Wrexham V Torquay United 27th September 2008

The game's 6 mins old,and they've only just started a commo!

Feckin' dreadful station

...................having said that, Dave Saunders is a good commentator (the only good resident one the station has) as he showed when covering the home game with Eastbourne, and DT is a great summariser and reader of the game.

Have to say a point away to Wrexham isn't unacceptable (you can't win 'em all) although we could have been out of sight at half time by the sound of it!

Two points lost today I think - Wrexham were there for the taking and we were light years better than them for half an hour. Some good understanding between midfield and front three e.g. the move that saw Hargreaves hit the post. Sills took his goal brilliantly. Then we took the foot off and started hitting some aimless balls. Didn't really see how the guy got through for their goal. Dsane should have scored when clean through but didn't get quite enough on his lob. Some sloppy defending could have cost us in the second half against a poor Wrexham side - a bit frustrating really !

Im all dropped off, tufc01 match report should be with you in a few hours will do one myself later - however, being a student and all that got a trip down to the pub first.

Chips I won't expect his report until Sunday then ;D ;D I think you know what you need to buy him for Xmas, did you know you can have your voice put on the new sat navs. He will just love having one were you are telling him to GO.

I have just got back from the game and have to say that we absolutely battered Wrexham.

I cant remember the last time i saw an away team dominate a home team so much. For the first 75 minutes we tore them apart and in the final 15 minutes it was a only a case of the game running out of steam, they just didn't want to concede and we took our feet off the gas.

Ive just checked the games stats and they don't do us justice;

Possession 62% to 38% in our favour. That shows we did dominate.
Shots on Target 5-2 in our favour, however i would go for 9-1 in our favour. They had 1 shot and 1 shot only on target, their lucky goal.


Hats off to Paul Buckle for his starting line up and formation.

They lined up as 5-2-3, which worked fantastically.
Woods, Robertson & Hodges played across the back and Mansell & Nicholson were able to push forward and overlap. Wroe & Hargreaves controlled the midfield and were supported by Benyon & Green when we were defending and by Nicholson & Mansell when we were attacking.

Green, Sills & Benyon were awesome in the first 30 minutes, it was a masterclass in how to play with 3 up front. They crossed over, dropped deep, defended from the front, held the ball up, flicked it on, diagonal runs, runs out wide, interchanging with each other, as all 3 did a spell out left, right and in the centre.
Wrexham did not now what had hit them and couldn't cope, they barely got out of their own half. They already looked a fragile unit, lacking in confidence and scared to make a mistake (sound familiar).

We took the game to them and this created several chances in the first half. Benyon who was nailed on for MoM until his untimely departure, had 2 or 3 half chances and there were a couple of last ditch tackles by their defenders.

We almost scored after about 25 minutes when Hargreaves shot from 25 yards, hit the post with the keeper well beaten. Then Green had a shot that the keeper did well to turn around the post. The goal was fully deserved even if it was a little fortunate. Sills was put through one on one with the keeper, appeared to take a touch to many and just before the keeper got to the ball Sillsy mis-hit his shot which then went under the goalie and took an age to cross the line. If he had struck it properly, their goalie would probably have saved it??

Up to this point Wrexham had barely been in our half and Bevan had yet to make a save, he had only touched the ball half a dozen times.

There was still time for Dsane to blast at the keeper when through one on one. Sills hit the cross bar and Hargreaves blasted over from 6 yards with just a defender on the line to beat. Mansell & Wroe both should have done better when getting into a decent shooting positions.

Their goal was a little unfortunate, undeserved and against the run of play. A defensive mix up and a mistake (i think) from Robertson allowed one of their players a strike on goal, his muffed shot seemed to hit the ground and bounce up into the net. It is a bit hypocritical of me to say it was mis-hit, as our goal was the same, but they never looked like threatening up until then,or anytime after.

Benyons injury was unfortunate as he is starting to look the real deal and all credit to PB, he didn't change the formation when he sent Dsane on for Benyon.

The second half started pretty much the same way as the first half. A cracking ball over the top from Wroe left Dsane one on one (Again) and whilst he did well to almost chip the keeper, who made a phenomenal save to tip the ball over the bar, its about time he started converting these 1 on 1's he keeps finding himself in. We still had more chance sin the second half, but not as clear cut as the first. They still did not look like they were going to score, even when they brought on Louis, who won just about everything in the air, Bevan still did not have a save to make.

Overall, a very pleasing game. We took the game to them, the formation was brave and i thought that it worked,. We also mixed it up with crosses coming from left and right and also a couple of balls over the top. Another pleasing aspect is that with a few injuries keeping a few 'key' players out we were still able to play them off the park and looked comfortable with the formation. The SQUAD is starting to look confident and very able. If we keep playing like this then it wont be long before we firmly establish ourselves in the play off positions.
The only disappointing thing was that we only got 1 point, they could have had no complaints if we had won this 4 or 5-1.

These are the marks i would have given the players;

Bevan 2 or 8: Cant decide which. 2 because he had NOTHING to do, really he didn't, never mind Sills going in goal we could have done the old rush goalie job. or 8 because he dealt with the back passes and the goal kicks really well, not sure he did anything wrong with their goal, but as he didn't have a save to make it is difficult to know how good he is.

Mansell 8.5: Full of running, created several overlaps, got down the wing well and got a couple of decent crosses over. Also defended well, with some crunching tackles. We don't need to sign a right back, Manse will do perfectly well thank you.

Hodges 8: Won everything in the air (until Louis came on), has a calming influence, agood distribution. Solid game.

Robertson 5: Him & Woods did get in each others way a couple of times, looked a bit uncomfortable at times and at fault for their goal, i think.

Woods 3: When he is good ... When he is bad he is bloody awful, today was BAD, luckily they were not a threat upfront and there was always someone to cover up after one of his mistakes. Her blames everyone else when he needs to hold his hand up and say sorry. PB had 2 tell him a couple of times to sort it out.

Nicholson 6.5: Struggles a bit with his fitness and positioning and looks a bit slow and cumbersome. Did make a couple of crucial tackles and his left foot is always a useful outlet from defence.

Hargreaves 9: Him and Wroe controlled the midfield and therefore controlled the game. Was involved in nearly everything. Quality performance, deserved a goal which he should have got either when he hit the post or blasted over when it was easier to score.

Wroe 8.5: Getting better and better each week. Helped Hargreaves control the game. Some sublime passes put Dsane and Sills through.

Benyon 8: pace??, endeavor, desire, he gets under the defenders skin, doesn't allow them time to get the ball under as he closes them down. The game changed a bit when he went off.

Green 8: Defended from the front, one of the reasons why they didn't get many shots on goal, tracked back when required and made at least 3 cracking tackles on the edge of our box. Not so much of a threat going foreward, but still a handful. Plus the fact that the wrexhame defence didnt know who or how to mark our forwards.

Sills 8: Played his part as the front 3 ripped Wrexham apart. Great goal, even if it was a mis-hit.

Dsane 6: He is not Benyon. His goals scored against chances strike rate is poor, could have won the game for us, twice.

Paul Buckle 10: About time he gets the credit he deserves. Bold formation, bold tactics, deserved to take all the points. Now is the time for everyone to get off his back for good.