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Ray Johnstone wrote: ↑04 Jul 2017, 20:28Vinny Mukendi turned out for one of Dave Bayliss' Barrow sides. He was not very highly regarded. Unless he has improved, I recommend Torquay avoid signing Mr Mukendi.

You're a fan looking at it with a fan's eye; the management are the management looking at it with a professional eye.

Unless you know exactly what THEY ARE LOOKING FOR in a trialist then you're opinion is worthless. Every trialist has a reason for being asked in and the only person who knows that reason is the person who asked them in ~ it's the way it all works.

I've just seen four young players who I worked with last season ~ helping them to 're-invent' themselves; rebuild their self belief and get them into the ways of going around to clubs trialling and showcasing themselves. I've seen them achieve two year deals for themselves this week after they were released by other pro clubs and had their dream shattered leads me to be very critical of anyone who decries a trialist either trying his best or any club giving them a chance.

Standout player for me tonight was no.7, who I believe to be Macauley Southam. He showed good pace, skill and plenty of energy. He was up and down the right wing all night and showed great anticipation for some brilliant crosses. Gets my MOM vote.

Newton Spurs 2 TUFC 3

I went to watch the game tonight against Newton Abbott Spurs.
Disappointed that no first team players played as it would have been better to see 9 and 10 with better players. The 10 looked good in the air but we need to see him play a few times but I would gamble on him if there was no second game to see him. Newton did well and
their 17 was a very good player and their strikers were a handful. I left at 1-2 as I was not going to get anything out of the game.

I was interested to see Aiddie Britton the former Bath City manager and Chairman in the technical area tonight it might have been just as a friend of Nicho's but it is just what Nicho needs someone to steady him down and Aiddie could do that but I believe he's just good friends with him.

Points of interest both keepers on show tonight are to inexperienced for the first team if these are the ones Nicho is lining up as a second choice. They are probably both good keepers at their age but not ready yet.

The program had the first team playing in it.

Only 9 and maybe 15 had anything about them. 9 got 2 goals and does cart wheels but I didn't see any hold up player there.

arcadia wrote: ↑04 Jul 2017, 22:23 I was interested to see Aiddie Britton the former Bath City manager and Chairman in the technical area tonight it might have been just as a friend of Nicho's but it is just what Nicho needs someone to steady him down and Aiddie could do that but I believe he's just good friends with him.

I had good reason to believe that Britton was involved at the time GI were taking over having recently sold his undertaking business. It could well be that he will become part of the new 'locally based' board that we keep hearing about........after all; as yet the club has just one sole director and someone in the boardroom with a working knowledge of the professional game has been long missing at Plainmoor!

merse btpir wrote: ↑04 Jul 2017, 22:00 You're a fan looking at it with a fan's eye; the management are the management looking at it with a professional eye.

Unless you know exactly what THEY ARE LOOKING FOR in a trialist then you're opinion is worthless. Every trialist has a reason for being asked in and the only person who knows that reason is the person who asked them in ~ it's the way it all works.

I've just seen four young players who I worked with last season ~ helping them to 're-invent' themselves; rebuild their self belief and get them into the ways of going around to clubs trialling and showcasing themselves. I've seen them achieve two year deals for themselves this week after they were released by other pro clubs and had their dream shattered leads me to be very critical of anyone who decries a trialist either trying his best or any club giving them a chance.

I hear what you're saying and agree, but this guy Mukendi is aged 25 - not a youngster. He's been around the block with a number of lower league sides and on wiki, his 'goals scored' is not good for a striker. In fact, it's abyssmal. For example, he played 16 games for North Ferriby in the 2015/16 season and didn't score at all ....... I don't quite see him as a 'late developer' like Jamie Vardy ! But as you say, he must have been invited down to Plainmoor for some reason. He's a big guy apparently - 6ft 6ins.

Mukendi has clearly been brought along to see whether he could do the Blissett type role. Very tall and as you'd imagine he was aerially dominant against the Spurs back line. Certainly put himself about a bit last night. I imagine he will be around on Saturday and possibly next Wednesday too.

We also had James Gray - ex Darlington, Wrexham and Southport. 25 and has spent most of his career at L2/Conf level. Decent finish for the first goal and again, may be worth a look. Had a drink driving incident a few years back though.

Fosnop scored two and was quite a bulky forward. Not sure where he has come from but could also be worth a further look.

A couple of others stood out as: our number 7 who acted as a RM - he was up and down that channel all night showing good pace throughout.

Montel Gibson (the one mentioned on here) also showed promise but I feel we ended up looking like a 3-3-4 formation at times so perhaps would require further inspection.

Also the #4 looked a potential back up for Lathrope. Calm holding midfielder, experienced head who shadowed the back four.

The rest..I don't think I would bother with to be honest.

I thought the no 4 was the guy who played well for North Ferriby in the last game of the season playing
in front of the back four and spraying it around a bit. Maybe wrong though, usually am

desperado wrote: ↑05 Jul 2017, 07:59 I thought the no 4 was the guy who played well for North Ferriby in the last game of the season playing
in front of the back four and spraying it around a bit. Maybe wrong though, usually am

Yes you are ....... wrong that is!

The no. 4 who trialled for us was Jamie Lowry, who had a season with Argyle, but had several seasons with Chesterfield before that. According to Wikipedia, he left Argyle at the end of the 2012-13 season and after a short spell with Tiverton, ended up at Truro, with a brief stint at Godolphin Athletic thrown in! But it all seemed to end with them back in November 2014, so it's not clear quite what he has been doing since. On the face of it, it seems quite a rapid decline in his football career after those six seasons at Chesterfield and a dozen or so games at Argyle. He appears to have been Head of Youth Development at Godolphin Athletic since October 2014, but nothing on the playing side since then it would seem .... he has turned 30 now. Perhaps he just likes living in Cornwall, which is where (Newquay) he hails from?

The North Ferriby number 4 who caught the eye back at the end of April was Connor Oliver, who we will be seeing again next season at Plainmoor .... he recently signed for FC Halifax!

Plymouth Gull wrote: ↑05 Jul 2017, 06:57 Montel Gibson (the one mentioned on here) also showed promise but I feel we ended up looking like a 3-3-4 formation at times so perhaps would require further inspection.

I did note with some small interest that we played 3-4-3 last night. Obviously that could have just been because of the players nicho had invited, but I did wonder whether he had invited players that fitted that formation - the players he's signed this year do seem to lend themselves to playing that sort of formation.

Indeed - I also noticed that. I didn't really think you could take too much from it though. It'll be interesting to see how we line up against Bristol C next week and then again vs Argyle the following Tuesday. I think those two (and probably Truro too) will be our clearest indicators.

Ok , thanks for that, we wont have him then, Lowry that is

Fosnop was a footballer Muckendi wasn't imo.

Goose9 wrote: ↑04 Jul 2017, 22:07 Standout player for me tonight was no.7, who I believe to be Macauley Southam. He showed good pace, skill and plenty of energy. He was up and down the right wing all night and showed great anticipation for some brilliant crosses. Gets my MOM vote.

Agree him and number 9, also they showed a bit of character