Torquay United Fans Forum

We had the same geography when the club signed David Graham , and the same geography when the club lost to Swansea in the forgotten play-off final, geography didn't change when Blackpool were beaten by us at Wembley and 1998 defeat to Colchester , was the same in when automatic promotion was gained under Leroy.

Geography didn't stop us making the F.A trophy final , twice play-offs in the conference last time with promotion, nor did it stop us signing O'Kane and Rene Howe, twice narrowly missing out on promotion back in league 2.

Do I see geography as a problem , no. Do I think the problem lies elsewhere, clearly.

We're all gonna die......... :devil:

Seriously, the club is a small club and always has been. Unfortunately, for us, many much smaller clubs have found sugar daddies or have developed and have passed us.

I truly believe that geography plays a huge part in our problems and will grow as a problem over the coming years.

tomogull wrote: I know it's still early-ish in the season, but I think Saturday's match against Eastleigh could be one of those defining pointers to how our season is going to pan out.

Totally agree tomo, Eastleigh are amongst the pre-season promotion favourites, and to be fair the Dover game could be counted in as well, right now Dover have one of the best home records in the division, so 4-6 points from these two games will help restore confidence right through the club.

jonnyfive wrote: I don't remember a single poster saying we'd walk the Conference, and I struggle to recall anyone suggesting we'll be relegated...

Peoples' expectations have been moderate since the beginning of the season, and they still are. With our resources, we should make the playoffs. It'll be nice if we do, and disappointing if we don't.

your are correct J5.

in fact most of us said we'd be in the conference for a few years.....

we could make the play-offs - but only if we stop with the sh1t goal giveaways.........

tufcbrett wrote:I think alot of people thought we would walk the conference, and with our good start them thoughts grew. Its now kicking in that its not easy but in the same level saying were go down the the conference south is again ridiculous.

I don't remember a single poster saying we'd walk the Conference, and I struggle to recall anyone suggesting we'll be relegated...

Peoples' expectations have been moderate since the beginning of the season, and they still are. With our resources, we should make the playoffs. It'll be nice if we do, and disappointing if we don't.

portugull wrote:Forevertufc the point I was making about 5 of the 6 defeats being by the odd goal was that we were not being hammered.

I agree a loss is a loss but the results show that we were in the games right up to the final whistle.

As an optimist I think 3 consecutive wins would put us right back in the top 5.

I know it's still early-ish in the season, but I think Saturday's match against Eastleigh could be one of those defining pointers to how our season is going to pan out. Apart from Barnet v Macclesfield, all the top teams have games that are winnable. If we don't beat Eastleigh, the gap between us and fourth could widen to five or six points. I think today was the last day for loan signings. Dave Thomas hinted in the Herald Express that Hargreaves could well dip into the loan market again. Whereas several Conference sides have made loan signings, it doesn't appear that we have.

Got the point your making Portugull , this time last season we were in League 2 losing by the odd goal week in and out, in fact I think we broke some age old record for the amount of games we actually lost 1.0 and got relegated because of it, now a league lower we're still getting beat by the odd goal, maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but it's nothing to be optimistic about as the team have lost games because of schoolboy errors to sides we should not be losing to with all due respect to all.

Forevertufc the point I was making about 5 of the 6 defeats being by the odd goal was that we were not being hammered.

I agree a loss is a loss but the results show that we were in the games right up to the final whistle.

As an optimist I think 3 consecutive wins would put us right back in the top 5.

Considering I thought we'd finish somewhere between 12th-14th, I agree, reaching the play-offs this season would be a fantastic achievement, and I really hope we make it. Just have a slight concern looking at that form table, thinking that soon we'd have a run of match's against the so called lesser teams in the division which might give our team a chance to get some results and build confidence for the second half of the season, yet the majority of those teams are all currently above us the form table, some, way above.

Dover for instance, our next away game, and they've won 5 and drawn 1 of their last 6 home games, yes, a gap of 9 points is doable, but if we go into February 9 pts of the play-offs we're under a lot of pressure and the gap could easily grow.

forevertufc wrote:In fact and just to add, if this current form was to continue for every team, and yes, I know it wont as some will play each other, and form can be temporary, but for the sake of it lets say it does, that would leave us around 14th and 9 points adrift of the play-offs , so obviously we need to see a change in results and soon.

interesting that, i would be very happy with playoffs this season, current form plus an extra 3 wins, very doable!

In fact and just to add, if this current form was to continue for every team, and yes, I know it wont as some will play each other, and form can be temporary, but for the sake of it lets say it does, that would leave us around 14th and 9 points adrift of the play-offs , so obviously we need to see a change in results and soon.

Hi Brett, agree with your sentiment, it's relatively early in the season and I'm no doubt the team will go another run of good results, will it be enough, at this stage no one can say. No body's saying we're going down the conference south this season, or in the medium term, if things don't change at the club however, it can and will happen down the line.

The devastation is not because we saw our team lose to Macclesfield , it comes from the fact our team has now lost touch with the top spot and if our current form continues we 'will' lose touch with the play-off zone very quickly and a return form might not be in time to reverse any gap.

For those out there thinking, well we'll soon be back into a run of games against the part-time no hopers, click the link to the conference current from table, a sobering read if there ever was one, and maybe every one at our club might want to get that into perspective.

http://www.footballformguide.net/form/v ... conference

I think alot of people thought we would walk the conference, and with our good start them thoughts grew. Its now kicking in that its not easy but in the same level saying were go down the the conference south is again ridiculous. Its tough we all know that and we keep fighting with such a young squad.
Big teams lose to bottom of the league teams all the time from Barcelona to us. Its also very rare that any side bounces straight back up. People forget its a tough league and most sides in the top half have good players and squads.

I dont understand either why people are so devastated by losing to macc who are an ex football league team that do have alot of potential to get back to the fl one day.

if you look the likes of luton, Crawley, fleetwood they have all spent a number of years in a tough conference and the gone on to flying starts and even getting to league one (yes I know luton have not gone up yet)

The season is only in november and got alot of games to go to find form and get up the table. But again if it doesnt work out this year then we add and replace to a squad with potential and go again. Its taken barnet a few seasons to find their way and it took us two seasons last time.

Its not all doom and gloom. At the moment we maybe getting bad results but once we find our form everyone will be raving again.

Not to worry. Paul Buckle will loan us a goalkeeper until Martin Rice recovers his normally excellent form..

portugull wrote: Since our shock defeat 4-3 at Telford we have lost 6 games out of 10. However 5 out of 6 have been by the odd goal.

And there you hit the nail on the head, Portu. We have lost too many games by conceding very odd goals ........