Torquay United v Burton Albion - League 2 - 06/08/11

[cambgull]

Thought Morris looked quality but why oh why Stevens wasnt subbed I dont know complete waste of space him and Kee.Seemed strange tho staring at an empty stadium

Interesting that was pretty much the opposite of the what the commentators were saying. Morris seems to be a very good player but had a bit of an off day and Stevens, although average for the large part, seemed to really turn it on after the 2nd Burton goal. Stevens must be one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen though, the dribbling ability of Lionel Messi with the vision, craft and technical ability of Iain Dowie. If Ling can bring one attribute of passing, crossing or shooting out of Stevens, he'd be a very good player.

[gullno4]

Morris seemed to have a lack of understanding with both strikers, Stevens seems to have a lack of understanding in general

[Mav]

both Morris and Stevens where not much good first half, I thought that Stevens turned it on mid way through second half, his running at the Burton defence gave them all sorts of problems, It's a shame he can't do that from the first whistle. I am not sure what Billy kee offers us, Taiwo was much more effective when he came on. He has pace and power in the air and combines much better with Howe.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Interesting that was pretty much the opposite of the what the commentators were saying. Morris seems to be a very good player but had a bit of an off day and Stevens, although average for the large part, seemed to really turn it on after the 2nd Burton goal. Stevens must be one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen though, the dribbling ability of Lionel Messi with the vision, craft and technical ability of Iain Dowie. If Ling can bring one attribute of passing, crossing or shooting out of Stevens, he'd be a very good player.

Hence my postings on Stevens today and throughout last season. If you cannot cross , shoot or pass then as a pro-footballer you're in the wrong game. Credit to Danny today as he obviously worked hard and gave it a good go but quite simply that isn't enough. I don't want to come on here and start slagging off people because, although i wasn't at the game, my opinion is that a draw after being two down is excellent and showed character. Yes there were defensive errors but these can be ironed out and worked on. Lets go into the Southampton game (without Stevens) and see what happens and as always get behind the lads.

[ferrarilover]

I've said it from day one, we cannot play Kee and Howe together, they are simply too similar and too immobile to be any real threat.

Stevens, as the rest, we're only really effective once we settle down and played properly, immediately after the first goal.

Rene Howe is going to score an awful lot of goals this season, he really is far too good against defences in L2, they don't even seem to be able to foul him properly.

Burton look every inch the Conference rubbish I thought they would. Absolutely clueless once we started playing football and out of ideas beyond humping it an long as possible.

All in, at 2-0 down, we showed some excellent fight and we managed to be a totally different team once we scored the first. Pre-match, I'd have never taken a draw, at 2-0 down, I certainly would and at 2-2, we can consider ourselves more than a little unlucky not to have taken all three points.

Matt.

[JakeGull]

I was impressed with most of the new signings today, prefer howe and atieno up front than kee, and i like morris despite a few people not liking him over macklin, Stevens is too attacking, should of been tracking alot more.
Burton's first came from a handball in the box blatant but unseen.
Good finish to the goals though and good atmosphere last 30 mins

[Modgull]

Here's my take on the game for anyone who's interested.

Burton wanted a result more than we did. We were second to the ball throughout the first half - only two attempts on goal, says it all.

Zola and Richards were too much of a handful for our defence and it was no surprise that we went 2-0 down

The substitutions freshened us up - both Atieno and Macklin made a difference - but so also did Manse and Eunan when they strted to win some more ball in midfield.

The two goals were class but we should have gone on to win.

Olejnik 9/19
Oastler 6/10
Robertson 8 /10
Saah 3/10
Nicho 6/10
Stevens 7/10
O'kane 8 /10
Mansell 7/10
Morris 5/10
Howe 8 /10
Kee 4/10

Atieno 7/10
Macklin 7/10

Referee 7/10 but missed handball in Burton' pen area before ball is cleared to Richards who scored only 5 secs later

Crowd 4/10 - silent for much of the game. The empty Granstand makes for a lack of atmosphere. Shame only 3,141 turned up. Hope for more against Creepy Crawley.

