MATCH VERDICT
Alan Wills – @alanjwills
Alan reports back
EASTBOURNE BOROUGH 1-1 TORQUAY UNITED – 19.10.24
SUMMARY
Warmup
The last time Torquay United played a full-time outfit away from home was the last time I missed an away match. It was the Good Friday defeat to eventual champions Yeovil Town at Huish Park, where after the defeat and drenching there in our relegation season, I couldn’t bring myself to trundle down the A303 to see our then dodgy defence embarrass themselves again.
Ten away matches later, all against part-time teams, we finally locked horns with a group of full-timers in Eastbourne at The Priory. Eastbourne had started the season well, and were third, to Torquay’s fifth, so we were expecting a difficult game. Several hundred of the Yellow Army had turned up again to support their team after a two week break, which seemed to have been an advantage as it allowed some of our injured players to recover.
Indeed, it was announced that Jordan Dyer would be resuming his place in the back three alongside Sam Dreyer and Jay Foulston. Finn Tonks was dropped to the bench, with Finlay Craske moving out to right wing back from central defence. On the bench, it was great to see Omar Mussa return after his serious looking injury in the last minutes of the last home match against St Albans. He replaced the departed Roddy Collins.
First Half
The first half started with Torquay having more of the forward play with Will Jenkins Davies buzzing around the middle of the pitch, and Ben Seymour going wide to make space and crossing into the penalty area to Cody Cooke, but it was cleared by the Eastbourne defence.
Seymour then nicked the ball off a defender, as he tried to create something, but it came to nothing as we gave the ball away. Dan Hayfield was often involved in playing one-twos with Seymour.
Eastbourne had a few long throws and corners into the penalty area. From one of those, around the 15 minute mark, the ball was crossed back in from the left and the ball ended up in the back of the net, but it was ruled out quickly for offside. This was Eastbourne’s best chance so far.
Disallowed Eastbourne Goal on YouTube
On 23 minutes, Will Jenkins Davies was booked for a late tackle, as play was swinging from one end of the pitch to the other. However, both sides were defending well, and there were few clear cut chances. After a flurry of more long throws and corners into the penalty area, Eastbourne scored in the 34th minute. The corner swung in to the far post, and seemed to hit the post and bounce out.
However, the referee gave the goal, and later reports clarified that it had been prodded over the line by George Alexander, and then cleared by a Torquay defender.
Torquay came back strongly, and three minutes later Hayfield passed to Craske running down the right, and he hit a beautiful shot over the keeper into the net to equalise. There were chances at both ends as the first half drew to a close, but at half time it was 1-1.
Second Half
The second period served up more of the same with both sides taking it in turns to have forays forward without creating any clear cut chances. Foulston was overlapping with Carson down the left hand side, and put in a cross which was headed out for a corner. Dreyer then cleared off the line after a cross in, and there were a few long range shots well wide from Eastbourne.
On 52 minutes, Cody Cooke and an Eastbourne defender had a bit of a scuffle and both were booked by the referee. Cooke then had what I think was his only shot on target, from outside the penalty area, saved by the Eastbourne keeper.
After just over 60 minutes, there were two subs from Torquay. Bradley Ash replaced Seymour, and Lirak Hasani replaced Will Jenkins-Davies. This visibly gave The Gulls more impetus going forward. Ash was charging down balls, and pressuring the Eastbourne keeper, and he put a good ball into the penalty area for Cody Cooke, but the defender got there first.
On 75 minutes, Omar Mussa made his return in place of Carson. This signalled a move to a 4-3-3 formation, with Mussa joining Ash and Cooke in the forward line. After taking a few minutes to get into the game, he started to make things happen. He tried to thread a through ball to Ash, but it was blocked by the defender, and he had a few long range shots which tested the keeper.
On 87 minutes, Oscar Threlkeld was poleaxed, and the Eastbourne player and Bird was deservedly booked. Fortunately, Oscar seemed to be OK. At this point, the subs Ash, Moussa and Hasani were combining well going forward, and there were a few half chances in the five minutes of injury time.
