NL: Torquay United v Bromley 3pm 19 September 2015

Hmm. Just back from the game. More thoughts later but I feel sorry for Dan with the lemming like defending from McD, Geog and Smiffy. It was honestly like watching under 10s, where they all try and tackle the player with the ball and forget about the other attackers...It seemed that every time, all 3 would head straight for the one Bromley player with the ball and ignore the others in loads of space

Hell's bells.

There’s not too much you can say about today’s game, the score line says it all. I was hoping after Cox’s departure for some sort of lift today, who knows sometimes a shuffle around can help. But after taking an early lead our defence just weakly surrendered and made Bromley look like Barcelona. I believe we were playing 4-4-2 with MacDonald right back and Smith pairing Exodus in central defence. But whatever formation we were playing the defence stood off and were carved apart. I’m afraid it was a rude awakening for Lavercombe in goal, despite a couple of decent saves, his inexperience was exposed. Crowd a worrying 1,600, 100+ from Bromley, sponsors MOTM Smith.
Let’s at least start with some positives on a bleak day. I was really impressed with Marsh in attack scoring 2 opportunist goals, something I have not seen from any of our strikers all season. He’s pretty nippy and showed good awareness for his goals. Murombedzi came on the left wing late in the second half and has some lovely pace and skill. Ironically going forward today we looked better than previous matches I’ve seen us this season. We linked play well at times and built up moves with more imagination than previous matches. I suppose 3 goals is a good return.

But and it’s a huge but, where was our defence today? You could argue they did not get much protection from midfield but the basics of closing down was not being done, MacDonald at right back being the worst culprit. After taking an early lead from a lovely headed goal by Hurst from a free-kick, our defence handed the game to Bromley. MacDonald was slow in closing down for their first and Ademola finished neatly. Bromley’s 2nd. goal was nightmare defending on our near post from a corner. There was a right old scramble, no-one cleared and the ball was poked in at close range. Bromley’s 3rd. was more embarrassing. I’ve never seen a Torquay defence toyed with on the edge of our box. There were a few clever passes until a shot was curled in. Lavercombe made a decent parried save and Marsh latched on to a Hurst shot in added time to make it 2-3 half-time.
At half-time I asked people around me to guess the full-time score, I predicted 2-4. The other comment at half-time was that Deano and Ramshaw did not appear to be working together in the dug-out, they were stood far apart. It’s made me even wonder now, who was in charge today? Surely it should have been Ramshaw. The arrangement certainly did not work today and needs to change for Tuesday.

Torquay started the 2nd. half quite positively as Bromley seemed content to contain and waste a bit of time. Their 4th. goal really finished us off. From the opposite end we felt Lavercombe could have done better in cutting out a low cross that was tapped in at the far post. The collapse was gaining momentum. Bromley’s 5th. was an embarrassment . A free-kick as given on the edge of the penalty area in a central position. Lavercombe positioned himself too far too one side of his goal and left a huge gap on the other side of the goal. If the Bromley player could chip the ball over the wall into this vacant side of the goal there was no cover. From the opposite end you just knew it would happen and it did.
Goal 6 was a penalty after a player was clipped in the box and goal 7 our defence was again wide open and it was a sweet finish. Marsh latched on to score our 3rd. but the humiliation had already happened. There were not many boos at the end and at least Bromley had a sporting send off from Torquay’s fans particularly from the Bristow bench.

It was a sad, sad day and no-one has a clue what it coming next. It seems from Steve Breed’s pre-match interview Hargreaves is not in the frame for a return. Surely he can do no worse than what currently is on show or Hodges for that matter. How could we afford a manager’s wages. Surely we cannot risk again not paying a manager who can just leave as he pleases. Desperate times I’m afraid but let’s continue to support our club more than ever. I just wish I could see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Another disappointing aspect of the defeat on Saturday was the failure of the pop side drummer and his companions to make any noise at the start of the second half. They were superb at the kick off and understandably subdued when we went behind after such a great start. Having made it 2-3 on the stroke of half time I expected them to really get behind the team as the second half commenced. When they make a noise they get everyone clapping along and surely that lifts the players. It wasn't to be, however, and we didn't really hear much from them until some ironic singing at the end when the game was well and truly lost.
Perhaps the drummer was one of those who left early, although surely not at half time?