Tuesday 22nd February 2011
KO: 19:45
After taking ten from the last twelve available points, TUFC look to continue their good run away to our near neighbours Cheltenham Town FC. The Robins are perched just three points and three places below us in 12th place. I said in the Southend thread that I believed we would take seven points from nine and that the two would be dropped at home last Saturday and I saw nothing in that match which changes my mind. Cheltenham struggled with us at the bottom end last season and have done very well to find themselves with a shot at the playoffs this year. A bumper away following is the order of the day after a deeply impressive 2800+ home support on Saturday. It seems odd given their improvement over last season, but there is a great deal of negativity on their board. Some are predicting the lowest ever attendance on Tuesday night and one poster is sure CZ will run rings round their left back (can I please be the one to tell them about Jake Robinson and what he is likely to do to the right back). Board can be found here >>>
http://www.robinsnestforum.co.uk/
LAST 5 SEASONS.
2005/06 - League 2 - 5th place - 72 points - PROMOTED VIA PLAYOFFS
2006/07 - League 1 - 17th place - 54 points
2007/08 - League 1 - 19th place - 51 points
2008/09 - League 1 - 23rd place - 39 points
2009/10 - League 2 - 22nd place - 48 points
5 years ago, the Robins had a very successful season, which saw them finish in 5th place. They overcame Wycombe in the two-legged semi finals, before beating 4th placed Grimsby at the Millenium Stadium. They never really consolidated in League One, in three seasons their highest finish was 17th. In 2009, their tenure ended, as they finished second bottom, only above Hereford, which consigned them back to life in League 2. They almost suffered a double relegation, surviving by 4 points, as Grimsby suffered the toughness of relegation.
HEAD TO HEAD.
Torquay wins - 6 (all comps)
Cheltenham wins - 5
Draws - 3
We have a positive record against Cheltenham. The two sides first met in 1999/2000, with Cheltenham having a decent record against us, up until 2003/04. We did the double over them under Leroy, including the 3-1 victory at Whaddon Road which I remember so well! I also remember a 1-0 victory at their place, with Alan Connell scoring the only goal of the game. Last season we met 4 times, with us knocking them out of both the Johnstones Paint Trophy and the FA Cup, both were 3-1 victories. We also won 3-0 in the league at Plainmoor and drew 1-1 at Whaddon Road, with Carayol scoring a late equaliser.
Form (last 6 games)
Home – W L L L L D
Collated – L D L D L D
Wow, aside from a 4-0 thrashing of Bradford City (who have the worst away form of any team in the division), you have to go back to the 1-0 defeat of Northampton Town (or AC Northampton, as they seem to believe they are entitled to be called) on October 9th last year to find a home win for the Robins. Again, aside from Bradford, they haven t scored more than a single goal in any home match since they beat Burton Albion 2-1 on August 28th last year, their second home game of the season. By the same token, they have conceded more than two goals at home in any one match only once this season, that was on February 12th when resurgent Hereford were the visitors and ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. In short, if you like seeing goals, Whaddon Road is NOT the ground to visit. Expect this match to be tight and decided by a single goal either way.
They conceded a stoppage time equaliser to Barnet on Saturday, having gone ahead through top scorer Wes Thomas.
Probable line up
This is the team which started against Barnet on Saturday.
• 01 Brown
• 02 Lowe
• 03 Andrew
• 06 Riley
• 22 Elliott
• 04 Bird
• 11 Smikle
• 14 Melligan
• 24 Pack
• 09 Thomas
• 23 Green
The players to watch are Wes Thomas, a 5 11†striker who worked his way through the non league before arriving at Dagenham and Redbridge (scant reward really). He has netted a hugely formidable 15 goals from just 25 appearences this season, so he is the one who will need to be kept quiet. Aside from him, Marlon Pack is a midfielder on loan from Portsmouth, but he s 19 and on a season long jobbie, so likely to be released at the end of the season. We are all familiar with the strengths of Matt Green, namely, running about not doing a great deal and not looking particularly interested. Quite good against bigger teams in FA Cup games though.
Ref watch
A Bates – Referee
M S Perry and G S Stretton – Flagmen
P J Hobday – The geezer with the subs board
Misc.
A new section, probably only staying for this match, because I have one or two little slivers of information which do not sit comfortably anywhere else.
Firstly, the pitch at WR is, apparently, crap. Their manager said as much in his radio interview after the Barnet match, which can be found here >>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 394821.stm
I worry that this may turn the match spectacle into something not so spectacular and the result into a bit of a coin toss.
The cost: it s £20 for normal people to get in, which is FAR too steep for division 4 football. However, concessions are £14 and you have to buy your ticket from the office, then hand it in on the turnstile. Now, far be it from me to suggest defrauding Scrooge Town FC, but I will say that the guys who man the turnstiles at all ticket matches are not usually the most attentive...
As for my prediction, I will stick with a win and have 2-1 to TUFC with 612 hardy souls making the trip.
Matt.
