Torquay United v Eastleigh 3pm ko Saturday 13th Jan

Same old same old say bye bye to the national league pathetic

Typical, dominate half and they score from their first chance , penalty for us

Missed penalty says it all

I think the "We're not rubbish anymore" statement was accurate. . We are a lot worse than rubbish -bloody hopeless!

This is why I have given up hope for staying up the season as even when we have the best part of the play we still somehow contrive to lose. We could’ve had another penalty or two but with Reid taking them I fear a poor return. Only for a Rene Howe character up front.

We are the pits!

Well, if wasn't for the familiar disappointment of the scoreline, then I don't think most would be too critical of the entertainment value, based solely on the football that is....what a pity it's so difficult to just ignore the number of goals scored by either team.

Firstly a well respected minutes silence when we all reflected on Cedric Munslow's magnificent service to the club over many years; then it was on to the match.

A bright start from the Gulls with a decent cross coming over from Michee Efete who had a wonderful game, and who I'd have nominated as Man of the Match, probably closely followed by Luke Young; the ball travelling to the far side of the six yard area, but Jake Gosling, not the tallest of fellows, couldn't get over it, and his header cleared the bar.  We were looking the more lively, but on 9 minutes none of that mattered as little Sam Matthews waltzed his way through, having maybe even started his run with the ball as far back as the half way line, before hitting a decidedly tame shot. The recalled Ryan Clarke got down early and was horizontal before the ball reached him; then, maybe with the help of a divot, maybe with the help of some less than assured handling, but the ball somehow squirmed it's way past Clarke and continued on it's journey to the back of our net.

Eastleigh's goalscorer Matthews continued his brilliant form for the rest of the first half. Like a poor man's Tomas Rosicky; Matthews was dwarfed by most of those around him, but whether he chose to run with the ball or spray passes around, he was the shining star of the midfield.

Undeserved, against the run of play, make whatever excuses you like, but it was an early kick in the teeth and you wondered whether heads would drop. To their credit that didn't happen and our football remained neat, unpanicked, and enterprising. An equaliser on the half hour was deserved. A good passage of play, accurate passing, and when the ball was laid back to our No.8, Youngy hit it with pace and clinical accuracy, to the extent that the Eastleigh keeper didn't even attempt a dive. A half time scoreline of 1-1 was more reflective of the first 45 minutes play.


A 50/50 prize fund of £225 was on offer. Holding Ticket No. 7789 enabled you to claim it.  Far less at stake for the crossbar challenge (Tkt No. 09100) and the lanky participant failed to get the lift required that might have won him the cash. £3 got you the programme printed for New Year's Day, which was when this fixture was originally intended to take place. A double page interview with Axel Oskar Andresson didn't seem as compulsive reading as it might have been back on the first day of January, but there were other highlights to be found. The Plainmoor stars of yesteryear series continues; 'Imperious, composed and brave, Steve Woods had everything required to be a top centre-back and United benefited from eight seasons of his class' - the opening paragraph of a piece accurately doing justice to the masterful Woods, rightly taking his place among 'The Greatest Gulls'.

And so off we went with the second half, pressing forward in search of another goal that might bring us three points instead of one. Unfortunately, after 70 minutes Eastleigh decided to do the same thing, and a ball somehow went all the way across our penalty area where Eastleigh defender Hoyte used speed, skill, and a hard low shot to get past a man and beat Ryan Clarke's attempt to narrow the angle. Huge disappointment for us, but a well taken goal by Hoyte; if only we had a forward with the deadly finishing instinct of Eastleigh's defender !!

Despite the scoreline, and despite our perilous position, you couldn't help but snigger at the comedy of the penalty award to us. Did the guy nearest to George Dowling lose his footing ?...anyway he was lying prone on the floor and George could have just stepped over him with the ball had he known, but George was facing the wrong way as he was in the process of attempting one of those twirls/pirouettes whereby you drag the ball while you swivel to face the right direction. George had hardly got started with this completely unnecessary manoeuvre, his opponent out of the game and on the floor, but George, still facing the 'wrong' direction at this stage fell backwards over his stricken opponents leg.......we laughingly shouted 'penalty', in neither hope nor expectation.....and then laughed even louder when the Ref gave it !. Of course most of the laughing then came from the Eastleigh fans soon after, as Jamie Reid failed to score with the spot kick. All part of the rich tapestry of crap that sometimes makes up non league football.

A word about the new boys : Conrad Balatoni: certainly not the biggest you'll see in a central defensive position. Calm, cool headed and with a decent touch on the ball. Has had little time to build up an understanding with McGinty, but I thought he did well. Tommy O'Sullivan as an attacking midfielder, I also thought did very well. Not afraid to run at defenders with the ball, and quite successful in those attempts. Reece Mitchell who came on for the final 20 minutes never really got into the game...not that I noticed anyway, and so with a weeks training and integration we'll judge him more fairly next Saturday. Youthful Alex Fletcher up front ?  No shortage of talent there, and maybe with the assistance of an older pro up with him we'd see that talent tapped to our favour to a greater extent. The lad's clearly a good player and battled well.

Another desperately disappointing result, but you can also see why Owers couldn't really lay into the players after a performance that had a lot that was right about it. The options are now to either give up, or try again next Saturday against Bromley.....we all know what Cedric would want us to do.