Port Vale vs Torquay United

[MidDevon]

Highlights of the match for me were my first "dead cow in a cup" of the season aka Bovril.

I have never rated Micky Adams as a manager , many say he just reads the press prior to a game and acts accordingly and from the first whistle balls were played staright down the middle perhaps thinking our central defence was week.

In truth we never quite found out as Lathrope playing in front of the back 4 essentailly insured they had a reasonably quiet evening. He was truely outstanding all night as previously mentioned.

I think Jeff has pretty much got it right, altough I thought LR-T was much more exciting and battling when he came on than perhaps he has been given credit for.

We missed O'Kane without question, a lot was on poor Danny's head to become that playmaker and we was marked well and I think perhaps O'Kane would have been too.

We could have done without the M5 roadworks near Birmingham meaning a diversion for 2 junctions.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Forgot to mention Howe in my previous report. I was impressed with his workrate today and although he didn't really have much in the way of goalscoring opportunities he made sure he put himself about and chased the ball and pressured defenders which i have criticised him for not doing whenever i have seen him. Well done Rene and it just shows that if you can't get a goal then if you work hard for the team the fans and the other players appreciate it.

[ferrarilover]

It seems we travelled up on the day, rather than staying overnight. When are our decision makers going to realise that if we travel up on the day, we might just as well not bother travelling at all because every time we do it we are absolute rubbish?

Yes, hotels are expensive, but if we travel on the day, we are absolute crap, it happens every time, if the money men don't want to stump up for overnight accommodation, perhaps they should invest their cash elsewhere.

I appreciate this is extreme, but this nonsense needs stopping immediately.

Matt.

[Gullscorer]

A Vale fan on another forum said, why did Torquay come to a team in such poor form and play for a draw? A win was there for the taking if they actually attacked.

In a pre-match interview Martin Ling said he had expected Vale to be promotion contenders this season and was surprised at their run of indifferent form and thought it would be a difficult game. I didn't go to the match and I totally accept the views of our own supporters expressed above, but the question must be asked, did Torquay go into the game believing that a draw was the most they could expect?

[Dutchgull]

Sorry Matt you are talking crap.... ! "The money men" as you call them have not got bottomless pockets, have you ? The team at the bottom of the league stayed overnight at Cheltenham and Bournemouth much good that did them !! Do you want us to follow their monetary policy ?

If we had the money I am sure they would do it but this is the reality of league two football in a small town with directors who are not Russian oil barons !!

By the way we did get a point without our starman in the team .

[Wonderland]

Hi Matt

I appreciate your concerns, but where are these illustrious moneymen in our vacinity.

There is a dearth of them and God bless the ones we have. Without them there would be no United.

Perhaps our wonderful away support - which is superb for a club of our ilk in an economically bereft area - could help with a whip round to enhance our entertainment. As I said last night great defending from the back and great blocking by the midfield on the edge of the box.

See you laters


Den

[AustrianAndyGull]

A Vale fan on another forum said, why did Torquay come to a team in such poor form and play for a draw? A win was there for the taking if they actually attacked.

In a pre-match interview Martin Ling said he had expected Vale to be promotion contenders this season and was surprised at their run of indifferent form and thought it would be a difficult game. I didn't go to the match and I totally accept the views of our own supporters expressed above, but the question must be asked, did Torquay go into the game believing that a draw was the most they could expect?

This is a possibility Gullscorer but on this occasion i think it was just a case of two teams who could have played for weeks without anyone scoring. It really was a case of each team cancelling the other out. I agree we looked poor going forward and slow to get players forward but we didn't really have any real periods of pressure attacking wise and couldn't impose ourselves on the game to any degree. Vale had lots of the ball and pressed us back but they had nothing to offer either in terms of a final killer pass or goalscoring opportunities. I don't think we played for a draw its just the way the game panned out and neither side could get any real grip on the game. We started ok, Billy was weaving in and out of tackles, Stevens was lively and Howe put himself about but we just gradually faded and maybe then we seemed to look to contain them rather than knocking the ball around confidently and looking for openings as we have been doing recently. So all in all what you are saying is a bit harsh, we were without Eunan and Saah and had no real quality as subs, they are a big side with some tricky players like Myrie-Williams and Madjo too and they will improve. So a point and a solid performance albeit defensive is a good one.

[Trojan 67]

Our result last night looks even better after today's results. We are still in 10th place and IF we beat Barnet in our next home game we will be closing in on a playoff position.

[Gullscorer]

I agree. Taking everything into account, a draw was a good result last night.

