Torquay United V Burton 26th April 2009

Really pleased for Roy Mac, a real gent, never moans about refs etc. Several managers (especially in the Crawley area) could learn a thing or two from him.

Histon are next, of the 3 teams left, I would have chosen them and having their keeper suspended is an added bonus.

Not long back from the match which was indeed a great occasion for both sets of fans with nobody going home unhappy.
The match itself was far more open than I thought it would be and I think that eventually worked to our advantage after going behind early to a strike from Goodfellow who wasn't closed down in the area and had a clear strike at goal. A quick response was required and after some tricky endeavour on the left from our pocket rocket Danny Stevens he squared the ball To Greavsie just on the edge of the box for a neat placed finish. We pressed for the remainder of the half and for the most part Burton were just picking up the odd scraps and made little of them much to our relief. Early on Sills had picked up , what looked like a very painful head knock and bravely continued to finish the half though he did look a bit groggy at times. Second half and an early goal which was eventually to decide the contest.A long throw and near post flick and a quick header neatly placed by Elliot Benyon was the perfect start and in all honesty for the remainder we rarely looked troubled but you always had that lurking feeling that if they had just one clear chance it could have all gone horribly wrong. No need to worry though and with other results incredibly and unexpectedly going in our favour it was a perfect day.
Only worries are that Greavsie looked jaded and in pain at the end though he put in a magnificent effort and scored a crucial goal. Two more stern tests before the ultimate Gladiatorial battle at Wembley and I only hope the players can recover physically and put in a match winning performance.
Plus points and Little Danny always looked to attack the defenders and had the tricks and ability to get them backing off, so glad he played and made a difference everybody put it in though and the day ended with rapturous celebration in front of the cameras. What more could you ask for? ;D

Now now Chris, no need to be like that - I'm still disappointed that I waited behind after the final whistle (to boo and shake my fist at arch villain Buckle) as they erected some sort of presentation area and trotted-out some trophy and it turned-out to be for Burton rather than a lifetime acheivement award for our departed centre-half!

As someone else mentioned, I expect many people have watched this either at the match or on Setanta (although obviously not on a web-feed from abroad ), but in summary - it was a thoroughly professional effort from the team.
The last few minutes were rather strange - the other results that "mattered" to either team had filtered through to the fans and although no quarter was given by either team, it sort of fizzled-out a bit.
Coudn't begrudge Burton the title - the league table doen't lie (except for the Weymouth debacle!!!!) and was glad to see Roy Mac getsome applause from the home fans.

Hargreaves was immense again today - felt that our first goal felt was slightly against the run of play, but the cool finish by the old head set us up to get back in-charge of the game. His constant harrying of the Burton team and his experience of these games was so invaluable.
Agreed with the official MOTM in Mansell, but it could have gone to Captain Marvel himself, Wroe or even Robertson. The most important thing is not the performance of the individual but that of the team and no-one let themselves down.
I don't think that it was Rayner that goofed on any of the goals in the play-offs last season (IIRC), but Poke was an excellent stand-in for Bevan.

I also heard that Dsane will not be involved in the team again - although I assumed that the comments on CH's blog about "certain individuals needing to have a look at themselves" were aimed at Dsane (and possibly others) and perhaps some people put two and two together..... Either way, if he has gone I'm not bothered. I'd rather have a dedicated set of players than some of the "couldn't care less" appearances that I have seen (depite some vital goals and a few really good matches).

All in all, the team delivered in every way today when they really neede to step-up. That surely is the "Setanta Hoodoo" laid to rest for good!

Looking forward to the next two matches - I'm open minded as to how we will do. Whatever happens I believe that it won't be down to lack of effort.

Did you feel that? ;D It was a pinch just to make sure you weren`t dreaming! Bring on the Buckle Haters!

Well, what a day! Couldn’t really have gone much better could it? I managed to be unaffected by nerves right up until the moment i entered the ‘Gulls Nest’ and got my first view of the pitch. And more specifically the already busy terraces. All of a sudden the magnitude of the task hit home again, and the finger-nails took a battering! I could see from the way the players were grouped in the warm-up that Benyon and Stevens were going to start. I was as surprised as i was delighted by that selection, and great credit should to go to the manager for making such a brave choice on such an occasion.

We fought our way down to the Pop at about 3.45, proceeded to find a nice spot at the back of the Pop at the Babbacombe end, and waited for the fun to begin. And then we waited some more. As predicted, Greavsie lost the toss and suddenly we were on the move again! This didn’t bode well, and today of all days! Attacking the Ellacombe end in the first-half?! That never works. We got ourselves comfy down in the corner by the family stand, and we were off!

When Burton went 1 up all the usual feelings of dread resurfaced. We were going to blow it again. A big expectant crowd and we weren’t going to turn up. We were still feeling sorry for ourselves when Danny started his run down the left wing. He cut inside, rolled a great pass across the edge of the Burton box, and Captain Marvel arrived right on cue to steer a shot into the bottom corner. It was a great finish, though until i’d seen the replay at half-time, i didn’t realise quite how good. Now it was game on.

We were excellent at times in that first-half. We had the best team in the League pinned back deep in their own half for long periods. In fairness, we were the team that needed the win, so it’s understandable Burton weren’t overly attacking, but the pressure we excerted would have made it tough for them if they’d wanted to be. We created a few chances, one shot in particular (i can’t actually remember from whom) which was expertly tipped away by Deeney in the Burton net. And so we went in at half-time level, having been much the better team. Other results were going our way too. All was going well. Almost too well you feared. What would the second 45 bring?

Well no sooner had we found a space for the second half, than it had brought another goal! A flick-on from Greavsie, and a glancing header from Benners (i thought it was going wide of the far post) and we were ahead. He scores goals. In fairness, the rest of the half was a little bit of a non-event. With the goings-on at Cambridge, Burton didn’t care about losing by the odd goal. We certainly didn’t need to chase another. Quite frankly, everyone was happy. Other results had seen to that. The Burton fans were, understandably in great voice. We played our part too in that respect. From about the 70-minute mark, we were all just waiting for the whistle to go and the celebrations to start. The rest of the game was something of an inconvenience actually. There never seemed to be anything happening at any of the other games, which would have influenced our own match. There was a distinct lack of the kind of drama that usually transpires on these occasions. Which was nice.

Then came the eruption at the Away end which indicated the Cambridge game was over. We gave them some polite applause, primarily in the hope their own players would stop trying to score against us i think! And then it was over. Burton can now look forward to League 2, whilst we can look forward to more of the same kind of tension! Attention now moves on to Histon. I think most of us would have settled for that.

Well done to Bucks and the players on a job expertly done today. We can do it all again on Friday.

Well done fellas for producing the goods. I thought at times during the first half we were excellent. Well done also to Roy Mac and Burton.

Strange second half - approaching the end Sills took the ball into the corner to waste a few seconds - none of the burton players could be bothered to get it off him for a while.

Thought some of Benyon's running was excellent. I also thought Manse was first class, dived in a couple of times as ususal, but he was generally very good and linked well with an on form Carlisle. Only worry for me was the central defence again. Sorry to say, but Todd does not deserve a place at the moment. He looks out of sorts.

One or two other points - Histon had their keeper sent off today - does that put him out of the play off - apologies if that has been covered previously.

I bought a programme today for the dirst time in years. Wow - what has happened? It was informative, interesting and pretty good value for money. Well done whoever is reposnsible.