[Jeff]

Well, that was my first trip to Plainmoor for 3 years, and I'm afraid to say that my initial impressions of "Team Ling" wern't what I was hoping for after the optimism from pre-season.

For those who wern't there (normally that would include me!) it was pretty much perfect conditions for football, but the first half was a massively drab affair. About 2 mins in Oastler went on a slaloming run which ended with his cross-cum-shot being tipped over by the keeper. It was a good start that promised much, but pretty much that was the only real goalmouth action. Atkins in the Burton goal barely saw the ball after that, while at the other end neither did Bobby. Burton were playing their forward men right on the shoulder, looking to get in behind and a couple of times they almost did. But aside from a couple of long range shots and scrambles in the box, there was nothing much going on.

We did have a couple of offside decisions which were a bit questionable. One, from a free kick on the left wing saw a ball headed back across goal by Robbo, only for Saah to head over from point blank range. Luckily, Robbo had been offside apparantly but it looked tight. The other incident, Howe had a shot blocked and Danny was in, touched it past the keeper and in but he was flagged offside. Looked very questionable

As for our side in the first half, my view from the pop down towards the away end allowed me to clearly see a lack of understanding between Morris and the front men. Not that any were particularly bad players, just that Morris was dinking balls over the top when Kee for example was coming short. Morris was also finding himself in lots of space, but not picked out by passes. And the one time that he did, he let the ball run out of play..................

It was a pretty low tempo, low quality first half which I was hoping we'd step up in the second half. But we didn't.............

We didn't start well at all, although Mansell nearly got himself on the end of a great cross from O'Kane. Mansell was playing a very attacking role, with some late driving runs into the box. However, we were soon 1 down. some dallying at the back let in Richards who's shot was blocked well by the legs of Bobby. Burton were looking more and more threatening, but the goal came on the break. We had a penalty appeal turned down, and from the resulting long ball Richards outstripped Robbo comfortably and finished well under the advancing Bobby. 0-1

Before we even had a chance to try and get ourselves back in the game, we conceded a disasterous second. I can't even remember what happened to be honest, but it was awful. Cross in from the left, I seem to remember the ball spinning up off one of our players, Bobby lept for it as did Richards. There was an almighty tangle, the ball trickled towards goal and Oastler seemed to have it covered from my angle, but the ball rolled against the post and int. 0-2 down and not looking likely to find a way back.

Ling had Atieno and Macklin ready to come on, but before he could make the change we were back in it. Goal came in a blink of an eye - through ball from O'Kane (I think?) finds Rowe on the edge of the box in acres of space, in 1-on-1. Great composure, puts the keeper on his arse and rolls it home. 1-2 and game on, Atieno and Macklin sit back down.

We never really did throw the alamo at them. Kee had a chip drift wide of the far post when a pacier striker would have taken it on. O'Kane flashed a volley wide from a long way out but Burton were able to turn the time wasting on. In fact, they almost extended their lead when some dreadful dallying at the back again let in Richards, only to be denied again by the legs of Bobby. On the other side of the defence, Saah was getting a torrid working over my Zola. Saah looked well off the pace.

Atieno and Macklin came on, and I liked the look of Atieno. Won a bit in the air, quick on the ground but did nick the ball of O'Kane when he had a clear shooting opportunity. Initially Macklin looked his usual useless self, but perked up later on with a couple of good runs.

Just as it looked like the game might peter out into a draw, we got level. Another stunning throughball from O'Kane, Mansell running through on to it slid it first time past their keeper. 2-2 and turnaround complete.

Then we started to ramp it up. We should have been 3-2 up - a corner from the left is flicked on at the near post, and Robbo heads over from point blank range. To be fair it came at him quick. Burton started getting cyncial, twice they hacked down our players in good positions. The second incident of which saw Parkes sent off. After that, despite some fleet-footed wingplay from Macklin we didn't get all that close to scoring again, and so we got a 2-2 draw from a game we looked well off the pace in for 60mins.