[ferrarilover]

Sorry Matt you are talking crap.... ! "The money men" as you call them have not got bottomless pockets, have you ? The team at the bottom of the league stayed overnight at Cheltenham and Bournemouth much good that did them !! Do you want us to follow their monetary policy ?

If we had the money I am sure they would do it but this is the reality of league two football in a small town with directors who are not Russian oil barons !!

By the way we did get a point without our starman in the team .

You say I'm talking crap (which I'm not, but that hardly seems to matter to you) then attempt to draw comparisons between Torquay United (last years playoff finalists) against Port Vale (one of the lesser lights in the division at present) and Plymouth Argyle (by far and away the worst side in the Football League, with the possible exception of AC Northampton) against Cheltenham (probably close to good enough to go up automatically this season).

So, having shown your comparison to be invalid, we move on to the actual point of my post, which was to demonstrate that, despite the cost (which I appreçiate is high) we MUST stay overnight for matches, because when we don't, we always play in the awful, disjointed, influid manner we showed last night. We were similar at Aldershot, except they gave a blind goalkeeper who couldn't catch a cold, let alone a ball, so we won that match.

This quite apart, the money issue is irrelevant, since, had the maych been on a Saturday, we'd have travelled on the Friday, so why behave any differently for the match being moved forward fewer than 24 hours?

Matt.

[SuperNickyWroe]

You say I'm talking crap (which I'm not, but that hardly seems to matter to you) then attempt to draw comparisons between Torquay United (last years playoff finalists) against Port Vale (one of the lesser lights in the division at present) and Plymouth Argyle (by far and away the worst side in the Football League, with the possible exception of AC Northampton) against Cheltenham (probably close to good enough to go up automatically this season).

So, having shown your comparison to be invalid, we move on to the actual point of my post, which was to demonstrate that, despite the cost (which I appreçiate is high) we MUST stay overnight for matches, because when we don't, we always play in the awful, disjointed, influid manner we showed last night. We were similar at Aldershot, except they gave a blind goalkeeper who couldn't catch a cold, let alone a ball, so we won that match.

This quite apart, the money issue is irrelevant, since, had the maych been on a Saturday, we'd have travelled on the Friday, so why behave any differently for the match being moved forward fewer than 24 hours?

Matt.

because matt it was played at 7.45pm and not 3pm in the afternoon! it would have been quite silly to leave the same day to go to port vale for a 3pm kick off - even you can recognise that........ 8/

it makes sense to me - set off early(ish) a training session on arrival and then lunch - or the other way round.
no need for an overnight.

thats what (as i have been informed) most clubs do.

[Dutchgull]

Matt you are a **** you miss my point completely (rhyming stuff not meant a personal insult !)

My point was that they had an overnight stay for such a short journey and still LOST !!!!!

We on the other hand did not stay and still got a reward so doh to you !

Again I say where is the money to pay for all these hotel trips ?????

FFS we still got a point !

So what is your point ?

[kingsgull]

left kingsteignton @ 4 and got there @ 7.40pm...took allnight for feet to defrost....me and my son were the noisey ones near the front doing plenty of shouting.....comedy bits was there goalkeeper fell over about 3 times when he kicked the ball.....Austrian...the pies gave you the shits ?? i loved them......the game was lacking goal threat....think people harch on Danny as he did threaten a few times....Bodin my MOTM for me followed by Damon and Lee Mansell....odd support from Vale fans as the noise only seemed to come from a minor set of fans on one side and the rest only came alive each time they got a penalty....found the parking great...straight in ..even at 7.40 ..and only £4.......missed the drum today...as the noise was relatively quiet....
It was a fair result to be fair....

[cambgull]

Matt and Dutch:-

You've both got a point. Matt is right that ideally, we should be staying overnight as the players will inevitably be fresher with a good nights sleep and not having to travel. What he really doesn't seem to understand is this thing called money. We don't have much of it and to pay for 16 players plus Manager, Assistant, physio and the rest of the back room team, you're looking at around £50 per person. 20 people would be £1,000 for EVERY away game over a 2 hour drive (which is most of them). On top of that, there are at least 3 meals, coach fuel etc. You're probably looking at closer to £3,000 for each away trip, or £69,000 over a season (just in the league).

No doubt Matt will come back with the only point he'll have left which is that it'll help us win the game so I'll preempt him. Get your chequebook out and pay for it yourself!

[usagullmichigan]

I'll do my bit and buy the team Pot Noodles