Rushden v Torquay United 12th October 2008

Rushden down to ten men, lets hope that does not work against us

Green Off what what was he thinking, seems Its kicking off, come on boys keep your heads, we do not need to get involved.

They just got one back so I hope you are correct Andy

great game by the sounds Of It and a great result, 300 TUFC fans at the match. Well done to them all, they sung loudly and played their part.

Get those charts updated Andy, the ones that show goals scored ;D

What a fantastic result Looking forward to the match report from those there, particularly in respect of the Green sending off as seems quite suspiciously close to the other sending off -a bit of gamesmanship maybe

Now really impressed with this run that we are on, particularly the last four games - eight points from Wrexham, Rushden away and Oxford, Stevenage at home. Only goal difference keeping us out of a play off position!!

Looking to the immediately future, hope Sills is O.K. as his absence would leave us a bit light on the striker front.

Onward and upwards.

Thanks for your report Ant, glad you have had a great weekend Of football, with the England game yesterday.

I know you only put that last part In your post, because you know I know you to well. Safe trip home to you and Al.

Well I may have got my sums wrong this morning but we did indeed end up playing 3-5-1 and then 4-4-1. However, we started off with a 3-5-1-1 that totally dominated the home team who strangely tried to counter us by having two deep playing midfielders and two wingers. Presumably Garry Hill thought those wingers would peg our two wing backs back, but it did nothing of the sort because their central two were totally overrun.

Nene Park is a five star venue and I've not sampled better facilities in any other stadium...................seriously, forget the capacity; it's big enough for their purpose and the corporate and social facilities are awesome - I just love going there! What other stadium enhances the environment with lovingly tended flower beds and shrubbery?.................and I pulled my usual "stunt" here of ignoring the pay to park facility and sweeping into the corporate park at the Main Entrance and greeted them with a cheery wave and a "hello guys" to take advantage of the complimentary space just at the main door. The Barnet1 thinks it's a hoot, and I rather enjoy it too.

The game was played in a ferocious manner and the Yellow Army packed into as small a block as possible by officious stewarding (what's this, Rent a Crowd?) responded by fully committing every voice, tonsil and lung to the cause....................a tremendous atmosphere behind that goal and one that seemed to spread panic into the Diamond's defence every time we attacked them at that end. Carlisle put us ahead early and could well have done so even earlier, it was that sort of storming opening, and with the home defenders showing no confidence what so ever in a rather short keeper when they were not giving away endless corners and throws in, they were providing a rubbish service to poor old Lee Phillips up front.................and then to add insult to injury (or more accurately injury to insult) Robbo finished him off before halftime! ;D

We duly went further ahead when the short keeper was left hopelessly stranded by Sills looping back header for the second and it was all reminiscent of the power play displays we put on at Aldershot, Kidderminster and Stevenage last season.

That we would not win was never in question, it was a guess as to by how many at this stage and when Wroe walked the ball home to put us three up it was all over bar the appalling and cowardly assault on Woods by Panther which to all intents and purposes looked a deliberate attempt to inflict serious injury from behind.................I thought Hargreaves was going to throttle the bastard and the red card was instant!

Thus it all kicked off and when their left back was left in a heap after a challenge from Green, which was NOT penalised; Diamond's Gulliver raced over ten yards to man handle Green who responded in kind by using his elbow. So we have two cases of violent conduct but one red card and one yellow................how come? Was it an opportunity for the ref to"even things up" and "regain the crowd"? I thought so and felt for Green as it was a "handbags" confrontation in the light of Panther's vicious assault minutes before and I made a point of questioning the officials in the car park afterwards with Paul Bastard but in time honoured modern day fashion they only wanted to smile their way out of the query. Arrogance and cockiness is the only attribute they seemed to possess................"Respect" my arse!

We've been totally dominant today and only a little bit of sloppiness and confusion caused by positional changes in the light of the red card and substitutions allowed the home team their goal.

Buckle totally outwitted Hill tactically, the team completely out fought and out manouvred the opposition and the fans turned it into a home game..................one of those great days to be a Gulls fan!

Oh, and thanks to Chris Hargreaves for really making my little boy's day by taking time out to speak to him after the game.

"Nice hat" he greeted Anthony with as he was all but invisible under my nice black fedora..................'it's my dad's actually' - oh really!

edit: I now see Bucks is quoted as saying they set out to play 4-4-2................well it just shows how much he knows and we think we know. That's the last time I sit behind a goal again for a while then!