When the referee blew the final whistle, there seemed to be a ruckus on the far side involving Mussa and an Eastbourne player, and both were subsequently booked, but the players then got a round of applause from the travelling Yellow Army for a good point on the road.
PLAYER RATINGS
1. James Hamon- 7: Dropped a ball in the first half with the sun in his eyes, but dealt with pretty much everything else. Not his fault for the goal.
3. Jay Foulston – 7: Defended well in what is undoubtedly our first choice back three. Put a few good balls into the box.
4. Jordan Dyer – 7: Assured performance from the defender. It was like he had never been away. Tried to put balls forward as well.
5. Sam Dreyer – 8: Calm under pressure, even when Eastbourne were trying to slip their forwards through, he was having none of it.
2. Finley Craske – 7: Got forward down the right a lot, particularly in the first half, and hit a fabulous strike for the goal.
14. Matty Carson – 7: Always dangerous down the left, and trying to make one-twos to unlock the Eastbourne defence.
18. Oscar Threlkeld – 7: Looked good today. Oscar was always keen to put in tackles to win the ball back and turn defence into attack.
20. Dan Hayfield – 7: Got forward a lot and exchanged passes with Ben Seymour to try to get something going. Got the assist for Craske’s goal.
22. Will Jenkins-Davies – 6: Central to everything we did going forward from the start, but faded as the game went on, and was replaced by Hasani during the second half.
19. Cody Cooke – 6: The only one of our strikers to have a shot on target, and always looks the most likely to score, but marked well today.
9. Ben Seymour – 6: Linked up well in forward moves several times, but didn’t really get a goalscoring chance again, which is a much repeating statistic.
Subs:
11. Brad Ash – 7: Came on and seemed to offer much more of an option up front than Seymour.
7. Lirak Hasani – 7: Very busy when he came on, and seemed to offer more dynamism than WJD in this game.
10. Omar Mussa – 7: Only on the pitch for 10-15 minutes but made a solid impact on his return to the side.
MAN OF THE MATCH – SAM DREYER
Sam is just a Rolls-Royce of a defender, and dealt with everything in his usual calm manner today.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Jordan Dyer – Great to see him back in the heart of the defence. He had a solid game today.
TACTICS
Wotton predictably went with his usual 3-5-2, in a strong looking lineup with Jordan Dyer slotting back into the defensive three. WJD was preferred to Lirak Hasani, with Ben Seymour starting ahead of Bradley Ash up front. The formation changed to 4-3-3 when Omar Mussa came on, replacing Matty Carson.
OFFICIALS
Generally ok. Lost it in the second half as tempers frayed. Probably got the decision on Eastbourne’s goal correct, according to sources stood behind that goal.
OPPOSITION
Eastbourne didn’t really offer much. Relied heavily on corners and long throws launched into the box. They had some quick forwards that they were trying to slip through, but Sam Dreyer and Jordan Dyer were having none of that.
They seemed to tire near the end of the match, which I wouldn’t expect from a full time team.
KEY MOMENT
Craske’s goal. From that point, you couldn’t really see Torquay losing the game unless it was due to a glaring mistake, refereeing decision or a worldie. It allowed them to get back on level terms almost immediately, and then kick on.
CONCLUSION
A solid away point against a full-time promotion rival on a plastic pitch. Great to see Jordan Dyer and Omar Mussa back from injury and making an impact.
We just need to score more goals, especially from the strikers, whom were all top scorers for their respective clubs last season, but have scored only six between the four of them in twelve league and cup games which is poor. It may actually be the low amount of chances they are given though, rather than bad finishing.
SOCIAL MEDIA
COYY – Joe
OTHER ARTICLES
TT GROUNDHOPPING – AFC TOTTON (A) by Clive Hayward
Clive discusses his trip to see the Gulls
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TALKING POINTS REVIEW – AFC Totton (a) by Thomas Kelly
Talking Points from the game at Totton
Read More
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