FL2: Torquay United v Grimsby Town 19th Sept 2009

Result: 0-2

Three successive home defeats, fifth in a row and very depressing.

Get "We Did It " out of the way and from then on forget last season and get some focus on this one.

Can't be bothered with a match report it was a complete nonevent against a very poor Grimsby side and any more performances like this will see us in a relegation dogfight for sure.
There was a distinct feel of despondency and lack of conviction in our play emanating from the pitch and it looked like the players have totally lost any belief they had in the first weeks of the season. Ellis was the only plus point in dire performance where we didn't have a clue how to break down a very ordinary Grimsby defence.
The old story of knocking it long to Rendell who struggled to win anything long and high was our only route to break down the opposition- we were I'm afraid to say totally clueless and without any creativity or imagination from the midfield or from wide. And just what is Marvin Williams doing here? offers less than Mussy Carryol, he kept falling over and couldnt beat his fullback.
Supporters were deadly quiete - who can balme them there was nothing and I mean nothing to shout about in what was the worst performance I have had the displeasure to watch since we were relegated from this league three seson ago.
Everything after that perfromance has to come under scrutiny, from what apears like bizare team selection, tactics and idividuals who are unquestionably not up to the task.
When we have to rely on a fast fading 37 year old to inspire and create from midfield something has to be wrong.
One word for today from every aspect. Dreadful! and thats being polite.

Very poor is being kind mate, we didn`t want it, no killer instinct apart from the subs and Ellis, Sorry Pokey but that was not good enough mate, are you out of touch or what, Nikki Wroe I shake my head in disbelief, Benners must have pissed the ref right off because he got nothing at all from a very poor official, Nico lose wieght and get quicker because your too slow mate, bulk down and get quicker, Wayne you have to talk Danny through it, he has the energy and drive but needs guidance and ffs help get Manse fit! Problems all over the park, Bucks go back to basic training ,hard fast and thorough, sod the egos, it`s time to be HONEST with the playing staff, I give you all the credit in the world for giving the promotion boys a chance, it didn`t work, it`s now time too knuckle down and get back too business, shake that changing room around and get some weaknesses stronger! RANT OVER!

Right - that was absolute dross. No two ways about it - and I don't feel bad for putting the boot in after watching that crap. Be in no doubt that this team is going to really struggle.

I'll say the same about Grimsby as I did about Barnet and Bournemouth - ordinary, organised, determined and far, far better than us, but generally mediocre. Ordinary is good enough to roll our team over at the moment, we simply are not good enough to compete with this squad of players and I can only hope that the teams that will struggle with us down the bottom of the league are worse, because that will be what saves us unless there is some remarkable turnaround.

The first half was non-descript. I don't believe that we forced a save out of their keeper (but then they looked no more threatening themselves). We didn't really get going but looked fairly dominant at the back and Ellis had a very solid 45 minutes (and outshone the rest of his team-mates - expect to see him warming the bench at Macclesfield).
There were some solid but fair challenges from both teams and the usual climbing-over of our strikers by their defenders - causing some inexplicible free-kicks for and against us. I really cannot understand how referees call it either way.

We seemed to press the self destruct button at half time. Perhaps it was seeing a young blonde on the pitch in tight jeans, knee-high boots and a microphone caused a distraction and reminded us of the good old days of the BSP when we could be distinctly average and the part-time opposition would make enough errors for us to be able play the percentage game and have enough effforts at goal to secure the match...... Sadly it isn't going to be that way anymore.
I was reading the excellent programme when a seemingly innocuous Grimsby attack (on the other side of my vision due to the cretins that wander back along the grandstand with their burgers and cups of tea oblivious to those that are trying to watch the game craning their necks round their guts and arses) resulted in the ball lofted into the air and over Poke.
It seemed to happen in slow motion -although I can't attach any blame to Poke but will eventually get round to watching the footage of this when it feels less raw.
Poor Williams on the left wing looked totally out of place - not the same excellent performance that saw him lead the attack to a drubbing of Wycombe a couple of years ago. His touch deteriorated as the match went-on. Another round peg in a square hole methinks.
Stevens and Benyon tried. Most of the team did in fact, but it the only factor that makes a decent team.

