NL: Torquay United v Wrexham 3pm 5th February 2022

Be interesting to see who plays up top. A mystery late signing? Wright fit?

If not it’s Lolos or Holman unless we play a Barcelona style 4-6-0 with Lemon and Little on attacking duties.

Tough on Johnson and Omar, but expect to have Lewis and Moxey back.

Like I suggested, 4-6-0 or at a push 4-5-1 with Lemon up top. Will Duke-McKenna play wide right?

Gary Johnson, looking agitated, had a long talk to the ref just now. Strange.

Well we dug that one out...a gutsy win !        Im not writing this season off just yet...

Did they really pay £300k for Palmer? Really?

Wrexham have not spent their vast fortune well, but let that not detract from our performance. We got our noses in front early on and, I would say, held that lead comfortably.

I thought at the start we were playing a midfield diamond with Hall deep at the base, but it soon became clear he was not just in front of Lewis and Moxey but was actually between them in a back three.

Sort of a 3-4-1-2 with Lapslie and Duke-McKenna central midfield and Little in the hole behind Lemon and Wearne who were running the channels up front. It worked well.

Hope Little’s injury not as serious as it looked at first. Holman replaced him with Wearne dropping into the hole. Omar replaced Duke-McKenna. Probably wise not to disturb the excellent back three. Omar not the daintiest midfielder you will see but a useful extra head for the expected late bombardment which never really came.

I know Wrexham fans must have been disappointed at how poor they are after all the cash they have splashed but I really cannot understand how anyone can travel a long distance to a game and leave with ten minutes to go in a match they still had every chance of salvaging point or even three from.

Great win by the Gulls today in a scruffy game that was all about grit, determination, bottle, commitment as skill and flair took a back seat. For all Wrexhan's big spending they should be ashamed of that performance. Their only threat all game was from set pieces and in particular their missle throws launched into the mix with the hope that it might fall right in the box. When Wrexham did try and play to feet typically their moves broke down, hitting the ball too long and going out of play.

Torquay took their chance early on from a set piece and defended heroically throughout the entire game. Hall played in the middle of a back three with Lewis and Moxey and it worked a treat. Hall himself was the match winner heading home at the far post from a Little free kick near the corner flag on our left. All our back three were excellent winning virtually everything launched into our box and also putting in some important blocks. MacDonald again continued his solid form and made three important saves in the second half when called upon and his handling and decision making was again assured.

It was a surprise seeing Lapsie start today and you could say it was his sort of game getting stuck in and winning important battles in midfield. Lapsie pulled up injured in the second half but still played the whole game. Little later on also got injured and was replaced by Holman, hopefully his injury is not serious? It was not a game to admire the subtle skills of players like Little but in the first half I thought the skill and invention came from Torquay and not Wrexham. I could not believe how poor Wrexham were in the first half as Torquay deserved their lead.

Torquay offered very little as an attacking threat in the second half. Perhaps this was not surprising as we had no recognized striker up front. Lemonheigh-Evans and Wearne were just feeding off scraps and neither retained possession very well. There was no lack of effort from the pair but it was a difficult match to show skill with little time on the ball. This meant the second half was mainly about Wrexham trying to break down Torquay's defence. It was a very stop / start game with loads of set pieces and the game was all about that. Wrexham were not smart enough to break down Torquay and were just a one dimensional team. Teams like Dagenham and Redbridge are far better than Wrexham.

After 7 minutes of stoppage time the final whistle blew and there were great scenes on the Pop side and Gary Johnson gave his customary fist pump. Wrexham fans were even leaving before the final whistle which showed what they must have thought of their team's performance. It was a great day to be a Gulls fan and some reassurance football is not all about splashing the cash. You cannot buy qualities like team spirit and commitment and Torquay had that in abundance today and big spending Wrexham looked like a team of individuals.