MATCH VERDICT
Dan Elliott
@dan_torquay_man
AVELEY FC 2-1 TORQUAY UNITED – MATCH SUMMARY
The sun was out and the sky was blue as we headed around the M25 switching lanes to avoid the queue for the Dartford Bridge.
A quick pit stop at Thurrock Services for a leg stretch and toilet stop and then it was a hop under the motorway and straight into the town of Aveley.
As we arrived at Parkside, the first initial shock was we didn’t need to pay to park at the ground, we were only stopped to make sure we had pre-booked our match day tickets.
The second shock was as it was 13:30 and we couldn’t see any coach that looked like it had come from The WestCountry!
They must have some VIP parking around one of the other stands, hang on wait, there is no other stands!
So where the Bleddy Hell are they? Bluewater? Lakeside? Thurrock FC? Christ knows, all we knew was, we beat the players to the ground!
After a lap of the ground soaking up the sun and basking in the warmth coming off the plastic surface, the Aveley players came out to warm up, still no sign of any Torquay players.
That’s not strictly true. There was a young lad sat in a seat with a TUFC tracksuit on. A die hard fan? Ball Boy? Or a YTS come up for the banter, nope, our new signing from Southampton. Jesus Christ I felt old.
Then finally, the players had arrived, a quick view of the pitch, yep it’s plastic, and then it was back in to get changed and bang out the warm up before kick off
The Yellow Army started to fill the ground and as always there was plenty of them!
The lovely weather meant you could see the array of shirts with loads of retro kits on display, some modern day classics and plenty of beetroot that’s seems very popular, especially with the legend that is Jules Nixon with the matching cap to go, I love that man 💜
Kick off.
The game starts and within 2 mins what seems to be a “thing” in this league is home fans moving from end to end depending which way their team is kicking!
Dover, Slough and now today it’s happened. It’s cute, tinpot, slightly immature and juvenile, but cute……and each club has their own thing.
Dover fans have fake Stone Island Jumpers, Slough had a bin for a drum and a Year 8 music kit with them and Aveley had the big man pushing past women and kids to put his flags up (tongue in cheek).
All jokes aside, it’s the level that we are at and we are the ones that put ourselves there.
Anyway, back to the football, both teams came out and wanted to assert themselves on the game in the first 5 mins and that was about it from the away team.
Assertiveness was replaced with sloppy passing, long balls, poor quality sets pieces and awful defending. And no midfield.
Aveley had a handful of good half chances and yet again this season Mark Halstead was called upon to make saves. Meanwhile, Torquay managed to get quite a lot of set pieces, corners and free kicks in dangerous areas, and did absolutely nothing with them.
The thing that was noticeable today was the eerie atmosphere around the pitch, the silence. You could hear the players talking to each other, instructions from bench. That’s the level we are at, it felt almost like a local park game atmosphere and the football was matching it.
Aveley always looked dangerous on the break and produced the first big chance of the game with a header that rattled Mark Halstead’s bar, and this seemed to spur the home team on.
For the next 10 mins it was chance after chance for the home team with not much coming the other way. Double save after double save for Mark Halstead and even before half time he was Man of The Match, and the way the season has gone so far he is already a shoe-in for Player of The Season.
There was still time for a few more chances for the home team before the ref blew up.
Half time and a rocket from the manager was required again.
Second half.
First 5 mins again we came out and there was urgency and assertiveness to get going and get forward without limping it forward into empty space. But it only lasted 5 mins.
As the half continued Aveley were happy to wait for us to lose possession, which they knew we would, and they were ready to pounce on the counter attack.
Yet again, chance after chance for the home team and another double save from Halstead, prompting the home keeper to turn to the Yellow Army and compliment his opposite number. That’s how bad as a team we were, that they had so many chances, and that’s how low it’s got for us as a club that the Aveley keeper felt compelled to say that.
And after that, it got worse.
From a Torquay corner I would say it was no more than 5 passes and the ball was in the back of Mark Halstead’s net. Two down and it was game over.
Everyone knew it was game over, mainly the Aveley bench, as every single person on that bench was up on the pitch celebrating. And you can’t blame them, because they should have been 6-0 up!
