Torquay United v Port Vale - 24/3/12

[Gulliball]

Get in there!!!!!! 7 games left, we can do this!

[SuperNickyWroe]

dry yer eyes co*k,

dry yer eyes........... =D

should have backed barnsley bix...... 8/

they play better with 10 men for an hour than they do with 11 for 90mins! =D

[SuperNickyWroe]

Get in there!!!!!! 7 games left, we can do this!

course we can chris!!

[bixieupnorth]

they're added to my list, bloody bradford, west yorkshire b+stards as my weds mate calls them all!! just discovered another quad that they ruined, £265 now!!

still we won and are still 2nd with games to go!!

[Jaxx_Gull]

Brewers lost 4-0

[bobby93]

Great stuff. It's nice to be getting a bit more variety in the results now as well. I'd have taken 1-0 wins for the rest of the season, don't get me wrong, but it's good to know that we can come back to get a result (Bris Rov, Port Vale), and we can also take our chances and trounce teams (Burton).

[Gazzableedsgull]

they're added to my list, bloody bradford, west yorkshire b+stards as my weds mate calls them all!! just discovered another quad that they ruined, £265 now!!

still we won and are still 2nd with games to go!!

oi!! i'm West Yorkshire! haha

Great win! deserved it from the second half performance!

[Dave_Pougher]

Can we be Devons top team next year ?

Yes we can !

[bixieupnorth]

another text report just recd says the contrast between halves was amazing, from the dullest most hopeless to the best 45 mins of the season!!

we really need to play 442 at home, please mr ling!!

[Jeff]

Been following the game whilst I've been enjoying the sun, and have to be honest I feared for us once we were a goal down (to a former player no less - albeit briefly). But we must have showed real fight to get back into it and carve out a great result. Hopefully this will give the players belief that they are more than just a 1-0 side.

For me it looks like 2 from 3 for the auto spots. So disappointing to see that the Shrews and Crawley got results - I really thought the Shrews would drop points at Morecambe today. I can't agree with Lings assessment that 82 points will be enough. I can see us getting 14 points between now and the end of the season, but struggle to see anything obvious were the Shrews and Crawley will drop points.

[Modgull]

Really poor first half performance with Stevens and Morris the worst offenders. We only had four attempts and one on target. Vale scored with their only attempt.

Second half was much brighter especially after the double substitution and we had more attempts and more on target with Tomlinson making some excellent saves.

For me Jarvis made a huge contribution, hitting the bar before the penalty and then scoring at the far post.

Atieno again looked fresh and provided more options as we went to 4-4-2

It was a shame that the crowd, who otherwise was supportive throughout, cheered Morris' substitution.

Good attendance and good atmosphere. All round a good outcome but should have been easier in the first half.

[Dave]

That for me was a real tale of two havles, first Vale were the better team, Vale's passing was head and shoulders above ours and they went in desvering of thier 1.0 lead.

Second half what a difference, we got at them from the start, forced them into errors, and knocked them out of their passing game, and got our own going, when a combination of I think crossbar and the Vale keeper kept the ball out, I thought this is not going to be our day.

However soon after we got the penalty , and after they went down to 10 men only one winner.

[Colorado Gull]

I'm afraid I won't be able to do a proper match report, as I have got 3 videos that I took today at Plainmoor to upload onto Youtube. My first one is before the game, the second is Rene Howe's penalty and my third one was after the game. They will take a while to upload as they are in HD.

I'll do a mini report on the game; in the first half it was pretty dismal, we made too many long balls over the top and when Rene made contact with any Vale defender he fell over and a foul was given against us. The Port Vale defenders couldn't deal with Howe at all, his big presence upfront was vital today. Vale liked to play down the middle but we kept playing with no width whatsoever. Danny Stevens was constantly cutting inside to play in the middle and when he did get on the wing, he didn't use his pace and keep going forward; he persisted on going back into the middle of the park. It was a very frustrating first half, with nothing really coming from us. As for their goal, we defended poorly, didn't get out of the box when the ball was cleared, we were all over the place and they scored. We all hoped for a better second half.

All the singers were in the middle today so I decided to join them and the atmosphere was brilliant, so much better when we are all together. We kept singing and urged the team on throughout the whole game. I hope all the singers now decide to stay in the middle for now one.

