FL2: Torquay v Accrington Stanley 27th Feb 2010

Get in , well done Torquay,

Yellow army

All the other results gone for us.

Only one thing to say to you........................"Buckle it!" ;D

Lets analise the performance of both team and lino later but for the minute great result and great to see Wayno on the pitch.

Lets all hope that its not temporary condition

A quick synopsis and it was basically hard work and sticking at it that won the points today. When Accy equalised I was dreading that the next goal would be at the wrong end once again, after all weve seen it so many time this season and it did look like it may happen for a short period in the second half and at that point I would have settled for the single point.
The introduction of Wayne Carlisle made a big difference and he was by no means off the pace as you may have expected after such a long lay off. We looked far more balanced and his work rate as ever was brilliant.
Not huge amount of pretty football and plenty of hoof from the back but if that's what it takes for us to get out of this self inflicted mess then I don't care less what it looks like.
Ellis and Branston were both superb today and look a good partnership( You dare split it up Mr B) and I must admit that Robertson looked the part at right back today though he didn't have a speedy winger to contend with unlike Rowe Turner did in the second period.
This lad looks like the product of a disagreement- first half awful first touch and distribution and a complete liability. To me it looked like Buckle is going to pick him ahead of ( Mr Lees' ?)Camara quite rightly as the guy is so unfit, Nicho (baffling) and the genuinely talented Adam Smith.
Rowe Turner did improve in the second half but looks very raw at this level and for periods looked completely uninterested, not a demeanour that will go down to well when were getting tanked!!
Nicky Wroe looks like he needs a holiday just not on the top of his game at all. Mansell was close to my MOM not only for a well taken goal but for his work rate and attitude . Take note Mr Rowe Turner..
Barnes is a bit of an enigma, puts himself about without doubt but very little end product and missed a good chance wide of the post in te first half. Zebs needs more help for him to be more productive abd Elliot ran his socks off and did what he could until replaced by Muzzy in the second half. Yet another enigma Muzzy Caryoll. A genuine skillful winger if ever you saw one and probably one of the trickiest at the club but how many opportunities has he had in the last two seasons? Almost made an immediate impact wit a super run and cross to the far post where Barnes I think headed over when it looked easier to score.
There goal well executed and well taken by Symes who had been in Ellises pocket for most of the afternoon. No complaints.
Luckily our luck has changed a bit over the last couple of weeks and we win from an own goal in the last minute...WHOOPY!!
I cant even remember when we had an og in our favour can you?? At least I was smiling when I ran to the car makes a refreshing change and for once in a long while I was eager to look at the league table...

I saw a lot of happy faces leave Plainmoor tonight, but I'll be completely honest and say mine was not one of them. While obviously delighted at taking the three points, and seeing the much improved table after a decent set of results for us, to me the result did nothing but paper over the cracks that are still clearly in evidence.

I've not seen some of the recent performances, but I am told that it matched them fairly closely - disjointed, lacking in passion and eventually very lucky.

Accrington lined up with an in-form strike pairing of Symes and Grant, but here I will give the Gulls some credit, because apart from the first five minutes and Symes' goal both were kept relatively quiet, mainly by yet another man of the match performance from the vastly improved Mark Ellis.

Stanley could well have been a couple of goals up inside the opening five, Branston penalised for a soft foul which ended with Bevan having to make a flying save (for the cameras) from a curling free-kick and then Symes given time outside the box to take aim at goal with only Bevan to beat, thankfully screwing his shot well wide of goal when he really should have done a lot better.

There followed a spell of Gulls pressure, possibly the only time in the opening 45 minutes when that was the case, Ashley Barnes inches wide after showing excellent strength to hold off and then beat his marker, and both Benyon and Zebroski spurning chances.

But that spell apart Torquay were abysmal until the break. I hate singling out players, but I do feel Lloyd Macklin to be one of the most ineffective wingers I have ever seen, while Lathaniel Rowe-Turner should be nothing more than our third choice left back after Smith and Nicholson. What both of them offer is inexperience, which showed on many occasions. LRT almost gifted Accrington an opener with a shockingly mis-placed pass not far from his own box (Mansell was almost guilty of something similar as well) and Macklin - well what can you say but thank God Paul Buckle was awake, unlike some fans at the Morgue, and brought on Wayno at the break.

