TUFC v Hereford United, Football League 2, 29/10/11

[SuperNickyWroe]

you got a list of suspects super?

"list" being the operative word...............

[SuperNickyWroe]

18/1 bodin any time torquay 2-0, small profit today

nice one bixie!

we get a clean sheet and you pocket a few coins!

plymuff losing - burton 6!!

[bixieupnorth]

optimistic again, so going 2-0 howe and bodin

PARRRP, sound of me blowing my own trumpet!!

[SuperNickyWroe]

PARRRP, sound of me blowing my own trumpet!!

swellhead.

[NA Gull]

Just back from the game. Decent performance and probably more comfortable than the 2-0 suggests. Look a much more confident and resolute side now. Biggest change for me has been Lathrope who has allowed both Mansell and Okane to play their natural game. Having Okane 20 yards further forward makes a massive differnce.

Fair play to Saah who was excellent today alongside Ellis. Stevens as well is a different player to the one under Buckle. More direct, more confident and looking much more of a threat.

We can get a result if we play the way we have at Crewe next week.

[HRG]

Fantastic result. Eagerly awaiting everyone's match reports.

[SuperNickyWroe]

Just back from the game. Decent performance and probably more comfortable than the 2-0 suggests. Look a much more confident and resolute side now. Biggest change for me has been Lathrope who has allowed both Mansell and Okane to play their natural game. Having Okane 20 yards further forward makes a massive differnce.

Fair play to Saah who was excellent today alongside Ellis. Stevens as well is a different player to the one under Buckle. More direct, more confident and looking much more of a threat.

We can get a result if we play the way we have at Crewe next week.

thanks for that NA Gull.
Look forward to the usual high standard of full match reports! :~D

and looking at the MOTM thread so far it appears that Mr Ellis had a "fairly" good game............ 8/

[MuzDog]

Torquay now joint top scorers at home with Crawley, both on 20 goals. But having only got five on our travels, we've scored the fewest away from home...

[the_shredder]

This is the 3rd game i've seen now, and 3rd victory

Must say, i was hoping we would not fall victim to the typical "1 half performance" it sounds like we have been doing all season, but what a great game, we must have had 20 average-to-good chances and it could have been 4 or 5 nil. The team played well, Nicho deserved MoM for me, outstanding first half. The team all looked a bit tired in the dying stages but who can blame them, they really pulled their socks up and showed they are eager to win.

I saw a team today that could beat anyone in this league, and also a team that could lose to anyone in the league. Unfortunately i'm talking about us in both instances (although hereford were awful, 90% of the first half was in their half) we have a good team but by no means a great team. But all we can ask is they try, and play well, and pull of a win against teams that are in the bottom half, and that's what we've done today with almost ease. We do still need to iron out a few things, but i think Ellis has obviously made a difference. Still not sure on Saah, even in the 3 wins i don't really rate him, so the mind boggles as to how he has kept his place throughout the losses...

Anyway, awesome game, good win, and think we should be capable of a near playoff chase so long as we can play like that against better teams. And who knows, if we can bring in another decent centre half, and a decent striker, we have the makings of a team that can go somewhere!

[SuperNickyWroe]

Torquay now joint top scorers at home with Crawley, both on 20 goals. But having only got five on our travels, we've scored the fewest away from home...

MuzDog - what you like?? :no:

you build us all up like that and then knock us down!! :~D

[Louis]

Quick post from me before I hit the town for the night...

Massive thank you to Steve (exilegull) for inviting forevergull, Billy, Dave and myself along with him as match ball sponsors this afternoon - safe trip back to Switzerland. We played very well today and won possession most of the game, Hereford's long ball tactics didn't do them many favours. There were some great saves by Olejnik at back! We should have won by a lot more goals. Well done united, keep this going.

[Colorado Gull]

Another win that’s two on the trot now and the game finished with the fans believing in Ling more strongly. We won the game 2-0 and deservedly so. Let’s get into the Match Report then.

The players came out onto the pitch by the away end with confidence after a fantastic 4-0 win over Wimbledon on Tuesday. The Yellow Army singers were also up by the away end cheering on the team throughout the whole game. The Hereford fans came in good numbers giving their team great support their first away win of the season.

