Torquay United Fans Forum

Dreyer - a goal but immense under pressure but just wish he would occasionally bring the ball forward in open play rather than just lumping it
Craske - hardly put a foot wrong in defence and when Carson helped double mark their winger in the second half, eliminated Eastbourne's chief threat on their right wing
Hamon - that fantastic save was crucial
Cook - worked tirelessly and won plenty of ball but insufficient support to take advantage - still went close when hitting the post
Mussa - for the best moment of quality in the whole game - a fine solo goal

Jordan Dyer - not only two goals but also for a great defensive display too
Oscar Threlkeld - don't think he has played well for much of the season but yesterday he was excellent - one first half sweeping volley pass to Morgan on the left wing was almost worth the entrance fee on its own! A real captain's performance.
Dylan Morgan - skilful performance in the first half but was starved of possession later
Cody Cook - worked his legs off and got the chance to score at the end
Jordan Young - frustrated by his inability to use his right peg but two assists were a good contribution.

BTW Drummergull - Foulston was not even playing!

James Hamon - two outstanding saves and two very good ones to secure the result
Jordan Dyer - immense performance to cover for his unusually poor partner, Sam Dreyer
Jordan Young - most of the good work in midfield came through him and his goal was class - if only he could play with two feet!
Dan Hayfield - ran his socks off especially when we went down to 10
Oscar Threlkeld - not generally his greatest fan but I thought he was very effective today

Well, that wasn't for the faint-hearted! Thought we shaded the first half with 6 attempts and three on target but Truro had two good attempts themselves, both well saved by Hamon. But second half we were second best for much of the time, Truro had by far the better chances and we only created three, one of which was a solo effort by Jordan Young for a great match-winning goal. But Hamon had to make several good and two outstanding saves, one of which rattled the bar, to secure the three points. Well done the defence, particularly Jordan Dyer who I thought had his best game for us. He had to be good to make up for Sam Dreyer who, in contrast, had an unusually poor game against lively opposition and was fortunate not to pick up two yellows. That privilege went to Jordan Thomas who showed a distinct lack of maturity to almost give the game away. So it basically was a game of three Jordans but it still left James Hamon to get my vote as MOTM. Cracking attendance and at least one spectator will go home extra happy and £2,730 better off!

Hamon - but for his saves we would have lost at least two points
Morgan - his introduction brought much needed drive into the midfield
Dreyer - another commanding performance in defence but needs to bring the ball forward with purpose rather than slinging long balls forward
Dyer - ditto
Cook - for working tirelessly to try and turn hopeful long balls into attacking opportunities and, of course, the goal

Too many of the remainder were anonymous for most of the game

Ahead of the game I did wonder which game plan would be deployed in the conditions - the 'keep it on the deck and play football' version which we deployed to great effect against WSM or the hoofball which has characterised much of the rest of the season. The answer, of course, was the latter and thus our midfield was ignored totally until half time and Threlkeld, Young and Mussa were sacrificed with early substitutions. Only the woodwork and a great save from Hamon prevented Hemel from inflicting an embarrassing defeat. Yes, it is the sign of a promotion team to win that ugly (not for the first time) but the luck will eventually run out.

Dreyer - hardly gave their strikers a sniff
Dyer - ditto
WJD - clinical finish for the goal and energetic throughout
Hamon - great save at the end but little to do otherwise
Thomas - kept his flank quiet

Not sure about anyone else - few players shone in what was an overall uninspiring performance

Hayfield - 2 assists I think and his best performance of the season
Jenkins-Davies - never stopped running and a well-taken goal
Cooke - 2 goals won the game
Dreyer - after the early mistake for their goal was a rock against which their attacks foundered
Dyer - not perfect by any means but saw off their attacking threat when down to 10

What a great advert for sixth tier football! Certainly the best game this season and a tremendous team performance to win with 10 men for almost all the second half.

I welcomed the way Wotton set up the team 4-4-1-1 with a midfield of four ball players and instructions to play on the ground rather than hoofing it up to our lone striker.

