Hereford United v Torquay United - 5/5/12

[usagullmichigan]

I expected this season to be a disaster so I'm ok with today. I think we could be a lot better in the play offs. If not oh well. It will be good next season with Exeter back. Don't worry about Plymouth, they haven't got a pot to pee in.

[Plymouth Gull]

Shocking first half, Hereford 3 attacks 3 goals. Penalty looked fair but the player knocked the ball off before going down. Hit the post twice in a minute between their second and third. Jarvis and tai made a big difference, we could have had 6 in the second half. Actually delighted to get Cheltenham!

[miltonkeynesgull]

Not much to say today really. We were shambolic in the first half. Hilariously so. I don't think I've ever witnessed a poorer Torquay performance. The defence was all at sea, we couldn't find a teammate with a pass and we just offered nothing going forward. No fight at all. Their 1st goal was poor - header from a few yards. Cross should've been stopped, Saah let Facey have a free header and Bobby might've done better (but I would have to see it again). Their second was the pen - silly challenge from Manse but I'm not totally sure their man had the ball under control. And the 3rd goal should've been cleared so many times it was unbelievable.  Absolutely miserable at half time.

Second half was outstanding. Jarvis immediately tapped in a close range effort, and not long afterwards Taiwo scored a second. We were excellent and should've had more. When we got it down and played it we would've been a match for anyone. At least with Creepy winning it doesn't feel too much of a missed opportunity.

So I think there's reason to be optimistic for the playoffs. Cheltenham are on similarly poor form. And who'd have thought we'd have even got this far at the beginning of the season? Not me!

Hereford's ground...interesting. Did feel like it might all topple down at any moment. Our fans were immense though. Cracking atmosphere that deserved a better performance. Commiserations to Hereford. Seemed a decent bunch.

Notable mentions to Jarvis, Atieno, Morris and Oastler who I thought were excellent today, especially in the 2nd half.

P.S I've done another 'Fans Eye View' for the Football League Paper if anyone's interested.

[stevegull]

we should bombard the bbc with tweets and emails and hopefully by time FL show is on they'll have to concede that they bought their way up

what happened to that nice girl who used to read out letters?? i guess she was axed as part of the cuts?

She was terrible anyway. "Gary from Wimbledon says 'why don't you mention Wimbledon more?" No one cares Gary. That whole section of the show was a complete joke and a waste of time.

[brucie]

Plain fact is Hereford are crap and surrendering like we did in the first half was inexcusable. We have no form whatsoever and going into the play offs it has been proved time and time again that its the team with momentum who will go up.
Was Howe fit to start today? - went off for treatment before the game started, and substitued at half time. Says it all really.
Actually losing today has done us a favour - Cheltenham are no great shakes.i saw the game at their place and we won without playing well at all.
Surely the team who win it will come from the winners of the Southend/Crewe game.
As has been said on here - it is unlikely that we will do so well next year in what will surely be a far harder league.
We really rode our luck I feel with a series of scrappy 1-0 wins.
I really cannot see us making it to the final or indeed winning it if we do.

[PlainmoorRoar]

Southend and Crewe are probably the favorites, so glad they are paired together!

over 2 games i think we shoul beat cheltenham, then its another oneoff at wembley

with 4 playoffs in 5 years surely we have the experience?

[yellow]

Oh well. Another game in the annals of TUFC history that involved failing to turn up when it mattered. As it happens it didn’t, but that doesn’t excuse the first half performance which was woeful, shocking, disjointed passionless and more.

The only players to emerge with any credit for me were Saah and Lathrope. Cue Lathrope’s substitution! Second half Dinger made the right call going shit or bust and we had a go but it was all too little too late...

3 points from the last 15? Is our current form really that bad?

Our wingers were anonymous again. Stevens didn’t do anything. Morris did most things wrong. If Nicho ballooned one cross over the bar he did three or four.

In the end plaudits to Saah, Jarvis, Oastler, O’Kane.

And yet the play-offs are a lottery. It could still be us!

[hector]

Is there another club who fail at the finish line as frequently as we do? 1957, 1968, 1988, 1994, 1998, 2008, 2011, 2012

My feeling for some weeks has been that we would miss out on promotion and go out in the semi's of the play-offs...not even make the final, so on paper it would like Buckle had a better season than Ling, when we all know very different.

For daring to dream that we would go up and Plymouth would go down, that we would be two divisions above Argyle and one above Exeter, we will probably finish next season below them, Exeter, Bristol Rovers and a resurgent Luton led by Buckle.

For Torquay, it always seems to end this way. For daring to dream we might just do it the straightforward way, a run of winning nearly every game for about 4 months, only to mess it up right at the end.