His impact was immediate, doing more than the player he had replaced inside the opening five minutes of the second period, running up to the lucky opening goal, which came after a fine link-up between him and Elliott Benyon, completely ineffective until then in a starting role. Just as Benyon looked to have run down another blind alley, failing to show the confidence to take a shot, the ball broke to Mansell, whose shot deflected off the toe of a defender and curled past a wrong-footed Dunbavin, who had been expecting a shot across him by the looks of it.

Sadly, as has often happened this season, that was the cue to sit back, but Ellis and Branston coped well at the back while Chris Robertson had one of his better games at right-back. Over on the other side of the back-four, Rowe-Turner was continually exposed by his winger, twice being called for shirt pulls and luckily avoiding a yellow card which would have become red later on (see later on!!!).

But the equaliser came with one of Accrington's rare forward ventures (I will admit it is possible we frustrated them into being very poor) and what a simple but well-executed goal it was. Again the right-winger was given acres of space to deliver a ball into the middle, and with Branston (for a change) out of position, Symes snuck in between him and Ellis and coolly volleyed past Bevan, who had little chance because of the speed of the move and the shot.

There followed a spell of nothingness, both on the pitch and off it, with the only real noise coming from the away end, but just as things looked set to end with yet more frustration and just as I am sure one or two fans were waiting to voice their disappointment, came the 2009/10 version of Northwich (H) 2008/9. With Barnes, according to some in line with play, at least five yards offside, a cross ballooned into the middle which Barnes chased down and with Accrington arms aloft appealing to the linesman, Darren Kempson swung his boot wildly at the ball and looped it into the corner of the net to provoke scenes of unbridled joy in the Popside.

The six extra minutes (three were put up on the board) eventually came to an end but for me it was just relief, no joy, no smiles and I have to say I found it very difficult to respond positively. I (and it might just be me) still feel we are not playing well, not looking particularly together and papering over the cracks, as mentioned earlier on.

The atmosphere was flat from the first minute, there was no leadership from captain Wroe, who had a really poor game, with only Mansell, who would be my captain, and Branston showing the passion I would like to see. Benyon is still not a starter and we are definitely a striker short if PB doesn't see Zebs as a forward, but I was quite pleased with the way Barnes knuckled down despite little help from his strike-partner. (Please don't take this as me being a Benyon hater - I am a realist and he never plays as well when he starts matches...despite a good scoring record).

It was great to see Wayno back, and he was strangely given MOTM despite missing a sitter as well from a Mustapha Carayol cross only seconds after the latter had come into the game. I'd have him straight back in the team on Tuesday if he is fit, since I see no merit in Macklin, and I hope Smith starts for LRT, who was lucky to escape a straight red late on for a scything tackle on the winger who had given him the heebee jeebees all afternoon.

I know this will come across as negative on a day when we should be all smiles, but when it comes to TUFC I am a realist. We are no better than a team that is going to have to fight all the way to the end of the season to maintain our league status, and thankfully for us there are a few worse teams around us, all of them losing today which made the result all the better...I just wish the players would show the passion they did in the final minutes when in front for the whole game, and that the Popside would come up with a bit more noise - it was deathly silent within 30 seconds of kick off and bar a couple of Yellow Army chants and reaction to the goals changed very little throughout - contrast that with the away support and you wonder what happens to some of the noisier members of the crowd when they are at home.

All in all when you look at the table it has to be looked upon as a positive day, but I would warn people not to get too carried away because there are far better teams than Accrington in this division and we clearly met them on a bad day. A decent Dagenham side will provide a far harder test on Tuesday, when another three points would be very welcome.

An excellent synopsis of the game from CapitalGull. Both Macklin and Rowe-Turner are not competent enough at this level. I hope Buckle realises this and omits them for what is likely to be a much tougher game against Dagenham. We have been lucky in recent weeks that results of the clubs either below us or just above have gone in our favour. It is a sad state of affairs to stay in the league on the basis of others misfortunes rather than creating our own good fortune.