westbaygull wrote:bit of a worry, bix, that we haven't scored again - or is that the negative view? Don't think Gritts should play up front alone and think Matilda will have to go out on loan...
would have taken a point.
i suppose its another clean sheet to be positive, and we have hit the woodwork several times again!! :x
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westbaygull wrote:Will be very keen to read match reports on this one - on commentary we sounded pretty ineffective, but that may not be true picture. Worried that with the forwards we have on our books that we haven't scored again, i know will get shot down for that and it's great having a tight defence, but really hoped that we'd be scoring freely...
Have to agree there about forwards not scoring, we need someone who is effective Griton isnt cutting the mustard.
Hmmmm... well don't know about you but that bored me a bit. Thats harsh after hitting the post three times I know, would like to hear the match reports though. Can't help feeling we need a loan central midfielder to provide competition for places. That would probably mean Mans would be the one to miss out, where as if it was up to me it would be Wroe, but there you go.
on way back to the bay, it was a good game of football ruined by the officials by notting letting the play flow. We were clearly the better side in the first half. Eunan breathed a much needed life into the team and whe you hit the post twice in a half, you know it isnt going to be your day. Gritton done his job well in the first half but half time came to soon. We looked dangerous again for the first 10 minutes but again hitting the woodwork from a very well worked free kick. zebs had the ball quite a bit during the game, but nothing went for him. Ellis took a bad knock late on but he was clearly determind to play on but took another knock soon after and was subbed of for Charnock who looked edgy, but i guess he was just settling in. A couple of chanches came when Kee and Benyon played upfront together but it was to no avail. one more thing...what were stevenages set peices all about !?! linking arms at a corner or freekick and having 3 players either side of the box running into the center, each set peice took about 5 minutes to take!
We arnt going to concede many goals this season, but i dont know where our goals will come from
Can't believe we hit the post 3 times, so unlucky! Particularly Nico's free-kick. On another day we would have won that pretty comfortably. Bevan barely had a save to make.
We were clearly the better side in the first half, O'Kane was outstanding and Gritton, Zebs, Stevens, Ellis and Branston all had superb halves. Stevenage had a lot of the ball, but absolutely no end product. I think they had one shot in the first half that Bevan comfortably saw wide. At times we put together some excellent play, O'Kane and Gritton had some excellent touches at times.
The first post-hitting came after an attack down our right resulted in an overhit cross - Stevens kept it alive and crossed it back in from the left but again overhit it. THe ball was swung in a third time and was met by a flicked back header from Robbo, which hit the inside of the post and into the keepers arms.
The second followed soon after - Stevens got away down the left, their full back showed him inside and he hit a firm shot towards the near post. The keeper got a slight touch on it, which pushed it onto the post, back out, hit the keeper on the back and trickled out for a corner. Could have gone anywhere, not our day!
Second half we started well. Got a free kick on the edge of the box, Wroe O'kane and Nico devised a cunning little set up which resulted in Nico drilling one low, straight as you like, keeper no chance but it hit the base of the post. Matter of time you would think............
But from then, I'm not sure if Stevenage changed something but all of a sudden they started looking dangerous. They managed one shot which just missed the angle of post and bar, also a scramble from a corner saw Bevs make his only save of the day at the feet of Odubade. Bevs was a bit of a problem today - heavy strapping to his thigh, missed a couple of crosses and generally didn't look as mobile. Potter seemed primed to come on for most of the second half but wasn't required.
Ellis took a hefty knock on his foot - at first the way he was writhing around it seemed certain he'd badly broken something. But some Damien Davey magic soon got him back on his feet. It was clear however that he was struggling, continuing to limp for the next couple of minutes. He managed to clear the ball in a foot race with their winger, but he was clearly spent and had to be taken off. Charnock did what was required in the last few mins to see the game out.
Stevenage wern't all that impressive. Lots of bizarre corner and free-kick routines that didn't work, plenty of the ball but almost no impact up front. Would be suprised to see them finish in the top half.
Positives from today - never looked like conceding, for 60mins we were the better time by far. On another day one of the chances would have gone in and we'd have ground out a 1-0 on the road. O'kane looked great in the hole, Gritton looked handy too and Danny had a much better game than his disaster against Southend.
