The A38 Dual Carriageway Derby Match Thread

I look forward to the Sam and Cobi epics, later, when they have sobered up.

THE BEERS ARE GOING TO BE FRIKKEN SWEET TONIGHT! THAT WAS OUTSTANDING! STRIPES ARE BACK MUVVAA FUUUCCCKKKEEEEEEEERSSS

Get tore in! I am working.............

It was great to bump into and share a few pre-match drinky-poos with few ATDers today. Namely, Iggy, SFD, Alanoftivvey, Bandwagon.

Cheers guys. A good day all round.

Fan feckin tastic

Person Of Interest wrote:

It was great to bump into and share a few pre-match drinky-poos with few ATDers today. Namely, Iggy, SFD, Alanoftivvey, Bandwagon.

Cheers guys. A good day all round.

It's a cabal!  

seadog wrote:

I look forward to the Sam and Cobi epics, later, when they have sobered up.

Interesting reads in store no doubt....

Moist_Von_Lipwig wrote:

Punchdrunk wrote:

One swallow dosnt make a summer.

But it's a bloody good start!

Better one swallow early on than none at all, good prediction by the way Moist.

Punchdrunk wrote:

Lets see how we fare agaist Stevenage and Bury before we start cracking one off about how we are going to win the league.
One swallow dosnt make a summer as we have seen a gazillion times before.

It will be my first match and first look at the team, so i do hope that they play like they have been playing [Vs Leyton Orient and Exeter City].

Blimey. For someone who wasn't very positive about this season throughout July and early August, I am delighted to say that I'm being proved wrong in our two home games so far. That was another seriously good performance and I mean seriously good. We really could have beaten them by six or more clear goals today. It's fantastic when the only real gripe I can come up with is that we should have beaten them by six or more clear goals- we certainly had enough chances to do so. We battered them from the first minute to (with perhaps a slight interlude in the first ten minutes of the second half) the last minute. I know Exeter aren't very good but the way we dominated in this game should be enough to see of most teams in this league, it really should so long as we keep it up. Overall, I'd say that was the best we've played since John Sheridan arrived at the club. 6-0 would not have at all flattered us.

This fluid 4-2-1-3 formation with Harvey drifting around Reid, Banton and Alessandra suits us so well that I already can't imagine us playing any other formation in the near future. Tyler may not have had a very good pre-season but that's just an even better argument for the old adage that pre-season really is pretty meaningless. TH, JB and LA were so fluid and interchanging that they were never really restricted to any one position. Although Tyler spent slightly more time centrally than wide and the opposite for the other two. All three of them gave the (quite awful) Exeter defenders twisted blood. That's without even mentioning how immense Reid was. When he's on it like he is today, I genuinely think it's near on impossible for any League Two defender to play against him. Because however tall and ugly they are, they can't just outdo him on a purely physical basis because we don't play it to his head. We play it to his feet and there can't be many players in league two who are better with their feet. He can move defenders out of position, he can charge forward with the ball, he'll win every ground challenge and over the past 12 months he's evolved into a fantastic goalscorer. I've got a sneaky feeling he could either do one of two things this season. Either A) Single-handedly drag us to enough win that'll promote us even when we're playing awfully or B) Make us an enormous six figure sum in January. Banton and Alessandra both too had very good games, though. Their finishing ball wasn't the best but they were both duracell bunnies and carried us into the final third countless times. Banton's selflessness and his ability to track back really are amazing new features of his game. He's like a whole new signing this summer and he's fast had me eating humble pie. Feeling a little bit smug about Tyler Harvey's performances so far this season. A lot of people thought that like Luke Young, he'd be doomed to failure in this league because of his slight build but that's been two fantastic performances from him in the hole. When he's brought into a team that's playing energetically and is moving for him, he can be a very effective player who can find passes that no-one else in our team can. Fantastic ball control and absolutely made to play between the lines. Not physical enough to play deep and a waste of his creative talents to play purely as a striker. It suits him perfectly to play there- just like our own little David Silva or Juan Mata. A little wizard carrying the ball forward keeping it close to his feet and making defenders panic, a great pass on him and an eye for goal too.

