Torquay United v Southend United - 14/12/13

[Oil Beef Hooked]

Get in.

Now that definitely felt like a win :~D

[Wisconsin_gull]

Poke in goal - welcome back
Clean sheet -only had 2 so far this season before today
1-0 - 3 points Thank you and good night
Well done everyone
Now do it again, and again
Only 15pts of the play offs - still a chance
Alan Knill is still in the hunt to win all Dec games and be manger of the Month!

[Robiberto22]

Sets us up a treat for the next 4!

Onwards and Upwards!

[tufc si]

Beautiful 3 points!!

Now please not let that be a fluke and lets push on and get ourselves out of this dirty great hole!!

[tktufc91]

Just what the doctor ordered. A big well done to everyone (including Mr Knill) on a job well done.

But....

Can we please win at Dagenham and finally get some momentum going.

[Gullscorer]

I said it before and I'll say it again: the Gulls will win all their December games and Alan Knill will be named Manager of the Month..

[Robiberto22]

Just what the doctor ordered. A big well done to everyone (including Mr Knill) on a job well done.

But....

Can we please win at Dagenham and finally get some momentum going.

Every chance with the fixtures coming up !

[Wisconsin_gull]

Keen to hear the reports on how we did
The BBC stats are solid
Most encouraging
No reason on earth why we cannot win all games in December - now that would be sweet!

[HeavenAndHele]

Just got in, was debating whether to go beforehand but I am so glad I did! That was the best I've seen us play all season (alright, it's probably only my 6th or 7th game, but still), a cohesive team effort. Anything other than a win would have been a travesty, Southend looked very ordinary. I'm struggling to find 5 for MOTM, there's about 7 or 8 contenders (11 if I'm generous ). Just need to keep the momentum going now!

[Southampton Gull]

Amazing, we get all our best players out on the pitch for the first time this season and................................win.

Some said it would be thus.

[Neal]

Wasn't going to go today, as I did say wasn't going again until Knill was sacked. But the sport I do didn't happen today so had nothing else to do so I went.

That was a very good performance. At last a center forward that is league 2 standard at the least. I thought Marquis made the difference, but the whole team played well.

[ferrarilover]

As comfortable a 1-0 win as you'll ever see. If 100% of Southend's shots had gone in, it'd have finished 1-1.

While we did just fine today, I don't think we were a great deal better than in any of the other matches we've seen this season. It was better than the real rubbish we saw a couple of weeks ago in the Cup, but absolutely nothing special.
Southend were standard L2 fare, mainly total shite, the sort of rubbish we'd have knocked for a hatful a couple of years ago. They couldn't even take advantage of a very generous Popside lino.

Only player who really stood out was Mozika (Mozilla?) who is one of the calmest players under pressure I've seen for a long time.

Play like that and don't concede a goal every time the oppo get in our half, and we'll be just fine.

Matt.

[SuperNickyWroe]

Amazing, we get all our best players out on the pitch for the first time this season and................................win.

Some said it would be thus.

agree dave.

feel disappointed for martin rice, but as we know, thats football.............

and as bad as we have played so far, we are now only one point from safety......

[bengull]

A big well done to everyone today, absolutely atrocious conditions for a game of football and we coped with them a lot better than our opponents.

Small steps obviously, but a win against 3rd placed Southend, with an excellent away record, should get some confidence back into the squad. Southend though, it must be said, were abysmal. We should have put the game to bed well before our trademark nervy last 10 minutes. Not complaining though, a win is a win, and it felt fantastic, you could really sense the passion amongst the very small crowd of die-hards.

First half was a complete non-event save for Southend's rather rotund trainer waddling onto the field of play on a couple of occasions to much merriment. But we came out into the second half with a bit of urgency and the passes started to flow. Marquis' finish was a classy one, half volleying across the keeper and into the corner after a decent ball from Bodin. We really should have doubled our lead a minute later, O'Connor contriving to hit the bar from a yard out.

We looked decent going forward and I always felt a chance would present itself again because our pressing was high and because Southend's distribution was woeful, unfortunately we were unable to capitalise on some pretty shambolic Southend errors. We stuck at it and showed a bit of organisation and togetherness and got a much deserved win.

For me, changing to 4-5-1 made all the difference, the extra man in the middle really helped. Mozika was excellent, but McCourt and Manse both put in excellent shifts too. Marquis led the line selflessly and tirelessly, and Chappel had a couple of dazzling runs. Though endlessly frustrating and with little in the way of end product, it was good to have Bodin back, he offers us balance, and a proper outlet out wide. He certainly added something to us today.

I wouldn't have dropped Rice personally, though I am a sentimental t***pot, but Poke was excellent, one outstanding save, secure handling, decent communication. Unfair to say whether his comeback and our first clean sheet in decades are linked but looks like Knill made both an unpopular and correct decision.

As I say, small steps, but cause for celebration. If we continue to improve each week (no matter in what small way) we should get out of this mire.

[Gullscorer]

That game was the start of the second half of the season. We're only 15 points off the play-offs, with 22 games still to go...