TALKING POINTS

Alan Wills

@alanjwills

Alan discusses the loss at Princes Park

THEO’S MISSUS

I don’t know whether our on-loan striker/winger from Fleetwood has an other half, but there was no doubt that Theo had Torquay’s best two (and some would say only) chances of the game, both in the first half.

The first one (22 mins) was a chip on the run over the goalkeeper, which also cleared the bar.

The second one (45 mins) seemed the easier chance, and also went over. Someone on the train home mentioned that there was a defender on the line, so he had to strike the shot high, but alas it was higher than a reveller attending an illegal rave.

I do like Theo, but he clearly left his shooting boots at home today, and I sincerely hope his soulmate wasn’t there to witness his anguish.

ALAN DOWSON’S PORTAKABIN

The wiley geordie didn’t seem to have a temporary managers office in this smart eco-friendly stadium like he did at Woking (not a Torquay podcast reference).

Clearly building up to relish the latest clash with his nemesis Gary Johnson, he had signed a number of players from the leagues above, Richard Chin, Moussa Diarra and George Alexander to name but three players who got on the scoresheet yesterday.

It seemed to be a masterstroke according to the Dartford fan I was talking to whom had exclaimed “a couple of weeks ago we were crap!”.

THE OAK MAN’S LEGEND

Described in vivid detail by a veteran Dartford fan sat strategically between the legs of the imposing Pinocchio fan statue, the story goes that the man (the wooden one, not the veteran) was carved out of an old oak tree found on the site where this new stadium was built.

I like these kind of local legends (the story, not the veteran). They warm my heart, which was much needed on the coldest Saturday so far this season.

Community Note: There was no visual evidence that the oak man was actually a man, but I am very open minded, and more than willing to accept their chosen identity.

FAIRER OFFICIATING

It has been said that women are the fairer sex, so from that viewpoint I was pleased to see a female referee in the middle for this match, hopefully to improve on the decidedly “unfair” male officials we’ve seen so far this season.

It turned out, that according to a familiar London-based Gulls fan she is notorious for being extremely card-happy in the Women’s Premier League.

Either way, I don’t recall many controversial decisions, except perhaps a few offsides, and she seemed to give more yellow cards to the Dartford players.

All-in-all pretty fair I’d say.

YELLOW ARMY UNREST

A group of fans walked around to the back of the directors box near the end of the game and were chanting something about being the wrong kind of fans, and the usual shouts towards the board and management team, as we find ourselves in what can now be reasonably considered to be the lowest point in at least the last 100 years of our history.

United stalwarts Dean Moxey and Asa Hall did come over to talk to fans following the final whistle, with Dean pleading “We know it wasn’t good enough, but we need your support”.

Whether the level of support will hold up in the coming weeks and months, we’ll have to see, but patience is clearly wearing thin.

Eastbourne away on a cold Tuesday night is not looking very inviting at the moment.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY

Walking out of the ground, the news came in that local “rivals” Exeter City had lost 7-0 at the Toughsheet stadium, and perhaps more importantly Yeovil Town were following up their defeat by Torquay last weekend and draw in midweek with a 4-1 drubbing at Welling.

So we had a good opportunity to make up ground on Yeovil, but ended up basically matching their score-line.

Talking of score-lines, it was just as bad as my last visit to Dartford over 30 years ago when Torquay lost 4-1 to a ground-sharing Maidstone in the FA Cup on the way to winning promotion through the playoffs at the end of that season. You’ve got to hope for a similar outcome at the end of the current campaign. However, I really can’t see any signs of that at the present time unless, as in that 1990-91 season, the management changes from an experienced head to a hungry young coach that can motivate and bring the best out of the players.