FC: AFC Telford United v Torquay United 3pm- 27th Sept 2014

A certain very stupid person may well have got off the train at Telford Central in a daydream before realising too late..........Anyway finally arriving in Wellington an hour later than planned. Is the ground the most unsignposted ground for a club of their status or was i just having an extremely bad day. Certainly a very frustrating game and worryingly soft goals conceded. I like Ajala but he is so enthusiastic and is always jumping in trying to win the ball back. He was always going to get a second yellow yesterday. We finally take a decent size away support this season of 319 and all leave feeling frustrated......typical!

Cheers Nick!

A great day out spoiled by ......

Had a decent run up the motorway and managed to park up right next to the ground.

A brief stroll to the William Withering Wetherspoons in Wellington - although it was far enough to set the oldest member of our party off moaning.

Very pleasant large mixed grill and a pint before Chelston announced that he needed some cream rubbing into his arse. Nobody asked if he was going to put jam on first and nobody volunteered to assist. He did later clarify that he was actually going to rub it into the cheeks of his arse which were very itchy as he had been bitten - but he was too much of a gentleman to say by whom. I reckon he just sat on his false teeth by accident.

Now the worst bit of the day - the match. It was a game that would have given Alan Hansen a migraine (copyright Des Lynam - introducing highlights of Walsall 8 Torquay 4).

We looked out of sorts and went one down, but then scored two and very nearly a third all from corners.

As we struck the bar, my comments were that 3-1 would not have been a fair reflection, that we had played as badly as we could and were still 2-1 up and I wondered out loud whether Telford were so shocking at defending corners because they were part-timers and could not spend hour after hour perfecting defensive discipline in the way that a full-time club does.

At that point Telford scored from a free header from a corner as our full-time defence stood back and watched. I don't know who the missing marker was, but the header seemed to be from the edge of the six yard box - isn't that keeper catch the corner territory?

My belief that we could not play worse in the second half also turned out a little optimistic.

Ajala's work rate and enthusiasm are outstanding but his judgement is often poor. Two silly over-enthusiastic tackles resulted in two yellows. You can forgive the lad for inexperienced over-enthusiasm.

Less easy to pardon Downes - although he was acting on the instruction of a grumpy grey-haired bloke who called for him to flatten the defender who was shielding the ball by the corner flag. Just to put an end to their corner-flagging, he demolished the corner flag as well as the man.

Downes looked absolutely distraught as he headed towards the tunnel. If MacDonald and Pearce gel that could be the end of his season - and have a dramatic effect on his employment prospects come the end of the season.

An "interesting" game in many ways, but a very poor performance from us. I've said before that I thought our defence was looking like an accident waiting to happen even as we piled up that impressive run, but I thought it would be a better team than Telford (Forest Green maybe) that would stick four past us. Ricey hadn't done a lot wrong this season, but he had a nightmare.

The youngsters in particular have massively over-performed so far. Ajala and Ofori-Acheampong looked jaded. I wasn't expecting them to be starting matches regularly and it may be asking too much of them to start 40-odd games in a season.

Finally, the pies looked quite good although I didn't try one myself.

That's a fair summary of the game from Jon. Nevertheless I do think it's rather indiscreet of him to reveal the nature of Chelston's distress. So, to defend my friend's honour, it must be explained that an insect was involved in his downfall. Mind you, the joke about the jam being applied first is a good'un.

Likewise it would be inaccurate to describe Chelston as the oldest member of our party. That was actually me and I would have been game for a pre-match trek up the 1,335 feet high Wrekin. Next time, perhaps?

The game reminded me of the defeat at Eastbourne in 2008/09. A case of being turned over by a relatively-direct and recently-promoted team. You could see why Telford did well last season; you could see how they may struggle this year. Overall it was one of those games which didn't quite make sense; the kind you occasionally see at this level. It was largely dire save for the small matter of seven goals with neither team ever being more than a goal ahead. Oddly, you could have watched the match as a neutral and not have a single clue as to how either team will perform next time out. We bounced back after the Eastbourne mauling; how quickly will we this time?

It's a funny business talking and commenting about a football team. After Dartford I'd reached certain conclusions about our players and prospects. Aldershot, on Bank Holiday Monday, didn't budge my position. What happens? Six wins; everything blown out of the water. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Then, on Saturday, all we needed was forty-five minutes before we were all knowingly talking about "chickens coming home to roost". It was forever thus.

We score goals of course. Don't we? Again somewhat reminiscent of previous times in the Conference with all those successful set pieces in 2007/08. Maybe I worried then about us drying up from those positions: perhaps I have similar concerns now. "In Luke We Trust"; Alpine Joe is working on the banner as I write. Not a big job: replace the "N" with an "L"; "I" with a "U"....

And conceding from similar situations? Yes, certainly. Our defence was proverbially all at sea on Saturday at one of the grounds farthest from the coast. We had our doubts about the defence; we were proved correct at the eleventh time of asking. "Here, I told you so!" I overheard a suggestion for Tuesday: Seabright; Thompson, MacDonald, Pearce, Ives. No, no. Get a grip, man. But Pearce back in the team? It had to happen eventually. Good.

A start for Cameron too? That was needed. An enforced rest for Ajala. Silly lad but there's half-a-suspicion he'd have been on the bench at Forest Green. Jon's right; Ajala wouldn't have been seen as a forty-game man. He's set a standard to be judged now; it may not be easy. But I'm pleased with him; confident about Cameron's contribution; less sure about Chappell.

Richards has been a definite plus point. We've started to rely upon him. I'd bet on him as a long-term prospect. AJ will soon be substituting "m-A-N-S-E" with "C-O-U-R-T". Yet I wouldn't be surprised if Richards may also need a rest soon. That may, of course, be awkward. Is Harding on or off the radar at the moment? He seems to be out-of-range rather often.

Worries ahead upfront? Ofori-Acheampong, by all accounts (I didn't see all the games), did wonderfully well in four matches when we secured twelve points. But he's struggled in the last three. We hope he's not experienced his "Finest Hour" already. He certainly played out of his skin, ran himself in to the ground and did all the other physically and medically impossible things that are invoked by such performances. He's exceeded expectations. Yet, unless we bring in reinforcements, we'd best not be forgetting Benyon and Yeoman even though both may have been far removed from our thoughts recently.