NL: Torquay United v Halifax 3pm 26 November 2021

I thought we actually played a lot better than against Dover and had more of the possession and territory in the first half and we were perhaps unlucky going in at the break a goal down. Not much cutting edge upfront though and while we had lots of corners I can only remember a Hall header being directed straight at their keeper which was routinely held. At the other end Halifax actually created more clear-cut chances with Lapslie doing well to clear off the line and finally Halifax were able to work the ball just outside our area to creat an opening for Slew to fire a rasping good shot into the bottom left hand corner to open the scoring.

Into the second-half we got off to the worst possible start, Perritt, normally so good with his feet managed to over run the ball letting Halifax counter and while the initial shot was blocked it unfortunately again fell to Slew who smashed it right into the top corner of the goal leaving McDonald with no chance. A few minutes later a speculatively longshot could only be parried by McDonald and Waters reacted quickest to slot the ball home from a tight angle.

While we tried to counter, unfortunately time and again a cross or a shot was delayed to try and work a better opening and invariably the chance was loss. Even when we did have space for a shot, Holman for example from just outside the area tried to place the ball into the corner as opposed to using the power we know he has got and it turned out to be an easy save for their keeper. Our goal at the other end led a charmed life with one shot coming off the outside of the post and Billy Waters able to make space and shoot just over and if those two had gone in it would have been embarrassing. As it was the fresh legs of O’Connell and Lolos did make a difference and it was the latter that was able to use his close ball skill to create space in the area to slot the ball home in the last minute of normal time. At least some consolation I thought but the very next attack Little took a speculative long shot, similar to that before Waters scored at the other end but it bounced just before the keeper to beat him and suddenly we had four minutes of injury time to try and force a very unlikely equaliser. It was not to be with an O’Connell shot being our only chance and going just over.

Key game next week at Weymouth and I will be travelling up for that one……

GJ has atactical dilema.
We were shipping far too many goals early on In the season and offering little threat and nothing like the game we all know he likes and wants to play - pressing from the front with a high tempo.

That's his trademark and the one that saw us promoted from NLS and challenge last season though we always shipped goals and looked open but usually outscored the opposition with room to spare.

He soon discovered as we all did the players brought in could nowhere near match the quality, threat and energy of Whitfield, Nemanee, Randell, Cameron etc and had to change to far more conservative tactics to stop the leaks. In quality we have dropped by a whole division.
It's been nothing more than damage limitation tactics that have to a degree worked in stopping the early season rot but left us with jittery low in confidence players and no forward threat.
The central defensive area is still a problem in my opinion we no longer have a real commanding presence but with so little forward threat and a weakened midfield its inevitable that the keeper and defence look vulnerable.
We all know what style Garry likes to play and thats been impossible with the squad available and the few quality players we do have now are also looking poor being dragged down a level with the rest.
Byron Moore ? Not sure what all the fuss was about was he injured yesterday? Was Alabi sacrificed to bring him in because he suddenly became available. I guess we'll never know the anaswer to that one but In the few cameos I saw he looked like he could have been part of the answer and offered pace and threat.
We have an aging Wright waiting in the wings that may help the cause and and Asa likely in his last season at this level. A bunch of players the manager and supporters have already made up their minds on and the much lambasted Little unlikey now to want to renew any contract. CLE I can be pretty sure would have been off in the close season if he hadn't been under contract.
Its not looking very promising and GJ looked pretty tired and fed up in yesterdays post match interview.
Not sure if he can get us back on track or where he goes from here.

We don’t seem to win 6 pointers, we bleddy need to next week as we are now 4 points off that last relegation spot.

Is there standing tickets for the Weymouth match or is it all seating and if standing, is there a lid on the away end?