NL: Torquay United V Dover Athletic 3pm 13th November 2021

I always like to take the positives.

Three points is three points.

That takes us up to within one win of mid-table respectability ... and mid-table teams are within a winning run of threatening to scrape into the play-offs in seventh place.

Dover were absolutely dreadful yet this was a vey competitive game between two evenly-matched sides.

We possibly just about deserved to scrape a win by the skin of our teeth. If we played like that against a half-decent team, we would be badly beaten.

Difficult to judge Moore as he is clearly not yet fully match-fit. Not yet the player I hoped he would be, but maybe he will be.

Pleased there was a positive reason for Connor's absence. Seeing your own children born is the greatest thing any man will ever witness. It does not matter how important your job is, it cannot be as important as that.

Lemon and Armstrong in for O'Connell and Holman might make us a bit less hopeless as an attacking force. With Johnson and Holman injured, we might still just about be able to scrape together a 16 man squad.

I was half-expecting Moore to only last an hour, so why did Johnson not warm up ahead of his introduction? He seemed to come on with no warm up at all and Little immediately knocked a forward pass that Johnson had an outside chance of reaching. Being the willing lad he is, he threw everything into chasing a lost cause and pulled up in obvious distress. On and off without touching the ball. Andrews then came on without warming up, but his more leisurely style allowed him to slowly warm up in play.

Little divides opinion. He works hard and clearly wants to do well, but his decision making is appalling. Before he scored, he hit a ridiculously bad shot which made you do a double take. It was so bad that it was difficult to believe it really happened. His first goal was hit straight at the keeper. If the keeper had caught it as he should have done, it would have led to more moans and groans. Luckily for him, the very young looking keeper somehow contrived to let it in.

We were saying how hard it was to pick a man of the match as not one player covered himself in glory. In such circumstances, the goalscorer often wins it by default. The boos were maybe a tad harsh, but not totally incomprehensible. Pleased he scored the winner, but I am still not a big fan. There is a great player in there somewhere, but could be so much more effective than he actually is.

Phew, that was a close one. Not sure if this was a boxing match, who would have won on points??

Thought we had a stone wall penalty appeal turned down by Blind Pew on the popside, can only think he was unsighted! The other official talking point was when Lolos got 'pushed/shoved' over, surely a sending off offence for the Dover defender (Woods I think)

Lets hope warm up Johnston isn't out for long.

Nice to see Pete, his good lady and chums, don't think he's changed much in five years or so. Looking forward to 'Eastern Eye, Part II'. Will test it out next Saturady, curry and beer with some school pals.

Nice to see the putting down of the working class hasn’t gone away 🍺

link - nice to see Armani made the non league paper team of the day 😀

I think we were somewhat fortunate with our goals. The first one, the keeper was totally bamboozled by the defender in front of him, who’s attempted clearance was out of a Python sketch. The second one, was Little proving a point, and if anyone else had hit it, they would have picked the ball up somewhere near the Clock Tower on the Strand. 

So all in all a good day at the office, because let’s be honest…we normally lose to whichever club is at the bottom.