NL: Torquay United v Lincoln City 3pm 21st November 2015

So a first start for Ben Gerring today with Shepherd on the right wing and a Campion / Briscoe combo upfront. We started ok with Butler beating his marker on one attack to make a foray into the area and a little after Shepherd did some good work to get the ball across the area to an unmarked Butler but he horribly screwed his shot wide when maybe he could have taken a quick touch first?

That was about as good as it got in the first half. We did try to counter attack from a Lincoln corner but their player cynically pulled our player back and was lucky to,escape with just a dressing down. Their next corner was nicely delivered hard and flat to the edge of our six yard box for them to head unimpeded home and almost had a training ground feel to it. Their second came from their striker playing off the last defender to slot home past an advancing Lavercombe.

It was all one way traffic thereafter. However there was a nasty 50/50 ball where their number 8 and Gerring managed to take each other out and the crowd wanted to see a red card but the ref gave a dangerous free kick to them which fortunately came to nothing. Lincoln then proceeded to hit the woodwork 3 times and get the ball in the back of the net twice without troubling the scorers. As a team we were all over the place and possibly only Richards came out with any credit during this period.

Just to give an account of this action where they did not score. The first was a shot across Lavercombe which hit the base of the post and came out. The next was a shot was outside the area which dipped late, beat Lavercombe, bounced down and out for their striker to head home but fortunately from an off side position. He scored again from short range after the ball was knocked back in to the far post but again off side! I think he was off side again for another attack shortly after and must have begun to think it was not his day. The final miss was again a cross to the far post that was side footed at waist height, just over and clipping the cross bar as it did so.

So, the second half perhaps saw Lincoln sit back more and invite us on to them but we started to take control with just the finishing touches being missing and a better strike pairing of Briscoe and Campion May have yielded something. I thing Campion suffered a nose bleed requiring treatment and looked very groggy and it was noticeable that no striker warmed up or Nico did not come from his defensive position at the other side of the pitch to assess the situation and as a result we had to play with 10 men for a time. Briscoe had a poor game and on one of our attacks, the ball came out to him on the edge of the area and his shot was so bad it screwed behind him which unfortunately summed up his day.

I thought Wright and Fairhurst looked a better pairing although the latter is not up to speed yet. It was a pity then that Lincoln were able to score next. A harsh free kick which saw Richards booked was hit towards our goal and Lavercombe seemed to drop the ball, possibly.making contact with his own defender to concede another gimme goal.

We were able to hit back quite quickly with the best move of the match. A battling Shepherd managed to retrieve the ball and put Heslop through and his pass to Butler put him clear to slot past both their keeper and their covering defenders. A few handbags were thrown when Shepherd tried to pick up the ball from the net but their players escaped unpunished by the ref.

I think if were only 2-1 down we would have got something from the game as we pushed forward with Shepherd putting a lot of effort in on the wing and earning his motm award with a lot of good attacks coming through him and Wright making a nuisance of himself. If I must be critical of this period we just made a few wrong decisions around the area. Butler shot wide when he could have passed to Wright in a better position. Nico shot over the bar from long range which was never going to beat the keeper when Butler was clear on the left. Shepherd neatly crossed the ball to their defender on the edge of the area after beating the full back. Saying that he did get in front of their defender to only just narrowly direct the ball wide of the post.

So a lot more entertaining game than of late. If we can put a 90 minute performance in and cut out the defensive errors then a few wins may just come our way......

A few handbags were thrown when Shepherd tried to pick up the ball from the net but their players escaped unpunished by the ref.

So a first start for Ben Gerring today with Shepherd on the right wing and a Campion / Briscoe combo upfront. We started ok with Butler beating his marker on one attack to make a foray into the area and a little after Shepherd did some good work to get the ball across the area to an unmarked Butler but he horribly screwed his shot wide when maybe he could have taken a quick touch first?

That was about as good as it got in the first half. We did try to counter attack from a Lincoln corner but their player cynically pulled our player back and was lucky to,escape with just a dressing down. Their next corner was nicely delivered hard and flat to the edge of our six yard box for them to head unimpeded home and almost had a training ground feel to it. Their second came from their striker playing off the last defender to slot home past an advancing Lavercombe.

It was all one way traffic thereafter. However there was a nasty 50/50 ball where their number 8 and Gerring managed to take each other out and the crowd wanted to see a red card but the ref gave a dangerous free kick to them which fortunately came to nothing. Lincoln then proceeded to hit the woodwork 3 times and get the ball in the back of the net twice without troubling the scorers. As a team we were all over the place and possibly only Richards came out with any credit during this period.

Just to give an account of this action where they did not score. The first was a shot across Lavercombe which hit the base of the post and came out. The next was a shot was outside the area which dipped late, beat Lavercombe, bounced down and out for their striker to head home but fortunately from an off side position. He scored again from short range after the ball was knocked back in to the far post but again off side! I think he was off side again for another attack shortly after and must have begun to think it was not his day. The final miss was again a cross to the far post that was side footed at waist height, just over and clipping the cross bar as it did so.

So, the second half perhaps saw Lincoln sit back more and invite us on to them but we started to take control with just the finishing touches being missing and a better strike pairing of Briscoe and Campion May have yielded something. I thing Campion suffered a nose bleed requiring treatment and looked very groggy and it was noticeable that no striker warmed up or Nico did not come from his defensive position at the other side of the pitch to assess the situation and as a result we had to play with 10 men for a time. Briscoe had a poor game and on one of our attacks, the ball came out to him on the edge of the area and his shot was so bad it screwed behind him which unfortunately summed up his day.

I thought Wright and Fairhurst looked a better pairing although the latter is not up to speed yet. It was a pity then that Lincoln were able to score next. A harsh free kick which saw Richards booked was hit towards our goal and Lavercombe seemed to drop the ball, possibly.making contact with his own defender to concede another gimme goal.

We were able to hit back quite quickly with the best move of the match. A battling Shepherd managed to retrieve the ball and put Heslop through and his pass to Butler put him clear to slot past both their keeper and their covering defenders. A few handbags were thrown when Shepherd tried to pick up the ball from the net but their players escaped unpunished by the ref.

I think if were only 2-1 down we would have got something from the game as we pushed forward with Shepherd putting a lot of effort in on the wing and earning his motm award with a lot of good attacks coming through him and Wright making a nuisance of himself. If I must be critical of this period we just made a few wrong decisions around the area. Butler shot wide when he could have passed to Wright in a better position. Nico shot over the bar from long range which was never going to beat the keeper when Butler was clear on the left. Shepherd neatly crossed the ball to their defender on the edge of the area after beating the full back. Saying that he did get in front of their defender to only just narrowly direct the ball wide of the post.

So a lot more entertaining game than of late. If we can put a 90 minute performance in and cut out the defensive errors then a few wins may just come our way......

There is nothing to be gained by pessimism.