TALKING POINTS

Alan Wills – @alanjwills

Alan discusses the defeat at Eastleigh

THE SENDING OFF

Regardless of whether you thought they were right or wrong, the fact remains that this match was decided on three refereeing decisions.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a clear view of two of the incidents, the yellow cards. It’s only when you travel to away grounds that you realise how great the view is from the Pop Side and Bristows Bench at Plainmoor.

No-one I spoke to caught the very early booking of Aaron Jarvis at the far end, so his second booking, also at the far end, seemed a minor inconvenience until the referee followed it up with a red card, much to everyone’s surprise.

Three sendings off in the last three matches underlines The Gulls’ unwanted position at the top of the disciplinary table.

PENALTY

As for the penalty, it was difficult to see what it was given for, but it seemed like a trip by Chin Okoli just inside the penalty area. He could probably deem himself a bit unlucky looking at the replay.

This is the second match in a row where one of our young central defenders conceded a spot kick, and we are crying out for an experienced central defender right now. One over the age of 23 would be nice!

YELLOW ARMY

Over 250 away fans for a fifth tier bottom of the league side on a Tuesday night is pretty impressive. Despite our league position, the atmosphere was remarkably jovial and supportive.

It was great to see Gary Johnson come over with the players at the end to clap the fans. Despite some reports, there were only a handful of people being negative towards him. The vast majority of the crowd there were still backing him to turn this ship around.

WING PLAY

Back from his own suspension following his sending off against Hampton, on-loan QPR starlet Dillon De Silva had a good game with some tricky wing play and some good crosses. I get the feeling that if we can hang on to him, he is going to make a big difference to our fortunes this season, as probably our most creative player.

Of the more-experienced players, Tom Lapslie did well when he came on, and Dean Moxey was excellent as usual.

STRETCHED SQUAD

Injuries and suspension meant that there were only four players on the bench again. A goalkeeper, two young defenders, and a midfielder.

With Aaron Jarvis being sent off, we have only one striker, 20 year old Will Goodwin, available for the trip to Notts County on Saturday. Time to recall Olaf, perhaps?

I’m expecting Ryan Hanson to be back from his concussion protocol, but the others are quite long term I feel.