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Many of us had completely written off the three Christmas fixtures, resigning ourselves to gaining zero points, so gaining a vital and unexpected home win against FGR was very welcome, still smiling at the sight of more than a few Gulls fans going down and taking a screenshot of the score board at the end of the match, the one thing that gives us all hope however, was not only three much improved performances, but three consistent performances, so we move on to Braintree at Plainmoor this Saturday.

It's difficult to know what to write here, or even begin to suggest what condition, form wise, or player fitness wise Braintree's squad will be in, Braintree since our team drew 0.0 at Cressing road have only played two games , with 1 win and a defeat, The Iron have suffered 3 postponements since, will this have helped their players get over knocks and retain fitness, or will they be ring rusty, and not so match sharp, we'll soon find out.

Braintree have slipped down the table during their match absence, The Iron currently sit 12th on 40 points, however have anything from 2 to 5 games in hand on the teams above, and will be looking to get right back to winning ways to maintain any outside play-off hopes. The Gulls will not want a repeat of last season 1.5 humiliation at the hands of Braintree.

Braintree top goalscorers

Michael Cheek 8
Kenny Davis 6
Simeon Akinola 4
Dan Sparkes 4
Anthony Edgar 2
Sean Marks 1
Taylor Miles 1
Alex Woodyard 1

Current form

Braintree; W-D-W-D-W-L

31 Oct Braintree 1 - 0 Macclesfield
10 Nov Woking 1 - 1 Braintree
14 Nov Halifax Town 3 - 6 Braintree
28 Nov Braintree 0 - 0 Torquay Utd
5 Dec Tranmere 1 - 2 Braintree
26 Dec Boreham Wood 1 - 0 Braintree

Last time out


Boreham Wood 1 - 0 Braintree

01 Norris
05 Paine (Powell - 82' )
15 Phillips
08 Davis Booked
03 Habergham
02 Clerima
04 Isaac (Edgar - 68' )
10 Akinola
23 Cheek
30 Woodyard
14 Miles (Marks - 50' )

Substitutes
06 Fry
07 Brundle
09 Marks
22 Edgar
32 Powell

Braintree Town boss Danny Cowley is prepared to wait on loan deals


Cowley said: “Jack (Powell) has gone back to Millwall as he didn’t have enough games while he was with us.

“It’s a shame as he only had three games and I know we didn’t get to see the best of him, but they want him playing regularly.

“We have a few other options that we are looking at and we are working really hard, but because we’re not playing, we don’t want to sign anyone on loan if they aren’t going to play.

“We are trying to spend pennies wisely.”

He said: “There’s been nothing concrete, but we have had an offer come in for Simeon (Akinola) that was lower than one we’d already turned down for him.”


From a Torquay United point of view


Richards should return from suspension for this game, and with the confirmed signing of Ajala, Nicho certainly has options, it will be interesting to see if Butler moves to left back with Ajala in front, I personally think that would make us a stronger team, with 1 more new signing at least expected before the weekend it will be difficult to predict the likely line up for Saturday, or whether we'll see a change in formation.

As the weeks went by with no home win, the pressure was building on the team, and the fans alike, it was becoming harder for the players to perform , desperate to do well at home for themselves and put on a show for the fans, and it was becoming harder to vocally support the team.

Our next 3 league games are all at home, it's vital the team secure at least 7 points, it's vital us fans support the team the way we did v FGR, the noise inside Plainmoor was deafening, it clearly lifted the team, and we need a repeat.

