NL: Torquay United v Maidstone United 3pm 28/01/23

Two up front.

No Hall. Mensah on bench.

Evans and Aguilar start.

Maybe a back three with Wyatt or more back than wing wingback and De Silva a more wing than back wingback.

That would leave Lapslie carrying two lightweights in centre midfield.

Has the Cardiff loanee forward returned to Cardiff? We may never know.

Cheers. Jarvis scores another handy goal. Hold on, boys.

Well it wasn't pretty but in the end Torquay just did enough to win and just about deserved it. To be frank it was an awful match to watch, totally lacking any sort of quality. The first half must have ranked as one of the poorest games of football I have seen at Plainmoor. Whether it was due to our new signings trying to find their feet or a rustiness due to a lack of recent games, the first half just did not get going from either side. We were disjointed, playing like a bunch of strangers and it was totally bereft of any quality. Too much long ball hit and hope, no midfielder orchestrating anything. It was just one horrible slog to watch. Torquay had a few corners and one or two half chances but the first half was totally forgettable.

Around the 60 minute mark, Torquay showed some improvement which was not difficult after the dross we had witnessed. Our only real quality all game typically came from De Silva thanks to his fantastic control and pace on the ball. Donnellan had another assured performance with tidy work on the ball and Halstead was fine when called upon. Donnelan had a strong header tipped over. Jarvis, who was having a quiet game, got put through. Jarvis hit his shot true enough and their keeper saved. At last Torquay were creating some clear chances. Our standard of play was still hit-and-miss which was putting it politely as too many moves were breaking down through poor play. Finally new striker Fadahunsi put through Jarvis and this time Jarvis finished it off! Maidstone tried to get back in the game and there were the usual nervy moments at the end. You half expected an equaliser but this time Torquay held out.

So yes we won but the performance I'm afraid is still well below the standard needed to escape relegation. We look a poor team but at least there is no lack of effort - just a total lack of quality in the squad. It cannot be easy for new players to come in and shine in a struggling team so I reseve judgment on players like Fadahunsi and Lawrence. They are both well built for this league so there is some hope I guess. On the other hand Aguiar looks very lightweight and too often hit a wrong "Hollywood" pass. Evans had one of his better games but apart from Jarvis and De Silva I would not fancy anyone else to score.

Still, let's not complain tooo much, it was 3 precious points today that still gives us a glimmer of hope.

A typical bottom of the table relegation scrap that was pretty low on quality but which overall we deserved to win courtesy of the better chances. That was actually our third win on the trot and gives us a chance to build some momentum to get out of trouble as we approach the final third of the season. De Silva was my man of the match today, showing his usual quality on the ball and got better as the match progressed, partly as the players around him tired and at times they seemed to just stand there as he danced around them.

Our first chance of note was after 15 minutes when DeSilva managed to get a cross into the box and new signing Fadahunsi intercepted the ball directly in front of the keeper but was unable to find a player in yellow to slot home. Moxey forced a good save from a free kick after his cross almost curled in at the far post and had a shot that went over but it is never great when your few chances are falling to a defender and the first half unsurprisingly finished scoreless.

Early in the second half, Donallan seemed to have a free header from a free kick that their keeper just managed to tip over but either side of him and it was in. Maidstone continue to be poor with their best chances coming from corners. On the rare occasion, they got into a good position they invariably cut back with just the final defender to beat and lost any opportunity.

While we were getting crosses into the area which were generally well dealt with, any chances didn’t quite fall to our players with Wyatt agonising close to getting a connection on one occasion with the keeper beaten. Another cross saw Fadahunsi being wrestled by their defender onto the ground and while both were embracing the other, could well have been a penalty on another day. When the goal came it did have a slice of luck. The ball was cleared by a Maidstone defender but hit another player in midfield and ricocheted straight back to Fadahunsi who controlled the ball and slipped it pass the last defender for Jarvis to run onto and running straight to the left side of the area made no mistake with a left footed shot just inside the far post for a quality finish. Well deserved as he had been having a lot of attention from the Maidstone defenders all afternoon.

We had just over 10 minutes of normal time plus as it turned out six minutes of injury time to hold out but I can only recall Halstead having to make one fairly regulation save tipping the ball over the bar, plus we dealt with a fair bit of pressure form a number of corners, but otherwise we saw the game out fairly comfortably for a crucial win.