Post by rjdgull on Nov 7, 2010 18:56:31 GMT
Due to various admin teething problems a slightly belated poster of the week posting for the week ending 5 November. 
After our first win for a couple of months against Morecambe, things were not looking good against Oxford and it was a match that had me pacing up and down as I listened to Radio Devon wondering whether we could hold out. But, hold out we did and where would the TFF be without the superb match reports that give us some perspective of how the gulls fared?
Well done to Wigstongull68 for I believe is his first weekly win! His Oxford match report is as follows:
Awesome. That's how i'd sum up last night's performance. Every player on that pitch (after the red card incident, which everyone missed) worked his nads off for the team cause. Buckle called his subs excellently, be it who or when. A couple of minutes after we commented that Zebs engine had gone, he was replaced by the ever-watchable O'Kane. Another obvious one we discussed was Benno subbed by Kee, who would offer way more than Grits. Subs or not, they all showed a massive workrate and team spirit.
The ref was very poor, seemingly missing obvious fouls against us yet giving dubious decisions to the baying home fans. At one stage his Officials shirt came untucked and we got a flash of the blue and yellow underneath....
The atmosphere from the away fans was brilliant all game, backing our boys for all their efforts. Chanting and relevant jeering at a premium, and nice to see Longeaton getting his quota of exercise getting up and down to the "stand up if you love torquay" routine. Obviously paid the price though, cos Mr can't-understand-people-who-leave-early" had to totter downstairs before the half was up. Shame he missed the twin sister streakers...
Bevan made some fine reactionary saves, and towards the end of the second half all he had to do was reach up to pluck the ball out of the air as Oxford ran out of ideas. The defence mainly did supremely, even though (especially in the 1st half) there seemed a lot of sliced clearances and headers that were more up than out. Wroe was highly effective in midfield, Benno and Zebs ran their socks off. Rose looked impressive, but was sacrificed at the right time for more defensive stability as we were starting to get overran down the wings.
My man of the match though was Mansell, whose passion and workrate made him a standout in my eyes. Welcome back!
A big call out also goes to Billy. A Leicester "lad" like me, I thought his positioning and passion for the ball was cracking. A lesser player would have gone missing after those goalbound efforts had gone awry. But that quality strike for his goal speaks volumes for his character. I sincerely hope this is the first of many for him.
Oxford were poor I thought. For a decent team up against 10 men for 75 minutes, they didn't create many clearcut chances, and quickly ran out of ideas. Obviously not helped by their own fans who jeered them when in the second half they "wasted time" looking for the right pass or option. And we think our home fans can be bad!
Laugh of the night was not seeing Constable STILL moaning at the end of the game. Nor was it his incredible miss when clear through as he walloped it high and wide. It wasn't even Branstons climb over the top of his man into a near perfect handstand. It was in fact down to the stadium. After we'd gone two up, the home fans started flooding out, and the design of the 3-sided Kassam allowed us to chant "cheerio" at them as they trudged across the the big car park behind the goal to the right.
A pleasure as always to spend the match with Longeaton (both snr and jr) and Teddgull, even though the traffic problems vastly shortened my pre-match chat.
Excellent, roll on Mansfield.
After our first win for a couple of months against Morecambe, things were not looking good against Oxford and it was a match that had me pacing up and down as I listened to Radio Devon wondering whether we could hold out. But, hold out we did and where would the TFF be without the superb match reports that give us some perspective of how the gulls fared?
Well done to Wigstongull68 for I believe is his first weekly win! His Oxford match report is as follows:
Awesome. That's how i'd sum up last night's performance. Every player on that pitch (after the red card incident, which everyone missed) worked his nads off for the team cause. Buckle called his subs excellently, be it who or when. A couple of minutes after we commented that Zebs engine had gone, he was replaced by the ever-watchable O'Kane. Another obvious one we discussed was Benno subbed by Kee, who would offer way more than Grits. Subs or not, they all showed a massive workrate and team spirit.
The ref was very poor, seemingly missing obvious fouls against us yet giving dubious decisions to the baying home fans. At one stage his Officials shirt came untucked and we got a flash of the blue and yellow underneath....
The atmosphere from the away fans was brilliant all game, backing our boys for all their efforts. Chanting and relevant jeering at a premium, and nice to see Longeaton getting his quota of exercise getting up and down to the "stand up if you love torquay" routine. Obviously paid the price though, cos Mr can't-understand-people-who-leave-early" had to totter downstairs before the half was up. Shame he missed the twin sister streakers...
Bevan made some fine reactionary saves, and towards the end of the second half all he had to do was reach up to pluck the ball out of the air as Oxford ran out of ideas. The defence mainly did supremely, even though (especially in the 1st half) there seemed a lot of sliced clearances and headers that were more up than out. Wroe was highly effective in midfield, Benno and Zebs ran their socks off. Rose looked impressive, but was sacrificed at the right time for more defensive stability as we were starting to get overran down the wings.
My man of the match though was Mansell, whose passion and workrate made him a standout in my eyes. Welcome back!
A big call out also goes to Billy. A Leicester "lad" like me, I thought his positioning and passion for the ball was cracking. A lesser player would have gone missing after those goalbound efforts had gone awry. But that quality strike for his goal speaks volumes for his character. I sincerely hope this is the first of many for him.
Oxford were poor I thought. For a decent team up against 10 men for 75 minutes, they didn't create many clearcut chances, and quickly ran out of ideas. Obviously not helped by their own fans who jeered them when in the second half they "wasted time" looking for the right pass or option. And we think our home fans can be bad!
Laugh of the night was not seeing Constable STILL moaning at the end of the game. Nor was it his incredible miss when clear through as he walloped it high and wide. It wasn't even Branstons climb over the top of his man into a near perfect handstand. It was in fact down to the stadium. After we'd gone two up, the home fans started flooding out, and the design of the 3-sided Kassam allowed us to chant "cheerio" at them as they trudged across the the big car park behind the goal to the right.
A pleasure as always to spend the match with Longeaton (both snr and jr) and Teddgull, even though the traffic problems vastly shortened my pre-match chat.
Excellent, roll on Mansfield.
....he's a lovely old chap ;D