Southampton Gull wrote:I'm sure Brucie will be along shortly to let us all know how sh!te Saah was...................based on the radio commentary
Except he wasn't shite, he was polished, assured and commanding, as was Ellis and the full backs.
The team, all of them, should be rightly proud of their performance today. They beat a dangerous side and looked to be real promotion contenders. The first half performance in particular was first class. Well done Yellows.
What a massive, massive win thats was, and a superb performance from the whole team, from the first whistle to the last the whole team ran, worked , played neat passing football, and defended well when called opon.
I will not sit down and ever let anyone run down Brian Saah ever again, he was nothing short of brilliant today, and got a massive cheer from the crowd as he took the ball of a shrews player and ran the ball down the half way line, Hansen like, this game would have done his confidence the world of good.
Nor Ateino, who also was class today, he looks liek being the lone front man really suits his game , to be honest a love rene Howe to bits as a player, in this system I am starting to think Atieno might be the better opition.
Anyway just dont know how to put into words how I am feeling right now,onwards and upwards, COYY, for the team
Momentum is a crucial factor in Football, and so with two weeks off since the last match I am very much hopeful Torquay United can maintain theirs. A continuation of five wins on the bounce was delayed last week following the postponement of the trip to The Don Valley Stadium, and for most of the week there was doubt cast over whether today's match at Plainmoor against playoff rivals Shrewsbury would be on too. The cold snap across the country has wreaked havoc in the lower divisions and with six league two fixtures already off it is with great relief that TQ1 has withstood the barrage of Ice and Snow. With the Rotherham match re-arranged in the middle of a tricky run of games in March it is to our benefit to get the game played now and avoid an exhausting fixture pile up later in the season- a circumstance most other league two teams will be facing.
The transfer window has been and gone, long serving defender Chris Robertson has departed to Preston, 'Robbo' was desperate to return to his native north after five seasons in the South-West. Torquay received an undisclosed fee for this transfer which is better business than losing him on a bosman free in the summer in spite of five years hard work moulding him into a reliably decent centre-back. It has come at a bad time for The Gulls. as he and Mark Ellis were forming a formidable partnership, however the fit again Brian Saah will take his place: the man who played along side Ellis at the start of our excellent run, playing in four victories in a row. As cover we have signed Angus McDonald on loan from Reading until the end of the season-, a 'tall and powerful' central defender who has ambitions to break into the first team. Also in contention for the first time is Nathan Craig, a tricky winger proficient on either foot. Signed from Caernarfon Town, but of more interest an ex Everton Youth, the same youth system that produced midfield lynchpin Eunan O'Kane. Craig impressed on a two week trial and has since been offered a contract until the of the season.
Torquay come into this match as undoubtedly the form team in the country, Martin Ling and Mark Ellis won the 'Manager of the Month' and 'Player of the Month' for January respectively, and both will be keen to see this good work continue. There is a lot of positivity in and around the club at the moment-there has been for a while, and whilst we have been diligently taking points from those at the bottom of the table, it is vital we start taking them from our playoff rivals too. These sort of games are examples of when draws are seen as positive results whereas our last home games against the bottom two they would have been seen as disastrous..The Gulls will be desperate to erase memories of the match at 'The Greenhous' back in September. The Shrews ran out comfortable 2-0 victoris against a very insipid Gull's side: one of our worst performances of the season by far.
And so to a sub-zero Plainmoor. Torquay lined up in their familiar 4-5-1 formation with Taiwo Atieno leading the line after Rene Howe suffered a groin injury in the week. Brian Saah came into the back four in place of Chris Robertson and there were places on the bench for Angus MacDonald and Ashley Yeoman, Nathan Craig it seems, will have to wait his turn. Shrewsbury included fit again Nicky Wroe in their 4-4-2 line up- an ex Torquay captain who asked to the leave the club midway through last season making him none too popular with the Plainmoor faithful since.
Torquay kicked off playing towards the away end and dominated the first half. The intricate, passing Football which had been lacking in the previous two home matches was on full display and a delight to behold. Attacking with real purpose every time they got the ball, the home team created a few decent openings but could not find their way past Chris Neal in the Shrewsbury goal. The Shrews playing in their Red away strip presented a different sort of opposition to that of Dagenham and Northampton : a counter attacking unit equally comfortable at passing the ball about, but today they were simply 'outpassed' by a confident Torquay team.
