POF: Torquay v Stevenage 3pm, 28 May 2011

Brief report from me, as I can't be doing with the puerile negativity on here and elsewhere.

We were outplayed today and never got going. Stevenage did a job on us, and managed to stifle our attack whilst taking advantage of our shortcomings at the back. Plenty of individual errors from us with Bevan skewing clearances, Branston looking unsure and some clumsy tackles and passes from others. Tomlin and Zebs persevered but nothing came off for them. Robinson (?) hit the bar but never really threatened, and Billy Kee huffed and puffed but offered nothing in the way of pace or quality. All this was juxtaposed against a superbly organised and well set up Stevenage who weren't pretty but were resolute in defence, strong in midfied and pacy up front. Mousinho took his goal beautifully.

It was strange outnumbering the opposition supporters in a playoff final, but the Stevenage fans were a credit to their club – bouncing and chanting for most of the game, especially after they took the lead. Our fans gave it a good go during the first 15 minutes of the second half when we had our best spell on the pitch, but were pretty subdued for the most part. I thought Old Trafford was a good venue, and it made a pleasant change from Wembley.

Disappointing not to end a fine season with a better performance, but reaching a playoff final and the fourth round of the FA Cup is a fine achievement. It's a shame many of our fans don't seem able to appreciate that.

got back to Torquay at 9pm. Have now drawn breath....

Again, the team failed to perform against a side that had really done their homework. The last time was against creepy Cr*wl*y, and there were several similarities in their styles.
We were out-fought, out -thought and out-sung. First half was very poor, 2nd half a lot better. Lathrope, who I think has come on very well this season, was left for dead in the build-up to their goal. Bevin's kicking was awful, tho he had a safe pair of hands throughout. I thought that they by-passed our midfield completely in the first half, and their seemd to be no guile in our play. Billy Kee was totally under wraps, and their defence had done their homework on Robinson, Zebs and Tomlin.
There were too many poor first touches throughout the team, which helped to breed an apparent lack of confidence.
Stevenage are a very poor footballing side, but they did the business today without being particularly good.
We have had 2 huge matches this season, and have been out thought on both of them.
Hopefully, we can build on this for next season-as pointed out previously, we have most of the squad under contract.
As for the next manager? If Bucks does go, as I think he must this week, I would like to see Paul Trollope or Danny Wilson in charge.
Very disappointed tonight.

It was good to experience Old Trafford today but the game itself won't live long in my memory. It was a bit really like the Ebbsfleet game at Wembley 3 years ago. You felt we had the ability to win the match against quite ordinary opposition, but we ended up falling short. Right now I am quite flat about the match, and I am rather embarrassed about the pathetic crowd figure. I thought the Gulls fans that did turn up played their part to try to lift the team and there was no doubt we outnumbered Stevenage fans. But the crowd of 11,000+ must be the worst ever crowd for a play-off final at football league level and probably by some distance. Can you imagine what other teams fans must think about that crowd figure? I still maintain that if the ticket arrangement were easier for fans, a lot more would have turned up.

There was a good buzz outside the stadium before the match and the vast majority of fans were Gulls. In fact there were curiously very few Stevenage fans. We took a few photos outside the stadium of the statues of Best, Law and Charlton and visited the club shop. There were 35 checkouts inside the club shop and it was the size of a superstore inside there. We walked around the stadium and there were some touching tributes to the Munich air disaster.

We went inside the stadium about 2pm. My thoughts of Old Trafford was that it was big but all the stands were quite uneven in size unlike Wembley. You could tell which stands had been extended over the years and they looked somewhat "bolted on", a bit like a house with an obvious extension. There were considerably more Gulls fans and you even count the number of Stevevage fans. Just before kick-off Gulls fans were in good voice and Stevenage numbers looked better, and sang an impressive chant complete with fans bouncing up and down - it looked and sounded like some warrior chant. At last there was some decent atmosphere for the match.

