MATCH VERDICT

Ben Wade

Ben reports back from Plainmoor

TORQUAY UNITED 1-2 CHESHAM UNITED – 05.04.25

SUMMARY

After a battling victory at Aveley, The Gulls returned to Plainmoor for a home fixture versus Chesham. Cody Cooke replaced Jenkins-Davies in the starting line-up.

TUFC started brightly with Cooke and Young both having shots in the opening 15 minutes. Zanzala also had an attempt saved although the offside flag was raised. A corner was whipped in and Dyer headed it to Zanzala who headed narrowly over. Craske’s cross landed on Ozzy’s head, but it was deflected out for a corner. From the corner, Dyer got first contact, the defender sliced a clearance onto the post and Cooke may have stabbed it home, it was hard to tell, but the main thing was that the goal was given!

A dangerous long throw was launched in by the visitors which bounced over many and Craske cleared eventually. A flurry of attacking threat followed for Torquay in the three minutes added on. Young’s shot was met by Cody, saved. Cooke turned his man at shoots, over. Young’s attempted effort, saved. And that was that for the first 45 minutes, a satisfactory but could have been better, 1-0 advantage.

The Yellow Army came out well after Half Time. Foulston got in but his end product was lacking. Zanzala also made a swift turn and he fired it across the face but no-one was there to tap in it in. But suddenly Chesham managed to work the way into a pocket of space and the number 3 neatly struck it into the corner for 1-1, with Hamon unsighted as their striker let it roll under his legs.

TUFC reacted decently though Zanzala wriggled into a promising position but fluffed the shot, but United then started to get flustered. A straight swap just before an hour took place as Ilesanmi replaced Zanzala. Ilesanmi was straight into the action and his header from a corner couldn’t find the net. Mussa came on for Jay on 72 minutes. Foulston hit the bar with a header as the Gulls pilled on more pressure. Craske was taken off for Thomas then WJD replaced Threlkeld moments later. A foul was committed by Chesham after they had the ball in the net from a corner.

Only a couple of minutes later, TUFC failed to win numerous duels, Chesham found space on the counter again and Lafleur struck the ball into the same corner as the first goal. Hamon may have done better, and it was hard to believe we were losing a game that felt firmly in our control. 8 minutes of injury time followed, we had a few set pieces and Foulston headed wide but the three points (and a number of parking tickets apparently) were going to Chesham United.

PLAYER RATINGS

James Hamon – 5: Generally fine but arguably could’ve saved one of the goals.

Finley Craske – 7: Had a very solid game and beat his marker on the wing but little to any quality end product.

Jordan Dyer – 6: He was certainly assured but, once again, nothing in particular to note.

Sam Dreyer – 6: Won a lot of duels but nothing spectacular.

Jay Foulston – 6: Helped Jay regularly and was decent.

Dan Hayfield – 6: Very similar to Threlkeld. Nice touch.

Oscar Threlkeld – 6: Shielded the defence usefully.

Matt Jay – 5: He didn’t offer much realistically.

Jordan Young – 7: He was lively and busy as usual but wasn’t given the quality support or finish on this occasion.

Offrande Zanzala – 7: Nice turns and battled off the shirt pulling.

Cody Cooke – 6: Good fight and hold up play, credited with another goal, eventually!

SUBS:

Will Jenkins-Davies – 5: Gave away the winner with a poor touch.

Omar Mussa – 5: Doesn’t offer a reliable threat.

Jordan Thomas – 6: Solid sub performance.

Emmanuel Ilesanmi – 7: Looks very lively and pacey.

TUFC PLAYER RATINGS VOTE – Chesham United (h)

MAN OF THE MATCH – FINLEY CRASKE

My POTM award goes to Fin Craske. He has had a troubling time at the club picking up countless injuries. I thought that he really stepped up today and produced a quality display. He has been solid for a few weeks now but his performance was even better this time. He took his marker on a lot of the time but just needs to find more quality on his crosses.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Young gets my first one. He is lively and provides the biggest spark in the team. Zanzala gets my other honourable mention. He has great strength attributes and has a fantastic turn.

TACTICS

Paul Wotton went for a 4-4-2 this time out. Young and Jay were the wingers. All substitutions were like for like. The partnership of Zanzala and Cooke worked at times, and it’ll be interesting to see if Paul Wotton sticks with it for next week.

OFFICIALS

The referee ignored the blatant tie wasting but didn’t have a bad game apart from that.

OPPOSITION

They were not very good at all for the first half of the game, but did enough defensively to frustrate us and then caught us on the break in the second half. They time wasted from minute one and were cocky to the home fans as the game started to swing in their favour.