PSF: Weymouth 29/7

[taxilady]

There were more than 15 Gulls fans there, they were scattered around a bit, with nothing to cheer about. Weymouth made us look very ordinary. Seabright clears very close to the edge of his box; Weymouth fans at one point thought he'd handled outside the box,Liked Briscoe's goal but we didn't look remotely like scoring any more; whereas Weymouth could have got a fourth just before time. We rested Ricey as well, which disappointed my granddaughter. Matt was enjoying a chat after the game .......

[ferrarilover]

I was indeed, because I was chatting not only to Chris McPhee (who remains one of the very nicest blokes in England) but also a man called Tim Sills.

**** awful game. No cohesion, no plan, no talent. Briscoe had an off day. Richards nutted one of their blokes and should have been off. He was a liability and WILL be sent off this season. Was the Seabright free kick outside the box?
You all remember Sillsy's aerial ability, well, up against MacDonald, he may as well have been Danny Stevens. Benyon especially useless, to the point where I'm starting to believe it just be deliberate. Ajala very good when he came on. I never really notice Cruise or Tongue (wrong end of the field for me). Yeoman did absolutely nothing all night. Nor did Harding. O'Achie (which I've been spelling with an extra 'r', for which I apologise) was alright, but will need to learn his art swiftly. A couple of times Richards played clever balls through the defence which Duane failed to anticipate or gamble on. An experienced striker would have been on his toes.

Weymouth took it very seriously, committing a nasty foul early on which didn't help. Their supporters seemed to think it was a cup final with their jeering the ref and what not. Calm down lads eh, it's a kick about.

If Ajala had played 90 minutes and we'd had, say, Bowman up front with Yeoman (would have stopped the aimless long balls forward, which we only do to utilise Benyon's movement), it could have a totally different story. At it was, we did too many things wrong and too many players had 5/10 nights. Forget it and move on and hope we learned a lesson or two.

Matt.

[tomogull]

Thanks Gillygull & Matt for reports of the match (I hadn't realised that Tim Sills had signed for Weymouth). The only positive I can take from your reports is that Cameron played which hopefully suggests that we won't be losing him before the start of the season. I suppose another dubious positive is that one of our midfielders actually scored !!!

[bobby93]

I thought more Torquay fans would have attended looking at the away end I can see 15

I think this is deceptive as there were many scattered around. The away end became the home end in the second half as Weymouth fans switched sides.

I tweeted along during the game, but will just add my thoughts on what was generally a pleasant evening spoiled slightly by a dull game of football.

Defensively - Weymouth were cutting through us pretty easily by passing along the ground and linking well. Downes caught out in the second half with a through ball, there was a clumsy collision and I'm not sure he'd have stayed on the pitch in a League game. Cruise and Tonge offering little. Seabright made a couple of decent saves but could do with being a bit more commanding.

Midfield - Cameron and Briscoe working well on the wings, many of our attacks coming through our right hand side and Briscoe not afraid to shoot. Cameron with a few half decent free kicks in the right area but nobody really busting a gut to get on the end of them. Harding and Richards unspectacular in the middle but first time they'll have played together so fair enough.

Attack - Benyon misused as a target man in first half and offered very little all game. Yeoman running hard onto through balls but didn't get a clear chance on goal I don't think.

Subs - Ajala looked lively when he came on, Thompson was thoroughly unconvincing as a RB. Most of the other subs made no impression whatsoever. Chappell in loads of space a few times but not found. Chaney with a couple of neat touches. Sullivan ran hard.

Let's not get carried away with a friendly defeat. Weymouth didn't look a bad side really and grew into the game. That said, we looked very casual particularly in the first half and didn't really have much conviction or creativity. Briscoe the main threat. We can take comfort in the fact that Bowman, Young, Pearce and Rice (essentially our 'spine') were not playing. But then again, if they were all out injured on this evidence we'd struggle.

In terms of the experience itself, I thought Weymouth was a lovely town in the evening sun and we'll have to get used to that standard of ground. Surprised at some of the language used by (mostly our) players towards the officials. Benyon in particular, although McPhee (one of three ex-Gulls also including Palmer and Sills) was berating the linesman with some strong words about 20 seconds into his Weymouth career as well. Amazing what you can hear with no singing.

Let's learn our lessons and go again at the weekend. We will have to play better than that.

Nice to meet Matt at half time.

[bobby93]

Strange game really though Weymouth were worthy winners. First half we were playing brainless long balls up to Benyon and Yeoman and I can't really remember us creating a chance and we certainly did not get the ball down on the ground very often. It was all pretty scrappy though Weymouth did put together a couple of good moves. The goal was from a deflected free-kick given for Seabright handling the ball just outside the area. Otherwise a pretty dire first half. Chris McPhee was probably the best player on the pitch having signed his Weymouth contract before the game to great cheers from the home supporters. He was calm and composed throughout in centre-midfield and I can't remember him wasting a pass.

