TT BLOG
Joe Uglow – @Joe_Ugs
Joe dissects the key moments from a pulsating night under the lights at Plainmoor
17 MINS – WESTON STRIKE FIRST
After a bright start from United it was Weston who were first to break the deadlock. A long ball from their keeper was won well by Reuben Reid, laying it off to Sam Pearson. A neat pass from Pearson into Luke Coulson evaded both Jordan Thomas and Sam Dreyer, and the 13 goal winger was able to take two touches, shrug off Dreyer and slam it home past Hamon before he even had chance to dive. A confident strike from their main marksmen and you could see he was full of confidence by the way he struck the ball early, not allowing Hamon to get properly set.
29 MINS – HASANI STRIKES BACK!
After positive play from Mussa a corner was won for United, and quick thinking between the Moose & Hasani prompted a quickly taken corner which made it’s way to Jenkins-Davies on the edge of the area. His shot into a crowd of bodies was blocked but it fell kindly for Lirak Hasani to run onto it on the edge of the box and curl a sumptuous finish into the far corner. The trajectory of the shot is captured perfectly by the camera on top of the Popside. This goal was all about moving the ball quickly by our three midfield men and their quick thinking paid off!
35 MINS – WJD MAKES IT A DOUBLE
With the rain continuing to hammer down, certain areas of the pitch were starting to hold up a little, this wasn’t noticed by veteran striker Reuben Reid, who having dropped into midfield, received the ball towards his own goal and attempted to play it back to his goalkeeper. Alert to this was the impressive Will Jenkins-Davies, who seized on the ball and carried it towards goal, he still had a fair bit of work to do, with a defender and goalkeeper to beat from a tight angle but he slammed it home into the far side netting of the goal, and Torquay were 2-1 up! A clinical finish into the bottom corner from the young man.
42 MINS – WSM EQUALISER
A corner was floated in from the right side over Hamon who failed to cope with the presence of Reuben Reid in front of him. His flap at the ball was more in hope than expectation and central defender Sam Avery was waiting at the back post to bundle it home. After a run of decent performances from Hamon this looked poor from the No.1 and no doubt he’ll look back at how he could have handled that cross a lot differently. Opposition managers will pinpoint this as a possible weakness to exploit, so it’s important that we deal with this type of set piece better in the future.
45 MINS – COOKE PAYS THE PENALTY
After a fairly anonymous first half, finally Cooke was found by a midfielder, Hasani’s ball was zipped into Cooke’s feet and his knock round the corner to the marauding Jay Foulston was perfectly weighted. An incredibly clumsy sliding tackle from the Weston skipper floored Foulston, but did look to take a fair bit of the ball too. The referee was having none of it though and in animated fashion pointed to the spot! Up stepped Cody Cooke and slammed it to his left, the keeper’s right, but it was a nice height and to his credit Harris made a strong save. Big opportunity missed and 2-2 at the break.
48 MINS – HASANI RED CARD
Weston-super-Mare sprung a dangerous looking counter at the start of the 2nd half, and as Reuben Reid took possession of the ball Lirak Hasani sprints back and mistimes a sliding challenge to bring down the striker. The clumsy challenge is led by one foot only and is not high, therefore it was a shock to us all when the referee quickly dishes out a red card to the midfielder. The reaction of Reid and his team mates perhaps helps persuade the ref into sending Hasani off, but it feels like he should have just taken a second to think about the decision rather than dive straight into his pocket. It merited a yellow card only for me, no more no less.
69 MINS – COOKE PUTS US AHEAD
Will Jenkins Davies had been a lively presence throughout the game, and for this goal his contribution is vital. Running onto the ball with pace and purpose on the right hand side, his low cross is nudged on by Dan Hayfield and Cody Cooke is in the right place to flick it neatly into the net. This is the sort of Gulls attacking play we’ve been begging for, committing men forward, attacking with speed and creating manageable chances for the strikers. We may have been down to 10 men but the Gulls were inspired and were showing the heart and desire to make the game theirs.
78 MINS – THE CHERRY ON TOP
By this point in the game the Seagulls were starting to look weary and lacking in ideas to break Torquay’s stubborn defensive resistance. A lazy pass across the defence is snaffled up by Dan Hayfield, who does exactly the right thing, darting towards the penalty area he picks the perfect time to pass to Cody Cooke to easily slot home. This run and pass isn’t the most difficult task to accomplish, but I’ve seen plenty fail to achieve it in my time watching the Gulls! This was Hayfield at his best, box to box unselfish running on behalf of the team, a big reason why Paul Wotton wants him in his starting line-up week after week. A hugely satisfying moment in a game where United proved they should be considered as proper contenders and a game in which the Yellow Army were loud and proud under the Plainmoor lights. Fantastic.
COYY – Joe
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