As for the players:

Olejnik - 8 - you can see he's going to become a cult hero. Good shot stopping, outstanding distribution - where he wants it to go to, it goes. However I would want a look at the second goal to see if it was his mistake
Oastler - 6 - I expected better to be honest, but fairly solid against a tricky opponent
Robbo - 6 - good in the air, done for pace too often though
Saah - 5 - awful game. Slow, sloppy. Must improve
Nico - 6.5 - average Nico game. Nothing too shoddy; solid and dependable
Morris - 6 - good aerial outlet (not often you say that for a winger!). Needs to keep it simple though. Not quite a left footed Wayne Carlisle yet
Stevens - 6.5 - i thought he did well. Didn't really take anyone on but showed better strength than before and worked hard second half
O'Kane - 8 - some awesome passes, everything went through him
Mansell - 7 - got forward more than I was expecting, whilst still doing usual Manse stuff in midfield. Good take for the goal
Kee - 6 - seemed most at odds with Morris in the first half, perhaps he could have worked harder, shown more for the ball rather than forcing Morris to play down the line
Rowe - 8.5 - my MOTM. I like him. Won a lot in the air, seems to have a good balance of strength and pace. Great composure for the goal

Subs
Atieno - 6.5 - I thought he looked promising. A little ungainly, but again a good balance of pace and power. I would have said a better option than Kee.
Macklin - 6 - first involvement was to lose 50/50, second was to slip over. Then improved with some good jinking runs. Better than usual but jury still out for me.

All in all, I was a bit dispondent but we didn't play particularly well for an hour yet come away with a point. Work needs to be done at the back, we looked sloppy and slow. Central midfield was good against a horrible little player in John McGrath, still need work on the wings though. Morris looks like he isn't up to speed yet, whilst Danny was better but not threatening enough - came inside too often. Up front I loved Rowe's work, less so happy with Kee's day. I'd like to see Atieno get a run up there.

Still, a point at the end of the day but I'm expecting quite a thumping at St Marys on Tuesday. We'll need to do a lot better at Rovers too. Its almost like the ingredients are there for our team, but we are still a long way from being a cohesive unit.

[northharrowgull]

Modgull, was Saah really that bad cos if he was then we may have a few problems??

[Colorado Gull]

Season 2011/2012 – Saturday 6th August 2011 – Match number 1

Torquay United 2-2 Burton Albion

Plainmoor

Attendance: 3,142 (379 away)

Referee: Mr. Danny McDermidd

Torquay United lined up as follows:
Robert Olejnik

Joe Oastler
Brian Saah
Chris Robertson
Kevin Nicholson

Danny Stevens
Lee Mansell (C)
Eunan O’Kane
Ian Morris

Rene Howe
Billy Kee

Subs: Mark Ellis, Lloyd Macklin (72 mins for Morris), Chris Mcphee, Taiwo Atieno (68 mins for Billy Kee), Damon Lathrope.

Burton Albion lined up as follows:

Ross Atkins

Andrew Corbett
Nathon Stanton
Tom Parkes
Aaron Webster

Cleveland Taylor
Adam Bolder
John McGrath
Chris Palmer

Justin Richards
Calvin Zola

Subs: Kevin Poole, Tony James, Ryan Austin (84 mins for Richards), Jimmy Philips (68 mins for Palmer), Gregg Pearson (77 mins for Zola)

Goal Scorers for Torquay

Howe 60
Mansell 82

Goal Scorers for Burton
Richards 50, 44

The first game of the season for United ended up with the points shared. The first half was a shaky one even though it finished with no goals. Then the second half started with two goals in the space of 4 minutes for the visiting side, when the game was 50 minutes old. However, with the Yellow Army making an immense noise at Plainmoor, the last 20 minutes was gifted with two goals, which were completely deserved.

1st Half

The Popside was packed. The Family Stand was packed. You could feel the optimism from the fans. It was Martin Lings’ first competitive game as Torquay United manager. The feeling around the ground was high-quality. Although, the game itself in the 1st half was quite unsteady. In the first 15 minutes the play was good. Great link up play by Morris, O’Kane, Mansell and Howe. This lead to chances being made, but nothing coming at the end of it. Oastler made the first successful run with the ball. Beating three men and ended up crossing a dangerous ball into the box. A few corners were won by United and it looked like the first half would be Torquay’s to dominate.

