Post by Swanny on Aug 20, 2011 18:22:07 GMT
I was relieved to hear the final whistle and to lose just 3-1. This was a case of damage limitation as Crawley were streets ahead of Torquay right from the first whistle. There can be no excuses as Crawley were excellent all over the park as they took the game by the scruff of the neck and this game also exposed our weaknesses I thought. Crowd 2,658, only officially just over 200 from Crawley (I thought it looked more just over 100), sponsors MOTM Mansell.
I brought my Family tickets in advance a few days ago but my actual seats marked on the tickets were already taken so I chose my preferred seats anyway. I noted huge queues again at the ticket office about 2.30pm so I was relieved I had my tickets. There were no queues at the turnstiles. The Family stand was full from what I could see and the Pop side quite full. I thought Crawley's turn-out for a team that is flying and having their best spell in their history was poor. I think their lack of support will catch up with them eventually and they will probably fall back down the leagues like Rushden.
So onto the match and Torquay were under the cosh from the 1st minute and quite frankly Crawley looked like scoring with every attack. In the 4th. minute Crawley had a dangerous free-kick just outside the penalty box. Our wall did a good job blocking the initial shot but from the rebound Davies unleashed an unstoppable power driver into the top corner from about 25 yards. The rest of the half was non-stop Crawley pressure with Torquay incapable of making any moves of note. In fact we did even have a shot! Our midfield was non-existent offering no outlets whatsoever. Olejnik tipped one goal bound attempt onto the crossbar and there were many other lucky escapes for Torquay. In particular our wingers Morris and McPhee were woeful and I can't understand why McPhee is being asked to play at right wing. Our best hope was to keep the score to 1-0 to the interval but, no, Torquay conceeded a soft second goal on 44 minutes. A corner came over, Crawley's runner was unmarked and glanced in at close range with Olejnik opting to stay on his line when you feel he could have come to collect it. So a deserved 2-0 half-time lead that should have read more like 5-0, such was Crawley's dominance.
At half-time Lathrope and Kee came on for the anonymous Morris and McPhee for a shuffle around. The trouble was Crawley scored their 3rd. on 46 minutes. Crawley won headers in our penalty area all afternoon and from a cross a free header in our box put the game beyond our reach. Kee made a difference with his physical presence and Torquay finally got some moves together. With our first attempt on goal on 50 minutes we actually scored rather fortunatley it might be said. Following a scramble in Crawley's box the ball hit Mansell somewhere on his anatomy and the ball went in! Torquay did then have a decent 10 minute spell and Atieno hit the side net after some delightful footwork. But Crawley were still dangerous and exploited gaps in our defence and should have scored more. Olejnik had to make a couple more decent saves to save our blushes. The final whistle could not come soon enough for me and I went home a relieved man. We were lucky to get away with a 3-1 defeat - 5-1 or 6-1 would have been a fairer scoreline. We got away lightly.
So there we have it - Crawley look set to run away with the league and hopefully we won't come across other teams as strong as Crawley. We do have weaknesses that can be exploited. Our back four show gaping holes at times, there's a lack of leadership at the back, we were constantly beaten in the box in the air. Our keeper at times stays at home when he needs to be more commanding, that said Olejnik does save us a lot with some superb saves. Our starting line-up today had a distinct lack of pace and I would like to see more of Stevens and Macklin (who was not even on the bench?). I do like the look of Howe and Atieno in attack that gives me some hope and it was good to see Kee make an impact. But there is much work to be done and hopefully we have enough against other teams to get enough points on board to keep out of trouble. My expectations are not too high and Crawley exposed our weaknesses today for all to see.
I brought my Family tickets in advance a few days ago but my actual seats marked on the tickets were already taken so I chose my preferred seats anyway. I noted huge queues again at the ticket office about 2.30pm so I was relieved I had my tickets. There were no queues at the turnstiles. The Family stand was full from what I could see and the Pop side quite full. I thought Crawley's turn-out for a team that is flying and having their best spell in their history was poor. I think their lack of support will catch up with them eventually and they will probably fall back down the leagues like Rushden.
So onto the match and Torquay were under the cosh from the 1st minute and quite frankly Crawley looked like scoring with every attack. In the 4th. minute Crawley had a dangerous free-kick just outside the penalty box. Our wall did a good job blocking the initial shot but from the rebound Davies unleashed an unstoppable power driver into the top corner from about 25 yards. The rest of the half was non-stop Crawley pressure with Torquay incapable of making any moves of note. In fact we did even have a shot! Our midfield was non-existent offering no outlets whatsoever. Olejnik tipped one goal bound attempt onto the crossbar and there were many other lucky escapes for Torquay. In particular our wingers Morris and McPhee were woeful and I can't understand why McPhee is being asked to play at right wing. Our best hope was to keep the score to 1-0 to the interval but, no, Torquay conceeded a soft second goal on 44 minutes. A corner came over, Crawley's runner was unmarked and glanced in at close range with Olejnik opting to stay on his line when you feel he could have come to collect it. So a deserved 2-0 half-time lead that should have read more like 5-0, such was Crawley's dominance.
At half-time Lathrope and Kee came on for the anonymous Morris and McPhee for a shuffle around. The trouble was Crawley scored their 3rd. on 46 minutes. Crawley won headers in our penalty area all afternoon and from a cross a free header in our box put the game beyond our reach. Kee made a difference with his physical presence and Torquay finally got some moves together. With our first attempt on goal on 50 minutes we actually scored rather fortunatley it might be said. Following a scramble in Crawley's box the ball hit Mansell somewhere on his anatomy and the ball went in! Torquay did then have a decent 10 minute spell and Atieno hit the side net after some delightful footwork. But Crawley were still dangerous and exploited gaps in our defence and should have scored more. Olejnik had to make a couple more decent saves to save our blushes. The final whistle could not come soon enough for me and I went home a relieved man. We were lucky to get away with a 3-1 defeat - 5-1 or 6-1 would have been a fairer scoreline. We got away lightly.
So there we have it - Crawley look set to run away with the league and hopefully we won't come across other teams as strong as Crawley. We do have weaknesses that can be exploited. Our back four show gaping holes at times, there's a lack of leadership at the back, we were constantly beaten in the box in the air. Our keeper at times stays at home when he needs to be more commanding, that said Olejnik does save us a lot with some superb saves. Our starting line-up today had a distinct lack of pace and I would like to see more of Stevens and Macklin (who was not even on the bench?). I do like the look of Howe and Atieno in attack that gives me some hope and it was good to see Kee make an impact. But there is much work to be done and hopefully we have enough against other teams to get enough points on board to keep out of trouble. My expectations are not too high and Crawley exposed our weaknesses today for all to see.
