Torquay United v Northampton Town, League 2, 28/01/2012

[ferrarilover]

Plainmoor
Saturday 28th January 2012
KO: 3pm

Hullo all and welcome to the NTFC matchday thread. Following a dreadful performance (for a number of different reasons) on Tuesday night, it's straight back into the mix with a home game against our 'friends' from Northampton. Another team struggling at the wrong end of the league, and an excellent chance for the Gulls to cement their place in the playoffs.

GULLS NEWS.

Rene Howe came on at Morecambe and we looked a different side, the opposite was true on Tuesday, with Rene going off and Tai Atieno making a nuisance of himself, so it will be interesting to see who gets the nod from Dinger.
Our only injury concern seems to be JOastler, who hobbled out of the Dagenham match after an hour, with what is reported to be a dead leg. His absence could prompt a reshuffle at the back, with the return of Brian Saah, or a straight swap for LRT (who can play RB).
Aside from this, it's the usual outfielders, no Bodin so Morris will start and unless Danny is struck down by the Ebola virus, McPhee won't get a look in (even then it'd be a close call).

THE OPPOSITION.

I've had a look at their forum and they can't even agree on who the manager is, let alone who should start, so really, I haven't a clue. They do feature former Gulls loanee Ryan Gilligan('s Island), as well as Jake 'Masterchef' Robinson, both of whom are among the 235 players presently on the NTFC books and are regarded by fans anywhere from 'ought to have a bronze of him outside the stadium' to ' ought to have a bronze of him outside the stadium, with him inside'.
Overnight, they signed another of our joint former charges, Luke Gutteridge after his release from Aldershot. They say never go back, and this point was well demonstrated by Gritts' second spell here, but only time will tell if he is still the cult hero we all know and love.
Oh yeah, and World's Fattest Man, Mayo Akinfatwat (all deliberate), he ponces about up front waiting for the ball to hit him.

FORM GUIDE

In short, Northampton are crap and up to their eyeballs in doodoo. Any team that has fewer points than Plymouth must be bad, and that is exactly where NTFC find themselves (I was doing so well, being all neutral and non-judgemental).
Seven losses (including 2-7 at home to Shrewsbury and 4-1 at Plymouth), two draws and just one win (away to Morecambe) in their last 10 matches tells its own story, add in an F:A ratio of 13:28 and you start to get a real sense of just how bad NTFC are. They effectively start each match 3-0 down.

We, on the other hand, have managed the same number of points in our last 10 matches as NTFC have gained all season. We're on a right old roll and long may it continue (I'll be happy for it to end to almost anyone except this bunch of.......)

HOW THEY LINED UP.

32 Weale
04 Crowe (Asante 79)
05 Tozer
14 Johnson
28 Langmead
29 Adams
17 Jacobs
27 Harding
02 Young (Gilligan 72)
09 Berahino
10 Akinfenwa
Substitutes
26 Hall, 11 Holt, 20 Gilligan, 18 Purcell, 25 Asante

That team'll look pretty good in the Conference next year. Won't be good enough to beat Argyle to 14th place though.

LAST TIME ROUND.

The last meeting between us was, of course, earlier in the year. We were in the middle of our worst run in a long while and we made them look like Barce-frigging-lona. Still, a 0-0 draw didn't look too bad at the time. Chris McPhee had a brilliant chance to win it for us, but he chose to shoot like old people f**k, very, VERY slowly, and their keeper had about 6 months to see it coming.
Last time at Plainmoor was the very first match of last season, when, I seem to recall the AC Northants fans were confidently predicting being top of the division having given 'little old Torquay' a right good seeing to.......... We won 3-0 and it should have been 6. Three goals either side of half time from Nico, Zedders and Benners made the game very, very safe in the face of a Northampton attack about as blunt as a spoon.

REF WATCH.

JAMES LININGTON
Anthony Horton and Lee Swabey
Fourth Official Mark Russell

Only one thing needs saying about this bloke... He couldn't possibly be any worse than that prat Kettle we had on Tuesday. He was funny though and kudos to him for responding so well to being asked to place his noise making device in an uncomfortable and anatomically disadvantageous place.

PREDICTION.

They're shit, we're not, 14-0.

Matt.

Oh, and one last thing, many happy returns to Diamondgirl, who will be celebrating her 117th birthday tomorrow.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Poor Danny. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I've had Ebola and it tasted horrible! Ebolaporridge that is. . Fantastic thread Matt and my tuppence worth is that Northampton are shite, like you say, their form is atrocious and they are in deep plop. Looking at the line up that played last time out it is easy to see just why they are where they are. The arrival of Guttridge will improve the team but i don't know if he will play tomorrow. IMO Howe should start and Tai should be on the bench but Howe needs to get his game together again and quickly or i may do the unthinkable and prefer Tai in ahead of him. LRT should play at RB if Oastler cannot play. Saah has been out for so long and he will be out of position so i wouldn't want to take the risk of starting Saah. Hope to God Joey can play though. This, more so than Dagenham is a massive banana skin but we've beaten Plymouth twice and Daggers so we can be massively confident of the three points and a better performance. I'll go for a 3-1 win to us with Howe back on song with a brace and Morris.

