Torquay United V Chester FC MATCH THREAD

Listened to it again.

"The fans will be delighted with that point"

Okay so I heard McCarthy went up to the away end applauding the fans at FT, and he was met with a whole wave of abuse and chanting against him.

How the hell did he then go and talk about fans praising him etc in his post match interview, absolute bonkers...

I don't know how he can cope much longer when the fans are like that with him... he is in cuckoo land.

R E S I G N

There's nothing else to add that hasn't already been said for the last couple of weeks to be honest. It's clear to see that the board will wait until post-match on Tuesday night before any decision is made. I'm getting fed up of it all.

That was actually quite an exciting game, at least towards the end it was. This team is so frustrating, you can see there is enough quality that we should be picking up results and we had some nice spells, just too few and far between. Once again, we were too scared of maintaining possession and stroking the ball around. When we did occasionally string some passes together, Torquay were all at sea.

Our full backs playing Jon's narrow game allowed too many crosses in. Their goal was very reminiscent of the Aldershot one. The ball falling kindly to their striker outside the box, slightly to our defensive right side. Halls lost his footing with the ball's change of direction and it was a sweet strike, going in off of the right post.

McCombe was unlucky with an angled header back across the face of goal, it hit the inside of the left post and was then cleared.

We had one effort cut back and side footed just an inch above the bar, just a bit lower and it would have been a peach in the top right corner.

The incident where we hit the bar would have been a freak goal, an attempted clearance which hit Kingsley James on the edge of the six yard box and ballooned into the air. James had a great chance one on one with the keeper at an angle, the back post was beckoning, but he ran it too close to the keeper and drilled it at him at the near post.

Torquay were not bad in possession, didn't look like a bottom of the table side. I heard they had signed four new players, and their keeper in pink looked solid. They were frail in defence at times, but usually when we passed it around.

The referee eventually cancelled Torquay's second goal after it was awarded. McCombe was facing our goal, dealing with a cross and from behind a Torquay player kicked him in the face. The ball spilled to the edge of the box and then it was belted into the top left corner whilst McCombe was on the floor clutching his face. The ref pointed to the centre spot. Uproar from the Chester fans, the ref saw the blood all over McCombe's face, then spoke to the linesman. After a lengthy discussion, goal ruled out, free kick to Chester. Cue protests from Torquay with three players surrounding the ref. No booking for Torquay despite the dangerous play.

I wonder why the linesman didn't flag for the foul in the first place, but waited for the referee to ask. Perhaps he wasn't sure if contact had been made as I myself wasn't until I saw the blood. New shirt for McCombe who was later booked despite not having a number on his back.

Shortly after, JM pulled him off with an effective double substitution and change of shape. 3-5-2 with Chappel on the left wing and Hannah on for Akintunde. Shaw had already replaced Mahon. The equaliser was ironically route one. I am not sure if it was Shaw in the middle and Chappel to receive a ball pumped up to the left corner, immediately crossed first touch and Hannah on the near post, edge of the six yard box with the ball awkwardly at waist height, he jumped and a side foot cushioned volley finishing between the keeper and the top left corner. A very composed finish in the circumstances.

Absolutely a fair result, we deserved a point from that more than we did a single point from Aldershot.

I think if the game had been viewed in isolation, it wouldn't have looked that bad. However, being a goal down and with us all being at the end of our tethers with McCarthy, we were all very fed up for most of the game.

Every wayward pass, and there were too many, was leapt upon by us fans. What I found really frustrating was that we showed we could play and put Torquay under pressure in spells, but then went back to hoofing it. That wasn't so bad when it was occasionally an accurate hoof, as Bell used his height well to flick on to Akintunde. Both strikers looked a handful, Aki tired second half and was replaced by Hannah.

I thought Astles looked even more unfit and slower than ever, worrying when he became the only centreback at 3-5-2, but that was when the fullbacks tucked in enough and Joyce gave some defensive cover.

