FA Cup 4th Round - Torquay United vs Crawley Town

[Plymouth Gull]

Where the hell do I start with this? I went straight to work last night so couldn't post my thoughts, but I'll go now. I'll understand if you don't read it all as it may be a fair post.

First things first, how glad was I that I got a ticket beforehand!? That queue would have been really slow for the Popside, without it.

We all know what an Evans team does, bully you and not let you play. My gosh did we fall right into their hands!?

Before kickoff, credit to our groundstaff who were doing their job, before Raynor started pushing them around. Terrible to see. The portable goal was their for a reason, funnily enough.

Onto the formation, I'm sure its already been said, but that was a diabolical decision. All wrong. 1 up front? Benyon has proved to be extremely ineffective on his own upfront at Plainmoor, so why persist? I'm sure we'll see it again as we host 22nd placed Hereford on Tuesday. He was weak, and didn't have a shot all game. A striker without a shot? Says it all really. All 10 outfield players should be ashamed of themselves today. Scott Bevan was our only player to come out with any self-respect - we've seen every single player play 20000 times better than that this season, so why were they struggling yesterday? Buckle not getting them fired up enough? Who knows?

Crawley; you could tell that were an Evans team. Pushing, diving, timewasting all from the first whistle. I counted 23 seconds for a goalkick by Kuipers, I swear the rule is 6, is it not? From the resulting goal kick, they scored. For the goal, what was Benyon trying to do? Headed it right to their guy.

We didn't even turn up for the game which is most disappointing, I wouldn't have minded as much if we'd gone out fighting (like Coventry two years ago), but we didn't. We rolled over to their tactics, and from then, they were dictating the match. Eunan was the worst I've ever seen - passing totally astray. Everyone was poor. Wroe ineffective, Zebs dreadful. Stevens okay, but should have scored. Mansell full of running, but thats it.

Now for Crawleys tactics. I've been going to Plainmoor regularly for 8 years, never ever have I seen a side cheat so much! Diving, timewasting (as mentioned), fouling, fighting, etc.

Tubbs fell more times than I can remember, the worst one when he fell down with "cramp" when his number came up, nice one. The back four were all cheats. The right back who went down injured then got up after a spray of magic water (thought that only worked in u12's games?!). Mills was pushing Benyon all day long, yet rarely got fouled. McFadzean was a fag, going down as if Kee elbowed him before the scramble. Seriously, you're 6'4", and you get pushed over like that? Jesus wept. Howell should have gone before he did. Diving, feigning injury, and timewasting. Is it possible to get two yellow cards for timewasting? I've never seen it, but if you can then Kuipers should have gone after about 20 minutes. Ridiculous.

One note to the officials. I was hoping that this guy would show some ability as he has done more at Championship level this season, I believe. How wrong was I? He let Crawley dictate the game. All you ask for of a referee is to either let the game flow as much as possible, or stamp your authority straight away. Also, you ask for them to be consistent. He wasn't any of that. He let Crawley get away with murder - the second pen looked a bit dubious but no complaints about the first (what the eff was Zebs doing?). Mills should have gone as he was at the forefront of the scramble near the end, but he chose Howell instead. He lacked all control from minute 1, and it was dreadful. Absolutely dreadful.

I could go on, but I wouldn't want to bore you.

A summary for people who didn't read it all.. Had we have turned up, we'd have won.

[SuperNickyWroe]

Could not make the game which given the reports, was a good thing.
Really worried to hear that Buckle got his tactics wrong and the idea that the game was similar to the semi-final aganist those up the road fills me full of dread. Also concerend about some of so-called better players. Will be very surprised if anyone comes in for Ellis - I think he has been poor for a number of games. Also fed up to read that once again Wroe went 'missing' and why or why must we persist in playing Benyon up front as a lone striker?!! Hope that Southampton Gull is right when he says changes WILL be made.
Finally, really sick and tired of TUFC shooting itself in the foot. We could have used the 5th Round to really push the club forward and it will be a long time before we get another 4th round draw so winnable - oh well onto Hereford I suppose although, can't help feeling that there is little left to look forward to for the rest of the season.
Going for a lie down in a dark room

i think the thing about ellis is that in the main hes been playing well, and i suspect as with most players a bit of transfer speculation can be unsettling....

[Dave_Pougher]

Beggers belief really,,, Just read PB's programme notes. He goes on about not changing anything,,,,,,, then wonders why the result was the same as last time!

He's really knocked us back here, it will be a long time now before many put in the effort to see the same result.

Defeat fine, manner of the defeat poor.

[RussianGull]

Same old Torquay, same old Buckle.

There's always next year, time to knuckle down in the league and start winning this games rather than losing/conceding in the final minutes. Suck it up boys.

[CraigUnder]

crawley have just been drawn with man utd! :evil:

[SuperNickyWroe]

can you F***ing believe it!

manure away!

bo**ocks! :evil:

[Burnhamgull]

I bet Buckle's regretting his tactical decisions now!

Unbelieveable Jeff!

[Plymouthgull]

Does this mean that Buckle's tactics have cost us £500,000?
My weekend cannot get any worse!!!

[Plymouth Gull]

And the rest, PG!