Everyone played their part although there were a couple of poor defensive moments which gifted Weston their goals.

For me Hayfield was a revelation providing 2 assists, huge energy throughout and providing the link between defence and attack. He was ably assisted by Jenkins Davies who also had a great night but it was so refreshing to have two others making their mark in Hasani and Mussa.

Cooke had an eventful night having a pen saved but then being in the right place at the right time to claim two goals.

Special mention for the second half defensive display by Dreyer and Dyer - Weston just couldn’t make the extra man pay and just ran out of ideas.

This could and should be a lightbulb game for this team - if they can take confidence in their footballing abilities as a result they could really kick on from here.

And well done the crowd - 2950 is excellent for a Tuesday night in such appalling weather.

Well, we rode our luck yet again! Despite being given a head start by an opposition that still seemed to have been on their bus for 20 minutes - we conspired to let them back into the game and were lucky not to go in at the break 2-4 down as Chelmsford conspired to miss some golden opportunities to score. The one bright spark was the performance of Jordan Young who had the best debut I can recall in many years. I was expecting the manager to shake things up at half time as he had done in previous games but no - the lineup was unchanged and the opposition continued to play the better football. They were stronger, more lively and first to every challenge. It was not a surprise that they levelled and I expected them to go on to win easily but for some reason they took their foot off the gas and played for the draw, allowing us the opportunity late on to pressurise and almost claim an undeserved win.

Cody Cooke will be suspended for the next match I think so I hope we will abandon the hoofball tactics which have characterised much of our play so far this season.

Young - a goal, an assist and a threat whenever he got the ball, the best player on the pitch by far
Cooke - a goal and a tireless display despite some inept service from his team mates
Mussa - playing him in an advanced role at the outset contributed to the excellent overall team performance in the first 20 minutes
Hayfield - tried to do the work of two in midfield given Threlkeld's poor performance
Carson - for his attacking efforts towards the end of the game which made up for a poor performance in the earlier stages

Mussa - changed the game
Foulston - scored the winner and genrally secure defensively
Hamon - for the one on one save to keep us ahead
Hasani - generally energetic performance and the only one to regularly come off their marker and turn
Dyer - another sound defensive performance

brucie wrote: 21 Sep 2024, 23:11 Quite amazing that one numpty actually thinks that the Mussa incident wasnt a penalty.

The ball doesnt move and the defender goes straight through Mussa - its a blatant penalty.

Yes, thought it was a penalty at the time and am even more certain having seen the video - as Brucie says, if he had made contact with the ball it would not have stayed put - the force of that tackle would have sent it into the family stand. And' given that Mussa's standing foot was taken out, it should have been a red card - it is a miracle that his ankle was not broken.

The referee was the poorest I think I have ever seen - how the handball was not given I will never know although I don't know if it was in the area.

Even with the red card incident he showed such little concern for Palmer's well being it was not for some time that he checked on the damage and only then issued the red card. But only after brandishing a yellow to Sam Dreyer who was justifiably upset at the incident.

Nevertheless, he was not the reason we dropped two points - our performance was generally well below par and I am not quite sure why the manager was so proud of the performance. Too much aimless lofting of the ball to two strikers who had a generally torrid time against some giant defenders and no spark in midfield.

Difficult to identify anyone in a positive way but on the basis of least worst I would vote for the following:

Dreyer - pretty tidy defensively
Hasani - tried hard to inject energy into the early turgid midfield
Jenkins-Davis - will be a big influence in future games
Mussa - looked much more animated than previous performances
Tonks - injected real pace down the right later in the game

Carson - for scoring, even if it was a fluke. Made some glaring errors but was our most consistent attacking threat.
Tonks - provided similar threat on the right flank in the second half

Struggling to find anyone else because all made multiple howlers but, best of the rest:

Ash - worked his socks off and provided the pace which the rest of the team, with the exception of Tonks, lacks
Dreyer - because he didn't do too much wrong (damning with faint praise perhaps!)