The players entered the arena to fire-works but that was when the best fireworks of the afternoon happened. I thought the game was drifting to a 0-0 with neither side looking capable of scoring. Stevenage were getting the clearer chances but our defence were coping ok. However their goal was impressively taken - their striker took the ball on a run and unleashed a shot from outside the penalty area that found the bottom corner of the net. This ofcourse changed the complexion of the match. Until then, Torquay at times played some decent one-touch passing moves but were not really penetrating. So 1-0 it finished at half-time and we needed to improve.

Torquay had to up their game for the second half and they came back on early that included some more exercises for their players. Torquay started the second half impressively and took the game to Stevenage. We did have some chances to equalise but we fluffed them all. Kee had the best through on goal with the keeper to beat, but he shot weakly at the keeper. At least Kee was now playing in his favoured forward role with Zebrowski on the right wing. But the clock kept ticking on worryingly. Robinson, whose finishing today and final ball was again pretty wasteful, did skim the bar with a dipping shot. However our 3 subs only came on in the later stages and made no real impact. The Oastler for Lathrope seemed too like-for-like for me and did not improve matters. Poor old Danny only had 5 minutes or so to save the match and he did look lively but it was asking too much of him. Who were our best players today? Zebrowski and Tomlin worked hard up front and Zebrowski could have done better with his finishing, likewise with Kee. I thought Lathrope got stuck in but O'Kane was sadly quiet. Nicholson was his usual reliable self.

I never have liked the idea of playing Kee on the right wing and either like to see hime played up front from the start or as an impact sub. I'm afriad most things did not work for Robinson so we gave very little on the wings. At least Zebrowski did some good work on the right wing in the second half. But with 10 minutes to go Torquay looked more unlikely to score and the game just fizzled out in the end. I remember saying the same against Ebbsfleet 3 years ago!

So a lovely occasion, but an embarrassing low crowd although those who did turn up made a decent atmosphere. The game itself - well disappointing a bit like Effsfleet and Colchester before that. We tried but we were not quite good enough to make that vital breakthrough. Still, a season to be proud of.

It was not a story of poor tactics today. We have set up like that to good effect many a time with players on song. Being on song was the key ingredient missing.

Oastler's fresh legs for a tiring Lathrope so all others including his central midfield partner and Rowe-Turner could bomb on, I dont have a problem with either. Bit much to ask Lathrope to perform that role alone after all his sapping graft. Stevens earlier? Maybe. Oastler from the start? My preferred choice. But it's splitting hairs in the bigger picture of the game as it panned out.

Simply stated, players simply didn't perform - off days if you prefer - and I'm afraid no manager could have pulled a masterstroke with all the poor individual performances happening over the park. And like meerkat says, we are not blessed with established attacking prowess on the bench when we start with the four.

Very disappointing day in a good season.

My bloody computer appears to have packed-up by Rob, I agree entirely with your above post!

It was rubbish to watch us slump like that, but that's football. One other thing I would say is that I thought Stevenage were positive and never really pushed beyond what is reasonable in their quest to win. They were way better than when we played them earlier this season. I thought Charles bullied Branston and was my MOTM today - he had a stormer. Ref was fine today - no complaints there. I won't miss Kee being played on the wing but I think it ultimately made little difference.

Thanks also to the Grecian for their words of consolation. Much rather face Exeter in a Derby than having the Argyle animals at Plainmoor.

It's a horribly disappointing end to the season. Tactics wanting? Don't know about that one, tactics and formations have been changed on many occasions to suit the occasion and the opposition. A lack of squad depth might've cost us, but having 2 or 3 game changers on the bench costs you a fair bit of cash we don't have. But it's hugely galling to see your team beaten by a side as limited at Stevenage.

Although the crowd was on the low side, to get almost double the amount of fans Stevenage brought was very good especially when Stevenage is 76 miles closer to Old Trafford than Torquay.

Here's to next season and the bloody Kassam stadium on Tuesday night.