Accrington Stanley vs Torquay United - Saturday 26th Feb

[Trojan 67]

Robinson and Kee off has done us. Thank you very much Mr Buckle, you have cocked this one up big time.

[CP Gull]

Sounds like we got what we deserved from this game ... NOTHING.

I agree with Dave Thomas, why did Bucks take Robinson off (again!!!!) so early - surely his pace up front and ability to nick a goal was worth keeping him on? No doubt he (Robinson) will not want to hang around at the end of the season he'' be off and who can blame him? OK he starts every game (so far) but why is he always hauled off after an hour????

Clearly the lapse in concentration by Ellis (again) hasn't helped our cause but really we should have been sat on a lead by that stage with the chances created.

The substitutions were so negative and clearly we tried to hang on for the 0-0 draw butr as we know that never seems to work for us so why do we insist on persevering with it?

The inevitable happened, they scored, and by that stage we had no goal threat left up front with both Robinson and Kee gone ...

Disappointing end to a disaapointing week ... and still no new striker?

Oh well, just have to hope the Riugger boys do the business now ........

[royalgull]

Dearie me. Not really, the guy has smeared one in from 25 yards. You want to blame someone? Blame Ellis for getting sent off and leaving us f*cked for the 2nd half. Better to even let the guy score and go in 1-0 down with 11 than it is 0-0 with 10.

Bucks has changed it to try and stop them scoring, I listened and Potts didn't have to do too much but what can you do if someone whacks one in from range?

We're probably going to lose the odd game unfortunately, today was one of them. Never going to be easy, disgusting conditions ,crap pitch, should have scored in the 1st half - didn't, paid the price for having 10 players and not killing the game 1st half.

be a good game Tuesday, onwards and upwards.

[SuperNickyWroe]

sort it out buckle!

[TUFC92]

Dearie me. Not really, the guy has smeared one in from 25 yards. You want to blame someone? Blame Ellis for getting sent off and leaving us f*cked for the 2nd half. Better to even let the guy score and go in 1-0 down with 11 than it is 0-0 with 10.

Bucks has changed it to try and stop them scoring, I listened and Potts didn't have to do too much but what can you do if someone whacks one in from range?

We're probably going to lose the odd game unfortunately, today was one of them. Never going to be easy, disgusting conditions ,crap pitch, should have scored in the 1st half - didn't, paid the price for having 10 players and not killing the game 1st half.

be a good game Tuesday, onwards and upwards.

Have to agree, if Ellis hadn't got himself sent off then it could, and maybe would, have been a whole different story.

For everyone saying why take all our strikers off, he didn't. If you are down to 10 men, do you really want to have 3 strikers on the pitch? Zebroski is as much of a striker as Robinson is, and can do just as good a job upfront on his own as Kee.

[royalgull]

Precisely. He did it at Oxford and we won 2-0. Accrington haven't carved us up, they've scored a long range pot shot. With 10 men once you go 1 down it's a tough ask, and like you say playing 3 forwards with just 10men on the field gives you no balance and is suicide.

We've lost for the first time in 5, we still have an outside chance of a top 7 finish but whatever happens we are doing just fine.

[Trojan 67]

I've just listened to the Paul Buckle interview on Radio Devon. Summing it up he says we failed to take our chances when on top and then we were up against it when Ellis was dismissed.

NO SH*T SHERLOCK !!!

The fact is we kept it 0-0 until the prospective Premier League genius took off a second forward and put on a defender.

If that is not asking for it then I don't know what is. It's a recurring error that's happening with alarming frequency.

[JamieE]

Precisely. He did it at Oxford and we won 2-0. Accrington haven't carved us up, they've scored a long range pot shot. With 10 men once you go 1 down it's a tough ask, and like you say playing 3 forwards with just 10men on the field gives you no balance and is suicide.

We've lost for the first time in 5, we still have an outside chance of a top 7 finish but whatever happens we are doing just fine.

My biggest moan is taking off Robinson (in any match but especially today). Kee isn't a target man, nor has he got the pace to run the channels - he's not a man to play away from home with 10 men. He should have been taken off and replaced with Lathrope. You'd have the four at the back, Stanley, Oastler and Lathrope in the middle, and then two pacy forwards in Zebs and Robinson to latch on to clearances. That at least gives you some stability with the chance of a pacy counter attack with our two best players.

In the circumstances, what with the opposition, the conditions, what happened on Tuesday - conceding a goal was almost inevitable once Robinson came off for what always was going to be the ineffective Gilligan, and then Kee coming off for LRT was the final nail in the coffin.

I rarely have a dig about players and tactics but I believe Bucks got it wrong today.

[Trojan 67]

For the record, I'm stone cold sober at the moment. I'll state now that I'm a fan of Paul Buckle but I'm not blind, deaf, dumb and numb to his daft decisions. When I come back in from a night on the fizzy pop, I'll either have calmed down or the "Buckle Out" animal will be truly out of its box. :devil:

[Wisconsin_gull]

Remind me - how much did we think Ellis was worth a month ago...?
A game of two months!

