Torquay United Fans Forum

Like many others I see Southend going up somehow. Just hope I get a pie this time, last time I visited Hereford they ran out!

Having said that, from the highlights of the Crawley match Hereford are pretty shocking, their goals came from calamitous mistakes and their goal lived a very charmed life. If we do a professional job and treat it like just another game we should turn them over.

Blimey that's confusing! There's also an element of ambiguity about whether they mean the last play off match for the whole football league or just the division they are currently in. I assume they mean the latter, but if these are the official rules word for word then I can see Coventry and Wycombe/Chesterfield/Scumbags enlisting some lawyers if Pompey go bust in the intervening week.

We'd look like a Sweden flag!

But I like it!

I'd assumed the white one we've been wearing recently was a new one for next season. Is it in fact an old one that's won preference over the black (which I like)?

As for Vandanel, I think it's been said already - design good, material horrible, grammar unforgiveable.

Not sure I agree with your argument Kernowgull, it's a bit like saying we can feed half the children of Africa, but then the other half will still be hungry, so let's not bother feeding any of them.

And if the ball crossing the line is your goal, so technology would win you the match rather than drawing it, would that make it better?

I think goal line technology is perhaps the only element of the game where a fact can be established, it is black and white whether the ball has crossed the line, so if the ref can categorically be wrong. For fouls and even offsides there is an element of interpretation, so it is often down to an individual's opinion, and while that of everyone else may differ from that of the ref it gives him some protection, which I think is what the FA is trying to provide and return some credibility to refs.

As for who gets it, it could become a requirement for league/Premier league entry, but could then not be used for cup ties to handicap teams playing at grounds without it. The cost would be to the club, which they won't be happy about, but the FA will say that if they're all so desperate for it they have to pay for it.

My worry is that this would be the start of a landslide of technology, in the first instance video reviews, which would slow the game, and only transfer whose opinion was being used to make the decision (albeit with the action slowed down and from different angles). And as many have said, it would give us less to talk (/moan) about.

May I be the first pedant to point out you can't score from a goal kick

For no particular reason other than blind optimism and a gut feeling I think Crawley will drop points, meaning 3 wins will see us up. What I am less confident about is whether we can win all 3. Given some of the runs we've been on this season there's no reason why not, we'll just have to wait and see.

EDIT: I stand corrected, must've been confused about how you can't score an own goal from a goal kick. If only there was an egg-on-face smiley.

However I do believe Tim Howard's was from a free kick.

The side of my head was in her twitpic at Swindon the other day

And I stood next to her in the pub after we got promoted at Southend.

Spot on Cambgull. I may be being over positive but I'd like to think there's an element of wanting to be loyal in there too, as he probably could step up a league for next season, but would rather do it with us, so will wait until he knows what's going on.

Gullscorer wrote:Year 1: Promotion from League One
Year 2; Consolidation in Championship
Year 3: Promotion from Championship
Year 4: Consolidation in Premier League
Year 5: Win Premier League Title..

Why even bother consolidating? As Stevenage and Southampton showed it's best to ride that wave of success for as long as it lasts!

I fear numpte's plan may be more likely, with regular participation in the playoffs and decent cup runs boosting the coffers ready for promotion and sustained survival in year 4 or 5.

My Mrs gets fed up of me watching the Football League Show, saying "he used to play for Torquay" for what seems like every other goal scorer. She wonders why we let them go if they're scoring all these goals now.

Howe
Oastler (covered really well on a couple of occasions when we looked exposed)
Stevens (just because he looked lively start of second half, giving me hope we could do something, but distribution to him was poor)

I don't know why O'Kane's got so many votes, I thought he was poor, kept getting the ball stuck under his feet, and when he had a chance to play a killer ball he failed to do so, and chose the wrong option (shooting from a poor angle rather than squaring it) the one time he got in the box.

I agree that if there's ever to be any constistency from referees as much interpretation has to be removed from the laws as possible, in which case intent can't come into it as there's no way a ref can know the player's intent. Here it looks like Muzzy intends to block the clearance but has gone over the ball and caught Nicho badly, running the risk of a serious injury and thus surely deserving of a red card. If he'd intended to boot Nicho in the shins but taken the ball the ref wouldn't know that and he wouldn't get a card.

It might make more sense if the laws were solely geared towards reducing the chance of injury. In the case of challenges like these, perhaps a red could be issued if the ball is on the floor and the foot is higher than the ball.

While we're talking rules, I'd like to see anyone waving an imaginary card booked immediately, and the same for anyone rolling on the floor when they get brushed by a raised hand. The raiser should still get a red, but nobody reacts like that to getting hit in the face, thus it's an attempt to con the ref, i.e. simulation. Rant over.

I think with the number of teams challenging for the promotion places and the quality of those teams, a couple more points may be needed for 3rd, perhaps 84 or even 85 allowing for our inferior goal difference. I think this is perfectly achievable as I don't think we'll be overawed or outplayed by anyone in this league any more, but I do think it'll come down to the last day and probably need a bit of luck.

STUPID QUESTION ALERT!!!

Regarding our appeal of Oastler's red card, assuming the FA are competent enough to realise it was Saah and not him who committed the foul, will the red card and resultant ban be transferred to Saah or do the stupid loopholes of not being able to penalise players if the referee's dealt with it in the game mean he'll get off scott free?

RoyalGull for me - several posts have caught the eye and made me think.