FL2: Torquay Utd v Macclesfield 3 Sept 2011

Ended up quite an enjoyable afternoon with a few comedy moments: Danny Stevens making up a wall on the edge of the area and Ellis and Eunan ending playing up front although his goal was calmly taken!

Saah was MotM after his opening goal with a downward header into the corner from a corner kick and was OK but Manse would have been my choice. Cupped his hand to his ear after he scored so some of the criticism has obviously been getting to him.

McPhee improved as the match went on but lucky with his goal as it wasn't initially going in until it clipped the heels of the covering defender. However, a brave person would have predicted those two scorers.

Will add some more thoughts later but good feeling to have our first home win!

Didn't think Saah had a bad game, well taken goal but never MOTM - not sure if the sponsors were actually watching the game, had drunk too much ale or had OD on Prawn bouchee's.

McPhee or Mansell for me.

You could argue that was justice for his disallowed goal in the first half. Hopefully will be on the league show tonight but would be nice for some popsiders towards the Babacombe end to comment on that!

Still in shock with goal scorers apart from O'Kane. Still not fully convinced by Saah and how McPhee can be given the goal I don't quite understand. O'Kane goal was calmly taken. Mansell was his normal Mr Reliable bleeding Yellow and Blue. Think Maklin needs to be pushed upfront cos he just doesn't seem happy out wide. Morris looked good first half going forward. Robo is looking a tad shakey and I'd be tempted to give Ellis a run in team. We can beat anyone when we play the ball on the ground and showed it again today. Martin Ling has convinced me he is the man to take us forward ..

This ended up a comfortable win as the scoreline suggests thanks to an impressive second half performance. There were jubilant scenes at the end with the home fans applauding the players off and the players returning the compliment with Martin Ling mingling with the players and patting them all on the back. In fact it was Ling who was last to go down the tunnel. I thought Ling played his cards really well today considering he was 2 forwards missing. The best story of the afternoon was that our 2 most criticised players this season Saah and McPhee scored our first 2 goals. Crowd 2,307, 120 odd from Macclesfield, and sponsors MOTM Saah.

The first half was a pretty low key affair. It was a good time to play Macclesfield having lost their key attacker in the transfer window. Macclesfield build up play was tidy and patient but did not look like hurting us much. Their most potent weapon were their long throws in dangerous areas in our box. Without Branston there seems to be uncertainty who deals with balls into our box and Olejnik does not tend to come off his line much for crosses. Olejnik did make 3 or 4 smart saves in the first half from Macclesfield and our defenders made some last ditch defending. At the other end their keeper parried a long range O'Kane effort and McPhee put the rebound in the net only to be ruled offside. There were 1 or 2 decent Torquay moves, one such sweeping move on the left with a neat flick on by McPhee to Morris (I think) but Atieno's shot was weak. On the whole the first was stalemate with little penetration from either side.

The second half was a different story with Morris switching from playing left wing to "in the hole" to more of a 4-3-3 formation. The turning point of the match were 2 excellent saves from the Macclesfield keeper within a minute. First a Nicholson piledriver from 30 odd yards, swerved wickedley but their keeper parried the shot a full stretch. Then a Morris shot was just dipping in but their keeper acrobatically just tipped the shot over. Macclesfield on the otherhand were not threatening at all.

Torquay's breakthrough came from an unlikely source. A Nicholson corner floated over, Saah climbed brilliantly to plant a header into the corner of the net! At last Torquay were now up and running and our players were growing in confidence. None more so than McPhee who showed much energy and was intelligently linking attacks and showing good footwork. His goal was rather fortunate it must be said. Following an amazing run by Mansell who dribbled the ball through their defence, he unsellfishly laid the ball to McPhee about 8 yards out in the middle of the goal. McPhee miscued his shot and the ball was drifting wide until the ball hit a defender and went in! They all count and McPhee or the crowd did not care and we all celebrated as if it was McPhee's goal.

Torquay made 3 subs during the second half - most notably Mark Ellis coming on late and playing in attack! By this time Torquay were 2-0 up and coasting. Due to Ellis's persistance, O'Kane found himself 1-on-1 with the keeper on 90 minutes and cooley scored our 3rd. After 4 minbutes of added time the final whistle blew and our manager and players answered our concerns in impressive style. It was great to be on a real "high" leaving the ground - the first time this season.

I can't believe we are now sitting pretty in 4th. position. I am under no illusions where we might finish as there are still plenty of question marks about our team and strength of squad. I am just delighted that there's a bit of daylight between ourselves and the bottom pack of teams. In particular I am delighted that Saah and McPhee answered some of their critics today in the best possible fashion by scoring which made this win feel a bit more special. Well done to both of them. Let's hope them and other players like Morris go onto better things this season.

well what a result,i didnt do a pre-match,firstly we havent played well of late,secondly maccy are a bogey side,and thirdly they won 4-0 last game.But would you adam and eve it we win 3-0,got to admit i didnt see that coming with howe out and mcphee up front.But full credit to the lads for being if nothing else resillient in the first half,and pretty good in the second half,saah and mcphee who havent exactly set the world alight with there performances of late,did ok,didnt anyone see saah put his hand to his ear on scoring,to say where is the booing now like?This had 0-0 written all over it for a long period,with maccy looking more dangerous than us,but we came good in the end,up to 4th rovers,argyle,and the apparent pride of devon losing as well,makes a good weekend,long may it continue