Chappel bustled down the left wing but would be muscled off by two or three players when he didn't have players supporting quickly enough to give him an outlet. It was great to see Shaw back on the pitch, Mahon was spent and hadn't done a great deal by the time he was swapped.

Dawson got into good positions, with plenty of crosses but they were either lofted too comfortably for the keeper or drilled too low at the near post.

In summary, Torquay weren't awful, but with a bit more effort, confidence and a lot more passing, that game was ours for the taking. The double substitution and switch to 3-5-2 worked, and thank goodness we have some strikers again, some decent ones at that.

Not really. McCarthy is driving me nuts and is being shown way too much patience by the board, but I won't wish him any harm when he goes. Certainly wouldn't be bitter enough to go to another part of the country to goad him and celebrate him taking another club down.

So it was a quite an exciting game against a struggling Torquay that says it all really.

He has lost the plot thinks the fans sing for him receives messages on his deleted twitter account and we are doing ok, all is rosie on planet JM

I thought we were really poor, very laboured and despite creating a fair number of genuinely good chances in the first half we were fortunate to snatch a late point. I’m not sure why we kept hoofing it all of the time when it was pretty obvious that if we kept the ball down we’d get more joy. They were poor at the back but had two big centre backs who mopped up long balls, always looked like they were struggling to contain Akintunde when he could get the ball at his feet though. Most of our attacks came down the left, which isn’t surprising as we know Ryan Higgins can’t defend to save his life.

Torquay must have the most annoying moany fans in the league, two visits on the run now and I’ve had to put up with them moaning their arses off throughout the game. It was triggered by the goal that was disallowed where McCombe took a kick to the face, to be honest I think it was only due to him having a face full of blood that we got the decision, don’t think he or the lino saw it at all. Quite a feisty atmosphere in the second half and I reckon Torquay were a bit too gung ho trying to push for a second against our re-shaped defence and a one legged Ryan Astles. They paid for it.

Thought Kingsley James and Akintunde were good for us, also Astles, who limped his way through the last 15 minutes. Bell grew in to the game, he will get better with experience and it was good to see Shaw and Hannah back on the pitch.

On the other hand LRT and Halls gave me nightmares, Wade Joyce gave a typical performance, Mahon looks very heavy legged and Dawson’s set pieces were atrocious bar one which we hit the post from.

Torquay are poor but aren’t as bad as their current points haul suggests, they’ve got something about them going forwards although the final ball often lets them down. It could have been something like 4-3 to either side at half time with all of the chances to be honest.

JM keeps scraping a few points, hard fought fortunate ones. Considering we seem to be trying to get through the season with a 23 game handicap an away game at the bottom side felt like a must win. Very disappointing.

That interview is unbelievable! Feels like he was always going to Say what he said before hand. Definitely trying to find excuses now Mccarthy over the poor performances

Great effort in making the trip. I would normally go to Solihull but there's zero chance I'm wasting my time and money whilst he's still in charge. Thankfully I'm unable to go to the next home game either so I'm hanging onto the hope that the next time I'm at the Deva I will be welcoming our new manager!

On the Torquay forum they all say they were much improved with their new players, the consensus is it's the best they have played. One poster however said Chester are the worst team they have played so we probably made them look a lot better than they are. What gets me is that the energy levels simply aren't there. Where is the drive? Where is the crisp passing? Where is the hunger to get at the opposition and go for goal?

We appointed a number of fitness and conditioning coaches during the summer but we don't have adequate facilities according to JM. Strange comment to make.

seems simple just sack him and move on........

he won't resign as he undoubtedly will receive a severance if/when sacked.
if sacked can the club afford to pay the severance.
any payment to him would reduce the already meagre playing budget.

once he has gone who would take on a club/team with no money and questionable quality players.

3 points at Solihull will just prolong the agony for fans. i suspect this to rumble on til xmas

I'm not sure you are right there Matt just before the goal there appears to have been contact with McCombes head whether it be an elbow or foot, he is holding his head straight away so the Lino might have been right with this one