Shared hardship develops strong teams...Rotherham on Tuesday night, no time to feel sorry, big girl knickers on - go again!

COYY

[TUFC92]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but while LRT is a defender, and yes, he was brought on for a forward, did he actually play at the back? I believe Buckle went 4-4-1, which I can't see the problem with in all honesty. 15 minutes to go, brought LRT on to keep us a bit safer, and on a pitch like accringtons, with our record there as well, I don't see the problem with holding out for a 0-0 when down to 10 men.

Like Royal said, we weren't carved open by them, it was a 25 yard shot that in all honesty would of probably gone in whether we were down to ten men or not! According to bbc, we had more possession, and more attempts on goal.

Think it was more down to the fact we didn't take our chances, than the subs that bucks made....

[Jeff]

Sorry for taking so long to post a report, it's a long way from anywhere in accrington! I've not had the chance to read all the posts after the game, so apologies if I don't really give you any new information.

What was always going to be a bad day nearly started even worse, when (when we had already got to huddersfield) we found out via mansells twitter that there was a pitch inspection. O.k so the game was playable, but we know we were in for a hard slog.

And sure enough when i clapped eyes on it, it was worse than I could have imagined. Bumpy, stodgy in the goal mouths and through the centre. But that said, it wasn't the only reason we struggled.

Stanley played a surprisingly good game. The first 20mins or so they passed the ball around tidily on the awful surface, stretching us at times. We were struggled to keep control and play our game. The side bucks had selected was perfect for the conditions, go big at the back and move manse into midfield as today was no day for the fleet-footed Macklin or O'kane.

The pattern of play was rather like the Cheltenham game, in the sense that Stanley had a lot of the ball but did nothing with it. Gone are the days of feeding the ball into Mullin to hold up and lay off. Terry Gornell is a handful, but no giant, little strength and not great at linking up. I think in the whole half Stanley only had 2 shots - one wild shot over the top which dipped and swerved in the wind, and the free kick after the sending off which was well of target. Besides a couple of smothers, Potter had a quiet half.

Us, on the other hand, could not get the passing game going but once we got the ball into good positions we generally did something with it. Mansell and Robinson both had sighters from long range, but our best work was from set pieces. One Nico corner kick was met by a sweet header drop Ellis, only denied by an outstanding save from the home keeper. From the resulting corner, we changed the deliver from Nico to Stanley, and his out swinger was met by a diving header from Ellis which went fractions wide. Slightly critical, but he was so close in he could have done better.

After the success of the cross-field ball to Robinson at Cheltenham, we tried that again with near-success. Edwards intercepted with a back header, which was weak and Jake nipped in but the keeper was able to get enough of the ball to deflect it away. In all this time, the best Stanley could muster was their centre half Hessey wildly slashing a few long balls out of play, while we had a couple of close shaves from corners where Branston almost opened his account for us. Gulls on top in terms of chances and all looking good, although it was finely poised due to the home sides greater use of possession.

The turning point came right at the end of the half. A routine long kick from the home keeper took an irregular bounce and missed everyone. Gornell found himself clean through........and their looked to be contact. Sure,Gornell went down slowly but there was a decision to be made, and the ref followed the letter of the law. Until I see it again, I can't really argue. The free kick came to nothing and the half ended, and what was clearly set up as a containment job suddenly was about to become a lot harder with us facing being a man down, playing up the slope and into the wind.

And sure enough, we were on the back foot straight away. Stanley were forcing pressure but still no real chances, but it was wave after wave of attack. We just simply could not get out of our half, the ball wasn't sticking up front and we were losing out in centre mid. We had reverted to 4-4-1, but we were creaking.

Now i have seen some posts that ridicule the subs, but I'm sorry I just can't agree. As soon as we went down to 10, given the circumstances, the best we could do was hang on for a point. Robinson was slipping in and out of the game throughout his spell on pitch. We needed a more orthodox winger with a bit of strength, hence why Gilligan was brought on. Yes robinson was probably our best hope of magic, but there had only been glimpses of that on such a rough pitch and there was no indication he was going to produce the goods really. Buckle had to shore up, and that he did.

Kee had a below par game, but in bringing LRT on he did not simply bring on a defender. LRT actually played left mid, and was clearly instructed to get about. He was popping up in the centre, at the back and up front, and won a few tackles too. It was quite an impressive little cameo out of position, and with kee making no impact it was again done with shoring us up in mind.

The second half barely saw us break out of our half, but one glimpse of what might have been was when zebs dug the ball out in the centre and set off for goal. The rate at which he did the Stanley backline for pace was frightening, but unfortunately he could only shoot weakly at the keeper with his weaker foot. It was the one and only time we got him running at the defense - otherwise he looked a little off his best and threw a couple of minor tantrums.

