POSF 1st Leg Torquay United V Histon 1st May 2009

Well that sure was a good game and one we could have won by four goals, still I think we will all be happy taking a two goal lead up to Histon on Monday night.

The gate looked bigger that was announced and you can't fault any one of them for they sung their hearts out during the whole match, you have to ask if Histon deserve to be a league club with such poor support.

At least the extra 2000 TUFC fans who were missing at matches when we only got gates of 1700, saw a good game and you can only wonder just how much that extra support if they had come to all the games could really do to take our club forward.

We played football tonight, passed the ball well and only hit it long when it was right to do so, Wroe was at his best nearly always finding his man with his passing and Hargreaves battled away all night.

How Carlisle has got so much stick this season is beyond me, tonight he was in top form, getting in great tackles and linking up with his team mates so well, Stevens when running at defenders is a real threat and he was unlucky not to score as he had two or three good chances he made himself.

Sills did what he does best, he worked his socks off and deserved his goal, but praise mush also go to his strike partner Sturrock. This man is real class and you have to ask why he is not playing in the championship at least.

Its a shame Sills scissors kick in the box got blocked as that would have bee a spectacular goal and one worthy of winning any match. Wroe hit his shot well for our first goal but it look a defection that sent it inside the right hand post.

Poke did well mostly did give us a scare in the second half when he missed the ball completely, but Mansell was every where in defense tonight and while we at times make clearing our lines harder than we should have, we did what we had to do in the end.

The ref failed to give us a few free kicks he should have but I felt he did OK, was always prepared to bring the ball back for a free kick if we had not gained any advantage.

Our away form has been good all season and there is no reason why we can't go and win at Histon on Monday night, fingers crossed we are two games away from going back into the football league. I have every faith that this is our season and is not going to end in tears like the last two.

Considering what was at stake for both sides tonight the match was played in an excelent spirit. Very competetive but I cannot remeber one single nasty moment in the entire match credit to both sides for that after what I had witnessed betweem Stevenage and Cambridge the night before.
In all truth we played more like the away side - perhaps a master stroke from the manager and I reckon if we had gone at it gung ho we could have easily caught a cold. There was none of the cavelier "attack at all costs" and leave yourselves wide open which was evident in last seasons play offs No this was a far more considered and inteligent aproach and and it payed off handsomly.
Histon certainly had good legs and came close to scoring without realy creating a clear cut chance and if Toddy and his back line play as they did tonight on Monday we can start thinking of booking our Wembley seats . Just one more big effort needed on Monday and it wont be easy they have nothing to lose and are a very useful side particularly on there own patch.

Watched it in the pub near Blackburn, with no sound so didn't get atmosphere but thought it was a really gritty performance from the Gulls. Certainly didn't think we dominated early on and the corner count suggests that but ALL the squad worked their socks off. In fact I think that has been a feature of recent good peformances e.g. Kettering, Burton, tonight i.e. the refusal to let other teams play and get anything easy. Can't really single anyone out as they all deserve praise but you have to say..Sills..what a man, with that injury, putting himself about, putting his head in etc. One thing I'm sure of and which gives me confidence is that this team WON'T consider the tie over.

Yes we should not forget the mask Sills had to wear tonight, looked like some stage prop from the Phantom Of the Opera, Like Peter said he was fearless tonight and showed bravery and courage going in to try and win his battles with the Histon defenders.

While I would agree we were hemmed in a bit a the start of the fist half and had to defend a number of corners, we played the better football in the first half, Histon so often just hitting long hopeful balls,

Toward the end of the second half Histon played some good football on the ground, but you felt that if they had got a goal back they would not have deserved on the balance of the whole game.

Hard to please? I despair of such idiots I really do and heard the very same thing coming out of the game at Stevenage the other day.

