AFC Wimbledon v Torquay United match thread

[Trojan 67]

0-2 !

2 !!

2 KNILL, 2 !!!

[ROADRUNNER]

fantastic result, lets get plaimoor rocking next week and another 3 points, jesus!

[Trojan 67]

Read the stats !

shots . . . . . 9
on target . . 5

5 KNILL, 5 on target!

[nickfrench82]

At least it's not us with the Nil anymore

[portugull]

Brilliant start to the reign of Chris Hargreaves.

Can I still get 28/1 on United finishing 7th to12th??????

[lucy6lucy]

Any footage from the match/support today

[brucie]

Thats a good result - realistically we had to win today, its probably our biggest three points of the season.
I was nothing short of amazed by Hargreaves playing three strikers today - did anyone see that coming?
Noting the comments about Exeter on this thread - they are rubbish, had Knill played Pearce and moved O'Connor to right back we would have won that as well. The way they are going they will be fighting relegation as well as us.
Its fair to say that the teams in mid table, and just above half way are basically all rubbish - Dagenham,Wimbledon,Exeter,Morecambe - none of them are any good at all. We have to address our home form and have to starting beating dross like we did today.
The peformance doesn't matter at - its a massive result.

[Burnhamgull]

Fantastic result today but lets keep our feet on the ground and not get carried away. A lot of work lies ahead but today's result has at least given us hope and, more importantly, has pulled us to within a whisker of a group of teams. Always nice to drag a few names into a relegation scrap!

Never back against Torquay in a relegation fight!!!

[nickbrod]

Back from the game as it was almost a home one for me.
Passion, commitment, desire, bodies on the line - you name it the players gave 100%. This was a great win away from home with Chris Hargreaves kicking and heading every ball on the tight touchline as the lino kept pointing out to him. Not much room for a manager to express himself! But never fear for the players did it for him on the pitch.
This was a fantastic victory with every player deserving of man of the match. If you go through each player one at a time, as I'm sure another poster will, you will see that each one was fantastic.
For me Hawley, Benyon, Ladabie, Downes, Pearce, O'Connor were great; Poke pulled off some important saves in the second half but Mansell covered every blade of grass several times over, an inspirational captain.
A win over Northampton next week would put us seven points clear of them.
Congratulations to our new management team; easy this football lark!

[Rjc70]

High energy and in their face from the outset today. Looked like a bold move in terms of selection with three out and out forwards selected, but with Stockley as the focal point, with Benyon on the left and Hawley on the right we came out of the traps with the sort of tempo I haven't seen from us for a long time. The defensive side of Hawley's game today and hold up play by him and Stockley was superb. This was a team playing for each other, defending from the front and getting at the opposition time and time again. Some delightful build up play in the second half when we'd earned the right to play a bit of champagne stuff.

Some decent delivery from Nicholson today and it was from one of his balls, right to left, that Stockley got away a fierce shot which the keeper parried and Pearce lashed home. And with a delightful move down our right at the end of the first half, O'Connor whipped over a peach of a cross from the touch line, time stood still, Stockley rose at the back stick and calmly headed home. Half time. We were clearly going to win. That is an unusual feeling.

Could we match the intensity in the second period. Not only was the answer emphatically yes, but we offered, often, delightful build up play deserving of the 'Brazil from the West Counrtry' chants coming from the shitty cramped piss poor viewing position the Yellow Army had from the side. This was a happy day. Smiles everywhere. A happy team. A happy following.

I'll give a few out of ten ratings, but it was teamwork that shone through today more than any individual performance.

Poke 6 Couple of cracking saves in the second half, albeit that play was pulled back for a Gulls free kick on both occasions. Came off his line more. Good to see.

