MATCH VERDICT
Ben Wade
A thrilling encounter between The Gulls and The Glovers took place as the Yellow Army were victorious against local rivals Yeovil…
TORQUAY UNITED 2-1 YEOVIL TOWN – MATCH SUMMARY
A feeling of hope but not optimism loomed over Plainmoor before kick off, with the dreaded thought of the previous Yeovil fixture fluttering into everyone’s heads. Although, the start from us was unexpectedly superb as Crowe found Dolan in a pocket of space and fed a delightful ball to Dillon De Silva, who was nowhere near a green shirt. Dillon drove forward and then cut inside to curl a tidy finish right into the far corner, that beat Joe Day’s fingertips. The fact that this was just under 2 minutes in stopped the unwanted record of not scoring inside the first half an hour since the opening day of the season.
For the rest of the first quarter, we continued to dominate them in every aspect of the game. However, Rhys Lovett came to the rescue with a save at a comfortable height to his left hand side on 28 minutes. Following this effort, Yeovil seemed to work their way into the game a bit more with some pressure before the half time whistle blew. The Gulls had their heads held high walking down the tunnel.
The start of the second half was certainly not dissimilar to the first. We came out firing with some attacking momentum almost immediately. In the 49th minute, Dolan received the ball 25 yards out and edged forward. Like so many of our goals that we’ve conceded, no one came out to close him down and he confidently drove the ball into the corner past the dive of the Yeovil keeper. With that, Ryan Hanson made way to a standing ovation with a slight niggle caught in the build up to the goal with Asa Hall replacing him in central midfield.
The Glovers pushed forward at various occasions but the solid defence didn’t let a goal in. In the 71st minute, Dylan Crowe was replaced by 18 year old new loan signing Archie Harris from Bournemouth. Our stubborn defence held off any sign of a goal despite former United forward Frank Nouble holding the ball up expertly. With little over 10 minutes to go, Dillon De Silva came off the pitch for Lewis Collins to replace him. With 6 minutes of stoppage time about to be announced, a deep cross was aimed towards the Yeovil number 27 but it unfortunately ricocheted off of Harris’ thigh and into the side netting past the outstretched hand of Lovett in goal. Everyone’s heart was in their mouths for the last 5 minutes but some crucial tackles from McGavin ensured we clung on to a well earnt victory!
PLAYER RATINGS
22. GK: Rhys Lovett – 7
A couple of good saves, some of his kicking was poor.
16. RB: Shaun Donnellan – 7
Worked well with De Silva. As always, reliable defensively.
23. CB: Ollie Tomlinson – 8
Wins his duels (roughly) 75% of the time didn’t give Hyde any scraps to feed on.
21. CB: Dean Moxey – 7
Professional performance. Classic Deano display.
2. LB: Dylan Crowe – 7
Surprisingly good in his left wing back role. Got up and down well.
7. MF: Ryan Hanson – 6
Nothing spectacular but played it around decently.
14. MF: Brett McGavin – 8
Picks up the pieces, tackles brilliantly.
27. RW: Dillon De Silva – 8
Gave full back a nightmare. Found an acre of space for the goal.
20. LW: Callum Dolan – 9
What can I say. Didn’t put a foot wrong.
11. ST: Brad Ash – 6
Worked and pressed so hard. Didn’t really get an opportunity to finish off.
19. ST: Theo Williams – 7
Like Ash pressed a lot, but used his lightning pace to get in behind.
Subs
8. MF: Asa Hall – 6
Tucked in with McGavin. Held his position.
26. LB: Archie Harris – 6
Defensively stubborn. Unlucky for own goal.
10. ST: Lewis Collins – N/A
Late sub.
Rate the TUFC Players Here
MAN OF THE MATCH – CALLUM DOLAN
My man of the match award has to go to Callum Dolan. He controlled the flow of everything and was often the key creative spark in the midfield. Took his goal well. He made a few exceptional turns to get away from surrounding players. I pray we can keep him for longer than his presumably initial 1 month loan.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
First honourable mention goes to Dillon De Silva. He beat Alex Whittle on numerous occasions, particularly in the first half. He slotted a calm finish across the keeper very early on. Often chances that soon in a match go begging but he showed no sign of missing. My final mention goes to Ollie Tomlinson, he’s come on so much this season. Considering he was not in contention for a starting place last season, he is pretty much the first name on the team sheet 15 games later. He literally wins everything against players half a foot taller than him!
THE OFFICIALS
The referee had an odd game to put it mildly. Some of the decisions he made were pretty random like when a Yeovil player kicked Donnellan and then Shaun kicked it out for a throw. He gave a United throw. Surely you must be wondering about the decision when every single person disagrees with the decision! The linesmen had a decent game without spotting a couple of offsides that were tight. Linesmen were clearly under instruction from the ref not to flag for fouls. Although that might have helped some of the decisions!
TACTICS
Probably a 4-1-3-2 with Lovett: Donnellan, Tomlinson, Moxey, Crowe: McGavin: De Silva, Hanson, Dolan: Ash, Williams. An attempt to crowd out the midfield more. An advantage also is that we have at least 2 players in the box.
OPPOSITION
Seven changes from 11 days ago which certainly weakened them. Didn’t particularly look like scoring. In the first hour they were dominated by Torquay and only showed real threat in the closing stages.
CONCLUSION
To be honest, if we play like that in the league we should make the play-offs comfortably but you just feel that that was somewhat of a fluke. It would certainly be impressive if we play that way away at Dartford next weekend and I know some people that would get excited. A brilliant win against the pesky green and whites!
COYY – BEN
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TORQUAYTALK 
Great to have a competent performance against arguably the best side in the division.
Also nice to hear nothing from the miserable whingers who regularly message in calling themselves supporters !
Probably the only minus was a referee who seemed to have a massive problem with interpretation of the rules constantly making decisions that left both teams wondering what he was seeing out there!
With one or two players returning over the coming weeks from injury we can only hope that the current loanees maybe extended and the resulting team can have a good crack at climbing back to where we should be !
Cmon you Gulls!
Tony Counter
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