Torquay United V Northwich Victoria 7th Sept 2008

Respect and gratitude to Tim Sills - that was pressure and THAT was stepping up to the plate and delivering the goods................well done Sillsy!

I don't know if you can class that as a get out of jail free card. For me there was no improvement on our resent games. 3 points is 3 points, but I was hoping for a bit more than a last gasp penalty, and by the sound of it Vics should have had one earlier on.
Relieved about getting the win, not at all pleased that the current climate of poor finishing and lack of composure at the back is still very much in force.

Ok so we did win and I am naturally pleased with that. But our second half performance was so dire we scarcely desrerved the win, and if you think this result will kick-start our season, forget it. Crowd 1,700+, nearly 50 from Northwich, sponsors MOTH Mansell.

I entered the ground about 20 minutes from kick-off to the sight of just small pockets of supporters in the home end. The crowd who did turn up were obviously your hardy sort from both teams, and at least they made some decent noise and colour. I liked today's line-up trying Benyon and Green up front.

The first 10 minutes we were very good, well on top forcing plenty of corners and playing well as a team. Carlisle scored after 10 minutes showing neat control and finishing from close range following a free-kick. Northwich had a couple of half chances in the first half and did play some nice stuff at times, but Torquay were the better team and deserved their half-time lead.

Before the second half began I said that the second half will tell us a lot about the team. Either they will go on to win convincingly or they would struggle. Unfortunately the latter happened. At half time Woods went off with an injury, on came Thompson at right-back (remember Crawley ?), with Robertson now in central defence with Ellis. Crispygull did warn me that in the past, Ellis and Roberstson in central defence together struggled badly, and so it happened again today.

Northwich came out the traps brightly in the second half and took the game to Torquay and our defence was all at sea ! Ellis clumsily chested the ball on the edge of the area into the path of an attacker, who wasted a great chance clean through. Then a couple of minutes later our defence was sliced open, our right-back was missing, and Northwich easily scored from close range.

Our first half promise had gone out the window and we were quite simply a mess all over the pitch. Sills came on for Green and it was clear what that would mean. No more decent football, just hit and hope football and it was horrible to watch. Sills did find himself in the clear on the right, passed the ball over to Benyon but Benyon did not make good contact and a defender just got enough on the ball for a corner. A golden chance went begging.

Thompson was shocking at right-back and later in the second half he swapped with Mansell. Saying that Thompson was not much better in midfield. Stevens came on for the impressive Carayol as per usual. But our play was getting more and more desperate and Northwich were a threat at times, and did play some decent football in the second half. Then in the 5th. minute of added time a ball was launched in, a defender was adjudged to have held back Benyon according to the linesman, and the referee pointed to the penalty spot, and the Northwich defender was sent off. An excellent finish by Sills into the top corner ! Seconds later the final whistle blew and the team was cheered off.

What did I do ? I could hardly get myself to clap such was the shambolic second half performance I had just witnessed. I ended up just shaking my head. Yes I was pleased we won, the penalty decision did not look too clear-cut to me although the offence may have been on my blind side. However the truth is we did not deserve the winner and we were absolutely shocking in the second half, not fit for professional football.

So many stray passes and just hit and hope football the longer the game went on. For example Carlisle. Well done to him for actually scoring (our joint top scorer), but the number of times he overhit the ball when he had the chance to make a decent cross. And he is our right winger who should be capable of crossing a ball onto someones head. Carayol on the otherhand worked really hard and used his pace to great effect on the left wing. He seems to be the only success strory of the new signings.

Yupp, if the luck had gone our way at Wembley; we and not Col U would have won the play off final and we might have kept Kevin Hodges IF the biggest word in football!

The BBC Devon information was that Woods went off with a groin strain and that the only dismissal was Dino Maamria, whilst the Northwich defender who conceded the penalty was cautioned.

Not that I would hold what anyone on BBC Devon said with any seriousness normally, but today both the commentator and summariser were very good, informative and kept to their primary purpose i.e. one commentating and one summarising!

Some good reports on here already, so I will only give my views and not a match report as such. It was OK in the first half, nothing to get carried away with, as you must not forget who we were playing.

Second half pure rubbish, I wish I did not have to say that, we got lucky in the end and got three points. Sometimes you earn your luck, but that was not the case today.

I fear the next three matches now, I have seen nothing that I can take forward as any sign, that we will get anything out of those three games. I find it strange today, our last game we did not win, yet most seemed fine about it,they felt the team put in plenty of effort. Today we did win and most seem unhappy. Its a funny old world. ;D