O'Connor 7.5 Sound defensively and effective when marauding forward (Hawley always offering cover when he did so)
Pearce 7.5 Couple of mishaps, but the type of ball playing centre half the Manager wants. Nice finish Der Hammer.
Downes 7 got some important headers and last ditch stuff in at times. Often fouled by Midson.
Nicholson 7 Solid with some nice set piece delivery and involved often in some of the nice built up play down 'our' side in the second half

Lathrope 7 Understated and bloody good
Mansell 6 Good at getting in their faces early doors. Not much quality but maximum effort first to last.
Labadie 8 Nails. Crucial.

Benyon 6 Did the defensive side as well as I expect he can. Not sure he got a shot off all game, mind.
Stockley 8.5 My MOTM. Great focal point for our attack. Worked hard all game and calm finish.
Hawley 8 Some poor distribution in the first half but looked like our hardest worker today and some delightful one touch passes in some of our best play in the second half. And that's some accolade, given how hard we worked as a side today.

Jesus 10 Congratuwelldone

[Neal]

Just got back to Basingstoke via the pub of course.

Other than the fantastic result what I take away from that is what happened at the final whistle. Fans, manager and players united together for 3 or 4 minutes clapping each other. And Nico giving a clenched fist gesture, superb, and exactly what we need now, a real fighting and united fight to avoid relegation.

For me O'connor, Lathrope, Downes and Pearce stood out. But that is not to diminish the contribution from the rest.

Stockly, not as good as Marquis, but streets ahead of others who have played in that position for us this season. The goal was top draw, great delivery from O'connor!

Giving their cheating little winger gip in the 2nd half was good, blatant dive, he deserved all he got, disgrace to football!

That ground must be in the top 5 real estate postcodes, I can only think of Chelsea that would be more expensive. Kingston upon Thames is serious money

[Neal]

On another note. I will drive down next weekend for the game.

If we could get 2500 at least it will make a huge difference to the team to see we are all in it together and could make the difference.

[miltonkeynesgull]

What a day! Absolutely loved every minute.

Would've totally understood if Greavsie had shut up shop, and tried to scrape us some wins, but we really went for it today, and played some great attacking football, and defended brilliantly as the game wore on.

Pearce showed great composure for the first, absolutely burying the rebound after Stockley's shot was saved, before Stockley himself glanced a header in after great work from Labadie and O'Connor. Even Deadman couldn't ruin it for us!

In truth, they weren't so much poor as we were good. We totalled dominated; looking dangerous every time we came forward, and, in the second half particularly, very time a cross or a long ball went up in the air, a yellow body seemed to be on the end of it. We simply wanted it more.

Yes there was the 'new manager bounce', but there was plenty of evidence that this wasn't a one-off. In just a short space of time, Greavsie's already managed to instill passion, commitment, enthusiasm, belief, flight, and a willing to die for a cause. Totally deserving of the ovation at the end, as were they all. The Gulls are staying up!

Poke - 7 - little to do, did it well
O'Connor - 9 - fantastic, absolutely everywhere, marauding forward and defending brilliantly,
Downes - 10 - heroic. Didn't miss a header or tackle - imperious, and back to his best.
Pearce - 7 - great goal. Bit wobbly at times but didn't do too much wrong.
Nicho - 9 - legend. If we'd played Cruise we wouldn't have kept a clean sheet. His experience was vital.
Manse - 8 - the manse of old was back. Fight, commitment, tackling, it was all there,
Lathrope -7 - did the quiet stuff really well. Always there to clean up.
Labadie - 7 - strong, powerful, didn't misplace a pass all afternoon.
Hawley - 7 - probably his best game for us. Not brilliant, but didn't do too badly.
Benyon - 8 - so much effort, didn't stop running, deserves a few goals!
Stockley - 10 - Joint MOTM. Won every ball, fantastic first touch, brought others into play. Good finish for the goal too.

[bengull]

A wonderful day!

Not too much to add to the excellent reports already on show, thought every single player deserves credit, a solid team performance, no weak links. I would highlight the front 3 for special praise however, especially in lieu of some eyebrows being raised at the attacking formation.

