League 2: Torquay United vs Port Vale

[Plymouthgull]

Enjoyed the game. P.Vale are a decent side and I thought a draw was a fair result.
I did think Buckle got his tactics wrong today - not sure you can play 4 forwards and O'Kane in the same side. It soon became evident that the midfied needed Ostler and I thought Buckle would have brought him on at half time. Glad that Stanley will be back for Friday.
Thought Setvens was awful - look disinterested when he came on. Jake playing poorly is still a better option.
Told that attendance was 3,700 approx - surprising, ground looked fuller than that.
Got a feeling that it will go to the last game of the season before we are sure of the playoffs - but I am confident that we will make them(I don't really know why - just feel confident!!)

[JamieE]

First half we had some decent play down our right hand side and managed to get in behind a couple of times but we never found Robinson on the back post and either Tomlin or Zebs weren't there to pose a problem in the middle, so it was hard to pick a final ball. We had a few long range efforts, Jake had one blocked from 10 yards out - his reaction suggested it would have been close, Zebs got down the right hand channel a couple of times but didn't test the keeper. Our defence looked a little shaky up against Richards and Richards. We misjudged too many headers and gave them too much space when they got the ball at their feet. Robertson did ok but as mentioned, was hesitant in clearing his lines at times. Branston was nowhere near as dominant as he should have been got turned way too often. Nico and Manse covered their centre halves well, Manse with an extraordinary block about 20 minutes in. Their efforts were made even better considering Robinson on the left wing is defensively anonymous and Kee down the right wing looked a fish out of water trying to defend against Collins, imo.

Beginning of the second half wasn't great, attacking wise. We seemed to run out of ideas and resort to an aimless long ball, which would then result in 30 seconds of head tennis. Robinson went off, he wasn't getting any joy, Tomlin stopped closing down and working hard, replaced by Murray and our set piece delivery wasn't up to standard, especially from Lathrope. I believe that Murray coming on through the centre made a difference to us, he worked hard, he passed well, had good movement and at one point in the second half, had Eunan found him to his left instead of chipping it down the centre to the keeper, would have been one on one with a Vale defender and I'd have backed him to score. Branston improved a lot in the second half. He won nearly every header and we looked better defensively in the second half. Then came the desperate time in the game, 10 minutes from the end, where both teams go for the winning goal. We hit the post, they hit the bar, we had a goal disallowed by the linesman from a corner, they should have done better from a one-on-one with Bevan.

Another point is, why did we water the pitch before the second half yesterday? It had already cut up quite badly in the first half and it was just making it a bit of a mudbath. Definitely didn't help us move the ball about better! Branston slipping over near where the water tap/pipe burst at half time would have been an interesting way of conceding a goal.

Quite a negative report as I thought we didn't pass the ball well enough and there were too many aimless punts forward when time and a little composure would have seen a better option. But credit to Port Vale, they were big and strong, organised, closed us down for 90 minutes and made it difficult for players like O'Kane, Robinson, Stevens and Tomlin to make an impact. I'll finish on some postives:

Zebs' workrate and quality was there for all to see.
Lathrope made some great tackles.
Murray looked very good when he came on against a team he wouldn't have been suited playing against.
Nico and Manse were defensively very good.
Bevs didn't have to make a save in anger.

Will try and make it down for Wycombe. COYY.

[YellowMurphy]

I was about to post much the same in response to smiffs post but Mav has covered almost all of what I would have said. One thing we differ on though, Robertson. I think his decision making is woeful in that he constantly allows a high ball to bounce in front of him when the simple option is to attack the ball and clear any possible danger. Their centre-half did it all game, Robertson put us under pressure several times when not attacking the ball and it's something he's been guilty of all through his time with us.

Branston was awful in the first half, caught out time and time again.

Refereee was ok, no worse than what we're used to although it was a soft decision for the disallowed goal but the lineman gave that, not him.

All in all an enjoyable game for a nil nil and one we would probably have lost not so long ago so if we can take all three against Wycombe we're still on track.

Yeah Robbo and Branno were dodgy, the reason they were hesitant is because we had little to none midfield, for most of that game it was 4-2-4, Thats something you got with Ellis and not with Robbo, the combative sort of centre back, Ellis takes risks, robbo doesnt. I personally thought Jake Robinson had quite a bad game, but maybe thats just him not hitting his usually excellent standards, the ref wasnt too bad, he just broke up play constantly and was too whistle friendly, he blew up for anything. Wycombe = Biggest game of the season SO FAR.

