NL: Torquay United v Bath City 3pm 4 Nov 23

Any news of a pitch inspection today? I would have expected one after all the wet stuff! Plymouth Albion for me today v Blackheath (the oldest independent rugby club in the world!). I love those sort of claims! No chance of my game being off the rugger buggers will play on anything, and guess what I can pay on the gate the same £14 admission as I would have paid if I bought the ticket in advance! That is a novel idea! ⚽️🏉

Big question is whether Halstead starts. Looked like he took a real knock to the head at Hampton but I expect Johnson has a good old 70s take on concussion protocol. Chuck a bucket of cold water over him, a nice does of smelling salts and tell him to get on with it. A few seasons ago he was knocked out in a game at Plainmoor, started the next game and ended up passing out in the dressing room at half-time. For me, if there is any doubt whatsoever we should start with Lovett. Don’t like having no keeper on the bench but if he isn’t fit…..

If Lapslie and De Silva are ready, in addition to a Williams, we could be in a position to leave Thomas, Crowe and Hanson out of the 16.

Shape has not felt right since Jenkins Davies left. He did a decent job floaty left midfield in the lopsided 4-3-3 / 4-4-2, but without him it does not work with neither Collins nor Ash knowing what they are supposed to be doing.

I hate playing wingbacks when you have the likes of Crowe, Wyatt or Martin there, but we did well at the end of last season with Stobbs and Collins wide.

I would go back to that and play Dolan free behind Williams and Ash. With those two up front, we need to play the ball into channels for them to run into not belt it up to a hold-it-up centre forward because we haven’t got one!

Would love to have Lapslie and Hall as the solid two shielding the back three and Johnson might, out of desperation, be tempted to start with both.

In reality, you will not get two lots of 90 minutes per week out of them both, so might be better to cut your losses and ensure we always have one on the pitch rather than risk ending up with neither. We might need to take that gamble on Tuesday to escape annihilation at the hands of Yeovil.

The trouble is if you start with Hall on the bench, the alternatives are so inferior. McGavin? He would stand around expecting Lapslie to do his running. Craske or Hanson? Neither is good enough really.

How about pushing Donnellan into midfield? Probably the least bad option but it means either Marshall or Craske playing in the back three.

I would have De Silva on the bench with three out of Hall, Craske, Marshall and McGavin and either a keeper or Hanson making up the numbers if Halstead unfit.

But I expect we will persist with an unbalanced formation pandering to McGavin standing around in front of the back four.

Looks like a wonky 3-3-3 with nobody on the left. No sign of De Silva.

60 minutes 0-0 Predict Asa Hall to come on and play as a target man, Williams just on for Ash...

link - TUFC match report

As usual good summaries and analysis on here.

The best outcome for me was that I can now at least look forward to the Yeovil game on Tuesday.