Torquay United vs Gillingham

[eastyorksgull]

cant believe it,but as smiffy put in previous post,its always easy to blame defence,how many chances do we need to kill a game off

[SuperNickyWroe]

i suppose they did to us what we did to them - only we scored a biy later!

[Dave_Pougher]

You haven't let yourself down Bucks everybody would have done the same.

[Yellow4life]

Poor game overall, Robertson and Ellis seems nowhere near their normal standards today, I though nico was the only outfield stand out player.

If we play like that next week then I'd rather not of bought my ticket!

[Dave]

Its beyond frustrating now,iam totaly fed up woth watching us take the lead crerate chances fail to bury them and then let the lead slip ,or even worse lose.

Today was one of those days when trying to play football no one in our team could seem to pass the ball 5 yrds to another player in yellow,and i am not critising the 4-5-1 as said if the team put away half the chances they get in games ,we would in the top four,however today what i could not understand,in the last 20 minutes Gillingham were building up a head of steam and putting us under pressure,which was all our own doing,we were not putting there defence under any pressure they were getting the ball out from htere back four far to easliy,to me if bucks had brought Kee on up top with benyon we may have had a chance of holding it up there.

[Fletch]

Back from the game and thinking how to summarise this one.

The first half was a pretty even affair with Gillingham possibly just shading it. Bevs was called on for several top drawer saves and was up to it from the off. The defence was well marshalled by Branners and although we had a couple of scary moments the danger was adverted. Sharp finishing by Benners for the goal, gambling on the keeper not holding O'Kane's shot (hit with venom) and just managing to get to it before the keeper. As the half wore on Gillingham started to impose themselves more and having started as a 4-4-2, O'Kane started to drift into the center and Zebs sat a bit deeper leaving Benners to be our outlet. Right from the off, their CB (Gowling) seemed quite happy with little shirt tugs and arm pulls on Benners with the ref seeiming to try and keep the game moving.

The 2nd half was more satisfying as we started to impose ourselves a bit more. There were some lovely passing and running moves from us and several good quality chances. Ellis skimmed the bar with a header and Benners couldnt quite curl a shot round the keepers hand enough, hitting the upright. Over the 90 minutes we deserved the 3 points (I walked past a bunch of Gills fans that all considered themselves lucky to come away with anything) and only conceded to what looked like a wicked deflection wrong-footing Bevs.

Bayo was brought on with about 30 minutes to go and the threat of balls pumped forward to him was obvious. He is a pretty physical threat as Mansell found out being shoulder charged a couple of times jumping for headers and even Branno got bounced off a tackle or two. Having said that Bucks brought Oastler on for Nicky W and it worked quite well with Oastler making sure he stayed on Bayo just in front of the back four. Benners had a bit of a battering by then and was replaced by Kee after getting another smack in the face. Buckle was quite rightly incensed by the challenge and the resultant drop ball not far outside our area, after having the team told to give the ball back to Gillingham a few minutes earlier, when one of their players went down holding their face.
Inconsistency from referees with things like this must be really frustrating for both players and managers. On the subject of the referee, Im all in favour of keeping the game moving but the Gills defence took this as a green light to impeded Benners pretty much every chalenge. This culminated in possibly the most blatant effort on the penalty spot with about ten minutes to go, with Gowling using both hands over Benners shoulders to pull him back and stop him getting to a chipped ball. Absolutely shocking refereeing and weve seen some stinkers over the last couple of years.

[andygull]

Not been to the game today but thanks everyone for your posts allowing me to keep in touch. Was at Morecambe last week when we let 3 points slip and so it happened again today but unluckily so it appears. The most disappointing aspect of consistently dropping points is that generally we are in front and draw/lose rather than the other way round. It keeps on happening and is going to cost us a play off spot this year i,m afraid to say. We have been gradualandly slipping down the table and i do not see an immediate run of successive wins to haul us back up there. That said, it looks like we have improved on last year and if we can keep it all together next season, albeit maybe without Benners / Ellis, then i feel we can deffo make the play offs next season.

[wodger of awabia]

neither did i! :evil:

cant understand that.......

Easy to understand, very poor today, back to his old self.

[Trojan 67]

says on sky text that benners has gone off injured - any news?

Broken nose and stitches.

[ferrarilover]

It took them two attempts, but they broke his nose eventually. Neither given as free kicks. No more about the ref, he was hopeless.

