NL: Torquay United v Southport 3pm 29/10/26

Doomed! King Kev's crown has fell off!

The writing was on the wall when ‘unprofessional’ Southport turned up in a kit which clashed with ours (didn’t the Northern tw*ts know we play in Yellow) and we ended up playing at home in our away kit. Coupled with Bilbo Baggins as ref spoke volumes as to how our afternoon would unfold.

Not sure what formation we were playing (not sure the players did either) but whatever it was it was crap. We were bunched up in the middle and were stifled by a young Southport side. Southport played some great football and they were unlucky not to be three up before a wonder strike by Williams put us 1 nil up at HT.

Southport seemed to play with a novel idea of playing two wingers who gave GG and Rowe-Turner a torrid time all afternoon. One ball (again) over the top of GG lead to the ‘Port winner.

Southport played some great football (first to the ball and quickest to react for the second), to the feet rather than hopeless punts up to no one. I dare say we made them look better.

The second half panned out as I thought with Southport scoring 2 and putting us well in the relegation battle.
FT 2 – 1 with a lot of boos from the crowd, all 1400 or so of them. Williams MOTM (?).

Looking forward to next week’s Fans’ Forum...........

Still, time for a beer at the Drum and a glass of unoaked Chardonnay later.

Absolutely dire! I thought before the game that this could be a pivotal match that shapes our season and our worst nightmares were realised this afternoon. Take away sponsors MOTM Williams quality goal in the first half and what you were left with was a performance as dreadful as anything I've seen over the years at Plainmoor. We were ponderous throughout without pace, shape, energy, totally predictable, mistake ridden and it was a case if a poor Southport side could capitalise on our incompetence. They did and deserved to. Once their second goal went in you knew the game was up for Torquay.

Crowd a dismal 1,400+, with around 50 from Southport. The fans are dwindling away and changes have to be made. When I was driving away from the match I felt pity seeing those Torquay fans making their way home, including young families with children with Torquay scarves and tops. So many fans make such an effort for the club and all we are getting back is a shambles to endure week after week. We are meant to be a full time professional football club but the standard on show is so embarrassingly poor - misplaced passes, poor control, poor shooting etc. Nicholson might be a nice bloke and passionate about our club but he is way out of his depth this season. His signings, tactics, the players bizarre lack of fitness in the second half etc. Of course it is not just Nicholson's fault. Like Nicholson, our board might be passionate but they have not got the required expertise to run the club. Christ knows, what's in store for the club in the next few weeks. Who will be running the club, how will they pay the bills? The club is in an awful state everywhere from top to bottom.

Torquay started off poorly and until Williams goal on 25 minutes it was the poorest I've seen this season. Williams goal however was sheer quality and was the best goal I've seen this season and right up there with the best Torquay goals in recent seasons. Williams jinked past a couple of defenders with tight control of the ball and as another defender was about to close him down around 25 yards out, Williams let fly with a swerving low powerful shot out of the keepers reach into the corner of the net. This did wake up Torquay a bit but there was little sustained pressure and the rest of the half was an even affair. Southport created the clearer chances but Moore looked assured in goal with his shot stopping and handling. As usual Torquay did not did not seriously threaten and there never seems to be an attacker in the right place at the right time to anticipate a goal scoring opportunity. There is no coordination between the players.

The second half went the same way as all our other second half performances this season and it's now beyond a joke. Southport built up some good pressure and it was rare Torquay got out of their own half. Nicholson's predictable substitution around 60 minutes for Chaney replacing Ward actually made things worse and it was only a case if Southport had enough ability to punish Torquay. Their first goal you felt was coming and was a delicate chip over the stranded Moore. Moore stood and watched the ball go over him. Surely he stood at least have tried to back pedal and make some attempt? Southport's winner came down our right where right back Gallifuoco was beaten easily in our box. A hard, low shot beat Moore at his near post. Moore got a hand to it but was not firm enough. Moore possibly could have done better with both goals, but like last week against Aldershot, we can't expect him to bail us out every week. Our whole outfield players, with one or two exceptions like Young, were dreadful.

Talking of Young near the end Torquay had a free kick just outside the penalty box in a dangerous position with Young and Richards over the ball. Perfect Young territory you felt and a chance to get an equaliser? Guess what happened, Richards took the free-kick and shot weakly into the wall. What a waste! Young's deliveries from corners all game had been our main danger all game. In contrast Richards goal attempts all match were an embarrassment. Who makes these decisions? In desperation Torquay, in added time, mustered up a couple of goal attempts with their keeper tipping over a Reid effort. All too little, too late and Southport deserved their win.

As far as I'm concerned enough is enough and changes have to be made. Yet again we are relegation material and it is a matter of time before we are in the bottom four, just like last season. I don't know what changes are in store about the ownership of the club and when we may find out but things just cannot continue as they are. Like the Stranglers song, something better change.

Not sure there will be a "next season". TUFC is nearly dead.

Well that was dire. Thank goodness for the youth that eclipsed King Kev's young side. Firstly the Southport drummer, who in all seriousness can't have been much over 6 years old, but did a great  job, as did the young gymnasts who put on a show of skill and agility for us at half time, that was far superior to anything we had or were going to witness in the preceding or succeeding 45 minute segments.

It's difficult to know how justified you'd be in criticising certain players. Did Blissett push himself out there to try and help the team but is actually nowhere near back to fitness ?
Is Joe Ward still suffering from the sickness that afflicted him in the last week ?  Would Jamie Reid be better off getting that toe problem sorted than hoping to soldier on through the rest of the season, clearly restricted from getting anywhere close to those earlier performances ?

Cap'n Courtney gave it his best, but it was one of those afternoon's when you didn't look to him for 'quality' in his contribution. Sam Chaney came on just after the hour and managed to perform even less well than the ineffective Joe Ward who he'd replaced. As many have mentioned, only Luke Young gave what was expected from first minute to last and deserves to be absolved from blame for this shocker. Brett Williams goal was a beauty, although he continues to look like a luxury player who would add that touch of extra class to a good team, rather than fitting in with a team of scrappers, who yesterday seemed to have lost their will to scrap.

That isolated piece of quality football from Brett gave us the surprising half time scoreline of  Gulls 1 Sandgrounders 0

The females dominated the halftime break. Joanne had 50/50 ticket No.09904 and so won herself £210. We then had the unusual sight of a girl attempting the crossbar challenge....after her first two efforts I would have let her move the ball a little nearer for the last attempt, but that would probably be considered sexist these days I suppose. Then we had the predominantly female gymnastics team, who were surprisingly good given the extreme youth of many.

The second half was painful to watch. King Kev's patience is clearly wearing thin with some after this performance. The first Southport goal looked deceptively simple, but their lad weighted his lob to perfection leaving us collectively flat footed. Cutting inside and hitting a strong right foot shot, Southport's wide player Caton might have had a touch of luck with it going between GG's legs, but USA Brendan might well feel he should have got down to it and avoided being beaten on that near post.

With other developments sure to take precedence in the minds of fans over the coming days, this game will thankfully not be the main topic of conversation. Some good news is badly needed.
























 

Extraordinary enough Southport wore their change strip because their first strip clashes with our first strip. Have a look on wikipedia, I can't believe the league sanctioned their choice of strips.