Next 8 Games

[portugull]

Dartford Away 12th

Eastbourne Away 18th

Tonbridge Home 10th

Weymouth Home 17th

Hemel Hempstead Home 14th

Chelmsford City Away 6th

Truro Home 21st

Truro Away 21st.

Only one opponent in the Top 9 teams in the Table with 4 Home and 4 Away.

A good run and the return by January 1st of all injured players and we could be in a good place.

[Dave]

All depends on what each person perceives 'a good place' to be, there's only one automatic promotion spot as we know, that's 1st, Yeovil who made 7 changes to their regular line-up are 13pts plus GD ahead, they are 5 wins ahead of us, we're not catching up with them full stop.

So it's the play offs at best now, Dartford who finished 2nd lost to St Albans in the SF, we know nothing is guaranteed, home advantage is needed as we could face any number of teams with an artificial pitch, so I believe the only good place for us has gone.

And we talk about all these but in reality how many absent players would enhance the team that started yesterday, to me only Lapslie and Jarvis. Dawson hasn't played and is looking like a write off, Lovett seems to have done really well in Halstead absence.

So we may have lost numbers but in reality not quality, I actually wonder whether some these injuries have been a blessing, my own criticism of GJ and he is stubborn, has been his recent tendacy to put square pegs in round holes to fit favourite players in, yesterday forced to put square pegs in square holes, and it's reported the teams best 90 minute performance so far, no surprise really.

2nd or at worst 3rd place finish is required, after this run of games we'll know whether the team has that within.

[happytorq]

Only one promotion spot and it does seem to have gone already. With that said there are still 29 games left.

For now our job is to concentrate on getting into that top 7 - ideally 2nd in case Yeovil hit a bad patch. Assuming we make the playoffs we'd most likely be the favourites to go up, and that, after all (I know it can be hard to remember given how things have gone so far) was our preseason aim/expectation

[portugull]

Dave in 95/96 Newastle led Liverpool by 12 points and Liverpool won the Premier League Title.

If it can happen to big clubs it is more likely to happen in the lower Leagues. Lots of examples.

Its never over till its over.

Right now Yeovil are short odds to win NLS but there is a long way to go when its Mid November.

[exilegull]

Dave in 95/96 Newastle led Liverpool by 12 points and Liverpool won the Premier League Title.

Fairly sure you mean Manchester United, not Liverpool

[North Curry House]

Fairly sure you mean Manchester United, not Liverpool

That was when Keegan absolutely lost it in a total meltdown. " I would love it if........."

That was no surprise Newcastle could not hold their advantage at the top, with Keegan losing it big time.

We are unlikely to challenge. My prediction, which I shared with Yeovil Directors and Management yesterday,bthey will win league by 20-25 points.

Great to see Chris Todd after the match. I would have back anyday.

[The Eternal Optimist]

Don't write us off yet for the title. You don't have to look at the Premiership for an example of a runaway club losing it in the end. It was only a couple of seasons ago that Torquay were twelve points ahead in Feb / March and we still missed out on automatic promotion. It's a long way to go to the end of the season, and anything can happen. I wouldn't bet on Yeovil yet.

[Dave]

Yes indeed it was Manchester United. All due respect to Portugull back in the mid 1990's there wasn't the strength in depth in the premier league we see today Manchester United were the stand out team at the time, they'd had a poor first 3rd of the season, and the Newcastle team they chased down were never really that good, bit like some thinking Chelsea can chase down Manchester City today, with a top 10 in the top flight all capable of winning on the day, whilst Chelsea beat Spurs, they've lost to Aston Villa and Brentford, and we're facing, have faced the same situation.

There are comparisons between todays NLS and the Premier league of the mid 1990's, Yeovil are the stand out team, and below the top 6 or so there's little strength, so while we look at a run of fixtures that could, note could see and decent points return, by the same token Yeovil at some point will have the same run of fixtures, however as stated are already effectively 5 wins ahead of us.

So at some point Yeovil will have to lose 5 games, while TUFC win 5 games at the same time, are there 5 teams capable of beating Yeovil while our own team go on a sustained winning run, nope it's not going to happen.

If we look at the starting line up's for every game lost so far, you'll the likes of Hall, Lapslie, Jarvis, Collins etc have played in most if not all of those games.

[Cheddargull]

Don't write us off yet for the title. You don't have to look at the Premiership for an example of a runaway club losing it in the end. It was only a couple of seasons ago that Torquay were twelve points ahead in Feb / March and we still missed out on automatic promotion. It's a long way to go to the end of the season, and anything can happen. I wouldn't bet on Yeovil yet.

But then Sutton had a lot of games in hand over us, at present Yeovil lead us by 13 points after playing the same number of games. Unless we can cut out the inconsistency we are not going to be able to take advantage if Yeovil have a blip.

[portugull]

My mistake I think Newcastle led by 12 points at which stage Liverpool were 2nd but as you rightly say Manchester United won the title.

I agree Yeovil will probaly win the title all I am saying is that history records many seasons when a team has a big lead but ultimately for all sorts of reasons does not actually win their League.

[brucie]

we have no chance of catching Yeovil. Most teams in this league are poor. Barring a really big injury crisis theres not enough teams capable of beating them

[happytorq]

So at some point Yeovil will have to lose 5 games, while TUFC win 5 games at the same time, are there 5 teams capable of beating Yeovil while our own team go on a sustained winning run, nope it's not going to happen.

That's not how any 'comeback' will work. It'll be us winning away after playing crap while Yeovil only get a draw. If it's to happen, it'll be a slow overhauling of the deficit over weeks and months.

I still don't think it'll happen, but if we get on a decent run and then by february the gap is only 5 or 6 points, things could start to get *really* interesting

[AdrianC]

Going back in time to that great day at Wembley in 1991…. I believe Blackpool were second bottom in March but could have won the title had they won the last match. Yes that was obviously a phenomenal run, but it shows it can be done!

[Mr Tea808]

I don't mean to sound like capt obvious, but the game isn't played on paper, we need to do a few things and it's mainly a mindset of being prepared, focused and professional, if we can be consistent and go on a run nothing is impossible, but it's highly unlikely in my opinion, you can NEVER underestimate anyone in this league or turn up being complacent, just because they look straightforward on paper it doesn't always pan out that way, for what it's worth don't write off Maidstone, Worthing and Dartford are both decent teams, Braintree looked alright against us earlier on, it isn't just Yeovil, ourselves and the rest are crap, no way, we should have a major advantage being full time, the next 8 games up to Christmas will be interesting.

[Taelee73]

Seem to remember we were about 10 points clear on at least 2 occasions in my time supporting Torquay,, the first under Dave Smith I think, and the second more recently, eventually on both occasions we didn't finish top.

Yeovil will have a bad patch, even the best teams do, it's just whether anyone's close enough to take advantage. They have 4 or 5 away games now I think and if they come through those then fair play to them.

They have a strong squad and like others have said, I don't think they'll mess up badly enough to be caught.

I do feel more optimistic after the last few games, with some decent new players here, Dolan is just what we've needed, hopefully Desilva if used correctly. It's our injury situation that's always proved too much for us, hopefully now we have a decent squat to cope with this.

The last few seasons we've been a lot stronger after Christmas, so you never know.