Dover.v.Torquay Tue 2nd

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tktufc91
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Post by tktufc91 »

To say I'm frustrated is an understatement. We threw the points away. Simple as that.

Dovers ground was pretty good, decent bar faculties, certainly one of the nicer away trips.

First half I thought we were brilliant. We passed the ball around and Dover couldn't cope. It was perhaps the best half I've seen Torquay play this season.

Second half we decided it was best to lump it and hope. Dover obviously had a telling off as they came out stronger.

Bowman missed a great chance at 0-1 after rounding the keeper, sadly it proved to be a turning point.

At 2-1 we should have seen the game out , but we went deeper and deeper and it was almost inevitable that we would concede.

Rice does not command his box well , he made a few good saves but I am not confident in his ability to be our number 1. I hope Seabright gets another chance soon.

Ajala is frustrating to watch, he does the hard stuff brilliantly and then gives the ball away.

Yeoman was quick to pounce for his goal and it was great to see him back scoring.

Referee was pretty good. Let the game flow and no bookings. Take note other Conference referees.

I think we have the potential in the team to finish in the play off mix, however our habit of dropping points will ultimately cause us to fall short.
Na, na na, NA NA NA NA, NA NA NA NA, TORQUAY!
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Post by Rjc70 »

All those behind the goal we were attacking in the first half switched ends at half time as did the Dover fans, so I can't offer too much insight into fault for either of their goals. Their first looked like a good headed finish from their skipper who out jumped his man, and didn't look like something to blame Rice for. The second, I really couldn't see, but there was no thumping header this time, more of a scramble.

The delivery of their corner taker was very good every time in a second half that Dover dominated after Bowman, earlier in the half did all the hard work rounding the keeper and having his shot blocked on (ish) the line. A chance resulting from decent build up play that was missed and later rued. There was one other potential breakaway in that half where Ives sent Ajala clear from half way, but he ended up falling over his own feet, unfortunately. He didn't back himself, as they say.

They seemed to have a lot of corners in that second half. They were a team of giants and we only looked any good when we got the ball on the floor. They won aerial battles all over the park. To say Yeoman's goal to put us 2-1 up was unexpected and against the run of play would be an understatement. But no sooner had we scored it was straight back to inviting pressure and conceding corners, with an almost inevitable conclusion. That it happened after 90+3 when it looked like we had nicked 3 points made the journey home a bit longer.

First half and in patches going forward we looked very slick, but with no trigger pulled by either Briscoe or Bowman when they should. Our goal was rank bad defending by Dover from a corner and the keeper was static as Pearce nodded home. Our second, Yeoman was put through one on one with the keeper from a decent ball, should have done better with the shot but we got the luck of the rebound off the keeper that fell with the keeper stranded and Yeoman between the ball and goal. He got back to it before either keeper or non existent cover could and stuck it into the empty net.

A very friendly clubhouse and set of fans. Miserable weather on the drive there and back and for the first half. I enjoyed the evening and would say a draw was the fairest result, albeit we had more clear cut chances not seized upon.

My attempt at player ratings need to be considered in view of me freezing my bollocks off,'now being knackered and not being at my most observant tonight:-

Rice 5 (one very good save following an error. Query re fault for second goal. Looked like feck all he could do about the first goal)
Berry 6 (he remains better than Tonge by some distance)
Pearce 5 (defending from corners not his strong point)
Downes 6 (using his head is his strong point)
Ives 6.5 (little fella, but lively and inspires more confidence than Cruise on this showing)
Ajala 6.5 (flashes of brilliance. Flashes of cringe. Worked hard)
Richards 6 (worked hard)
Young 6.5 (good in first half = TUFC good in first half)
Chapell 4.5 (not sure he did anything)
Briscoe 6.5 (prefer him behind Bowman, as clever passer and needs space to run into. Fine figure of a man)
Bowman 7 (shot shy yet worked incredibly hard throughout)

I won't score the subs as I seem to be giving everyone 6, but McQuilkin as per Chapell, Angus done good and Yeoman scored. I can see what people mean by entertainment levels. We seem capable of scoring every time we click, but for the killer finish, and we look suspect at set pieces and when teams break against us. All provides for a bit of excitement, I guess.