Nicho and Todd were then withdrawn for Carlisle and Thompson. I understand that Nicho had a hamstring injury. Not sure why Todd went-off, he wasn't playing too badly and might have offered something going forward at set-pieces - something that only Ellis offered amongst the rest of the team.

I caught Buck's interview with Radio Devon and he is putting a brave face on it - we dominated the first half, made the pressure and we worked hard. I agree that we worked hard - just simply were carrying too many players that are not going to cut it at this level. I don't blame him for saying that, what would anyone else expect a manager to say? That the team are not up to the challenge? That they lack any direction on the pitch? I certainly do not doubt for one minute that we will work hard at it this week to try and get it right.

I noticed the other day that someone's username on another site was "Super Nicky Wroe". One can only assume that he has his tongue firmly in his cheek. The only superhero quality that Wroe showed **again** today was a "cloak of invisibility". If Ramone McRae isn't an improvement on Wroe's recent form then he hasn't got much of a career ahead of him. In fact, I'd don't think that Joey Ramone would have much less of an impact on the match as Wroe did today. And he's dead.

I don't think that we are in a position to make any moves in the transfer market at the moment (not until our benevolent neighbours bring down the axe on Sturrock and they farm out their reserves to us for peanuts!). I just hope that if any any players come-in they are fit for purpose and are played in-position. Robertson is not a right back. He will never be a right back and when he gets the ball in that position without any ******* support he has no other option but to pump it down the wing. I think that was established some considerable time ago, it just isn't deemed to be a priority.

the only real credit today goes to Ellis - well done with the agressive play, fierce tackling and good positional play after nearly a year in the wilderness. I also thought that the fans did well at not turning on the team (at least they weren't when I left with 5 minutes to go!), even if it was a meek atmosphere throughout the match generated by our supporters.

It's too early to call any game a "must win" but I'm nervously looking ahead fo the Macc match.
The heads dropped badly after the ffirst goal went-in and I really, really fear for this team at the moment.

Dear me how can you even want to sit at a keyboard and write a report for a match like the one I just watched, but I will try with out letting too much disappointment clouding my views?

To stand a chance to win any game you need your manager to get the team selection correct, the tactics to be played and the substitutions, sadly Bucks in my view got all three wrong. You also need players who are going to go out and fight and only one can claim to have done that, a player always over looked by Bucks, but one whom not for the first time, deservedly won man of the match Mark Ellis.

Looking at a few players today, I now believe he have better players out on loan than some that Bucks has brought into the club and you have to ask why that is. So to the starting eleven, I understood Robertson was not considered good enough to play at right back, so why was he when we were lead to believe Carlisle would start there.

What ever the reasons were, then for me there was no excuse to not start Carlisle out on the right wing, where he has played so well for us, even in the games we have lost. First time I have seem Williams play and on today’s showing I would say send him back as quickly as possible and get Muzzy back.

Stevens was switched from the left to the right hand side, I expect this was done so Williams could start on the left, but Stevens best games for us has come when he was on the left and for the first ten minutes he was very poor. It looked like bucks was going to take him off to me and bring on Carlisle, but bucks must have changed his mind.

I listened to the reasons why it was good we got the lad in from Posh and not some better known and tried at this level player but if he is not going to even get on in a game (I know this was only the first one) he would be better off getting games in Posh’s reserves, then bench warming here.

I was encouraged just before the kick-off, our players had a big group hug, but as it turned out that was the closest they were going to be for the whole match. When the game started they looked disjointed and never looked like had ever played together and sure lacked the togetherness a team needs if it is going to win games.

