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With two away match's from our first three fixtures it looked a difficult start for the young Gulls, however, to travel to both Wrexham and Halifax in the opening week made our start look all the more testing, no rest for the wicked, as Paul Cox and his team travel back down the motorway, their minds will already be on Tuesday, as we entertain Woking at Plainmoor (LWS) for our second of three mid week fixtures in August.

Woking our visitors will provide a stern test for our team Tuesday, The Cards have made steady progress since their promotion to the NL premier league, at the end of 2011-12 season as NL south division champions, finishing 12th-9th and last season rising to a 7th place finish, missing out on the play-offs by just three points. Tuesday night gives us a chance to meet once again with a number former Gulls players, although Scott Rendell is injured and likely to miss the entire season, a massive blow for Woking as the former Gulls loanee has been Woking's top goal scorer in the last two seasons, The Cards also have Brian Saah and Kadell Daniel amongst their line up.

Featured Woking player

Ismail Yakubu; born Kano, Nigeria on the 8th April 1985, position defender, Ismail has made 6 appearances for England (C) team, Ismail Yakubu has 410 senior games under his belt, scoring 31 goals, Ismail started his career with Barnet joining the club at just 11 year old, turning professional at 16 years old. After his release from Barnet Ismail Yakubu went to play for, AFC Wimbledon and Newport County before joining Woking in the summer, Ismail Yakubu has had a very successful lower and non-league career, he has been a conference champion with Barnet, gained promotion to the football league with both Wimbledon and Newport via the play-offs, also appearing for Newport in the F.A.T final, I see Ismail Yakubu as a real winner, and a player that any manager in this division would want in his squad.

Current form

Woking; L-W-W-

A) Tranmere 0.1 (L)
H) Bromley 2.0 (W)
H) Altrincham 2.0 (W)

Last time out

Woking 2 v 0 Altrincham

01 Cole
02 Caprice
05 Saah
08 Murtagh
03 Arthur
07 Jones (Andrade - 65' Booked )
04 Ricketts Booked
06 Yakubu
10 Sole (Daniel - 65' )
11 Goddard (Poku - 87' )
20 Holman

Substitutes
12 Poku
15 Andrade
16 Daniel
17 Newton
18 Hamann

View point on todays Woking match from Scott Rendell

Injured Woking striker Scott Rendell told BBC Surrey:

"It was tough to watch, but that is something I am going to have to get used to for long a while.

"Getting the win was the main thing and to come out with another clean sheet was also a positive.

"Dan (Holman) came in today and did very well, getting himself a goal. I am delighted for him and hopefully he can carry on like that.

"The gaffer is always going to bring players in and give them their chance and it's up to them to play well and do the club proud."

From a Torquay United point of view

I'm sure it was welcome boost for everyone concerned with the club to see both Louis Briscoe and James Hurst return to the starting line up today, especially James Hurst who had a short lived but impressive debut by all accounts, scoring one goal and having another chalked off by the linesman's flag, hopefully both will be strong enough to play a part Tuesday night against a very good Woking side.

We all agreed August was tough looking month, with our team facing many of the top sides from last season, to have Macclesfield, Wrexham and Halifax in the opening week certainly didn't make things look any easier, two wins from three match's (Wrexham and Halifax away) represents a fantastic start and a 6 point haul from the first week is certainly better than, I, and many others were excepting.

I'm hoping this will inspire as many people as possible to go along Tuesday and make some noise in support of your team, your club, yes, I know it will be difficult for exiles and shift workers to attend, but if you can, get yourselves down to the (LWS) Tuesday night.

Current form

Torquay United; W-L-W-

H) Macclesfield 1.0 (W)
A) Wrexham 1.3 (L)
A) FC Halifax 3.2 (W)

Last time out

FC Halifax 2 v 3 Torquay United

01 Speiss
02 Hurst (Fenwick - 54' Dismissed after an earlier booking )
05 MacDonald
16 Richards Booked
03 Butler Booked
06 Geohaghon
18 Smith
12 Carmichael
07 Briscoe (Fairhurst - 59' )
17 Fisher
22 Quigley (Lavelle-Moore - 76' )

Substitutes
04 Fenwick
09 Fairhurst
10 Marsh
11 Murombedzi
24 Lavelle-Moore

Torquay United manager Paul Cox

"I'm especially pleased because it's been a tough week for the players travelling-wise," he said. "They didn't get back from Wrexham until the early hours and then we couldn't train yesterday because of traffic problems on the way up to Halifax.

