Torquay United v Halifax 3pm ko 14/4/18

I can't see either us or Woking winning which would leave us (I believe) 8 points adrift (9 with the poor GD) and 9 points to play for.

Buggered.

Hopefully this basket case of a club will finally be put out of its misery now leaving owers and all the shite at the club to get this once great club relegated again!!!

A pretty much meaningless set of games remain though the "Where Gulls Dare run in " is being hyped on the official site.

I had no intention of attending today but have been persuaded by my mate who needed an excuse to avoid fence post repairs in his stables/field etc.
God knows why I agreed.
My guess the attendance figures will now start to drop off considerably.
Lucky to see 1200 there today and most will be whinging and moaning and berating the manager for ninety minutes.
What a way to waste yet another £20.

So the mathematical agony continues

Halifax have to be the worst side Ive seen all season at Plainmoor no ambition and let Evans and Young run the midfield.
I cant remember Halifax having a single effort on goal Dorell was redundant for the majority of the ninety minutes.
We worked hard with little quality for long periods and fortunately managed to get one over the goal line (only just!) when read finally took a shot from just inside the area after some sustained pressure.
Nice to see the crowd and the team lifted for a change and for the remainder of the second half Halifax stood off us and just let us pass the ball at will for long periods which left me a bit baffled though I guess this was there fourth match in a week so they have an excuse. Healey offers some genuine threat and more than a little quality for this level and posed the most threat from our forward line all game. So many squandered free kicks and poor deliveries from wide areas that just do not threaten the opposition goal area. crosses straight to the keepers hands and free kicks awarded to us in dangerous areas that were totally wasted on three or four occasions. Young being the worst culprit - just what has happened to his shooting prowess? However he did have a very good game in the middle today he and MOM Evans being the catalyst to s decent enough performance and three points.
One or two odd refereeing decisions - a blatant Halifax handball from a free kick in the area in the first half along with other handball decisions and fouls that went unpunished.
The sending off of Tomlinson I predicted early on when he went unpunished for raising his hands and pushing over Healey early on. I read his body language/attitude at that point and a couple of nasty mistimed tackles had him walking to the dressing room mid second half. Onward we pressed in searcjh of another goal to seal the victory but created nothing clear cut as Halifax were content to sit back for the most part to avoid further embarrassment at the hands of this lowly worthless relegation fodder.
Have to admire the 130 odd away supporters who actually clapped off there team - theyr were truly awful today and it didn't take much effort for our lot to rise above there standard for what was a narrow win and three points. It wont be enough of course and its just delaying the agony.
Whats really annoying is knowing how close we are and just how many games and points we have squandered over the season.

I thought it was an ok performance and we did just enough to win. 1-0 was probably a fair reflection of the match. We did not create that many clear chances all game and Dorel probably had his quietest match this season in goal for Torquay. Crowd 1,567, with over 100 from Halifax, sponsors MOTM deservedly going to Lemonheigh-Evans for a really committed performance full of good running on the ball and is a real livewire.

There were few chances to report in the first half. Healey had a good run past defenders and low shot that went just wide of the far post. Lemonheigh-Evans had a decent shot parried by their keeper. Halifax had a long range shot that just whistled over. For the majority of the half, and indeed the match, Torquay had the bulk of possession and at times their approach play was good. We spread the ball around well at times but we still lacked that cutting edge in the final third to really trouble Halifax. At halftime Halifax looked quite comfortable at 0-0. The other issue is that at times Torquay gave the ball away cheaply. Davis was the worst culprit of that today and his final ball kept going to the opposition. Likewise McGinty, who did some good ball winning tackles at times, often punted to no-mans land.

Torquay’s winning goal on 58 minutes came during Torquay’s best spell in the match. We were getting in behind their defence more and getting corners and dangerous free-kicks. Young had a good run and shot saved. Our winning goal was from a short corner that McGinty laid off to Young. The cross came off a Halifax player and fell to Reid just outside the 6 yard box on our right. Reid (for once) hit the ball intelligently downwards so the ball hit the ground first before just going over the line. A defender kicked the ball away but it had already crossed the line by about a yard.

