Torquay United v Northampton Town - 15/12/12

[holsten]

Annoyed that we let it slip, again.

I'm not coming on here to moan, let's be positive. Craig and Easton were outstanding today, and it's good to see Danny getting back into things.

Thought the fans did their bit today in a small crowd where I've never seen the bench look so empty! Some of you may have noticed we had a big banner at the start saying 'say yes to standing'. Just to clear things up, that was backing the PFA and 13 clubs inc Argyle, Palace and Villa's idea to bring 'safe standing' back into the Premier League as well as lower league clubs. The likes of Chesterfield and Rotherham are now building all-seater stadiums despite their league positions for the inevitable that standing would be completely evaporated from English Football all together.

Disappointed, but bring on City!

[holsten]

[Neal]

Fair result for me.

Stevens made the goal, great pass for Jarvis and he beat his man easily.

Why on earth did the ref allow the teams to play in the same colour, I'm colour blind and couldn't tell who was who, ruined the 1st half for me. Someone must have complained as we came out in the 2nd half in our away kit.

Angus did well, easton, Mansel, Jarvis and Craig also

You could see the equaliser coming!

[jonnyfive]

Yes you could, and so should've Lingy. Drab performance in the main. We need a decent creative midfielder, and we also need to not play Craig wide right. A dribbler can can play on their 'wrong' side, but he is not that sort of player.

Very frustrating today. Ling seems to want to win 1-0 every game... not a good strategy in terms of points or entertainment.

[jonnyfive]

Disagree that we deserved only to draw today, we have got all round them all afternoon and all Pokey has done is punch a couple and field a couple comfortably. Their keeper MOTM again, how many times is that now this season?

My learned friend Brucie is, as usual, (deliberately) completely wrong. Jarvo injured, hence his removal. Ling pushed for the second by taking off the excellent but tiring and increasingly ineffective Stevens and replacing him with Tommo.

We played well today. The back 4 did really well against two really big strikers, neither of whom got anything like the possession they would have expected.

Special mention for Nathan Craig who was unbelievably good at times today. His tenacity and the pass out to Danny for the goal were worthy of some horrific Frankenstein cross between Manse and Eunan.

Matt.

We didn't play well, except for minutes 46-60. Their keeper had very little to do, and it it is ludicrous to suggest he was MOTM. Craig was half-decent as a square peg in a round hole but did nothing of any consequence.

As someone who lives 4 hours' drive away, I dearly love my visits to Plainmoor, but today I confessed to my old man that, if I were local and did not have a season ticket, I would have to give serious thought to coughing up £20 every other week. Boring football.

[gullintwoplaces]

Bit surprised at the negative comments on here, although this seems par for the course. I felt that the first half was poor, from both sides, although we showed much more right at the end of the half when a mad offside decision robbed us of a clear run at goal. The second half was good entertainment, end to end, plenty of decent attacking football. You don't usually get 90 minutes of entertainment at any game, one good half is normal at this level (I've seen a few televised games where you don't get even that).

Our defence was strong, Poke excellent and the two central defenders performed very well against a dangerous Northampton forward line. Our midfield performed well, winning a lot of ball and distributing well, particularly Easton. Ryan Jarvis had a good game, showing that he can deliver when playing just behind a main front runner, and he could have scored more than one. Rene did well to keep going when he was clearly suffering from an injury, at times it looked lihe he was playing the Northampton Saints rather than the football club, no surprise that the Cobblers received yellow cards.

If we made any mistake (if you can call it that), it was not scoring more than one when we had the opportunity to do so. Northampton always looked capable of scoring, and there was a sense of inevitability at the end when they did. We did NOT "sit back" towards the end of the game, it was just that Northampton threw everything in coming forward, and there was nothing that Ling could have done to prevent this. The weather at the end was appalling, and Torquay were defending with strong rain blowing into their faces. I can't fault the team for their effort yesterday, nor Ling for his team selection or tactics.

The ref was good, incapably supported by two poor "assistant referees". The grey haired lino on the pop side needs to go back to lino school to relearn the offside law, since he clearly hasn't got a clue. Final word about Fatty Akinfenwa. He looked very dangerous, powerful, got himself into good positions and could have scored. He was managed superbly by the Gulls defence, evidenced by the fact that he complained to the ref every five minutes about something or other. He is an impressive sight at times, but what a whingeing, whining fat boy he is.