When the second half started we looked better straight away with Eunan and Howe linking up. Oastler, Mansell, Lathrope and Eunan were all linking up with the forwards. Ryan Jarvis and Taiwo Atieno came on for Ian Morris and Danny Stevens. When the number 11 was signalled on the fourth official's board, a few Torquay fans cheered, Ian Morris looked back and did not look happy. As for our first goal, the ball came to Rene, he was brought down by the last defender, who was sent off and a pen was given. Howe took the penalty, he waited until the goalkeeper went the wrong way and Torquay's number nine put the ball the other direction. We went on from strength to strength with Taiwo, Oastler and Jarvis putting on the pressure. Ryan Jarvis scored with a header on 75 minutes to put the game to bed. Damon Lathrope hit the bar from 25 yards with a fantastic shot, it was hit tremendously well and he was inches away from scoring. We did have one scare when Vale hit the post, but we hung on to get those ever so vital 3 points.

Now that's done I'll get to work with getting those videos onto Youtube!

For the Schooner Army; my flag has arrived!

[goodluckgull]

Just want to mention that the atmosphere at Plainmoor was vastly better today due to the drum being back near the halfway line. The noise level from the Torquay fans was much better and certainly added to a great day.

[AustrianAndyGull]

At half time i cursed myself for making a massive gaffe in coming down to Torquay for my first ever Plainmoor visit. I had more sympathy for Exilegull Steve though as he came from Switzerland! The first half was absolutely atrocious and we were slow, second to the ball, sluggish and guilty of poor distribution. They passed it around well and looked sharp, you could visibly see how lethargic we looked. It was no surprise to me when they took the lead and i could not honestly see a way back into the game. Rene was isolated up top and enjoyed a sarcastic thumbs up to the Vale fans who had been taunting him all afternoon with chants of YOU FAT B*****D. He had the last laugh though with the penno.

We did improve slightly as the second half wore on but we just over-egged the passes or lost our way in dangerous positions. Someone hit the bar and it bounced down, not quite sure who it was or if it was over the line as i was right at the far end of the popside and couldn't see properly but the ref didn't give it. We levelled shortly after with a cooly taken Howe penalty after he had been brought down. The Vale defender got a red card and it was game on. We had lots of space to run into down the channels but wasted numerous promising opportunities by being sloppy. It could have cost us. We did get the winner through Jarvis and Damon cracked a delicious thunderbolt against the bar which deserved a goal really but Vale also had a shot against the bar in the last 5 minutes which could have punished us for our lax attacking play against 10 men. It was a poor performance but at the end of the day we have the 3 points and we go rolling on to Barnet on friday evening.

I really enjoyed my day at Plainmoor even though i got lost and also tried to get in the away end thinking it was the popside. I always for some reason thought the popside ran along the side of the ground where B&L is and the family stand where the pop is. B&L was rammed and i would have felt a bit intimidated and embarrassed going in there on me tod so i didn't go in. I went into the club shop and bought the away shirt XXL as guess what? They didn't have any of the new home shirts in stock XXL. WHAT A SURPRISE!

A couple more negatives on my first visit then i'll get onto the positives. First of all, i thought the area in the popside where the pies are sold is pretty grotty and a bit of a shithole to be honest, i appreciate it is an old ground but the whole area needs doing up and the food outlets signs and just general aesthetics were a shock. Secondly, a bloke near me got told off for taking photos inside the ground. The steward said it wasn't allowed. This pissed me off as i wanted to take some photos too and i take my camera to many grounds and have no problems with it so why can't you take photos at Plainmoor? Weird. Lastly, i'm all for giving the club extra funds by buying half time draw tickets, programmes and things from the club shop but i think that £18 for CAT A games to stand on the popside is at least £3 too expensive. Finally i've never been to a ground it has taken me so long to get out of! 5 - 10 minutes i reckon to get out of the pop. Is this because the other stand is closed and there are more fans than normal in there? I'm nitpicking i suppose but there you go. Just being honest about what i found a bit disappointing on the day of my first Plainmoor experience.

Positives now. HOORAY!!!! We won, the matchday programme is probably the best i've bought this season in league 2, the closeness of the pitch and players to the fans is great, i even saw Lingy real close up and his belly IS bigger than mine!
I just enjoyed the whole experience including the seagulls and will now get to Plainmoor as much as i can ( finances allowing ) as i've got the bug.

I DID see the large congregation of singers on the popside and really wanted to add a voice but don't know anyone and you've all probably got your 'own spaces'. I ended up going down the bottom end near the Vale fans where the players come out.

Anyway, loved it today and loved the result and i'm so lucky to be a fan of the best club in the world.