Torquay v Dag & Red - Friday 18th - 3pm KO

PlainmoorRoar · Post by **PlainmoorRoar** » 18 Apr 2014, 17:22

Dear me

Look at the table, 3 points would have given us so much of a chance and dangenham were so woeful it's hard to describe

The players - despite a chance of avoiding the drop - didn't care today bar Pearce who yet again was the only player who turned up

Rice - poor kicks and faffed about all game
Cargil - didn't look a bad player but showed his inexperience
Oconnor - headed all over the place
Pearce - nuff said
Tonge - clear penalty for them what on earth was he doing!?

Bodin - didn't do anything but style his hair
Stevens - affected the game negatively provided nothing
Cameron - a few good deliveries some shocking ones, never beat a man
Mansell - didn't know he was on the pitch
Harding - laughable he got mom! No energy and goes sideways
Benyon - how was he worth £125k offside all the time, looked uncomfortable with the ball
Chappell - didn't look interested when he came on, a few good corners
Yeoman - didn't impact the game
Coulthirst - did what he could but was always outnumbered and had no other options

Officials - shocking, throws ins particularly to both sides, the amount of fouls that dangenham they got away with was incredible

Stewards - bald tw*t by the screen laughing and telling home fans they are relegated as people were leaving - unfortunately didn't see his number

Post by **Dave** » 18 Apr 2014, 17:30

One word to describe that performance "RUBBISH"

taunton_gull · Post by **taunton_gull** » 18 Apr 2014, 17:32

There badly needs to be a change in the hierarchy at the club if are to avoid struggling again next year. Make no mistake about it, if the club adopts the same attitude it has for the past two seasons we will go down again. So much as gone wrong right down to the stewarding again by the sounds of it. This is what happens when you have a 70 year old clown from the local golf club running the show. Everything the club did to rectify the mistakes of the previous regime has gone straight down the toilet and then some. We will pay for this next year by having players not fit for purpose on big wages and a suspect manager on a two and a half year contract. What I would give to have Buckle back bringing in his own players to make a go of it down there. As it is I think it will take a miracle not to finish in the bottom half next season.

Swanny · Post by **Swanny** » 18 Apr 2014, 17:44

Same old performance and same old result today I'm afraid against a very limited Dagenham team. Dagenham hardly did anything of note all game but won the match thanks to a gift of a penalty by the hapless Tonge. Torquay had plenty of pressure and indeed started the game brightly but you rarely expected them to actually score. Benyon, who like Tonge has been awful this season, had Torquay's best chance in the second half but fired over with their keeper to beat. This sums things up for me the fine lines between winning and losing - our defender gives away a needless penalty and our striker misses a 1-on-1. We have too many players not up to the required standard. Crowd 2,425, 100+ from Dadenham, sponsors MOTM and Twitter MOTM Ben Harding for a decent performance in central midfield.

The main talking points in the first half was when Coulthurst was fouled after a couple of minutes by Saah as the last man about 30 yards out. Saah got a yellow card and not a red as he was the the last man. Torquay were playing some good stuff. Cameron on the left looked dangerous and Cargill at left back looks quality. Mansell and Harding played well in central midfield and Coulthurst has great control and a bit of strength. Torquay's best chance was from a Cameron delivery that eventually fell to Pearce at close range. Sadly with the keeper already on the ground a goal looked certain but Pearce hit the ball tamely into the keeper's arms. Bodin went off injured and was replaced by Stevens. A feature of the game was when whenever a Torquay player beat a Dagenham one, he was brought down. I thought Dagenham were a pretty ugly team.

The second half evened out more with neither team threatening, it was mainly a midfield battle with few chances. On 67 minutes, Tonge should have cleared the ball in the penalty area, hestitated and ended up bringing down their player. Torquay did try and forced several corners, Benyon missed our clearest chance, time eventually ran out. Yeoman and Chappel came on for Tonge and Cameron and Torquay went to 3 at the back. With torquay pressing for an equalizer Dagenham should have wrapped it up but Rice saved a 1-on-1.

At full-time I was impressed with the home fans who politely clapped off our team. No booing our nasty gesturing, perhaps something premier team fans could learn from. Again we gave it our best shot, but we cannat score and give away easy goals. It's been like this all season and thankfully the season is nearly at an end. I doubt I will be going to our last home match.

yeovilgull · Post by **yeovilgull** » 18 Apr 2014, 17:45

Apparently the club have refused to allow anyone from to club to be interviewed by BBC after today"s game.

AlexGulls · Post by **AlexGulls** » 18 Apr 2014, 17:50

Was it a penalty? Looked a dive from where I was but not entirely sure. Gutted were effectively down but its hard to take but its been coming for a while. Cant remember the last time that Plainmoor was that silent at the full time whistle.

tommyg · Post by **tommyg** » 18 Apr 2014, 17:58

If ever a game summed up our season that was it. Rotten luck (how on Earth did Saah not get sent off?), woeful finishing and an individual howler (step forward Mr Tonge). Dagenham were actually worse than us. They were there for the taking and had their minds on Magaluf or wherever it is League Two 'ballers' jet off to in the summer.

