FL2: Torquay United v Northampton 31st Oct 2009

A great match to watch and I was on the verge of saying that's the best ever 0-0 draw I've seen. Then up pops Hargreaves to head home the 83rd. minute winner ! Torquay fully deserved it for a really enterprising performance against an impressive Northampton side who also had their share of chances. But for the woodwork and amazing saves by both keepers, this should have been a high scoring feast. Sponsors MOTM Poke, crowd 2,732, just over 300 from Northampton.

The first 10 minutes really set the scene for what was to come. Thomson showed great pace and skill on the ball and has given Torquay the missing ingredient we have desperately needed all season. Thomson started on the right wing and Carlisle on the left wing but for the majority of the match they had swapped wings with Thomson on the left. There seemed a really good balance about Torquay's side and it was an impressively fluid performance with lots of good movement going on. Around the 10 minute mark Torquay hit the crossbar twice in the space of a minute. At the other end Northampton looked dangerous and fired narrowly wide on a few occasions. It was interesting to see Akinfenwa again who looks even larger than his Torquay's days ! He still has a few tricks up his sleeve and went narrowly wide once from a tight angle. But Torquay probably had the edge in the first half with Sills winning important headers in the box. Sills nearly scored when he turned and swivelled a shot that was brilliantly turned over by their keeper. It was really also encouraging to see Thomson displaying defensive qualities, once using his pace to apparently make a great recovery tackle about 25 yards out. Amazingly the ref. gave a free-kick to Northampton and booked Thomson which seemed grossly unjust.

Second half really carried on like the first, a high quality, attacking game with loads of incidents. Northampton had a decent spell but Poke somehow stretched and pushed the ball way. Northampton fans were already celebrating because it looked a certain goal ! Torquay's crossbar was severly rattled but somehow the ball stayed out. Poke made a couple more outstading saves. At the other end Torquay finally got the ball in the net but was adjudged to be off-side. Thomson had a clear header but put it wide.

Then the breakthrough. Following another Nicholson long throw, Sills headed on with loads of bodies in the box. Then Hargreaves leapt and just got enough on his header to steer it past their keeper. Stevens had come on for the impressive Thomson on the left wing but showed what a good impact player he can be. Stevens himself made some good runs at their defence cutting inside and came close a couple of times. I was impressed. by the way, that Thomson who is predominately right footed, could take it on the outside down the left and deliver with his left foot.

The closing minutes seemed like an eternity but Torquay saw out the game mainly in Nothampton's half to record a priceless win. The final whistle was greeted by the home fans like we had just won the FA Cup !

An outstanding performance that was finally rewarded with a win. If we continue to play anything like today we will have no relegation fears, that's for sure.

.....At bloody last ;D ;D ;D

Really entertaining end to end game today..........harsh perhaps on Northampton who had enough chances to win the game, certainly as many as us and probably more clear cut ones. No doubt in my mind they are a top 8 side on this showing......at the very least.

Our spirit though was fantastic........and today was a day when sheer hard work, determination, guts and a never say die attitude (along with a damn good keeper) earnt us those three bloomin' marvellous, long awaited points. Just as you thought it was destined to be another one of those days........we scored the goal that settled the match, as the second half wore on it was obvious that one goal was always going to win it........but this game could have just as easily been a 8 or 9 goal thriller.

Poke made several fine saves mainly all from Akinfenwa.......one was top, top class and had shades of Gordon Banks about it......he somehow managed to save Bayo's header from 6 yards out with the ball behind him and right on the line........all day he was solid and was a deserved MOM.

Hargreaves must have run him close though.....he gave everything today.......with a real captains performance capped off with the winning goal just 8 mins from time when he rose above everyone to plant a header in the bottom corner past Northampton's keeper, who himself, made some great saves.

The atmosphere was good today and a better crowd of 2700 odd (300 from them) will be a bit of a boost to the directors.
Two key moments changed the game for me, both happened just before we scored........Charnock on a yellow slid in for a tackle he was never going to win with 20 mins left........the player made the most of it although their seemed little contact, he was late and the winger was in full flight, it looked a definite booking, we should have been down to 10 men.
The other happened a few mins later when they took off bayo who, despite missing several chances was excellent, a real physical, brutish performance.....when the ball went up to him he won it and kept it, he's a class above this level playing that role.
As soon as he went off, Northampton troubled us little........a real mistake by their manager as Bayo did not look injured.

Defence:

Mansell solid as ever, Nicholson was also very good and was hardly beaten once, despite being exposed several times.......it looks to me that Nicho is trying his nut off to keep his place in the side......on this performance he deserves to. Robertson did his best against Bayo and had a real examination. Charnock was excellent defensively and his distribution showed that he is a footballer too......perfectly vindicating Buckles tough call to drop Ellis.