There was still time, but time to make sure we didn’t concede anymore! The assertiveness from the first 5 mins returned after the second goal went in.
A few corners and free kicks came to nothing as per usual, then a corner whipped in from the right, and a goalmouth scramble that resulted in an Ash shot towards goal that somehow managed to trickle in. 2-1.
Then a red card for the right back, and time left in the game and injury time. Gary time? Is it on? Is it still a thing?!
If we came back and got a point it would be completely so undeserved. A few more set pieces and long throws from Deano comes to nothing. Poor number 15 for the home team went down, got up, went down, got up limped off, 10 seconds later sprinted back on.
Apologies also, I’m not being disrespectful by just using their numbers, it was just that they didn’t have names on their shirts, just numbers.
This added to the local park football game vibe!
Injury time was done and the time added onto injury time was done, and TUFC was done. Game over and defeat.
PLAYER RATINGS
1. GK: Mark Halstead – 10
Unbelievable performance, what a player, what a performance and what a turnaround from when he signed. Incredible how he kept it respectable today and to have his opposition number praise him during the game speaks volumes about his performance.
15. RB: Finley Craske – 3
6. CB: Ross Marshall – 3
23. CB: Ollie Tomlinson – 3
3. LB: Dan Martin – 3
16. MF: Shaun Donnellan – 3
27. RW: Jack Stobbs – 3
4. MF: Tom Lapslie – 3
17. LW: Dillon Da Silva – 3
This is not being petulant or childish but literally the same score and observations go for these players. Never got going, sloppy in play and possession. Gave the ball away on far too many occasions, lacked composure with the ball and end product was not there. Resulted in long balls up field where the 6’8″ number 5 for the home team had a great day getting his head on the end of them all.
11. ST: Bradley Ash – 6
9. ST: Aaron Jarvis – 6
Jarv and Ash ran their socks off trying to get on the end of the something and create half a chance out of nothing. Long ball after long ball hoofed up to them and nothing to work with.
Subs
21. LB: Dean Moxey – 3
18. MF: Will Jenkins Davies – 3
19. ST: Luke Pearce – 3
Rate the TUFC Players Here
MAN OF THE MATCH – Mark Halstead
‘The only Torquay United player that turned up’. Not my words but the words of Gary Johnson in his post-match interview. I can’t say enough about how good he was.
THE OFFICIALS
Solid performance from the ref, liked him. He tried to let things go and keep the game going. He played advantage when he could and pulled things back when he couldn’t. Correctly let the play continue for the Torquay goal and then went back to send off the number 2. Could hear him be clear and direct with players.
TACTICS
Don’t know what to say. It was 4-4-2 and that would imply there was 4 in midfield, but if you ask anyone in the ground today they would say Torquay didn’t have a midfield, and when Aveley won the ball they had acres and I mean acres to run into. We needed a ball player in the middle of the park today to slide balls behind for Stobbs & De Silva to run onto, instead the ball was hoofed forward – not behind their back four but only far enough for it to be headed clear. We couldn’t even hoof it right.
THE OPPOSITION
This was their cup final and fair play to them. They wanted it, they were up for it and the combination of pace upfront and the basketball players playing centre half, there is a team there that will get a lot of wins this season. I nominated them in the pre-season predictions as the Dark Horse of the season, only because I felt they would stay in the league and not go down. At this rate they will be there or thereabouts. A welcoming club, good luck for the rest of the season.
CONCLUSION
It’s bad and I mean really bad. Fans are not happy and at full time a lot of them couldn’t even clap the team. No plan, no direction and no end product. It feels really low, Gary Owers low. Lots of fans telling me this is the worse they have seen us, and it’s hard to disagree. After today I felt that there is a need of a change as it seems like the players are not happy right now either.
These players do care and they want to succeed but for me they are not happy, especially when the coach driver can’t even get the journey to the ground correctly #BringBackDartline
Something needs to change. Asa Hall & Dean Moxey are leaders of men and would get respect from the dressing room, that’s all I’m saying!
COYY – DAN
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