Verdict: Should've closed it out when we got the extreme good fortune of Yeoman's goal. Didnt.
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Post by nickbrod »

Seems pretty unjust that those who weren't there last night are once again jumping on the bash Rice bandwagon.
For Dover's two goals from corners (taken left footed and so swinging into the six yard box at pace) there were 21 players in the penalty area (only the Dover keeper on the half-way line was absent) so why is it Rice's fault?
That we didn't win could also be attributed to woeful finishing. Frankly conceding a late late equaliser shouldn't have mattered had our so called strikers done their job. For the second game running Bowman should have walked off with the match ball and by now be the league' stop scorer but he seems to avoid the abuse as given to Rice.
By the way I was there last night.
Let's face reality we have a young mostly inexperienced side (and manager) and no money. Yet the football this season is so much more exciting compared with the last two seasons. Did anyone really expect more than we are witnessing?
There are definitely four worst teams than us so relegation is not on the cards. Outright promotion isn't going to happen while ,as we know, play-offs are a lottery. For a better chance of promotion next season we need to finish in the top 10 as the history of the Conference shows that the team promoted finished in the top 10 the previous season.
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Post by tommyg »

How many gilt-edged chances has Bowman missed this season? I know he's scored a few important goals in the last few weeks, but he seems to miss a clear chance every game at key moments. He works hard for the team and remains one of our best options up front, but if he could finish then we'd be in a much better position now.
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Post by CP Gull »

Hi Nick

Firstly, well done to you and all the other travelling Gulls fans last night on what sounded like a pretty foul night weather wise.

Of course you are right, we must learn to defend better as a team and we must also take our chances when they are presented to us. It's true that Ryan Bowman should shoulder some of the blame, albeit he always "puts in a shift" for the team and much of his forward play is to be admired, he should be converting a lot more of the chances he gets. Quite honestly, he could easily be a 25-30 goals a season striker at this level If only his finishing was better - it was something that the York fans warned us of about him and I can see what they mean now! As we both know, he should have had a hat trick by half time against Eastleigh on Saturday and it sounds like he missed a straightforward opportunity last night which if he had taken it would probably have secured us victory. As it is though, he will probably end up around the 15 mark this season, which is good enough but not great and he really could and should score a lot more in this team.

As for Rice, for those of us not fortunate (?) enough to be there last night we can of course only "judge" (in the loosest sense of the word) events based on the Radio Devon commentary and whilst neither of the co commentators seemed to directly blame Rice for either of the goals it was the general sense of "panic" that they conveyed with Rice. They also constantly mentioned his woeful distribution, even saying that Bowman was berating him for his poor kicking at one point, no doubt out of pure frustration ... he was clearly annoyed with Rice on Saturday too for the very same reason.

The thing is that these two "new" commentators (Richardson and Cadigan) are only echoing what the others (Breedy et al) seem to express in a number of the other away games which I have listened to recently. They did credit Rice with making a very good save in the second half, with a tip over, but this was only after he had come for a ball that he failed to get ... in other words a mistake of his own making. They questioned his decision making and hesitancy on more than one occasion during the game.

I don't want to come across as a "Rice basher" but for me at least, I would love to see what difference a quality custodian between the sticks might make to this exciting team. It is not the only area of weakness in the team, but now that we seem to have addressed the full backs situation with the introduction of Berry and Ives, it is the last area of greatest concern as I see it. It is only my opinion, but that is how I see it.

One other major concern seems to be our midfield being overrun the more the game goes on. There seems to be a pattern in most games where in the first half of games we are playing great high tempo football, the midfield bossing things and the wingers flying ... but then at the turnaround we have the propensity to start misplacing passes and the wingers become anonymous and we tend to drop deeper and deeper thereby putting more and more pressure on the defence. We really could do with a "proper" holding midfielder in such situations - something which young MacDonald has been asked to do in the latter part of games recently - which certainly worked well against Eastleigh but maybe less so last night? Ideally, you would like someone who is better in possession than Angus whilst still decent in th air (not sure that McQuilkin is the answer either) and really in the current squad it seems to me that the only one who MIGHT fit the bill is a fit Ben Harding - when you consider what he achieved with the likes of Aldershot, Wycombe and Northampton there must be a player in there somewhere surely, but at a time when he should really be at the peak at of his career it seems almost inevitable that his two years with us will be a complete waste of time for all concerned and that what we see from him will be merely a shadow of what he has produced in the past elsewhere.

Whatever the results, like you say and I wholeheartedly agree, this is certainly an exciting young team to watch these days that surely offers the"neutral" the best value for entertainment in the whole of this division and on our best days nobody can touch us but on our worst, well .... either way, anyone who turns up at Plainmoor nowadays is almost guaranteed goals, excitement, controversy ( crap refs!) and the odd error, or two! =D
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Post by mick red »

Well as a Dover fan I was behind the goal for both.... Rice had no chance for the first one...Hart or Lloris wouldn't have got to it. The second was a scramble and your number 16 (who for the record was the biggest shirt puller I have ever seen) got in the way. Rice made two excellent saves in the second half and I thought marshalled your back four really well!
Torquay were an entertaining side to watch with the ball on the ground.... All of our defenders are over 6' so you were pants with the long ball.
Great fans it was a pleasure to have you at Crabble... Playoffs beckon for you I reckon :)
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Post by brucie »

