Match day thread 22/08

[Jemfy]

As for us, we're starting to get used to this Step 4 football lark.

AFCR&D 3 - 1 Chalfont St Peter.

Goals from Berwick, Hoban and Dolman gave Diamonds a deserved win. A two goal margin maybe flattered us somewhat, at Chalfont were possibly the best team that we have played so far, but a win was deserved. We could have had more if Tom Lorraine can find his shooting boots. Two golden chances and a few other good ones missed today for him. Their winger wearing 7 - Victor Osobu - absolutely terrorised us and should be playing at a higher level.

5 games unbeaten and very happy with the start to the season! Up to 6th and level with todays opponents, and we could have won all of our games. It's a good start to the level.

 

[Ollie.TUFC]

I don't see why people moan about hoofball. If we had the option to have passing football and got results as well then sure I'd take it, but we're on a low budget with a squad where half of them were signed about a week or two before the start of the season. The thing is as well about 'hoofball', a lot of times it actually creates quite a few more chances due to its direct style. E.g. today, the Grimsby player who couldn't deal with an Exodus throw so he put the ball in his own net, top stuff.

 

[Si Robin]

Good result after a poor first half for us today.

I disagree with the other CTFC fan in that I don't think we deserved to be 1 down at half-time, and it was only because of a comical own goal that we were. Second half we bossed from kick-off and I never felt like we weren't going to score. Once we did, it was only a matter of time before we got the second.

Still unbeaten and I've not seen a poor game yet. This non-league stuff ain't all bad.....yet!

 

[Pliny Harris]

Created a good amount of chances before the goal but so did Bromley, and we had to rely on keeper Glennon to keep theirs out.

Just upsetting then after a decent effort and a looming clean sheet to concede a goal to a player who was SAT ON HIS ARSE at the time. For that final twenty it seemed like the players were looking forward to going home. Ambition dropped, they slowed down, our play was a bit less patient which is fair enough, but it meant lots of over-meditated crosses into the box that went straight to Bromley's tight defence. Then it genuinely felt we were out of it in the final minute when we made it two, and that did hurt. You could almost understand fans leaving...

It still felt we'd stepped off after the second, but luckily Bromley decided to step back. Hughes got the sort of goal from nowhere that we've long needed, and we struck gold with the penalty. Fantastic.

That was one hell of a feeling and it can't be denied. What a comeback, and you have to give Burrow the credit for having full composure in taking the final kick of the game, in head-rushing humidity, with the agenda to finally win us a point. We're still under very real threat but I'll enjoy that one.

The players didn't give up and I won't either.

 

[Davidimp]

I don't see why people moan about hoofball. If we had the option to have passing football and got results as well then sure I'd take it, but we're on a low budget with a squad where half of them were signed about a week or two before the start of the season. The thing is as well about 'hoofball', a lot of times it actually creates quite a few more chances due to its direct style. E.g. today, the Grimsby player who couldn't deal with an Exodus throw so he put the ball in his own net, top stuff.

Play to your strengths, we do.
There's no such thing as a longball just the right ball.
As long as we're winning I don't care what way we play.

 

[Harrier94]

Just got home from Gateshead and we had a lot of positives today particularly from Gurjit Singh who has really shown he can be a goalscorer this level. The goal was a very good shot from about 22 yards out that found the corner of Russell's goal

Also Craig Reid was a mysterious absence after BBC H&W reported he was to start, wasn't a loss really.

 

[Huwgo]

Tough game today against a well drilled and organised side, but we never gave up and deserved to win thanks to a beauty from Vose. We're looking really good at the moment, but tougher challenges lie ahead..

 

[Luke Imp]

A load of our fans and local media have been stuck on the M69 for 5 hours and haven't moved. Road re-opening between 1am and 3am apparently!

 

[pontoonlew]

Some more wild decisions from Hurst costing us a game, where have I heard that before...

 

[Gulliball]

I suppose this is a debate we're going to have after every game now. Paul Cox obviously has a reputation - but he's been very successful to date. We're in a position where we can't afford to be too choosy and with him we have a much greater chance of stabilising the club from its current low ebb.

For what my opinion's worth, the mood around Torquay now is better than its been for years. We've been sinking and sinking, and now the feeling is that we've hit the bottom and are starting to climb again. That feeling will naturally wear off in time, but 5 games into the season and it's the opposition that are talking about our style, it's not bothering our fans at all.

