PSF: Torquay United v Chippenham 3pm 19 Sept 20

Kerr had a back spasm but it is hoped he will be back for next week. I suspect Slough is not top of the pecking order so the priority was to play others at the expense of the formation where we also had a right footed central midfielder playing as left wing back and a young striker playing as right wing back. Not yet convinced with our squad that 3-5-2 is the way to go. Would a 4-3-3 in attack and 4-4-2 in defence with Whitfield pushing forward where necessary be a better bet? I think this worked well at times last season.

Our return after six months has featured 3 matches in the first week and with these injuries some have had to play a lot more than normal at this stage in these games so there probably was an element of fatigue as we build up to full match fitness. I would be more concerned if this is repeated again next weekend against Bath.

You can never step into the same river twice. 

I could bang on for ninety minutes without drawing breath on the intricacies of the 3-5-2 system - but I would try not to do it over the top of someone who was trying to do a radio commentary!

The ideal back three has one out-and-out central defender in the middle and then two who are equally at home as a full-back or a centre-back. That means that when the full back on their side bombs on, they can fill in behind. When the one on the other side bombs on they can shuffle across towards the centre.

I think both Wynter and Moxey are suited to that role - although maybe Wynter would be better used as wing-back.

Koszela and Buse did as well as can be expected at wing-back, but I would not want either to start a league game there.

We have been a mess as regards shape with players out of position. You do use pre-season to experiment but we now have just one game to go and have not looked effective in any shape.

The least uncomfortable we looked on Saturday was right at the very end when Louie Slough came on and played orthodox left-back linking up with Andrews ahead of him wide left. Wynter and Whitfield at right back and wide right, Cameron and Moxey at the back and Hall holding things together in midfield alongside Lemonheigh-Evans.

Moxey banned for first three games, or at least we think he is, so we desperately need either Kerr or Warren or preferably both fit.

We'll need to be far sharper, better organised, and without the individual mistakes, should some form of Government sanctioned 'New Normal League' kick off for us sometime soon.

It's a weak excuse of course, but Chippenham do play well and enjoy coming to Plainmoor.  Having enjoyed Truro's opening day thrashing at Plainmoor in the Summer of 2018, I was happy to make the attendance up to 159, as one of the Gulls fans willing to hand over a fiver (back in the pre 'new normal' days when it was permissible to pay the Plainmoor entrance fee in cash) to also witness Truro's next home game at Plainmoor, as they entertained Chippenham on 14th August 2018. A 2-1 win for the away side,  and as fine a diving header for that second Chippenham goal as you'd witness anywhere.

Taken from the Cornwall Football Forum, here's one observation from that evening:





And then, the following month, Chippenham made the same journey in order to play us. They again travelled home with all three points, and in so doing, did at least help towards us ushering Gary Owers out of the door not too long afterwards. TFF's matchday thread for that game producing a number of memorable contributions, some from iconic past contributors such as the following:






The fun we used to have   .... the NLS wasn't all bad.



Hopefully Saturday was a bit of an off day, combined with being a game where the scoreline wasn't overly important, but clearly we're not the finished article quite yet either.