Jon
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Post by Jon on Jan 2, 2022 0:58:46 GMT
Never known so many unknowns.
I don't think Little is suspended, but he might be. Don't think Sparkes or Perritt have left but they might have. Lapslie, Hall, Moore, Felix and Armstrong might all be fit or none of them might be. Wright might be fit for another start after being made to play 180 minutes in three days, but he might not be.
We could be spoilt for choice with a very strong bench or we might be struggling to get together eleven fit players.
I expect the truth will be somewhere between the two.
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Jan 2, 2022 8:10:18 GMT
Apparently, over 1000 away ticket sold…….
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petef
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Post by petef on Jan 2, 2022 14:10:39 GMT
“Meanwhile, former Gulls winger Kalvin Kalala, who has been playing in the fifth tier of French football, is back in England - he's joined National League South side Dartford, making his debut in a 2-2 draw at Braintree this week. “ What a waste (no disrespect to Dartford) but we could do with an inform Kalala ☹️ Is Perriet (?) still about? Shame about Sparkes, can’t find anything on Twitter about his return ☹️ He wasn’t in the City squad today either. Normally no recall option in the first month? Johnson has looked after him as he has regained his fitness substituting him as necessary and he will be ready to go straight back into the ECFC squad. Would be disappointed if not with us tomorrow. See Moore back in training and sooner he is fit the better. Would be good to see match fit Byron Moore who hasn't yet showed us what he can do and has been largely underwhelming. As far as Sparkes is concerned I read it on another forum as being on the Devon Live website but try as I might I cant find the article anywhere. Lets hope its just miss information. Agree with Chelston regarding Kalala. Unusual to see such natural ability in a player at this level a waste of talent at the level he is at now. I really believe he could have played a major part in our near miss last term and may have been the difference to the final outcome.
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Jan 2, 2022 14:17:01 GMT
Team News - pretty much worse case scenario with no Sparkes, Little or Lapslie with only Armstrong on the bench being the only ray of sunshine.
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petef
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Post by petef on Jan 2, 2022 14:51:53 GMT
So many changes once again - how we can ever achieve continuity and consistency like this is beyond me.
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Post by stig123 on Jan 2, 2022 17:03:34 GMT
2-1! Great result. Great start to 2022.
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hector
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Post by hector on Jan 2, 2022 17:12:07 GMT
What a win with a rather patched-up team! I feared the worse when I saw the line-up and it wasn’t always a comfortable listen as COVID in the house meant I couldn’t go.
Much nearer the play-offs than the drop now and I guess it’s getting harder for the “Johnson Out” hysteria-bandits to make their argument now! Well done GJ and the team.
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petef
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Post by petef on Jan 2, 2022 17:38:33 GMT
Great result and sounds like fresh legs did the job in the end and a commitment to get forward. Nice to see Holman get on the score sheet it must be a very frustrating time for him but he needs to do it regularly. Well away from danger now which was the first priority and looking good to make a challenge if we can maintain our form and avoid injuries. Can't ask for much more considering how we started the season. Garry is slowly getting things back to how we know he wants them. The players are motivated contrary to what some were suggesting. Looking forward to reports
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Post by register on Jan 2, 2022 19:31:01 GMT
A pleasant though unexpected result methinks.
As mentioned above, hopefully it will keep the Johnson haters at bay, and I don’t doubt that someone not too far away is getting his Little Red Book out, to see how Chairman Mao dealt with the situation…ie, looking like a plonker! 📕
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chelstongull
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Post by chelstongull on Jan 2, 2022 19:55:46 GMT
The day started well with a double chilli cheese burger meal washed down with a couple of pints of Ringwood 49 er. Shame they messed up Jon's mega meal which should have been 4 burgers, 2 chicken fillets and a double portion of chips - he had to make do with their 4 burger version.
Thought we were sluggish for the first half hour with too many misplaced passes, one of which led to them scoring first (a belter to be fair). Surprised that Yeovil aren't higher in the league with a bench of Blissett, Quigley and the Everton named lad, Billy Bob Joe something.