Midfield:

Calisle started on the left but was soon moved to the right and had a fine game, his delivery was generally very good. Wroe keeps improving and along with Hargreaves won us the crucial midfield battle.
Thomson has real pace and is a good footballer without doubt, he will hopefully be a big asset, when given the chance to run he's nicely direct but very right footed to play on the left.......if i had to be honest i was dissapointed that he didn't track back much and did not seem to want to get his "foot in" much. Stevens replaced him with 10 to go and buzzed around to good effect, going close a couple of times.

Forwards

Benyon can never be faulted for effort, he ran, harried and chased his heart out today it seems harsh to critisize him but........was he ever going to score?.......No.
You can tell he really wants to make this grade but an impact sub and a squad player should be his role.......he should have been replaced by Rendell with 20 left as we searched for the winner. When you look at the facts, Benyon had just one tame effort on goal to his name today and a more threatening partner for Sills would mean us scoring far more goals than we currently are.
Sills was magnificent and led the line superbly, unlucky with a bullet header from 12 yards that crashed against the bar in the 1st half.........he absolutely murdered his centre half today who had to resort to fouling him at virtually every opportunity to compete, despite this he still won virtually everything in the air today.


All in all a bloody good day, even the opera singer was very good.

Those 3 points though.........so

A Swangull indicates a hugely entertaining match. With plenty of great saves, near misses and a few poor finishes the only surprise was the lack of goals. It could quite easily have been a high scoring draw.
Total effort and commitment from the players and the fans today. Akinfatwat was a real handful for our central defenders; just as well he left his finishing boots at home. But what a bruising battle. Northampton didn’t look quite as threatening after he was substituted, which for me was a bizarre decision by Sampson.
We may still need to find more quality in front of goal but no one can question the effort and commitment of Sills and Benyon today. Benyon played on after sustaining a nasty hand injury that must have hurt a fair bit. If only he had a little more physical presence.
Thomson had a promising debut, plenty of pace and skill and a few telling balls. There were a couple of occasions in the first half when I thought Wroe might have found him a little more easily than some of the other options chosen.
Hargreaves was fairly quiet in the game, working hard, but with the exception of one excellent block tackle in the first half not particularly influential. But that old warhorse has a fantastic engine and plenty of experience to pop up in the right place at the right time to score the decisive goal.
Poke pulled off a few really good saves particularly going down low to his right to turn away an Akinfatwat header that I thought for certain was bound for the back of the net.
The only negative for me today was the referee. Both sets of fans were left frustrated with his decisions and his picky nature.

Let’s hope that this result does indeed form a platform to build on for the rest of the season.

I know why I’m a football fan, well not just any football fan mind you, but a Torquay United fan. I know why I have never let those Saturday afternoon, the ones I felt such bitter disappointment, ever have that much effect on me. I know when I have cried those real tears at the end of a season when the team I love got relegated, why I never gave up being a Torquay United fan.

Its because if I had of given up being a fan, I would not be part of those wonderful Saturday afternoons you get every now and then, the ones when life really does feel so good and can’t be bettered.

My day at Plainmoor started perfectly, a great cavery with people who are members on the TFF, who are best described as real gems, such wonderful people to spend and enjoy your time with and I thank them all for letting me share such a great time together with them.

I also had a great chat with Dean Edwards and he has some real great programmes and other things he will be sharing with us on the forum in the very near future and yes to top it all off, I was there to watch what was a great game of football and see my team fully deserve to win the game and get three so well deserved points.

I felt a bit for the great opera singer when she started, Such a great voice, but as I feared ruined slightly by the PA system, I would have loved to have had the sound a bit louder, but know that would not have been possible, still I enjoyed her and hope she may return and sing through a good PA system one day.

So back to the good old faithful 4-4-2 and no real surprise that Ellis did not make the starting line up, a shame and I hope he does not let his head drop as he did before, as I’m sure his chance will come again soon. Benyon and Sills upfront, as it turned out it was a good call by Bucks as Benyon and Sills worked so hard and I might have given Benyon man of the match, just not sure myself how can Poke can be chosen in a game where we won and all the team played well.

As expected Thomson started on the right, with Carlisle on the left, they did switch during the first half, I was not sure that was a good move, but it worked out fine and did not change how we were playing.

Thomson is a very good player, has pace we have not seen in our team, for such a long time and he is a clever player who is more than happy to go in runs and get shots away if the opportunity is there. I was surprised to see him get taken off late in the second half, but Danny came on and showed he also has a bit of pace and is not afraid to run with the ball.