Showing no signs of rustiness after an enforced two week break, Torquay started to make inroads into the Shrewsbury area, Kevin Nicholson in particular being afforded way too much space on the left side, linking up cleverly with Danny Stevens on a number of occasions to create real danger. The little man, who had the beating of the away defence all afternoon, ran freely at a retreating back four who looked uncertain as how to deal with his threat. Torquay were able to string 6 or 7 neat passes together in and around the penalty box and in many instances were just a final touch away from scoring what would have been a very clever team goal. Shrewsbury at times could not get near the boys in Yellow. Taiwo Atieno, again working selflessly for the cause, was proving to be a tricky proposition for the Shrews' defence, strong on the ball and linking up well with team-mates, most of our good moves involved him. Though the goal did not come, Nicholson, O'Kane, and Atieno all came close, and Stevens struck a powerful drive from 20 yards which Neal acrobatically palmed over.
It wasn't all one way traffic howerver, Graham Turner set his team out to counter-attack, and attack on the counter they did, picking off the poor Torquay pass and attacking the home end with purpose, Shrewsbury were unfortunate to miss with a couple of very close shots going the wrong side of the post. But when the referee, who was very good throughout, blew for half time I felt I had seen the best first half from a Torquay team for quite some time. It looked to be another case of one goal winning it and at that point there was a case to say either side could snatch it.
Into the second half and Shrewsbury stepped up a gear, no doubt having been admonished by an exasperated Graham Turner. Torquay found themselves with slightly less space to conduct their footballing masterclass but still managing to keep the ball with tempo for the majority of the game. It is testament to the confidence pulsing through the team that each player looks at ease on the ball going forward, each player looks dangerous going forward, each player is trusted going forward. Unlike the first half, Torquay were guilty of overplaying somewhat in the attacking third, and with our fullbacks caught high up the pitch it needed some excellent recovery work from Damon Lathrope and Lee Mansell to stifle the threat with Shrewsbury increasingly dangerous on the break. With 25 minutes to go, Stevens ran with pace towards goal, played a couple of excellent one-twos with his industrious team-mates and got his shot away forcing Chris Neal into another diving stop. From the following set of corners Torquay scored the decisive goal.
Kevin Nicholson swung another beauty towards the back post which evaded the keeper, Danny Stevens found the ball at his feet on the corner of the 6 yard box, instead of blasting it as hard as he could, like many players in that situation would, he cleverly hooked it over the goalkeeper which took him out of the equation. Brian Saah headed towards goal and in the ensuing Melee we were reliably informed that Taiwo Atieno got the final touch to force it over the line. Just like against Northampton two weeks earlier it was a set piece which proved to be decisive, but for me Stevens deserves great credit for not panicking and creating the goal.
That was pretty much it for goal-mouth threat at the Family Stand end, as Torquay ended up overplaying the couple of counter-attacking situations they created. Atieno in particular looked very hesitant to pull the trigger having done so well to create space for himself. An element of panic entered Torquay's play as Shrewsbury surged forward for an equaliser, but the continued safe hands of Bobby Olejnik sent waves of confidence throughout the team who held on valliantly and resolutely, every player giving their all for the cause. After 3 nail-biting minutes of injury time, spent mostly camped in our defensive third, the referee finally brought an end to proceedings which saw mass euphoria on the pop-side. Our last five victories had come against sides in the bottom half of the table, and so to beat a play-off rival gave the crowd real belief that we can put forward a serious bid towards promotion.
Six wins in a row now, and six clean sheets on the bounce at home, these sorts of statistics are almost unbelievable. With hushed conversations of Martin Ling desperately needing to bring in re-enforcement, the eleven players on the pitch continue to defy expectations and prove the doubters wrong, and credit to every single one of them. The biggest credit though must surely go to the manager whose team can not only play classily and with real verve going forward, but also put their foot in, defend strongly, do the ugly things in football, and see the game out under pressure. This is a team for all situations and all conditions and also one sky-high on confidence. A win on Tuesday against fellow promotion chasers Cheltenham would put us within touching distance of top spot, and put most fans in dreamland, another tough game awaits us, but with the way that 'The Yellow Army' are playing at the moment, I certainly won't be putting it past them to win it.
Well played today Torquay, listening to the match commentry, there wasn't much in it, I think we probably were lacking a little bit of a cutting threat today in what sounded an exciting game, and with both teams missing their front man, the chances at both ends were pretty even. I might be wrong but your goal sounded like it could have been partly attributed by a keeper error but i will have to see the highlights tonight.
