UNITED ARE THE EASTER BUNNIES AS THEY HOP UP THE TABLE
DO WE DARE DREAM SAFETY IS IN SIGHT?
IS FRANK NOUBLE YOUR BEST SIGNING OF THE SEASON?
Torquay United went on their own special Easter Egg hunt over the weekend - looking for points hidden by National League opponents Eastleigh and Maidenhead.
It was an Easter eggcitement to remember on a very Good Friday followed by an eggcelent Easter Monday as the turnaround in their fortunes saw them win four on the spin. A much deserved 2-0 home win against play-off hopefuls Eastleigh was followed by a cracking good 3-1 victory at Maidenhead.
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On Friday United, after two fantastic away successes at hard to beat Boreham Wood, followed by a second successive 1-0 win at Scunthorpe, shot down the Spitfires as visitors Eastleigh resorted to time wasting from the off. But worse was their play acting with players feigning injury, several rolling over and over as if shot - quite unsporting behaviour.
Whilst Asa Hall, picked in the Non-League Paper’s Team of the Day and Vanarama’s Team of the Week, ended up as the sponsors Man of the Match, thanks to his trademark header opening the score, the player who shone up front was Frank Nouble.
Nouble’s hold-up play and touch complimented the constant work rate of fellow striker Aaron Jarvis - what a good signing Nouble has proved to be. Torquay’s gain and Yeovil’s loss as Yeovil boss Mark Cooper after Monday’s home loss to Dorking let slip that Nouble was lined up to sign for the Glovers.
And so too has Kevin Dawson, whose phenomenal work rate and leadership has won over all the Yellow Army.
Add in the Duracell Easter Bunny Tom Lapslie, who scored United’s second on Friday, and along with Hall, the side has a mid-field to compete with the best.
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On Monday Nouble was frankly top class as demonstrated by his first goal in a Gulls’ shirt. That he scored again underlined his importance to the side roared on by 350+ (was it 600?) Yellow Army who backed the side from start to finish.
With Yeovil losing at home to Dorking and York losing at home to FC Halifax and Aldershot snatching a late point at Eastleigh, the final four games of the season are going to be crucial.
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As matters stand United need to overtake either Aldershot or York or both - and the next match up is York at Plainmoor on Saturday. Neither Maidenhead nor Dorking can rest easy as they too could be involved in the final two relegation places.
Scunthorpe have now joined Maidstone in falling out of the league and Yeovil are looking likely to join them, leaving just one relegation place.
12 points from the last four matches puts United in a great position even though they still occupy a relegation place but only two behind Aldershot.
So what a turnaround, only back on March 25 the bottom four looked like this:Gateshead P36 W13 D14 L14 F45 A55 PTS37
Scunthorpe P39 W8 D9 L22 F46 A75 PTS33
Torquay P38 W7 D10 L21 F44 A69 PTS31
Maidstone P39 W5 D9 L25 F42 A86 PTS24
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TUST was pleased to support the club’s latest community initiative ‘Torbay Together’ on Good Friday when 400 were in the Wollens away terrace to add to the atmosphere in a crowd of 3,237.
And for Monday’s trip up the M5 and M4 to Berkshire TUST donated £500 towards the costs of the Torquay United Travel Club to help subsidise those who went.
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Non-League Crowd Watch: the two days of Easter fixtures saw big attendances at many games.
These are the outstanding ones on Good Friday: Notts County 9,786, Chesterfield 8,638, FC Halifax 7,863 thanks to 4,100 from Wrexham, Oldham 7,391, Southend 6,603. Dorking set a new ground record with 3,732 for visitors Woking who brought 1,350. Elsewhere National North Chester looking for promotion had 3,487 and Ebbsfleet became National South Champions in front of 3,131. But take a bow Macclesfield who drew in 4,060.
On Easter Monday the match of the day was at the Racecourse where the top two teams met, both at the start of play on 100 points each, with Wrexham edging out Notts County with 9,924 watching including 1,060 from County.
And County’s National League record goal scorer Macaulay Langstaff with 41 to his name failed to find the net.
York were dragged back into relegation trouble with a 3-0 home defeat to FC Halifax with 6,235 watching.
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Did you see England’s skipper Harry Kane give that theatrical dive worthy of an Oscar in Tottenham’s Premier League match against Everton last week?
Yes, Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure raised his arms in a confrontation with Kane but his reaction was way over the top. And scenes like that are replicated across football as a result. In this incident Doucoure received a red card and would have done anyway in spite of Kane’s ridiculous play acting.
Regular Plainmoor attendees may recall Wealdstone’s Max Kretzschmar going down when tackled by Tom Lapslie in a recent National League match at Plainmoor. Kretzschmar gave the impression he had broken both legs but of course once Lapslie had been sent off, got up and continued. Again Lapslie would have received his marching orders regardless of his opponent’s over-reaction.
And then Eastleigh’s players were at it on Good Friday. This kind of behaviour, simulation, play-acting, trying to get a fellow professional sent off is such a shame as impressionable youngsters see all this and think its the norm and okay to copy.
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Torquay United’s Women are back in action this Sunday in their penultimate league match away at Liskeard Ladies needing four points from these two fixtures to win the title and clinch promotion.
And Danni Wyatt is set to make her 100th appearance.
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Voting for the Player of the Season and Young Player has now been completed and the awards are due to be announced this Saturday at the York match.
But who would you vote for your best signing of the season? Nico Lawrence? Kevin Dawson? Frank Nouble? Send your choice to: fanszone.tu@gmail.com or Twitter: @FanszoneT.
So, it’s York City at home on Saturday - another key fixture. Let’s pack Plainmoor and help the team make it five wins in a row.
COYY
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