TT BLOG

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive blogs about United’s winning weekend

Two games, six points. Some pleasing results in the FA Cup and a monstering by the gaffer. Here is a quick rundown of the last few days.

I’ll start with Thursday’s press conference, held as usual in the Dave Thomas Media Suite, which can be found around the back of the main reception at Plainmoor.

After Paul Wotton had had a discussion with Dave Thomas about our disappointing performance and result at Bath, I asked him if he definitely feels Torquay are realistic title contenders (he had referred earlier to us being in the title race).

I had been interested to see whether he would want to make this explicit. It’s been a season where our away form has been shaky at times, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had wanted to give an answer to keep expectations under control. Not a bit of it. The boss’ answer showed frustration, and it was emphatic:

“How could we not be? How could we not be? Do you not think we are?”

“You’re asking Paul Wotton the Manager of Torquay United do I think Torquay United are in the title race? One thousand million trillion percent we’re in the title race. Anyone who doesn’t think so: strange, very strange.”

Afterwards, I recorded a Yellow Army podcast with Dave Thomas and Richard Hughes. We covered Torquay, of course, but also mused about late postponements and Liam Rosenior’s prospects at Chelsea (God help him!), and Dave gave us a brilliant potted history and tribute to Bobby Baxter.

Friday is normally a busy day on Yellows Whats App groups. With hundreds of messages flying, it’s been suggested more than once that a daily digest might be helpful.

Without giving away too many confidences, here is a flavour of the chats:

· It’s cold in Poland at this time of year, where Torquay are currently well represented

· Storm Goretti could probably have been worse, but it was pretty wild in the Channel Islands

· Members of the Dan Hayfield Appreciation Society take no nonsense from bandit private parking firms

· The ticketing section of the TUFC website is a dream compared to some other clubs

· There is little enthusiasm for the latest instalment of what is sometimes wrongly described as the Fairy Tale of Wrexham FC

I reached out to “Go Mad or Stop Caring”, which is a Maidenhead fans’ Twitter account. They are planning to move to a new ground, although it’s very early days. I was interested to get their views. In summary, they don’t mind the idea. They see the benefits of moving somewhere (not too far away) which is more fit for purpose.

Another excellent Twitter Account is “Jimmy Sirrell’s Lovechild”, and one of their catchphrases is: “Saturday’s the Day We Play the Game.” It dawned bright and cold, with a bit of overnight ice making my morning walk a bit of an adventure. I had a lovely stroll down through Ilsham Valley to Meadfoot and then home via the Harbour, where I nearly came a cropper on the ice. My Dad would have described it in more colourful terms: “you nearly went arse over tit, son.”

Anyway, I lived to tell the tale and went to the Union for a quick drink and a catch up with my old friend “the Taxman”. It’s a shame that they have started using plastic glasses, but they keep a lovely pint of Courage.

I wandered through the turnstiles and bought some 50-50 tickets. Ian always has a friendly word or two, and he showed me his stubs. Nothing to do with Robin, but evidence of well over 400 tickets he had sold that afternoon. It’s great that fans are still supporting the club so strongly in this way, and the jackpot of over £900 will have made somebody’s day.

It’s possible some Torquay fans may have forgotten what the FA Cup is, so here is a quick explainer. It is an annual competition open to hundreds of clubs in England and Wales. It is famous the world over for its giant killings and 154 years of history, despite the many and varied recent attempts by the governing body to relegate its importance.

The Third Round is normally played in the first week of January. This is when the best clubs in the country join the fun. Some of Torquay United’s greatest days have come in this illustrious knockout tournament, such as the Fourth Round tie with Huddersfield Town in 1955 when 21,908 packed Plainmoor, the famous 3-3 draw with Spurs in 1965 and the 1-0 victory over West Ham in 1990. Torquay do still enter, but have exited before the clocks went back in the last 2 seasons and most of our fans now only follow it in case there is an opportunity to laugh at Exeter City.

In that spirit, it was sometimes difficult to concentrate on the Torquay game on Saturday, because the Greeks had travelled to the North West bearing gifts. The financial fair play experts at Man City accepted them, whilst refusing to cross red & white palms with very much silver. Ten goals had our phones red hot, and Torquay’s haul of four was meagre in comparison.

It was, of course, a “comfortable-in-the-end” 4-1 win for us, against the 11 men and 19 fans of Hampton and indeed Richmond. After conceding a soft goal from an avoidable set piece we scored at a great time before the interval, and followed that up with another three belters in the second half. The club haven’t made any formal announcement, but although Matt Worthington started, Sam Dreyer has kept the captain’s armband, so it appears that our biggest summer signing will have to be content with a playing role now.

Alan Dowson seems to have taken on a big job trying to keep the Beavers in the division. Apart from the goal, we didn’t really give them much to get their teeth into. I was quite impressed with their number 11 Junior Dixon, who won his share of headers, put himself about and looks to have a reasonable turn of pace. I don’t think he would look out of place in a yellow shirt Checking afterwards I see that he is actually on the books of Boreham Wood. Our tormentors from last season also came a cropper in the Cup, unexpectedly shipping 5 at home to Burton Albion. Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

Sunday brought more football. Why not? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Actually, of course, football was broken years ago by TV deals, and this led to Derby v Leeds kicking off at noon. It’s still a significant rivalry, going back to the late 1960s when managerial titans Brian Clough and Don Revie made no secret at any stage of their mutual antipathy. With the likes of Norman Hunter and Franny Lee swinging punches at each other, their games were often fraught affairs.

Derby infamously got the better of Leeds in the playoffs a few years ago, weeks after everybody’s favourite Cockney Frank Lampard Junior had grassed up Marcelo Bielsa for some innovative scouting techniques. The two clubs currently operate in different leagues, with Derby now recovering from their financial meltdown but not pulling up any trees in the Championship and Leeds under Daniel Farke likely to stay up in the Prem as they take their first small steps towards the new era of European domination that is sure to follow. The Rams took the lead, but inspired by pasta enthusiast Willi Gnonto, the Whites were too good, and progressed with a fairly comfortable 3-1 win.

I’m sorry to say that watching the cup tie led me to miss kick off at Coach Road, where Torquay United Women were playing AEK Boco in their first league game of the New Year. The Gulls were kind enough not to score early, but they soon took a two nil lead thanks to goals from Roxy Thomas and Jess Geach. Roxy’s effort might well have been a cross, but stopper Geach put her nut on one for the second. Boco made and scored a good goal to stay in the game, but Tee Kaptein restored order before half time. With a strong wind howling throughout, the last thing the players would have wanted was for the early light rain to get heavier & heavier.

After half time hot chocolate & a chat with fellow yellows Tom, Kirsty & Keith, we resumed our seats and watched a one-way-traffic second half. New signing Connie Pengelly got on the scoresheet and after some frankly unwelcome injury time Lily Hilton completed the scoring for a 5-1 win. Danni Wyatt messaged me saying how pleased she was with the performance and there is real momentum behind the Women’s promotion push.

Weather permitting, we will cross the Tamar next week for a go at The Ashes (no, it’s not an early return to cricket: our next opponents are Saltash United).