PSF: Torquay United v Yeovil 31st July 2010

Doesn`t seem much interest to anybody seeing as it could give us an idea as to who starts against Northampton.

Billy Kee is looking really good and Benyon is looking sharper after every game. Gritts offers experince, has control and an extra dimension. Potter looks good with postioning, Bevan hieght plus expeirnce with everyone else and Brantons leadership, hard tacklng no nonsence style is something we needed to have. A team thats has something of everything nearly apart from the depth in squad. Though admitly every lower league side has that problem nowadays.

excellent win,1-0 nicholson,terrible gate,914 to be precise,but there have been a lot of friendlies though

After a week at work where I ended up feeling very old by Friday night and getting up very late this morning feeling like a zombie, I really needed a good enjoyable Saturday afternoon and boy have I had one.

Due to needing to do some maintenance on the forum when you were all in the land of nod, I did not get to bed in the end until 2am and it sure was a very long day yesterday and the reason I was so late getting up today.

I got to the ground very early and had a very good meeting with Dean Edwards in his office and came out very pleased with the arrangements I have been able to make with Dean and I will post some details on that a bit later this evening.

Let’s get the only two negative things out of the way before I go any further. Number one the crowd, I only counted 50 Yeovil fans and just where were our supporters for a game that looked an attractive fixture even if it was only a preseason friendly.

Number two, If Lou was still in charge of the Junior Gulls they would have been out on the pitch when our players came out of the tunnel, the more I think about the reasons for getting rid of her, the more angry I get as it’s the kids who are missing out and I will watch with interest what happens next Saturday in our first league game proper.

Thanks TFF for making me so many good friends up at Plainmoor and I had great chats with Chris Hayes, Timbo, tufc01, Jon, Chelstongull, plus a really great chat with forevertufc and I also gave Aussie a very big hug just because I felt he needed it and Joe came and found me and paid his £10 sponsorship money.

What a great game as well thrown into the bargain and we made a good Yeovil side that had some good players in it, look very ordinary and for most of the game we were much the better side and the one that always looked more likely to win it.

For the first two of three minutes Yeovil really looked a good side and I felt we might end up defending our box for most of the first half and seldom get into their half. But we very quickly got up to the pace of the game and played some of the best football seen at Plainmoor for sometime.

Every single player looked good on the ball, used it so well when they did have it and were hungry to get the ball and worked so hard not only as a unit but for each other. Guy was one second patting Mark Ellis on the back and then letting him know he had not done the right thing or was not on the pitch where he should have been, you have just got to love this man and we really are so lucky to have him here this season.

I think Bucks started with the team and formation he might go with against Northampton next Saturday and he lined up the team in a 4-3-3 formation with Gritton, Benyon and Kee upfront, Zebs Mansell and Wroe in the middle and Robertson, Ellis, Branston and Nico at the back with Scott Bevan in goal.

We did end up at the end of the game playing a 4-5-1 formation due to the subs Bucks made, but our best football was played using the 4-3-3 formation that made us look very solid and provided us with so many good attacking options and created a lot of chances. I do feel it’s the sort of formation we should be looking to play at home games providing we have the players fit to do so, but maybe play 4-4-2 in away games as the home side should be looking to attack more than they might if they were playing away from home.

Grits was winning all the balls thrown up to him the air and we was not just needlessly flicking the ball on to anywhere but was always looking to place the ball to one of our player. He did just that for our first meaningful effort on goal, he was so strong holding of the defender behind him and got a downward header back towards Wroe, Wroe looked second best to get to the ball first but he also was strong and made the ball his just inside the Yeovil half, He got his head down and ran to the edge of the Yeovil box and fired a powerful right foot shot that the Yeovil keeper just managed to get his hands to and keep out.

Yeovil looked dangerous on set pieces and Scott Bevan did well to push a close range header from a Yeovil corner over the bar, his great height making it look much easier save than it was.

We saw how good Gritton, Benyon and Kee can combine when all three play together and one move involving all three of them was one of the best bits of play in the first half. Grits won his header yet again and this time flicked on to Kee in a more advanced position. Kee played it to benyon and then took the return pass from Benyon just inside the right hand side of the Yeovil box, he played a great ball into Benyon along the ground and it looked a certain goal, but somehow Benyons effort got blocked and out for a corner.

We very nearly then go caught out with too many players in the Yeovil half for one corner we had won. The ball came out to the edge of the Yeovil box and their very speedy number 11 ran from the edge of his box to ours unchallenged and fired a great shot at goal that Bevan did well to tip over his bar.

Yeovil’s number five got very lucky or knew what he was doing when Mansell took a quick free kick to Robertson who played it out to Kee who then sent a low hard ball across the face of the Yeovil goal and their number 5 was facing his own goal and somehow got the ball over the bar and it could so easily have been an own goal.

Yeovil still were having the odd shot on goal and mostly from long range, one 30 yard effort saw Benyon once again being forced into making a good save having to stretch his large frame to get his hands to the ball to keep it out of the goal.

Young Mr Benyon should have done much better than he did after being put in on goal and one on one with the keeper after a great ball played over the top to him by Mansell. He was in the left hand side of the box and the ball just needed stroking past the keeper towards the right hand post. To be fair the keeper stayed big for long enough and Benyon shot more at him in the end but it was still a half decent save, only Elliot really should have scored.