The game turned when Armstrong came on and was unlucky not to score when the partially sighted lino gave offside. Cracking goal from Connor(direct from a corner). Lovely chip by Connor to set up Holman for a well taken secobd goal, having gone close earlier.
The key to our play off hopes lay with keeping Armstrong.
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Jan 2, 2022 19:58:39 GMT
Another good away day despite the heavy traffic going up on the A303 with a few pinch points but didn’t lose too much time and with the radio playing Coldplay’s yellow as we entered Yeovil, took that as a sign of good things to come. A bit disappointed to see the first team selection but understand that Sparks is now Covid isolating so maybe he will be back for next week!
To some extent the first half was a replay of last Sunday’s game with two evenly matched teams probing each other but not coming up with too many chances. I did feel we missed Little particularly in the middle and may have been a different story otherwise. Also Yeovil were notably more controlled and committing less fouls but not sure if that was a change of tactics or with one eye on the FA Cup match next week. Our best chance came when a Martin cross (the quality of his crossing was so much better today!) found debutant Felix in the box to head just narrowly wide. He is a very busy player and while he started slowly and was knocked off the ball a few times steadily improved throughout the game and I think will prove to be a good signing. Yeovil’s main outlet came from a number of long throws and corners with McDonald being taken out on one of them. He did make a good save from a shot which deflected leaving him wrong-footed but otherwise did not have too much to do.
I started the second-half in optimistic mood with the sun finally setting out of my eyes, our team attacking our end, knowing the best striker in the stadium would be on soon as well as the prospects of Gary time coming up with another winner. The players upped their game and we certainly came out in the second-half the better team showing no signs of having played another match since the last Yeovil game with Wright narrowly heading wide and Wynter making good ground to shoot towards the bottom right hand corner but without enough power. However it was Yeovil that actually broke the deadlock with a Wright poor pass giving the ball away in the centre of our half and they scored with a “worldy” in the top right hand corner giving Macdonald no chance. Probably my fault as after a series of shots from them that went well over our crossbar I had commented, they don’t seem to have their shooting boots on today!
Armstrong had already entered the fray but Johnson sent on O’Connell and Holman for a strategy of all-out attack. Armstrong was causing them all sorts of problems and three times was harshly penalised by the officials. The first time he cleverly nicked the ball through to go clear but the referee pulled play back for a foul, for what I’ve no idea. A lovely through ball saw him go between two defenders and using his upper body strength was able to retain possession but again the referee contrived to see a foul. Finally the lino got in on the act when Armstrong again got clear and seemed to run past the last defender but the Lino who was behind play flagged for off side much to the derision of the seated away support immediately behind him. He was still giving the Lino a piece of his mind when he missed a section of quickly taken play.
To some extent Justice was served when an in swinging corner just after it started to rain again was delivered by CLE and with a bit of wind assistance went straight into the top far right hand corner with the keeper missing his attempt to punch out. We were back in the match and the away support was giving the home crowd a few of the songs back that they sang immediately after they had scored. Holman was starting to get on the act and got on the end of the ball to narrowly shoot wide of the far right hand corner. In the final minute of normal time with CLE 8 yards outside of the area, he dinked a clever up and under ball for Holman to get on the end of near the corner of the 6 yard box and this time found the far bottom left hand corner to the delight of Torquay fans around him.
Just enough time to echo the Yeovil fans 20 minutes earlier by asking Gary what the score was and we comfortably saw out the rest of injury time for a rare Huish Park win!
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Jan 2, 2022 20:04:21 GMT
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petef
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Post by petef on Jan 2, 2022 20:51:59 GMT
Sounds like its been a very difficult week at the club from Garry's comments that he didn't expand on. Interesting.
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chelstongull
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Post by chelstongull on Jan 3, 2022 8:54:49 GMT
Sounds like its been a very difficult week at the club from Garry's comments that he didn't expand on. Interesting. Looking forward to the book….👍
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simonb
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Post by simonb on Jan 3, 2022 9:34:58 GMT
Wonder if there were issues over the bringing in of new players - maybe such moves were sanctioned? It’s going to be interesting to see what contracts are offered (and accepted) in terms of our potential retained list later down the road.
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