Torquay United v Dagenham & Redbridge - 1/12/12

[divingbboy]

Great and well-deserved result. Not just an actual win, but a moral victory, too. Ref and linesman over on the Bench side were shocking. Seriously, the linesman was a useless, blind sack of sh!te. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. Missed a blatant handball in the box by Dagenham that occurred (a) right in front of him; and (b) while he was looking directly at the incident. Consistently awarded throw-ins to the wrong team, too. Thought Dagenham behaved atrociously: aside from the ridiculous lack of sportsmanship when we went to kick the ball out when THEIR man was down injured, they spent a large part of the second half chucking themselves at the turf, trying to get penalties and/or free kicks (worked on a few occasions, too). I would have been gutted if we'd lost that, as we had terrible officiating coupled with some dreadful cheating. A well-deserved win.

[OllieGull]

Great and well-deserved result. Not just an actual win, but a moral victory, too. Ref and linesman over on the Bench side were shocking. Seriously, the linesman was a useless, blind sack of sh!te. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. Missed a blatant handball in the box by Dagenham that occurred (a) right in front of him; and (b) while he was looking directly at the incident. Consistently awarded throw-ins to the wrong team, too. Thought Dagenham behaved atrociously: aside from the ridiculous lack of sportsmanship when we went to kick the ball out when THEIR man was down injured, they spent a large part of the second half chucking themselves at the turf, trying to get penalties and/or free kicks (worked on a few occasions, too). I would have been gutted if we'd lost that, as we had terrible officiating coupled with some dreadful cheating. A well-deserved win.

Agreed, also think Ogogo should have been sent off if the ref was a bit more balanced as I was right by the incident and it looked like a really awful challenge from where I was (very close). But him scoring an O.G. will do finely ^.^

[AustrianAndyGull]

You had two bites at the score and it's hardly as though you've called the score in Reading v Man Utd, so we'll allow half a point. Sadly, you lose that half a point for being rude about Jarvo. So, much like the UK at Eurovision, you get nil points. :na:

Jarvo was good today, much in common with everyone else, I'm glad he's taking his chance. Reasonable game from Bodin, which is a vast improvement upon a lot of his other work this season. Oastler and Nico also better than in recent games, although I understand that Joe's grossly unfair booking (has he been rightly booked yet this season?) sees him miss the A.C. Cobblers game.
Dagenham reasonable, but nothing special at all and got exactly what they deserved overall. All credit to their guy for his goal, but he could have another 1000 goes at that and not so much as hit the target with any of them.

Looking forward to Bradford now. Matt The n00b.

I presume you mean the game and not in general, if it's the latter you need your head testing!

[AustrianAndyGull]

Really, really pleased with everyone today and it's 2 from 2 without Manse and 4 goals scored ( technically three but who cares?! ). Massive credit to Martin for again trying to be attacking and positive and even if we had drawn it sounded like a much more positive and progressive performance to what we have been used to recently so i'd have been happy.

[divingbboy]

Loved Nicho's cheeky comments to Radio Devon afterwards: "I'd just like to say what a pleasure it is to play for a captain like Brian Saah, and it looks like we've identified what our real problem is by losing Lee Mansell."

[Dave]

Lack of attacking intent; lack of cohesion, lack of balance these were the criticisms being levelled and rightly so. Well what a difference a fortnight can make, we saw all of that today in what can be described as a complete performance.

Easton playing next to Lathrope looked like a fish out of water, today in there on his own he looked a different class, I have felt a lot of goals against have been down to the full backs, today it most be said Joe Oastler and Nicho were both outstanding in a game that had so many candidates for the motm vote.

Rene Howe in recent weeks has cut a very lonely frustrated figure, with Jarvis up there taking some of the heat again what a difference today, Rene Howe was totally unplayable the Daggers defence couldn’t stop him by fair means so in typical John Still non-league fashion they tried to stop by the use of foul means.

Been a lot said about us being a small club on a small budget what do you expect, it was never about that, it was about getting the best out of what we had, the team set up had players playing in positions they are used to, result decent performance and 3 pts, massive well done to Lingy the team and all concerned. More of the same please.

Oh b,t,w the referee was a complete cock.

[ferrarilover]

Haha, bloody right Andy, the match, certainly not the place.

I have much more mild views about the ref, thought he did ok largely and was certainly better than a lot of the total crap we've had.

Matt.

[Modgull]

I thought we weren't quite as good as the prevailing view on this thread, Dagenham were better than being credited and the referee wasn't as bad!

Positives were - Playing two up front creating better chances, Saah's leadership, Howe's general brilliance in bullying his two markers (where will we be if he goes in the window?), Easton, Stevens (subsequently Thompson) and 3 points.

Negatives were - Craig (became anonymous in the second half), Bodin (what has happened to him - he never had speed to play on the wing, now he can't dribble the ball either?), Oastler's booking (which was a travesty), the size of the crowd.

[Dave_Pougher]

Bristol Rovers lost again. Their fans are beginning to think in terms of yet another new manager! They should've kept Paul Buckle..!! It'd be kind of ironic if they were to be relegated to the Conference in the same season that Buckle brings Luton Town back into the Football League...