I don't support Torquay because I expect to watch glorious football week after week. In 20 years we've had one brilliant season in 2003/04 where the style and substance met, and it was great to watch. The rest has been a mixture of styles and a mixture of quality, but the promotion in 2009 wasn't any less enjoyable because Tim Sills was up front rather than David Graham. Our fans don't get on board the coach at 6.30am because they're passing enthusiasts, but because we love watching our side.

Right now Paul Cox is doing exactly what we need, and we're grateful to him for that. 3-2 last week, 2-2 this week, and a very decent start from a tough run of fixtures - I don't see why our fans would be put off at all.

I think I must also be watching a different division to everybody else. The standard of football in this division is what its always been - the players at this level are the very worst professionals you can get, and are playing here because they lack certain attributes. The only real difference between us and most other sides is that we have a guy with a 50 yard long throw rather than a 20 yard long throw, so can reach the box from further away.

 

[SomeMightShay]

I agree with this. I'm sure eventually Gulls fans will get fed up of the direct stuff but better a team that try, however limited the football, than what they had for most of last season?

That said I'm not sure how often I'd pay to go and watch it.

You wouldn't watch your side win week in week out if they were playing direct. Give over.

With regards to Torquay/Cox/style of play, do people turn up for results or style?

Results > style. You're more likely to get people through the gates smashing it 80 yards and winning rather than playing lovely football and losing IMO.

Fans will go and watch a winning team that's the long and short of it.

 

[EnglishRed]

Direct is one thing. Just smacking it up the pitch and hoping for the best, which is what Torquay did at our place, is another.

Maybe as time goes on and with a few players back they are better than at our place but they were dire.

Maybe I'm crazy for wanting more for my money than just the chance of a snatched win. But that's my choice. I wouldn't stop supporting Wrexham if they played like that but I wouldn't make the effort to go to as many matches. Absolutely.

 

[Railway Blue]

The usual three points against Chester. Just how easy is this league?

Strange comment that? We won 2 years ago. Last year you won 1-0 with a goal resulting from a mix-up when Sole and Worsnop clashed and the loose ball ran on into the net after we were the better team and had we not gone down to 10 after 23 minutes, who knows, we had only conceded 1 in 4 games with Heneghan and Sharps dominating forwards.

 

[Gulliball]

Direct is one thing. Just smacking it up the pitch and hoping for the best, which is what Torquay did at our place, is another.

Maybe as time goes on and with a few players back they are better than at our place but they were dire.

Most of our squad were signed less than 2 weeks before the season started, two arrived the day before. Cox has only been here for a month before that, and we lost our captain/best player/only one who can pass Luke Young to a season-long injury one week before we kicked off. Cox's teams have a reputation for getting better in the second half of the season anyway, once they are used to what he wants from them.

Given all that, the tough run of fixtures in the first month and playing 3 games a week, we're all delighted with the start we've made. Losing away to Wrexham won't define our season, and we've been at least equal in all the other four games.

 

[Son of Cod]

Just wondering when the Football Conference are going to start issuing point deductions for the use of smoke bombs? I'm pretty sure they made quite a big deal of making all Conference clubs post a statement about the use of pyrotechnics before the season started. So have Chester suffered any repercussions having already set off two this season - one five minutes into the season vs Braintree and today vs us?

Time to really CLAMP DOWN on this.

Last season, we were threatened with a points deduction after it happened twice in quick succession. On that basis, Chester should get the same warning. However, as we all know those who impose the rules in this division are anything but consistent.

 

[DT-the-gull]

The situation at Torquay is perfectly summed up in two posts by Gulliball. None of us are meaning to come across as defensive, we're not the type of fans to take offence either, after spending donkeys years being one of the smallest clubs in the football league, and any win/draw against a club with more money in their petty cash than our entire clubs worth being met with derision, by the opposing set of fans, you kind of get used to your club being knocked down by all around.

All we're trying to do here is point out, due to well documented off field problems, we didn't have what most clubs in this league did have, which was either all or a good part of pre-season with a settled squad, two weeks prior to the season we didn't have a complete team, one week before the season started we were still checking out trial players, so really isn't any surprise our performances to date have been all over the place, our team will get stronger as the season goes on, we're already seeing more cohesion in our play, we're looking more together by the match.

