Torquay United v Notts County Sat 24 April 3pm KO

[PL21gull]

Well, what a result to steal a point with 10 men.. A for effort as usual, but we were outplayed for much of the match by opponents who hunted in packs and moved the ball comfortably on the deck when controlling the midfield. In contrast, we made our strikers chase long balls into touch, gave little service to our front two who were not close enough to one another anyway to interact with our midfield. Hence we created very few chances.
Even when the new loanee winger came on he hardly saw the ball..
And zonal defending of corners left 2 opponents unmarked beyond the far post, a freedom much enjoyed by Mark Ellis - should we not have known better?
Great result at Eastleigh, who scored a neat goal playing on the ground but otherwise frequently hoofed the ball upfield to push back Sutton and give away possession.
COYY, but we need to make better use of the ball for the run-in.

[culmstockgull]

Judging by Johnsons post match and his apology to the fans he was not a happy bunny, we were second best for the majority of the game, players who did so well in midweek were truly poor yesterday, Boden was largely anonymous, Buse was out of his depth in midfield, our young centre backs were shown up for their naivety. but we get A+ for effort, especially last fifteen minutes ,if we can pull a point out of the fire as we did yesterday against a very good side then it bodes well for the last few games.

[JimNichol'sdog]

I might be proved wrong, but I don't see the logic behind signing a winger on loan when it's evident that what is needed is a burly centre forward with a goalscoring pedigree. I accept that these might be few and far between but surely there must be one out there somewhere.

[brucie]

Harsh comments to me. What do people expect with the number of players missing.

Sure Lewis made a mistake for the first goal, but he's been fantastic cut him some slack. Once we went one down we were always going to look a bit dodgy at the back as we had to try and push for the goal.

As well as being on the wrong end of possibly the most ludicrous sending off I've ever seen, we ultimately dragged ourselves back to get a fantastic point. Did you see the state of the players at the end. they were absolutely out on their feet having given everything.

Its quite possible the same players will have to do the same thing another 3 times in 9 days, there is nobody else, the cupboard is bare and it doesn't look at all likely that our injured players are going to return.

I'm as peeved as anyone else with the injury situation but it is what is. If we come up short there are going to be reasons for it.

[Bert]

The question is of course why has the injury situation been so dire this season
It can't all be down to bad luck

[Southampton Gull]

The question is of course why has the injury situation been so dire this season
It can't all be down to bad luck

Don't tell me, it must be the scouting..................

[desperado]

Another fantastic effort from the players. You've got to wonder how long they can keep this up. We are long overdue a convincing 3-0 home win but until Wright, Whitfield and Kimpioka come back I can't see it - we are just not a threat in attack without them .I doubt they will back for the 3 games in 7 days coming up but Bromley in 2 weeks hopefully.

[Bert]

Don't tell me, it must be the scouting..................

Ah you've got it

[MellowYellow]

I might be proved wrong, but I don't see the logic behind signing a winger on loan when it's evident that what is needed is a burly centre forward with a goalscoring pedigree. I accept that these might be few and far between but surely there must be one out there somewhere.

I am not so sure on that one - Umerah is big and burly but it did not pay dividends yesterday. What is lacking in the forward line with Nemane and Whitfield out with injury is 'Pace'. You can thread the ball through the channel as many times as you like but Boden does not have the legs to get there. Bringing in pacy wide player to get down the byline and whip in dangerous crosses with the experience of Boden and Waters within the 6 yard box may be more effective. I might be the one proved wrong - but I see GJ logic.

[MellowYellow]

Don't tell me, it must be the scouting..................

[SimonJones]

The question is of course why has the injury situation been so dire this season
It can't all be down to bad luck

I suspect we may have to look at the personnel in the medical department / conditioning coach (if we have one) for this. Providing the management with a full, FIT squad and returning injuries to match fitness must be imperative to any teams success. Unfortunately for us, too many of our players take too long to return from injury, repeatedly break down or have taken too long to get up to match fitness.

I hope missing our best players doesn’t cost us this season, but I seriously think we need to take a deeper analysis into what has happened and invest in our medical department whatever division we are in.

[Dazza]

That's a manager's call isn't it. No one can be better placed to make it than Johnson. However I don't think the League have helped. Dilly dallied until a really squeezed season was the inevitable outcome - and with that comes inevitably with injuries.

[SuperNickyWroe]

I suspect we may have to look at the personnel in the medical department / conditioning coach (if we have one) for this. Providing the management with a full, FIT squad and returning injuries to match fitness must be imperative to any teams success. Unfortunately for us, too many of our players take too long to return from injury, repeatedly break down or have taken too long to get up to match fitness.

I hope missing our best players doesn’t cost us this season, but I seriously think we need to take a deeper analysis into what has happened and invest in our medical department whatever division we are in.

What a ridiculous post.
Obviously you have no idea about those subjects.
Players get injured and they will be out for the amount of time required to recover and then get fit again.
The worst thing you can do is bring an injured player back early.

[SuperNickyWroe]

Don't tell me, it must be the scouting..................

[brucie]

Harsh on Umerah to say that his appearance didn't pay dividends yesterday.

Up until his introduction Ellis had been smoking a cigar throughout the game. Umerah turned him and left him for dead with his first touch and snail paced Ellis hoiked him down. How that wasn't a booking god only knows, the referee appeared to have come from Scandanavia and was probably related to Burchnall.

Umerah then clouted Ellis who appeared to still be seeing stars as he appeared to be marking his own two defenders in the six yard box when we had three players queuing up unchallenged to score our first goal.

In the second challenge with Ellis Umerah had done him again he was away and gone and Ellis luckily managed to maintain consciousness just long enough to scythe Umerah down before feigning being in a coma on the pitch.

Ellis also went missing for our equalizer - By that stage I don't think he knew where he was in Torbay Hospital, or Nottingham.

Umerah may not be everyones cup of tea but he certainly made an impact yesterday - more so than the powder puff Boden. On another day Ellis could have been the one seeing red for the two fouls on Umerah, both of which were worthy of cards.