Torquay United top goalscorers


Tyrone Marsh 7
Dan Butler 2
Andre Wright 2
Durrell Berry 1
Josh Carmichael 1
Exodus Geohaghon 1
Angus MacDonald 1
Courtney Richards 1
Aman Verma 1

Current form


Torquay United; D-L-L-W-L-L

28 Nov Braintree 0 - 0 Torquay Utd
5 Dec Torquay Utd 0 - 1 Wrexham
19 Dec Chester 4 - 1 Torquay Utd
26 Dec Torquay Utd 4 - 1 Forest Green
28 Dec Cheltenham 1 - 0 Torquay Utd
1 Jan Forest Green 3 - 1 Torquay Utd

Last time out


Forest Green 3 - 1 Torquay Utd


Lavercombe
Berry
Smith
Gerring
Nicholson
MacDonald
Geohaghon (Murombedzi 86),
Butler
Verma
Wright
Marsh

Subs not used:
Corderoy
Chaney
Hancox

POSITIVE FRAME OF MIND




“The points haul has not been fantastic, with three points out of a possible nine,” he admitted. “But this only tells part of the story because we’ve out-worked and out-played the top two over three games.

“Our performance levels have been very good in these games and the work that we have been putting in on the training ground is really starting to show now.

“The next step is to take our chances and get the results to match, but I am pleased with the work-rate, spirit and endeavour of my players.

“If we can maintain the high standards that we have set ourselves we will kick-on and get to where we want to be, I have no doubt about that.

“The supporters have also been brilliant during the festive period. The atmosphere here on Boxing Day was unbelievable and then at the two away games it was our fans who were making all of the noise.

“The supporters have lifted the players and the players have lifted the supporters. I can only thank them for the backing that they have given us both at matches and through the Players Fund, which has allowed us to bring Toby Ajala back this week and also extend Aman Verma’s loan for the rest of the season.”

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

Head to Head meetings


English Conference

20.12.2014 Braintree Town 2-0 Torquay United
17.03.2015 Torquay United 1-5 Braintree Town


English National League


28.11.2015 Braintree Town 0-0 Torquay United

Good preview

7-1.

Home win
2-0
ATT 1,717

Narrow loss. 0-1
Improved crowd. 1,840

Bleeper wrote:Narrow loss. 0-1
Improved crowd. 1,840

Lets hope you are wrong

SBP wrote: Lets hope you are wrong

Every time I've put us to lose we seem to win so..

Michael Cheek 8
Kenny Davis 6
Simeon Akinola 4
Dan Sparkes 4
VS
Tyrone Marsh 7
Dan Butler 2
Andre Wright 2
Durrell Berry 1

2-1 Braintree

Sparkes ripped us apart last year from memory.

Pitch inspection at 3pm today!

A postponement could be a blessing, gives KN a bit more time to get some new players in and get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet..

Behind-the-Gulls wrote:Pitch inspection at 3pm today!

Interestind decision, has been a dry-ish morning, blue skies not far from the ground at the moment, its the rain forecast for Saturday morning thats the worry

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2635650

Well as others have mentioned on another thread this will be another blow income wise if it's off.The pitch is saturated and with constant rain(more forecast tomorrow) has no time to recover.Even if it's not called off this afternoon I expect the rain tomorrow will cause a postponement.
Weather looks better next week,so reasonable chance the Welling match will be on perhaps.Braintree will be wondering if they'll ever play again!
When Exeter groundsman was on Spotlight earlier in the week he was very confident their match would be on and the pitch would withstand the heavy rain as it drained well.I guess until our drainage is improved in the close season(funded byTruro City!) more games could be lost this season,unfortunately.

What happened to the drainage put in with the Bristow's money? I seem to remember bore-holes being drilled through the clay down to bedrock and filled with sand. This was supposed to fix the water logging issues.

assuming the game is on, we'll lose by 1 goal and say how we deserved to win

Is Andre Wright still with us? I thought his loan ran out after last week's FGR match and I haven't heard anything about the loan being extended. When is the cut-off time for signing players eligible to play tomorrow - is it 5 pm today? If Wright's loan isn't extended and/or we don't bring in an additional striker, we shall have a strike 'force' of Tyrone Marsh and ....... er, um, Sean Finch !! Someone please tell me that I'm wrong about when Wright's loan finishes.