Our away jinx at Torquay continues, we just dont seem to be able to buy even a point at your place which we possibly deserved today.
It's very much 3 from 6 with plenty of twists and turns to come
This run that we’re on is quite unbelievable and long may it continue. Six games in the New Year and we’ve had six victories. We are on a promotion run and we are playing like a team that should go up. I said that if we win today I think that we can go up automatically and I stand by that statement. Shrewsbury has a good side, but I think that we are better than them and thoroughly deserved the victory today.
Over 250 fans came down from Shrewsbury, but I’ve got to say their support was very poor for a side in the play-off places. If they won they went 3rd if we won we went 4th. The three points went to the Gulls and we are now 3 points off top.
So let’s get into the match report then and at the start of the game we started very brightly. Nice passing was put on display especially from Eunan and Nicholson to the midfield and forwards. Mansell was getting stuck in from the very beginning to the end; Lathrope was following Mansell’s performance. After this lovely attacking play from Torquay, Shrewsbury had the first scare of the game. The ball came to Collins, Shrewsbury’s number nine. He shot, tried to lob Bobby and the ball bounced off the crossbar.
Our attacking play needed a man upfront and that might have been nonexistent as Rene Howe was out due to an injury. However Taiwo Atieno played very well. A few throw balls were coming towards Atieno’s way and he cleverly played them out to Morris or Mansell when having the ball at his feet. Lathrope was again getting stuck in when needing too. A ball then came to Danny Stevens. He ran forward and shot, but his shot went wide. Shrewsbury were coming forward with confidence, but we were the only team that looked like scoring. We showed this by quality passing, keeping the ball. Before this passing display, Eunan got the ball on the edge of the box, he tried to lob the keeper but the ball just went over the bar. The midfield was linking up with the forward men; it was really great to watch. Balls were being played to Nico from the other side of the pitch with skill. A passage of play started with a ball like this. The ball was played neatly between the players and ended up at the feet of Morris. He shot but his shot went over the bar.
The ball was then switched between, Stevens, O’Kane, Mansell and Morris. The ball then came to Taiwo, he shot but the keeper saved for a corner. The corner was a good one by Eunan, but the danger was cleared. It was then Shrewsbury putting men forward forcing us back defending. They were awarded a corner and our defence had to work hard the clear the danger. Luckily, our defence was on top form to keep the score at 0-0. A foul was given to Shrewsbury a few minutes later in a dangerous position. However it was comfortably saved by Olejnik. Then up the other end Torquay were awarded a free kick in a dangerous position because of a foul on Eunan. Nicholson took the free kick but it went over the bar. Brian Saah was playing very well, considering he had to come straight in to replace Robertson. Saah retrieved the ball at the back and ran forward with skill and passed it on to Stevens. In the end the ball went out for a throw in. Nicholson took the throw in, it was a long one, but the ball was cleared quickly. A few minutes later Danny Stevens ran forward towards goal, had a shot, but his shot went well wide.
That sums up the first half and I thought we played much better than Shrewsbury. We passed the ball around the pitch brilliantly. It was lovely to watch and we really deserved to go into the half time break leading. Our defence was equally brilliant keeping the score line at 0-0. The “curse†of the player and manager of the month award didn’t seem that it was at Plainmoor this afternoon. All we had to do now was score.
In the second half we first of all saw Mansell’s fantastic tackling. He was really getting stuck in; you could see the passion in his face. Lathrope was showing equally enough passion as he was getting stuck in also. As Mansell tackled the ball came to Eunan. He then played a great long ball to Nicholson but the ball unfortunately went out of play. The second half didn’t have the same attacking display as the first half. Both teams were alike. In top form and looking dangerous when coming forward. Shrewsbury had a couple of chances coming forward, but our defence stood their ground and defended well.
Up the other end Taiwo got the ball in the middle of the park. He ran and passed to Danny Stevens. He ran across the box and his shot was deflected wide for a corner. This corner came to nothing and the ball was cleared. We had yet another corner later on in the game but again it came to no reward. The game was a bit quiet at this stage with no team in control. Shrewsbury wanted to change that with a chance at goal. Luckily Bobby was on form and saved well. I didn’t think that we did much wrong today. There were a couple of mistakes made in the middle when coming forward, i.e a couple sloppy touches. However that can’t dampen the overall performance and plus our defence was on top form to stop any attack quickly.
