The Acid Test.

Actually agree with you to some extent Dave, if we don't put in a performance and get well beat today then something is very wrong.

Certainly a win would be very important and maybe you could point to the green shoots of recovery maybe sprouting out of that very same elephant pooh!! ;D

So Dave has Buckle passed the test today? some said the last game when we won in the 95 min with a pen, was just a get out of jail card. No team has thrashed us so far this season and we have had many late goals put past us, that has cost us points.

Games like today when you win by a goal in the 90 min, you have to still be in the game for that to be the winning goal. We were and as It turns out It was, I said in the week we have to take each game as It comes and see where we are after each game.

So now we move on to the next game and hope that we build on todays result, back to back wins no matter how they come can only lift the players the fans and give all the believth that we can carry on the run we have now started.

Dave Shaw, I had hoped seeing you have been on, that you would have at least had some words to say on our win. As I said you asked the question, Buckle answered, so lets hear a well done from you mate, its OK having a go, when things go wrong, or poor decisions made, but praise must be given where It is due, don't you think.

Based on what logic Dave?

That was a high class game yesterday, played in a vibrant atmosphere with rhythmic drumming and hand clapping creating a theatre of noise and enthusiasm the like of which we never see at Plainmoor.

Next week, unless things go right and we score early, it will be back to the players being harangued for any misplaced pass, calls for Buckle to get this player off, get that player off; and the bucolic cries of "bleddy rubbush Buckle" bellowing out over the ground.

Perhaps if a good few people took a long hard look at themselves in the mirror, OUR team might play with a bit more expression.

False dawn? I think you still bely YOUR agenda there Dave with your grudging praise.

He can argue it merse. Doesn't make it true tho.

The only "agenda" i have is to see Torquay United back in the league. The record of results over the last 9 months indicates Buckle won't be the one to achieve this. Therefore, logic would indicate that this win (welcome tho it is) does not mark a turning point. Take a look at the league table merse it's full of logic. You might want to notice the points gained part, it tells a story of failure. You may want to compare the last 30 games logically and you will see a pattern.

I'm bored now with all this logic. We'll reach the 12 played mark in 3 more games. I set my criteria at the start of the season and he's not anywhere close even if he takes max points from the next 3 games, which he won't.

I stand by everything i've said.

Dave, You're talking without regard for the need for time that has been required to assimilate so many new additions to the squad..............the same requirement that bookies' favourites Stevenage, Oxford, and Rushden needed. A look at the top positions show Salisbury, Kettering, Histon and Barrow "punching above their weight" at present and it's no coincidence that all four of these sides have long established squads that are used to the "winning habit" in the league below.

Last season it could be argued that the team went off like a steam train through playing a more pragmatic and basic game - a game that was "up" by the time the opposition had got to grips with it.

The Plainmmoor "faithful" began making noises that they wanted something "more sophisticated" and the effort was made to deliver that.......................with the result that they then began baying for blood because they were unwilling to show patience as the new squad "gelled". After match conversation yesterday centred on the unlikely event that they (The Plainmoor crowd) would find yesterday's successful approach to their liking and would have been crying "rubbish"well before time as the side was clearly set out to "do a job" to the extent of getting no more than one man clearly forward. If Dave Thomas was mistakenly viewing Thompson as a "striker" yesterday one can only imagine the cries of "get up front" that would have rained down from the Popside in his direction.

Cut the manager some slack and stop trying to merge last season into this season. Give him some credit for having a try at improving the "quality" of play this season. Allow him some time to "suck it and see" and don't castigate him for having the nous to recognise how most goals are scored and conceded at this level, and then setting out the stall accordingly.

Merse, as always you make some fair points. But, how much slack can we allow? Stating the bleeding obvious, it's about results. The league table doesn't lie. We can measure Buckles success really easily. The fact is he isn't performing to a satisfactory level based on those results. In my mind it is clear cut.