FA Cup 2nd Round: Torquay vs Walsall

[Plymouth Gull]

Plainmoor
Saturday 27th November 2010
KO: 3pm

The magic of the Cup is upon us again this weekend, as we lock horns with League One strugglers Walsall. The Saddlers season hasn't been a good one so far, as they sit in 24th place. Walsall just squeezed past Blue Square Bet Premier high-flyers Fleetwood Town in the First Round of the FA Cup, drawing 1-1 up in the small seaside resort, before edging them out by winning 2-0 in the replay at the Banks Stadium. That victory was then followed up with a 2-1 win over early pace-setters Carlisle, but the 'mini-revival' ended on Tuesday, being smashed 3-0 at Hillsborough. The last time the two sides met was at the back end of the terrible 2006/07 season, where Walsall took 3 points from Plainmoor on their march to League One, while we went the other way. One more thing, here is a link to the Walsall forum, for you to read if you wish..

http://www.upthesaddlers.com/bb/viewforum.php?f=2

LAST 5 SEASONS.

2005/06 - League 1 - 24th place - 47 points - RELEGATED TO LEAGUE 2
2006/07 - League 2 - 1st place - 89 points - PROMOTED TO LEAGUE 1
2007/08 - League 1 - 12th place - 64 points
2008/09 - League 1 - 13th place - 61 points
2009/10 - League 1 - 10th place - 62 points

The devastating 2005/06 season for Saddlers' fans was removed from the memory 12 months on, as they took League 2 by storm, eventually toppling Hartlepool to finish a point ahead, and Champions of the division. They have since spent 3 years of consolidation in the 3rd tier, with 3 consecutive mid-table finishes. They are now a club that seems 'too big' for League 2, although as we have seen, once your down here, anybody can beat anybody.

HEAD TO HEAD.

Torquay wins - 32 (1 in Cup)
Walsall wins - 25 (1 in Cup)
Draws - 16 (1 in Cup)

A decent record against Walsall has been culminated throughout the years, with the first fixture between these two sides being played in December 1927, which finished in a 4-0 romp to Walsall. In the early years of this fixture, results were varied, and saw some big ones too - in the 1929/30 season, we beat the Saddlers 5-2 at Plainmoor, only for them to smash us 7-0 in the return fixture. Walsall have hit 7 past us on two occasions, but, more recently, in 1995/96, a Cup replay finished in an astonishing 8-4 victory to Walsall. A mad second half and extra time saw 10 goals, after the first 45 minutes ended level at 1-1.

FORM (LAST 6 GAMES).

LDLWWL

The Saddlers' looked like picking up a bit, after they progressed to Round 2 of the FA Cup and followed it up with 3 points against Carlisle. However, Sheffield Wednesday saw to that, as they beat Walsall 3-0. Before the Fleetwood replay, they had lost 3-1 at home to Peterborough, drew the first game at Fleetwood before losing 3-0 at Dean Court, home of Bournemouth. It has been mixed, but the two consecutive wins looked like a corner may have been starting to turn. It is only the second time the club have consecutively won 2 games in a row. However, their record against Devon sides is good, as both Exeter and Plymouth lost at the Banks Stadium.

PROBABLE LINE UP.

This is the line up that started against Sheffield Wednesday:

Jimmy Walker

Darryl Westlake
Oliver Lancashire
Andy Butler
Aaron Lescott

Alex Nicholls
Paul Marshall
Richard Taundry
Matthew Richards

Jonathan Macken
Reuben Reid

Subs:

Jon Brain
Emmanuele Smith
Steve Jones
Julian Gray
William Grigg
Ryan McGivern
Liam Dickinson

PLAYERS TO WATCH.

It was less than 12 months ago that Liam Dickinson scored the goal to knock us out in this Competition in the 3rd Round, playing for Brighton. However, according to Walsall fans, hes been dreadful. I think Matt Richards is a key player for them, and will need to be watched. Reuben Reid is a familiar face, and he will probably be up for it if he plays.

THE MEN IN CHARGE.

A new feature that I saw was spoken about on another thread. It'll just give a small review of the officials for the match. For the Cup game..;

Referee: D S McDermid
Assistant Referees: W Bull & R J Martin
Fourth Official: P L Rees

Danny McDermid has been refereeing in Leagues 1 and 2 this season, and has done the occasional Championship fixture too. In 11 games taken charge of this season, 32 yellow cards and 3 red cards have been given out. That is an average of 3 yellows a game, almost. He has been a referee for 5 seasons, and he took charge of away games at Dagenham (5-3) and Lincoln (0-0) last season. The last game he refereed at Plainmoor was back in November 2006, when we lost 1-0 to Swindon in League 2.

PREDICTION.

The magic of the FA Cup to take another upset, for me. No Benyon will be forgotten by an inspired performance.

Gulls 2-1 Saddlers.

[Apologies for the lateness, everyone]

[CraigUnder]

quality once again nickgull! and a 4-0 romp for us with kee smashing in 3 and an okane screamer.

[sadlad]

Good preview there, Nick. I was at Hillsborough on Wednesday and despite the scoreline Walsall never gave up and right to the final whistle kept going. The main strikers were injured in that game and must rate as doubtful (Jon Macken and Rueben Reid) Liam Dickinson hasn't really impressed. Looked OK on his debut but not really what we're looking for. It could open the door for young Will Gigg who has been knocking on teh first team door and did really well when he came on at Hillsbro.

