NL: Torquay United v Maidenhead 7:45pm 4th October 2022

A test of the clubs support tonight as well as those selected to do battle. I fear there will be well under the 2000 or so we saw on Saturday. Bottom line is there's been very little to get excited or enthusiastic about and already the season is dead and buried with a measly seven goals scored in eleven matches and yet to witness a win in any form at home. The days when we were ripping oponents apart with incisive attacking football are a distant memory and frustratingly there appears to be no sign of that side of our game improving anytime soon. I for one longer want to stand on the popside for two hours watching my team getting embarrassed by the opposition and many others will undoubtedly drawing the same conclusion. Ten minute "on trial" wonder Nathanial George who i thought impressed and offered some flair to our forward play in his one short cameo early on will feature for Maidenhead along with another former gull in Dan Sparks.

Will we finally find some forward threat and cohesion or will it be yet another embarrassing evening for the gulls faithful?

Wyatt in for injured Crowe.

Hanson takes his place on the bench.

What's the story with Iseguan? He may not be the finished article but has a bit of pace and zip about him.

On Saturday we were crying out for something different to shake things up from the bench. Three pace-challenged central midfielders and one centre back on the bench.Nothing at all to force the game if needed.

Pants! 2-3. Another home defeat. This is getting serious. Hope Evans is ok...lengthy stoppage for the injury apparently.

I thought we played well last night with the players still up for it and unlucky to lose this game after Maidenhead seemed to be holding on during injury time before getting possession from a goalkick and scoring a fortunate goal to win the game. Hope Evans is okay after he had to be structured off on a spinal board and await news…..

We certainly started the better of the two sides and after a lengthy delay from the Evans injury after a sliding tackle where he won the ball but possibly twisted something we scored a good goal. Wyatt worked the ball well on the right hand side and crossed into the edge of the area where the ball found its way to Goodwin who just managed to find a bit of space in the area and his shot along the ground was almost passed into the net.

We lost another player to injury when Marshall seem to have hurt his calf, replaced by Donollan who went on to have a good game in defence. However advhas halftime approached Maidenhead became more and more into the ascendancy as we spent long spells defending our goal with their left winger causing some problems.

A few minutes into the 12 minutes of injury time we were unable to clear on the edge of the area and the ball came out on the left hand side where their man was in a lot of space and his cross into the 6 yard box was pinpoint perfect for it to be headed in. They almost added another with some good play in the box but the shot was luckily hit over. However then we managed to score with Martin getting clear and crossing into the box for Jarvis to chest down and find the space to slot pass the keeper to take a surprising, or so we thought, half-time lead.

Thought the ref had a relatively okay game up to this point, he had been a little fussy but a ball was chipped into the box behind our defence and while it seemed to hit a United player as they were running backwards the ref adjudged handball and emphatically pointed to the spot. Couldn’t see anything untoward from my angle and wonder if anyone on the family stand or pop side saw something different?. The penalty was well taken low to the left and somehow three goals had been scored in injury time!.



Thought we pressed more in the second half and looked the better team and were close with a well worked free kick. Halsted did have to make a very good from a shot in a penalty area where he managed to get a hand to it diving to his left and then scooped up the loose ball. There was another frenetic injury time. We had a header cleared off the line and Goodwin just chipped the ball over the last defender and as he raced clear was brought down from behind but unluckily the ball was adjudged to have just gone out of play just before.

We were trying to apply pressurise for the goal and just as it seemed we ran out of time a goal kick was pumped forward and the defensive were a little leggy by now and their substitutes with fresh legs combined to cross the ball in with their striker getting in front of Halstead and while they both missed the ball, the cross became a shot as it went in at the far side of the net. Devastating for the gulls to have lost that one and here we are in October still waiting for our first home win…

Not sure about the type of injury to Kieron Evans but feel sorry for him on two counts: firstly, he was carried off some time after 8pm and was still on his stretcher waiting for the ambulance to arrive at 10.30pm when I left to drive home and secondly, he was beginning to influence matches after a slow start.
As for the penalty, still a mystery.

Well, where do you start? Firtsly wishing Evans all the best and a speedy recovery in what looked like a nasty injury in tackling the popular Maidstone number two.

On hearing the line up, the first thing that caught my eye was no striker on the bench with the bench devoid of pace. Surely Olaf should be bought back from Dorchester if the terms of his loan allow it.

Make no bones about it; we are in a relegation battle with no obvious Plan B.

Thought our two goals were very good but switched off for the Maidstone first and last goals, Not sure about the penalty, too far away to see.
Thought Maidstone a tidy side (well they beat Chesterfield last Saturday), not world beaters but they did the basics well with a bit of muscle up front and at the back. All the high balls were meat and drink to them street fighters who would have given Stone Cold a drubbing. Good job the GJ got rid of Nanathiel-George, too much pace and skill.

Where’s that Nelson lad from Exeter?