"They deserve massive credit for the performance that they put in today, whilst our supporters have also been outstanding and their backing has been key to us over these past couple of away games.

"It was nice to have Louis Briscoe and James Hurst involved today; we knew it would be a bit of a gamble, but they did well and so too did their replacements in the second half. In fact, it was a real team effort today with everyone putting a shift in a doing their jobs.

"To go away from home and create eight or nine great opportunities against a side that has been up there over the past couple of seasons is no mean feat.

"The important thing is to keep everyone's feet on the ground. It was always going to be a building process, with the focus on making progress and to have two wins from three difficult games is excellent.

"Hopefully we can build on this when we return to home action on Tuesday with the visit of Woking. The games are coming thick and fast but we're looking forward to them."

Read more at http://www.torquayunited.com/news/artic ... l5E0p6u.99

Last meeting

24th April 2015; Woking 3 v 2 Torquay United

Head to Head

Woking 1 win, Torquay 4 wins, draws 1

Another good preview, Forever, thanks.

Biggest gates on Saturday were at Wrexham (4951) and Grimsby (4731). Gateshead, for all their high ambition, could only manage 760.

It would be nice to think Plainmoor will see over 3000 on Tuesday. Certainly the lads, for their efforts, deserve a good level of support, and if we're serious about wanting to see a return to the Football League, we should all be getting up there to cheer them on.

Let's hear the Plainmoor Roar..

Loving the previews. Keep it up!

Gullscorer I so agree with you a gate of 3,000 would show the Board that Torquay really wants the Club back in the Football League.

I am making a special effort to persuade 3 or 4 friends who are "slightly" interested in TUFC to join me at Plainmoor on Tuesday evening.

Suggest we ALL get on the phone to friends and family to persuade them to attend. Should be a good game, nice weather, good pitch no excuse not to come.COYY

My first game of the season on Tuesday and I can't wait.

Gullscorer and Portgull are right. What a difference it would make if we could get 3000 there. The break even is 1800. Those extra fans would generate good money which I would suggest would be spent more wisely than in the past. Wrexham and Grimsby fans are getting behind their teams, we can do the same. Hopefully, with the player fund, increased gates, we can get out of this league if we all pull together and try and get other fans to attend. I am more confident now my entrance fee is not going to be wasted. We will win 2-1 - my 12 point total by end of August still a possibility despite many Doubting Thomases.

Thanks for another very good preview, Forever. I hadn't realised Kadell Daniel had ended up at Woking. Their manager, Gary Hill, has a knack of picking up useful players. A gate of 3000 would be great and the Board, manager and players deserve good support. But hey - this is Torbay and if we get 2500 up at Plainmoor on Tuesday night, it will be good.

Looking forward to the match. I enjoyed last season's game, also on a Tuesday night, where it looked to be heading for a 0 - 0 stalement (but an entertaining game nevertheless) until a thunderbolt of a free kick from Luke Young. Woking were very well organised in defence last season and it looks as if they are just as mean this season because they have only conceded one goal in their first three games. A win would be good of course but I am expecting a tight game, probably ending in a low scoring draw.

As for Samuel's 12 points by the end of August, I was/am a Doubting Tomo. A win on Tuesday night would make it possible but after Tuesday, we've got Grimsby (a) Cheltenham (h) and Eastleigh (a). Any more than three points from those three games would be great.

What a pleasure it is to see 'favourite player - Colin Bettany' in the contributors' notes above (samuel and tomogull). However, I think they're being rather optimistic regarding possible gates. I would go for 1912 (seeing its midweek) not 3000 or so. Still, you never know....if it's anything over 2000 then the signs are promising; if it's under 1600 then doom and gloom!