Our stubborn resistance wasn't helped by some increasingly inconsistent refereeing. Zebs was being manhandled everytime we tried to hit him with a long ball to no reward, whereas Stanley were resorting to their usual tactics of trying to win everything was winning them more free kicks than they deserved. But a combination of solid handling and some frantic last ditch defending kept them out. One almighty scramble saw Nico just about deflect a shot wide, and a long range piledriver was flicked over the bar by the head of Oastler with potter seemingly beaten.

But just like Tuesday, just when I thought I couldn't see Stanley scoring they did. It actually stemmed from our attacking free kick which was poor and cleared. Stanley broke, but manse saw it out for a throw and lobbed the ball into the crowd to waste a bit of time. From the throw, Craney was able to take it short and turn inside. Our man (Oastler?) didn't get tight, and Craney unleashed a long ranger than dipped in. It wasn't quite in the top corner, so I question whether potter could have done better, but it was a good hit all the same.

We never managed to retaliate. We brought on Eunan out of desperation really as he was our only attacking sub, but he was never going to have an impact. In fact, as we pushed Stanley began exploiting the space. Potter had to make a smart save, McConville clipped the outside of the post and generally we were creaking. We tried Branno up front and lumping it to him, but to no avail. Stanley showed us how to kill a game off by winding the clock down with plenty of possession deep in our half.

As I said this morning I didn't expect anything, and expected even less given the state of the pitch. Stanley played the conditions better overall, but we had the chances to score. The sending off definately changed the balance of play, but with us playing uphill and into the wind I'd have been interested to see how we would have held out. I for one am not going to criticise bucks for the subs - we were well onto the back-foot and showed no sign of getting out of it. I don't blame him for trying to toughen us up and stick with what we had.

The ratings will be pretty hard to do as no-one really stood out either way, but here goes.

Potter - 7 - handled what he had to do well in nasty goalmouth. Distribution good, no mistakes.
Robbo - 6.5 - solid, won a lot although distribution was not a strong point
Branston - 7.5 - my MOTM. Accomplished in both areas, did everything he needed to do
Ellis - 6.5 - was looking good for MOTM until the sending off. Most likely gull to score, looking back to assured best at the back, but at the end of the day it was he who got sent off and I want to see it again to see how much at fault he was
Nico - 6 - quiet. Good set piece delivery though which we missed, but positionally tended to wander inside
Mansell - 6.5 - got stuck in in the middle of the park, missed his bite when he went to right back
Oastler - 6 - not as noticeably good as at Cheltenham IMO
Stanley - 7 - good set piece delivery, good in the tackle and tried to get things going
Robinson - 6 - brightest spark up front for us, but has a bad tendency to drift out of the game. No surprised we took him off as he barely touched the ball second half
Kee - 5.5 - nothing went for him. Never got close to the goal, didn't do enough for me
Zebs - 6 - not his finest effort, partially because he was battered and bruised by the home centre halves with no punishment. Didn't track back like he did at say Barnet, started moaning like he used to a little bit which I thought he'd got out of his system.

Subs:
Gilligan - 6.5 - was the right sub to make and actually did o.k down our right, linked up a bit and got out wide
LRT - 6.5 - clearly under instructions to get I'm amongst it. Won a few tackles in the centre and added bite
O'kane - 5.5 - little time to impress, and didn't

Reading some of the posts on here I feel I may be sticking my head abovethe parapet with my comments regarding the subs, but that was how I called it. We were in control first half when conditions were in our favour, but unfortunately we will never know how we would have fared second half with 11 men. As it was, Buckle could see we wernt going to win the game 10mins into the second half, and tried to focus on getting a point. And but for a great hit, we might well have done it and it would have been a significant point gained given the pitch/sending off/ fixture pile up.

I anticipate some debate about this game, so look forward to further feedback from other attendees.

130 miles done, 130 to go!!!!

[Southampton Gull]

Great report as always Jeff. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, safe trip home.

[TUFC92]

Great report Jeff, cheers! Have a good and safe trip home!

[andygull]

Been today and i wish i hadn't. Aside from the town of Accrington and its environs being the arse end of nothing, we were poor. Never had been here before and will never go again!! Its grim as ****!!! Anyway i thought the defence did well today, not helped by our ineffective strikeforce not being able to retain possession. Branston was immense and as for the sending off i honestly couldn't say as i was too far away. It looked like Ellis tugged the guy back and he did look like last man but i couldn,t be sure until i see it on telly. Robinson did well and suprised he was taken off. Zebs was atrocious once again and got on my nerves! As for the goal it was a cracker out of the blue but i do thinki that Potter could have made more of an effort to save it (ie dive) as it was on his left side and he was already standing at the left hand side of the goal already, again maybe a bit harsh but watching on tv will make my mind up. All in all a very laboured performance which should have seen us at least a goal up before the dismissal but we ain't got no points so i am pissed off! Highlight of the day was having dinner at the Pendle Inn in witchcraft country, which Accrington most certainly is. They all look like witches...........and thats just the blokes!!!!