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Torquay United make the long journey to Kent more in hope than expectation, well actually more in desperation than hope, that they can somehow contrive a result at the home of the league leaders and probable winners. The massed ranks of the devout and loyal yellow army will follow with dread and trepidation and anyone that is confident should be dumped on the M25 somewhere near Leatherhead.

The Gills are as good as up but a victory against the flagging Gulls will confirm their status as a league 1 football club. It will also more or less see them crowned division winners barring a major collapse in form for the last 3 games. Martin Allen will have them REALLY up for this and we go into the game without the services of of near saviour Joss Labadie who has been recalled by his club Notts County, possibly without first choice keeper Michael Poke and still with only a 1-0 win at Exeter to show for our efforts away from home this year in terms of wins. Ironically that win over our fierce rivals may turn out to be the highlight of the season.

We've been up and down as fans these past few months, gleaning positivity from a good result or a good showing only to be deflated again by another inevitable defeat and poor performance and that has been the way of it. Knill has come in and added Labadie and Chappell to Benyon ( who has scored only once in about 10 or so games ). Joss has scored half of our 8 goals we've registered in the last 6 games and Howe has scored 2 in those ( 1 a penalty ). The more i look at those stats the more i am convinced we're screwed. I thought we had Joss until the end of the season and before the Bradford game i was still positive we could stay up but with Joss going and the subsequent performance and result against Bradford, i now have accepted that we will be in the BSP next season.

I fear that Saturday will be known as 'CARNAGE DAY' where at Aintree, horses will be flapping broken limps all over the shop and the companies that make those windbreak type horse-screens will be doing a roaring trade whilst the ladies quaff champagne and the meatheads get hammered on lager. I'm not against horse-racing in fact i like it and i do go myself but the Grand National is a spectacle only kept for the tradition of this country, it is a brutal, energy sapping, perilous 4 miles odd around Aintree and that includes horse AND jockey. I've nothing against jumps racing but my thoughts are simple.

FAR TOO MANY HORSES, FAR TOO HIGH OBSTACLES = DEATH AND INJURY

do the same race the same distance but with half the runners and more attainable jumps and it becomes a safer race on a par with much of the jumps calendar. Will they? Oh no, because it's about tradition and then in the blink of an eye, all those owner, trainers and jockeys who frequently talk so eloquently and affectionately about their imposing, elegant animals turn from caring about them to abusing them for their own ends. All for the sake of tradition. Have the race, no problems but just cut the risk of equine mortality by being sensible you two-faced tw*ts!! :rules:

As i've said, i often go horse racing and love to marvel at these beautiful animals in the flesh as they parade and then go on to race. I do believe they should also have total whip ban, but at least the ones they use today are a zillion times better than in the days of Lester Piggott and John Francombe. I'm not against using whips for corrective methods but just to make a horse respond to go faster is not on.

You get some total cocks at race meetings though, loads more than you'll find inside Home Park of a saturday. Lads getting hammered and leching over women and then going to stand near the rails and drawling loud drunken noises out of their mouths as the horses are passing. "GUUUUUUOOOOOOONN YA F*CKEEEEEERRRRR!!" or "F*CKIN' COME OOOOOOOOOOOON" or one outburst which led me to have a scuffle with a bloke at Newcastle Racecourse who came out with, "F*CKIN' WHIP THE C*NT!! COME ON, F*CKIN' WHIP IT!!!". I started ranting off about 'IT' and the 'C*NT' as he referred to the horse not being nice things to be saying about another living creature and quickly realised i was talking to a complete meathead who couldn't possibly comprehend respect and humility for animals so i just laid into him. :devil: >:(

( apologies for the pro-animal welfare thingy there - again! ) :na:

CARNAGE DAY continues with Saturday night TV. Is it any wonder our towns and cities are packed the rafters with wasted revellers of a saturday? They've gone out to escape the CARNAGE that is saturday night telly. On BBC One you've got THE VOICE. Dear God help me!!

The voice of what? Not f*cking reason from where i'm sat, on my sofa with man flueyvirallybuggytypethingy illness! The voice of some ponces who think that singing songs about love, missing you and whhooaaah baby is somehow serious 21st century songwriting. Give me a break! Why can't the TV companies broadcast something innovative like a 'METAL IDOL' show where bands with possible names like DEATH EGGS, CONTAMINATED MEAT PRODUCT and SANTA'S SLAY RIDE compete for the right to win a recording contract with Roadrunner Records? I'll tell you why shall i? Because no metal band worth anything will EVER appear on a vacuous mainstream tv show otherwise they will ultimately lose all credibility as artists. Secondly, none of the audience will be able to understand a word they are singing ( sorry, shouting ). Thirdly, they couldn't broadcast such appalling swear words at 7pm prime time and lastly ( but more importantly for the TV companies ) NOBODY WILL WATCH!!

I LURRRRRRRRRRRRVVVVVVVVVVVVE METAL!!!!!!!

Great post not so great day. It's sole destroying to think I went fleet wood and had so much hope, yet my only hope now is .......................the club seems to think we are gobshites. Why would we vote for player of year when we are going to get relegated to the conference. Why would we care who has bought a top. FFs it's so frustrating

Going to this. Apparently the home ends are sold out according to a Gills fan I know and they also have half the away end for this one.

Cant see us getting anything from it. to be honest. Home win. And probably a promotion celebration to see as well.

Loving the rant on saturday night T.V Andy, agreed. The voice what a pile of toss that is, one boring singer, singing a boring song after another, followed by a camera shot of the 4 chuckle brothers, looking at each, you take him, no you take him. And when 2 turn around together then it get interesting, Jessie J come with me I am right up a record producer, Will I.am no come with me I am up the same bloke and blowing him at the same time, one episode was enough for me. But of course you can allways turn over and watch, I am a **** and I am an even bigger **** Saturday night puke fest, still we will soon be saved by Britian's got dork's, and my mrs wonder why I spend so much time on a football forum...

