Well I left Plainmoor this afternoon very disappointed I’m afraid, disappointed that we let Shrewsbury off the hook and only put five goals past them,
when we should have won by 10 goals to nil. If that had been the final score then Shrewsbury could have no complaints what so ever.
If home fans had thought they had been treated to a wonderful second half display of good football our team played against Stevenage last Saturday, let me tell you that was second rate compared to what we were treated to today.
Today happened to be one of those games you were so glad you were there to witness it, because such games for Torquay United fans are rare and don’t happen all that often. I made a post yesterday where I said it was a good time to be a TUFC fan, today was a very proud time to be one that had me reduced to tears in the end, such was the performance from our players.
Yes Shrewsbury did turn up and did not play their reserve team, it was clear to see when the game kicked off they were a quality side and we would have to really special to beat them. We beat them because we outworked them, out fought them and outplayed them on ever single inch of the Plainmoor pitch.
As expected Paul Buckle put Gavin Tomlin and Roman Murry our two new loan players straight into the starting eleven, the only surprise was the return in goal of Scott Bevan who must have ended up thinking we were playing a team at the bottom of the table and not one in third place. I believe Bucks went with Scott as he wanted the extra height in goal.
I was so pleased to see the attacking line up I posted last night that I hoped would start and from the very first whistle to the last, it was Torquay attack after attack. We took a very early first half lead and you won’t see a cooler finish at Plainmoor than the one Gavin Tomlin produced. What’s all this nonsense that the players would not know each other?
We won the ball in our half and a great flick by Roman Murry split the Shrewsbury defence. Benyon would never have had the pace to get onto the ball, but Tomlin sure did and once in the box with the Shrewsbury keeper coming off his line to close him down, he chipped him brilliantly.
Would we now sit back as we have done at home and let Shrewsbury have a go at attacking us, not on your nelly and the only real surprise was we did not add to our fist half lead.
Guy Braston should have done better with a headed chance that came his way from a Nico corner, but he headed the ball well over the bar. Ben Pringle looked like he might get our second goal for us, after the ball was flicked around in the Shrewsbury box a few times, it fell right at his feet facing goal and unmarked. Credit has to go to the Shrewsbury keeper who came off his line faster than a greyhound and dived on the ball just as Pringle was about to pull the trigger.
The half was soon turning into a shooting practice session for our players, Nico played a good ball to Stanley who was on the edge of the box, but his shot just went wide of the left hand post.
Nico then hit one of his specials and was unlucky to see it just go over the cross bar, he ran toward the Shrewsbury box and fooled the defender into believing he was going to pass out wide to the left to Robinson. He then turned inside and hit the shot with his famous left foot and the ball was bending and dipping all the way and as I said, just went over the cross bar.
Then came the miss of the match and you had to feel a bit for Ben Pringle. Once again Gavin Tomlin was in on goal only this time out wider and with a much tighter angle, but he fired at goal and the keeper made a good save, but the ball flew up in the air and all Pringle had to do was head the ball into the empty net. The funny thing was the way we were playing the miss did not seem that important and one we might live to regret come the final whistle.
One thing that was clear during the first half was that the Shrewsbury players were trying to ruff up Jake Robinson at every opportunity and our Jake (or is he theirs) was a very lucky boy not to be leaving Plainmoor in an ambulance. The Shrewsbury right back who simply could not handle Jakes pace or trickery, decided it was time to try and take him out of the game. He sure did his best with the most disgraceful challenge I have seen at Plainmoor for a long time. He rightly got shown a straight red card and the very best news was that Jake was able to carry on and play most of the remainder of the match.
Scott Bevan was forced into making the only save he had to right on the stroke of half time, a Shrews had been played into the left hand side of our box and went for the near post with his shot. Scott got across and down well to make the save at the expensive of a corner that came to nothing.
I expected to see a much more determined Shrewsbury team start the second half even with only ten men on the field, we all know that ten men can often be hard to beat and they so often do make a comeback and go on to win the game.
Well their manager might have wanted that from his players, but the plain facts are, we were in the winning mood and not prepared to let another winning position at home end up in more lost points.
Robinson sure wanted to prove that he should be back at his own club and starting in their games, he did what he does best and cut inside from the left hand side and hit a great right foot shot that only just missed the far right hand post.
Nico was enjoying himself going forward down the left hand side and looked up and played a great long ball to the back post to Tomlin who headed it at goal and the ball hit the arm of a Shrewsbury defender
Seconds before this Danny Stevens was stripped down and waiting to come on and I firmly believe it was going to be Jake Robinson he was going to replace. Bucks waited and up stepped Jake Robinson to show Zebs how a penalty kick should be taken.
Two nil and Danny went and sat back down on the bench and I’m glad he did at that point as Jake treated us to a really wonderful third goal. Once again he cut into the box from the left hand side and hit a right foot shot that this time flew in just inside the far post. So pleased for him and as I said yesterday, how I would love to have him here next season playing for us.
Stanley who was outstanding today wanted to have another go at scoring for us and he came mighty close shooting from the right hand side jus outside the box across the keeper and just past the left hand post.
We started to make life difficult for ourselves for a short while after this, playing around needlessly at the back with the ball and we were lucky we did not get punished for it, but that was the only thing we did wrong in this match.
Zebs got our forth and he deserved it after all the work he put into the game, deep in their box on the right hand side, he jinked and turned this way and then that way and fired an unstoppable shot past the keeper.
We want five the shouts went up and can we play you every week, not that all that many Shrewsbury fans heard it as a good number walked out of the ground when the third goal for us went in.
Well we did make it five and it was a bit of a strange own goal, the ball was in their box and it was clear Danny Stevens was not going to catch up with it as it seemed to be just rolling toward the keeper to simply pick up, when a Shrews defender stuck out a leg and directed the ball past his own keeper.
Great game, great atmosphere once we all got singing, (no drum today and it was missed early on) and a better gate of 2861.
I won’t single out any player for praise as each and everyone where just superb, nor will I mark them as they would all be getting ten out of ten if I did.
Only thing to add is the club need to sort out a decent training pitch sooner rather than later, it’s clear our pitch is suffering being used as the training pitch as well. By the way why are we watering just the end of the pitch we have to defend in the second half at half time? It was clear the pitch was soft and muddy in a few places and making it even wetter was a bit daft as a few of our players struggled to keep their feet on it. One slip at the wrong time could have been costly.
Onwards and upwards, what a great feeling it is tonight being a Torquay United fan and long may it continue.
After the final whistle.