Last weeks equaliser for Crewe was the finisher for me. As soon as it was not in our hands it was over really, so I spent this week avoiding the website, not reading about it, trying not to think about and certainly not going or even listening to it because 33 years of watching Torquay, well you know how it ends.

And sadly, the play-offs are going to end badly too. That may be pessimistic but it is more fatalistic, based on what karma seems to always have in store for our team.

I always have felt worse when we have missed out on promotion, than when we have been relegated. I reckon the winner of the Crewe/Southend game will go up.

[ferrarilover]

IF, and it's a massive if, we get Southend in the final, I'll make us favorites. They were complete and absolute garbage when they came to our place recently. They weren't any better against Plymouth (I went), and that Mosni **** is always likely to get sent off.

Crewe are a very good side, but they had to get a bit (very) lucky to get a point.

The playoffs are a lottery, none of what has gone before really matters. To write us off is daft (and in some cases, predictable to the point of tedium). To liken it to another 'coin tods' moment, and for those who know, it's a little like getting it all in pre flop with a small pair and facing an opponent with AK, it's a race. If he hits, you lose, if he doesn't, you win, simples.

As for today's game, it once again showed our wastefulness in front of goal. I remarked to m'companion with about 10 minutes to go that, given the chances we had had up to that point, Swindon would have scored 8. We created so many chances today, and did feck all with them. Why do we never, EVER, score a goal mouth scramble? I can't recall a single one in the last 8 years, if anyone can think of one, please let me know.

Finally, kudos to Rene Howe, who took the time to shake hands with everyone he could at the end of the match.

Matt.

[oxgull]

A great sense of disapointment tonight. Trouble is you just knew that we would fail yet again. We just never get over that finishing line, well, almost never as it did happen in 2003/4 during the Leroy years. Bl****y Creepy did us again!!! Thats two failures to two conference promoted clubs in two years. How many opportunities have we thrown away?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Play off? yer havin a larf!

Hacked off just a little bit despite a good season overall.

[Dutchgull]

Goal mouth scramble last week and that weak twonk of a ref dissallows it !!!

[Colorado Gull]

Guttapointed! The first half was terrible, with some shoddy defending. However we hit the post twice and had some close chances in the early stages. I was singing all game though, 1-0 down singing, 2-0 down singing, 3-0 down singing! We had to do our bit and I think in the end the Torquay fans did a good job.

Rene Howe shouldn't have been playing, he looked off the pace when he was training and caused no threat. He was rightly taken off at HT due to an injury; Lingy also took off Lathrope, to bring on Taiwo and Jarvis. The second half was a different story, we bossed the whole game, scored 2 good goals, and we just couldn't get that 3rd.

The 2nd half performance and formation was much, much better than the first. IMO I think that Ling needs to start the 2nd half team and formation against Cheltenham in the play offs.

[stevegull]

IF, and it's a massive if, we get Southend in the final, I'll make us favorites. They were complete and absolute garbage when they came to our place recently. They weren't any better against Plymouth (I went), and that Mosni t**t is always likely to get sent off.

Crewe are a very good side, but they had to get a bit (very) lucky to get a point.

The playoffs are a lottery, none of what has gone before really matters. To write us off is daft (and in some cases, predictable to the point of tedium). To liken it to another 'coin tods' moment, and for those who know, it's a little like getting it all in pre flop with a small pair and facing an opponent with AK, it's a race. If he hits, you lose, if he doesn't, you win, simples.

As for today's game, it once again showed our wastefulness in front of goal. I remarked to m'companion with about 10 minutes to go that, given the chances we had had up to that point, Swindon would have scored 8. We created so many chances today, and did feck all with them. Why do we never, EVER, score a goal mouth scramble? I can't recall a single one in the last 8 years, if anyone can think of one, please let me know.

Finally, kudos to Rene Howe, who took the time to shake hands with everyone he could at the end of the match.

Matt.

In fairness I think Benyon was our 'goalmouth scramble striker' and always seemed to pop up in decent situations in the box. But I do understand your concerns.

[tktufc91]

Firstly, I would like to thank Martin, the players and everyone associated with this wonderful football club for what has been a fantastic season, and one that will continue for another few weeks which will hopefully result in a Wembley win. Considering we were expected to be nearer the bottom of the league than the top, this has been a brilliant season whatever happens now.

Yes, I am disappointed we didn't go up automatically and our first half performance was shocking to say the least. However, our performance 2nd half, gives me great confidence going into the play-offs. If only we can play like that for two halfs.

In the end, not too disappointed since Crawley won so nothing we could do would have mattered anyway. As for Hereford, once we got into them, they looked like a team doomed for relegation. Once the first went in for us, they wet themselves and we could have had 5 or 6.

One thing though, there was plenty of space to me in the terrace section, surely more of the singers (who tried their best to create an atmosphere in the open stand) could easily have been moved. Health and safety?

