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Terrible game on a terrible pitch inside a terrible stadium in a terrible town. I do hate Accrington. It was bad last year, and no different a season on. The only positive was that it didn't rain.

I agree with almost all of Jeffrey's fine analysis. The surface made it impossible to get the ball down and play on the deck. Arsenal would have struggled to put a string of passes together on that mudbath. The ball rarely bounced, instead sticking to the surface like a bowling ball. But we scrapped well and were the better team in the first half, certainly creating the clearer chances. Potter had nothing to do, the defence were untroubled, the midfield battled well and Robinson was looking lively. Their keeper made a stunning save to keep out a Ellis header, while he also denied Robinson after a short headed backpass by Accy's right-back.

Then just as I thought it was safe to queue up for my Mars bar and hot chocolate, the referee waves a red card . I was 70 yards away, but didn't have any complaints. Naughty Ellis, whose batteries evidently still need recharging, gets the wrong side and pulls the chap down by the shoulder. It looked last man, but he was still a distance away from our goal. That's what they call a game-changer.

One man down for a half was tough enough, but we were also playing against a strong wind blowing towards the Yellow Army (minus the Army). Accy went on to dominate, exploiting the space in the middle vacated by Mansell who was now being targeted at right-back. Potter was called into action a few times, while we survived a few games of pinball inside our box and were let off by some wild finishing. We couldn't get the ball down and our only chance came out of nothing when Zebs raced clear, but shot at the keeper from the angle.

Then the only moment of genuine quality produced the winning goal. Mansell played the ball out for a throw midway in our half after Accy quickly cleared a free-kick. As we were light in numbers, Manse proceeded to kick the ball into the stands, therefore wasting time and letting us reshape. Very shrewd I thought, especially as our skipper only escaped with a warning. But despite everyone being back in position, we still ended up conceding from the bloody throw! Craney turned a yellow body and then spanked in super shot from 25 yards. One heck of a hit - blink-and-you-miss-it . I'm not sure if the giant Bevan would have got his fingers to it, so harsh to attach any blame to Potter, although I'll watch the FLS show tonight (please no Claridge :slap:).

After the goal, Accy had a couple more decent chances as we 'chased' an equaliser. By 'chased' I mean throwing our new targetman Branston up top. Yep, Guy Branston. We desperately need a big, ugly striker who does the donkey work, bullies defenders, wins headers and holds the ball up. I don't care if he doesn't score, just somebody who we can build a 'Plan B' around (Branston does actually boast most of these attributes - now I see what Bucks was trying to do 8/ ).

As for Mr. Buckle, I thought he had his hands tied today. Got his line-up spot on based on the conditions. This was not for your O'Kanes and fancy pink Macklin boots. He was badly let down by Ellis which obviously altered his second-half plans. We did our best to hold on for a point, but were undone by a fantastic goal.

The subs has no impact on the result. Robinson was our biggest threat in the first half, but the second half was a completely different game as we were against the wind, on the backfoot and had a numerical disadvantage. He barely touched the ball in the 15 minutes after the break and obviously Buckle thought Gilligan would give us a little more protection. LRT for Kee was a defensive change, but we were under a lot of pressure and it made sense. Kee was quiet and the ball wouldn't stick to him. LRT actually played in a left-central midfield position and looked sharp. It wouldn't have mattered whether we still had Robinson, Kee or Jean-Pierre Simb on the field, none of them would have prevented the goal. On that pitch, in the circumstances and conditions of the game, I'm not sure what Bucks could have done differently with the set of players at his disposal to try and get something from the game.

Robertson was my MOTM. Calm and assured both at right-back and in the centre of defence. Distribution not great, but then not many were able to pass their way through the game. All of the defence played well, though, including Potter who had an excellent second half. Worth mentioning that the sponsors' MOTM was the Accy keeper...

Thanks to those that have posted up match reports. Great reads as always.

I've just watched the Football League Show and from what I saw ... the pitch really is that bad, the red card appeared to be the right decision and although Potter dived, it looked like he perhaps should have got to it. I might be being harsh with the last one, but it didn't appear out of reach. Maybe the flight of the ball made it diffcult.

What strikes me is that the posters who were not there immediately apportion blame to Bucks for his substitutions but the people who were actually at the game could see that he hardly had an alternative bearing in mind the sending off & the conditions etc.
Lets just put this one down to the Accy factor !! We never get anything there ! Remember how we could always beat Rochdale at Plainmoor but get sod all at their place. Is Accy another Dale ????

I think the conditions need to be taken account with the red card, the ball was tuck in the mud, is he really going to sprint away with it 40 yards to our goal? Not a chance in hell, and he barely touched him. Should feel aggrieved about that. As for the goal it's a lucky hit, that looks to have dipped and swerved late, oh and the pitch was a disgrace and the game shouldn't have happened in all honesty.

Jeff wrote:Reading some of the posts on here I feel I may be sticking my head abovethe parapet with my comments regarding the subs, but that was how I called it.

Thank you for the match report Jeff, excellent as ever. Your viewpoint on events is valued because you were there. My gripe is, in the previous two games, PB has tried to shore up midfield/defence with no thought to an "attacking" outlet to relieve pressure.

Changing to a rearguard/defensive formation to protect whatever sends a signal to the opposition to pile forward. I wish he would stop playing prospective Premier League manager and concentrate on getting results with his League 2 players.

Whatever the facts of the previous 2 games, losing our "attacking" options in the closing minutes has cost us points, not gained them. What I write here won't mean jack shite to PB, but it matters to the "Sort it out Buckle" brigade who take it personally.