Negatives - no luck! Injury worries to Ellis and Bevan. Very little threat once we'd lost Gritton up top (and didn't have Zebs up there)
A point on the road isn't bad, and with a bit more luck we'd have had a couple of goals. We are still solid and difficult to beat which is the main thing.
Now time for a chinese at a reasonable hour!
EDIT - Forgot to mention that the ref was awful. Booked Danny Stevens for a shirt pull in a tussle on the flank, didn't even blow for a foul when Bostwick went in ridiculously late on O'Kane. Wouldn't let the game flow, let Stevenage get away with niggly fouls. Standard league 2 fare unfortunately
My second look at the Gulls in what I saw as an important bellweather game in that it would show whether we are a promotion challenging outfit or a mid table team that were over performing to be top of the league.
My conclusion was that we are the latter.
On the basis of today we have a marvellous defence. Branston is so assured and confidence inspiring. Ellis looks ready for a higher league. Robbo and Bevan look good and Nicho wasn t over exposed.
Now the bad news. The midfield was anonymous and Nicky Wroe was woeful.
Up front Zebs was a threat. Stevens had a mixed game showing us both the best and worst of his game (ball retention). O Kane showed some really good touches. Gritts was slow and ponderous.
We did not offer a serious goal threat. That is the problem.
In the second half we were the architects of our own downfall. The ball went up front and was quickly lost which lead to far more Stevenage pressure. Bucks didn t change it until late.
In the end I was grateful for a point against an ordinary team....
MOM: The Pickler
"A day without football is a day lost" (Ernst Happel)
"Look at the (Plainmoor) stars, Look how they shine for you, And everything you do, Yeah they were all yellow" (C. Martin)
Northumbergull wrote:
Just three off the woodwork!
Bruce
Yes it does seem odd Northumberlandgull, and yet we seemed to create and threaten so little after a bright opening period.
The stats say we had 0 attempts on target and 44% of the possession, although stats do not always tell the truth.
Maybe others will have seen it differently.
"A day without football is a day lost" (Ernst Happel)
"Look at the (Plainmoor) stars, Look how they shine for you, And everything you do, Yeah they were all yellow" (C. Martin)
Definitely 2 points lost today, Stevens was spot on in the 1st half everthing Torquay produced came from him. The back 4 were solid and the midfield were steady, the front 2 worked hard but as they only got decent support from 1 side (i.e Stevens) they were always going to be up against it.
Any one who knows about football must ask how Zebs even came out for the 2nd half because he hardly offered anything throughout the whole match. No pace, no skill, no strength and definitely no crosses. There were options on the bench that would probably have worked and tried much harder, I really don't know why Buckle didn't give 1 of them a go.
I really despair sometimes, how anyone could say that Zebs offered nothing was clearly not watching him in my opinion. He was consistently our outlet and went past his man on plenty of occasions, even when faced with two defenders he held the ball up well and brought others into the game, especially O'Kane. Gritton, for me, was totally not at the races in the second half and that was what contributed to the pressure we found ourselves under towards the end of the game. It's not rocket science, if a player (Gritton) doesn't hold the ball up, or in most cases even get a touch on it, then we'll soon see the ball coming back down our end and that's exactly how it panned out. Kee or Benyon should have been brought on much much sooner, if they had then I'm convinced the three points were ours for the taking. As it was, we left feeling grateful for getting a point against a team that we really should have beaten comfortably.
A point on the road yes, but 2 points lost in my opinion.
As others have said, the antics of the Stevenage players at set-pieces were comical and the only time it looked to threaten us seriously the ball went straight out of play before being dragged back by Bostwick.
The referee was abysmal and the booking of Stevens a nonsense.
I was pleasantly surprised how well the home fans got behind their team, they really seem to have learned a lesson from us after our last visit there 2 seasons ago, good effort I thought. Without us there though I would guess their attendance would have been lower than our hardcore home support.
I think Eunan playing in that role was very encouraging, and that gritton was exhausted by 70 minutes, wont look to bad a result if we win our home games. Id start Gritton and Benyon against Macclesfield. Eunan is looking a better player every game, still not sure about Billy Kee, maybe he just needs a start, every game hes started he seems to have done well.