Then Burton started getting into the game. Burton’s extra pressure earned them a corner which was gingerly defended by the Gulls. Then finally the ball was cleared by the Yellows centre back Brain Saah. Both teams were evenly matched and that was made known of by chances not being created, or chances not being finished. A free kick was made by Torquay towards the end of the 1st half. Kevin Nicholson was the man that took the free kick. Nicholson played a very good ball that Robertson got his head onto. Unfortunately Robertson was offside. Olejnik was kept busy towards the end of the 1st half but Robertson, as soon after his chance up the other end, blocked a strong shot from Richards. Richards was hard to handle at the back. Robertson made a little mistake at the back which lead to Richards to run clear to goal. However Joe Oastler made Richards retreat back to the wing and the danger was over. Olejnik was on top form today, and that earned him the Man of the Match award.

The 1st Half was ended with a little relief from the Yellow Army because Torquay did not concede a goal.

2nd Half

The 2nd Half started with more pressure being made by Burton. Olejnik’s top form carried on into the 2nd half. Torquay’s defence was being pressed and on 50 minutes the opening goal came from Burtons Justin Richards. He was too strong for Oastler and he put his shot away. The 2nd goal was a shambles. A ball was crossed in by Palmer; Richards got on the end of it he beat Olejink and Oastler who attempted to get the ball clear. 2-0 down in the space of a few minutes, this didn’t look good for the new manager.

However when O’Kane linked up with Oastler and Mansell, the United skipper looked for a through ball to Howe. The ball went straight to the Torquay striker and then he cleverly took the ball around Atkins and knocked the ball into an empty net. Then Plainmoor was rocking!

When the clock said there was only 22 minutes to go Martin Ling brought on Taiwo Atieno for Billy Kee who made his Torquay debut. Along with: Olejnik, Saah, Morris and Howe. Then only 4 minutes later Ling brought on Macklin for Morris and swapped Stevens to the Left Wing, while Macklin went on the right. With the Yellow Army in full voice they urged the team on to get an equaliser. Billy Kee earlier on had a great chance but missed narrowly wide. But on 80 minutes Torquay got their equaliser from Lee Mansell. O’Kane again in amongst the action, passing a perfectly waited ball to Lee Mansell’s feet and the captain buried the ball home! From then on it was all Torquay. Howe was close to get a 3rd and looked very strong throughout. Howe then was taken down by Parkes. With Parkes already on a Yellow card he had to go, Burton down to 10.

By the time Danny McDermid blew the final whistle a draw was the correct result. Torquay’s wonderful efforts in the last 20 minutes deserved a result. The points were shared and Torquay go on to face Southampton in the League Cup on Tuesday.

GK

Olejnik, played very well. Even though two goals went passed him, he was on top of his game. He constantly talked to his defence never stopped which was good. He directed his kicks to the players he was aiming at and was accurate nearly all the time. He got down well and saved to a high standard.

RB

Oastler, at fault for the 1st goal, however without Oastler at right back more than two goals would of been scored. He came forward well and linked up with the right wingers. A great run was made early in the 1st Half, when he came forward he looked a threat. Wasn’t his best game but he’s got many more games to improve.

CB

Saah, he looked very comfortable, sometimes too comfortable. He wasn’t strong enough at times and let the Burton forwards get passed him. But then again when he was needed he was there in the right place at the right time. Robbo, was quite shaky. He, like Saah, let the Burton forwards get passed him too easily and made a terrible error in the 2nd half, which luckily came to nothing. He pulled on to many shirts for my liking, but he got up well enough against a strong Zola.

LB

Nico, had an off day to be honest. His corners weren’t great and he did some silly things at the back. Although he didn’t do anything to stupid and like Oastler he’s got the whole season to improve yet.

