NL: Torquay United v Braintree 3pm 17th April 17

Very important game, and like rjdgull I fear that anything less than a win would all but extinguish our hopes of staying up.

It could be an interesting atmosphere, particularly if those militants and agitators instructed to watch the game from the Away fans section, still
attempt to masquerade as Home Fans and infiltrate the sections now designated for Osborne Loyalists only.

While it will give me no pleasure in alerting stewards to any Militants I see sneaking into home sections, I'll be quite prepared to assist in frog marching such miscreants down to the Away End. The time for treating them with kid gloves is surely over.


With the battle lines now more firmly drawn than ever, you can understand why the Torquay United Official Supporters Club has beefed up it's initiation ceremony for new members. Receiving Clarke Osborne's firm and resolute handshake, while a pile of Guardians burn below, is just the sort of thing to inspire new members for the battle ahead.







Good luck to Kev and the players, we need to get behind them from first minute to last, and hope that the scandalously timed Guardian distraction
didn't cause a sleepless night for our players as they lay on their prison bunks.

So 3 1 final score i bet some unhappy with that scoreline

Great result. No exaggeration to say next two games the most important in the club's history. Hopefully we will get good support at both games. Those two late goals at Lincoln look like real sickeners now. Still hoping our goal difference will keep us up.

Brilliant. Galvanised behind the excellent Observer expose, crowd, Manager and players were fully united today. A great win and another cup final next week at Dover.

Any truth in the rumour Nico pinned up yesterday's barmpot club response in the changing room for a half time team talk that simply consisted of saying to the players, "F**k GI" as they went back out?

What a great result today in front of 2500 + fans, shame we couldn't have picked up a point or two against Chester, Sutton, Guiseley etc all.

Thought that Williams was offside for that goal but surely the lino should have raised his flag before the players went to the centre circle to kick off. In fact he didn't raise his flag until he had spoken to the ref, surely that can't be right?

Good crowd, good weather, good result !  An exciting match with plenty of controversy. You'd have plenty of talking points to consult the rule book about, and no more so than Brett Williams disallowed 'goal'. And what a long time after he'd 'scored' it, before the decision was finally taken to wipe it off. I'd even been wondering about the rules before we kicked off as with just the players and officials on the pitch, striding on from the sidelines came Braintree Manager Hakan Hayrettin. Surely he's not allowed to come on to impart last second information I thought, but soon all was revealed as Hayrettin had walked half way across the pitch to join in his team's pre-match huddle !

Then there was Braintree's captain Jack Midson. I know an armband isn't the easiest thing to keep in place with a short sleeved shirt, but Aman Verma manages it. If Midson had an armband with him, it was either tucked in his shorts or down a sock, as I could see no evidence of it whatsoever.

Braintree looked smart in their white shirts with day-glo orange shorts and socks. Reminiscent of Blackpool in the days of the Anglo-Italian Tournament, for anyone old enough to remember that always bad tempered affair. Televised by ITV in the Summer, probably in the early !970's (this is only guesswork from hazy memory) and all I can remember is that matches always seemed to involve Blackpool !. Continuing for a moment more to wallow in nostalgia, in the olden days when you spent your hard earned on a match programme, you'd get the name of the Ref, where he was from, and also some info on the linesmen and which colour flag they'd be holding. Damned if I could even find the names of today's officials though I searched the programme from cover to cover, and had paid three quid for the thing. No Big screen as back up, and no Sunday Independent tomorrow either to name and shame the man in black. For instance, only four minutes of additional time were added to the first period, despite lengthy consultations with his linesman re Brett's 'goal', numerous instances of time wasting, and waiting for needle and thread to be produced so that the goal net could be repaired. But anyway, let's have a little info on the officials; OK no need to go back to the days when we all knew that Roger Milford was from Bristol, but is a name really too much to ask?

A good atmosphere inside Plainmoor, although you always get one or two idiots shouting out things they shouldn't in the heat of the moment. I include myself in this, and regret pointing and shouting 'Polly Toynbee's Puppy Dog Army' at a group of Guardianista/TUST Militants half a block from me. Much as I enjoyed TQ1 bravely taking them on, on a different Forum last night, perhaps it's better to let sleeping puppy dogs lie.

So anyway, Brett Williams thought he'd put us ahead. His goal would have stood back in the days of Roger Milford's officiating, as Roger would have correctly adjudged that Brett had been 'played onside' as the ball came through to him due to the clumsy and ineffectual efforts of two Braintree defenders to clear it; their contact with the ball would have allowed Brett to prosper from his such good fortune. In the fullness of time, I'll probably learn that the rules have changed; that Brett was offside in the first phase of play, but offside in the second...or some equally bamboozling 'amendment' to the rulebook, that leaves spectators wishing it had been left alone, as they at least understood the old system.


Brett soon notched a goal that did count, and he clearly enjoyed celebrating in the vicinity of the linesman, who in retaliation was no doubt racking his brains to dream up a reason to chalk that one off as well.


H.T Gulls 1 Iron 0     Important corrective edit:  H.T Gulls 1  Iron 1   (thanks to Chelston  )

£290 on offer for the 50/50. Ticket No.18863 was the one you needed. Chris from Teignmouth didn't have it, but he did have Ticket No.18564 which entitled him to three attempts at the crossbar challenge. I doubt very much that he's reading, but just in case, I'm sure he'd far prefer it that I didn't describe his unsuccessful efforts.

Plenty more open attacking play. Plenty more whistling from the over officious Mr.X.  Relatively early in the second half and Brett confidently drove home a second to put us in the lead. 'Are you watching Alan Rushbridger' was all I could think of to taunt the nearby clique of Guardianista's....as sadly, it wasn't just today's Ref that I didn't know the name of, but also the current Editor of The Guardian is unknown to me also.

Jordan Lee added a third for us a few minutes before full time. Nico celebrated the win, Tim Herbert cheered, the puppy dogs cheered, and the players all had smiles on their faces, as well they should, as they'd had to work hard all match to secure the win.

Great Escape II is still possible !

chelstongull 

   You wouldn't think so judging by that elementary inaccuracy would you ? But then, many questioned whether our defence were there either, given the ease with which Braintree scored their goal.