NL: Torquay United v Barrow 3pm 26 October 2019

Forecast is really minging for tomorrow with lots of heavy rain and strong winds

Nothing on club twitter about one, but we have had a hell of a lot of rain.

Barrow will have come down yesterday so expect a very late inspection as they make every effort to get the game on.

If it was against a team travelling on the day, there would have been an early morning inspection to stop them travelling.

You would like to think they are aware some fans travel from a distance and will keep us well informed.

Link - pitch is still looking good and drainage is working ok. Ground was actually dry first thing this morning with the winds drying everything up.

Seven winning games for Barrow on the bounce, I don't think we even managed that last season in the league below.

Can see nothing else but a 2:0 loss sadly. 

I think this might be one of those games where the match being cancelled was a bonus, rather have them at Plainmoor on a shitty wind and rain swept Tuesday evening, after a full day traveling! 

Ye of little faith. Good win and Barrow’s seven League wins on the trot run comes to an end. It sounded like Armani Little did his same hamstring again right at the end. Hope he is not too long out, but would seem he’ll have a few weeks on the sidelines again.

Great result and England phenomenal against the All Blacks in the rugby. Perfect day!

Another cracking game today where our passing and movement seems to be of a league standard and very few teams at this level can live with it and the fourth goal we scored was a joy to watch with the counter-attack starting just outside of our own penalty area. Thoroughly deserved the win today with the only downside being the hamstring injury to Little ironically sustained during injury time itself and the lad was absolutely gutted after just working his way back to full fitness from the same injury.

I thought we started the game well and were looking threatening and causing Barrow various problems but a very good long pass played to their striker split our defence and he was able to take the ball pass Covolan and despite the efforts of two covering defenders, they were unable to stop the ball being slotted home.

It then became hard going for a bit with the visitors being encouraged by the vocal away support that were getting behind their team. However, we started to create some space and chances particular when we started running with the ball at their defenders which they did not like and a nice one two between Reid and Whitfield left our top scorer in the area with just the keeper to beat and with his confidence the way it is, it is almost a formality to see the net bulge a second later!

We actually had two very good penalties shouts in the first half with a shoulder barge on Whitfield knocking him over as the ball was delivered in, which the ref didn’t see and another incident from a corner. However, the third shout was even better when another ball was played through their defence into the box for Buse to get on the end of it and take wide past the keeper, he then crossed the ball back onto the edge of the 6 yard box where the defender tried to block the shot from the onrushing Torquay player but he was sliding on the ground to an extent where his upper body was by the ball and his hand was raised, perhaps naturally to protect himself but in so doing prevented a clear goal scoring opportunity and the ref did not have any hesitation in pointing to the spot and then brandishing a red card to the mortification of the visitors.

In the past we used to miss penalties on a very regular basis but Reidy did not look remotely like missing this one sending their keeper the wrong way and blasting into the right hand side of the goal. It was just before half-time and Barrow were certainly showing signs of losing it.

We again started the second half well keeping a lot of possession and patiently building up play looking for the extra space created by our numerical advantage. It wasn’t long before we were able to get into their area and a nice cross along the 6 yard box was finished nicely by Little at the far post. 3-1 and it looked like game over but Barrow kept at it and a rare attack on the right saw a dangerous low cross that Cundy cut out similarly to when he scored an own goal last week but this time the ball didn’t quite go out and was not dealt with by our defence and their attacker was able to cross to the far post where it was slotted home by their substitute.

Game on again and Barrow had their best spell of the match putting us under pressure and making a meal out of a few challenges to gain parity on penalty appeals. Johnson responded to this by sending on Kalala and Edwards, our strong attacking options on the bench. Kalala went on a few mazy runs but it wasn’t happening today for him and Edwards looked understandably a bit ring rusty.

The best move of the match also finished it as a contest. Counter attacking from just outside our area on the left wing , the ball was passed swiftly up to Reid who took the ball to the right of their penalty area and his cross was hit first time high up into the roof of the net by Little for another goal of the month contender. Worth watching the highlights for this goal alone.

We could have scored more but were a little wasteful at times. At opening in injury time saw Reid and Little surge forward but as the latter stretched for the ball he shouted out and went down. He was gutted to pick up another injury and was very dejected as he went off. Perhaps unlucky not to pick up the MOTM which went to Reid for his 2 goals and an assist.

The good news is that Janneh was at the ground today and is likely champing at the bit to renew his partnership with the league’s top scorer!