Hawley and Benyon worked tirelessly down the flanks, and helped out defensively at key times too, dropping deep regularly to key the joints together. Both offered tremendous support to Stockley who, quite honestly, was immense. His hold up play, and in particular, his chest control was exemplary, he lead the line marvellously and his goal, scored at a crucial time, was well taken.

Some of our football was a joy to watch today, and when it wasn't so fluent it was equally pleasing to see such commitment and graft put in by every player. This performance was a world away from some of the dross served up in the first half of the season.

Chris Hargreaves probably could not have dreamt of a better start. His demeanour and behaviour on the touchline gave an impression of a man in total control of the situation, with complete confidence in his own ability at doing the job in hand, and with total respect from every man working for him. Lee Hodges' job should not be underestimated either, I am extremely proud and pleased in equal measure to have them both in charge of our team.

The scenes at the final whistle were the kind you wish you bottle and re-visit. After so much doom and gloom recently today really felt like the start of a completely new season. The management, players and supporters - the club- have become re-united after one solid 90 minute team performance.

Players who had been completely written off gave assured performances, a very leaky defence looked a much stronger unit, fans who had been subdued for much of the season reacted with great noise and renewed passion.

We must not get complacent, days like this occur regularly throughout each season. However if today is a signal of things to come then we can look forward to a very prosperous period under the stewardship of one of the most popular players to don our shirt in recent times. The man oozes inspiration.

Smiling all the way home. Chris Hargreaves Yellow Army!!

[ferrarilover]

My gripe with Stockley today was his constant whinging at Deadman (who, oddly, was slightly less of a **** than usual today). He's very clearly not anywhere near match fit, but when he is, on a better pitch, he'll be close to unplayable at this level.

Would you believe, the football we played today wasn't as good as that against Morecambe. The difference was that it was clear to see that the player were willing to die for Jesus. Downer, who was MOTM by miles, threw himself in front of one on the line late on. A couple of weeks ago, he wouldn't have bothered. Today, working for Chris, he stretched every inch of his being to reach a ball and prevent a certain goal.

Good performance all afternoon. First half going forward and second half defending against their only genuine threat, the little, black winger. He liked to throw himself over and Deadman fell for it when Nico very clearly won the ball, but that was the only time he really got the better of our back line. For all their possession, they were never really in control and we snuffed out their repeated, one dimensional attacks with relative ease. The only time Pokey stopped shots at his goal came long after the offside flag had long since been raised. I spoke to him after the match and asked him what it was like make a save like the first one (which he tipped over the bar). Remarkably, he was quite blasé about it.

Pitch didn't help. It looked alright, but the ball took some horrible bounces and rolls and made a few of our moves break down prematurely. Aside from this, we did pretty well. As I said, Downer was MOTM and by a long way, too. Played a blinder. Poke dealt with some crosses very effectively but had little else to do. Nico struggled a little against his respective wingers in each half, but was the Nico of old going forward. Corners excellent and provided one from which our Aussie friend should really have scored. Pearce was marking Midson, so had bugger all to do all afternoon, the worst game I've ever seen the Wimbledon forward play. O'Connor really is head and shoulders ahead of our other players in terms of class. Equally good going forward, genuinely a Premier League prospect. Manse tried very hard and did his usual job very well, but is losing actual ability week on week. Lathrope did what he usually does the way he usually does it. Hawley tried very hard to link up with the others, but was hampered more than most by the dreadful pitch. Benyon tried hard but offered very little going forward, still not a bad performance overall and Stockley was less and less effective as the match went on, due to hiss obvious lack of fitness.

We'll play better than that and it'll be some tasty football. Wimbledon looked like the enigmatic club that they've been this year. I'm sure when it works, it works extremely well, but it's fragile somehow and today it was exposed without Torquay actually being all that good, but instead working hard for each other.

Matt.