Torquay United V Crawley 11th April 2009

I was left quite gobsmacked when i saw the sprinkle on watering the pitch! and for what?
Thought the game was awful today not the same side that played Burton what happened today, Thought sill's had a bad game and carlisle kept kicking the ball to crawley? and stevens to.
Was sad to see that brough being recalled didn't make a difference he didn't even play would have been interesting to see him again with toddy. Oh well can't all be bad as saw dave and john after the game!

3rd place game in hand, CAMBREDGE WERE COMING FOR YA ! LOL

Expectations, expectations where do they get you? I said in the week our problem has always been when ever we take two steps forward we then go and take one backward one. We looked nothing like the side who beat Kettering so well only one week before and Burton last Monday night.

We had chances to score in this game but failed to take any of then and so often gave Crawley all the space they wanted to play in. I did think some of the Crawley players were far too physical and got away with far too much, but it’s not their fault we failed to match them on the pitch.

I looked at the size of the Crawley players and was surprised Bucks had gone with Stevens, mind you I felt he did a good job and if we had players who could convert the chances his hard work created, we might have got something out of the game.

I thought we started brightly enough, but the signs were there after 5 Mins when Sills found the ball on his left foot just inside the box, but hit his shot high and wide. It was only a minute later and Crawley raced down our end and sent in a good shot from outside the box, Bevan saved the first shot but dropped the ball and had to grab it at the second attempt.

Quinn is any ugly big defender who ruffed up Sills for the whole game and rightly got booked after 10 Mins for a nasty foul on the halfway line. We took the free kick only for Quinn to foul Sills again right on the edge of the box, Carlisle took the free kick but send the ball wide of the left hand post.

Just one min later Sills rushed through to the edge of the box and fired in a shot that Rayner saved but not too well and he then had to scramble to gather the ball. On 11 Mins Wroe went on a good run and hit a good shot across the keeper that must have taken a defection as a corner was given.

I was thinking at this point we had made the better start and a goal would surely come soon for us. On the quarter hour mark Danny Stevens made another good run and played a good ball into the box, it was there for Sills to bury it, but it seemed to come of his heel? and back towards the edge of the box.

Crawley always looked dangerous going forward and a great cross field ball by them saw Nico beaten to the ball that was whipped into the far edge of our box, a good header saw the ball directed toward the penalty spot and their NO 8 could not grow the extra inch that would have given him the chance to get the first goal.

We were still playing some neat football and a great move between Sills and Sturrock ended in a shot just wide of the post. We started giving the Crawley players even more space and Hargreaves in my view looked worn out for much of the game, he did have a good run around the 35 Min mark but the ball got away from him and he lunged in as Quinn got to the ball and got booked for the tackle.

On 38 Mins Crawley played another good ball out wide on our left, Robertson was easily beaten and a ball was driven across our box and a Crawley player was there just to bury it into our net. We could have no complaints as we were so guilty of standing off the opposition and not closing down quickly enough.

We should have gone in at half time level and the miss by Sills only sums up his less than convincing display today, Sturrock did well to keep the ball in before it went over the goal line, passed it to Sills to hit first time and the shot was so poor it had me shouting out how rubbish it was. Stevens just after that fired in a good ball into the box, but no one was able to get a shot away and the danger was over.

Strange events at halftime, the goal was watered at the family stand end, then they did it at the away end, Poor Bevan came out to warm up as he does and could not use the goal. In the end it was turned off only for the forth official to come up complaining. I think he might have been saying that the other end got watered longer, but I’m not that sure, but it was then turned back on again.

Then Rayner came out to start the second half and must have complained about all the water in the goal mouth at the family stand end, so the groundsman was called and had to go and start forking the goal mouth, what a farce all that was.

We got worse in the second half and could have gone another goal behind and were only saved by the crossbar. A Crawley player send in a good cross into our box and Mansell did well to head it out for a corner. The corner was taken and a good header saw the ball crash on the underside of the crossbar and drop down to Bevan who was on the floor and he was able to grab hold of it.

On 55 Mins there was a big shout for a handball in the Crawley box, not too sure about it myself as I did not see it that clearly, but nothing was given and at that stage I would have taken anything to get us back into the match.

Sturrock had limped away from one challenge in the second half and it was no surprise to see him going off, I did not expect to see all our three subs come on at the same time, but Benyon came on for Sturrock, Dsane for Stevens and Carayol for Carlisle. I thought Carlisle was having a reasonable game and was surprised he went off, I was also worried we might lose Chris Todd as he got a cut eye in the game and had to wear a bandage around his head for the second half.

We still created some chances but did not make the best of them, Carayol put in a good ball from out on the right but Benyon could not get on the end of it. Dsane hit a good hard shot, but it was at the keeper who saved it was ease. It was Carayol who came closest to scoring, a good run in from the left hand side saw him fire a fierce shot that I believe Raynor saved and pushed it up onto the crossbar.