Hmmm, where to start with today, well, for a kick off, they were NOT the better side. They had more possession, but they weren't better than us and we were, for large spells, pretty bad today. Not as bad as we could have been, but nothing like as good as we have been over the last couple of weeks. They were playing as if they were being closed down real fast, no one wanted more than two touches, while, in truth, Gills were not that tight at all.
Bevs won MOTM today because A. What little he did was very good and B. We couldn't possibly give it to Pickles again, not for the 20th time this year.

Today, as the last 5 or 6 games have shown, proved that we are in dire need of a finisher. Spoke to Simon Baker after the match and even he said "If we had a striker, we'd be a really good side." He's not wrong. Stevens could, quite easily, have had a hat-trick today. One good short run and shot first half which Julien flapped at (doesn't he always?), one shot at an open goal from 6 yards and he managed to hit the only defender in that half of the pitch and another nice shot which Julien went full length to save, only to miss it by miles and watch thankfully as the ball whistled inches wide.
Added to this a decent EoK chance, an Ellis header inches wide, a Benyon shot almost identical to Danny's, three goal mouth scrambles, the goal we did score, Jesus, the list is almost endless. We should, not could, should, without any real trouble, have scored 4 goals today. For Gillingham to suggest (their OS, both forums and Radio Kent all said the same) that we were lucky to get a point is madness. At least they scored with their best chance (a hopeful punt from 20 yards which started off going out for a TUFC throw), we wasted ours (Danny's open goaler was probably easier than Benyon's goal, since Julien was nowhere to be seen for Danny's effort).

All in all, a very frustrating day. It's now just a matter of time to see whether Bucks will ever learn that Elliot is not big or strong or good enough to play up front on his own. That Billy Kee IS the finisher we do so desperately need. Or that the fans would rather he made a sub or two or three with 30 mins to go to try to change the inevitable and very predictable pattern of a game (we gradually sit deeper and deeper till, with seconds to go, the oppo snatch an equaliser which they barely deserve) as opposed to doing nothing and hoping for the best.

Matt.

[Dutchgull]

Spot on Matt ..lets hope Bucks reads it !!

[Southampton Gull]

Extra Extra Extra !!!

Dutchgull in Buckle criticism shocker !!!

[exilegull]

Really good post Matt.

I actually wonder whether Benyon leaving could be a good thing for us. He is an excellent finisher but I actually like the 4-5-1 formation as it creates the perfect role in the team for O'Kane and once we have possession in an opposition half we look dangerous. The drawback is as you state Benyon is not strong enough to play the lone striker - his movement is good and he works extremely hard but too often the ball ends up back with the opposition and we have lost possession. Kee has the power to play that lone role and I think while he may not be quite the poacher that Elliot is, he seems to have a wider repetoire of finsishing abilities - from a longer distance, in the air etc. I would really like to see him get a run of games under his belt.
I think we could become a slightly better all round team with Kee up front and would back him to get a similar number of goals as Elliot

[Dave_Pougher]

Really good post Matt.

I actually wonder whether Benyon leaving could be a good thing for us. He is an excellent finisher but I actually like the 4-5-1 formation as it creates the perfect role in the team for O'Kane and once we have possession in an opposition half we look dangerous. The drawback is as you state Benyon is not strong enough to play the lone striker - his movement is good and he works extremely hard but too often the ball ends up back with the opposition and we have lost possession. Kee has the power to play that lone role and I think while he may not be quite the poacher that Elliot is, he seems to have a wider repetoire of finsishing abilities - from a longer distance, in the air etc. I would really like to see him get a run of games under his belt.
I think we could become a slightly better all round team with Kee up front and would back him to get a similar number of goals as Elliot

Thought the same for a while, don't get me wrong I don't particularly want Benners to go but it wouldn't bother me if he did and we all know that he will go soon or at the end of the season.

The "end of game" issue is a real problem Evans must be loving what he's seen of the last few matches. But the lack of closing down in outer defence or midfield is probaly concerning me more particulalry with next weeks match. If Bucks addresses these, not easy in a week i know, then we are through, if not Evans will leave smileing, UNBEARABLE.

[yellow]

Extra Extra Extra !!!

Dutchgull in Buckle criticism shocker !!!

Hardly a conversion on the road to Damascus, and yet shocking in its own small way.

One wonders if that cynical display from the Dutch national side in the World Cup final has left a legacy of realism?

Bring on the Crawley so that we may banish this negativity from these fine boards....