Cp gull is dead right. For those of us who wern't there we can only rely on the commentary. We do get a variety of different commentators yet they all seem to say the same thing ie Rice causes panic amongst his defenders. Comes runnning out when he can't get the ball. Doesn't command his six yard box. has cost us ten points this season (Steve Breed).
I am sure that they are not all Rice bashers so basically they are either all wrong (and Rice is a good golakeeper) or he is crap and a complete liability. I know which one I will go for.
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Post by brucie »

Just watched the Macclesfield highlights. Rice is at fault for that one as well. Ball is swung in from the left hand side. Rice comes running out for the ball, realises he cannot get it and stops at the last moment. Ives weak header is definately down to being put off by his goalkeeper.
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Post by tomogull »

Jeff wrote: What cost us the game was losing the midfield second half. Absolutely bossed it first half, Young in particular barely had a kick second half. Completely off the boil. Bowman quite profligate with his chances again - and rather than go for goal when around the keeper and off balance, a simple touch and square pass to Briscoe would have seen us two up.
Jeff is spot on. Grimsby, Gateshead, Forest Green (I wasn't able to get to the Eastleigh match) - we get overrun in midfield in the last quarter of the game. Let's hope the answer is to bring on McQuilkin late in the game when he is fully match fit. Also, missed chances which would have sewn up the game, and other games, are costing us. It is frustrating to drop points late in matches as we are doing but I think most of us would have been reasonably happy with a draw before the match. Looking forward to Barnet on Saturday and, hopefully, a competent ref ........
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Post by nickbrod »

Afternoon Chris.
As against Eastleigh on Saturday Dover should have been beaten by half-time as we controlled the game but the second half was a different match. When we had chances to increase our lead mostly through breakaways they were missed but of more concern was our weak mid-field where 50-50 tackles were lost allowing Dover to dominate. Their two goals from corners were needlessly given away especially the second. None of these events involved Rice!
Bowman I've already mentioned earlier but Briscoe was disappointing, once again replaced before the end.
Whilst it may be good for competition to have another proven keeper for me it's more important to secure Berry on a contract otherwise the return of Tonge could mean it doesn't matter who plays in goal!
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Post by Scott Brehaut »

Pleased (well, I say pleased - I wish I had been proved wrong) that my comment I made about the strikers not finishing off the game for us, that was scoffed at by Matt and another person (apologies, but I can't remember who), is being echoed by others.

It seems we have far more chances than most of those that play us, yet we take far too many chances before we score - our opponents seems to score with every other shot they take.
Yes, the defence (and I include the 'keeper here) should be tighter, but we could have most games out of sight by half time if we took full advantage of our attempts on goal.
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Post by stefano »

Excellent result against the form team of the league who are now 7 league games unbeaten and obtained in difficult conditions. A point that could make all the difference at the end of the season to get us into the play off mix. It's picking up points from these cold winter midweek evening games that will sort the true contenders from the rest of the pack. Our team are good enough to be top 5 .... and will be.
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Post by tomogull »

stefano wrote:Excellent result against the form team of the league who are now 7 league games unbeaten and obtained in difficult conditions. A point that could make all the difference at the end of the season to get us into the play off mix. It's picking up points from these cold winter midweek evening games that will sort the true contenders from the rest of the pack. Our team are good enough to be top 5 .... and will be.
Ah, Stefano ..... you've come out of hibernation. Haven't noticed your posts for a while. Actually, you're right - it was a good result. It was just disappointing that once again we surrendered the lead right at the end of the match as we have done in several recent matches. I think we are good enough for a top five position but dropping points late in games could well mean we don't quite make it. By the way, you forgot to add your trademark ....... ;-)
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Post by Rjc70 »

mick red wrote:Well as a Dover fan I was behind the goal for both.... Rice had no chance for the first one...Hart or Lloris wouldn't have got to it. The second was a scramble and your number 16 (who for the record was the biggest shirt puller I have ever seen) got in the way. Rice made two excellent saves in the second half and I thought marshalled your back four really well!
Torquay were an entertaining side to watch with the ball on the ground.... All of our defenders are over 6' so you were pants with the long ball.
Great fans it was a pleasure to have you at Crabble... Playoffs beckon for you I reckon :)
Thanks for the insight as you will have had a much better view of your goals than most Gulls fans there would have. I agree that Rice had no chance with your first goal and enjoyed the hospitality last night. You've got a very nice clubhouse and it was good to chat with one or two of your regulars over a drink. Enjoy the trip to Cheltenham.
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Post by A Realist »

I see Dover beat Cheltenham today in the cup away. Even though they are regarded as a small club, you have to admire the form they are currently in.
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