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portugull wrote: ↑05 Aug 2023, 17:28 Regan Charles Cook who scored Dovers equaliser was top scorer at Ross County in season 2021/22 in the Scottish Premier League.

How on earth did he end up at Dover via a team in Belgium I have never heard of.

dawlishmatt wrote: ↑05 Aug 2023, 17:23 Bruce, don't let this idiot get to you. I believe that they are the same person as Somerset Gull who was banned last season. I have notified administration .

Enzo wrote: ↑05 Aug 2023, 20:32 Barring the first 20 minutes on the pitch, that was a horrible away trip.

Dreadful conditions driving down - the last 10 miles or so I was just presuming the match would be called off so bad was the surface water and flooding - credit to the Dover pitch as it held up remarkably well.

No segregation so the couple of hundred or so Gulls were split either end of the ground, most congregating in the area previously used as the away end. Some unpleasant exchanges when the Dover youth came down to that end following the choice of ends. The Gulls fans in general wanted nothing to do with any trouble and moved away, other than one fella who stayed for a bit of banter, pretty much on his own. I think he was just standing his ground rather than being aggressive, but he appeared pissed up and his presence was clearly winding them up and he had outstayed his welcome. If he was with friends then they should have dragged him away as it was only going to end in him either being punched or chucked out by the Police - I think luckily for him it was the Police who moved him away - it may have looked a bit heavy handed, but he was asking to be smacked and then resisted the Police. In fairness to the Police they asked a couple of Torquay fans if they could calm him down. They couldn’t. Hopefully, he just got chucked out. Either way, we are going to have to get used to no segregation.

Anyway, on to the game - as most have stated, first 20 minutes, all good. Two up and Ash had hit the post too. We were cutting through them. The second goal was a good move and a decent finish by Hall and it was a question of how many , surely?
That’s probably what the players thought as we stopped playing. Dover had several chances and it was no surprise when they scored. The ball seemed to ping around and we had several opportunities to clear the danger. Very frustrating. I had hoped this would ensure that they were given the appropriate rocket at half time, but if they were then it didn’t show. Conditions worsened and so did we - the were out muscled and out played and they equalised with about 20 minutes left. Again, we had opportunities to clear and didn’t take them. Dover pretty much seemed to settle for the draw, started time wasting and we came back into it. Both Jarvis and Ash could and should have scored, but fluffed their chances.

No need to panic, but can’t deny that this was somewhat deflating. The conditions were abysmal and a draw away from home isn’t a disaster. I’m ambivalent towards Johnson rather than being particularly pro or anti. On today’s evidence alone, I worry that we haven’t learned any lessons from last season - limited options to change anything offensively during a match, a midfield lacking in pace and trying to put square pegs in round holes in turning wingers or midfielders into wig backs. We loook vulnerable all match down our right flank. The hoof ball that we played for the last hour was abysmal quality, but in fairness one could blame the conditions. I didn’t see any particular evidence that one side was full time in terms of fitness. It is fair to say that we were the side pushing for a winner towards the end of the match, but in doing so we lost our shape and it didn’t appear that there was any plan other than to lump it forward - we had a corner in the closing minute and nobody seemed to know who was going to take it - ended up being the nearest person to the ball.

I sense that there isn’t an awful lot of good will left in the tank for GJ. This performance will add ammunition to those who say he is a dinosaur and football has moved on. Reports from pre-season games against City and Argyle suggest otherwise, but a couple of these performances at home and things could turn toxic. Hopefully, this one was down to the conditions and complacency. Very frustrating though.