[Neal]

I also think the pitch looked in a poor state especially in from of the Bench. Doesn't make it easy for pretty passing football and hoof ball will be effective on a pitch like that and especially in the conditions we had yesterday.

I agree, Northampton threw everything at us in the last minutes and with their strong and big attack it was difficult to defend, we did very well actually and no blame can be laid on anyone.

[goodluckgull]

I am also suprised at the amount of negative comments.It was a good entertaining game. Goal line clearances and physical challenges. I loved it when Manse lost the ball but raced back to win the ball back. I really hope Jarv's ribs are not broken. It would be a real shame to loose him now. I dont think its realistic to expect 90 mins of electric football. There are always going to be those cagey moments and lulls. In my opinion the Torquay boys played a great game and handled the difficult conditions well.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Also about yesterday, very disappointed with their fans. Credit to the ones that made the journey ( mine was 80 miles more though ) but for a club who regularly get about 2000 home fans more than us, the turnout was poor even given the closness to Christmas. No doubt if it was us playing at Northampton yesterday we would have taken far more than they brought to Plainmoor. Also the ones that were there didn't even sing!! Bah humbug!

[portugull]

Over from Portugal for 5 games.
Enjoyed an entertaining game. Took my 10 year old grandaughter to her 2nd match. She loved it!
Sat in Bench.Bought seats over the phone and Plainmoor sold me a Season Ticket holders seat! Just as well it was not next week via Exeter.
We are a match for most teams. Very impressed again by Nathen Craig. Great left foot .He should be encouraged to shoot more often. So nearly scored from distance. Not a winger . Surely Martin Ling knows he should play in midfield.
Aaron and young Angus were superb. Danny did well to create the goal taken well by Jarvis who had a good game. I thought everyone did well and if Jarvis or Danny had got their head on a cross soon after we scored we would have had 3 points.
So looking forward to Exeter and Argyle. 6 points would really make us contenders.

[Trojan 67]

shame your recent illness has done nothing for the old bladder though mate..

I get well bladdered on the occassion I first meet the forum Daves(forever and SG), then consequently get labelled with being a constantly dribbling dick!

:whip:



[quote="ferrarilover]
Should also have mentioned the return of the Trojan to the fold in my last post. Big Al was back among the TQ1 faithful where he quite rightly belongs and we were all very glad to see him. All except the steward who asked to search his "bag" on the way in, not a mistake he'll be making again in a hurry, I venture.

Matt.[/quote]



Not as funny as the store detective in Lidl following me and seeing every fiddle and adjustment of the "bag" as an attempt to deposit unpaid for goods!

[AustrianAndyGull]

I reckon you use the 'bag' in a positive way Troj and have some fun out of a bad situation. Maybe someone could use you as a decoy in shops seems as you court that much attention from store detectives, they would then be free to pilfer to their hearts content whilst you distract them! You could charge and make some cash mate. :devil:

(In no way am i condoning shoplifting in any way, shape or form on this forum but if it's from the Greeks or Gargs club shops then that is acceptable =D )

[ferrarilover]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20747437#asset

He was watching a different game to me. They had 6 shots on target, 3 from crazy distance which Pokey was all over, one went in, that leaves two. Since they would have both had to have gone in for NTFC to have won by two, I guess he is suggesting that Pokey should have failed to deal with a routine speculative effort. What a bloody clown. Despite what J5 has erroneously claimed above, their keeper made two very good saves and NTFC got lucky a number of times that our strikers have absolutely no idea where they should be for best effect when the ball is out wide. But for that, it was a handsome home win.

Matt.

[AustrianAndyGull]

I forgot to bring something up about the game which i thought odd at the time but i'd forgotten until now. Apart from the floodlights, the lighting to all the stands was turned off all the way through the game. I've not seen this happen before at other grounds and just wondered if Torquay do it regularly? Obviously it saves on electricity but i found it a bit weird. Anyone know anything?

[LukeGull]

Haven't really noticed it much, but I think the lights in the stands have been turned off in recent games... Not entirely sure though so you might have to get somebody who has a better eye for detail to answer. The only reason I think they have been turned off is because I seem to remember them turning them off the second an evening game started. I have no idea why though