RB

Stevens, he played poor throughout most of the game, but came alive in the last 20 minutes. He used his pace and when he does that he makes the centre backs worry. He gets sucked into the middle of the park way to easily which makes no sense when he is supposed to be a winger. His height and strength is going to be an issue as always, but I think that Ling will give Danny a chance. I personally wouldn’t play Stevens but I think Ling will give him a chance to see what he can do. Macklin was ok when he came on. He did some things right but because he came on later in the 2nd half he didn’t have time to get settled into the game. But having seen him play well in Pre Season I would play him instead of Stevens.

CM

O’Kane didn’t play to his full potential, but as he was involved with both goals he didn’t play awful. He always looked for a pass; he didn’t want to play a big ball up field. He linked up well with Mansell and many others. O’Kane and Manse play well together and when the season gets going Eunan is going to be a nightmare for the opposition. Mansell played very well. Got stuck in and his goal was class. He is a great captain and a great centre midfielder. Linked up well with Eunan and when he went up with the attack he always made great runs and he was a threat.

LB

Morris played pretty well. When he linked up with Kee, he always played a through ball, while Kee wanted it to his feet. This caused confusion, however Morris has got class and I’m sure he will come out with a great performance when the season gets older.

ST

Kee, didn’t play well. His touch is not good and he has limited pace. He always wanted balls being played to his feet, while he should have wanted them in front of him to run on to. I would play Atieno instead of Kee and if you saw how well Ateino and the team played when he came on you would know why. Although Kee always likes to go forward and as he is a Striker that is a good thing. Howe played well. He shows a big presence and has some pace to. His goal was fantastic and when he goes towards the wing he produces great crosses. Because he is such a big guy, he gets fouled a lot which is not great, so let’s hope the Refs that we have pick up on that. Atieno changed the game completely. He gave a better presence than Kee did and when he came on there was much better urgency throughout the whole team. He should be playing alongside Howe and I hope he plays him with Howe in the future.

Officals

The lino on near the pop side in the 2nd half was awful. Every fan recognised him and knew what he was like. He never told the ref or told the keeper to hurry up with his kicking. Other than him I don’t think the Ref had a shocker. However he should have sent off Corbett when he pulled Howe to the floor. That was a goal scoring opportunity and he should have been off.

So after all that a draw was the correct result. The players should be happy with their performance in the later stages in the 2nd half. But I feel that there is still a lot of work to do still. Bring on Southampton on Tuesday and then Rovers on Saturday!

(edit: I am away for the Crawley game as I am on holiday so I will not be able to do a match report for that game. But that is the only one that I will be away for.)

[jocktheknife]

Like many other grandstand refugees, had to sit in the family stand, terrible view of the game, apart from being close to the gulls nest after a very nice pre match pint - absolutely hated it! - quite why some choose to sit there in preference is beyond me......still hope i get used to it eventually.
A strange game really......typical 1st day when things dont quite click, in the end we probably just deserved a draw, a win would have been robbery.

A few observations really, too early to write off anybody but on that showing.....we dont have the ammunition in the squad to trouble the play offs this year (nor do Burton).

Not enough pace in this side especially up front.....

[hector]

Well, in all honesty, I think the match raised more questions than it answered.

Other than Danny Stevens, the team was the one I picked but I did not notice that Robertson was the left side of central defence, rather than the right side that he played in last season and did so well in.

IT looked like two ordinary sides but Burton looked the more threatening in the first half and Olejnik made a few good blocks to demonstrate quite early on that he is going to be a popular signing.

Midfield. What midfield? Overurn throughout, although it was somewhat ironic that our goals came from midfield creativity but for the rest of the game our midfield was essentially bypassed.

Defensively, we looked vulnerable at times. The goals were comical really.

Up front I thought Howe looked really good, although when he scored his excellently crafted goal it sort of felt like it was a consolation goal. It seemed to take some time for the realisation that we had a chance of getting back into the game to sink in.

You could not really say it was a good performance. It was less than ordinary really. I worry about our midfield, especially having to face Bristol Rovers and Crawley over the next two league games

[Southampton Gull]

Great first report Danny and excellent as usual from Jeff. I want to do a player review based on my view from the away end of the Popside.


