TT BLOG

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive blogs about Paul Wotton’s latest presser

Injuries & Availability

On Thursday morning, as is often the way nowadays, Callum Dolan posted cheerfully on social media from his hospital bed. Paul confirmed that he had had his knee operation so the road to recovery can begin. He said, however, that the medical advice is still not to expect the young Mancunian back before the end of the season.

There are no other injury concerns, but we will be without the services of Jordan Young and Louis Dennis on Saturday, both having picked up suspensions for their well-publicised and strongly-debated misdemeanours against Maidstone last Saturday.

Although Louis Dennis has trained as normal this week, he might get some rest soon. He’s had a “grumbling knee issue” which has necessitated an injection, and the Manager said his unexpected break from playing might help him approach the final 17 matches a bit fresher.

Paul is pleased to have Munashe Sundire fit again. He said that the Harare born midfielder was someone he had tried tremendously hard to sign last summer and that he adds something extra to the squad in terms of “putting his foot in.” He said “Nash’s” recovery and rehab has been exemplary. The hard work has paid off, seeing him return significantly quicker than originally forecast.

Maidstone Fallout

Paul confirmed (having taken some advice from two experienced former referees) that the club appealed Louis Dennis’ red card for violent conduct:

“You tell me if you thought that was excessive force or brutality?- because I certainly didn’t”

The appeal failed so- as feared- LD will be absent for the next three games. If we can avoid postponements in continuing wet weather, his ban will be for Enfield (a) on Saturday, followed by Farnborough (h) and then the top-of-the-table clash at Hornchurch next week.

Paul felt the refereeing had been inconsistent. In his opinion Maidstone’s David Sesay had also been unlucky to see red, but the reaction of some of their players was worthy of a booking.

Ultimately though, he couldn’t mount much of a defence for Jordan Young’s second yellow, and said:

“(Louis and Jordan) are disappointed, They know they could have controlled themselves better.”

He felt that Torquay had been in the ascendancy immediately before they went down to 9 men. He praised the last-ditch defending to preserve a point. Dave Thomas suggested that it might ultimately have been a point gained rather than two points lost. The manager wisely said that we won’t know until the end of the season.

Overall, he felt that his team had done well against difficult opponents (I have heard them described as “like Chesham but better”). He pointed out that in previous games we have sometimes been overrun by George Elokobi’s side, but that definitely wasn’t the case on Saturday:

“Driving home, one of the biggest things I took from the game was our physicality…We stood up to everything on Saturday and I was actually proud of the boys. There was some needle in the game, some fight: it was a proper game of football.”

Tactics/Selection

Looking ahead to Enfield on Saturday, the manager was philosophical about availability which has been limited again by recent injury & dismissals:

“It’s happened: it’s all part of management”

He said that Cody Cooke and Kieran Wilson are both “chomping at the bit.” He referenced Matt Jay too and said that although the missing trio (Dolan, Dennis & Young) are three of the best players in the division, we still have good options in attack.

Sonny Fish still seems to be very much a part of Paul’s plans for this season. The burly young centre forward has been sent out on loan to Folkestone to get three or four games under his belt. He cannot be recalled from the loan during the first 28 days, but Watton said this:

“I see him as critical to the run-in to the end of the season”

He reflected on the failure to break Maidstone down whilst we had a man advantage for most of the second half.

“We just didn’t quite put the ball into good enough areas. We could have crossed the ball more. We spoke about it after the Totton game and worked on it. For whatever reason I think we were trying to overcomplicate it too much whereas I think we just needed to- this is going to sound horribly basic- we just needed to get more shots off, to get the ball into the box more: eventually something will drop.”

He was, however, quick to refute a suggestion from Richard Hughes that this has been a feature of the season:

“Well no, because we’re the second highest goalscorers in the league, so I don’t think that at all.”

It’s consistency we need!

On to Enfield.