Then we saw Benyon racing through clean on goal but was far too slow and got tackled in the end just inside the box before he could get a shot away. We were pushing up far too many players and always were in real danger of getting caught out by break outs by the Crawley players, Wroe lost the ball on the halfway line very cheaply and it was two against one at the back, a good pass was played and the Crawley player went around Bevan with the ball, but could only find the side netting.

We did have the ball in their box a few more times, but it was like it has been in many games this season, a case of an over crowded box and more hope we could score than any real chances we created.
Then we saw yet another break away by Crawley and this time it was three V two, the ball in the end was played to Matthews who hit it clean and low under Bevan’s body, a goal that made me feel really sick and I have not felt that way for a very long time at a game. We got what we deserved and that sorry to say was nothing.

Time maybe to forget about going up as champions, maybe the fans singing that we would do during the first half had a jink on the final result. Plainmoor was full of good noise today and could do no more to help the team on, the drummer was first class(nice to have someone who can play it properly) we did get the c word song again and that just made a bad day even worse, but who cares our team did not do the job and that is all that really matters.

I wasn't the only one to see it then!

A bad day at the office and we have to move on.
There are many salient points already given in previous posts.
Given that Hargreaves had announced on his blog that he was not feeling too great on Friday night, I was somewhat surprised to see him included. One cannot fault his commitment and work rate but he was clearly off the pace, along with many today.
Our poor home form, this was not one of those occasions where a team sat back against us, concerns me, particularly from a play off perspective.
Bucks has a difficult task in terms of selection on Monday does he look to freshen things up or should he adopt a settled side approach and seek to get his best team in order to regain momentum going into the playoffs. He has last years experience to call on and we will see if this time around we can achieve more than we did last season.
Difficult for any player to stand out today but Carayol demonstrated why he is a “project” worth the effort despite the fact that we have no reserve team. Whichever league we find ourselves in next season he will be an improved asset.
We still fail to take sufficient of our goal scoring opportunities. Try as I might to like Benyon, today’s effort just confirmed for me that, at present, he is not good enough at this level. Physically still lacking, although certainly stronger than he was last year, he was maintaining some lukewarm enthusiasm from me because he was popping up with the odd goal. Today however he blew 2 gilt-edged opportunities.

As to the “Watering” affair. It seemed to me that we had a deliberate approach to water the goal in front of the family stand. Someone from Crawley complained and the 4th official was dispatched to order our ground staff to treat both goal areas equally. Some over enthusiastic watering left standing water in the goalmouth inside the 6 yard box. The referee quite rightly wanted that remove before starting the second half.

Right now the last thing I want to do is spend a wad of money going to Salisbury on Monday. I have taken heed of Merse and no doubt tomorrow I’ll be thinking about going again

Evans latest.

Good to hear Carayol was given 5 times his wages to come to Torquay!
Perhaps he discussed it over golf with the Burton chairman. Bottle of claret, my arse.

news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7995128.stm

Next up the Histon chairman for some Texas hold 'em ?

Well, I hope the inhabitants of The History Room in 2049 remember that fleeting glimpse of the championship which tempted some of us over the last five days. It was fun whilst it lasted and yesterday brought us down to earth with a bump. As has been said, Crawley certainly did "a job on us" and seemed to have us "well-sussed". And they had some good players as well.

I thought the first half was actually a good game between two teams that were playing well and, during that spell, I passed comment that I would stick with this line-up - more or less - for the rest of the season. I say more or less because I can't make up my mind whether to go with Dsane, Stevens or Carayol as a starter. My opinions shift between the three and I must say Carayol did well when he came on yesterday. In midfield - to state the obvious perhaps - I'm of the opinion that if we are to win promotion via the play-offs it will, in no small part, depend on outstanding performances by Wroe and Hargreaves over the three games. There are some nags in my mind but I'm keeping faith in the pair putting together a string of games in the manner of, say, Saunders and Elliott at the back in 1991. Let's hope.

When I returned home from Buckland last night I had to wryly smile at the Why When We Get A Crowd? thread. Seeing so many people leave when the second goal was scored - and hearing the "same old Torquay" comments as I walked down Plainmoor Road - made me feel just the same. I guess yesterday's extra thousand is our "missing thousand".

As for the watering of the pitch, it was more of mystery at our end of the Popular Side because we couldn't see the standing water. Once there was activity involving players and officials it became obvious to most of us that the mark had been over-stepped and flooded in the process. But this didn't stop Mr Impatient - who stands just along from me - from berating the referee and officials with one of his customary "Get on with it!" demands which usually follow within 0.3 seconds of something happening. I suspect Mr Impatient - known especially for his apoplectic behaviour when the oppostion steals a centimetre at a throw-in - isn't a bad sort but there are times I fear for his blood pressure. However, I have reason to believe his alcohol intake helps alleviate the stress he appears to bring to every match.

With luck he won't be standing next to me at the Salisbury and Stevenage games which, of course, are more important than ever now.