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Plainmoor
Tuesday 1st February 2011
KO: 7.45pm

Well, I don't even know where to start with the last few days. I've felt so many different emotions, but disappointment and disgust were the two main ones that were with me for most of the weekend. Our defeat to Crawley would be hard to take in normal circumstances, but it was the manner of their performance and the cheating tactics which grinded my bones the most. Still, no crying over spilled milk I guess, we have to move on. We have two vital games now, home to two teams in the bottom 3. You would think that 6 points should be the return from these two, but this is Torquay we're talking about. Hereford have picked up massively since New Year, I believe Saturdays 4-1 cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday is their first of the calender year. A busy deadline day (for TUFC?! Incredible) saw two players join us while 3 moved on.

GULLS NEWS.

Ashley Hemmings returned to Wolves after falling out of favour with Paul Buckle. Nicky Wroe moved to Shrewsbury for what looks like a small fee, with Jake Robinson coming on loan in the other direction. I'm happy with this, as Wroe has looked lethargic sometimes recently, and seems to go missing occasionally. Elliot Benyon is perhaps the big talking point, having successfully completed his transfer to Swindon Town. Again, an undisclosed fee but somewhere in the region of £130k, with clauses involved should he be a success at the County Ground. Finally, Morecambe midfielder Craig Stanley has joined on a months loan. I was surprised as this was totally out of the blue, but from their reaction, it sounds like a decent piece of business. Away from transfer news, Chris Zebroski is suspended after his dismissal from Saturdays defeat to Crawley.

BULLS NEWS.

Hereford have had a fairly busy January too. Two deadline day deals saw Harry Pell join on loan from Bristol Rovers, while Rob Purdie joined on a free after spending some time on loan. He has come in from Oldham. Wesley Ngo Baheng has joined the Bulls, probably replacing Mathieu Manset who went to Reading for a fee. Daniel Preston is another who has joined on loan, from Birmingham City. Joe Heath has also extended his loan from Exeter City.

FORM (LAST 6 GAMES)

WWWWWL

Wow. I thought they were on good form, but I didn't think it was this good! Five consecutive wins since our draw at Edgar Street on New Years Day were ended by a 4-1 defeat at Hillsborough. Two of these five wins were FA Cup matches, however, as they knocked both Lincoln (4-3) and Wycombe (1-0) out, both away from home. League victories came at Aldershot (1-2), then home to Stockport (3-0) and Morecambe (2-1). This is going to be very tough, as Jamie Pitman's men will want to bounce back after their cup exit. However, maybe the loss of Manset will haunt them.

PROBABLE LINE UP.

This is the side that lost 4-1 at Sheffield Wednesday:

Adam Bartlett

Joe Heath
Michael Townsend
Janos Kovacs
Richard Rose

Nicky Featherstone
Kenny Lunt
James McQuilkin
Joe Colbeck

Stuart Fleetwood
Jake Jervis

Subs: Green, Stratford, Canham, Thomas, Weir, Preston, Purdie

PLAYERS TO WATCH.

Stuart Fleetwood should be a name we all know. He has scored in a few games against us, including the 2-2 draw on New Years Day. Looking at the team, however, there are some names I'm unfamiliar with, so I'm not really sure who their better players are! Kenny Lunt seems to have plied his trade above League 2 for a while, namely with Sheffield Wednesday, so I imagine he has something about him.

THE MEN IN CHARGE.

B J MALONE
M Russell and M Mullarkey
Fourth Official A M Turner

Brendan Malone is the man with the whistle for this game. This is the first season that Malone has been officiating in the Football League, successfully moving up from the Conference. He refereed us a couple of times at Plainmoor when we were back in the BSP, four home games in our promotion year; York (1-1), Mansfield (2-0), Grays (1-1) and Crawley (0-2). I really do hope he is better than the last two referees we've had, as they both seemingly lost the plot in the second half and decided to go card happy.

PREDICTION.

