U's:0 Gulls:1

I’m a bit worried that I’m becoming a bad omen.

The last game I saw was our loss against Kettering. A win and two draws later I’m back, and so is the sinking feeling which accompanies defeat. If anyone’s interested in sponsoring me to stay away from the Abbey then drop me an email.

Our poor performance could also be attributed to the teams’ reluctance to win whenever the South Stand initiative is put into action: Who can forget such glorious failures as Salisbury last year, and Crawley the year before that?

Regardless of the reason, we were pretty poor yesterday. Not poor like oh-my-gosh-I-want-to-kill-myself poor, but more a sort of this-is-so-mediocre-I-may-fall-asleep-at-any-minute poor. There was quite a bit of nice passing on display, but none of it came in areas that threatened Torquay, and as a result I don’t think their keeper was extended all afternoon.

It still should have been enough to get us a point against a Gulls side who came for a draw and executed their smothering 4-5-1 tactics to perfection. However, a last minute lapse of concentration allowed the visitors to take the win. Man-of-the-match Mark Convery (I doubt that combination of words have ever been used in the same sentence before) tried to play a long pass up to Chris Jones, but it was intercepted by Chris Todd, who sent Danny Stevens away down the right. His cross found Tim Sills and Wayne Carlisle in acres of space on the left, and latter dispatched a superb lofted shot across Danny Potter and into the far corner.

Prior to this chances had been at a premium, and in fact it was Carlisle who registered the only other significant shot of the match, ghosting into the box but seeing his effort brilliantly blocked by Potter.

United started really well, with Beesley, Evil, and Holroyd picking up where they apparently left off last week. However, we lost impetus when Beesley was forced to depart injured, to be replaced by new boy Danny Crow. Crow had the odd good touch, but for the most part looked like a man struggling for fitness, and you have to question the wisdom of sticking him on for such a long spell.


In fact the Brabinator tactics were a bit dodgy throughout. Without Beesley to link play 4-3-3 didn’t really work, as the midfield and front line were too far apart to get any cohesive attacks going. The obvious way to remedy this seemed to be to summon Felino Jardim from the bench, but instead when Brabin did make a change he introduced Chris Jones, who once more failed to make an impression. Word on the not-usually-that-well-informed street which I inhabit is that Felino isn’t very fit at the moment, but if that’s the case what’s he doing on the bench in the first place?

Our best chance of scoring looked to be from a set piece, and Evil really should have got one of three good headed chances on target. The lively Holroyd also spurned a good opportunity when Hatswell’s intelligent header found him six yards out with his back to goal. But his instinctive shot on the turn flew over the bar, and it was left for Carlisle to win the match for the visitors, booooooo.

Man of the Match: Chris Holroyd – Like the rest of the team he was a lot less effective in the second half, but the speedy striker looked dangerous whenever he got on the ball. Just work on the finishing please.

Celebrity fan of the Match – Soccer AM presenter and “fanatical” CUFC fan Max Rushden, who was parading around at half time. He told Five Live’s excellent Fighting Talk programme earlier this year that he’d “lost interest [in CUFC] since I moved to London”. Hardcore eh?