Aldershot vs Torquay

[Plymouth Gull]

EBB Stadium
Tuesday 16th August 2011
KO: 7:45pm

After Saturday's fantastic day, we are on the road again, this time to the EBB Stadium, home of Aldershot Town FC. We'll be going there in good spirits after the excellent performance at the Memorial Ground yesterday, and we'll be looking to pick up 3 points once again, to continue our solid start to the season. Aldershot themselves have had a solid start, starting off with a win at Bradford, before losing their opener at the EBB Stadium, to Gary Johnson's strong-looking Northampton side.

GULLS NEWS.

Again, no fresh news from our part. I'd imagine that it'll be the same 11 that lined up at the Memorial Ground.

THE OPPOSITION.

Martin Ling goes up against ex-professional footballer Dean Holdsworth in the dugout, tomorrow night. Holdsworth is well known for his time playing at Brentford, Wimbledon and then Bolton. In his career, he's made 610 appearances, hitting the net 193 times. In his first foray into management, he was at Redbridge, but after one season, he moved onto Newport County. It took two years at Newport to gain his first promotion success, as they won the Blue Square South by 28 points. He has been in charge at the Recreation Ground since January.

Onto the opposition on the pitch, then.

In goal, we have Jamie Young. The 25 year old Australian has sought a career in England since he was released by Reading, in 2006. Having spent 4 years at Wycombe, he now finds himself the number 1 at Aldershot, after Nikki Bull left for Wycombe. His backup will most likely be Ross Worner. The young keeper spent time at Woking, before moving up the footballing ladder to Charlton. One year and 9 appearances later, he finds himself at the Rec.

Into the defence then. Ben Herd is the current right back. 4 years spent at Shrewsbury between 2005-2009 saw him make 143 appearances, scoring 3 goals. He has made 81 appearances for Aldershot since joining them in 2009. On the other side, there is Anthony Straker. The attacking full back has been a Shot for quite a few seasons, now. Straker can play anywhere down the left side, and has made 154 appearances since 2007. The fact that he's only hit the net four times in that time suggests that he has predominantly been played at full back. In the heart of the defence, we are likely to be up against Darren Jones and Aaron Brown. We have met Jones several times in recent years; the 27 year old has played against us for Forest Green Rovers, Hereford and now Aldershot. Aaron Brown has had a mixed few years, and has seemingly struggled to find a home since leaving Reading in 2008. He has spent time at Yeovil, Redditch, Burton, AFC Telford, Truro, Aldershot, Leyton Orient, Stockport (loan), and now he finds himself back at the Rec. The 6'5" defender signed a two year deal this summer. While at Tamworth, he managed to find his way into the England C team. Other options at the back for Holdsworth include Aaron Morris and Henrik Breimyr.

Onto the midfield. On the wings, they lined up with Jermaine McGlashan and Jamie Collins down the flanks against Northampton. McGlashan is enjoying his first spell in the Football League at Aldershot, having spent the rest of his career below this level. Collins is a summer recruit, having joined from Holdsworths' former club Newport. In the middle, they have a few options. Former Gull Luke Guttridge has found himself fighting injury but he may return tomorrow night, having come off the bench on Saturday. Alex Rodman started the game in the middle on Saturday, lining up with Peter Vincenti. Rodman is another who's enjoying their first stint in the Football League, after several years plying his trade in the non-league abyss. Vincenti has found his way to the Rec after spells with Stevenage and Mansfield (loan). He made 64 appearances at Stevenage, scoring 5 goals. Other options in the middle include Manny Panther, the former York City and Exeter midfielder, Adam Mekki, whos come up through the Shots' ranks, Anthony Pulis & Graeme Montgomery - both summer signings from Southampton and Dagenham respectively, and finally Jake Taylor, on loan from Reading.

Upfront then, we have Danny Hylton and Michael Rankine, who paired up to start off with against the Cobblers. Rankine has had a bit of a hit and miss career, mainly spending time at Conference level, primarily with clubs such as Rushden and Diamonds and York. In just over 200 appearances in time spent at those two clubs, he hit the net 46 times. Danny Hylton is another who has come through the youth ranks at the Rec, and has made 109 appearances for the Shots, scoring 19 times. A summer recruit in Bradley Bubb, is another find from the non-league. Having played for 3 clubs since 2006 - Chalfont St Peter (82 apps; 52 goals), Beaconsfield (42 apps; 32 goals) and Farnborough (88 apps; 40 goals), his records at those clubs suggest he knows where the goal is. However, they are a couple of leagues below the level we are, so it's a guessing game as to whether he successfully steps up.

