NL: Torquay United v Wrexham 7:45pm 29 October 2019

One were expected to win but I don't see any easy three points in this division.
Wrexham, an ex league club who have a lot of pride, they must be wondering whats happened after last seasons exploits but we all know to well that it can go tits up as the expectation rises and does quite often. They will be desperate to end their dismal away record and with ex player Luke Young, who will have something to prove no doubt, starting regularly this will be an interesting contest and possibly just as difficult as Barrow on Saturday.
For sure GJ will emphasize this to the squad in his pre match chat and remind them all of the last struggling ex league club we played, Chesterfield.

Will be good to see Saikou Janneh back and more than likely on the bench though I wouldn't be at all surprised if he starts.
Whatever a big warm welcome awaits one of last seasons league champion winning hero's ..

Super interview and a reminder of this lads quality with a couple of clips of his goals from last season.

link - match day arrangements.

TUFC match preview

Surely theres a pitch inspection booked?

A hard earned win tonight in horrible weather conditions. Crowd a decent 2,313 considering the conditions with a decent away turn out of 132. It was a decent atmosphere tonight and I thought the crowd did well to lift the team at times. Sponsors MOTM going to Cameron. Our defence on the whole held up well tonight and personally I would have given the MOTM to goal hero Davis who is having a great season. Cundy also made some impressive timely interceptions and Wynter wins some decent tackles at right back as well. Torquay had to dig in tonight and credit to them for grinding out this win. Wrexham will rue a series of missed chances especially in the first half

All game long it rained with a strong swirling wind that made the game a right battle for the players. The wind seemed to blow in different directions, some times across the pitch towards the Popular stand and other times towards the Family Stand. The truth is that in the first half Wrexham adapted well to the conditions and Torquay could not get their game together. Wrexham should have been comfortably winning at half time. They had many near misses where the ball just went the wrong side of the goal. Torquay were also careless in possession not retaining possession and losing the physical battle especially in midfield. Torquay looked lightweight and needed someone like Asa Hall in midfield doing the ugly things and getting stuck in and winning tackles. Vincent looked too lightweight in midfield for this sort of battle.Torquay were also sloppy in communication in defence and Cundy, who on the whole was excellent in defence, headed the ball back to MacDonald but instead put Wrexham through on goal. MacDonald himself missed one corner he called for but Cundy rescued the situation with a clearance. It was not good viewing from a Torquay perspective. However Wrexham did not get the vital break through and there was relief that Torquay got to half time at 0-0.

With the wind more in Torquay's favour and Wrexham after putting in such a good first half shift that they would find hard to maintain, Torquay improved in the second half. MacDonald made a couple of decent diving saves early in the first half. Davis, of all players, scored Torquay's goal. Andrews put him through in the penalty box on our left. Davis shot accurately and powerfully from a tight angle into the far corner of the net. It was a quality finish. Torquay finally found their rhythm and started to boss the game. Their passing was now crisp and accurate and were running Wrexham ragged. There was one amazing incident when Andrews headed the ball back to Janneh who had his header tipped onto the post by their keeper. The rebound came out and Reid blasted the ball but their keeper tipped it over the bar - it was a fine reflex save. Later, Reid should have put the game to bed but was wasteful with his finishing on a couple of occasions.

It was a pleasure to see Janneh again linking with Reid. Janneh came on in the second half to a huge cheer from the home fans and at times reminded us of his pace and skill. Torqauy saw out the remainder of the match to win 1-0. Torquay dominated the last 30 minutes of the second half but Wrexham can count themselves unfortunate to not be leading by then. It's tough when you are near the bottom as we are all too aware ourselves. If you don't take your chances when on top you often end up losing when you are struggling in the league.

My early season reports often reached the same conclusion. We had the flair and the skill to be at the top of the table, but lacked the strength, the experience and the nous - making us a mid-table team.

We have now started to show some of those qualities that we seemed to lack. Credit to the manager for leading the horse to water, but you can't make it drink. Credit to our young players for listening and learning. Those are qualities which lead to young players realising their potential rather than wasting it.

Horrible conditions today making the kind of football we like to play almost impossible.

Wrexham are in a false position. When they get a win under the belt, they will move up the table. At the start of the season, they would have seen us off just as Barrow would have.

Playing in to horrible driving wind and rain, we could not really get going. But we hung on in there and got to half time all square.

With the wind and rain behind our backs, we dominated and closed out a hard-fought and well-deserved win.

Very happy with the result. What more can this team achieve?

An untidy but still impressive performance for various reasons but totally expected considering the conditions and the fact we were playing against the "wounded dogs" of the division.

Read a few reports and its highly apparent many have forgotten what a "poor" performance actually is.
This wasn't pretty by any means but as I expected Wrexham, desperate to climb away from the drop zone and impress the new manager were up for the challenge with a gale behind them and snapping at our heels giving us no room to pass and move and worked their nuts off to get a break through.
Unlike Barrow who came to play a more open game and sat far to deep with ten men which played into our hands somewhat.
We came through that very difficult first half slightly fortuitously unscathed and still continued with our game plan and played to our strengths as the opposition tired we began to make inroads as expected.
Once the stuffing was knocked out of the opposition we began to look very threatening and having the luxury of bringing on two high class players helped to keep Wrexham pushed back as the wind died a little.

Janneh looked sharp and obviously loves it here and being adored by the fans. Ben Wynter my MOM with Matt Buse and Shaun Mac not far behind. Wynts he has made such huge strides in all departments and now looks a real player.

Win ugly ? Yes we did I'll take that thank you very much and without criticism of the players who I thought were excellent on the night considering. A banana skin avoided.