Five goals, though not a thriller. Damon Lathrope back in the starting eleven, but whatever assistance he might have brought towards protecting our defence couldn't compensate for errors from individual members of the back line. Maidstone United, wearing their predominantly white away strip appear to have suffered similar problems to us regarding names and numbers detaching themselves from the back of players shirts, with some temporary 'iron on' replacements pressed into position. Stones No.11 Alex Flisher for example, even having to make do with a lower case 'e' , with the rear of his shirt reading FLISHeR. But it was the lad with 'SWEENEY' on the back of his shirt who really caught the eye. Tall and upright, with the stature and ability of a younger fitter Ben Harding, there was enough to suggest that young Sweeney can continue his progress in the game, and that an 'England C' cap already indicates that his promise has been recognised.
Cap'n Courtney's passing abilities seemed to be letting him down, and he would have been particularly grateful that former armband wearer Luke Young was having a good game in midfield to compensate, though neither of them could hit the heights that Dan Sweeney was managing.
A Verma abberation for goal one, and did we get the touch that played the scorer of Maidstone's second onside ? 20 minutes gone, two goals adrift, it was tempting to take your eyes off the pitch and fill in the TUOSC application form in the programme instead, rather than watch the game or focus on the happy band of Maidstone fans dancing along to the beat of their away end drum.
Nathan Blissett broke through to provide hope with a goal before half time, and so we reached half time with a scoreline reading Gulls 1 Stones 2
It was hoped that this would be the day when an answer to the question posed in my match report a fortnight ago for the York game would be forthcoming. To refresh memories, the question posed two weeks ago was:
Alpine Joe 10/9/2016
Was it a wind up, or were the TUST seriously in a position to boast that they'd already got one of their men into the heart of TUOSC ?. Well the first thing you learned is that the influential stuff is already cut and dried,
'A Committee for the TUOSC has already been established' announced the programme, along with
'The TUOSC will be a members club, led by a committee'. But still nothing on the 4 pages of the programme devoted to TUOSC telling us just who this all powerful appointed rather than elected committee comprised of, or what, if any, TUST influence we might find there....only a contact email address for Bernard Noble. Pre match the public address had crackled into life telling us that TUOSC would be
'making their presence known at half time'. This was surely it, now the Committee would be seen standing shoulder to shoulder on the Plainmoor pitch, spelling out their vision....errr, wouldn't they ?
But no, although old favourites such as Cedric Munslow, Nigel Tabb, and Paul Bastard were out on the pitch....had every single Committee member remained firmly in the shadows ? Today, a usually impeccable source suggests that TUOSC paid Dave Gibbins, of Spotlight fame, to turn up, and with the aid of Norman Collier's old microphone, intermittently tell us about TUOSC, the only words of which I heard clearly were 'Hull City'. 'Ah Brendan Melville....is he a committee member we wondered ?'. A nearby younger Bristow's Bencher, and owner of one of those smartphone thingy's set about a spot of detective work on our behalf. Up until this point the 'F' word hadn't been mentioned, but having noticed
The TUOSC is sponsored by 'The Devon Clinic CIC', our young Poirot, having completed his investigation, looked up from his phone to utter the word 'Fleet' !!! Combining this with the other TUOSC words of wisdom in the programme that
'The lifeblood of any Supporters Organisation are the Juniors', and one wag quipped 'It's the bloody TUST in short trousers', and so for one block of Bristow's Bench at least, TUOSC is already known as 'TIST'
Who are ya ?
The 50/50 draw was worth £270. Ticket number 06984 won it for someone from Preston (the local one I'm sure). The crossbar challenge, back down to a paltry £25 prize money, gave the challenge to the holder of ticket number 06610. On this occasion the holder of that ticket was wearing an Aston Villa shirt, and also drinking coffee from his red 'Heart FM' mug. Seated comfortably, and with no real desire to make a fool of himself on the pitch...the pitch already seemingly overburdened with more than enough fools as the TUOSC launch went from bad to worse. One of Villa man's mates was sent forth, but...his three atrocious efforts made me feel embarrassed to be a left footer. The embarrassment index continued to rise as the great TUOSC launch fiasco bumbled along on it's incoherent way.
Kev's Super Gulls were out and eager, a few minutes ahead of their opponents, champing at the bit to get the second period underway and that deficit overturned. Within the opening minutes of the second half Cap'n Courtney had nobbled Maidstone No.8 Dan Sweeney. At least one important part of Kev's half time instructions had got through. After treatment, Big Dan was able to continue, but his mobility and effectiveness was now curtailed. The second half also gave those on Bristow's Bench the opportunity to impart their football 'advice' to LRT. Well, he might have been listening, but LRT certainly wasn't looking where he should have been, and a calamitous header greatly assisted Maidstone in claiming their third goal only three minutes into the second half. LRT was then the recipient of even more advice, and even louder advice, although his game didn't appear to noticably benefit from this.
The big screen flashed
'TUOSC - Proud to support the Players Fund', at the very same time that pride in their team seemed to be draining away for many Gulls fans. Sparkly Dan 'Sparkles' got a goal back for us five minutes later, and almost snatched us an equaliser in the fifth minute of added on time, but his effort went wide.
Forgetting TUST and TIST we'd played like Tossers. Home form had been good, home results had been acceptable up until yesterday. The quality, the movement, the confidence, had all deserted us.......a viewpoint I suspect, that's also unanimously held by the TUOSC Committee
) they kick up over this. Their silence would speak volumes.