We took maximum points from Woking (h), Grimsby (a) and Eastleigh (a) last season. If we're paying Hargreaves anyway we may as well get him back for these games - give Cox a little platform to build on for the rest of the season.

wivelgull wrote:What a pleasure it is to see 'favourite player - Colin Bettany' in the contributors' notes above (samuel and tomogull). However, I think they're being rather optimistic regarding possible gates. I would go for 1912 (seeing its midweek) not 3000 or so. Still, you never know....if it's anything over 2000 then the signs are promising; if it's under 1600 then doom and gloom!

Indeed anything over 2k for a mid week match when we're not challenging at the top of the table would be great. Not sure if enough news is filtering out to the great and good of Torbay about how things are changing at the club though.

3000 no chance!

I wont be there although my seat is reserved, so have paid for the game, I guess that ISNT taken into account when totalling up the attendance.

lucky to get 2000 me thinks! But hope its over the 1800

I don't think anyone's actually forecast an attendance of over 3000; merely expressed the thought, as I did, that it would be nice to see such a figure, and for each of us, if possible, to persuade others to come along too.

This is a new era for the club, and if we really want to see a return to the Football League soon, we must spread the word and get the message out there. Bigger crowds and the Plainmoor Roar will be like a twelfth man in the team.

We may live in a generally less affluent area than the likes of Woking, we may not be fortunate enough to have the financial backing of clubs like FGR, we may not have the population base of many other clubs to rely on for support, but we can each of us do our bit to raise awareness and increase support for Torquay United.

The club, the new owners, the manager and his assistant, the squad and the team, at this stage in their history, deserve nothing less.

Thanks very much for the feedback back on my match previews, and really appreciate the good comments, also like to thank Danny for putting them on the main site/social media, I'm quite happy to continue doing the previews if the forum and members are happy for me to do so.

On to the match, I look at Woking and see they've only conceded one goal and that was against Tranmere, think it proves how vital having a well organised and solid back line can be, and having players of the quality of Saah and Yakubu at the back for Woking, and not forgetting Arthur who if I remember rightly caused us a lot of problems at home getting forward from the back last season, they're going tough to break down, and perhaps are not going to fall for the long throws from Exodus. For me, it will be a massive plus, if our team can score a couple of goals and win this game, even considering the fact we are at home.

As far as the crowd goes, think going forward the club now faces more difficulties attracting fans in than it ever has, we can look back 12 years or so and see the likes of Nortel networks employing over 3,000 people in the bay, and a vibrant manufacturing industry around the bay and surrounding areas, it's gone, and as yet not really been replaced by technology. Hotel, leisure, retail is the best you're going get, so more and more young people are going to university and moving away for a career and decent pay packet, being replaced by O.A.P's who've sold expensive properties around the south east and retiring into this area, hopefully the new link road may reverse that trend.

Anything over 1900 Tuesday should be seen as a decent effort, as I've said in the preview so many exiles can't get down mid week, and those who are still in, industry and retail to a point may be on shifts that prevent them attending. For momentum to build around the new owners, is going to need time and patience think a percentage maybe hanging back to see which direction the clubs going in, if the club can build on the first week and continue to gain good, unexpected results, the crowds will slowly but surely will start to come back.

If I lived locally I would probably be on min wage and would not be able to attend many (if any matches). So you have to give locals some slack.

I live away and can afford a season ticket I cant use much. I would expect there are many in that position.

The new road, interesting, maybe will have an impact but I doubt it. Cant see any major industry moving to Devon. more likely to go to the North where the government have a strategy to locate jobs, i.e the BBC.

Some people who "move" to the area and love football will attend games "IF" the local team is doing well. Much much smaller % will attend a local teams games if they are not.

Woking wont bring many, so unfortunately it wont be a big crowd. If and its a big if we are in or around the playoffs after 10 games we might see attendances averaging about 2300 which would be a good effort given the summer chaos we had. Where I reckon some fans did "give up" and may have made other arrangements for Saturdays. But success will bring some back.

cloud cuckoo land if you think we'll get 3,000 there, devons favourite team are playing a champions league qualifier so if we get 2,200 i'd be over the moon!