I'm of the nature that sees error and tells the errorist of their error. When someone has the audacity to point out the error of my way then I go ballistic. When I calm down (sober up), I don't remember the astute observation intended to correct my temporary out of sync viewpoint.

F*ck 'em, our different viewpoints make Torquay Fans.com what it is.

tommyg wrote:I agree with almost all of Jeffrey's fine analysis.

Thank f**k for that !

Well done Tommy, I always enjoy reading your matchday observations.

(I edited most of your original post to save space).

Decided not to make a comment as i only heard asmall amount of the radio commentry and wanted to hear the thoughts of those who went,firstly thanks for the reports fantastic as usal.

It sounds like the normal trip into hell that you get from accy away so maybe the result can be forgiven,i have been an outspoken critic of these negative substitutions and stand by everything i have said,because for me its about the right and wrong times to drop off and defend(whilst in the lead dont try fix what is not broken)however 0.0 away from home down to ten men,yep in this instance i would say it proberly was the right time to try and shuy up shop,so will not critise the substutions from this game.

For me the only thing i will say is,i am not sure how much in the way of pitch time Robison had before he came here,so maybe to start with thats why he was only on the pitch for 60mins or so,but he has now had enough time,so please can we have him on for the full 90 tuesday,as he does look a decent outlet when the team comes under pressure.

forevertufc wrote:Decided not to make a comment as i only heard asmall amount of the radio commentry and wanted to hear the thoughts of those who went,firstly thanks for the reports fantastic as usal.

It sounds like the normal trip into hell that you get from accy away so maybe the result can be forgiven,i have been an outspoken critic of these negative substitutions and stand by everything i have said,because for me its about the right and wrong times to drop off and defend(whilst in the lead dont try fix what is not broken)however 0.0 away from home down to ten men,yep in this instance i would say it proberly was the right time to try and shuy up shop,so will not critise the substutions from this game.

For me the only thing i will say is,i am not sure how much in the way of pitch time Robison had before he came here,so maybe to start with thats why he was only on the pitch for 60mins or so,but he has now had enough time,so please can we have him on for the full 90 tuesday,as he does look a decent outlet when the team comes under pressure.

The above highlighted together with the fact that we're midway through a Tuesday/Saturday/Tuesday sequence on heavy pitches.

I wasn't there but Dave Thomas certainly was and he sounded very surprised that we took Robinson off when he did (i.e only 15 minutes into the second half). I think that he (DT) felt that his pace would have continued to cause the Accy defenders problems and may have kept the pressure on them a bit more given that we only had 10 men.

That said it may well have been the right decision and it is encouraging to hear from the fans that were there that in the main they thought Bucks got the substitutions right.

Personally, my frustration is borne out of the fact that Robinson has been subbed in every game so far for us - and he is being hauled off earlier and earlier. Whilst that may, or may not, be the right decision by Bucks .. it's clear that the player himself (by his apparent reactions at both Cheltenham and Accy) isn't entirely happy about it and my guess is that when he becomes a free agent in the summer he may decide that his future lies elsewhere, which would be a shame in my opinion as I believe he is one of, if not the most, talented players in the squad and would be a great permanent addition.

A striker had to go in the circumstances. In those conditions he's taken off the most lightweight of the 3. Pace on that pitch? Dunno if it amkes any difference, how can anyone run at their maximum on a quagmire? I think the strength and work rate option is definitely the way to go. He wouldn't have been taken off as early if we'd had 11 players, in all honesty I was surprised he didn't change it at half time.

I was under the impression it was down to fitness regarding Robinson being subbed after around 60 minutes in every game.

It's been a long time since he played a full 90 minute game and comments on his twitter when he first arrived indicated that he didn't feel his fitness levels were 100%

Trojan 67 wrote: Thank f**k for that !

Well done Tommy, I always enjoy reading your matchday observations.

(I edited most of your original post to save space).

Always a pleasure, Trojan.

What I would also add is that despite the subs, we still kept to a 4-4-1.

Start of second half:

---------------Kee----------------

Robinson--Stanley--Oastler--Zebs

After 1st sub (Gilligan for Robinson):

--------------Zebs----------------

Kee--Stanley--Oastler--Gilligan

After 2nd sub (LRT for Kee):

--------------Zebs----------------

LRT--Stanley--Oastler--Gilligan

So although we had more defensive players on the field, the shape remained more or less the same throughout the second half.

Thanks for the update Tommy.

I'm over the disappointment of the Accy defeat. It's just that the late recent substitutions have coincided with us dropping points in the last few minutes of recent games.

Hi all,
Firstly, deepest, most 'umble apologies for not posting a matchday thread, blackcurrant juice related illness rendered me close to meeting my maker.
Secondly, thanks for all the reports, as most have said, I think this is just down to cheating Accrington and their ploughed field of a pitch. It's clearly deliberate, they know the League won't sanction them for it, they're poor little old Accrington, what are they to do with their pitch? Perhaps not playing kiddies 6-a-side at halftime would be a start? Opposing teams need to start refusing to play matches on that abortion of a field, they'll soon fix the pitch (stop digging it up) if it starts costing them money.

All in, I expected sod all from this game, and it only look quite so disappointing because of what happened on Tuesday. Still, a win on Tuesday will see us back on track for sneaking that playoff place.

Hope for a new addition by then, not a clue who, but I'm excited.

Matt.

126 away fans there.