Halifax mounted up a number of bookings and eventually had a man sent off for 2 yellows. Torquay kept good possession football for most of the remainder of the half. Healey had a really good curling shot that narrowly missed the top corner. Dowling replaced goal scorer Reid and Reid left the pitch to a good reception from the home fans with the Pop side chanting his name – a bit of a rarity for him. Keating replaced Healey and Keating should have sealed the win. Barnes made a great run and released Keating for a 1-on-1 with their keeper on our left. Keating seemed uncertain what to do and he hit the ball weakly at their keeper. Sadly that summed up Keating’s season and our failure all season to take decent chances when they come along. At least with Healey and Williams today we had strikers who looked like they might score. Torquay had a bit of a scare in added time when Halifax looked clear in our box but we survived and saw out the match comfortably against 10 men Halifax.

So a win that prolongs our relegation a little longer against a team today who have just played 4 matches in a week. Our defence was not pressed much today so thankfully there were no silly mistakes today. I thought Davis had a poor match flattering to deceive with no end product. McGinty as usual was poor with his distribution but is a good stopper in defence. I liked Barnes as right wing back for his work rate and has more of an end product than Davis. Young and Lemonheigh-Evans worked well in midfield putting themselves about well. Young’s distribution in the main is excellent particularly his long range passing. It’s a shame Young’s dead ball kicking from free-kicks is disappointing these days. Healey’s free-kick was not any better either when he tried his luck. In the end we did enough to win narrowly against tired opposition. Well done Jamie Reid for giving us that.

A win for the Gulls, the importance of those three points being impossible to judge fully at the moment, but it keeps us hanging on with the slimmest of hopes. And it's pleasing to report no crowd trouble or disruption to the match. Having seen it as my duty to inform the Safety Advisory Group concerning talk of match disruption late last week, they informed me that my proposal that they deny entry to Plainmoor to anyone wearing a Smiths T shirt wasn't really feasible.

I hadn't been aware of the onerous schedule that Halifax had faced in the past week, and on reflection their lack of spark was probably accounted for by the number of games they've had squeezed into a short time. The Shaymen packed their defence but they did it quite effectively. And, as I see Gary Owers  has observed, they defended deep and in considerable numbers. Our build up play was good, or at least looked good, and maybe that was due to the space afforded, but once you hit the edge of the penalty box it was mass congestion.

As others have mentioned, Young and Lemonheigh Evans both battled well against their midfield opponents, and when finding time and space used the ball well. The first time I'd seen Rhys Healey, and I think the lad is still struggling with his fitness. His inability to keep his feet again didn't win him any penalties but nor did it get him any further 'simulation' yellow cards.

A first half of good football, in a match that was allowed to flow by a sensible Referee. We'd created chances but not good enough ones to avoid the half time scoreline being Gulls 0 Shaymen 0

50/50 money was £210, claimed by holder of ticket No.13530. No takers for the Crossbar challenge, despite the holders of tickets 13836, 12760, 13852 all being given the chance to step forward. Eventually one of the Sponsors kicked the three balls goalwards to give us something to watch. But it was what we had to listen to that alarmed me. No sooner had the halftime scores been read out that 'How Soon Is Now' came blaring over the PA system; those unmistakable vocals of that Rusholme Ruffian, Morrissey, giving rise to concerns that maybe even the half time music selecting has now fallen into the hands of the Militants !!. Compound that with then having it pointed out to me that the programme listed today's Match Sponsor as Michel/Mike Thomas, and the second half couldn't start soon enough.





We again didn't panic, played neat and intelligent football, and concentrated on getting 'round the back' of the massed Halifax defensive line. The goal when it came wasn't a masterpiece, but Jamie Reid had made a good enough and powerful enough connection to get his shot over the line before a Halifax defender could clear it out of the goal.

I think we now expected an even more open game, with Halifax having to come out and try to take the game to us if they were going to salvage something and avoid heading back to Calderdale country empty handed. But for the most part they didn't...or possibly couldn't. Their seeming lack of interest in mounting an attack of their own, or at least one that involved three or four of their players needing to run all the way into our half of the pitch, stayed mostly unchanged.

A slight rally in the final minutes (they were down to 10 men by now) was about all they managed, as Vincent Dorrel enjoyed the quietest of afternoons, and certainly didn't have to face a barrage of incoming fire, such as his countrymen had been dishing out to some empty garden sheds in Syria just a matter of hours earlier.

Not many wheels left on the wagon, but it just about rolls on to Hartlepool next Saturday.