FL2: Torquay v Oxford 3rd January 2010

well not much to add to the match summaries,but please can we have 4 4 2 at home please,benyon on his own up front is admirable but makes life so difficult,We missed the defence marshaller branston today,defensively we were pathetic again,benyon works his socks off up front to get it given away at the back.PB you have done marvels for us,but your post match match interview was embarassing,he thought overall we were the best side and deserved all 3 points,dont agree PB you get nowt in this world without good old hardwork,and today we were lacking in that department,we were too patchy and broke the golden rule,it doesnt matter what you do with the ball as long as you have got it,we gave it away time after time and enticed an average oxford to attack.A recipe for disaster especially with the way our defence has been performing of late.Now as our big round 3 cup game against carlisle approaches i get this horrible feeling that if our defence doesnt buck up a lot before saturday round 3 is where our cup run will end,carlisle will be a tougher nut to crack than hereford and oxford should of been,a walloping could be on the cards,i hope i am wrong

Well no fan who was at today’s game against Oxford could not say it ended up a very exciting game at the end. Nor could they say they did not get value for their money as seven goals in total were scored. But this Torquay United fan found our play for most of the match very frustrating to watch and not for the first time, right at the death a deep sinking hurting pain ended up in my stomach.

Message to Mr Buckle, playing one up front is fine away from home and it has got us a number of points, but not at home please as the home team should be the one taking the game to the other team. We lacked any penetration and just wanted to play nice passing football in our own half. Our players did not want to use the wings and just wanted to turn back or play the ball on the inside.

Compare that to Oxford who looked to get the ball upfront as fast as they could as soon as they had won back possession. I say won back but we were guilty of giving it to them half the time as a result of a poor pass, or just a hopeful ball being knocked forward.

The only time we looked any good as a team was when Kee came on and at last we were playing with two upfront. Why did Bucks have to wait until we were three one down to change the formation and the tactics? The thing is I don’t think any of our players played that badly, yes there were lose passes and wrong decisions taken, but on the whole each player put in plenty of effort.

We are looking poor defensively and allowed Oxford players to run into spaces behind us that should not have been there. Mark Ellis made some saving tackles and last ditch clearances, but he looked very nervous throughout the game and looked scared to death he was going to make a mistake.

Have to say I thought Nico did a good job trying to keep Green quite, but Green I felt looked a very good player today and certainly made Oxfords first goal.

I went over to Plainmoor a bit early as I wanted to go and say hello to Lewis who was the team mascot today, thus was paid for by TFF members and I know Lewis really enjoyed the day. Sadly he did not bring us the luck he has in the past, but to be honest a football team needs to make its own luck and our team sure did not do that today.

Great to see and say hello to so many TFF members today, I have missed seeing you all, so thanks for stopping and having a chat with me. By the time I left the Gulls Nest after having a chat with Leigh and also Deno, the popside had a good number of fans on it and I squeezed in between Timbo and Ms Wills and the reverend.

I have not been to a number of recent games and was surprised there was only one player in the starting eleven I had not see play before Ashley Hemmings. I have read some great reports on him, but he must have had a bit of an off day today, as I was not overly impressed with his performance. The only other player who I was not that impressed with was Damon Lathrope; he was so guilty of not bothering to look where he was passing the ball to and as a result gave it away far too much for my liking.

We started very slowly indeed, that’s if we even started at all for the first ten minutes or so and Oxford were well on top and it looked only a matter of time before they took the lead. Zebs then did some good work out on the right and got the ball into Hemmings feet (Zebs I felt was kept very quite and often found he had two men to deal with) Hemmings looked liked he had lost the ball when a few tackles came in, but came away with the ball still at his feet and fired in a shot from the edge of the box. The Oxford keeper fumbled the save and the ball went behind for a corner. In came the corner and behind the other side of the gaol for another corner. Nico swung it in and up rose Robertson who headed for goal. It looked certain to go in and I could not believe it was cleared off the line.

The Oxford keeper then fumbled a few other balls and there looked hope that we could force a few more mistakes out of him. But to do that we did need to do far more attacking and that is what we failed to do. O’Kane did try is luck from all of forty yards and the shot had the keeper diving full length, but the shot went wide of the right hand post anyway.

Green was looking dangerous when he got the ball and Ellis did ever so well to get to the ball a split second before Green did inside our box. The ball went out for a corner, but if Mark had not got there first, Green would have been clean in on goal.

But it was good work by Green just outside our box that played a big part in Oxfords first goal. He jinked this way and then that way before laying the ball off to his left to Craddock, who did a bit of jinking himself before hitting an unstoppable shot on the edge of our area.

