MATCH VERDICT
Dan Elliott
@dan_torquay_man
Dan discusses the Gulls win
SCUNTHORPE UNITED 0-1 TORQUAY UNITED – MATCH SUMMARY
It can’t happen, can it? Those were the words walking out of the ground on Tuesday night at Boreham Wood after a very surprising victory, that let’s be honest, nobody saw coming. All of it though would have been in vain if we didn’t go up to Scunthorpe and get a win. A must win! 6 Pointer game! Why do I feel like I have heard that before…… I have, on the way into the Dorking game a few weeks back.
On a cold, damp, grey and somewhat depressing Saturday afternoon in North Lincolnshire, the away end continued to fill and fill with optimistic and cheerful Torquay United fans, The Yellow Army was out in force, even the drum made the long journey up north.
Right from the ref’s whistle, Torquay were at it. Early attempts from Stobbs & Jarvis in the first 5 mins had the Yellow Army in full voice and optimism was in the air. Then as the game continued going into the next 15 minutes, the quality from both teams digressed, Scunthorpe brought out the time-wasting tactics very early on with the keeper taking an age at every goal kick and every outfield player that had contact (or not in some cases) with a Torquay player seemed to be in severe pain, they looked likes extras from the classic film Platoon.
As the half progressed no team had clear cut chances and it seemed that both sets of players and management teams were happy to go in level at the break. The only thing that seemed to get the crowd making noise was some very bizarre decisions from the referee who seemed to call fouls against Jarivs when he was getting manhandled for the majority of the first half.
After the break, things picked up, from both team to be fair. The first chance came within minutes as Nouble played a ball into the box and Dawson forced a save from the Scunthorpe Keeper. Straight away that got the attention of both sets of fans as the tempo, urgency and assertiveness of both teams had clearly risen after the half time team talks. The next 5 minutes, the visiting team really turned up the pressure and took the game to the home team. Then on 53 minutes a breakaway from Torquay resulted in a Lewis Collins shot from outside the box that was fumbled by the keeper, Jarivs couldn’t convert the rebounded ball into the net.
The Yellow Army were getting louder and Torquay United were getting better, and growing into the second half and the game, Scunthorpe were there for the taking, it just needed one passage of quality play.
Lapslie replaced Evans after 56 minutes, and jubilation erupted from the away end. Bilson the Scunthorpe keeper seemed to cause nerves and stress for his team throughout the game, the peak of this was a poor clearance that resulted in Moxey trying a Beckham style effort from 45 yards out, that for the majority of the time it was in the air the away end was convinced it was going in. Being right behind the goal it was very very close.
The pressure was growing.
Then on 62 minutes, the deadlock was finally broken, the ball was won back in midfield and slotted through to Lewis Collins who kept a cool head going through on goal from the left hand side and calmly beat the keeper at the near post to give Torquay the lead. Cue mass celebrations from the away end, limbs everywhere and a mass team celebration with the corner flag being used as a guitar by the goal-scorer.
Lift off.
Scunthorpe has shown no quality at all in this game and they never looked like they were going to score, this was Torquay United, and Gary Time had been going against us in recent weeks, but not these last two games. The Scunthrope pressure came. Was there lots of possession? Yes. Did they ever really look like scoring? No, not really.
Paul Hawksbee said on TalkSport on Wednesday, as a neutral at the game watching it in the away end, Boreham Wood had chances but they were not as bad as the Torquay fans thought they were, it’s different when you have something riding on the game.
Torquay saw out this game as well and after 5 minutes of injury time, the ref blew the whistle and that was it. Back to Back Victories!!! The Great Escape is on, is it???
PLAYER RATINGS
1. GK: Mark Halstead – 8
Back to back clean sheets and did what he needed to do to keep a clean sheet.
16. CB: Shaun Donnellan – 8
One of the best games that I have seen him play, was calm on the ball and was quick moving around the park to put out any danger that came his way.