Well when the game kicked off there wasn’t really much action. Danny had a nice spell of possession in the early stages. Then Stevens was involved with the play again, when a kick from Bobby Olejnik came to Howe who flicked it onto Danny. Stevens then ran with the ball, but the Hereford defender knocked the ball out for a corner. Unfortunately that corner didn’t cause Hereford’s defence any trouble. Eunan O’Kane was also playing well just like Tuesday when he was on fire. O’Kane did well charging at the Hereford players before they could kick the ball clear. Bodin showed great skill linking with Howe and O’Kane. As a result we had a nice part of possession and won two corners. Nicholson played in both with the 2nd being more effective. Ellis got up fantastically well when the second corner came in but his header just went over.

Then Hereford started playing some nice football winning a corner. They were playing around the park nicely and it caused our defence to clear. Saah was tackling well and Ellis was heading well all game. Oastler was solid in the first half; he had a great run in the first half with no Hereford defender putting a challenge on him. Nicholson was also playing well linking up well with Eunan and Stevens. Then Eunan O’Kane put pressure on the Hereford defenders causing them to clear quicky, kicking the ball straight out of play.

We had the best chance of the game so far when O’Kane and Mansell linked up. The Torquay skipper ran forward eager to get a 7th goal of the season, passed the ball to Eunan. O’Kane then side footed his shot just wide, skimming the post. If I’m being honest that was the only big chance in the game, until the later stages of the first half. Firstly, we had another great chance to score from Howe. The big striker bullied his way through the defence and then he shot over. Minutes later we won a free kick when Bodin was fouled. Saah and Ellis came up for the free kick, but they weren’t needed, because Nicholson took the free kick and curled it straight in! The Here ford keeper saved it but saved it when the ball was over the line, 1-0! Then only a few minutes later the front men for Torquay were on the front foot. Bodin was standing in a great position with so much space in the middle of the box. He then was given the ball and his deflected shot went in the net, 2-0!

When the half time whistle blew Plainmoor filled with cheers and every fan applauded the men in yellow when they went back into the temporary changing rooms for a half time break. The Yellow Army led the chants and cheers for the players and the manager. It wasn’t a great action packed first half, and if I’m honest neither team played amazing. But we made our part of possession count with two goals and those two goals were rightly deserved.

In the second half the Yellow Army singers were still at the end of the pop cheering on the team accompanied by two drums, urging on the defence to keep a clean sheet. However Hereford had the best part of possession at the start of the 2nd half. Saah again tackled well and looked good at the back. After Saah tackled the ball came to Danny Stevens at pace, as a result the ball went out for a corner. Ellis once again got up well from the corner but nothing came from it. A few minutes later Mansell put in a great through ball to Bodin, but the man on loan from Swindon couldn’t get to it. The skipper reacted with annoyance that his great pass didn’t set up a goal scoring opportunity. Later on Billy Bodin again was up field, he shot at goal but his shot hit the side netting. The fans towards the end of the Popside half thought that it went in, but it sadly didn’t.

Before Bodin’s effort at goal, Hereford were still piling on the pressure, needing our defence to clear the danger away. Oastler then made a mistake on the wing slipping then allowing his man run into the space in front of him. The Hereford player then put a cross in but it was poor and came to Lathrope. Then Damon gave it to Howe, he then played it to Eunan. O’Kane ran down the wing with pace and urgency, he then passed to Danny Stevens, but the Hereford midfield was back in position and stopped the United charge.

Hereford then had a glorious chance to score, their best chance of the game. A ball came in from the right, and it came to the Hereford striker who had a free header at goal. He headed with power but Olejnik made a fantastic save to keep the score line at 2-0. For about 10-15 minutes it was mostly Hereford piling on the pressure trying to get a goal back. Joe Oastler was playing really well, dispite that mistake earlier on. He tackled really well and used his strength to a good effect.

