rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Mar 7, 2012 21:28:38 GMT
Back in August, this was perhaps the most eagerly anticipated home fixture of the season and while it has lost a little of its gloss; with the ex Torquay players involved and the arrival of large numbers of gas-heads to Plainmoor for the first time in over five years, together with us in the hunt for promotion, there is still plenty of spice left in this game. The Rovers manager, Mark McGhee has come in and done a good job to ensure that his team haven't become drawn into a relegation dogfight for successive years but a mediocre run of 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in the last six has ensured that there won't be a last gasp surge for the play offs. In fact his comment on the last match against Northampton was "They looked like a team that had something to play for, and we didn't. Regardless of how the goals came about, it was more about the general attitude and I thought that we were off it." However, before we write off Rovers as a team marking time until next season, I'm sure they will be up for it in front of a large away contingent and their manager will no doubt look to build to hit the ground running for next season. None of their last six games were decided by more than one goal and I expect things to be similarly tight again! Familiar faces in the starting line up on Tuesday were Bevan (is Poke injured or gone back to Brighton?), Stanley and Carayol with Zebs coming on as a 58th minute sub for Stoke City loanee Matthew Lund who will remain with the club until the end of April. Matt Harold was out on Tuesday with a tight hamstring but may be back and he is their top scorer with 11. McGleish has scored 9 but has been sent out on loan to Barnet as he winds down towards the end of his contract! A midfield of Gill and Stanley looks handy and Carayol and Zebs will always cause problems up front! As for the real Torquay United, I can't see past the same starting XI from Tuesday. I thought Atieno played well when he came on and gives us that something bit extra to come off the bench. Should be a great match and really looking forward to this one!  COYY |
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Post by register on Mar 8, 2012 13:29:38 GMT
Another difficult match...when aren't they difficult! Looking at the Rovers web sight, I think we might be pretty full at plainmoor this weekend with quite a few looking to sneak in the popside! Should be a good game but I think Rovers will eventually succumb to intense Torquay pressure...or should I say they will Buckle!  |
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Post by loyalgull on Mar 8, 2012 17:44:17 GMT
no prediction from me other than if we do the right stuff in defence we should be ok,looking forward to this one,another tough uncompramising challenge ahead
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Post by stefano on Mar 8, 2012 18:08:15 GMT
no prediction from me other than if we do the right stuff in defence we should be ok,looking forward to this one,another tough uncompramising challenge ahead Predictions are so easy these days. 1-0 to us |
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jj
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Post by jj on Mar 8, 2012 19:02:54 GMT
Is it sold-out yet?  ? |
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Mar 8, 2012 20:26:47 GMT
Is it sold-out yet? ? Only the away end! There should be 3500+ for this one and hopefully that can push on closer to the 4000 mark to create a good atmosphere. Reading the Rovers site, it appears that Poke is injured but very close to fitness and may be ready for this one but hopefully will need a extra couple of days. Bolger and Woodard are also nearing fitness with the former almost certain to play but the latter still not able to train today. Their manager saw us play against Dagenham back in January and didn't really rate us (thought we were of a similar standard to D & R) and is surprised by our run which he puts down to a good team spirit. (He thinks he has the better players ) but could be surprised again bearing in mind the number of times we have got players in the Team of the Week! |
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Post by loyalgull on Mar 8, 2012 20:34:05 GMT
let mcghee talk the talk,its good when they do that,never liked him has no loyalty in him whatsoever.Now his honeymoon period is over rovers seem to be slipping back to old ways,another two or three defeats and the natives will start another witch hunt,lets see if his arrogance shines through then
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Mar 9, 2012 7:47:40 GMT
Just 120 tickets left in the family stand so likely to sell out here, so maybe worth getting the ticket in advance, even if it is tomorrow morning!
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petef
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Post by petef on Mar 9, 2012 10:19:09 GMT
This was always going to be one of the big games of the season only most of expected our respective league positions to be the exact opposite.
Full house a cup tie atmosphere, a Rovers side desperate to restore some pride, what could be better?
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Post by rivieralou on Mar 9, 2012 17:02:12 GMT
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rjdgull
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Post by rjdgull on Mar 9, 2012 23:08:31 GMT
Just 120 tickets left in the family stand so likely to sell out here, so maybe worth getting the ticket in advance, even if it is tomorrow morning! Make that just 40 now! Amazingly, Danny is now 50/50 for this match so his recovery is now in days as opposed to weeks! Even if he doesn't make it , we have got three tough away fixtures coming up and would be great to have him back for them. Lathrope's ankle appears to be giving him some problems again and along with Olejnik and Howe did not train today but all are expected to be fit but we will have to just wait and see on that.  |
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Post by rawpowergulls on Mar 10, 2012 17:56:28 GMT
I'm gonna say this just once and sorry if it offends people but I'm raging. Lloyd Macklin is a horrible thingy who decided to take the piss out if my daughters cos they wanted an autograph. One of my daughters is special needs which makes it worse. I'm glad Martin Ling doesnt even consider him for the bench. Rant over, good point today Torquay
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mike
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Post by mike on Mar 10, 2012 18:09:44 GMT
I'm gonna say this just once and sorry if it offends people but I'm raging. Lloyd Macklin is a horrible thingy who decided to take the piss out if my daughters cos they wanted an autograph. One of my daughters is special needs which makes it worse. I'm glad Martin Ling doesnt even consider him for the bench. Rant over, good point today Torquay Shocking,why is he still at the Club?? |
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Post by Swanny on Mar 10, 2012 18:25:43 GMT
Well that was quite amazing at Plainmoor today for anyone there with loads of drama and twists and turns! It was a full-blooded West Country derby with a decent atmosphere. Crowd 3,920, over 1,000 from Bristol Rovers, sponsors MOTM deservedly going to Rene Howe. This match also spoke volumes about the character of our team coming back from 2-0 down to snatch a draw. There were so many chances at both ends I have difficulty in remember them. Torquay's 3 ex-players today Bevan, Carayol and Zebrowski cartainly left their mark with outstanding performances. You could argue Carayol left his mark in more ways than one taking our key player Nicholson out of the game with a late challenge.
