go LLL so soon after WWWWWW! Strange old game, isn't it!