We were impressive in the first half. Coulthirst, Cameron and Cargill looked lively and after intercepting an underhit pass, Coulthirst was scythed down a few yards outside the box by Saah who was the last man. Everyone expected the ref to show a straight red card but he let our former player off with a booking. A dreadful decision which obviously had a huge effect on the game. From Cameron's free-kick, Pearce's effort was saved at point-blank range before the rebound popped back up into the goalkeeper's hands. We dominated possession, looked threatening down our left and were comfortable at the back. The only thing Rice had to do was pick the ball out of his net after a free-kick was headed past him but the referee had already blown for a foul. As usual, we struggled to create many genuine goalscoring chances, although Coulthirst should have done better after outjumping his marker and heading straight at the 'keeper from six yards. Bodin hobbled off injured after being shoulder barged to the ground, leading to a few jeers from the Popside who thought he was faking it after being outmuscled so easily. Damien Davey immediately signalled that he couldn't continue so that could be the last time we see Bodin in a Torquay shirt. So long Billy. I will miss your stepovers inside our own half, floppy hair and jumping out of the way of 50-50 challenges. So despite being goalless at the break, I was quite foolishly confident that we could go on and win the game...

How wrong I was. We faded badly and struggled to build up any momentum in the second half. Coulthirst and Cameron ran out of steam and we were dragged down to Dagenham's level. Then the inevitable happened - they won a penalty out of nothing after Tonge missed his clearance and booted their player. It was laughable defending. Penalty dispatched and then grumbles around Plainmoor. Hargreaves immediately made a double sub - despite Cameron being less effective in the second half he was still more effective than the useless Stevens who for some reason is ahead of Chappell in the pecking order and was lucky not to be a subbed sub. The game then opened up - Pearce had an acrobatic attempt headed off the line and the wasteful Benyon fired over after breaking free of the defence. With Pearce up front in the dying stages, Daggers had a gilt-edged chance to score a second after their player outpaced makeshift centre-half Harding and went through on goal only to be denied by Rice. No boos at full-time but there weren't many hanging about.

I thought Hargreaves got a couple of things wrong today. I don't understand why Tonge is included in defence instead of Downes. He's been a liability all season and while O'Connor played very well alongside Pearce, I'd prefer to see him at right-back and Downes recalled to the team. As for Stevens, he must have some saucy photos of Mrs Hargreaves because that's the only explanation for why he's preferred to Chappell and even Thompson. I do like Coulthirst and Cargill though and Cameron has looked a much better player since Hargreaves arrived. Harding was voted MOTM (Pearce would have been my choice AGAIN). I thought Harding was quite poor - slow, can't head the ball despite being 6ft and dwells too much in possession. Mansell in my opinion was the stronger of the two. Looking forward to Hector's comments on Benyon because he was absolutely rubbish. But then again he does run about a lot so will probably start the Devon derby.

PlainmoorRoar · Post by **PlainmoorRoar** » 18 Apr 2014, 17:58

AlexGulls wrote:Was it a penalty? Looked a dive from where I was but not entirely sure. Gutted were effectively down but its hard to take but its been coming for a while. Cant remember the last time that Plainmoor was that silent at the full time whistle.

yes

Tonge got caught out and basically kicked the lad

Will be interesting to see the 2 footed challenge and the the challenge on Shaq in the first half which both were punished by yellows, on another day could have been reds

when its against you...

portugull · Post by **portugull** » 18 Apr 2014, 18:03

Just back. I am normally an optimist. However today was SHOCKING.

Rarely have I seen such a complete lack of quality. Danny was utterly out of his depth and ineffective.

We are down now and that is for sure.

I feel really depressed. CH has a massive job on his hands.

Dave_Pougher · Post by **Dave_Pougher** » 18 Apr 2014, 18:03

Ironic, that bald steward needs to be sorted out one way or another, surely the club realise he's going to cause an incident, he wants one!

That said even he didn't cause that cack today!

Gullscorer · Post by **Gullscorer** » 18 Apr 2014, 18:05

Apparently Tonge looked at Rice to come out of goal when he was nearest to the opposing player and should have immediately got stuck in himself. Which he did too late and gave away the penalty. Amateurish stuff. Why does CH play him?

PlainmoorRoar · Post by **PlainmoorRoar** » 18 Apr 2014, 18:05

Dave_Pougher wrote:Ironic, that bald steward needs to be sorted out one way or another, surely the club realise he's going to cause an incident, he wants one!

That said even he didn't cause that cack today!

So true,

the rumors are its all being taken back in house, hopefully won't have to contend with these muppets!

tommyg · Post by **tommyg** » 18 Apr 2014, 18:08

It was a stonewall penalty. Tonge tried to clear the ball as it dropped inside the box but missed it completely and leathered the Dagenham player instead.

Post by **Colorado Gull** » 18 Apr 2014, 18:26

That's all folks! We'll be relegated at the scum (whether we lose, win or draw) which will just top off our season. Once again we were the better side but still not good enough and lose 1-0 because of a stupid tackle.

Post by **Dave** » 18 Apr 2014, 19:14

AlexGulls wrote:Was it a penalty? Looked a dive from where I was but not entirely sure. Gutted were effectively down but its hard to take but its been coming for a while. Cant remember the last time that Plainmoor was that silent at the full time whistle.

Yep Alex it was, and the crowd reaction gave it away, seldom have I heard a crowd so silent when a penalty was awarded to the away side, we all knew as soon as it happened, terrible decision making from Tonge.

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