As early as the fifth minute we saw a great run by Thomson and it looked liked in the end he was going to lose the ball, but he still won us a corner, Nico sent in the ball, Sills won his header and headed it to Wroe who was outside the box, he then laid it to Thomson, but his shot was well over.

Just two minutes later we could have gone in front, a Nico throw in into the box saw a Northampton defender head the ball onto his own crossbar, Carlisle got his head to the ball as it came back off the bar, but headed it over. Then before you could blink, Hargreaves headed the ball against the cross bar again and you wondered if it was going to be one of those unlucky days again. We were playing some very neat football, but at times still looked for the long ball when a short pass was on to say Thomson, who was always showing for the ball.

Charnock got him self a silly booking on 15 minutes, he had to come across to cover for Nico who was further up the field, the winger pushed the ball past him and he clearly pushed him over. From the free kick Northampton nearly scored, the forward got in a good downward header that just went wide of Pokes post.

I do think if we are going to play the ball on the floor like we did for most of the game, that Poke needs to give the ball to a defender to start of our play and not always kick it long. In saying that one long kick out saw the ball go over everyone and Benyon had ran and gambled and the ball came over him and he hit it first time. The shot went well wide, but it was a good example of Benyons non stop running.


Akinfenwa' sure looks bit and over weight, but he was strong as you would expect and bullied his way inside our box, he did so on the 22 minute and got in a shot that went just past the post.

Just after this Thomson and Carlisle switched wings and for a while it did not seem to be working, Nico so often choosing to hit it long when the ball should have been played to Thomson. But on one occasion Nico did that we nearly scored, Thomson clearly was free to receive the ball, Nico hit it long and Hargreaves got to the ball, he sent in a good ball to Sills who hit a great volley that forced the Northampton keeper into making a great save.

Poke was kept busy and I do feel he stays on his line when he should be coming out and claiming or punching the ball to safety, but he did make a great one handed save that had goal written all over it.

Thomson only lost the ball once and that was just before halftime, he was a bit lazy on the ball and had it taken off him on the halfway line. He chased back after the player and made a great tackle to clearly win the ball, but the silly ref gave him a yellow card for it.

So half time a good first half and one we should have been winning, I did fear that as we had not taken our chances when we were on top, we might pay for it in the second half.

We stared the second half a bit to slowly, failing to clear the ball and inviting a bit more pressure than we should have. As a result we saw a header from
Akinfenwa' that I thought was going in, but Poke showed why Bucks is picking him and came up with a top drawer save.

Just seconds later it was Northampton’s time to get the bad luck, a great shot that had Poke well beaten crashed against the underside of the cross bar and came back out into play and we were able to clear the danger.

Not long after this Benyon put the ball into the net, Sills had a shot at goal, but Benyon was there to poke it in, only he was flagged off side. Unable to tell from where I was if he was or not, but that young lineman sure got so many decisions wrong during the second half.

Thomson had another great run and on the edge of the box he found he had four Northampton players around him, it looked like he had to lose the ball, but his class showed through and he still got the ball out to Carlisle on the wing.

Benyon working so hard again was fouled and he went down, not sure if is hand was stepped on, but he got up clearly in pain and was bleeding badly. The way he was looking at his hand I got the feeling he does not like the sight of blood. He went of and got strapped up and came back on again fighting as hard as he did all game long.

Poke then produced a great double save. a shot was fired from 25 yards, Poke had to dive to save it and the ball just hit the ground in front of him, as a result the ball went into the air and near the penalty stop, Akinfenwa' was there to head the ball into the net, but Poke was up and diving the other way this time to keep the ball out.

Charnock was a very lucky boy not to be sent off, after such a silly first half booking he chopped his man down and the offence was a clear yellow card, only the ref bottled it and just gave him a talking too.

I felt the game now was going to end in another draw and that would have been such a shame as the boys fully deserved to get the win and the question was would they just make sure of the point, or keep giving everything to take all three. I soon had the answer and they kept up the pressure on Northampton and it paid off with a good header by Hargreaves.

I did not feel we would lose the game after this, or that Northampton would get a goal back and so it proved, great game to watch, the fans sung their hearts out and we can now enjoy the rest of our weekend, as our team did us very proud today

''Pictures provided courtesy of Torquay United FC & Pinnacle Photo Agency UK. Not to be copied or reproduced.''

Just wanted to echo those who've praised Benyon today...I thought he gave his marker(s) a much harder time than Sills gave his, he held the ball up well, was stronger, and did carry a goal threat despite spending most of the game with his back to goal. Once again lots of great diagonal running to give our midfielders options and relieve pressure when we were under the cosh. He was magnificent.

Poke was incredible, ditto Charnock and Robbo. Carlisle and Wroe are a class act at this level when they're on form. Thomson looks good. All in all a very good day.