All things considered and looking at our opening fixtures including Macclesfield (6th last season ) Fc Halifax ( 9th last season) Woking (7th last season ) Grimsby (3rd and P-O final ) Cheltenham (relegated from L2) Eastleigh (4th P-O semi-final) and of course not forgetting Wrexham, a pre-season favourite to go up. Most of us TUFC fans thought that 4-5 points from this run would be an acceptable start, we're already at 7 with two games still to play, kind of understandable why we're all pretty happy with our start right now.

 

[1884 Belmont]

Oh my God. Words cannot describe how bad we were yesterday. FGR, Wrexham, Eastleigh, Grimsby - whoever it is in the promotion hunt this season, I've got strong reservations about it including us. I think our manager has been a bit disrespectful to Boreham Wood in his interview - yes, they set up with people behind the ball and did try to play on the break, but their two goals were lovely footballing moves and they fully deserved their win. Full credit to them and their fans, who managed to out-sing the 4.8k in the home ends (lost almost 1000 off the gate in 3 games already).

We hoofed it to players and, barring a brief spell in the first and 5 minutes at the end in the second, we were shocking. Pre-season tempo would look quick in comparison. That is literally the worst performance I've ever seen from us and we've just come off the back of finishing 92nd of 92 in the Football League and there were some shockers in that lot. Special mention for Nathan Blissett, who managed to have the worst debut I've ever seen. At one point, he attempted to cushion a header to a team mate on the edge of the Boreham Wood penalty area and the ball landed in our half!

Here for a long time I fear, and if yesterday continues for long, we'll be troubling the other end of the table. (Woking, Halifax and Braintree fans - you know our performances have been miles worse than the results).

 

[Reginald Fodstain]

Chose a good one to miss, as I was playing a gig in a field in the middle of Cheshire with a thunderstorm for company. Which was seemingly much more fun than watching our performance.

 

[Sparrow]

We won 2 years ago.

Four wins in five against your lot for us.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

Some more wild decisions from Hurst costing us a game, where have I heard that before...

I'm beginning to think Alan Alger, tipster on Betway, might be right - he has us to finish 4th. And I think I saw somewhere he's tipped PH to be sacked at Christmas.

He's assembled a good squad (with a good budget), with a big target man to add apparently. But I can't shake off the feeling that he is an "unlucky" manager. We are already 7 points behind the leaders - how has that come about - a goalkeeping error and dozing off in the last minute at Kiddie. At Alty there is a non-goal goal, the Alty keeper plays a blinder and then another keeper blunder at our end. Yesterday we had a player making his debut heading into his own net.

But really the best a managers make their own luck don't they...we don't kill teams off when well on top (like Wembley) and the blunder count at the other end is mounting...

 

[CrazyImp]

The pressure on Hurst will surely be reaching boiling point if he loses El Grassico to us again next weekend. To already be seven points down on the lead is unacceptable for the squad Grimsby have built.

 

[EnglishRed]

The situation at Torquay is perfectly summed up in two posts by Gulliball. None of us are meaning to come across as defensive, we're not the type of fans to take offence either, after spending donkeys years being one of the smallest clubs in the football league, and any win/draw against a club with more money in their petty cash than our entire clubs worth being met with derision, by the opposing set of fans, you kind of get used to your club being knocked down by all around.

All we're trying to do here is point out, due to well documented off field problems, we didn't have what most clubs in this league did have, which was either all or a good part of pre-season with a settled squad, two weeks prior to the season we didn't have a complete team, one week before the season started we were still checking out trial players, so really isn't any surprise our performances to date have been all over the place, our team will get stronger as the season goes on, we're already seeing more cohesion in our play, we're looking more together by the match.

All things considered and looking at our opening fixtures including Macclesfield (6th last season ) Fc Halifax ( 9th last season) Woking (7th last season ) Grimsby (3rd and P-O final ) Cheltenham (relegated from L2) Eastleigh (4th P-O semi-final) and of course not forgetting Wrexham, a pre-season favourite to go up. Most of us TUFC fans thought that 4-5 points from this run would be an acceptable start, we're already at 7 with two games still to play, kind of understandable why we're all pretty happy with our start right now.

To give a bit if balance to what I've already said, as I do understand the situation Gulls fans find themselves in, I was impressed by the organisation of your team given the short amount of time they had been together. You looked like you'd be much harder to beat than at the end of last season and your results since haven't really surprised me. If you go one up a lot of teams in this division will struggle to break you down and equalise.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

El Grassico

El Grassico Minores surely, El Grassico is Norwich v Ipswich is it not?