Olly: Well, he is certainly a good shot-stopper and his handling is superb. I think he was at fault for the second goal and was too slow to react to the attacker in front of him. He also made Robertson look bad a couple of times when he obviously didn't give him the right call or any call at all, I can remember two situations clearly where an early call would have had Robbo dealing with the ball rather than expecting the keeper to come and get it. Still a quality addition to the team and no worries from me about his ability, reminds me of a certain Michael Poke, calm head.

Oastler: Quality, very good at doing the basics of defending and is a real asset when going forward. Why oh why wasn't he used there last season.

Nico: Average display from him today, what you see is what you get with him, solid reliable and good at getting the ball forward and to feet.

Robbo: Looked very good to me, made to look daft by Olly a couple of times but was a solid performer today.

Saah: Looked slow to react a few times today, seemed to me he played too far apart from Robertson which invited Richards to exploit the space to good effect. Major worry, more than once he was caught lacking with a ball hit over his head, some very good tackles showing an ability to read the game well but based on that performance a bit of a worry.

Mansell: Tried hard as always but didn't really offer much today, pretty average display.

O'Kane: Worth the entrance fee on his own, he's beginning to dominate games at times and with a little more strength is going to be a very very good player. Good showing from him today.

Stevens: I thought he was dire, gave the ball away so many times and is always going to be the same frustrating player, bags of ability, lots of expectation but zero end product. I thought he should have been substituted at half-time, slightly better second half but still not good enough.

Morris: You can see he has ability, he gets stuck in but was just average today, didn't seem to understand that Kee wants the ball played to his feet, not 20 yards behind a defender, he was responsible for making Kee look poor at times with wayward passing.

Kee: Looked dangerous and linked well with Howe despite Matt saying otherwise, he can play with Howe if he gets the ball to feet, he won't run the channels like a Benyon or Atieno but he has better finishing skills than the both of them and was unlucky when through on goal that his shot skewed wide as the keeper rushed out. He'll score plenty this season.

Howe: Looks lazy at times but has a real ability with the ball, he took his goal with a real cool head making the keeper look stupid.

Subs: Didn't really have much chance to contribute and so I'll save those for another time.


Not a great display in all honesty but it was a match that eventually had you thinking we would win it but there was always that thought at the back of your head that Burton could sneak it. No doom and gloom for me, a point on the opening day and the chance to see another masterclass from Eunan made it worth every inch of a horrible drive down the A303 in holiday traffic.

[tauntongull]

I can't really add too much to what has already been said.

However, the contrast between what I saw in the two pre-season friendlies against Bristol City and Exeter was amazing. We really looked like a quality passing side in those games and today we were - well I have to say it 'absent' at times.

I lost count of the amount of times we lost the ball today through wayward passing - and all players were guilty of poor distribution. This led to a great deal of frustration within the side and you can see our passing game goes to pot when we get frustrated. Get the basics right lads of just getting the ball to feet - accurately! It certainly looks like when we do we can create opportunities.

That does bring me to the downside of this approach though, it looks like we are still moving the ball left and then right and then left again trying thread a through ball through the eye of a needle. I want to see Eunane and Mans having some shots - we must vary things a bit! You have to expect this from your midfield!

How their no 6. never got booked today was beyond me. I remember he was equally thuggish away at Burton last season. He must have committed the most fouls for them yet still managed to evade the referee's book.

Concerns about Rene and Billy's pace - or lack of thereof upfront. Things were far too static at times when the midfield got the ball and both players seemed reluctant to run for anything that didn't arrive with a radius of 3 feet of them. The introduction of Atieno certainly made a difference, not sure we were so lucky with Macklin!

All in all an average performance but it's early days yet!

[numpte]

Thoughts on the day.

Liked the ticket office.
V Impressed with two of Lings signings - Howe and Bobby the keeps.
Not impressed (yet) with Saah and Morris.
Dont understand the Captain / Club Captain thing. Mansell is the real deal there, Saah not vocal enough.
We lacked pace.
Sloppy defending for goals and at other times.
Loved the Burton fat man who seemed to be stuck to the phone for the game (Clubcall?)
Good character to come back to 2-0 down with some quality goals.
All in all an ok performance on the opening day.

Final thought for the crossbar kid. Brilliant!!!!