Torquay United v Nuneaton Town – Saturday 6th September 2014

[Tamargull]

I said about the last game hat the standard of football was poor. Today some of Torquay's play was superb! Credit to Chris and the lads for a great performance!
Luke Young is simply a class above the rest and Richards and Ajala are not far behind .O'Achie succeeds in getting better every game. perhaps for me the most pleasing development is the improved performance of both full backs. Both played well today and deserve credit. Ives is a very good prospect but Cruise deserves to keep his place.
Not bothered that Nuneton were not very good - as they say you an only best what is put in front of you!!!!

[Richinns]

Wow - where to start!
I don't remember leaving plainmoor after such a positive performance for a long long time.
The question has to be how good were we or how bad were Nuneaton?
For me I have to say I believe it was more from column A than column B and I was really impressed with todays performance.
My marks (for what it is worth!)

Rice - Very little to do but made a very decent save whilst at zip-zip. 7
Tonge - Really impressed with him today - looked good both defensively and going forward. 9
Downes - Solid game, looked in charge a took his opportunity well. 8.5
MacDonald - Brought the ball out of defence well and dependable as every. Silly booking. 8.5
Cruise - Looked in control and overlapped with Ajala well. Decent distribution and one very good cross which could have been a goal. really pleased for him. 8.5
Richards - Where did CH dig this treasure up from? Looked a class apart. Has it all and showed his skill today. Harding will be back-up for this guy. 10
Young - Captain fantastic. Make no doubt he is class above what we have seen an Plainmoor for many a year. Ran the midfield and I believe there is not a better player in this league than him. 10 (MOM just over the impressive Richard and what a pairing these guys could be!)
Cameron - Tore them apart for half an hour before his injury. A player with confidence now brimming. Full backs of the Conference beware! 9
Ajala - Brilliant defensive work which was the start of the second goal and looks areal gem of a player. Such quick feet and a turn. Briscoe might struggle to get his place back. A fine game. 9
Ofori-Acheampong - The second goal was some of the best centre forward play I have seen. Scare the hell out of the opposition defence. Looks clumsy at times but seems to come up with the ball far more than chance would provide. Very quick for a big man and also powerful. Great game 9.5
Bowman - You can tell he is a good player and a fine recruit. Took his goal well and was lively throughout. Could have had a hat trick if he had been played in a couple of times in the second half. 8.5

Subs
Chapell - good pace and looked lively. Made a few poor decisions and could have played Bowman in a few times but overall linked well with Tonge and a good game. 7.5
Wakefield - Tough ask replacing Richards but solid enough. Little time to impose himself on the game. 7
Yeoman - A few good runs and look up for it. Not a lot of time for him and came on in a game which was already signed and sealed. Has put a bit of muscle on which will benefit him. 7.5

Overall - Today was a good day and the promise this young team has is immense. There will be games where inexperience will cost us but the future is so much brighter than it was when we were struggling to lose by less than 3 against a pretty poor Wycombe team.

Well done CH - His vision seems to be gathering momentum and the crowd will return to Plainmoor when displays like this are provided for them to enjoy.

[ethantufcbaker]

After a pass from MacDobald (I think) Tonge (who looked like the player he was supposed to be) reached to take the ball down and looked like he has tweaked his hamstring (he had tape on it).
Hopefully him and Cameron are okay for Saturday. If not then Chappel for Cameron and it would probably be Thompson for tonge. However Tonge didn't look to be in too much discomfort at the end.

[lucy6lucy]

After a pass from MacDobald (I think) Tonge (who looked like the player he was supposed to be) reached to take the ball down and looked like he has tweaked his hamstring (he had tape on it).
Hopefully him and Cameron are okay for Saturday. If not then Chappel for Cameron and it would probably be Thompson for tonge. However Tonge didn't look to be in too much discomfort at the end.

Even better for Tuesday

[ethantufcbaker]

Even better for Tuesday

Forgot we are away at Chester maybe Cameron is rested

[Gloomy Gull]

That was a fantastic performance even if most of the goals came in the first half.

I cannot remember the last time I saw a Torquay side so dominant and it was a pleasure to see Ajala stretching for a block in the opposition penalty area with only minutes to go...the entire squad looked like they wanted to win.

Saw great movement off the ball all game by all. The Nuneaton centre backs were blowing out their a$$es by about 70 mins having been run ragged.

Was a delight to see Cruise, who I have been critical of, have a very accomplished and structured game......although he wasn't being harried by a winger at all during the game

Thank you Torquay United for a VERY enjoyable 90+ minutes, looking forward to more of that in the coming months.