[Colorado Gull]

Nice thread Matt

I hope we play better than we did on Tuesday because if we don't Northampton could get something out of the game! However, I'm sure Mr Ling has got through to the players and because of that I'm sure that they will perform much better tomorrow.

2-0 to the Gulls!

COYY!

[bixieupnorth]

agree, i was more worried about daggers than tomor and we beat them whilst playing poorly. we surely won't play that bad again so I can only see another gulls win, almost certainly beating the handicap

will be tuning in as usual on gulls player and hoping our run is still going when I make the short trip to the don valley stadium next saturday

very funny thread matt!

[AustrianAndyGull]

Yeah the Don Valley next saturday Bix. It's 'our back yard' as it were but with dog shit that's not been cleaned up! Shortest league trip of the season for me as i can be there in 20. The benefit of the shortness of trip just about negates the very poor overall experience of watching a game there. It really is a dump but they've got a new stadium for next season i believe not far from the bus station in Rovram.

[Dave]

Top work Mattypoos, us fan's have to confident of a win here, like the Daggers no one in the right mind will underestimate the mighty AC Northampton, Lingy said Tuesdays may have had a lot to do with the way Dagenham played, and having a few days to think about it, I would agree.

I expect the cobblers will play with a different style to Dagenham which may in turn suit are team, that said our team can play 10 times better than Tuesday and lose, as Bengull said in the week, result first performance second, hand heart i realise now he is spot on.

COYY

[popside_yidlad]

I predict 3-1 and have a stab at nicho as first scorer

[Wubble U]

I'm surprised by the optimism.
Northampton still have one of the best squads and possible the best manager of league 2
Boothroyd has got this team settled and playing effectively and I think anyone expecting a rollover will be sadly mistaken.
we are due a loss and they are due a win.
Hate to say it,but for me, its got to be a 3-1 Northampton win.
Bayo and Guttridge with the goals of course!
really hope i am proven wrong though

[usagullmichigan]

Don't know why but 1-2 AC Cobblers

[Wisconsin_gull]

Where has the spirit of World Domination gone...?

Don't see this as a right click, but expect us to bag the points with a late winner after trailing 0-2 early doors

3-2 Atieno, Morris, Nico



COYY

[Trojan 67]

Another 1-0 ugly win will do for me . . -> . . . . -> . . . . . -> . .

[ferrarilover]

NTFC haven't won by 2 or more clear goals since Sept 13th when they turned over AFCW 3-0. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that they will come to a Torquay side bang in form and score loads and hold firm. Aside from some silly late pressure of our own making in recent weeks, our back line hasn't looked like conceding one, let alone three in 90 minutes.

I am fully aware that this means absolutely nothing, of course, football is played on grass rather than paper, but it does strike me as odd that people are predicting that the worst side int he Football League will record a handsome win.

I know the longer an unbeaten run goes on, the more tempting it is to predict a loss, but Arsenal have proven that it is possible to go a very long time indeed without losing. While our emulating this seems unlikely, we do know that once the impossible has been ruled out, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

Matt.

[Dave]

In there last 10 games Northampton have picked just 5 pts, in the same period we have picked 23 pts, if thats not grounds for optimism I dont know what is. it is only right that we as Torquay fan's should atleast feel confident of winning this game.

I expect a hard game as Northampton of late have been decent away from home and yes they could cme here today and win, however I will be dissapointed if our team does not win this game, as our team has turned Plainmoor into a fortress of late, not forgetting that our team inflicted Swindon's only defeat in there last 19 games .

[exilegull]

The summary of our season and Northampton's seasons so far can be seen in one stat...

Torquay..
Draw when winning 1
Lost when winning 0
Points lost 2 (not team is better, Shrewsbury are equal)

Northampton..
Draw when winning 2
Lost when winning 6!!
Points lost 22 no team is anywhere near - Morecambe are next with 17 lost points

If Northampton take the lead don't be surprised but also don't panic.

[oxgull]

Despite the potential for a banana skin 0 - 1 and Mayo Akinfatwat scoring off his rear end and then heading off to MacDonalds I would think we should do this 2 - 0.
Don't let the freezer get a look in!!! I can run faster and I am suffering from arthritis, that has stopped me travelling today, but you just know he will do his goal hanging bit and wait for the big punt to hit him anywhere on his slim frame (!!!) and go in. yes, 2 - 0 for us today I think.