NL: Torquay United v Sutton United 3pm 16 November 2019

A pleasant November day for a change and back to league business.
Bright sunshine to cheer and surely a foregone conclusion of a result with such a gap between ourselves and Sutton Utd and such contrasting recent form.
I doubt that very much . We face yet another struggling side desperate to pull away from the relegation zone.
Wrexham proved difficult to break down and were unlucky not to at least gain a point just a few weeks ago and have followed up with some better results.

Oddly we have performed better against the better sides. I hope we have the right mind set today.
If we do then we should win comfortably but if we turn up as we did at Maidstone then it could be a very difficult afternoon and I consider the loss of Liam Davis a major blow his are hard boots to fill.

Niate in. Back 3 and wing backs. Whitfield in the hole. Covolan in goal. Four forwards on bench.

A bad day at the office with a second poor performance and defeat in a row against a lowly team and two more key players today went off today with bad looking injuries. Torquay bossed the first 10 minutes, played some great pass and move slick football and should have taken the lead but for some desperate last ditch defending. However, all game Torquay were sloppy in their own half often giving the ball way in dangerous areas. The warning signs were there before Sutton took the lead when Vincent carelessly gave the ball away that put Sutton through. A few minutes later out of nothing and more sloppy defending Sutton found themselves 1-on-1 with Covolan and took the lead totally against the run of play. Crowd a decent 2,770 with 92 vocal supporters from Sutton and sponsors MOTM deservedly going to Torquay's goal scorer right back Wynter.

My first observation today was how good the pitch looked with all the recent rainfall. Some muddy patches in the goalmouths but apart from that the pitch looked in pristine condition. There was no rain or wind today unlike recent home games so it was perfect conditions for football. Torquay attacked the Family stand end in the first half. Buse got on the end of a slick passing move that was cleared in the goalmouth by a defender. Sutton at this stage looked poor and there for the taking against a rampant looking Torquay. But that early momentum was undone when Sutton took the lead. Torquay then lost their way for 20 odd minutes and Sutton got their act together. Torquay's uncertain defending continued with players like Vincent, Buse and Niate giving away possession cheaply. Niate was recalled in defence and Torquay played with 3 at the back. Cundy had a decent game and Cameron was ok but Niate often was out-of-sorts. Ironically, like when Sutton scored, Torquay scored out-of-the-blue when Sutton were on top. Reid, who did not appear for the pre-match warm up as he was carrying an injury, put through Wynter with a slide rule pass on our right. Wynter picked his spot and beat their keeper with a low shot at the far post. Torquay did improve a bit after the equalizer but it was quite sporadic. 1-1 was probably a fair score at half time. There was the odd good move but also errors like Niate near half-time totally missing a routine header in his box that let in Sutton. Luckily we scrambled the ball to safety. Torquay's best performers were Wynter, Cundy with his clearances and Whitfield for his energy and skill on the ball. Kalala replaced the injured Vincent and took a central role.

It was a poor second half performance. The game got bogged down into a scrappy affair with neither side taking charge. Torquay's potential match winners like Kalala and Janneh both had shocking games, Reid was quiet but can be excused as he was carrying an injury and assisted with Torquay's goal. Disaster struck when Sutton got through our defence rather too easily again and slotted the ball past Covolan. Supporters around me thought Cameron was fouled in the build up but the referee did not spot it. Nevertheless it was another example of slack defending by Torquay. Torquay huffed and puffed, earned a few corners and one or two dangerous free-kicks but there was no proper rhythm in their game. Covolan made a decent tip over save and a couple other decent saves in the second half. In truth, we did not test their keeper enough. Substitute Duku, who replaced defender Niate near the end, had our best chance but his shot was saved by their keeper's legs. Our play got more and more desperate and there was a lack of quality and leadership in our play. It was too mistake ridden with passes going astray and players not on the same wavelength. Near the end Whitfield went off injured and like Vincent's earlier injury I don't think we will see him for a while.

So bad news all around today in a game where Torquay started so promisingly. Sutton dug in and won the game and Torquay were their own worst enemies with too many careless errors in their own half and losing their slick passing game when chasing the game. Our injury list now looks horrendous so let's hope we get one or two back soon otherwise we will struggle in the coming weeks

Most fans fear playing the top four...our fans fear playing the bottom four.

Don't expect any decent results until the second week of December.

My fault, I've been a bit disorganised this season!