I think these "sages" are trying to vainly cling on to a "we're too good to be non league" mentality whereas I would prefer to acknowledge that at it's best the BSP is far more competitive and demanding than League 2 as several of our recent superb games show. The two performances against Blackpool and Coventry of the Championship prove also just what levels of performance and technical expression exist at OUR club................expression that can only be made more apparent against opposition who are prepared to "take us on" in a football sense and to that end I was pleasantly surprised at Histon's "polishing of the rough edges" from the Histon of last season. Yes, they STILL play for the maximum return of restarts they can extract from a game..................and statistically it's hard to argue against that approach. Even football playing, free flowing Stevenage got a better scoring return from restarts against Cambridge the night before than they did from open play and remember too OUR second goal last night was the direct result of a restart (long throw) and it is this consideration I was trying in vain to counter in Dave's "football the way it is meant to be played" stance earlier in the season.

Nobody loves to watch constructive and expansive passing side any more than I do but I do like to see a purpose of intent from it rather than some sides "possession as long as it's possession" mantra.

I happened to be living in the Dagenham area for the season they lost out to Yeovil for the Conference title and had watched the Daggers mid week quite a bit before that when they were doing so well and I would say quite categorically that THIS squad of Paul Buckle's is better than Garry Hill's at D&R and every bit as good as Garry Johnson's at Yeovil, which in my mind is the finest I have ever seen at this level and maybe matched only by Martin O'Neill's Wycombe Wanderers of the time of their elevation into the Football League and Barry Fry's legendary Barnet (nothing Tin Pot about them then!) side that swept up also.

That's why I get so angry at the constant sniping and mis informed criticism of OUR manager from people who really haven't any experience of football aty this level nor any appreciation of just what is needed to first of all build foundations and then a platform BEFORE attempting to move onwards and upwards.

Part of this of course involves evolving the squad and that inevitably upsets certain supporters who get far too emotionally attached to certain players and their worth to the club.

There's nothing wrong in maximising use of a player by a manager until such time as the manager feels the player has outlived his worth to the squad and that might because of attitude, discipline, fitness or ability.

The best example I can draw on would be Lee Phillips................a fine component of the squad as we played at the start of last season, but as his performance for Cambridge the other night portrayed; NOT the sort of player one would now wish to select over a technician like Blair Sturrock in the current more constructive and measured style that we utilise today.

I thought last night's game and the one the night before reached far higher levels of technical expression and therefore entertainment than some of the fraught and foul ridden displays of panic I have witnessed in the play offs over two decades now and now that everybody in the game (fans included) appears to have "calmed down" over such a method of deciding the last remaining promotion place; fine entertainment for the fans also.

I thought we "mixed it up" well last night Merse - we were tough at the back and played it long when we needed to but showed some real class in spreading the play, making space, changing the pace of the move. The technical excellence of Sturrock in terms of his ball control and his awareness was fantastic last night - the control that he showed when he took a long pass was appreciated by the whole crowd.
The improvement in the squad is clear to see - even if we don't make it back to the league I firmly believe that we have seen further incremental advancements.

I thought Histon were very good as well - not attractive to watch but extremely effective and they have some decent players - Midson and Mitchel-King would be welcome signings for most clubs at this level. They were a different class to the team we stuffed before Christmas and credit to their keeper who came-in and produced a creditible display in the absence of Naisbitt.

Last night's performance was everything that the either play-off game for us last season was not. I don't expect to see a "swagger" - I expected to see focus, 100% commitment, high energy and fluidity - I saw all of that last night - typified by the tackle that the technically excellent and always improving Wayne Carlise at the end with the block tackle he made as Histon desperately tried to reduce the arrears with the clock running-out.
Last season we were dead on our feet and the win at Exeter wasn't representative of a very dogged but tired performance. There just seems to be a different force pushing the team forward.

Plenty of hard work to do and the game is very much in the balance - Bucks needs no reminding of that given the "failure" 16 year ago as we went to John Beck's team at Deepdale with a 2-0 lead and were hamstrung by a shocking referee (Joe Worrall still needs shooting for that) and spent much of the game on the ropes.
He also has tasted success with Colchester and is a year wiser than last season. For anyone to suggest that we dispense with him if we lose-out in the play-offs and start again with someone else is simply ridiculous.