The funniest moment of the first have was provided by Nico, he picked up the ball to take a long throw-in into the Yeovil box, only he started his run up to the line from the steps ON the pospide, just as he got to the gap in the wall he caught his feet on the step and had to abort the throw-in. So the first half ended and we were much the better side and the few who bothered to turn up gave the players the send off their efforts and display fully deserved.

We started of the second half with the same eleven players and Zebs nearly scored a special goal early in the half with a side scissors sort of shot just inside the box that forced the Yeovil keeper to make a good save.

Not sure if Guy just got lucky or if it was the case he was fully in control of the situation, but Yeovil’s number 11 who was causing plenty of problems in the second half with his running with pace with the ball out wide on the left, hit a low hard cross that went passed Bevan and Guy was standing facing the ball close to the back stick and goal line. The ball hit Guy and I was just expecting the ball to go over the line, but somehow the ball went back towards Bevan who was able to grab hold of it while on the floor.

We then saw Bucks make a number of changes and I wanted to have a better look at young Damon Lathrope and he really impressed me far more today. He was getting stuck in winning the ball back and also has a great eye for those killer passes and I think he is going to be a player who will become a Plainmoor favourite if he plays as well as he did when he came on today.

He played a great ball to O’Kane who played an even better defence spitting pass for Grits who just failed to get to the ball before a Yeovil defender did. He also had played another good ball to Wroe who took a shot from the edge of the box only the shot was well blocked in the end.

Not to sure what happened for our goal, Nico fired in a free kick and one second the keeper looked liked he was going for the ball then he got caught in two minds what to do and from my angle I was not sure if Grits had got a touch on the ball, but the keeper ended up making a theatrical dive in the end with the ball going over him and into the net.

Yeovil came close to getting a goal very near the end of the game, from a cross into our box their number 17 got a good downward header in on goal and it looked to me it skinned the post and behind for a goal kick.

If we play with the same conviction, passion and work rate next Saturday then there is no reason why we won’t get our season off to a fine winning start.

914 and about 25 from Yeovil. Still the 891 Torquay fans all got behind the lads and applauded each period of good play. I thought Yeovil just shaded the first half in terms of pressure but we looked more dangerous and had better opportunities. Bevan made 2 or 3 excellent saves. In the second half we bossed the game and it was only in the last few minutes that they managed to exert a bit of pressure. They also seemed to get a bit arsey in the last few minutes with their number 14 guilty of some over zealous tackles and their left back Nathan Jones getting a bit stroppy with the crowd.

But all in all a good performance against good opposition. The lads look, sharp, fit and strong. The defence looks pretty solid. I'm not sure that 4-3-3 will get the best out of Billy Kee. Gritton had a good game. He does hold the ball up very well. Lathrope came on later on got himself a booking. Probably trying too hard to make an impression but he's not afraid to get stuck in and he passes the ball nicely. O'Kane and Halpin also came on. If he can beef up a bit O'Kane will be some player and Halpin might well develop quite nicely.

Don't people like to spout bollocks at times?

Yeovil Town manager Terry Skiverton: "We didn't get the ball wide. I know it's quite a small pitch, but we couldn't really stretch them enough to create the one v ones we normally do"

Ok then Tel OUR pitch is 112x74 yards that equals 8288 square yards ~

YOUR'S is 115x72 which is 8280 square yards ~ not very good at sums are we? ............and I thought the extra 2 yards width of OUR pitch would have been of particular benefit in finding that extra space you wanted your players to find!

A bit late but a few points from Saturday’s game, which was summed up perfectly well by Dave .

The general consensus of opinion at my work (Yeovil) from those that went to the game, was that we were the better, fitter and hungrier of the two teams and all bar one of them said we fully deserved to win, the other thought that they should have equalised in the dying minutes when the ball flashed across the box, which is a fair point but didn’t mean they deserved to get a draw from the game.

During lunch with several of the Yeovil fans before the game they suggested a small wager for the game and I happily took them all on. They were a little bit wary over the form of the two teams during the pre season, not that too much can be read into PSF’s?, as they had lost a few and we had won most. And the respective results against Bristol City were in our favour.

It is always interesting to get a viewpoint from opposition fans as they obviously see it from a different angle.

All of them were mightily impressed by Branston, and most thought he was the Man of the Match (I disagreed). They loved his organisation, physical presence and no nonsense approach and all wished he was lining up for them this season.

They were also impressed with Zebroski (my man of the Match, again). He always looked dangerous and had the beating of their man whenever he chose.

The thing that impressed them most was our desire to win and the fact that we played the better football. They felt that their own players looked unfit compared to ours and not hungry with no desire. They felt that our players were well up for the game and went into it as if winning it was everything.

It’s hard to disagree with anything they said. Also it’s nice to keep hold of the bragging rights in an office where I am completely out numbered, even if it was only a ‘friendly’.

You never need to worry about being a bit late adding your views on any games Rich, I always have and always will enjoy reading your take on a match and more than often I agree with you on the most important parts of the game.

One thing I did fully agree with you on was this

The players played like they were enjoying it, they were relaxed, they played with confidence, they played well, played some nice footie and deserved to get the results they did. Hopefully they can take this into the first few games of the season and pick up from where they left off last season.

All those things stood out a mile and it tells me we have a very happy dressing room full of players who will want to do well for Paul Buckle, Torquay United and all its fans.

Saturday can't come soon enough for me.