TALKING POINTS

Ben Wade

Ben discusses the game at Plainmoor

HOME V AWAY

In the early stages of the season, TUFC have won all four home encounters, scoring at least three in each match. On the other hand, we have also played four away from home and taken away just two points from those games. Paul Wotton will be keen to sort out the away form before it becomes a bigger issue. Part of our brilliant start at Plainmoor is surely due to the superb support of The Yellow Army and feeling comfortable playing on the hallowed turf. For the away matches that we have played, we have often not controlled the tempo of the match and have struggled to assert ourselves and make our presence known to the opposition. Also, another key factor is the artificial pitch problem that we have had for years, just not being able to play with our normal flow when playing on fake grass. Let’s keep making Plainmoor a fortress!

FIRING FORWARDS

A huge positive for the Yellow Army at present is the attacking players and how well they are all contributing. The likes of Cody Cooke and Jordan Young have been in the goals, with Jay and Dennis both having positive performances whilst chipping in as well. Dylan Morgan also looked extremely promising before his injury, he is a nippy, quick winger who will also contribute plenty of goals and assists along the way I am sure. Paul Wotton may have been accused of defensive tactics, but he has brought together a set of proven attacking players in Jay, Young, Dennis & Cooke who are always dangerous at this level. They should ensure our overall goals tally significantly improves from last season, and that could be the difference.

UNSTABLE BACKLINE

Versus Slough on Saturday once again the Gulls’ backline looks unstable and a little shaky at times. In the opening eight games we have not kept the same back four for a period of games and I don’t think that that has helped us to settle into routine as new faces have been brought in with different players and they have taken time to adjust. For example, Denzel Akyeampong has replaced Thomas in the XI at times and Ed Palmer has been in and out of the line up rotating with Dyer. For the first goal for the visitors, Keane Anderson was dispossessed in the centre and all of a sudden one simple through ball split open the entire defence as their winger ran through and finished with a shot that crept in the corner. The second goal was just a long goal kick over the heads of all TUFC players as the attacker raced onto it with Hamon stuttering and unsure whether to come or go as he could only watch himself get lobbed. Cutting out those defensive lapses is imperative in the coming weeks.

FINDING RESULTS DESPITE INJURIES

Against Slough plenty of crucial players were not featuring due to injury, especially midfielders. These include the likes of Callum Dolan, Nash Sundire, Dylan Morgan, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and Sonny Fish. Those are very valuable players in the group, so it is a real miss having that many players sidelined early on and whilst there should be enough quality still on show, it’s certainly made it a tougher first month than we had hoped. If we can keep finding positive results and develop a strong position in the league, then returning players will hopefully only make us stronger and help us push on further as the season progresses.