Chris Mcphee and Taiwo Atieno came on for Danny Stevens and Rene Howe, two straight swaps but they weren’t made at the same time. With 10 minutes to go we had a corner. The corner came in a little bit too deep and Bodin retrieved the ball back. Bodin then played in a better ball with Saah getting on the end of it but his header went over the bar. Eunan O’Kane linked up well with Mansell who gave it to Oastler when he overlapped. Oastler gave it to Taiwo who was in a good position but his shot was deflected, it was unfortunate because it was a good move by the players.

Ellis was still heading the ball clear and playing well and he needed to because Hereford were trying hard to get on the score sheet, Oastler back defending, played well against the Hereford pressure. Bobby made another great save when the Hereford striker went through on goal one on one with the keeper. Olejnijk charged down the ball made the goal look small, and he saved well. That was the last best chance of the game.

So when the referee, who had an ok game, blew his whistle for the last time once again the ground filled with cheers and every Torquay fan had a smile on their face. A t the end of the day, we didn’t play too well coming forward in the 2nd half, except a few times which didn’t lead to a third goal. But our defence were on top form to keep the score at 2-0. Having said that Hereford didn’t play too well but that cannot dampen the defence performance. So all in all we deserved the victory and go on to play Crewe away next week.

Out of 10
Official's performance: 8

Defence: 9
Midfield: 8.5
Attack: 8.5

Team Performance: 8.5

And now for the individual ratings (Out of 10):

Olejnik 9.5 – Bobby once again played well. He made some fantastic saves to keep the score 2-0. He didn’t panic and got rid of the danger from corners with confidence, whether it was punching away danger or catching. His kicking was also very good.

Oastler 9.5 – Joe played very well, his best performance of the season. He tackled with skill and ran his socks off travelling up and down the pitch. He made some fantastic sliding tackles and got danger away quickly.

Saah 9 – Brain had one of his best games of the season, maybe his best. He headed and tackled really well. He cleared the danger away as well.

Ellis 9.5 – My MOTM also, he was fantastic. What I really like about Ellis is he times his headers with skill. His heading was at its best and he also cleared the ball away superbly. As I said in my match report on Tuesday, Ellis is the man we need at CB.

Nicholson 9 – Played very well, even after being shown on TV in a pinny and little else! He linked up with Danny, Eunan, Mansell and Howe really well. He delivered good crosses from corners as well. His goal was a nicely curled free kick.

Mansell 8.5 – Lee put in his usual 100% effort once again. He linked up with Nicho and Bodin well, and played well in the middle.

Lathrope 8.5 – Damon didn’t have as good a game as Tuesday but his performance today was still good. He tackled well and again allowed Mansell to come forward.

O’Kane 9 – Eunan played well again. I can remember a few times he jumped out of tackles but I gave him a 9 because he played well with skill linking up with the players around him and he ran forward with pace.

Bodin 9 – Billy played well and got into a good position for his goal. He linked up with Mansell and Nicho well. He also ran at the defenders with great skill.

Howe 8.5 – His performance was good and he used his strength to a good effect. He linked up with players around him and held the ball up well. He flicked on a good ball to Danny and he shot well at goal but sadly didn’t score.

Stevens 8 – Danny played well before he came off. He linked up with Nicho well and ran on the wing with a good effect.

Mcphee 6.5 – He came on at the later stages, but he did quite well tackling and linked up with Atieno well.

Atieno 5.5 – He had a good chance to score in the 2nd half, but for me he still didn’t look interested at times. But he made an improvement to when he came on, on Tuesday.

As I said earlier we go on to play Crewe away next Saturday.

[Dave]

As usual all cover brilliantly by Danny, nothing to add to that, other than this week was about points, wins not so much performances to me.

Hoped for 4 points from 6, and another pleasing performance, 6 points out 6 what a morale booster

[SuperNickyWroe]

great report danny. cheers.

[oxgull]

Really pleased and, boy, what a difference a weeks makes in football! Last week we were down and in a depression and now, 6 out of 6, and things look a whole lot better. Sounds like the confidence is flooding back. Well done lads, well done the yellow army!!! must get home again real soon and get on the popside and see you guys in B & L's.