HOW THEY LINED UP.

This is the line up that lost to Northampton 0-1:

Young

Herd
Jones
Brown
Straker

McGlashan (Bubb 85)
Rodman (Guttridge 59)
Collins
Vincenti (Taylor 77)

Rankine
Hylton

Subs: Morris, Guttridge, Pulis, Taylor, Bubb

HEAD TO HEAD.

Aldershot wins - 34 (3 in Cups)
Torquay wins - 37
Draws - 16

We just edge this one. Our recent record at the Rec is winning 2 out of 3, winning in the BSP and then in our first year back in League 2. We lost both games to the Shots last year though, both narrow 1-0 defeats. Aldershot practically won promotion to the League at Plainmoor, in 2008, after beating us 1-2 to create a big gap between themselves and us.

REF WATCH.

STEVEN RUSHTON
Craig Hicks and Nigel Lugg
Fourth Official Wade Norcott

Steve Rushton is the man in the middle for this tie. Having done 3 ties already this season, including a trip to Devon on Saturday to officiate Exeters 0-2 home defeat at the hands of MK Dons. He refereed one of our games last season, a 2-2 draw at Hereford.

PREDICTION.

I have a feeling it'll be a narrow home win.

2-1.

COYY!

[bc-gull]

3-0 to Torquay I think.

They seem to have quite a few unproven players and if we play anything like we did against Rovers we'll hammer them off the park.

Howe/Atieno/Morris to score

[Southampton Gull]

3-0 to Torquay I think.

They seem to have quite a few unproven players and if we play anything like we did against Rovers we'll hammer them off the park.

Howe/Atieno/Morris to score

If only, Billy. I see a tight game decided by a solitary goal, fingers crossed we score it

[Colorado Gull]

Another great Match Day thread post!

I'll be going tomorrow and I think that we'll be in full confidence and come away from the game with a victory!

I predict that the score will be Shots 1 v 2 Torquay!

This will be my first time to the EBB Stadium, I've been told from many mates that the atmosphere is great at Aldershot, I hope it's the same tomorrow!!

COYY!!

[cosmic74]

My first visit to Aldershot as well, so really looking forward to this one.

I am going to predict a tight game with us taking all 3 points with a late winner from a substitute!!!

COYY

See you there if you are going

Andy

[AustrianAndyGull]

IMO if we can keep Hylton and Rankine quiet then we will win this game. I saw quite a lot of Rankine as i used to go a lot to Bootham Crescent as my mum lives nearby and i was really impressed by him. I was very, very surprised he ended up somewhere as 'ordinary' as Aldershot as i felt he could do a job at somewhere like Rotherham or Vale for example. Hylton is dangerous too but as far as defence and midfield are concerned i feel they are poor on quality and if we replicate saturdays performance then i am confident of the points. I am going for a 2-0 victory with Saah and Robbo on form extinguishing the shots goal threats of Hylton and Rankine.

[Southampton Gull]

Let's have some more of this

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[Colorado Gull]

Let's have some more of this

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And the same amount of noise like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_iujRzE ... re=related

[Southampton Gull]

And the same amount of noise like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_iujRzE ... re=related

Paul at his best, I can hear me singing too

Edit: Just worked out why I can hear myself, it's a video my son did.

[Colorado Gull]

Paul at his best, I can hear me singing too

Edit: Just worked out why I can hear myself, it's a video my son did.

I think that we could still hear you Dave even if the video was being taken at the other end of the ground!

I will be planning to take a video or two again tomorrow, it's nice to watch them back and hear how loud the Yellow Army are! So if you see someone holding their phone up to video that'll be me!

Very looking forward to my first visit to the EBB Stadium!

[Richinns]

1 nil win for me - Manse with a daisy cutter!

We will not be at the races but grind a win out.

You heard it here first!!!

[Awayday]

Robbo needs to stop pulling shirts in the penalty area, he did it at Bristol and last night, in fact 1 occasion it was a blatent penalty, lucky for him the ref didn't give it

[AlexGulls]

Thats the luckiest win we'll get this season.

[highweekgull]

Robbo needs to stop pulling shirts in the penalty area, he did it at Bristol and last night, in fact 1 occasion it was a blatent penalty, lucky for him the ref didn't give it

He's been doing it ever since he came to the club and I can't understand why someone can't stop him.

Don't grab anyone above the waste you damned fool. If he can cut that out and letting the ball bounce when he shouldn't he could be a great defender for us.

[tufc si]

Was the performance actually as bad as I'm reading everywhere?!?!?......