Torquay United V Salisbury 25th August 2008

agree JimD and Crooky its not looking too good.

Well, not the result we needed, but I think there were signs of improvement. At least people were mainly playing in their proper positions, until Stevens (a right winger) replaced Carayol (who I think was having an ok game on the left) whilst leaving the constantly ineffective Carlisle on the right wing. Unfortunately, being a right winger, Danny wanders towards the centre of the pitch which takes away and width that might have been on offer.
Whilst I have berated Buckle in the past (sorry DaveR) I will give him some credit that he has now accepted that Hargreaves is needed in the middle and has swallowed his pride, somewhat, to play Woods and Ellis as centre backs.
For me, its Sills who needs to take a look at himself, he should have scored a couple and could have had about 4, but his finishing was way below the standard needed and he really need to work to improve it. Dsane worked hard and was knackered when he went off.
Due to the improved performance I think that we should give Bucks a bit more time. I'm still not convinced that he is capable of getting us anywhere near to promotion, but there were a few signs that the tide is turning and, hopefully, results will improve.
In my opinion (and its only my opinion, and not that of anyone from the forum staff ) our 2 best players today were Woods and Ellis. Either of them deserved to be man of the match, but I suppose that with Citylink Builders picking the MOM, the selector would have been kicking his 'friend' in the teeth had he picked either and thereby saying that they should have been there from the start of the season.

Just back from the match, my first this season. I was keen to see with my own eyes what's going on, even though my expectations were not high. Crowd 2,001, about 150 from Salisbury, sponsors MOTM Hodges.

When I entered the ground at 2.45pm I was shocked at the low crowd and lack of noise, and I was pleasantly surprised that we ended up hitting 2,000. I don't really know what's going on behind the scenes but I was told that Nicholson has apparently handed in a transfer request ? He did not feature at all today, by the way and it makes you wonder about how happy some of our players are in the current climate.

As for the team it was largely a case of going back to last season's winning formula and there was a good balance to it. All the back four Hodges, Ellis, Woods and Robertson looked solid and there was a good physical presence especially with Robertson and Ellis height. Hodges has obvious quality and it was a shame we did not make more of some of his excellent deliveries. Hodges and Poke are clearly two improvements we have made this season.

Onto the midfield with Mansell and Hargreaves there was plenty of effort and drive as you would expect and it worked well. Carayol did well on the left with some good skill and pace, but Carlisle, apart from the odd good flick, did not really impose himself and did not try taking on their full-back. He needs to do much more. Up front Dsane really worked hard and linked play well and intelligently. Sills won his usual flick-ons but his finishing badly let us down.

Onto the match first half it was a good team performance, some well worked moves, quite a fluid performance but sadly we did not score. Sills had the best chance after 5 minutes with a clear header and time to pick his spot, but put it wide. I thought we mixed it well with some good passing football and using our height and physical presence from set-pieces. It was good to have Robertson back taking long throws.

Second half Dsane was through on goal but it was too tight an angle. There were a few penalty area scrambles and plenty of corners. Ellis tended to win the headers but sadly did not direct them well. Sills had a clear chance from the edge of the penalty area but screwed his shot badly wide. Our best chance near the end by Mansell was deflected just wide. Just when it seemed we would have to settle for a draw disaster struck. Stevens, who had come on for Carayol, got brushed off the ball, Salisbury broke quickly, put it out wide. A dangerous cross was headed in powerfully. Good night Vienna, a perfect smash and grab win for Salisbury.

At full-time there were some boos but nothing much. In fact the team received some warm applause from the Pop and Grandstand. We played well enough to win, but did not take our chances when they came, and got done by the sucker punch. I'm afraid that tends to happen when the teams struggling.

I was quite happy with the performance and gives me a bit of hope. But you really wonder where the goals will come from when our finishing tends to be erratic. It does worry me as well that few of the new signings played today. Is that an admittance that most are not the standard we hoped they would be ? Worrying times, and looking at Colin Lee at full-time, he too looked a worried man.

One more point, arguably two of our best players Dsane and Carayol got subbed. It would have made more sense to most for Stevens to replace the ineffective Carlisle. I'm afraid poor old Danny had a bit of a stinker when he came on and was ultimately responsible for our defeat losing the ball. As for Green for Dsane, there was one comical episode when Green and Carlisle got in the way of eachother around the penalty spot when going for the ball. That summed up the confusion there still is in the team, especially from the new players. I agree with the view that we had a poor pre-season when our first choice team was not sorted out correctly.

I would concur that it was a much better performance today and with some fine tuning the results will start to come. We are heading in the right direction and the season is by no means over yet.

Great report swangull. its good to see that even in defeat today some real positives have come out of the game, we need to back this up again on Thursday, lets hope we can, the fans and everyone at the club, really do need the lift.

With respect, I find your observation a strange one. Sills was not at the races against Histon and Ebbsfleet, but against Crawley this was not the case. Within 5 minutes of coming on, Sills had taken on Quinn and beaten him to set up Dsane. He then proceded to win header after header and draw free kick after free kick out of the Crawley defence.

It was often commented last season that when goals are not going in for Sills he looks a lazy, disinterested player. I don't think there is anything different this season.

So come on boys we need a plan, we all have good football brains, surly we can all work together, find the way, get out of this dark tunnel we are in, Chris Hayes you are right, I will go open the bottle now