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Matchball Sponsor: PAUL BASTARD
United huffed and puffed their way to a 1-0 home win against Forest Green Rovers in a match that stood out thanks to a plethora of missed chances from the home side and the major part played by the officials in the game's most important moments.
Gulls boss Paul Buckle made a couple of changes to the side that secured three points at Stafford on Saturday; Tim Sills and Chris Zebroski dropped to the bench for a well earned rest and were replaced by Roscoe Dsane and Danny Stevens. The Forest Green Rovers side contained a number of former Gulls players including Alex Lawless, Les Afful and Ishmael Welsh while top scorer Stuart Fleetwood would lead the line on his own against United.
The match started in a frantic fashion with no-one having enough time to dwell on the ball for a moment. The tackles were flying in and Lee Mansell found himself an early entrant in the referee's notebook for a clumsy challenge on Welsh. The first chance of the match fell to Chris Hargreaves from a Kevin Nicholson corner but his header went comfortably over Terry Burton's crossbar. Another Nicholson corner almost produced the first goal when the ball hung in the air and Lee Phillips got himself in front of Burton but couldn't direct his header goalward.
Twenty minutes in and Phillips had the best chance so far; Forest Green defender Darren Jones delayed his pass and was robbed by Phillips on the edge of the area, Lee took a touch and with Burton stranded off his line, the Torquay forward shot low and wide when he should have scored. Five minutes later and Kevin Nicholson sent a fine pass over the top of the Forest Green defence and straight into Phillips' path, Lee took the ball on and this time sent his shot low past the left hand post and wide for a second time.
The next four minutes resembled something from a Sunday morning at Easterfield Lane (those of you who have played locally will appreciate this more!); Steve Adams was booked by referee Mr Phillips for complaining when a clear handball was not seen by the officials and his frustration got the better of him. Forest Green were then awarded a free kick which went out for a throw-in. During the break in play the linesman spotted an incident involving Forest Green striker Stuart Fleetwood and Mark Ellis, whatever happened, the referee's assistant considered Fleetwood the transgressor and he was shown a red card. Just to compound the visitors -and everyone else's- sense of confusion, 90 seconds later United were awarded a penalty for what was considered a foul on Lee Phillips by Jones. Ultimately, after this passage of play, the only thing that we can be definitely sure about is the fact the Roscoe put away the spot kick and United were a goal ahead with half an hour gone.
Jody Banim was carrying on where he left off on Saturday with some assured touches and good vision while Steve Adams was giving another example of how to keep things simple and be affective. Chris Todd had a half chance from a nod down by Hargreaves but after a neat turn he put his shot wide. The best pass of the match came in the 42nd minute and it went a full 10 yards; Steve Adams did well to win the ball in central midfield and after carrying the ball on waited a split second before slotting a superbly weighted pass into the path of Lee Phillips. The United forward carried the ball too far and the move disappointingly came to nothing when Burton came out and smothered the ball. All this happened in the 42nd minute but there was still time for Banim to it a decent right foot volley not far wide of Burton's left hand upright and Chris Hargreaves to get a yellow card for a tackle that wasn't the worst seen in the ninety minutes. A one goal advantage for United at half-time but the match could well have been put to bed if even a couple of the chances created had been put away.
Goalkeeper Simon Rayner hadn't had a lot to do in the first half but had handled well when called upon, he was though, the first to be called into action in the second half when he did well to tip over from Michael Brough as Forest Green did their best to push on with ten men. Sometimes having a man advantage doesn't always lead to an easy win and it's often the case that the team with ten up their efforts while the side with the full compliment struggle to finish them off. Maybe today was a good example of that, United had chances aplenty but while the score remains 1-0 it is never comfortable. A double substitution by Paul Buckle on the hour gave Tim Sills and Chris Zebroski a chance to contribute in place of Banim and Phillips and, as usual, Sills started winning a vast majority of his headers as United tried their best to double their advantage. Dsane came close when he flicked a Nicholson corner jball just wide of the far post and Zebroski forced a save from Burton with a shot from twenty yards.
The best opportunity to seal the win came with just six minutes remaining; Steve Adams went to chase down a back pass and was blocked off the ball by Hardiker, the assistant flagged and the penalty was awarded. Up stepped Dsane for his second spot kick but this time he hit it slightly higher than the first and Burton was able to save well and parry the ball away. There were still two more chances to score in this game, one to both sides. The first of them came when a Kevin Nicholson free kick to the far post was met by a Chris Zebroski header which hit the foot of the post before being gathered by Burton. The second chance almost ruined United's day; a cross from the left by Mark Preece for the visitors evaded Rayner and was met by Darren Jones and his header just lobbed over the crossbar and bounced on the top of the net for a goal kick.
Not a classic game of football by any means, but as always, Paul Buckle's players gave it everything and this was epitomized best right at the end by Chris Hargreaves who seemed to be running on empty but continued to chase down anything and everything that was in a green shirt. Let's take the three points and move on!