It will intereting to watch what happens there. How did we lose to them? How many times have you seen a club perform badly when a new stadium is in the pipeline? Of course the only reason for that and a clubs sebsequent rise after stadium build is a chairman wanting to reduce the wage bill. I don't think this is the case here. So whats the reason for a club of their resources constantly putting their loyal fans through the torture gas heads have to frequently suffer? They were robbed of three points yesterday after their game with Wycombe was called off earlier in the season when Rovers were winning comfortably but that has little to do with things currently. They now have the potential to field a side of ex recent managers! Buckle, in my opnion didn't have the experience (mainly of the "bad times" in football) to be employed by a club with Rovers potential, so I think that whoever employed him at Rovers should take a good look at themselves and ask why they didn't do the research on him. With that in mind and the fact that they are, currently and historically, performing worse than clubs with half their gates (ie us !)you have to ask if indeed it's any managers fault at all or just a case of those above not knowing what they are doing or worse knowing what they are doing. If the latter is the case then why? When Rovers fans find the answer to that I think they might start to realise their potential.

All clubs act when gates start to fall, I know it's a hard one for loyal supporters that have attended through thick and thin but the Gas heads seriously should consider making their "historically under achieving board" think long and hard as to why they are board members, and the only way to do that is by keepng their gate money in their pocket.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Just think if a ziliion to one chance happened yesterday and events transpired that the ref was a big cartoon addict and into Batfink, then he could well have sent off the Daggers own goal blunderer and therefore got the once in a lifetime opportunity to say 'HUGO AGOGO!!'

[gurneygibbs23]

Really enjoyed the game yesterday. Good performance, but never comfortable.

Bodin and Thompson were meant to be swapping sides - but i think i saw Billy to tell Niall to stay on left and he pops up to set up the own goal.


Stevens was only poor performer in 1st half but scored so credit there.


Dagenham did get frustrated and became unsporting and a bit dirty as the game went on, several challenges worth bookings were let go, Oastler deserved his yellow - you cant do those type of challenges anymore whether you like it or not, refs will book/send players off for studs up even if you get the ball like he did. Dagenham's actions re us trying to put the ball out for their player were disgraceful, really bad, i hope their manager didn't instruct them to do that.
Ogogo got his just desserts scoring the own goal, after his dirty challenge on Rene.

Brian Saah - should of been man of the match, as good as Rene was, Saah has been absolutely outstanding, what a signing Martin Ling take a bow.

Lets take this into the Bradford game, Exeter won there, and so can we. I will be happy enough with a point but lets get a rare win against Bradford who generally beat us i think.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Just seen the highlights of the game on iplayer, credit to Danny for scoring as he had to control the ball first and make sure he got a good connection for the finish. Seeing Thompson racing down the wing and fizzing dangerous balls across the box for our second only confirms to me the fact that we should be taking advantage of his pace and directness and if we get enough service to him and bodies in the box then we'll do some damage. I actually believe that Niall is a lot more dangerous and tricky to play against than Bodin and he can provide the service for our front men plus also go it alone. Something Billy has been unable to do since he signed. A tragedy but £70k does now seem wasted. Really like Niall and he is dangerous.

[goodluckgull]

May I remind you again that Bill Bodin cost the club TWENTY GRAND and the rest was paid by a mystery lady. Bill was involved in the build up play in both goals yesterday, as he was at York. Bodin is quality and I believe in him and wish people would stop being so harsh about him.

[AustrianAndyGull]

May I remind you again that Bill Bodin cost the club TWENTY GRAND and the rest was paid by a mystery lady. Bill was involved in the build up play in both goals yesterday, as he was at York. Bodin is quality and I believe in him and wish people would stop being so harsh about him.

Here we go again. Ok here goes. A mystery lady put in £50k so technically he cost us £20k however, the lady still gave TUFC £50k did she not so therefore it was TUFC's money and so Billy cost TUFC £70k.

As i remember at York he played reasonably well for which i commended him and also gave him a mention in my MOTM ratings ( for which he wasn't in the top 5 again because he still played relatively poorly to what i would expect of him ). I don't know how long we can diffuse the Billy situation by blaming his youth and inexperience for him not producing what we want. He played for Crewe, Swindon AND us so isn't that inexperienced and he is 20. I saw a lad called ISMAEL come on as sub for MK Dons today and he was 18. He was great and did in 25 minutes what i want Billy to be doing.

Our second goal at York i believe was a threaded ball from Bodin which nearly got cut out by their defender so if i'm being positive i could say it was a superb spot by Billy and a perfect execution to pass it through the Howe. Howe did the hard work with quick feet and picking out Joe under pressure. The first goal came from a good Nico pass to Stevens. I'm sure if you trace moves back enough passes then Billy will have been involved somewhere along the line.

IS Bodin quality? IS HE? Where is your evidence? If i say he is has become average and disappointing i have evidence that backs this up. Where is yours this season that consistently proves that he is quality? He has shown a tiny modicum of quality but then so has Easton in his last two games. Is Easton quality? My argument is how long do we keep on saying he is quality and get nothing much in return? I have seen first hand the quality he has got but this season i've seen none of it so therefore, rather than keep making excuses, i would say it is money poorly spent. I don't know where we got Niall from or if he cost us anything but HE excites me. Bodin bores me. I'm not having a go at Billy, i'm simply stating my opinion and letting you all know that i am unhappy with a player (Bodin) who is being paid each week money he isn't worth. If he were at any other club with a slightly bigger squad there is no way he would be a first team starter given what we've seen this season. It is only because we have no options that he has to play.

[LukeGull]

The lady who gave the 50 thousand, did specify that it was for the club to try and sign Bodin. It may sound ridiculous, a fan essentially deciding whether a team can buy a player or not, but that's the wonderful nature of lower league football (just look at Exeter). I think Bodin had a really poor start to the season, given how well he played while on loan and at Crewe. However recently I think he has improved a fair amount, yes he isn't beating his man as much as he used to before, but in general his shooting and in particular passing seems to have improved.
All in all, hopefully Bodin does start banging some goals in, but until then as long as we are winning I don't mind (if we aren't bring Thompson on)