I was hoping that someone had gone to the match last night....so held back giving a third party view. I expect hope was quite high last night that a win was a possibility......Torquay have been really struggling this season.....and some have pencilled them in for a Conference spot next season. John Marquis Millwall's 31yr old striker had just arrived on loan...and seemed to have had a good game for United......he was one of the rumours for a loan spell at Argyle a couple of weeks back....before the inexperienced Lavery was taken on-board. There was the mention that Argyle were playing for a point......but that was blown out of the window when Benyon scored in the sixth minute. Argyle soon drew level with a Reid penalty on nine minutes......GoS commentary felt it was a little harsh on the defender who couldn't avoid it. Luck does seem to be favouring Argyle more this season.....so maybe our cup is half full, not half empty for a change. Luke McCormick was overwhelmingly voted our best player......reports said he made sone excellent saves and kept us in the match. Our mid-field seemed to have gone AWOL last night...out-played by a struggling Torquay side second from bottom in the league......meaning our strikers where starved of any meaningful service. When Blizzard took over from Young it did seem to make a difference.......maybe he is becoming fitter and free from injury and health problems that could have been holding him back. As sensible has mentioned in the prediction league......form doesn't seem to be consistent and seems to mean nothing at all in this division......so any club who can put together a run of wins, has a chance.....runs of being unbeaten with too many draws isn't good enough...3pts more often is better. Obadeyi had a poor game.......is he being 'Argylized'.......and Lavery hasn't really been given much of a chance as yet.......we still have only Reid who is scoring...and some of those are penalties........of course strikers need good service....so mid-field need bucking up....I still think Hourihane is not the right man to be captain or to lead mid-field.....okay people like him....but there is something missing.....maybe he is too settled,always on the team sheet and doesn't need to fight for his place......my view....some won't agree that's fair enough....I just wonder.
Very good points of view Plym but let us wait till after the Xmas period, then we'll get more of a clearer picture of players forms etc....had a feeling the outcome would be a draw too....last season think we were hoping for not too big of a hammering. We played ok and could have stole it in the end and lets hope Lavery doesn't have to miss a dozen or more sitters until he scores...LOL.
My Torquay source says an entertaining game with his side playing better than they have but neither team looking like world beaters (or even League 2 winners). No surprises there then. He doesn't claim they outplayed us... From their standpoint, penalty was a penalty for most referees but a complete travesty for any fan. Pinged at him from a few feet and no chance to get out of the way. Still, they get given against us too don't they? Torquay seem to be suffering all the ills available to the football gods... had to sub a sub a few minutes after coming on he got an injury..... home fans turned away because the police had insisted that no tickets should be on sale on the night and the fact not well advertised by the club.
I was there but too tired etc to do a match report- not least because we left Plymouth at 5 pm and only got to our seats in the very nice Bristow bench at 7.20 due to a huge jam between Dartington and Totnes GRRRR. 1-1 was probably fair to be honest but I thought we were going to get the winner towards the end- hit the post and their keeper pulled off a fantastic save from Connor but Luke M was also outstanding and was pretty much faultless in every thing he did (except a couple of dodgy kicks out wide). I actually agree with the manager in that Torquay simply didn't let us play which led to a very scrappy affair and we were hardly able to string 2 or 3 passes together. It was plain the TUFC lacked quality but made up for it with plenty of endevour and perhaps 3 games in 6 days showed for us, although we still managed to finish strongly. nailed on penalty for me- if you are defending a free kick in the in the area the last thing you should do is raise your arms! An entertaining night all round, poor Torquay turnout by their supporters but a fair result. Left feeling fairly happy that any away point is a good one. Lavery looked pretty good for his brief spell-more to come. No match report this Saturday as due to bad planning on my mother's behalf I will soon be 50 and am off for a cheeky weeks holiday on Friday. hopefully will be able to stay in touch with the match and the comments via the wonder of the inter-web. PS the stewards, police and club staff at Torquay were all excellent, friendly and helpful-perhaps we could use the same company....
A point gained in a local derby is ok and nothing to panic about. At least one of them is scoring goals now which is what we've been crying out for. A few others chipping in would be nice as well however. As plym said above, in this league I've said elsewhere that anyone can beat anyone. I know that's a football cliche but this season it is true as demonstrated in our prediction league. Some of the results there have been so far I defy anyone to have got right.
Todays Headline....... Arrests over Football 'match fixing'........6 men have been arrested over match fixing in English football. On the radio it said that match fixing was more likely to happen in the lower Divisions and Conference than in the Premiership or Championship. So sensible.........is that why Div2 is nearly impossible to predict results this season. I would blow my top if Argyle were doing better because they where being allowed to win games or not lose..... for Asian betting syndicates. I was surprised Tuesday with those four consecutive 0-0 draws at Cheltenham,Chesterfield,Morecambe and Oxford.... who would of predicted that series of results ?
The reports on the radio this morning suggested that it's non-league football that's involved. "Sky News understands the probe involves clubs in the English Football Conference, the level below the Football League." "The arrests are believed to relate to non-league football and follow an undercover investigation by the Daily Telegraph that suggested fixers from Asia were targeting matches in Britain." (Guardian) "In a statement, Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey said the league had not yet been contacted by the police." (Huffington Post) Mind you, we haven't been far away from non-league recently......
The police can only confirm that Premier clubs are not involved at the moment (Telegraph page 4). Back in 1964 Jimmy Gauld ex-Argyle player confessed to interfering systematically with matches in the football league.
It all stinks doesn't it but it woul be a brave person who predicted loads and loads of matches and people were involved. I don't personally want to think about it.
Well it's clearly not the Premier League: the players were only being offered £70k. They wouldn't get out of bed for that.
All those games in the past where we kept sitting back and not the will to win etc! Na...na....big no! Only thinking aloud chaps....LOL!