In the first half I counted 5 cracking chances that Torquay had but sadly did not take. Howe could have done better with a 1-on-1 with Bevan but took the ball too far away from goal trying to round the keeper. His big chance went. Bevan made some outstanding saves including one getting down low to parry a certain looking goal. Rovers also cleared a couple of other chances off the line. Carayol was Rovers dangerman and Olejnik, similiar to Bevan, got down low to pull off a cracking save. There were a couple of other very close shaves from Cararyol that went very close. But Torquay had the best chances of the first half and it looked to be heading goalless. Considering Nicholson's long injury in which he was eventually substituted by Rowe-Turner, it was surprising the referee only gave 2 minutes of added time. With virtually the last kick of the first half, Harrold unleashed a fierce shot from about 25 yards. Olejnik looked to have the shot covered but a wicked deflection off a Torquay defender made the ball loop over Olejnik into the net. So 1-0 down at half-time and how would Torquay respond?
Well the first half of the second half Torquay looked out-of-sorts. There were many misplaced passes and our midfield in particular were struggling. Jarvis came on for Stevens. Torquay did get a couple of chances but shortly afterwards Bristol Rovers counter-attacked. Zebrowski took the ball from the half-way line and eventually slotted the ball past Olejnik. You felt at 2-0 it was game up as Torquay were struggling. Atieno came on for Lathrope as Torquay had to go for it. A couple of minutes later, Bevan saved from Howe, then from Mansell but from sheer persistence Mansell followed up the second rebound to score from close-range. Game on!
Torquay had a decent spell but Bevan was in outstanding form. At the other end Rovers should have wrapped the game up with a golden chance but put the shot wide. Right at the end from O'Kane's corner Oastler looked to have scored but again Bevan pulled off another amazing save. You felt that save would win the game for Rovers. Then a through ball came into the box to Howe / Mansell and the ball got clipped into the net. Apparantly the goal's been credited to captain Marvel Mansell. So that's both goals he scored to rescue a point in the most dramatic of circumstances - half an hour previously supporters were saying how shocking he was playing!
So well done to the Gulls for a magnificent come-back in a really exciting game. This speaks volumes for the character of the team, and also for Ling's substitutions when things were not going well.
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petef
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Post by petef on Mar 10, 2012 18:29:27 GMT
Where is everyone?
watches ....% % % tumbleweed pass across screen % % % % ).........For anyone not able to make the game.
A gutsy second half display led by skipper Lee Mansell Torquay managed to drag themselves back for the brink when all looked lost.
After an excellent solo goal from former Gull Chris Zebroski made it 2-0 there looked to be no way back after Harold had given Rovers a first half lead well onto first half stoppage time. In fact the three minutes added on turned into four minutes when the ball hit the net according to my timing, A well hit but deflected effort from Harold gave Olly little chance as it flew and spun into the top corner.
A fairly even first half with Mussy giving our defence plenty to think about and us having a few good chances with shots from Lathrope and Howe well fielded by our ex Keeper Scott Bevan.
As I expectted Rovers didnt look at all like a bottom half of the table side with McGee selecting all of our former players it looked a bit like Torquay" A" v Torquay "B" at times. They had plenty of pride to play for and as a side little pressure where we on the other hand were once again expected to role them over and continue our charge.
It just never happens like and with the exception of late in the second half when we finally and wisely switched to Plan "B" by taking of Lathrope and Danny Stevens who struggled to have any impact today we introduced Jarvis , who I thought had good touch and put himself in the right places to receive the ball behind Rene. Indeed we piled on the pressure without really testing Bevan to much and a run and cross shot from ex Zebroski looked to have sealed our fate but witjin three minutes we were back in the game from a shot from Mans.
Tails up and we probed and for the second and Rovers were getting deeper and deeper which played into our hands and we managed to pin them back while they fed off scraps and break aways that could easily have caught us out. Finally our relentless pressure and probing had the desired effect with another goal from Captain Marvel.
What a relief - We Got Out Of Jail Bigtime" and it keeps the momentum going.
As I said a very gutsy performance which covers up a few shortcomings IMHO we still lack real width though when we were chasing the game Mark Ellis found himself at right wing a couple of times today and genuine pace to scare defenders. That's all though everything else for little old TUFC is pretty good at the moment.
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COYY
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