NL: Torquay United v Halifax 3pm 22 February 2020

22nd February surely.

Really looking forward to this. So long since I saw a football match - Tavistock, I believe.

Rob has been through the variance selection issues. Would love to see Wynter back but hope we don't rush him back too soon.

Easy way to accommodate the central midfield three (all crocked by Woking!!) would be to go 4-3-3 with Evans and Little either side of Hall and Whitfield and Azeez either side of Reid.

Prefer a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1 myself though.

If the former, play Hall at centre-back, play Evans or Little wide, play a diamond or leave one of them out.

If the latter play Azeez wide and play Evans or Little in the hole.

Had the wind with us first half and shaded the run of play although this doesn’t impact our game too much. Little replaced by Andrews, hopefully just a niggle and understandable wouldn’t want to push it.

0-0 against them last month as well so hope not same outcome

Yep although was still going strong.

A gritty win for the Gulls today as they ground out a 1-0 win. It was not pleasant viewing for much of the match in a game of few clear cut chances and neither keeper was tested much. Torquay's first shot on target from Whitfield in the second half was a comfortable save so it was a game that hardly got the pulses racing. Yes it was dull to watch in front of 2,035 with 135 from Halifax but one piece of quality was enough to win the game. A free-kick was whipped into the box by Andrews on our left, Hall won the header and brought out a fine diving save by their keeper but Azeez stole in to head the rebound in at close range. Sponsors MOTM went to midfielder Lemonheigh-Evans, I personally I would have chosen Hall who made our goal and is so important doing the ugly stuff in getting stuck in and winning tackles. Special praise should also go to our back four today. With no Warren around anymore there were fears we would slip back to those horrible defensive errors. But there was none of that today as Cundy and Cameron stood up well in the middle and both our full backs were very impressive.

Torquay started off impressively and played excellent pass and move football and were looking like Brazil on the ball. It became apparent however that for all the good build up play there was no end product. Torquay tried to pass their way through Halifax and hit a wall each time and when Torquay did put a cross in, we have no natural marksman in the middle. Striker Reid and Azeez had little service and Reid's first touch was not the best today. Hall is the only player we have who is strong in the air as proved by his assist today. Little had our only decent shot in the first half that just went over. Sadly after around 20 minutes Little went off with a recurrence of his hamstring again and it makes you wonder if he will ever recover from it. That is 3 times this season it has happened. Torquay finished the first half the stronger team.

Halifax started brightly at the start of the second half and only some last ditch defending and a save by Covolan kept the scores level. The game settled down to being a dull affair again. There did not seem any way through for either team until Torquay took the lead. Halifax had to attack more but Torquay did not really threaten. Kalala replaced Azeez for the last 10 minutes but Kalala was poor. He could not beat his man and showed a lack of commitment. On one occasion he clearly backed out of a 50/50 challenge. Covolan did his trick of faking an injury so Johnson could do a team talk at 1-0. In 6 minutes of added time Halifax should have equalized, they hit the cross bar and late substitute Wynter made a fine last ditch goal saver. Apart from that Halifax's finishing all game was poor and some credit must go to Torquay's defence for that. The final whistle finally went as Halifax were camped in Torquay's half. As I said one piece of quality won the match in a game of few thrills.

So a vital win and the positives was that it was a solid and gutsy display by the Gulls and defensively we stood firm. The defence kept its shape and midfielders like Hall protected them. Longbridge our left back is doing a sterling job and puts in a really good shift like Davis did before his injury. I like his attitude. On the otherhand I did not like Kalala's attitude - not being able to beat his man and pulling out of tackles. It was noted at the final whistle Kalala wanted to head to the tunnel but Johnson reminded him to go to the fans. There seems to be an attitude problem with Kalala. Apart from that all the players gave their all for the cause and enjoyed the after match celebrations with the supporters.

It was good to see Azeez get on the score sheet and you have to credit his anticipation in poaching the winner Benyon style. Hopefully Azeez and Reid will be more involved in future matches. I thought Andrews did very well replacing Little and playing in central midfield. Players like Whitfield gave their all but teams like Halifax are hard to break down and Torquay need to show more quality in the final third to unlock defences in this league.