We then played a very big part in letting Oxford score their second goal, we wanted to keep playing to many neat short passes backwards and sideward’s near the halfway line. When we did finally decide to pass it forward to Benyon, he was tightly marked but in my view still lost the ball far too cheaply. Two passes later and the ball is in our box and once again it was Ellis who just got a toe to the ball first to get it over the bar and out for a corner. In came to the corner deep to the back post, a simple header down and a very static Torquay defence stood and watched Midson, hook the ball past the stranded Bevan.

We restart the game and Benyons just inside the Oxford box with the ball at his feet and shot across the keeper into the far left hand corner. Zebs maybe should have scored near the end of the first half. A good run by Hemmings where he played the ball a bit to far to the left of himself as he got on the edge of the Oxford box, but it did not matter as Nico was close by and sent in a good cross. The ball was cleared only a short distance and it came to Zebs who hit his shot over the crossbar. Game on then for the second half and surely we could come out after the break and press hard for an equaliser?

We did have one very good early move in the second half that looked promising and it came from firstly a good pass from Hemmings to Wroe. He looked up and saw Benyon in loads of space just outside the Oxford box. Should he have turned himself and gone for goal? He chose to lay the ball back to O’Kane who tried to play the ball straight back to Benyon and an Oxford defender did very well to just clear the ball in the nick of time.

Nico then took a good free kick out on the right that just flew past the far post, have to say some of his crosses from dead ball situations, were not up to his usual standard.

Oxford went and scored a third goal and it came about because Zebs was trying to beat two players on the halfway line close to the touchline. He lost the ball and where was our defence? The ball was played into acres of space in behind us on the left hand side of the pitch. Bevan came rushing out and did all he could to try and narrow the angle, but from a very tight angle the ball was played to the far post along the ground and hit the post before crossing over the goal line.

Three one down and finally Bucks decides to bring on a striker and what a difference Billy Kee made to our game. Why is he not being started up front with Benyon for the very start of the match? He got stuck in straight away and had a shot that had the keeper beaten and an Oxford defender was trying to get a toe on the ball to stop it crossing the goal line, But Benyon made sure was there to fire home the ball into the roof of the net.

Game really on now and the Plainmoor crowd at last found their full voices and were roaring the gulls onto to a third goal and it came. What a goal it was as well, great inter passing between Stevens and Wroe down the left hand touch line and a great ball into the feet of Billy Kee. A lopping sort of lob shot went flying into the net and it was more than Kee deserved.

For a while it looked like we were going to get a forth goal and what a come back and result that would have been. Benyon had two chances and maybe he should have done better than he did. On the six yard line he hit one shot, but rather tamely and past the right hand post, he claimed a corner but a goal kick was given.

The he tried a shot from about the same spot Kee had scored, he hit it with plenty of power aiming for the top right hand corner of the goal, but the ball went wide of the post and behind for a goal kick.

The reverend was shouting out that Oxford were going to breakaway and steal a goal right at the end of the match if the Torquay players weren’t carful and that’s just what happened. One second the ball was in their box and then in ours, the finish by Midson for his third goal of the match was a fine finish, low under the diving body of Bevan just inside the far right hand post.

Very disappointing to lose this game, but If I’m honest, Oxford deserved the win more than we did.

Thats fair enough Justin and I would agree when it works as it should, we do look a very good team. The problem today was it never worked from the very start of the game and needed to be changed so much sooner than it was.

Making the change when we are three down in most cases is far too late. Credit must be given to the team for getting the score to three all, but we do need to try and get our once great defense sorted out, or won't matter what formation we play.

Thats very pleasing to here midlandstufc, I believe we are a good honest forum full of real TUFC fans that do all they can to show support to the club.

would that be because we don't have a ball winner in midfield? Since Mansell has gone to right back, there is an abundance of creative midfielders but no one to win the tackles. earlier in the season the tireless Mansell chased everything and gave us the bite we needed. We've gone froma side that chased and harrassed everything to a bunch of players who stand off their man and let the opposition play their own game

I think that the formation does have a big influence and certainly did over the last two games. Having Benyon as the apex of the team means that the ball doesn't stick - so often over the last 180 minutes the ball has gone-up to Benyon (as he is the only one available up-front) and the ball just comes straight-back at our defence. It happend far too many times in the last two games. We were also very much unable to put sustained pressure on the Oxford defence.

Given that we didn't do it in our first 4 league games I remain unconvinced that our last 17 leagues games shows beyond doubt that it works.

No problem, old chap. Will have another chance on Saturday. Managed to catch a few words with Capitalgull and Crooky while you were preocuppied with yours and Jon's youth