It's a long coach journey back to Essex after you've been put to the sword by King Kev's mighty gulls.
More than enough time for John Still to fully appreciate every lesson from the Management Masterclass Nico
gave him at Plainmoor last night. No goals and no points for Still's side, as his table toppers had
to take defeat on the chin.
A five point gap has now opened up, threatening to cut adrift those bottom six sides from the rest of their
National League colleagues. As expected, under Super Kev's legendary leadership, Torquay United aren't among
those bottom half dozen strugglers, as Super Kev continues to perform miracle upon managerial miracle, despite
operating on a shoe string budget.
The Daggers clearly came with every intention of taking all three points home with them, and were bright and lively
during the early exchanges. Pressing forward and coming close on a few occasions. What they hadn't realised was that
they were actually playing into our hands in advance of Nico's tactical masterplan taking full effect.
As we continued to pretend to be useless, the more confident the Daggers felt in pushing players forward to get that
goal they needed, but, with the trap set, we judged our moment to perfection, made use of the extra space, and set
Dan Sparkles free. Even Homer Simpson would have managed a 'Doh!'as clumsy Daggers defender Doe earned himself a red
card with a less than sparkling challenge on Dan as he raced towards goal.
With our opponent now on the ropes where we wanted him, it only needed a bit of intelligent interplay, accurate passing,
as Hector's lad, Jamie Reid, bundled the ball home to give us the lead. Stood in the Away sides technical area,
OAP Still, gave Legend Kev a knowing look as if to concede, 'You've totally out-thought me tonight Nico'.
Was it a double or a triple save from Brendan Moore, as he showed off in front of the Directors Box ? Gateshead unable
to beat him, even from the penalty spot at the weekend, and another majestic performance last night to keep the
League leaders firmly shut out. The ideal time for Brendan to be showing such good form, as we'll surely be requiring
Jamie Robba to play out-field for a few weeks until the current injury crisis has abated.
H.T Gulls 1 Daggers 0
50/50 money, (£190) going to Eddie of Preston, as he presented ticket No.07718. A little less income...and he had to
work for it....went to Ryan of Paignton, as fifty quid was his for succeeding in the crossbar challenge. Three excellent
efforts from Ryan...I'd consider non-contract terms for him, given the current injury situation.
The matchday programme, devoting two thirds of a page to wish 'Happy Retirement' to Cedric Munslow, while The Chairman
used his page to demonstrate that, even though the WBA youngster has been and gone, dear old Dave never did realise it
should have been
'Chay' rather than
Shay Scrivens.....that story about the lads parents being fervent Halifax fans was total fabrication.
Hoses out to give the already dewy grass a thorough soaking, meant 54th minute sub Sam Chaney....or 'Shaney' as the Chairman
likes to call him, struggled to keep his feet. Later on Brett Williams came on to add to his yellow card collection, but the Gulls held
firm to collect maximum points. No one played particularly badly for us. McGinty, inelegant at the best of times, nevertheless
played a fully committed and effective role at the back, contributing greatly to our win. Also, Damon Lathrope was very
influential. A mostly short passing game from Damon, but what sensible short passes they were, while so much else was going astray from
others.
Not a classic football encounter to linger long in the memory, but if you gain three points by beating the league leaders
you at least deserve a pat on the back, and maybe even just a tiny bit of praise.