Eunan then got the ball on the wing. He ran down the wing and won a corner. The corner came in and the Shrewsbury goal keeper came rushing out to retrieve the ball. But he miss judged the ball and Danny Stevens flicked the ball back across. There was a scramble in the box after Taiwo headed the ball in amongst plenty full of players in the goal mouth. The ball ended up in the net, I do not know who scored. Atieno celebrated, but the goal was given to Mark Ellis, 1-0! After this Torquay went forward trying to get another goal, but nothing came from the push forward. Shrewsbury were determined to get a goal as they piled men forward. However we kept defending very well and meanwhile we were doing our fair share of passing going forward. Chris Mcphee came on for Taiwo Atieno on 81 minutes and Rowe-Turner came on for Danny Stevens. Rowe-Turner did his bit defending but he also made a terrific run, running all the way down the pitch on the left wing after tackling well. Shrewsbury put on the pressure winning corners but we held out to win the game 1-0.
We really are living a dream. If someone told me at the beginning of the season that in February Torquay would have won every game in 2012 and only 3 points of top, I’d said I think the men in white coats need to take you away. I don’t think any TUFC fan can believe we are where we are. It is such a delight to see that we are fighting for an automatic spot now. It is surreal and I love it! The performance today was fantastic. We looked like a side that deserved a promotion spot. Shrewsbury are a good side but we were better than them today. Every part of our game today was great, it was a delight to watch and it is superb to be a Torquay United supporter at the moment.
Team Performance: 9
Defence: 9
Midfield: 9
Attack: 9
Officials: 8
Bobby 9: Bobby did nothing wrong today, his saving and kicking was on top form. Definitely deserved a clean sheet.
Oastler 9: He did well coming forward linking with Eunan. His defending play was good as well.
Saah 9: He had a difficult job filling Robertson’s boots straight away but he did it superbly. Defended very well and did little wrong.
Ellis 9: Mark defended very well, cleared away danger well also his heading was good.
Nicholson 9: Nico was solid didn’t do much wrong. Put in some nice crosses and defended well.
Mansell 9: It was very tempting to give him a 10 and he probably deserved it because Manse played so well. He tackled with the greatest of passion and linked up well with everyone. What a captain we have.
Lathrope 9: Damon was like Manse, tackled very well got stuck in!
O’Kane 9: Eunan played very well running on and off the ball. He linked up with players around him also.
Morris 8: I thought Ian played very well passing and had a few shots on goal.
Atieno 9: I must say I was surprised by the way he played. He got up very well heading, his passing was good, his work effort was good and had a few chances at goal.
Stevens 8: I thought Danny did well, he played better in the first half however. He ran down the wing with pace and desire. He had a couple shots at goal and linked up with Nicholson, Manse and O’Kane.
What a game that was. Shrews the best side I've seen come to Plainmoor this year, in my opinion. Two sides both trying to play the game the right way, it was excellent to watch. We were 10 times better than the Daggers and NTFC games two weeks back. Everybody played really well, some of our moves were unreal.
Class game to watch, Shrews will still be in the mix come May, lets just hope we are!
Also, how big is Bristows Bench!! Thought it was going to be a similar size to the Family Stand but nope! Cannot wait to see that develop over these coming months.
A fascinating contest between two footballing teams. How good is it to say that about TUFC?
All credit to Dinger. He has a team that is working well both with and, just as importantly, without the ball.
For me a lot stems from the confidence at the back, founded on the safe hands of Bobby. It is a long time since we had that level of assurance between the sticks.
However it was a good all-round team performance that won the day against a very useful side.
And the Dinger tactical genius was to bring McPhee on after 81 minutes with what, I can only assume, were specific instructions to do the unexpected. He duly obliged with a cameo/comedic performance.
Oh and word for the half time entertainment. I could hear the booing from the catering area and on re-emerging to the Pop discovered that that prat of a hotelier had been introduced. Good shout Popsiders!
"A day without football is a day lost" (Ernst Happel)
"Look at the (Plainmoor) stars, Look how they shine for you, And everything you do, Yeah they were all yellow" (C. Martin)
Thought we played very well today. Saah came in and got better as the game went on which is good news and will be a more than capable replacement for Robertson. We played some good stuff and probably just about deserved the win though Shrewsbury always looked dangerous going forward and we had to defend well to keep them out.
We will need a similar performace Tuesday night at Cheltenham if were going to get a result up there. Will be a very dificult game up there.
yellow wrote:Oh and word for the half time entertainment. I could hear the booing from the catering area and on re-emerging to the Pop discovered that that prat of a hotelier had been introduced. Good shout Popsiders!
