On a bitterly cold afternoon with grey skies above, Torquay United at last brought some sunshine into the lives of their long suffering home fans. Forget about the first half of this match as it was very poor and remember one of the best attacking second halves for a very long time up at Plainmoor.
We did things so different today after we scored so very early in the second half, we did not end up with all eleven players behind the ball and that in my view was the reason we could have won the game by far more goals in the end.
Jake Robinson who has been doing well in the first half for us in games and very little in the second half, gave us his very best second half performance to date, WHY? Because we did not have all our men sitting behind the ball.
Danny Stevens had a fantastic second half WHY? Because he did not end up having to defend level with our penalty box out by the corner flag because we did not end up with all our players behind the ball. Instead he was able to stay up on the halfway line ready to break into the Stevenage half.
When Stevenage had a corner we did not have all our players back in the box defending, very surprisingly we kept three players up on the halfway line. This meant the Stevenage back line were not able to be in our half picking up those second balls and firing them back into the danger area.
One other notable change was that Nico is no longer taking long throw-ins into the box, so Both Guy and Robertson were not coming up from the back into the Stevenage box but stayed on the halfway line. This at least meant we were very unlikely to get caught from a breakaway by Stevenage.
I will give my views of a few of our player’s performances at the end of my report.
No real surprise to see Bucks put Ben Pringle straight into the starting eleven, I’m sure after a few more games with us we will see the very best of him. Straight from the kick-off we had our very first shot on goal, Robinson cutting in from the left like he always does, fired a shot from outside the box that forced the keeper into making a save.
Zebs went on a very good run down the middle of the pitch heading for the Stevenage box and played a neat pass out to O’Kane whose attempt to get the ball into the middle of the box ended up being blocked out for a corner. Nothing came of the corner but we soon had another good chance to take the lead.
A great ball was played out wide on the left to Jake Robinson who beat his man with ease, turned inside and played an inch perfect ball to Stanley who was on the edge of the Stevenage box. Only he hit his shot high and wide of the goal.
I felt at times Stevenage looked good on the ball and did have a few passages of neat passing play, we did live a bit dangerously at the back one or two times. They had one very good chance where their forward just slipped inside our box when he was about to shoot, had he not slipped we may well have scored the opening goal.
Zebs got booked for getting into a wrestling match with a Stevenage player in his own half, should he have got booked? But from the resulting free kick he gave away, the ball was fired high and long and Stevenage’s number five rose on the edge of our box and got a good header in on goal, thankfully it went just wide of the right hand post.
Then we saw a very surprising substitution, Kee off and Danny Stevens on, not sure Kee was injured and he did not look best pleased to be coming off and went straight down the tunnel to the dressing rooms.
We then saw our best effort of the first half, a great dipping volley from Robinson some 25 yards out that the Stevenage keeper did well to beat out with both hands as he dived to his right, sadly there was no Torquay player nearby to fire the lose ball into the net.
Just on the stoke of half time Nico got done in the corner by their number two who always looked good going forward with the ball. He fired in a very low ball across our six yard line and the ball only needed a touch from someone to end up in the back of the net.
Not the best first half of football seen at Plainmoor, but certainly not the worst. I so nearly missed out opening goal and need to say a big sorry to Timbo who did miss it as I ended up blocking his view of it. I never get any food at halftime, but due to the cold fancied eating something hot. Timbo had moved from his step down to mine to save my place. As I got back the first shot from Pringle hit the crossbar and came back out to Danny Stevens who was some 25 yards out.
I was watching all of this while getting back into my spot while Timbo had turned around to get back onto his step( once again so sorry Tim) Danny controlled the ball and hit a wonderful shot that flew into the net.
Where we going to then sit behind the ball and invite Stevenage to just attack us? Not on you life and we just went up a further gear as we looked to get a second goal to kill the game off.
Robinson was full of running and trickery, he won a ball that maybe the defender should have done better with his clearance and played it straight to Zebs. He looked up and spotted Stanley running toward the Stevenage box and rolled the ball into his path. Stanley hit the ball first time and it was saved by their keeper.
It was very clear we have really upped our work rate and were not going to let Stevenage get back into the game; they might have done after the ref decided Branston committed a foul on the edge of our box. It was never a foul in a month of Sundays and thankfully their slightly different approach to taking a free kick from such a good position came to nothing.
Then came the moment Zebs really should have put us two up, he could not believe his luck when a very poor back pass landed at his feet just outside the box. He did all the hard work beating the defender and keeper in the box and for some reason did not shoot when he had the opportunity. The end result was the defender was then able to get back at him, but he just brought down Zebs from behind and was sent off for his efforts.
There seemed some confusion as to who should take the spot kick, in the end Zebs placed the ball on the spot and hit his kick well enough. But it crashed on the underside of the crossbar bouncing down on the wrong side of the line and still in play.
Was this to be a turning point? Would we live to regret what should have been our second goal that would have made the game safe? The simple answer is a very big NO.
Stevenage had not given up and did get into our half a few times, one time a great ball was played into our box from the right hand side. Their forward looked favourite to get on the end of the cross, but Potter surprised us all by coming well off his line and making a fine catch in the air.
Wave after wave of attack that Stevenage could do nothing about, Zebs poked one ball across the goal line to the far post where Robinson slid in to try and score. I thought the defender had got a block on Robinson’s effort that saw the ball go over the crossbar, but a goal kick was given.
Then came our second goal, our attacking move looked to have broken down on the left and we ended up playing the ball back to Branston who was just inside his own half. He looked up and played a great long ball up to Danny. Little Danny stuck his little leg up into the air and brought the ball down on his toe brilliantly.
He ran into the box and played the perfect pass to Robinson who was completely on his own. He maybe had too much time to get his body into the shape he wanted to shoot in and his first shot was saved well by the Stevenage keeper. But the ball came back to Robinson who made sure this time firing high into the net as the keeper was still trying to get up off the floor.
So a very well deserved three points that sent home all the home fans very happy indeed and will give the players plenty of confidence for next Tuesdays away match.
Potter…. very good today and is showing why Bucks has decided to stick with him in goal.
Robertson…. Very solid and only gave away a few of the sorts of fouls he normally does.
Branson…. Almost perfect today, so strong and got his head on everything, seldom went over the halfway line and only gave the ball away two times right near the end of the match.
Stanley….class and maybe my man of the match (hard to choose one today) can we keep him please?
Pringle… Slow start and looked better when we went to 4-4-2. Sure he is going to be a good signing for us.
Kee...... seemed to be doing OK and surprised to see him going off so early in the game.
Robinson…..Great young player who has pace and skill coming out of his ears, another player I hope we can keep here.
Stevens…..One of his better games for us, always looked to have the beating of any player standing in his way.
Zebs….worked hard and played a very big part in today’s win, gave the ball away a few times and should have scored.
Nico….played well, got done once or twice but on the whole solid and offered more than Rowe – Turner does.
Mansell…..hard working and full of running and showed some great skill at times.
The new look Aussie
Since signing for Stevenage in January, Harrison is now the joint highest scorer for them, hitting the back of the net twice on Saturday and certainly is one to watch out for! 
Since signing for Stevenage in January, Harrison is now the joint highest scorer for them, hitting the back of the net twice on Saturday and certainly is one to watch out for! 
However, the goal came, I think when some good interaction with Zebroski sent Danny clear on the by-line and although Day saved well from the resulting Robinson effort, the ball came out to him again and no mistake was made as it slammed into the back of the net.