[Duncan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28993679

Well done BEN! :rules:

[HRG]

Really enjoyed reading such positive reports. Thanks folks.

[ferrarilover]

Ben Young? ****'s sake!

Matt.

[brucie]

Actually thought it was the most boring game of the season so far as we won so easily. A sense of reality needed probably. You can only beat whats in front of you for sure but Nuneaton train for two hours twice a week, had a long trip down this morning and some of their players have to travel before getting to Nuneaton!
In the hot conditions they were out on their feet with 25 minutes left - thought we overdid the passing and had we got the ball forward quicker in the second half we could and should have scored more goals.

I noticed some of the comments on the ref. Step forward Mr Brett Huxtable from Torrington. For those of you who remember the flooded goalmouth scenario at Plainmoor - he was the fourth official on that day.
Basically the bloke loves himself - he will be dining out on his performance today for many weeks to come. He will be seen at many a local game in the north devon league poncing around followed by his crony possee of local referees (several of them travelled down to watch him today)
The sending off of their player today was ludicrous, unecessary for starters and his slow walk across the pitch was daft.
The bloke is a bell end.

[Greybeardedgull]

You should know.

[chunkygull]

You are my torquay, my only torquay, you make me happy when skies are grey, you'll never know, just, how much i love you, so don't take my torquay away.
(laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la, - laa, laa, - laaaa, - la, la. - la,la,la,la,la, - la,la,la,la....).

Well done fellas, keep it up.

[hector]

How can Brucie say that was a boring game? Ridiculous.

Nuneaton were poor but that need not take away from a super performance from Torquay. Had it finished 7 or 8 nil, then there could have been no complaints. It was the best football I have seen from a Torquay team since O'Kane et al tore Plymouth apart at Home Park. Really good brand of football being developed and it could just be that Hargreaves team are a little ahead of schedule in terms of challenging for the play-offs but we are nicely tucked amongst the chasing pack at the moment.

The thing that pleased me the most today was the excellent, composed performance of Tom Cruise. Much maligned, slated by many, I hope he can build upon his game today because that was the best left-back performance we have seen at Plainmoor for a couple of years - he didn't put a foot wrong. Well played, Tom, and I hope people get off his back now.

I think everyone played their part - Rice pulled off an early save when the Nuneaton player had a virtual open goal at 0-0 and it could have been very different if they had something to protect, so Rice certainly played his part in the victory.

Tonge, like Cruise, had a great game - he was actually the attacking threat, I think Hargreaves has wanted from his full-backs and it wouldn't surprise me if Tonge/Downes, followed Chapell by coming off the transfer list.

The midfield pair of Young and Richards is what we have been crying out for since O'Kane left. Richards is a real diamond and I don't think we will keep him for long and Young is growing into his captain role especially well. Ajala and Cameron, were particularly threatening and what joy to have two forwards who look like they can do some damage.

That team would be doing ok in League 2 - certainly better than what Knill was fielding a year ago and probably at a fraction of the cost. Hargreaves deserves some credit for assembling a promising young team that is capable of playing some stunning football. An excellent day.

[tomogull]

Well we enjoyed our trip down if not our performance or the result. You undoubtedly deserved the result today however we were unusually poor at the back. Not to make excuses but we missed 3 or 4 starters due to injury and suspension and it showed in our performance. You play a nice style of football, not as fluid as Barnet but that's only my opinion. I will be very interested to see how this style holds up in the winter conditions. Think the big lad up front for you will become very useful given time, all the best for the season. Brad

Brad - that was the best performance from a Torquay team for a long, long time. Tough luck on your lads that you played us on a day like that. I didn't think your defence was that bad - we scored some great goals. I thought your main problem was in attack where, quite honestly, you offered very little threat. Credit to your lads for trying to play good football throughout even though they were being steamrollered. The sending off was a complete nonsense - just a bit of handbags - and what a ridiculous drama the ref made of it. Just shows the sort of refs we're going to get this season.

Several of us have previously posted that this group of players could very well develop into a really good team and today was the best yet. Everyone contributed but special mention to Tom Cruise and Dale Tonge. They have come in for some stick on here but they both played well today. Brad makes a good point about the playing surface - the passing game is impressive in today's conditions but will it hold up in the winter mud ? Time will tell. In answer to Forever's earlier post - the O'Achie/Bowman partnership worked very well today and they were up against an experienced defender in Exodus Georgehan (is that how it's spelt, Matt ??) and another central defender who was no slouch. Very happy with that performance - well done Chris H & Lee H.

[tomogull]

You should know.

Greybeard - you're like a feckin blow fly. You buzz in here, cause annoyance, and then disappear for weeks until you buzz in again and cause more annoyance.