Torquay United v Dagenham 3pm ko Saturday 17th February

On probability the win lose sequence of both sides is a bit of a worry.
When did we ever win three games in a row? And despite the recent upturn our home form has been dire.
When did D&R lose five in a row?

We have to be optimistic after recent performances and results. D&R though will be looking desperately to end that run of defeats pretty quickly and in John Still they have an able manager who will be doing everything in his power to lift his squad and divert attention from all of the off field issues.
I predict a committed performance from both sets of players and a battling draw a victory would be a massive result.

Enjoy your curry. 400 on the gate today to watch Dagenham’s terrible run come to an end.

Never been a glimmer run like pub club always going down nobody can say its a surprise

What a pathetic performance that was! From the first minute to the last we were second best. 3-0 was a fair score line and it could have been worse. D&R hit the cross bar twice, had a first half goal ruled out for offside and got the ball into our danger area throughout the entire match. I thought our back three were the only Torquay players to come out with credit having to cope with an awful lot of pressure throughout the match. Torquay's midfield and attack just never got going. Our wingbacks both had poor games and young players like Dowling looked like a little boy lost in midfield. D&R were slicker and out smarted us tactically. To rub salt into our wounds ex-gull Dan Sparkes had a particularly good game with his deliveries (he had a decent ovation from Gulls fans when subbed). Torquay never seemed to find much space and either our passes went astray or our final ball was poor. Crowd an improved 1,931 with 83 from D&R. The home crowd was clearly up for another great escape and really backed the team well. Just a shame the team "did not turn up".

Torquay kicking towards the Family stand first half looked out-of-sorts from the first whistle and you only hoped they could improve. Torquay's only decent chances through the whole match were 2 in quick succession against the run of play. Twice Torquay got behind the D&R defence. Reid was through on goal on our left but shot against their keeper. About a minute later Williams was through on our right but instead of pulling the trigger, he squared the ball trying to find Reid but instead found a D&R defender. Two vital chances wasted. The only consolation was that Torquay had rode their luck and were still on level terms at half-time.

D&R soon took the lead after the re-start and there was no real sign of a Torquay improvement. D&R found space on our left and at close range hit the ball into the roof of the net. Torquay did try a double substitution soon after with Keating replacing Reid. Reid had a poor game - he missed our best chance, had no real presence or composure in attack. He typically lost possession and in the second half when he did make a good jinking run, he was easily brushed off the ball when about to pull the trigger. We sorely missed Romain today. D&R's second goal was a neat flicked on headed goal from a free-kick and their third was a neat move that left Torquay defenders standing. D&R should have scored more and played some delightful football at times. It was another humiliation as a Gulls fan having to watch THAT.

Romain should improve things when he returns on Tuesday but today showed up all our season long failures and you cannot expect one player to turn it around. We did not even seemed motivated enough today and looking over to the touchline it hardly is inspiring seeing the static Kuhl's with his hands in his pockets - even our coach body language looked all wrong. D&R were far superior in all areas and Gulls fans were badly let down again.

Dont worry harrop will be here next season with owers and kuhl aka laurel and hardy and a chairman who is never seen its going to be a long long stay in regional football if we still have a club then

Yes - extremely good indeed. Lamb korai gost with mushroom rice and a cheese naan. Exceeded expectations.

TUFC, in contrast, lived down to expectations.

In fairness, Dagenham did actually look like a pretty good team. Technically adept players, who knew exactly what they were doing and worked hard at getting the job done. Probably the best team I have seen at Plainmoor this season.

At least we weren't getting thrashed by some of the rubbish we have contrived to get beaten by this season.

But the gulf was massive and we were as at least as clueless as they were impressive.

A silly early booking for Dowling got us off on the wrong foot and it went downhill from there. Dowling played in fear of getting a red, Barnes was nowhere near as impressive as he was against Barrow and we lost the midfield comprehensively - despite Luke Young's efforts. The wing backs never got on the front foot leaving us impotent going forward. Reid tried hard but failed to deliver any end product and Williams did not look half the player he did with Romain alongside him.

We were extremely fortunate to get to half-time at 0-0 and that gave a little hope. How many times have we thoroughly outplayed a team and failed to score only to let in a silly goal against the run of play and lose? Maybe the boot could be on the other foot and Dagenham could throw away a game they should have won comfortably?

No chance unfortunately. It ended 3-0 and 3-0 flattered us.

After we went 1-0 down, Owers brought on Keating for Reid in a straight swap (as everybody expected) and more surprisingly took Barnes off to bring on Lemonheigh-Evans. I would have expected a straight swap for Dowling but instead we tweaked formation slightly with Lemonheigh-Evans going into the hole in front of Dowling and Young whereas Barnes had played behind them.

The real shakeup came later when, with the score still 0-1, Owers sacrificed a centre-back in Balatoni to bring on Gosling and go to a 4-2-4 with Gosling and Lemonheigh-Evans wide - but neither looking like wide players.

Dagenham revelled in the extra space and added two more. In fairness, it was maybe worth a gamble - better to twist than stick on a 0-1 defeat.

Anyway, I don't think it was formations that lost the game. Dagenham looked more up for it.

A special mention for our wonderful support. An attendance of 1,931 is remarkable and shows what a glimmer of hope can do for attendances. Unfortunately, there was nothing at all on show to encourage the 400 extra to turn up again on Tuesday.

He clueless and out of his depth a good choice by harrop ffs