MATCH VERDICT
Matty Hayward – @MattyHayward96
Matty discusses the Trophy loss
WORTHING 5-1 TORQUAY UNITED 04.01.25
SUMMARY
I’ll start this by saying that I am more arsed about this game than most Torquay fans. I think the Trophy is worth fighting for.
I also think that, in the context of us being within four games of Wembley, it’s not unreasonable to expect us to try our best, and not ridiculously unreasonable to expect us to pick a striker.
And yet. Here we are.
It was a sorry affair at Worthing yesterday.
But it didn’t start too badly! When Lirak Hasani (playing left wing) slipped Will Jenkins-Davies in behind the back line, it looked exciting. When he skipped past the ‘keeper and found Jordan Thomas (right wing) with the goal gaping, you’d have been forgiven for thinking we were well in the game. Alas, Thomas got the ball stuck between his feet, and we didn’t create a chance as good as that all afternoon.
Not long afterwards, Mo Faal met a through ball faster than any defender and coolly lofted his finish over James Hamon to open the scoring.
Things went from bad to worse to embarrassing on the half-hour mark. First, a cross from the left was headed home by Worthing’s number two. Then, following another ball in behind, Faal produced a finish of the highest quality in off the post, while Yellow hands pleaded for an offside flag. The angle was tight, but I’m far more tempted to praise the goalscorer than criticise anyone for that.
The tall forward completed his hat trick before the half was out, and Torquay went into the break with a Himalayan Giant to climb if they wanted to win the Trophy.
A charitable reading of the half-time substitutions would suggest that Wotton saw this mountain ahead of us, and wanted to scale it. He brought on Young (a winger!), Cooke (a striker!) and Dyer (a first-choice defender!) and it made something of a difference: we drew the second half one each.
Jordan Young’s left footed free kick was too precise for the floundering Worthing goalie, but it’d be dishonest to describe the goal as a ‘consolation’.
Comeback hopes were dashed minutes later, when Danny Cashman’s shot was deflected over Hamon’s head to seal a wholly unedifying scoreline. Five one.
PLAYER RATINGS
James Hamon – 5: I don’t think he was at fault for any of the goals, really.
Finley Craske – 4: He was part of a defensive line that conceded five at Worthing.
Sam Dreyer – 4: I love him with all my heart, but see above.
Ed Palmer – 4: Brilliant sub last week. But ditto.
Matt Carson – 4: Likewise. And I think he’s the absolute bollocks.
Jordan Thomas – 4: Playing out of position. Really talented footballer who probably can do a job on the right wing, but fluffed a big chance.
Oscar Threlkeld – 4: Hooked at the break. Probably not his fault but someone had to be.
Will Jenkins Davies – 5: His usual lively self, but nothing worked.
Dan Hayfield – 5: Industry and bustle, as expected, but not his best game.
Lirak Hasani – 4: Also out of position. Can’t shoulder too much of the blame today, but he didn’t perform.
Omar Mussa – 5: Despite my disappointment, I actually quite liked his mobility up front in the first half.
Subs:
Cody Cooke – 5: Had his rest interrupted at half time. Impossible job. Not sure there was much point in bringing him on when the game was dead.
Jordan Young – 6: Excellent free kick, and looked bright.
Jordan Dyer – 5: Shored up the defence mostly.
Ben Seymour – 5: I can’t imagine how it feels to be a striker returning from a loan and not getting picked in a team that instead chooses to play without a striker. Probably quite shit!
Dean Moxey – 6: Genuinely our main attacking threat when he came on.
Matt Wonnacott – Unused sub. Nice to have him back in the fold.
MAN OF THE MATCH
I mean, it’s Mo Faal, isn’t it. He was excellent: lethal in his finishing, physically dominant, Good Feet For A Big Man. He scored a hat trick.
He’s the cousin of Liverpool’s Joe Gomez, if Wikipedia is to be believed, which isn’t relevant, but it is very moderately interesting. Noteworthy, at least.
TACTICS
I really don’t want to go in two-footed here, but the blame for this (very heavy, very embarrassing) defeat cannot really fall at the players’ doors. Yes, the players on the pitch should’ve been good enough to put in a better display than they did, but we lost because we played 4-3-3 without a recognised striker or a winger. We also got carved open by a good team, and didn’t repel their threats well enough. I accept that the lack of striker doesn’t really explain it excuse conceding five goals – Mussa was at the other end of the pitch when the damage was done – so some fingers do need to be pointed at the defence too.
OFFICIALS
Yeah, fine.
OPPOSITION
Worthing are a good side. They play good football. They will finish in the playoffs. Brazil, they ain’t.
CONCLUSION
I’ll end where I began. I’m fully willing to accept that I care more about the FA Trophy than most Torquay fans. In fact, there won’t be many football fans on the planet who are as arsed as me. Sincerely, I wonder – not in a ‘they just don’t care!’ Popside moany way, but in a very genuinely intrigued, human way – whether footballers care much about it, whether the offer of Wembley and silverware is enticing, or whether they would rather concentrate on the league. There are definitely conversations to be had about whether anyone should care much, and whether yesterday’s game even mattered at all. Those conversations can and will take place on podcasts and in group chats. Fine.
But. Twice this season, in cup competitions, we have been hammered by clubs we should not be being hammered by. It is absolutely true to say that pretty much everything else at this club, on the field and off it, is going really very well, and we should be really very happy about it. I am! It’s true to say that, ideally, we’ll win the league and when May comes the cups will be a distant memory. That’ll be great! But I think it’s also true to say that travelling, paying fans deserve better than watching a weakened Torquay side be turned over. Again.
We probably won’t ever win the FA Trophy, and we almost certainly won’t ever win the FA Cup, but we should be setting our standards far higher than yesterday’s display.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Paul Wotton on the Trophy loss
COYY – Matty
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Nice report. A good read and it’s interesting to hear the perspective from the other side. I don’t expect that we will be playing you next season.
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