MATCH VERDICT

@Joe_Ugs

Joe reports back from the Bob Lucas!

WEYMOUTH 2-2 TORQUAY UNITED 26.12.24

SUMMARY

Boxing Day classic it was not, as Torquay and Weymouth played out a 2-2 draw in front of approx 900 travelling Yellow Army.

Jordan Thomas returned at right back at the expense of Fin Tonks & Matty Carson returned to the starting line up in place of the injured Jay Foulston, Lirak Hasani returned from suspension to take his place on the bench.

United started brightly enjoying a lot of the ball, but the final pass was often lacking. Neither side could carve out any real chances, that was until the 45th minute when Oscar Threlkeld chose the exact moment I had picked to visit the tea hut to lift a ball to the back post finding Will Jenkins-Davies at the back post. Will couldn’t miss and it was 1-0 to United on the stroke of half time.

Coming out for the second half 1-0 up United started strongly but it would be the Terras who would strike next. The busy Malachi Linton was allowed to carry the ball across the edge of the area and tee up Brandon Goodship whose strike squirmed under Hamon and into the back of the net. In real time it looked a really poor one from United’s number one.

It wasn’t long before United regained the lead. Finally, Cooke won a free kick after being hauled down by a Weymouth defender in a decent position in the final third. Jordan Young’s delivery was on the money finding the head of Cody Cooke who gobbled the chance up like a tray of Pigs in Blankets! 2-1 United, surely we could hold on for all three points now?

Well no, it wasn’t to be, Fin Craske brought on to shore up the defence on the left side was turned inside out by the Weymouth winger and the ball found it’s way to the back post where Brandon Goodship was waiting unmarked to take a touch, set himself and smash it into the far corner. 2-2 and on reflection it was probably the least Weymouth deserved.

United enjoyed plenty of possession in the search for a third but it wasn’t to be as both sides cancelled each other out. Away to bottom of the league it felt like two points dropped but on the balance of play it was probably a fair result.

PLAYER RATINGS

James Hamon – 5: Didn’t have too many saves to make, but certainly looked like he should have done a lot better for the first as it went under him.

Jordan Thomas – 5.5: Defended okay, but nowhere to be seen when Goodship received the ball for the second.

Jordan Dyer – 6: Headed everything that came his way, gave away a couple of needless fouls towards the end of the game when we were chasing a winner.

Sam Dreyer – 6: Had a tough game on his hands marking the lively Malachi Linton, coped fairly well with the challenge.

Matt Carson – 5.5: Did okay, still looks defensively vulnerable, especially when defending aerial balls alongside Threlkeld, neither took control of the situation on a couple of occasions.

Oscar Threlkeld – 6: Neat and tidy but doesn’t grab the game by scruff of neck like you’d hope for from your skipper. Lucky not to be punished for a blind ball across his own box in the first half.

Will Jenkins Davies – 6: Lacked the final ball today, relentless running as we’ve come to expect from WJD, but will have better days for sure. Couldn’t miss with his goal but good movement to find the space.

Dan Hayfield – 6.5: Ran all game all over the pitch and always picked out a teammate with his passing.

Omar Mussa – 6: Put his foot in, tracked back well but not as much creativity as you would have wanted.

Cody Cooke – 6: A tough time up top for Cody, didn’t get a lot of help from the ref or his midfield. Cracking header to put us 2-1 up.

Jordan Young – 6: Still don’t think we’ve seen the real Jordan Young yet, cracking delivery for the second goal, but mostly quiet afternoon for Youngy.

Subs:

Fin Craske – 5: Brought on for Carson to shore up the left side of defence and if anything we got weaker once he came on. Unfamiliar position for Fin but he should be doing better.

Dylan Morgan – 6: Flashes of what he can do, Weymouth chose to start kicking him up in the air to stop him doing his thing.

Jack Wood – N/A

Lirak Hasani – N/A

TUFC PLAYER RATINGS VOTE – Weymouth (a)

MAN OF THE MATCH – Dan Hayfield

Incredibly tough decision today as there were no stand-outs so i’ll give it to Dan for his relentless running & decent ball retention. Would like to see him anchoring the midfield in place of Threlkeld, freeing up a space in midfield for Hasani or Morgan to give us a bit of a spark.

TACTICS

4-3-3 with Thomas and Carson coming in at full back. Midfield and attack remained unchanged from the Hemel game.

OFFICIALS

No big decisions to make. Collided with a Weymouth player off the ball knocking himself to the floor, decided to pull back play once he found his feet despite the fact that we were on the attack, which was frustrating but that was about the only gripe of the afternoon.

OPPOSITION

Warren Feeney has gone in and obviously aimed to try and make them a lot more solid than they were. Seen plenty of teams worse than them this season, so if they can get Goodship scoring they’ll start to drag themselves out of trouble I’m sure.

CONCLUSION

Not fully at the races today and came up against a Weymouth side who were willing to fight for a point. If we play this game two weeks ago before their ‘New Manager Bounce’ we probably win this one 2 or 3-1.

Can’t win them all, and if we get all three points on New Years Day it’ll still be a fairly good points return from this set of fixtures.