Torquay United v Woking - Tuesday 16th September - 7.45pm

[Maxiboy1]

Firstly congrats to CH and the team and thanks to Young for that goal last night. I still think it is too early to not fear anyone ( I am naturally a cautious fellow ) because we have had a relatively comfortable fixture list and we have another 2 games coming up that could yield another 6 points. Then the season gets serious. I am thinking now that we are a top 8 team(thought we would be mid table at the start), where in the top 8 god knows, but until we play all the big guns in the division then I'm going to be cautious. I would still look to strengthen up front and centre mid if possible ( as back up to the boys currently there ) as has been mentioned elsewhere. Impressive work from the team so far.

[PlainmoorRoar]

No way was it an awful game. Woking started well but seemed to blow up after about half an hour. Are they part time? if so that explains it. Torquay to mind looked by far the fitter side and dominated completely in the second half.
We didn't really create too much and credit to Woking who defended well but for me it was a deserved winner.
I thought the referee was appalling and seemed to come with the sole intention of preserving Wokings unbeaten record.
He was "looking" for O'Aachie all game - yet O'Aachie was fouled repeatedly by their centre half throughout the ninety minutes and never got pulled up. A ginger headed short arsed buffoon.
Rendell was completely hopeless - god knows how he's got seven goals this season - never had a prayer against Downes and Macdougall.
Another bet coming up trumps - a lay of Woking at 3.25 and got the correct score up as well (you heard it here first folks in the match preview thread)
I'm on a roll and so are we.
Great atmosphere - there looked more like 2500 there at least to me, think we may have skimmed a few off for the taxman.

Usually is when you're not kicking off in Bristows Bench

[brucie]

Woking were obviously better than what we have faced so far. I don't think there was that much wrong with last nights perfomance.
For me we were the better team for all but the first 25 minutes of the match. We cannot expect everyone to roll over and give us the points.
Even when Woking were knocking the ball around well, there still looked some gaping holes in their defence and as in all other home matches we looked dangerous going forward.
Ok our passes might have been more misplaced than normal but several time we could have been in on goal had we judged the pass right.
To me Bowman and OArchie were way in front of Rendell and Sole.
Where exactly are all these big teams? - Eastleigh (don't look as good as us on what I've seen) Forest Green (beaten by Nuneaton and have two geriatrics up front) Barnet (havn't played anyone yet)
Fl is right - there doesn't appear to be anything to fear in this division.
Really it isn't a fluke we are where we are. Bar Gatehead we have been the better side in all the games and actually could have had more points than we've got. Cannot really do much more than that at the moment.

[ferrarilover]

Some of you won't want to admit it, but him, up there, old Troublemaker Terrence, he's spot on.

Matt.

[Gulliball]

10 games in and we have played the sides in 2nd, 5th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 20th and 21st. This averages out at about 14th place as the average quality we've faced so far.

Slightly weaker than average then, but not by much. We've faced 2 of the top 5, almost all of the upper bottom half, and two sides right at the bottom. The only side above us are Barnet, who have faced the sides currently in 24th, 23rd, 22nd, 21st, 20th, 17th, 16th, 14th, 10th and 6th (which was the game last night against Wrexham which they lost).

Given the fixtures we've had, we've still done very well to be in 2nd place at this stage. There doesn't look to be a stand out team so far this year, so our destiny is in our own hands. Last night's last minute winner also helps to make up (at least in my eyes) for the run of draws we had in August when Bowman got sent off and was suspended, 'dropping' a few points in games we were expected to win.

[brucie]

Yes thats right - its not so much that we dropped points as such, the Southport game - Bowmans sending off cost us the points but we should have won it with ten men. Aldershot was the same - we were the better side in that game as well.
Woking were the better side for some of the first half but I would still say we were the better side overall in the match. Barnet have lost to both Lincoln and Wrexham who were arguably the best two sides they played.
Taking a simplistic view of the results so far you would have to say that we are a better side than Barnet because we have beaten Grimsby and Woking (and also Lincoln). Its clearly unlikely that Barnet would have beaten both of these teams.
I am actually kicking myself for not laying Barnet at 4.33 - they can only lengthen in price as the chasing teams inevitably close the gap.

[StretfordGull]

We're all in agreement that we've made a better than expected start. As well as points, statistically we're right up there too.
However, am I right in saying Luke Young is now suspended?
In terms of backup and the squad as a whole, it doesn't seem that there are many players knocking on the door to get into the starting line-up.
Will Wakefield slot into Young's position when suspended? I've not seen him play yet.
Aside from him, we have Ben Harding, who when isn't injured and draining our resources is a player without any attributes.
The same could be said of the strikers. O'achie and Bowman have obvious attributes and are clearly the best strikers at the club. If either get injured for a period, I don't have the confidence in Benyon or Yeoman to be starting games.
Here's hoping that our discipline improves because we don't want any lengthy bans.
Our first 11 - brilliant. Our squad - not so much.

Fantastic start so far though.

[Richinns]

We're all in agreement that we've made a better than expected start. As well as points, statistically we're right up there too.
However, am I right in saying Luke Young is now suspended?
In terms of backup and the squad as a whole, it doesn't seem that there are many players knocking on the door to get into the starting line-up.
Will Wakefield slot into Young's position when suspended? I've not seen him play yet.
Aside from him, we have Ben Harding, who when isn't injured and draining our resources is a player without any attributes.
The same could be said of the strikers. O'achie and Bowman have obvious attributes and are clearly the best strikers at the club. If either get injured for a period, I don't have the confidence in Benyon or Yeoman to be starting games.
Here's hoping that our discipline improves because we don't want any lengthy bans.
Our first 11 - brilliant. Our squad - not so much.

Fantastic start so far though.

Think Youngy has a booking left in reserve now. Likely Wakefield would come in when/if he is suspended and Harding will if this occours when he returns to fitness.

[IlshamSchmilsham]

Harding was playing quite well until he was injured, and is more than capable as a squad player at this level. We also have youngsters, on professional contracts, who are midfielders. Briscoe is another alternative as a striker, and in my view offers as much if not more than either Benyon or Yeoman, no matter how much I'd like the latter to succeed. We really do have to be realistic about squad size, not only from a cost perspective, but also because in a division where only five substitutes are allowed, too many players with little or no chance of getting into the match day line-up is a recipe for trouble, particularly with very few non-first team matches on offer. In my view any residual budget for loanees should be held back to cover long-term injuries to key players, not one match suspensions or other short-term absences, and for a post-Christmas push for vital promotion points (assuming that we're in such a position, which I think we will be). We have a good (and quite sizeable) squad for this level and I think we should let it prove its worth.