Torquay United v Macclesfield Town, ko 3pm 23/9/17

Gawd 1-0 down. Is there no escaping this dreadful, dismal place we are in?

Whos going down with us then?
I'm now at the stage of being resigned to relegation.
There seems to be no answer to our on pitch problems.
Its only September I know but I cannot see us winning a game all season.
What a shambolic state of affairs so bloody depressing.

Oh dear, another poor performance and another defeat. Sponsors MOTM going to our keeper Dorel who kept us in the game with 2 top drawer saves in the first half. In contrast, Macclesfield's keeper was not tested until late into the second half. The majority of the match was a dull affair, a midfield battle with few chances created and not much quality on show.

The main talking point and bit of quality from Torquay in the first half was a threaded through ball from Young that put new striker Murphy through on goal. The keeper charged out his box and clattered into Murphy. It looked a clear foul and a very good shout for the keeper to be sent off. The referee bottled it and waved play on and Torquay had a big decision go against them, not for the first time this season. There was some evidence that Torquay were trying to play their way more out of defence. It worked sometimes but we have too many error prone players in the team and it can be a dangerous game. McGinty gave the ball away on one occasion and a low shot was deflected and wrong footed Dorel. Yet somehow Dorel flicked out his right foot and made an incredible save. Near half-time following a mistake by Evans, Macclesfield hit a power driver destined for the top corner from their right that Dorel acrobatically flew out an arm and tipped the ball over. Another incredible save.

Torquay started the second half more brightly but a horror back pass from Anderson gifted Macclesfield a one-on-one and this time they slotted the ball past Dorel. Why on earth the manager in the week released Cole was beyond me who is streets ahead of Anderson. Anderson was his usual liability all game at left back and with Reid in front of him it was an incredibly weak left hand side. Like his predecessor, our new manager seems to persist with right footers on the left and left footers on the right. As with previous performances this season, we had no real flow to our game and players were typically running into blind alleys. McQuoid replacing Gray did inject some pace and movement but again McQuoid is a right footer playing on the left. I think it was McQuoid who put through Reid and their keeper parried Reid's shot. We had one or two near misses from corners and a tip over from their keeper near the end but in truth we never seriously looked as if we would score.

As for the new players, I suppose individually they may have something about them but it is a difficult situation having so many changes at once and they all need to improve their match sharpness. I was concerned however that Evans was quite error prone. Right back Efete made some impressive jinking runs with the ball and can beat players. We are currently a million miles from turning this around and today showed me there is no quick fix. It is already looking like a bridge too far to get out of this mess. Macclesfield are an ordinary side but they play better as a unit and know how to grind out a win. After their goal, Torquay's heads dropped and we simply cannot afford to gift goals like we do.

I was hoping for better from our new management team and I was disappointed today. They seem a lot more vocal on the touchline and I am not convinced they got the players positions right today and their substitutions, apart from McQuoid, did not improve matters. In fact bringing on Higgins and Keating made things worse. And as for their decision to persist with Anderson at left back, let's just hope Davis (who was on the bench today) will soon start a game.

Can’t add much to Swanny’s and Pete’s views.

I thought today we’d scrape a win but in front of 1800 or brave souls, pressed the self destruct button (again).

Agree the big talking point was incident involving their keeper and Murphy. IMO a blatant foul, free kick to us and their keeper sent off. The cowardly custard ref had two choice; FOUL – see above NO FOUL – book Murphy for play acting.

Anderson before today’s game wasn’t a left back. Owers should have kept Cole until Davis was fit for duty. Poor decision in my book. As for that back pass, what was he think of, boot it out for throw-in and regroup.

I though Reid had a better game when switched to a striker rather than a winger (which he ain’t).

McGinty I’m afraid is a liability with his constant hoofing the ball up to no one in particular (which was cut out out by the excellent Lowe), his poor distribution from the back and his poor defending. Not sure if we have the personnel within the building...

I thought that right back Efete was excellent going forward but a liability in defence.

IMO most if not all teams that I have seen at Plainmoor pass the ball for the player to move forward and in 2 or 3 touches they are knocking at our goal. Us, we seem to play the ball to someone who has no chance of doing anything with it other than play in back, who in turn plays in back or sideways, who in turn hoofs it up to the Jolly Green Giant playing at number 9.

As has been mentioned before change the dug outs over.

Two wins just to get off the bottom...

How amny games do we give Owers...!!!!! -p lease note the ! and

Highlights from the game, bar the foul/dive on/by Murphy.

Who on earth edits the highlights?

www.thenationalleague.org.uk/match-info/match-centre/1-2849550/videos/115768