NLS; Torquay United v Concord Rangers 3pm 17/11/2018

This should be another interesting afternoon with plenty more of Johnsons you score two, we score three football on show !    Heres hoping for a 2000 plus attendance and hitting thirty points !   COYY

It’s another key game - Johnson preview on the match - unusually also some team news, Dickson still a doubt but Edwards looks like coming back into the match day squad which is a much needed bonus.

Can we keep this run going and maintain the standards the players have set themselves?
For what seems like years an years we have had to put up with inconsistency from unmotivated and inadequate squads convincing wins to raise your hopes followed by far to many dire lackluster performances.
Johnson has this lot consistently motivated and performing at a high level for this division, I have no real idea how he has done it when so many others have failed.
Team spirit is as good as I can remember and I'm certain we will be at it and pressing forward again today and hopefully the players will feel refreshed enough to give anothe r90 minutes as they did on Tuesday.
Concord will no doubt be a different challenge and I don't envisage the game being so open.

Wouldn't want to see Kalala dropped personally he is unpredictable and a genuine threat opens up the play for others and does things others can't. Ruari Keating deserves to retain his place though sentiment will never play a part in GJ's selection that's for sure. but wouldn't be surprised if he kept the same line up. I trust him more than any other manager in recent times to make the right choices.

Ready to entertained again goals and attacking forward play to look forward to.

Floridagull 

That really puts the cream on top of a wonderful first half performance from this adopted son of Kernow. And leaves Concord in a jam.

The match ball and the Man of the Match award coming Psycho's way ?


And now he unselfishly allows Jamie Reid to score one  .

Wow! Incredible from every single player today - an almost faultless display and way above this level in every department. Concord didn't know what hit them and were completely blown away.
I ll leave the report to others but its great to feel a little pride in my club again.
Nearly 2000 home supporters today - they're coming back and the stay aways are missing some fantastic attacking football.
May the express train keep rolling!!

An amazing first half performance where we totally blew away Concord Rangers for a four goal half time lead. Our pace and movement was too much for Concord to handle and it was one way traffic all half. It's not very often you start to feel sorry for the opposition especially their goalkeeper and I did at half-time today. Concord traveled down this morning and have an aging team. So Torquay used their youth and fitness to hunt down Concord when not in possession and when in possession showed tremendous pace and movement off the ball. Sponsors MOTM going to hat-trick hero Janneh and crowd was 1,937 with just 11 from Concord.

Torquay had the perfect start within 2 minutes. Our first goal from a free-kick about 25 yards out reminded me of England's goal in the world cup when they won 6-1. Instead of belting it, Lemonheigh-Evans took it short and some slick passing put Janneh through. Janneh had a bad first touch but their keeper then spilt the ball back to Janneh who scored an open goal. Andrews lobbed ball put through Janneh who hit the ball cleanly and hard past their keeper for our second.

All Torquay's outfield players were in top form apart from Keating. As we know Keating is full of effort and endeavor but today whenever he got near goal he messed up with a poor touch or weak finishing. I had a clear view of Keating's booking for diving and the referee was absolutely right. Keating got put through in the box with the keeper to beat but made an awful first touch and eventually lost the ball. He then clearly dived to try and disguise his awful ball control and I am pleased the referee was not fooled. It was embarrassing to watch. Keating shot weakly at the keeper when through in the second half and lacks composure when in advanced positions. His tracking back is commendable and and gets involved in our moves with his energy but sadly lacks quality in the box. Whereas Reid is prospering under Johnson and is full of confidence, Keating has not improved and I am disappointed Williams did not get a chance today instead of Keating at some stage. We know Williams can finish.

Torquay's most improved player in recent weeks is right back Wynter who has good pace to help out in attacks. Wynter passed the ball over from the by-line to Keating but could not control the ball with another poor first touch. The ball luckily ran loose to Wynter again who passed the ball to Jennah who scored an open goal with their keeper stranded and looking on in disbelief. Torquay saved their best to last, Reid whacking a 30 yarder that beat their keeper, hit the cross bar and bounced in and out Geoff Hurst style. The ball definitely went over the line by about a foot or so.

The first half was breathtaking and I cannot recall seeing Torquay score four in the first half before. Apart from the goals there were chances galore. The second half went a bit dead but Torquay still made some decent chances and their keeper Beasant who had a difficult first half made some decent diving saves (like his dad used to) to keep the score to four. Concord's goal was from a free-kick after we just made a double substitution. The ball fell loose in the box and was shot low and hard through MacDonald's legs. MacDonald arguably could have done better. 4-1 was the least Torquay deserved and Concord must have been relieved the defeat was not heavier. There were great scenes at the end from the players and a happy Johnson giving some fist pumps. Enjoyable times thanks to him and we are making good progress in the league.

I missed Tuesday's 4-1 win and it shows our progress under Johnson that we did the same today. It's great football to watch with the four Bristol City lads pulling the strings. We do have some decent players of our own like Kalala and we are such a exciting young team to watch. Everything is going in the right direction.

There was one bizarre episode in the second half. Williams who was warming up on the touch line ran near our goal and had a quiet word with our keeper MacDonald. When Macdonald next had a goal kick he went down with cramp and our physio gave him treatment. All our players went over to Johnson to hear instructions and our reserve keeper did not warm up. It was obvious to us that MacDonald had instructons from Brett to fake an injury so our manager could give instructions to the team. Very canny, Mr. Johnson!

That first half of football was an absolute joy to watch and was a new level of football way above the National League South and my father-in-law who has watched around six games a season for the last 10 years thought that this was the best that he had seen Torquay play.

We scored the opening goal from our first attack with a well worked freekick which resulted in a tame shot from within the penalty area which was inexplicably spilled or palmed by their keeper for Janneh to easily slot home from a yard out. The next 40 minutes saw wave upon wave of attacks where Concord were blown away and were perhaps lucky to only concede four. Janneh took his goals well and has shown significant progress since coming to the club where he initially struggled to find the target. Reid continues his rich vein of form with a spectacular long range effort and shows the difference that a bit of confidence can make.

Lemonheigh-Evans and Andrews combined well in midfield again and were too good for Concord to handle. Davis combined well in the attacking vein and at right back and thought Wynter has a good game, possibly his best for us and set up Janneh for one of his goals. Central defence was solid. MacDonald did not have a great deal to do but his decision making on coming for the ball is still suspect at times and hopefully will come with experience.

We did have chances in the second half but it was a much more even affair and in fact they won it with a good shot from just outside the penalty area. Concord had to make 2 subs at half time and another at 64 minutes to keep their energy levels up. Good to see Edwards back but had little chance to get into the game and the Basingstoke game represents a chance to get back into the swing of things.

We continue our march to the top of the table.