NL: Torquay United v Hartlepool 3pm 6 March 2021

Big game and so important to get things back on track. The injury list has been horrendous but looks to be improving, and although our down turn in January and February with 9 points out of a possible 24 has been agonising to watch, 4 of those dropped points were against strong promotion rivals Sutton United and Notts County. In both of those drawn goalless games we looked at least equal to our opponents and could with the bounce of the ball have ended up winning both.

The opening game of that two month sequence was agonising leading Yeovil Town 1-0 until throwing it away towards the end with two late Yeovil goals. However Yeovil have now gone on a run and I would expect them to reach the play-offs. Their form makes our 6-1 win against them only just over two months ago look something special, as indeed does our 5-0 win at Hartlepool earlier in the season.

Sutton United look to be the main threat to winning the league and they have now had 5 wins in a row. Good on them but can they sustain form and stay free of injuries and suspensions for another 3 months? Unlikely I would think. Only 4 of Sutton's next 13 games are at home, and all 4 of the home games are against promotion rivals including ourselves.

Despite a two month down turn we are still top of the table. We have to concentrate on ourselves and what better way to kick start the recovery than a convincing performance and win against one of the promotion rivals.

I am confident we will do it! ⚽️

The risk Sutton have is that most of their first XI have played most of their games which is a very similar situation to our promotion push under Ling when we ran out of steam in April. I am hoping we have had our “crisis” or iceberg and will be able to finish stronger. Not as if Sutton are blowing teams away like we were pre Christmas and getting a succession of scrappy wins which won’t last forever. I am still very optimistic about our title chances or even winning the play offs if it comes down to it but know particularly with our team nothing is ever guaranteed. Just enjoying watching every game of the best team in the division and we will see where that takes us.... Exciting times 😊

Goalkeeper selection will be interesting tomorrow. Newcomer Brzozowski who did ok last week, MacDonald whose loss of control towards the end of the previous game led to the arrival of the newcomer, or Hanlon who again is ok. 4 goalkeepers at the club at the moment a bit ironic when we are struggling to score! 😉

Our team should be announced shortly. Hartlepool look like they are at full strength with Sterry and Johnson who were doubts being fit enough to play.

Just seen our 5 goals against Hartlepool on the stream.

First home game for Boden? Could do with him doing an Eiffion Williams ⚽️

If I was a betting man, I’d have £5 each way on Hartlepool and Sutton wins ☹️

Terrible ball by Wynter led to that