FC: Torquay United v Altrincham 3pm 11 April 2015

2-0 up already. Could at last be something to smile about at 4.50 today!

Well done lads. Forgotten what a win feels like. Let us try and finish this wretched season on a higher note now.
Lavercombe clean sheet and sounds like he played well.

I don't know what this buggar is so happy about. He's just won two tickets to watch Torquay United. That should wipe the smile off his face.

A reasonable performance today and most importantly a win to lift our spirits. Torquay's goals on 22 and 27 minutes came at convenient times and both had a little of bit fortune about them. But they gave Torquay a welcome cushion for the rest of the match and the first half was comfortable for Torquay. The second half was more even and both teams had decent chances. Enter Torquay's youth keeper Lavercombe who rightly won sponsors and Twitter MOTM for a rare clean sheet. Crowd a disturbing 1,462, 84 of whom were from Altrincham.

Torquay were on top in the opening exchanges but Altrincham had the ball in the net after around 5 minutes. Lavercombe made a decent parried save and they scored the rebound but it was ruled out for offside. Torquay had another touch of fortune when their experienced keeper went off injured and was replaced by a young keeper. Torquay's main threat was down the wings through Ajala on the right and loanee Daniel on the left. They pose quite a handful for the opposition and if only Ajala could get his final ball right when he is in a promising position he would be a cracking footballer. Torquay's opening goal was created by Bowman who was clear on our right. His low cross was not great and should have been cleared by their defenders but Daniel showed great close control and finished with a low powerful shot into the net. Shortly afterwards Bowman ran with the ball in the box, there appeared to be a trip from a defender, Bowman went down easily and the referee pointed to the spot. Bowman injured his shoulder in the process but dispatched the penalty with confidence. As the ball rebounded out of the net, Bowman caught it and lightly dropped the ball onto their keeper's head who was still on the ground more in fun than anything else. A right old melee broke out with angry Altrincham players laying into Bowman. Bowman and an Altrincham player were booked. Bowman shortly afterwards was replaced by Campbell due to his injured shoulder. Torquay saw out the rest of the half comfortably 2-0 up.

The second half Torquay played in fits and starts. Campbell brought a decent save from their keeper and he had 2 other chances he put wide from defensive mix-ups. One of them Campbell robbed their keeper outside their penalty area on our left but missed the target with the goal gaping. Altrincham grew stronger and Lavercombe saved a 1-on-1 by parrying with a strong arm. Lavercombe later produced a great flying diving save which reminded me of Poke at his best. It was also Lavercombe's all round game that impressed me. He is a decent height and physique and had a real calm presence about him. His kicking showed excellent technique as he kicks quite effortlessly and is accurate and he does not seem to shirk coming off his line for crosses. It's early days but I hope he features more next season.

The second half opened up to quite an entertaining game with both teams threatening. At times you worried that Torquay's defence did not close down well enough at times and with better finishing Torquay could have been found out and at least we had a keeper who saved the defence's blushes. Richards came on late on for Briscoe who I thought was hit-and-miss today - on one hand he made some telling runs and passes but on he otherhand he gave the ball away too often.

I thought today's line-up had a good balance about it. Both our wingers offered width and a decent outlet and they both possess some lovely footballing tricks. McQuilkin and Harding worked well together in central midfield as they seem to complement eachother. Both of them showed decent distribution today. The defence was mainly solid but were exposed at times down the middle.

I cannot make the last 2 home games so that was my last game this season. It's been another horrible season and today at least showed what we should be doing to part-time teams in this division. We really should have far too much ability and skill and fitness against these sort of teams who try hard but really have limited quality. One or two of Altrincham players really looked out of shape and our biggest failing this season is beating these sort teams. It's been quite embarrassing but thankfully not today.

Are we having a caption competition?

My suggestion would be:

"Have you heard the cobblers the bloke next to me is talking?"

Yesterday we deserved to win but only because we were less bad than Altrincham. To think, a part-time team, with that doorman of a forward at no.14, were 5 points ahead of us going into this game, does illustrate, that even with extenuating circumstances, we have seriously under-achieved this season.

Once again, I was very bored, and I am almost relieved that I am unable to attend on Tuesday and have just one more game to go.