Torquay United: March 2010

Hello friends and welcome back to Life on the Riviera and the the next chapter of my Torquay United story.

The first game of the new month was away to Darlington and we got off to a flyer as Barrowman was brought down in the box and Nicholson stepped up to convert the penalty for the opening goal. Barrowman got on the scoresheet himself with a superb turn and strike from 20 yards out after receiving a delicate pass from Nicky Wroe. The third goal was not long coming when Weimann picked up the ball in midfileld and his run to goal was ended just outside the box where Nicholson stepped up and scored off the free kick. Darlington pulled one back from a penalty themselves and then added another with an effort from 30 yards and kept us under pressure until half time. The second half belonged to the weather with neither team making an real progress and so we held our lead for another three points.

We were back at home for our next game against Crewe and despite us having a massive points lead over them Crewe were odds on favorites to win. Before the game started I encouraged the team to win it for the fans as this could be the day to clinch the title. For the first time this season we switched to a more balanced than rigid approach and we dominated the first half but were unable to break the deadlock. After the interval club captain Nicky Wroe and fellow central midfielder Shane Hooks put on a stellar performance with a through ball by Wroe finding Benyon to score the opening goal. Hooks would play a similar ball to Barrowman who wasted no time blasting it past the Crewe keeper to make it 2-0. The visitors did it the bar twice in the same move in the last 5 minutes but we stood firm and as the whistle went for full time the news came through that other results went in our favor and so we were League Two Champions and the just under 5,000 home fans erupted with cheers!

Confirmation of the League title!

Board Reaction

Our next game was also at home to Lincoln and I was a little disappointed by the low turnout of 3000 fans considering we had just one the title. Jake Thomson and Eunan O’Kane both made their long awaited return to the first team and both got on the score sheet in the first half with Elliot Benyon providing the assist on both occasions. Lincoln put more effort into their performance in the second half but Koroma added a third deep into injury time to complete the victory.

The last game of the month was away to Morecambe and although the stats show one thing it was by far, at least visually our worst performance of the season. We played anything like champions and after the game I let the squad know exactly what I thought of their lazy effort.

Andrew Barrowman put in a brilliant performance this past month and was the top rated player. Here’s his profile

Current League Table

Remaining fixtures

So that’s it. We have clinched the title in March as many of you suggested the team would do. Although there are still several games to play I’m very proud of the way the team have gelled and stuck to the task against all odds as we were predicted to finish in 19th.

Authors note:

Many thanks to Johnny for his encouragement when I was having difficulty in selecting a team to call home and especially for his Lower League Management guide which turned out to be a valuable resource in this seasons success. I did use Johnny’s current Notts County tactic though it was slightly modified to suit my slower players and type of forwards.

My next post will be just a season wrap up so there will be no individual game reports as I’m anxious to get to the off season and the transfer market which I know you can all relate to.

Thanks as always for reading this post.