It really is a hard game to predict. Very much depends on which Walsall turn up. This could go to a replay. Its an interesting tie and looking forward to seeing the game.

[YellowMurphy]

Some people are expecting us to walk over them, just because theyre bottom of the league, not the case. They will want something to cheer about. Expecting a stern test, especially without Elliot, hopefully all this rumour doesnt overshadow his performance. Id go with this line up:

Bevan

Nico
Branston
Ellis
Mansell

Hemmings
Wroe
Oastler
Zebs (<- Is he eligible to play?, if not then Stevens)

O'Kane

Gritton

I think Gritton deserve a start, be given another chance. Wont be too fussed if we go with Kee, hey even 4-4-2, rose and hemmings can both play up front. I think.......... We will edge it in an end to end game, lots of passing football hopefully.

Torquay 2-1 Walsall
Reid'20
Hemmings'41
Kee'90

[JamieE]

Our last two games has seen us come away with 4 points and 1 great performance but it shouldn't be a surprise to us to see this happening - our away form is great. We do, however, still have a problem at home, and that problem has stemmed from playing 1 up front and not looking threatening in attack. Yes Wycombe was great and I felt very proud to be a Gull that night, but lets not let that get in the way of our next team selection. Benyon's out so Kee will come in. I really, really like O'Kane and think he is one of our most gifted players, but I reckon he could be left out on Saturday in favour of an out and out winger.

-------------------------Bevan

Manse-----------Ellis-----------Branston------------Nico

Stevens---------Wroe----------Oastler--------Hemmings

----------------Zebroski----------Kee

[Fletch]

With Benners out (a big miss) I would go with:
Bevs
Robbo, Ellis, Branston, Nico
Oastler, Wroe, Manse
Zebs, Hemmings
Kee

but im sure it wont be that

[eastyorksgull]

with all the speculation about benners this week is he staying or going , and with him not playing 2morrow, i thnk its a great time for the other strikers 2 step to the mark, and show us what they are made of, could be a good time against a struggling team, who will not fancy playing us 2morrow by the way, personally i just cannot see us losing this game, especially after the great performance midweek, and lets hope we get a great draw in the 3rd round,some of you will be thinking am jumping the gun in this post, the confidence running high through the club at present,so lets give them a right good leathering, on the pitch may i add ha ha,so enjoy 2morrow people,3rd round here we come ......simon

[sadlad]

Match review from a Walsall supporter....

http://www.walsall.web-fans.com/index.p ... &Itemid=15

[Trojan 67]

Haven't got a clue about this one with it being a cup match. I hope it doesn't end like last year when Brighton put us out at this stage.

2-1

Zebroski (2), one a disputed punch/handball, the other a knee/kick with the keeper spark out on the deck.

[gulls_aloud]

to NickGull for yet another marvellous piece of research. Trojan, I think we did go out to Brighton last year, but not until the 3rd round (but I might be wrong). Going for an exciting 2-2 draw tomorrow with Kee and O'Kane to score, then Elliot saves the day in a 1-0 win in a lucrative replay.

[Trojan 67]

to NickGull for yet another marvellous piece of research. Trojan, I think we did go out to Brighton last year, but not until the 3rd round (but I might be wrong). Going for an exciting 2-2 draw tomorrow with Kee and O'Kane to score, then Elliot saves the day in a 1-0 win in a lucrative replay.

Oops, you are not wrong, it was the 3rd Round :Oops: .

Again, thanks to NickGull for the excellent thread. Before the end of the month I'll either vote for NickGull or Jeff as my nomination for member of the month; Nick for matchday threads and Jeff for match summaries. I'll keep voting for one until he gets it, then I'll keep voting for the other one until he gets it.

[Wisconsin_gull]

Great thread.

Comparing Gulls Home and Sadlers Away form is interesting (league positions in (brackets)) - this probably counts for little given it is the cup, but this would otherwise suggest a home win... a rare and splendid thing


Team Pld W L F A GD GFA GAA
Torquay United (6) 8 3 3 13 10 3 1.62 1.25
Walsall (24) 9 1 6 7 16 -9 0.77 1.77


Even without Benyon, I have to believe we win by 3-1 O'Kane. Kee (2)

Want to see Mansell in the midfield and not RB. Time for a big lad as target with BK to feed off him a la Toshack and Keegan! O'Kane is hot we need him in the starting 11.Glad PB oicks the team and not me :Oops:

My reco as follows...


Bevan
Robbo, Ellis, Branston, Nico
Zebs, Manse , O Kane, Wroe,
Gritton, Kee

Looking forward to a pot of tea and the F5 key in the morning!

Come on!

[usagullmichigan]

and a Bacon and egg sandwich or Marmite on toast.

[Trojan 67]

Nice day for it here in Torquay. Haven't been outside yet so don't know how cold it is. Going down town in a mo' to get some bits and bobs.

[tktufc91]

I think today will be a very tight game. Our home form isn't as good as we would like it to be and without Benyon, I can't see us scoring as many goals as we would like.

Walsall will want to win, however if we can create all the chances, then I think they'll try and go for the replay at their place.

Either way, a tight 1-0 victory with Kee scoring late in the second half.