We did create a few chances in the first half, the game was only two minutes old when Rendell had a chance for a clear shot on goal, sorry my granny could have kicked the ball harder than he did.

Four minutes later and Nico sent in a good corner kick and I just knew Ellis was going to rise up and beat the defender and get a header in on goal, but it went straight to where their keeper was standing.

On ten minutes Nico chose not to play the simple ball on to Williams, but knocked it long as most of our balls seemed to be played all game, the Grimsby defenders won the ball with ease and three passes later and a clever back heel by a Grimsby player, set up a shot on the edge of our box, that Poke had to parry down to make the save.

Then we won a free kick that Nico floated up to Stevens on the edge of the Grimsby box, he played the ball to Williams who dragged his shot horribly wide of the post. On twenty minutes we saw the best cross of the game for me, Robertson out wide on the right played the ball in with pace and a good height, only where was Tim Sills when you need him? Instead Williams who was much shorter than I expected, could not get up high enough to head in what would have been a certain goal for us.

In the second half our players seemed afraid to want to shoot at goal, but he were guilty of not going for a goal a few times in the first half when he did have a chance. One example of this came in the 34 minute, another good ball in from Nico after we won a free kick, the ball went to the back post, Rendell rose and headed the ball back to the other post, Hargreaves was there and should have tried to put it in the net, instead he headed it back into the middle again and the ball was then cleared by Grimsby.

Forbes for Grimsby sure looked old to me, but he went past our midfield far too easy at times and if it was not for a great tackle on the edge of our box by Todd, he may well have crowned of good run with a goal.

So the half time whistle came and you just felt Bucks would get them up for it in the second half, or make the changes that were clear to see needed to be made, but we were worse in the second half than the first, once again only showing any sort of fight when we went two goals behind.

A race to a ball that had been played toward the edge of our box, between Nico and a Grimsby forward, saw Nico reach out with his foot for the ball facing our gaol and somehow toe poked it up high. It went up and came down behind Poke and bounced over the line and up into the roof of the net, I do feel it would not have beaten Scott Bevan.

Just before Nico went off he took another free kick into the Grimsby box, Ellis had a free header, but could only put the ball well wide of the post. Not to sure about the free kick given against Ellis for their second goal, but we defended the free kick like a kids Sunday team. Two men in our wall and two Grimsby players over the ball, one runs toward the ball as if he is going to play the ball into the far post.

Poke stands over that side of the goal, but the player just runs overt the ball and the second one just hit a left foot shot past our wall and into the empty unguarded side of the goal. Two goals up and Grimsby as you would expect sat back a little, but he failed to create and good chances. Even the few times the ball was bouncing around in the Grimsby box, you never felt we would put the ball into the net.

The substitutions were strange and as Hargreaves was mostly over the half way line we played with three across the back, we were lucky that Grimsby did not take advantage of this, as we may well have lost by an even great score.

How many long high balls did we play to a lone Benyon upfront with two defenders on him? No wonder he lost his rag toward the end of the first half, must have been so frustrating for him, to just keep getting balls pumped up that we was never going to stand a chance of winning.


Not a good gate at only 2575 and sadly we were all too quite and never created the atmosphere we did at our last home game. I was expecting to hear a few boo’s at the final whistle, but thankfully there were none. If we do not want to see gates fall and see the club having more problems, we need to stop this rot as soon as possible, or else we may find we spend the rest of this season, just trying to avoid the drop back into the BSP

Today we were very poor and deserved to lose the game but what would have you done if you were todays manager?

I am in no way defending his team selection and substitutions but with the bench available what would you have done?

I'm not for one minute suggesting the commentary was more in tune with goings on than the reports, what I am pointing out is the discrepency and the unlikelhood of those who are not at a game getting an accurate impression until they have heard from those who were.

The reference to Buckle's interview was in relation to Ncho's injury as the early reports suggest a general unawareness of that FACT and I think it is fairly clear in hindsight that his substitution was for that and no other reason.