[Fletch]

Get a grip guys. Regardless of the formation played, what let us down was the fact that 5 or 6 players were totally under par yesterday. I cant believe that on such an occasion the players wouldnt be totally up for it. Any player that needed any outside motivation for an occasion like this, really should have a long hard look at themselves in the mirror.

[Trojan 67]

A once in a lifetime golden opportunity has been missed by Paul Buckle, the players, the club and the supporters.

How we respond to the double disappointment of this weekend will be revealed on Tuesday night.

What is for sure is if attitudes don't change then some careers at TUFC will be short lived.

On the Crawley game itself, they deserved to win. With so many players having a mare, it's a miracle we weren't well and truly tanked. Danny Stevens got found out big time against big strong intimidating opponents. He simply doesn't have the stature to start against big mean sides. His end product of late has been woeful.

As for 4-5-1, what other options do we have without a big ugly target man ? The transfer/loan market, that's what. Without progression in the Cup that opportunity has been pissed into the wind. Budget cuts earlier in the season have now proved to be unwise.

The board, manager and players need to have a really long hard look at themselves and ensure the performance/public relations disaster of Saturday does not happen again in the future.

[yellow]

Was too angry and frustrated to post anything last night.

We knew what to expect from Crawley and played right into their hands. They were deserved winners though, despite their embarrassing behaviour both on and off the pitch. They are a solid team, especially in a defence marshalled by the impressive Pablo Mills. But if we had bothered to turn up then it would most likely have been a different result.

The only players who can really come out with any credit are obviously Bevan for his penalty saves, and also Nicholson who I thought was our best outfield player - his set-pieces were excellent. Buckle got it wrong, but he was badly let down by the players. The Tubbs goal was poor from our centre-backs. Ellis and O'Kane probably delivered their weakest performances this season. Zebs was abysmal and capped it off by collecting two foolish yellow cards. Wroe was invisible. Benyon isolated. Stevens was probably our biggest attacking threat which says a lot. Pleased to see Halpin make his debut. Only had a few touches, but fizzed in a shot which whistled just wide.

I seem to be alone on this, but I don't think the referee was that bad when you consider what a difficult game it was to oversee. Both penalties were the right call, so were the sending offs (although it was probably the wrong Crawley player). He did award Crawley a lot of free-kicks, but we were conceding a lot of petty fouls. He booked Kuipers for time-wasting and showed Tubbs a yellow card when he feigned injury as he was being subbed. I wouldn't say he caved because he was under pressure from the visiting players and two clowns in the dugout. We only have ourselvles to blame for the performance and result.

I was pleased with ITV's analysis of the match. They could have easily built it up as a 'giantkilling', but rather focus on their celebrations, they spent more time concentrating on Crawley's underhand tactics. Chris Coleman has gone up in my estimations.

The next couple of days will be interesting. I wouldn't be surprised to see the squad stay exactly how it is. The FA Cup run wasn't budgeted for, and my estimated calculations show that we've made between £150-175k. That pot will be used to cover our losses from the dwindling attendances at Plainmoor, but I don't think we'll be forced to sell unless we receive an offer which is right for the club.

Can t agree with your assessment of Nicho tommyg. He was exposed and vulnerable defensively. He did deliver some good crosses but one of his second half free kicks was woeful.

I thought our best outfield player was Branston. When the MOM vote goes up I only have 2 votes to cast (for him and Bevs).

You knew it wasn t our day when our best chance fall to Danny muff it Stevens

I do agree about the ref. All the whinging on here about Crawley and the ref is just hot air masking the real reason for our defeat.

And now they get the Mancs away. Bugger. Oh what might have been with some decent tactics and a motivated team.

This seems quite a low point in my TUFC following career.

Oh well. As they say “If you can t take a joke, you shouldn t have joined.”

[Northumbergull]

I've come to the conclusion that being a Torquay and Scotland fan, that highlights only come every 20 or so years.

So, at age 50, I might get another one or two in the rest of my life... :ball2:

Cheers

Bruce

[citizengull]

With Crawley and maybe Buckle himself showing how weak we are as a squad, it would be nice to see us show more intent by signing 3 good players(or 4 or5) in the transfer window, Oh wait is that not tommorro night guess there tease us with a half decent striker only not to register in time which will just leave us with loanies who have no real interest in being at the club. Thing is we wont go down what we have is good enough to stay up they just need to want it more although its going to be a long run in to the end off the season playing 1 up front

[tommyg]

Can t agree with your assessment of Nicho tommyg. He was exposed and vulnerable defensively. He did deliver some good crosses but one of his second half free kicks was woeful.

I thought our best outfield player was Branston. When the MOM vote goes up I only have 2 votes to cast (for him and Bevs).

You knew it wasn t our day when our best chance fall to Danny muff it Stevens

I do agree about the ref. All the whinging on here about Crawley and the ref is just hot air masking the real reason for our defeat.

And now they get the Mancs away. Bugger. Oh what might have been with some decent tactics and a motivated team.

This seems quite a low point in my TUFC following career.

Oh well. As they say “If you can t take a joke, you shouldn t have joined.”

Fair enough, Yellow. I watched the game online so I'm not surprised my views differ to fans who attended the game. I didn't think Stevens offered much protection to Nico though. As for Branston, he looked solid, but I thought he was at fault along with Ellis for the goal.