TALKING POINTS

Dom Roman

@DomRoman

Dom discusses the loss against Wealdstone

RED CARD

Let’s start at the beginning shall we, and the red card for Tom Lapslie after 7 minutes. I love Tom Lapslie, he’s run himself silly recently trying to be the difference for the Gulls all over the field, a bright beacon amongst a whole load of terrible dross. But he’s also been walking fine lines discipline wise, with constant bickering at the ref and a number of lunging challenges. Well his luck ran out at 3.07pm, a silly late lunge was reckless and the referee did not hesitate to brandish out his red card. Perhaps on another afternoon Tom gets away with a yellow, but there’s no excuse for another poor bit of discipline from a Gulls player, and I’m sure he was apologetic in the dressing room afterwards. 7 red cards for TUFC during 22-23, awful discipline in an awful season.

TRYING TRYING TRYING

This team try. They’ve tried in the majority of the games this season, and Saturday was no different. With Wealdstone sensing a comfortable win, the first half saw the Gulls looking desperate and just glad to get into half time at 0-1. Then a stronger push in the second half and a splendid goal from Kieron Evans…but with Torquay retreating further and further back you could still sense that a winning Wealdstone goal was around the corner. The away team had made a meal of playing around an increasingly knackered looking United team, but they eventually found the right pass and the right finish. The reaction in Bristow’s was telling. No surprise, no anger, just a sad shrug and acceptance of the inevitability of Torquay United losing. They may try, but with so little talent and squad depth, it’s a bunch of players and manager with no answers. Very trying indeed, and a season that just keeps getting worse by the week.

YELLOW ARMY

With a disastrous run of form and the team looking doomed, the Yellow Army still turned up in good numbers and still got behind their team. Fantastic loyalty considering the absolute shambles that TUFC has thrown up this season. It was a grim, dark and misty afternoon at Plainmoor, the sort of weather that reflects our situation, but the Pop could still be heard and I’m proud of that. Our owners want to keep our support at arms length, but they should be harnessing what is our greatest asset as a football club, resilient people who keep turning up and keep believing that their team will win for a change. Well done to all.

KEVIN DAWSON (AND WELCOME BACK ASA)

I mentioned Kevin Dawson in my last Talking Points, and I’ll mention him again. He led by example at Plainmoor, showing heart and commitment that helped keep Torquay in the game. If the likes of Brett McGavin and Ryan Hanson had similar attributes (or any attributes at all) then this season may not have been quite so tragic. Considering his lack of fitness it was a tremendous effort, and he was understandably blowing hard in the second half, eating about 5 energy bars to keep him going! It really shows how bad this squad is when a chap from Gloucester can come in after playing 4 games all season, and comfortably be one of our best players. Meanwhile welcome back Asa Hall. In rather typical Torquay United fashion, we gain one midfielder and another one goes out with Tom Lapslie on the naughty step for 3 matches. The skipper has been missed.

BAD LUCK?

I’m hearing a lot of ‘bad luck’ mentions by Gary Johnson at the moment, and I am simply not buying it. Is it bad luck Dean Moxey and Asa Hall being injured? They are simply older players who cannot play week in week out any more, that’s not luck it’s poor squad planning. Is it bad luck us conceding yet another late goal to lose a game? If it was bad luck, then surely it wouldn’t keep happening time and time again. Is it bad luck that we’ve had 7 red cards this season? No, it’s a squad lacking discipline and composure when it matters. Instead of peddling excuses, how about admitting that we are simply not good enough and deserve to be in the relegation places? Now that’s something we could all agree on.

NEEDING MIRACLES (AND JOIN THE TUST)

10 games left and 7 points adrift of 20th after one of the most depressing runs of form in our club’s history. Gary Johnson says we’ve still got chances, but we’re left needing minor miracles, so honestly I’m not sure how he could say that with a straight face. A minimum of 5 wins required from those 10 games with this squad, I cannot see that happening in a month of Sundays. Look at our team, we’re now losing Tom Lapslie (suspended) and Lewis Collins (injured), we’ve got Ali Omar at left back for goodness sakes, where’s the inspiration to make this happen? This was salvageable months ago. The club could have changed managers, or they could have backed Gary Johnson more in January when the team gave us a brief renaissance, but instead they’ve banked on GJ pulling a rabbit out of a hat and the result is we’re heading down to regional football. These owners have done some good things at Torquay United (Youth System, Pitch Investment, Backing during COVID times), but you can’t help but feel that Clarke is now saying ‘Enough is enough’. Increasingly worrying times to be a Gulls supporter, if you feel the same join TUST – more details on the website. I know it’s hard, but let’s stick together as supporters and look after each other, we all have different opinions, but we all want the same thing, a Torquay United to be proud of.

COYY – DOM

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