Macclesfield Town v Torquay United, 14/01/12, League 2

[ferrarilover]

Moss Rose
Saturday January 14th 2012
KO 1500
Football League 2

Righty ho kids, please find below a BRILLIANT summary taken directly from the Macclesfield Town FC OS. (http://www.mtfc.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;-). Full credit and what-not goes to the author for his excellent work.

From the Gulls point of view, we are a little under strength going forward, but that is no different to how we were for the entirety of the festive period.
Rene Howe is serving the last of his 4 match ban for a genuinely dangerous tackle at Accrington, and Billy Bodin is still being wasted by the mad Nazi at Swindon, so we'll have to make do (so to speak) with Taiwo up front on his own, unless we get a loanee in between now and then.

At the back, we are entirely unaffected by the departure of Tom Aldred to wherever it was he came from.

Little was learned from the midweek charade against Willand Rovers, so I've no idea if Saah may be bench fit, nor if Macklin will be pushing for a starting birth to give us some extra attacking options.

Judging from the highlights of their cup match at home to Bolton at the weekend, their pitch will start off green, but cut up as the match goes on. That said, the ball seems to be running true enough that the game didn't ought to deteriorate into farce too quickly.

We've Met Before
The two sides have met on 21 previous occasions with the most memorable, from a Macclesfield perspective at least, obviously coming as the club's first ever match in the Football League.

Macc could have been ahead in the opening minute when Torquay full-back Andy Gurney scraped a header off the line from Efe Sodje. But no-one was going to stop the Nigerian from claiming his place in the history books and Sodje put the Silkmen 1-0 up when he powered home from four yards after Neil Howarth had flicked on a pin-point Colin Rose corner.

But Andy Gurney capitalised on some sloppy defending to smash home from short range to the relief of the Torquay contingent.

But it was Macclesfield's day and the Silkmen retook the lead as Neil Sorvel's angled volley was only parried by Torquay keeper Matthew Gregg and Richard Landon was on hand to poke home from point-blank range much to the delight of the home fans.

Since then there have been some memorable games between the two sides. The clubs have played out a 3-3 draw at the Moss Rose on no fewer than three occasions, once when the Silkmen had been 3-0 down after less than 10 minutes in 2002, and again in 2006. Torquay's biggest result came in 2004 with a 4-1 home win.

2006/7 saw the sides playing out a real relegation six pointer just after Christmas. It was in the midst of the great run of results that eventually pulled the Silkmen clear and Dave Morley sparked wild celebrations amongst the Macc following with a 90th minute goal.

The Gulls were relegated at the end of that season, but returned to the Football League for last season. And on their first return tothe Moss Rose, the Silkmen were 2-1 winners over the Gulls despite going a goal behind. Hamza Bencherif was the hero with two goals in seven minutes to win the game, whilst Torquay took revenge near the end of the season with a 1-0 home win.

Last season the formbook was upset by the Silkmen. Torquay were flying high in the division and were fourth going into the game. The Silkmen were third from bottom, but came away with a 3-1 win thanks to stunning strikes from Bencherif and Draper as well as a terriffic solo effort from Emile Sinclair.

The Silkmen netted three again at the Moss Rose as the home side twice enjoyed a two goal lead - first thanks to Tyrone Barnett and Colin Daniel to make it 2-0 before Jake Robinson made it 2-1. Moments later Hamza Bencherif added Macc's third, but a 74th minute penalty from Robinson and Guy Branston's last minute equaliser ended the game 3-3 - the THIRD time the two clubs have drawn by that scoreline.

Played for Both
Despite the geographical location of the two clubs, the Silkmen and the Gulls have had their fair share of players to represent both.

The Silkmen's squad has reasonably recently featured Steven Reed. He joined Torquay United initially on loan in 2006 and joined the club on a permanent deal the following summer. In total he played 26 matches for the Plainmoor side before leaving to join Tiverton.

Mustapha Carayol joined the Silkmen under Paul Ince, but never made an appearance for the club before following him to MK Dons. He joined Torquay in 2008 before moving on to join Lincoln in the summer of 2010.

Martin Gritton, meanwhile made his name at Torquay scoring 23 goals in 93 matches before eventually joining the Silkmen via Grimsby and Lincoln City, before rejoining Torquay on loan from Chesterfield last season.

Others to have played for both include Adam Murray, a transfer-fee signing from Plainmoor to the Moss Rose in January of 2007, Marcus Richardson, Darren Dunning, Mark Gardiner and Brian Joy.