All in all, this season isn't over and no matter what happens, looking back, at the beginning of the season, if you were told we would finish 5th in the league, would you have believed that possible? Not me!!

(Note to a few hereford fans, don't dish out if you can't take it. A few fans started chanting Crawley, Crawley...which was followed by a chant of Barnet, Barnet (not from me) and then someone wanted to fight us because we responded back.)

[AustrianAndyGull]

Hallelujah! I've finally got access to a PC as i've been without since Monday as it broke. I've missed not being able to post although i do HAVE friends and a social life (albeit limited!!)

I managed to get a ticket for this one on monday morning just before they sold out, quite why they only gave us 230 standing tickets when over half the bleedin' terrace was empty only officials at HUFC can answer but it was a bit of a joke. I was in the temporary seating stand right behind the goal which i thought was ok to be fair, great atmosphere as i was stood behind a small gaggle of singers to the left of the goal and so got stuck in! The noise everyone made just by kicking the metal under the seating was raucous. I nearly didn't make kick off as i was trying to find a parking spot in Merton Meadow and how the hell i found one will forever be one of the great mysteries of the universe. It was rammed in there.

The first half was utterly shocking and we were TOTALLY bereft of any attacking threat whatsover. We were slow and sluggish YET AGAIN and our defence completely went to pieces and we gave away all three goals. The first should have been dealt with on a couple of occasions before their lad squeezed the ball through Bobbys legs, the second was a definate penalty and you could see it coming before Manse made the challenge. You just KNEW that Manse was going to dive in and he did. No need whatsoever to do that IMO. 2-0 down and although not on the back foot, we were creating nothing, then the third came with hesitant defending allowing the Hereford player to get a decent run on goal and finish well past Bobby. Any slim hopes we all had of nicking that last auto spot were distinguished at half time. We scored instantly second half and we had a ten minute spell after that goal where we put them under immense pressure with incessant throw ins, free kicks, corners and balls into the box but we couldn't find a quick second. Their keeper Bartlett made some cracking saves although he was a cheating **** taking forever to take goal kicks which the ref warned him about and also coming to claim a corner and going down like a sack of shit holding his head to feign injury. Clearly no contact. He received pretty much dogs abuse from myself and the stand i was in for the rest of the game. I even had the pleasure of shouting at him in a moment of quietness informing him that as current results stood, he was actually a non-league goalkeeper. God i'm good! Anyway, we got a second and on another day we could have actually won 4-3 but it wasn't to be and we didn't deserve it anyway. Tai went down in the box and we all screamed for a penalty and i had the perfect view and was pretty surprised the ref didn't give it. I think he bottled it to be fair but despite criticisms from most fans around me i didn't think he had that bad a game. Saah was outstanding, Danny Stevens plays like this 4 out of 5 games and we may as well have 10 fecking men when he does. He was about as threatening as David Cameron is gonna be in the next general election. It really pisses me off because todays performance from Danny shows that he hasn't really 'trained on' and although he has improved immeasurably this season, in all brutal honesty = he is still shit and when he becomes anonymous in games ( which is quite often ) then we may as well play with 10. Damon gave the ball away a lot, something that has been happening a lot in recent games and Rene may have well gone and had a kip on the team coach. A stuffed meerkat would have been more mobile. Tai did ok when he came on but he so unresponsive to dangerous attacking situations at times that we really need to offload him as soon as possible. If Torquay as a club are to progress from this season and build on our success regardless of if we stay in league 2 then Tai, Danny and a few others need to be released as they aren't good enough for our ambitions.

All in all a truly remarkable season and EVERYONE has played their part, Danny, Tai all of them and i thank them. We had our chances and we blew them so we move forward. Cheltenham are possibly the 'easiest' opponents to play out of the 3 and we CAN make it to Wembley but apart from the second half against Crewe last weekend we have been truly abject in many of our recent games and our tempo and alertness has to improve otherwise we will concede AGAIN against Cheltenham and make it hard for ourselves. Our form isn't good at the minute but we're still in with a shout and that's all that matters. Oh and i though Jarvis did well again today and i'd like him a bit more involved. He is an obvious goal threat.

Finally, i'm glad Hereford went down because a section of their fans were flagging us off when they went 2-0 up and i thought it was totally unecessary. I was one who said i wouldn't taunt them if they went down but i did after that. Tossers. And just to sign off, if any of you bought a programme today, have you had a chance to 'read' it? It is, with the exception of Northwich Victoria away, the WORST programme i have EVER purchased. There is absolutely nothing of any interest in it whatsoever. No player interviews or manager/fan interviews about the drama of a last day scrap for survival. Nothing Nothing bar adverts , banal wordsearches and a totally bizarre centre spread of a generic phots saying 'come on you bulls'. Pure shit and a waste of trees. They deserve relegation just because of that!!!!