Not a clue. I'd like to think we'd bounce back after the disappointment, but really, I have absolutely no idea what could occur tonight.

I think it's a fair assumption that the new arrivals are classed as a loan deal with this game in mind. If we have purchased their registration, it takes several working days to go through. Losing Wroe, Benners, Hemming and Zebedee via suspension puts us down to the bare bones already.

I doubt both will be thrown into the starting line-up, so expect Oastler to partner Mansell in the midfield. 4-2-3-1 formation, Kee upfront and Robinson on the wings.
How ever bounce make is anyones guess, but this is a must-win game if we want to finish the season with some momentum.

Something had to change, and it certainly has in this whirlwind few days. Never, ever give up hope.

Hope we have a positive attacking formation at home from now on. Hope Halpin gets a run in the team, maybe replacing Zebs on the wing tonight. Hope Plainmoor packs them in with fans curious to see our new recruits (OK, maybe that one was a bit of a long shot). Would it be too much to hope for a win? Onwards and upwards! COYY

Sometimes with these winning runs it just takes one defeat to derail a teams form so I think if we play to our potential we should get 3 points here.

Going for 2-1 Torquay

First off I'm grumpy that my Dad is going without me, to add insult to injury he's taking my Mother :evil:
Right then, this isn't going to be as easy as it looks like it should be from the table. Hereford are picking up results but they have lost their main threat in Manset.
I hope that the loss in the cup may have made the lads determined not to make quite such an arse of themselves again. They may also be boosted by the new blood.
Don't think we'll lose this but if we win I think there will only be a goal in it.
Head says 2-1
Heart wants us to absolutely stuff them, I want those bragging rights, I missed out last time

If we play 4-5-1, we wont win. Surely after saturday's performance, Buckle must see the need for tactical change.

If we play 4-4-2, then who knows.

Head says 2-0 Torquay, heart says 0-2 Hereford.

Crowd, just under 2000.

Good post Nick, Informative and that

When we played them on New Years day, the only person I think that caused our tiring defense any problems was that Manset fella', now he's plying his trade at Reading I cant see where the goals will come from for Hereford.

3-0 To Torquay, {Jake Robinson x2 and Billy Kee}

Going for an optimistic but not confident 2-0 win to the gulls, Kee getting both.

Att 1534

Going for a mazy run from Robinson through to Kee- 1-0.

Stanley starting on the bench with either oastler or lathrope coming in.

Maximin possible return to bench too?

Think there may be plenty of room tonight so may get a choice of were i stand lol

I'll be making the trip down from Somerset, the crowd is sure to be very disappointing and I expect it will be around the Crewe figure. (1900 or possibly less) It has been a heartbreaking couple of days but we have to move on, the team need our support although they owe us a performance and I hope we can kick on and get back up towards the playoffs.

I'm going for a 2-1 win - Kee and Ellis for us.

I'd really like to go tonight but it's not going to happen.

I'd like to see us go 4-4-2 (there's a suprise)

I'm also sure I've read or seen Oastler play right back before, i'd like him to come in there ideally but i dont think that's going to happen.

So my side is

Bevan

Robertson (i'd like Oastler)
Ellis
Branston
Nicholson

O Kane
Mansell
Stanley
Stevens (because we have no one else yet)

Kee
Robinson

Subs

Potter
Oastler (would rather Robbo)
Lathrope
Halpin
Rowe Turner
Macklin
Yeoman i suppose, or just go with 6 makes no odds.

Potter may well be allowed to go as well, leaving us with just Bevan and a reliance on the loan system should the need arise. Don't have a timescale on this though.

Poke for a loan return for the 4th or 5th time come April?

Southampton Gull wrote:Potter may well be allowed to go as well, leaving us with just Bevan and a reliance on the loan system should the need arise. Don't have a timescale on this though.

I wouldn't have a problem with this, only I hate the thought of going into a game with 1 keeper. It's a bit like driving without a spare tyre, chances are it'll all be fine but if one goes you've bloody had it.