How they'll line up.

The following is the team which featured against Bolton, so can reasonably be presumed to be their best XI.

01 Veiga
02 Bateson
03 Tremarco
05 Brown
14 Diagne
16 Brisley
11 Daniel
12 Mendy
17 Wedgebury
20 Hamshaw (Hewitt 78)
09 Donnelly

Their men to watch will be Veiga, their 'keeper. Unusually for a goalie, he's black. Not really relevant, but you don't see many, like black quarterbacks.
He's been about for ages and has always done well, so far as I know. Athletic and quick, he'll not be easy to beat.

Mendy is a massive French forward who scored Goal of the Round on Saturday with a 20 yards control and volley with his back to goal into the top corner.

I guess their number 2, Bateson, isn't Mike Bateson, but if it is, I predict a 12-0 away win. :~D

Don't worry if you didn't like this, Nick'll be back soon I expect.

Matt.

[AustrianAndyGull]

Top stuff Matt ( why are you called Ferrarilover anyway? cue obvious retort about loving Ferrari's no doubt! ). Looking forward to this one as i haven't seen the Gulls in action since our defeat in the FA Cup at Bramall Lane at the beginning of December. I planned to go to Plymouth but that's another story. . Looking at their squad it is actually quite good with a healthy smattering of quality players at this level. Veiga is poor though and don't be fooled by his heroics against Bolton, he is shite. We need to test him in the air but somehow with only Tai upfront i don't think we'll be bombarding him with high balls into the box. This game is a first for Macc i believe as it is their very first home league game where all tickets MUST be bought in advance of ko, no cash on the turnstiles i think and they can also be bought online for home fans. Great stuff. I am going for a drab 1-1 draw with Nico cracking in a free kick to rescue a point for us in the last 10 after going behind early doors. Anyone know who the ref is yet?

[ferrarilover]

It is for that exact reason Andy.

Thanks for notes on Veiga, I'm not sure quite who I'm think of when I suggest he's a decent stopper, it's not like I could confuse him with 99% of other goalies.

Matt.

[Gazzableedsgull]

Does the no tickets on the day apply to us as well?

[ferrarilover]

It's almost impossible to decipher their own forum, so in leaving it to the theory that if there were conditions upon us, the OS would have made it clear. Tim (webmaster general) and Andy Candy typically do a good job these days of getting their house in order, so if there's no notice on the OS, then I'd assume it's just a normal gate.

Matt.

[Dave]

Check with the club or ring Macclesfield direct, my understanding of it is, that Macc have gone down the same road as Swindon and many other clubs who do not take money on the turnstiles, you can still buy your ticket on the day , you will need to go to there ticket office.

At Swindon they have a "away fan's ticket office" right next to the away entrance, i dont know if Macc are doing the same.

[Dave]

For those going to Macclesfield on Saturday all the info about tickets you need is this link, there is a ticket window for away fan's.

http://www.mtfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0 ... 08,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AustrianAndyGull]

You can pay on the day it's just that there are no cash turnstiles and you would need to get a ticket from the away ticket office on London Road ( near the gravel car park ).

[Colorado Gull]

I've never been to Macclesfield and I can't go on Saturday, but I think we can get another win.

2-0 to the Torquay boys!

[Trojan 67]

The warm up comedian has finished his act.

Time now for all posters to get ready for tomorrow and the serious business of posting in earnest.

I'm crap at forcasting results of games, so I'll listen to it on Radio Devon and just hope for the best (a win).

[gulltastic]

1-2 to the gulls nico and o'kane to score

[AustrianAndyGull]

On one betting website they have 7 Macc players ahead of Tai to score first at 7/1 and under. Tai is 7/1 for us with Eunan at 10/1. I said Nico would score for us but i actually might go for Tai to score first at 7/1.

[ferrarilover]

Why would you, with Eunan (certainly no LESS likely to score first) at 10s over Tai at 7s?

Matt.

[Jeff]

Is there any likelihood of this game being off? Not that I live close, but down in Herts everywhere froze hard last night. Anyone know what the weathers been like up north?

[Silkyman]

There's an away ticket office just up from the away end gates. You can just pay there.

And one thing Jose Veiga isn't, is 'poor' or 'shite'

His heroics against Bolton were nothing really! At the risk of totally jinxing him, he's one of the best shot stoppers in the division. One f the key reasons that we've only conceded 10 at home in all comps. And two of those were from Bolton!

Oh, and Mendy is a midfielder. Scored a pretty good goal against Bolton though!