[kevgull]

We were the masters of our own downfall :

Lost the toss and got turned
Watered the pitch at 1/2 time............. or waterlogged the pitch?
Played Kee out wide
Played the wrong midfield pairing
Took off Robinson and put on Stevens

Worst of all Bevan, he will surely keep us in this league. His footballing ability is by far the worst I have seen from a League 2 keeper. His judgment is awful,
not one pass to either our Left or Right backs, never offering anything other than confusion or hoofing the ball as far up the park as he can. He's watched too many John Smiths adverts........haavvv iiiiiitttttttttttttt!!

Please,please, look to start our attacks from the back in order that our midfield get ball to feet rather than the "keepy uppy" shit I saw on Saturday.

8 games with out defeat, 9 more require from the remaining games to secure a playoff place.http://torquayfans.com/posting.php?mode ... f=3&t=1276#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TUFC92]

We were the masters of our own downfall :

Lost the toss and got turned
Watered the pitch at 1/2 time............. or waterlogged the pitch?
Played Kee out wide
Played the wrong midfield pairing
Took off Robinson and put on Stevens

Worst of all Bevan, he will surely keep us in this league. His footballing ability is by far the worst I have seen from a League 2 keeper. His judgment is awful,
not one pass to either our Left or Right backs, never offering anything other than confusion or hoofing the ball as far up the park as he can. He's watched too many John Smiths adverts........haavvv iiiiiitttttttttttttt!!

Please,please, look to start our attacks from the back in order that our midfield get ball to feet rather than the "keepy uppy" sh*t I saw on Saturday.

8 games with out defeat, 9 more require from the remaining games to secure a playoff place.http://torquayfans.com/posting.php?mode ... f=3&t=1276#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No pleasing some people.....

[Scott Brehaut]

Anybody would think we conceded a load of goals yesterday!!

[Yellow4life]

Yeah, cheers for telling me you weren't coming!! Coulda used your ticket! :~D

You already have a season ticket!?

I miss Fridays too but I'm back for Chesterfield!

[kerswell gull]

Thing I dont get about Robinson is that when he first arrived he was burning full backs with his pace
Apart from once at the start of 2nd half he didn't try to outpace defender always seemed to be trying to dribble around him in a tight situation

[Awayday]

I think the biggest mistake was bringing on Stevens. I use to be a big fan of his in the BSP days, but since we have been promoted he either gets knocked off the ball to easy or he gets the ball 3 quarters of the way up the pitch and then turns around and runs back to our own goal.

[Plymouth Gull]

You already have a season ticket!?

I miss Fridays too but I'm back for Chesterfield!

For somebody else, duhhhh!

[tommyg]

I don't know why a few posters are knocking Stevens. We all know his limitations, but he's a useful squad player at this level. He did no worse than Robinson or Kee. I hope never to see Billy on the wing again. He hasn't got the pace and doesn't offer much support defensively. Mansell was often exposed in the first half, but did a remarkable job considering his lack of protection. Robinson went on two decent runs, but was largely anonymous. We certainly missed Zebroski out wide, but couldn't pull him from the middle as he was our only attacking threat.

I was impressed when Murray came on. He pressed more than Tomlin and linked quite well with Zebs. He was also a willing runner and looks very much to be in the Benyon mold.

[Awayday]

I don't know why a few posters are knocking Stevens. We all know his limitations

You answered your own question.

In the BSP he was able to run the wing, and then turn inside the defenders and open them up to either shoot himself or slide the ball in to open space for someone running in. In this league the defence are much wiser to it an they run at him, he panics and turns on his heels and runs the other way. If he tries to play around them, they just stand their ground and knock him flat on his arse.

He is still a good player, but not for us in this league.......... defo not in league 1.

[happytorq]

Not been able to trawl through all of these yet, still trying to keep awake.
I was at the game on saturday, as my trip was unexpectedly extended until yesterday. draw was probably a fair result although I thought the disallowed goal looked harsh. I can only assume that free kick was awarded for push by Brano prior to his header across goal but it did look soft.

[Fletch]

Various suggestions for this Chris, including a push by Branno, a push by Robbo, offside on Robbo,the ball went out of play from the corner before coming back in to be headed. Take your pick

[Trojan 67]

Various suggestions for this Chris, including a push by Branno, a push by Robbo, offside on Robbo,the ball went out of play from the corner before coming back in to be headed. Take your pick

I've just watched the highlights on BBC Sport and the ref is clearly pointing to where Branno headed the ball. I didn't see an infringement by Branno on the day or on the highlights so for me I see a corrupt b'stard on the take who should never run a line again. The dick of a ref was closer than the lino and saw nothing but bottled it. The problem is and always has been is linos are refs and flag as a ref. NO YOU DO F'CKEN NOT !!! YOU RUN THE LINE AS A LINO AND YOU ONLY ACT THE DICK WHEN YOU ARE CLOSER TO INFRINGEMENTS THAN THE DICK WITH THE WHISTLE. I don't why I bother because DEAF F'CKEN EARS AIN'T LISTENING !!!