19. CB: Nico Lawrence – 8
Experienced head on such a young body, absolute class performance and did a number on Bennett their striker today, so much so he didn’t get a sniff around the box and was never a threat.
21. CB: Dean Moxey – 6
Sets such a high standard as he is class, but this was not his best performance today, still enough for a clean sheet.
8. MF: Asa Hall – 7
His experience always shines through, few occasions felt like there was no midfield when they would break, but cover was always there at the vital time.
28. MF: Kevin Dawson – 6
Solid performance, didn’t stop running all game.
27. RWB: Jack Stobbs – 7
Worked hard down his flank and managed to get into good positions moving forward.
11. MF: Kieron Evans – 7
Was taken off not because I think he didn’t play well but the game was calling for Lapslie to come on with extra energy. Was always ready to run at their defence and pounce on the ball when required.
31. LWB: Lewis Collins – 8
Got his goal and took it very well. Class finish and class celebration.
45. ST: Frank Nouble – 8
Experience showed today, knows what pass to make and when, held the ball up well and beat players with ease. Make no mistake having his knowhow around benefits the whole team.
9. ST: Aaron Jarvis – 9
MOTM – See Below
Subs
4. MF: Tom Lapslie (for Evans 56) – 8
Never stops running and was exactly what was needed in the second half.
15. LWB: Ben Wyatt (for Dawson 90) – N/A
Yellow Army had the chance to sing “ I predict a Wyatt” and they took that chance with open arms and sang it loud and proud!
7. MF: Ryan Hanson – (for Nouble 87) – N/A
Used to countdown the clock.
MAN OF THE MATCH – AARON JARVIS
Aaron caused them so many problems today also across the park. The ref for some bizarre reason was not convinced of the rugby tackles, shirt pulling and slide tackling right through him to award him even more free kicks that he won today. His hard work, determination and pure grit created space for others and made space for Nouble and others to find time to play the ball. Thought he scored from the free kick in the second half that was just wide. Great player who always gives it 100%.
THE OFFICIALS
Tinpot to say the least. Just some really strange calls today and so many of them had the away fans with their hands raised in shock and disappointment. They didn’t really have much to do but they did have to do they got wrong so many times. Scunthorpe player (19) committed a blatant foul that would have been his 2nd Yellow and the ref clocked it and gave the free kick for him, just very strange! Felt like a younger brother of Simon Mather today, very dodgy vibes about the performance that you couldn’t pinpoint the thought process around simple decisions getting totally wrong.
TACTICS
Same as it was midweek, 3 at the back turned into 5 when they had the ball and the wing backs pushed on when they could get out. The first half was all about being in the game and the second half was about going to win it. The minute we scored, we were not too assertive after and going to look for a second, however they were so poor there were times we could have turned it up a gear and could have killed the game off.
THE OPPOSITION
They try to get the ball down and play, but they don’t have the quality, some individuals they had were really bad. The goalkeeper time wasting after 6 minutes tells you all you need to know. Wilson had a barrage of Dad’s Army Jokes the whole game and Bennett upfront was named Gordon, tells you all you need to know about their squad. The most flair they had was the haircut of their right back who looked like an extra from The Wedding Singer with his throw back mullet, poor Ogle! I do have a soft spot for Danny Elliott, must be the name!
CONCLUSION
After seeing two away wins in a row in under a week (don’t think that’s every happened to me as a TUFC fan), the Great Escape, is officially…..ON! The return of experienced players like Hall & Lapslie and the additions of Dawson & Nouble has given the TUFC players and management something to push them on. Will we have to win at least 4 more? Absolutely! Do we need others to drop points? Definitely. Can it happen? Your damn right it can. Will it happen? I just don’t know. Yeovil are struggling horribly for form, Gateshead have games racking up that they need to play, whilst the likes of York and Aldershot are possibly within reach, but the margin for error is still very low. 6 Points over Easter next Friday & Monday and results going our way…………and we are IN THE MIXER!!!
It wont be easy, it never is. But we would not have it any other way, we are Torquay United! I predict a Wyatt!
COYY – DAN
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