Torquay United v Maidenhead United 13/8/19

[JSP]

For me our midfield does not seem settled and don’t get me started on defence .I thought we got bullied in some patches by a poor Maidenhead side, we didn’t win more than a few headers up front however we constantly hoofed it regardless. GJ needs to bring their confidence back for Saturday. I’m sure we are just going through a bad spell and need to trust in Johnson , he’s very experienced and will know what to do.

[6667GULL]

Bullied again!!
This is getting boring.
We need to man up.

[Minneapolisgull]

As I said after the Solihull match we will not be contenders this season and must be happy to stay up.
This is what I thought before a ball was kicked and the first 4 games have only confirmed this.

Totally agree. We need to stay in this division above anything else. There are many decent sides in this league and we need to get pitch smart. A win today and would all be dreaming of titles again. This is another reality check that we are not going to have our own way.. in GJ we trust

[TUST_Member_Rob]

Have to say I was disappointed with Reid tonight had a couple of good chances and didn't take them

However I don't agree with playing LHE up front with Reid , doesn't work

The 2nd half was farcical, we got more and more compact playing right into Maidenheads hands and lost all sense of formation and width

Niate and Cameron get bullied far too easily and despite Hall trying to be a tougher midfielder he can't do it all with light weight Little and Andrews

[culmstockgull]

Well the stats for the first half would probably show us with 80 per cent of the ball, everything went down the wings because we had no outlet down the middle with Duku warming the bench for the third game running. Maidenhead soon got wise to our play and we seemed to have no plan B.Very pretty and fast training ground triangle passing, with no end product, which is all well and good if you are three up. We are a lightweight team in terms of physique, I have seen three out of the four league games and all the opposition have big strong seasoned pros who have dealt with us comfortably. So who is right, judging but our results to date, not us. Not sure how many chances Reid needs before he scores, Andrews expended more effort going down trying to claim a penalty than he would have done if he had managed to stay upright and cross the ball, no wonder their defender was shouting cheat at him because that's exactly what he was. A very disappointing performance. I admire Johnsons principles in the way he wants to play ,not sure it fits that well with this division.

[standupsitdown]

Same old story.
Playing well.
Miss chances.
Go one nil down.
Visiting team sit back, waste time & break up attacks with fouls.
Weak ref.

We shouldn't have lost but we have to take our chances and cut out the errors. Once we went one down all the nice passing disappeared and we seemed to panic.

[desperado]

Bullied by Maidenhead ?? What game were you watching !? We battered them for most of the first half and all the second. One of those farcical games you get from time to time, Maidenhead defended for the entire match frantically at times and their goal led a charmed life. Two breakaway goals. .With a bit of luck we could have been 4 up before they scored . Freak result.

[MellowYellow]

As I said after the Solihull match we will not be contenders this season and must be happy to stay up.
This is what I thought before a ball was kicked and the first 4 games have only confirmed this.

You mean like Leyton Orient last season - 4 games - 4 points. Good job they did not have your outlook before they kicked a ball last season.

[fred]

Same old story.
Playing well.
Miss chances.
Go one nil down.
Visiting team sit back, waste time & break up attacks with fouls.
Weak ref.

We shouldn't have lost but we have to take our chances and cut out the errors. Once we went one down all the nice passing disappeared and we seemed to panic.

Yes agree. Unfortunately it's the same old story from our relegation season. Dominate early and not clinical enough in front of goal. However I do believe we have a better squad and manager now to turn these type of games into 3 points. Hopefully if Reid keeps making the runs and finding himself in good positions the goals will come.

[Marc T]

Desparado,
Totally agree with you, it just wasn't gonna happen tonight.
Even when they scored, totally against the run of play, I was confident we would come back and win.
Total domination of the game, missing the end product.
Their keeper made 2 great saves.

No panic, early days, move on and let's get a win a t Dover on Saturday.

[Modgull]

Although I have some sympathy with the views expressed by Desperado and Marc T the fact is that despite our control for periods of the game and 13 attempts, 7 on target we nevertheless never really looked like scoring.

In contrast Maidenhead had 5 attempts all game, 2 on target for the goals and two others which they somehow managed to miss when it was easier to score. It was a whisker away from 3 or 4 nil and a great example of a smash and grab win. How can we explain that? I think it is a question of experience - we have a really young and not particularly robust side and one which is quite naive at times. We also lack a true target man whereas their no 9 was my MOTM, roughing up our defence and creating most of their opportunities as well as taking their first goal.

I think this will be a common theme this season - this division is a big step up for many of our squad and they need to adjust quickly.

Unlike others I thought the referee had a good game and an attendance of 2,948 was excellent for a Tuesday night.

[Colorado Gull]

For those who can’t seem to put things into perspective.....
Solihull won 6-1 at Chorley tonight.....

You can take your complaint against the moaners elsewhere, I am not one of them. I was simply saying that tonight's result was a very disappointing result, seeing as for 35 minutes it sounded like we were the far better side and deserved at least a point. We just can't seem to find our confidence and take advantage of the game when being on top. A lot of games to go and I believe GJ can motivate the lads.

[standupsitdown]

The ref was ok on most decisions but should have clamped down on the time wasting. And more than four minutes should have been added on. If all the wasted time was added on then teams would be less likely to waste in in the first place.

[MellowYellow]

Our 13 attempts, 7 on target In contrast to their 5 attempts, 2 on target for the goals and 3 others misses. This was a game based on Murphy's Law rather than the Law of Averages. In other words anything that could go wrong did go wrong. We should have put this game to bed in the first half but a dogged display and wise old heads of Maidenhead's journeymen held their nerve, cleverly counter-attacked and got the result. Naivety or bad luck on our part - a bit of both I would suggest. I saw enough to suggest that we have enough in the locker-room to put teams like Maidenhead to the sword, but we must be much more astute to counter attacks. I will be glad when the wise old heads of Davis and DIckson are back next week to give us the experience and a better reading of the game.

On a final point - I'm trying to figure why we brought in burly centre forward Momodou Touray from Newport on one month loan. According to GJ he reminds him of Saikou Janneh so why not give him some game time? Or is the month for both parties to find out if they are compatible for a season long loan?

[brucie]

We should have won the game three times over in the first 35 minutes I didn't think we were as bad as all that but the confidence drained from us after they scored.

Their keeper was excellent - he made a world class save in the first half and produced another fantastic to save to deny Reid at the start of the second. Johnson talks about players not being good enough and unfortunately Macdonald looks like the prime candidate.

He spilt the first shot he had to save at their forwards feet for a tap in. Parried another one straight at their strikers feet in the second half which he was lucky to get away with and I don't think he did brilliantly with their second goal either. He doesn't look imposing enough/strong enough enough for this level and his kicking was awful as well.

If you had swapped the two keepers around we would have won that game easily.

Some decent performances though - Vincent, Niate, Kalala and the non stop Evans. We should have won Saturday and should have won tonight but the cold hard fact is that we have lost five points due to not having a fit for purpose keeper.


There was some booing at the end which to my mind was ridiculous. The players tried hard but its not just coming off at the moment