FC: Torquay United v Aldershot 25 August 2014

Chappel starting ......Pearce on bench....si

Yeah ha.....get in you beauuuuuuuuty....c'mon you gulls....si

Slack defending apparently loyal.........c'mon you gulls ........si

Good to see you today, Rob. Sorry it was only brief

Bit of a strange match. We didn't deserve to take the lead - Aldershot had been on top and the goal was a complete fluke, largely caused by the goalkeeper's misjudgement. The first half degenerated into sloppiness. They were playing a very high defensive line and we caught them out once or twice without it coming to anything, while we also looked susceptible at the back, particularly in set pieces

We improved after the break, although Ofori-Acheampong (the stand-out performer IMO) tired and we lost a bit of impetus up front as a result. Their goal came against the run of play but it wasn't a surprise given the way we've defended - I can't understand how Hargreaves can come on the radio after and say we've looked solid at the back; the lack of goals conceded remains misleading

Overall, I think we played more to our potential than Aldershot, but they look the better side going forward. They'll be happy with an away point and we'll be happy to have not lost that. I think that says a lot

Rice - same as usual: shit on crosses, solid on shots
Tonge - seemed to be sloppier than usual
MacDonald - probably our best defender
Downes - can't understand how he got sponsors' MOTM
Ives - promising debut, no worse than Cruise, but surely there's someone better out there
Chapell - seems to be lacking confidence
Young - can't think of anything in particular that he did but we held on well in midfield for once
Richards - impressive again, looks perhaps the best prospect out of all our new signings; much better than Harding
Cameron - our best player at the moment by a country mile
Ajala - ineffective, not a striker, but apparently Yeoman and Benyon were unavailable
Ofori-Acheampong - worked hard and a pacy physical presence, but still raw; his control and finishing is poor; could potentially make the club a lot of money or disappear into obscurity

Briscoe - we discussed him when he came on: surely he'd be better through the middle due to his lack of pace (and indeed due to Ajala's anonymity)
Wakefield - he was on the pitch?
Sullivan - ran around a bit, as he usually does; I still don't think he'll come to much

So another draw and probably a fair result and an indication I think where our season is going. There's ability and flair in the team but also a lot of inconsistency. We're an improvement on last season and you could argue we are going in the right direction. I was impressed today with youngsters Ives making his debut at left back, and Richards in central midfield. They both seem confident on the ball and pint size Ives even won a couple of crucial headers. Sadly Ives was blocked off for Aldershot's equalizer. Crowd 2,135, around 200 from Aldershot I would say. Spnonsors MOTM was Downes for a commanding display at the back.

After all the rain fall the match was played in mainly dry conditions with some sunshine. On 3 minutes Torquay had a dream start when a free-kick from Cameron eluded all the outfield players and then caught out keeper Smith and went straight in! Aldershot responded well to conceding and Torquay had some scary moments. On one occasion only a fantastic header over his own bar from Downes prevented a certain goal. There were one or hairy moments when Rice struggled to get to crosses but we survived. Both Downes and MacDonald were in commanding form at the back and young Ives showed good composure on the ball. Torquay had a decent chance when Chappell beat their keeper to the ball outside the box on the left hand side and put over a cross. O'Archie's shot was then blocked. So Torquay led 1-0 at half-time and at times we looked good with some exciting play.

The second half was ok but the truth of the matter is that we rarely tested their keeper. There were good moves at times only to be let down by players hesitating to shoot or giving the ball away. Our best moment came from great dribbling from Cameron who put through Briscoe on the right. Briscoe's shot was low and went past the far post. It was one of those situations when there were yellow bodies in the box and Briscoe should have either pulled the ball across or got his shot on target. He did neither and a good chance went begging. Sadly Aldershot then attacked on our left and scored. We got a bit exposed, apparantley Ives got blocked off and they beat the advancing Rice. Ironically we were having a good spell when that happened. Both teams pressed for the winner, Rice had to be alert on a couple of occasions making good saves. Chappell near the end got the ball as it rebounded off the corner flag into play, beat a player but his low cross just eluded the stretching Cameron in the box. Near the end Chappell should have done better to lob their keeper who was stranded out of position but miscued his shot with the goal gaping. There was no lack of endeavor but sadly a lack of quality at vital times and Chappell's last effort summed us up in my opinion. For all our effort and good approach play at times, Aldershot's keeper still had quite a quiet afternoon.

The ref made a bit of a farce of things and was roundly booed at half-time and at the final whistle. 1 minute was added to the end of the first half but he played 3 and gave Aldershot a free-kick that should have gone the other way moments before. Their header went inches wide in the last kick of the first half. At the end of the second half there were 4 minutes of added time on the board. After 3 minutes 50 seconds Torquay had a corner but the referee blew up for full-time.

So very much it was work in progress for us today. It was quite an entertaining match and we have our fair share of flair players to give us some exciting moments such as from Cameron, Young and it was good to see Chappell back. But there were also too many mistakes from too many players and mid table looks likely to me. The home crowd gave the players a good send off at the end.

After two matches without a goal the law of averages said we were due one and it came from our first foray in their half after a couple of minutes. A foul just to the right and about 10 yards or so before the area gave Cameron the chance to swing one in, this he duly did and the ball evaded everyone's head, bounced and with a bit of spin settled into the top left corner of the net. A soft, soft goal but something you take!

Aldershot, came back at us but were generally restricted to long range and wide shots apart from one glancing volley which just went wide. Downes picked up a travesty of a yellow early on though. As their winger tried to go past him, he missed the ball and triped Downes who went down taking his opponent out with him. The lino, all of 5 yards away, immediately flagged for a foul against Torquay to everyone's amazement, compounded by the booking....

Midway through the half we got back into things well and had a gilt edged opportunity when Chappell was put through on the left hand of the area drawing the keeper out and crossed to the far post to the waiting Acheampong but the ball just dipped for a volley which was well blocked by their defender when a header could have been steered into the vacant net. Richards showed some good skill later on the right to wriggle past his man and force the keeper into a good save.

The half ended in acimony though. Richards was tackled from behind reminiscent of that Bodin injury and despite being injured, play was allowed to continue with their player being fouled with an immediate free kick awarded. From the resulting free kick, a glancing header only just went wide...

Onto the second half and we really needed another goal as Aldershot put pressure on looking for the equaliser, coming quite close from a long throw. We almost made it two though when Ajala put the fresh Briscoe through and his shot from a narrow angle went narrowly wide. However, from the goal kick they were able to go straight to the other end and get past the left back position to score from a narrow angle.

The game did open up in the last quarter but we were unable to capitalise on some good positions either not shooting when on or putting that killer pass in. Young did go narrowly wide at one stage though. We also had another scenario of our player being taken out, play on, a foul on their player and free kick creating a sense of injustice. We did so nearly score at the death, their keeper had to come and punch a ball clear at the edge of the area which came to Chappell whose snap shot just went on the wrong side of the post!!!!

Despite a draw, I came out of the groundwork with a lot of positives. Richards looks good in midfield and it is now no longer a marginal decision between him and Harding IMO. Ives has a good debut and looks comfortable on the ball, would be useful if he could grow a bit mire though! Acheampong actually impressed more than in the PSFs and maybe could start with Bowman. Briscoe looked better in the middle for me and will always be a goal threat with a good shot on him. All in all, a better balance, just need Pearce back - hopefully Hargreaves said he could start once the clean sheet run is over!

Edit: Not forgetting Chappell who made a good comeback today...