Anyway on to the game, oh sigh, oh sigh, as said already we have to go there believing we can win and be postive, here is hoping the right Torquay team turn up. COYY

I'll be there as its one of the closest games to me. To be honest, I really could have said sod it and not gone but being a mad Torquay fan, I can't bear to do that.

Quite like Prestfield, looking from the away end it looks alright. The away end is s**t and I'm praying it doesn't rain. Plus with no roof, it's hard to make a good atmosphere, and the stand shakes when you jump about.

In all honesty, I'm expecting a thrashing, although I have this tiny feeling that we'll scrape a 0-1, about a 1% feeling. I think Gillingham can be promoted with a win so I'm expecting a big crowd.

If we can get a point I will be delighted although I'm not counting on it. In all honesty, we need four wins now til the end of the season. I can only see us getting one and it won't be this weekend.

4-0
rene to get booked

Andy, I didn't know Bonnie Langford was a ref in the eighties. Though I remember she had a good whistle..

My only hope for this game is that the big crowd puts a bit more pressure on Gillingham and we can put in a performance worthy of the Carlisle win back from 2006. If we can get the early goal and get the crowd on their back then we might have a chance.

Been mulling over this game and i actually reckon that maybe THIS game is the most important of the 4 we have left.

Think about it, it is a game where most of us expect a defeat and some of us expect a HEAVY defeat so although we're only 4 games from going down, this game represents a 'free game' as it were for the players. There should be little pressure ( relatively speaking - we're in a relegation battle so obviously there is pressure in every game ).

The pressure will all be on our hosts, to win the game and to seal promotion and there will be a large expectant crowd at Priestfield looking to crack open the cans of coke at the final whistle in celebration. Poke or no Poke, Labadie or not we should be looking to take full advantage of this and if the 11 that go out there aren't inspired by the combined incentives of proving people wrong, playing in front of a biggish expectant crowd and trying to silence them because they all expect a win, and getting their club another 3 points away from the drop then perhaps it IS time to finally accept that our team has no bottle.

I have accepted defeat in this one because much of what i have seen this season doesn't indicate that the above things i've mentioned can be achieved and the likelihood is that a loss will ensue but i still believe deep down that they are capable of coming away with a win if they can put everything together on the day. We beat them at Plainmoor after all.

In addition to this, should we somehow turn in a cracking performance or Gills fold under pressure and we win then our last 3 games will see us get the points we need to stay up IMO. So in many people's eyes the Barnet game is the key one but i have changed my mind and now think this is it. Can you imagine what a win would give us? It would give us so much confidence and belief back that we can go into the back yard of the leaders and get a result, it will see us get another 3 points that nobody bargained for AND it will confirm our league status IMO.

I did some research recently looking into Gillinghams home game with Accrington the other week and they were put under pressure by Accy and were lucky to comeout 1-0 winners. That is what we need to do, put pressure on and get at them. If we do a Northampton we'll end up getting beaten anyway. We need periods of consistent pressure and although i don't think we are a team who can do such a thing, we have to learn quickly or we'll get nowt.

Us fans can write off the game as based on the season as a whole we can reasonably expect to get nothing but it's the players who can change all this by giving us their every fibre on saturday.

What do you think?

Also, will this game be all ticket due to the huge interest from the home fans?

1-0 away win. Someone has to be positive... still?

I remember going to see us at Wycombe a few years ago when we were in the same situation with John Cornflake in charge. Took an American friend with me and we met Helen Chamberlain who turned up late after the kick off. Anyway with the Chairboys all over us for most of the first half old Cornflake had us playing a 2 banks of 4 at the back and it stifled them. 0 - 0 at half time and we scored early in the second half and held on for an improbable 0-1 win. That and the fact that we got kicked out of the home clubs bar and then my mate got spreadeagled and searched going in to the ground made it an interesting day. There is no reason to think that we can't get something out of this and, as no one is giving us a chance, I'll go for (head) 1-1 or (heart) 0 - 1 to us. Gotta be positive

I, too, believe this game is winnable. Aren't we the only team to have beaten Gillingham on their travels this season? And, for a promotion-chasing team, their home record this year is hardly any more than average (W5 D1 L3, and only one result by more than one goal).

Of course if we play like we did on Monday we will lose. But, Monday apart, our recent form has been good; our fighting spirit and self-belief had returned. We were bound to lose at least a couple of our remaining matches (which we did) but football is full of surprises. We could well beat Gillingham and Fleetwood, but lose to Barnet and draw with Bristol Rovers. Or we could even win all four games.

OK we'll be without Labadie and Poke. We'll still have Downes, Leadbitter, Cruise, Yeoman, Craig, Thompson, and the rest. It's a team game, and we're a better team than those around us.

I have a gut feeling the Gulls will win.. How's that for positive..?

we're fighting for our lives (i hope) Gillingham are certs to go up, big crowd, expectant for the result on saturday to clinch it, maybe complacency/nerves might hit them and they might choke? Happened to teams before. We have to score the first goal, get them edgy and chasing the game and who knows. concede early and we'll get gubbed 3-0.

Things don't get any better. Rice starts in goal so by the fact Gillingham have the ability to score goals could be a hammering.

I suggest 6-4-0 formation give him some protection and rest our strikers for more winnable games.

I disagree. Gillingham haven't been scoring that many goals. They've mostly been nicking points by the odd goal. We should surprise them by going all out to attack first half and score a couple of goals ourselves, then get a quick third in the second half, after which we'll substitute our strikers with defenders and let Ricey have a bit of a rest in the last fifteen minutes.. Job done..