MATCH VERDICT

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive reports back from Plainmoor

TORQUAY UNITED 1-1 MAIDSTONE UNITED – 12.11.24

SUMMARY

Torquay dug out a point that often looked out of reach thanks to Jay Foulston’s late header, which Maidstone keeper Alexis Andre Junior waved at as it bounced past him. You do have to wonder if his Dad might have done better with it.

It was the first chilly night of the winter at Plainmoor, and two points from two home games may have a chilling effect on Torquay’s promotion push.

There is very little to report from the first half, as two teams playing safety-first football cancelled each other out. Shortly before the interval Sam Dreyer was booked for a foul on the edge of the box and the resulting free kick saw Charlie Seaman produce the money shot: a dipping effort over the wall gave James Hamon no chance.

Maidstone looked relatively comfortable, and were in no great hurry to extend their lead. Paul Wotton emptied his bench pretty quickly, with Omar Mussa and Keke Jeffers coming on early in the second period. But not to great effect. The switch to 4-3-3 didn’t radically change the game, but Torquay had marginally the better of exchanges, although James Hamon had to make two late saves with his legs.

Jay Foulston- who we at Torquay Talk are sponsoring this season- was at the centre of two important moments. The referee only saw one of them and if I’m quite honest I saw neither.

First, former Torquay triallist Harry Lodovica appears to have elbowed Foulston in an off the ball incident. Lodovica looked very ordinary in pre-season at Buckland, and Maidstone are very welcome to him. The former Inverness Caley striker was a second half sub (he was sporting the unforgivable combination of short sleeves and gloves), but whatever he did was enough for his manager George Elokobi to remove him from the fray shortly afterwards. Foulston had gone down clutching his face, and was berating Elokobi whilst waiting to rejoin the fray on the touchline.

Second, and much more excitingly, with three minutes of normal time remaining, Foulston got on the end of a free kick to send the 2855 crowd home slightly less grumpy. I’m indebted to my son for this description of the goal: “He sort of flicked it on. Bounced once and over the keeper. Quite nothingy really.”

Well: we’ll take it, I guess!

PLAYER RATINGS

1. James Hamon- 7.5: Whilst not overly troubled, he made a routine late save with his legs, and was quick off his line to make a second lower limbs save in injury time. He gets my vote for POTM (see below).

4. Jordan Dyer 6.5: Another hour in the legs. Little to report on a largely dull night. Replaced by Ed Pamer, our other returning centre back. Neither will often let us down.

3. Jay Foulston – 7: Our left sided centre back is a no-nonsense character. He clearly fancied getting some retribution against Lodovica (see above) but handily popped up with an important goal at the death instead

5. Sam Dreyer – 5.5: Not our Football League-bound centre back’s best evening. He is good enough to have got the ball down and played more than he did tonight, and he gave away the free kick for the visitors’ goal.

17. Fin Tonks 6: No lack of effort from the Bournemouth loanee, who took what was clearly a painful blow to his recently-broken nose in the first half. He did his best to get forward, but to very little avail.

14. Matt Carson – 5: Another underwhelming night for the Glentoran & Southampton starlet. Made little impression at left wing back.

22. Will Jenkins-Davies – 6: Did show good intent and would look to carry the ball forward at pace. Slight echoes of the Somme in 1916 though as was often cut down before getting close to being able to hurt the opposition

20. Dan Hayfield – 5.5: What you see is what you get. Good grass coverage. Not much creativity.

7. Lirak Hasani – 5: Lirak is in limbo. He often looks good when coming off the bench but again made no impact as a starter in midfield. Like his midfield colleagues he’s not helped by watching the ball fly over his head at regular intervals.

19. Cody Cooke – 5.5: Tried but generally failed to make an impact on the end of hoofed balls forward. He must have wished he was tucked up with his partner and their baby rather than braving a sharp northerly wind in TQ1.

8. Jordan Young – 5.5: A night to forget for our new hope.

Subs:

16. Ed Palmer – 6.5: See Dyer!

10. Omar Mussa – 6: Always willing to try things, and that’s the best spin I can put on Omar’s contribution tonight.

48. Rakealan Jeffers – 5.5: Played largely down the left and made no impact.

18. Oscar Threlkeld – N/A

11. Brad Ash – N/A

MAN OF THE MATCH – James Hamon

You have to call it as you see it. I’m not his greatest fan but the manager is, and James repaid that faith tonight. On a night when excitement was largely absent, he ensured that defeat was avoided.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

I would probably give it to Foulston, for his take no prisoners approach. I am not going to give it to the 34 travelling fans from Kent. No disrespect to them for making a longish trip on a Tuesday night, but the levels of away support in this league are embarrassing.

TACTICS

Another 3-5-2, but with little or no penetration down the flanks from Carson or Tonks, and a midfield lacking in creativity (and meaningful possession). The switch to 4-3-3 when Carson went off eventually bore fruit, but there are several decent players in this squad and we’re not seeing the best of them under the current tactics.

OFFICIALS

The bar is lower than in a toddlers’ high jump competition, but in a no holds barred contest I thought the ref did ok tonight. If you don’t see it and your assistant doesn’t help you out, you can’t give it.

OPPOSITION

Maidstone had a phenomenal cup run last season, have generally got the better of Torquay in the seasons since we dropped down the leagues and they were well worth their point again tonight. Having said that, I feel sure ex-Spurs prospect Shaq Coulthirst (a second half sub for a sub) must wake up at night sweating and asking himself: “Where is my beautiful house, and my large automobile: how did I get here?”

CONCLUSION

Are Tonbridge Men of Kent? Would that make Maidstone Kentish Men? Someone will know the answer to that, but I “kent” be bothered to google the River Medway or any other interesting facts about The Garden of England. What I do know is that this is a night when I feel blessed to live in a house with a functioning heating system 5 minutes’ walk from Plainmoor’s exit gates.