Weymouth V Torquay United 26th December 2008

You love to take the piss out of my preference for location to view a game from, but your opening remarks serve only to undermine your argument Dave!

So my view from a "best seat in the house" is a little different to yours and it is this.........................

Bevan had a superb game (perhaps his best yet for us) and certainly earned his win bonus today. "Perhaps" is a loose word and yes, perhaps Weymouth could have scored on two or three occasions; but then so could we have bagged two or three more.

In short I would describe this as a result far more than a performance...................well a performance of pragmatism and character over one of silky skills and fluent passing. Weymouth's primary aim was to deny us room to pass on an awful surface that was cut far too short denying the ball any "cushion" whatsoever and in that Godforsaken exposed location with it's swirling and unpredictable wind, an environment that was absolutely lacking any consistency at all when attempting to weight or decide range in one's passing.

Despite that, I thought Nicky Wroe's ability to time and weight his passes stood head and shoulders above all others on the pitch today,and his tracking back and getting his foot in are coming on a treat as well.

The game was reminiscent of one of those awful wintry Easter derbies played out on a hard surface in blustery conditions and thankfully it was Weymouth who had to chase the game rather than ourselves.

Yes, Weymouth's wingers found room but what did they do with it? So did Weymouth play the better football or the most easy on the eye football? It certainly wasn't the most effective football as the result shows.

I thought our defence was superb - every one of them and I thought the players who struggled were the ones who like to run with the ball what with the inconsistent wind that made accurate crossing almost impossible and greasy underfoot conditions that made changing direction and keeping one's balance hazardous indeed.

I thought Beavon stood out a mile for them and one who could be a great addition to our squad one day - he's definitely a player "on the up" and one to keep an eye on.

Games like today have to be viewed in the context of one in a series of rapid fire games (just 48 hours to the next one) and thus conservation of energy and intelligent use of the ball and players is of the utmost importance.

You have commented on the embarrassment of the youngsters behind the goal, well what of that running sore and well known drunkard John Bartlett? Fifteen minutes from time there was the bellowing imbecile leaning over the wall goading Paul Buckle and haranguing him in a red faced drunken fury as if the professionals in OUR club are going to listen to a village idiot like that. There's no doubt where all that pointless anti Buckle rubbish emanates from and judging by the calibre of brain it comes from - the true worth of it.

Not a classic, derbies rarely are; but a great result and good following of generally impressive support....................and nice to meet (and finally discover the identity of) Barton Downs - who also has a preference to "sit on high") I'll take a result over a performance any day thankyou!

I would further point out Merse that Barton Downs always stands on the popside and does not sit in the higher seats in the main stand at Plainmoor, so I think you have got it wrong when you state what his preference is.

Morning all!

My preference is to watch football from the side (towards the halfway line if possible) - and from height, should this be available. I always aim for this when I'm at a game as a neutral. Watching Torquay it can be affected by issues such as segregation, cost, the need to be sociable, general ambience of the ground and cussed middle-aged mood. At Plainmoor, the popular side - the less crowded area towards the Babbacombe half - suits me. Should a spanking new main stand be built, I shall move over there (or, if fate has it, I'll be in the Sutton Seeds Penwill Way stand - I'll certainly be too old for the more raucous atmosphere of the Crocodile Swamp Zoo End).

Away from home I'm tending to take advantage of non/semi -segregated seating areas - which sometimes exist even when standing areas are segregated - by heading for the main stand (eg Crawley, AFC Wimbledon, Eastbourne, Weymouth). Otherwise stood on the side at Woking (an easy choice), enjoyed it behind the goal at Forest Green and opted for sociability (and sunshine) on the open terrace at Gravesend.

An unusual trip for me yesterday because I travelled courtesy of the Gulls Travel Club for the first time in over ten years. My thanks to the organisers, especially for a pleasant pub stop in Winterbourne Abbas. There were moments - travelling over the A35 near Askerswell and coming back home in a coach with little heating (the driver was very apologetic about this) - that I felt I was on an away trip to Bournemouth in 1971 or 1972. Some things in life don't change that much....only the old-time mandatory stop at Bridport bus station was missing....but I certainly don't feel I'm fifteen-years-old this morning! And, yes, on our coach we had a certain supporter named in this and other threads. He doesn't seem to change too much either, does he? Talk about being old enough to know better....

To the match, where from "on high", I had the pleasure of a half-time natter with Merse and the discomfort of an icy, difficult wind blowing up the gap from Weymouth Bay (with the next landfall, at our height, being just south of Boulogne). Actually enjoyed the first-half - it always helps to be pleased about being somewhere at a certain time, doesn't it? - and was interested to watch some of Weymouth's players: Beavon (who I'd seen play at a lower level for Didcot), Williams on the left, Coutts in midfield and, of course, our old acquaintance Chris McPhee playing at the back. But, overall, a game to absorb the attention (which it did) rather than entertain. I thought we were worth the lead at half-time - from "on high" the deflection for the goal was considerable - and, as others have commented, it could have gone either way (or neither) in the second-half (a second goal for us around 55/60 minutes would have made it comfortable I feel). Strangely the finger nails are in an decent state this morning - even though I forgot my bloody gloves yesterday - so I must be gaining confidence in us having "know how" to succeed. Bevan was excellent - and (despite those missed opportunities yesterday) I'm being encouraged in what I see in Green. Otherwise it was one of those days when six-out-of-ten individual performances saw us through and one which, hopefully (famous last words notwithstanding), provided further evidence of our knack of winning contrasting games in contrasting ways.

Agree with merse about Stuart Beavon. Phillips, though better.

rjdgull the way the mood is in Weymouth about the future of the club, they did well to get as many fans to even go. Some are already resigned to no longer even having a club to support, so it goes some way to explaining their lack of any real passion.

No figure was given out I understand, but I would have said we had about 1000, Ant thought it was a bit higher than that. I know they would not get that many away fans at the ground, but I think they should have known we would be bring a high number.

So the question is why did they not make sure that they had more food to be able to sell. If it is run by someone outside the club, well they sure did not make as much money as they could have, on a cold old Boxing day.

I can't really disagree at all with any of the comments posted on here. It was my first ever visit to the Wessex Stadium yesterday. I have to say that its a bit of a souless shed in the middle of nowhere. Fair play to anyone braving the Eiger Stand. It was certainly nippy in the away if like me you were stood towards the back of the stand and had cold air blowing down your neck all game.

There was a distinct lack of atmosphere from the home fans The Jack Compton stand briefly "erupted" into life (relatively speaking) at half time with the news that Dorchester were losing at Bath City. But I don't want to single out Weymouth for a lack of atmosphere as I don't think that there's anyone on here who doesn't remember the Roberts period and doesn't recall how the prospect of not having a team to support made us all virtual zombies.

As for the game. It was a very scrappy. When we actually got control of the ball and played on the deck we looked like a much better side. However most for me warranted little more that 6/10 apart from Bevan who was excellent, Lee Hodges had an assured game and Nicky Wroe, more so in the first half, made some intelligent passes and himself available with some excellent movement. Sills worked his socks off in the second half and Green was the one man who looked like being a cutting edge. Carayol had a very poor game. I still think he's worth persisting with though. I do wish he'd get stuck in and work a bit harder without the ball instead of prancing around like a spoilt Viennese horse.

We were, in the last 20 minutes, also treated to a wonderful sunset. I was most upset that I'd forgotten the good camera. Sometimes you're better off in the cheap seats.