It is written in the small print that the handover of the #Operationpromotion funds is conditional upon securing 6 points from the El Grassico Minores fixtures. Otherwise the funds go to the (other) Cleethorpes home for retired donkeys...

My tickets have arrived from Sincil Bank - unreserved seating (in the SES) - what is that about? That stand isn't much bigger than an armchair, I was expecting reserved padded seats and waiter service...

 

[Luke Imp]

Pay a bit more and you can get your padded seats and waiter service.

 

[pontoonlew]

I'm beginning to think Alan Alger, tipster on Betway, might be right - he has us to finish 4th. And I think I saw somewhere he's tipped PH to be sacked at Christmas.

He's assembled a good squad (with a good budget), with a big target man to add apparently. But I can't shake off the feeling that he is an "unlucky" manager. We are already 7 points behind the leaders - how has that come about - a goalkeeping error and dozing off in the last minute at Kiddie. At Alty there is a non-goal goal, the Alty keeper plays a blinder and then another keeper blunder at our end. Yesterday we had a player making his debut heading into his own net.

But really the best a managers make their own luck don't they...we don't kill teams off when well on top (like Wembley) and the blunder count at the other end is mounting...

Disagree with the luck thing yesterday.

Hurst picked a strange starting 11 yesterday and lo and behold it didn't work. Why he insists on constant tinkering is totally beyond me. He cracked it last season by sticking with the same side and at one point we were close to the title. Now 5 games in he's resorted to the same daft decisions and strange tactical decisions. Who randomly drops their top scorer 5 games in? Would Barnet have dropped Akinde last year? It happened last season after the Gateshead and Alfreton games and we never looked the same.

I can't feel sympathy for the guy because he brings it all on himself sometimes. If you're not learning that tinkering has NEVER done us any good after 5 years I'm not sure when you'll ever learn.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

Disagree with the luck thing yesterday.

Hurst picked a strange starting 11 yesterday and lo and behold it didn't work. Why he insists on constant tinkering is totally beyond me. He cracked it last season by sticking with the same side and at one point we were close to the title. Now 5 games in he's resorted to the same daft decisions and strange tactical decisions. Who randomly drops their top scorer 5 games in? Would Barnet have dropped Akinde last year? It happened last season after the Gateshead and Alfreton games and we never looked the same.

I can't feel sympathy for the guy because he brings it all on himself sometimes. If you're not learning that tinkering has NEVER done us any good after 5 years I'm not sure when you'll ever learn.

That's kind of where I'm heading myself with the last sentence, you make your own luck by recognizing what is genuinely bad luck (the first Alty non-goal goal) and their keeper then playing a blinder, and what needs sorting. What didn't need sorting was the front pairing. What does need sorting is the stupid blunders undoing good work at the other end.

 

[GTFC1979]

True about the strange selection, and i was really surprised to see Amond on the bench, however one thing Hurst got slated for last season was for having no 'plan B' when things were going wrong.
This could not be said for yesterday, second half we went much more direct, lost of early balls out left to Monkhouse trying to get it into their box much quicker and it worked a treat, total second half domination.
Then he brings on Amond and he was like a man posessed, scored one and looked like a man with a point to prove and gets a great header in.
I know your response (pontoon lew) will be that it was Hurst's tinkering that caused us to be in that position, ok i get that, but my point is that at least it appears that this season when things are going against us, he at least has the ability to change things and turn it around, something that last season we were clueless at, and in the end we really should have won it yesterday.

 

[Chris FGR]

and in the end we really should have won it yesterday.

But you didn't. All the rest is irrelevant. It's results that keep a manager in his job, not how well the team plays at different points in matches.

 

[Tranmerewhite]

Glad I couldn't make our game, poor performance by the sounds of it.

I wouldn't be surprised if we end the season with a better away record than home though and it will be interesting to see how we react next weekend. Our back four, midfield two and front two look good enough, but we're missing either a right winger or someone with the technical ability to sit in between midfield and strikers in a 4-3-3. I believe we have more left in the budget than many clubs have spent altogether, so no panic on that front just yet...

 

[GTFC1979]

But you didn't. All the rest is irrelevant. It's results that keep a manager in his job, not how well the team plays at different points in matches.

If you could actually read, you would see that the post was nothing to do with that.
Nice attempt to try and make an argument out of nothing though, keep trying.