We started more convincingly after the break and looked good for 10 minutes as we actually were more patient with the ball and moved it around with a bit of control. This did lead to an equaliser and the finish from Briscoe was stunning. Before the game we thought he looked a bit of a beast but he is strong and has a lovely touch and looks like he has the strength up front that was missing last season. And just when it looked like we were in total control, a mistake down in the left corner (Downes & Cruise?) let them in for a tap-in which was quickly followed by a repeat performance for 3-1. From this point onwards there were so many substitutions it meant for a rather scrappy end to the game though Weymouth came close to a fourth on a couple of occasions.

Some thoughts on the players.

I haven't posted for ages and am not jumping on the bandwagons but .... our two full-backs are not up to it. Yetton made Cruise look a novice on several occasions and Cruise was involved unhelpfully in two of the goals. The home side quickly cottoned on to the space behind our left-back and made very intelligent use of it . If they can do this, better teams will do so too. He isn't good enough. And neither was Tonge convincing on the right. He offered little going forward, is slow, and error-prone. In the first-half he totally mis-controlled the ball on the goal line just outside the penalty area, let the winger in and then had to pull him down to stop him getting into the area. It was all a bit embarrassing!! We will have no chance of being contenders this season with these two as full-backs.

Seabright seemed ok though gave away the free-kick when he should have put his foot through the ball and cleared it. He was given the whole game.
Macdonald seemed pretty steady too.
Downes had a bit of a nightmare and would have been sent off in a league game when he let Yetton spin off him and get through on goal. Downes didn't make too much contact but enough to allow Yetton to go down as he was about to get away. Downes was typically strong in the air and had a good header hit the top of the bar but he as was also pretty slow and lumbering at times.
Richards was quiet first half but came into the game in the second half and looks a good acquisition though he was getting frustrated at times with the lack of shape and support around him. He finished with a tasty chunk of Chris McPhee which got him a deserved booking but also showed that he likes to compete!
Harding was generally tidy though not very influential. He does have a lovely touch but should be making more impact on the game.
I liked Briscoe.
Yeoman and Benyon worked hard but were given very little decent service. It was either chase the hoofball or flick them on to no-one. Strange tactics.
Cameron was given free-kick and corner duties and used them quite well but ultimately didn't make a massive impression on the match although there was a flare-up with one of their players that would have probably been a red card in a league game as he grabbed their player by the throat.
About the 65 minute-mark the substitutions began to happen fairly frequently.

Ajala looked lively but didn't have enough time to really get involved.
Duane ? up front looked very very raw!!!
Hutchings was neat and tidy.
Sullivan too looked hungry and busy.
And Sam Chaney certainly looks like he could be something very good for the future.
Thompson at full-back also didn't look very convincing.

A little wake-up call for us that this season might be much tougher than we are expecting?
Martin Rice / Bowman/ Luke Young/ Krystian Pearce not involved.

Sorry to double post but this is a fair analysis of the game and fills in a few blanks from my own comments.

Good post.

[Behind-the-Gulls]

Will be concerned if the Greeks young side tear us apart as well,but hopefully Greavsie will have given them a rollicking last night and we'll be more up for it on Saturday.As mentioned here the spine of the team was missing and it doesn't sound like Pearce will make it for the Gateshead game.
At least Greavsie now knows where the main weaknesses are and that both full-backs need to be shipped out and replaced asap.

[drummergull90]

Left the test match in Southampton 30 mins early to make it to this one, slightly regretting the decision!

First pre-season game I have seen from us and I was not impressed, lacking in movement and creativity. Weymouth looked a decent side, talking to blokes in the ground this is the best they've had in years. All the same, they dominated for large periods and we looked worryingly shaky at the back.

Positives: liked to the look of Richards. Real skill, can pass the ball and reads the game well. Briscoe's goal was real class, something we have lacked in recent times. Cameron looked lively in the first half, Ajala looked good when we came on. Also who was Chaney? Looked busy and has a bit of skill.

Negatives: the defence. Downes looks like he's lost a yard of pace, and should have been sent off. Teams have worked out that if you put someone up with pace, he will get caught on the turn. Happened countless times last season and did again last night. He won't get away with it in the league. Tonge anonymous as usual, slow and lacked skill. How on earth Tom Cruise ever played for Arsenal I will never know, he barely looks a footballer to me. Seabright made a few good saves but was at fault for their third, doesn't command his area, really hope he isn't first choice. Harding did nothing. Benyon ran hard but offered nothing, didn't even realise Yeoman was playing.

Could just be a bad night and we were missing some key players, but on that evidence it could be a long season. New fullbacks are a must.