Our midfield three (if you include Harvey who was really neither a midfielder or a forward but a number ten) was absolutely fantastic too. O'Connor was the consummate defensive-midfielder. Covered so much ground in the first half that I'm amazed he wasn't blowing by the first ten minutes let alone 90 minutes. One of the things I thought we'd miss most about Conor Hourihane's departure was the lack of a player who would buzz all about the midfield and between the lines, picking up loose balls and then squeezing the play in our favour. We've got someone who'll do just that in Anthony O'Connor. Norburn could do better off the ball and was the 'least good' of the three but he's got a very good passing range and I think with time and the right coaching he could be a player for us. I like him from set pieces, too.

Mellor certainly redeemed himself from Tuesday's awful display. Was very good second half getting up and down the line effectively. Was good in Exeter's mini spell and often was the man who gave the good out ball out of defence to either Reuben, Lewi or Tyler. Nelson and Hartley were also immense and made up for patchy performances on Tuesday. Exeter were undeniably a team that were stronger in attack than defence so it's a testament to how good they were that we kept a clean sheet. One slight gripe- McHugh is still not a left-back and I don't think he ever will be. We were excellent today but we'd probably have been even better if O'Connor and Hartley didn't have to cover McHugh so much. He just isn't very comfortable at left-back in the slightest. He'd probably fit into the centre-back role like a glove but he's in a job that quite simply isn't his own.

Subs were mostly effective. Allen was again promising. Always looking to get the ball and then quickly laid it off when he received it. His intention to get it forward seemed to be more on his agenda then it was on Tuesday which is a good thing. He generally looked less panicky than he did on Tuesday, especially after 3-0. Some good pressing and one excellent tackle from him too. We may well make a good player for this level out of him. Thomas did very little but in all fairness wasn't on for long. Just didn't quite get into it. Morgan- well his ball control will never be very good but if he continues pressing, harrying and being a general nuisance from the subs bench then he'll keep on getting a thumbs up from me. Like Banton, he's been a new player this season.

Who would have thought we'd be this positive about a performance that didn't involve Cox or Hourihane? If Cox gets fit again for Tuesday, I genuinely can't see who he's going to oust from the side. Another thing that impressed strongly upon me was the attitude of the players at the end. A mate said to me at full-time that if we'd have won that game last season, Gurrieri and Blanchard would have been jumping about like maniacs and getting caught up in the giddiness of the moment. Today the reaction of the players was obviously very pleased but there was also a clear sense of 'it's only one game, we won't get over excited just yet'. Near perfect performance- very few flaws. Let's take it onto Tuesday.

McCormick-7
Mellor-7
Nelson-8
Hartley-8
McHugh-5
O'Connor-9
Norburn-6
Harvey-8
Alessandra-8
Banton-8
Reid-9 MOTM

Allen-7
Morgan-6
Thomas-5

Cheers Sam.
I think the real test will be Bury away..

If we can get a win against Stevenage and a draw against Bury then I'd be pretty happy. Realistic too.

Should have been 8 9 or 10 nil

Good game, best display by Argyle in seen in several,seasons.
I'm fairly drunk.   

Person Of Interest wrote:

It was great to bump into and share a few pre-match drinky-poos with few ATDers today. Namely, Iggy, SFD, Alanoftivvey, Bandwagon.

Cheers guys. A good day all round.

freak fest 2014     

Angry wrote:

Person Of Interest wrote:

It was great to bump into and share a few pre-match drinky-poos with few ATDers today. Namely, Iggy, SFD, Alanoftivvey, Bandwagon.

Cheers guys. A good day all round.

freak fest 2014     

"Real fans meeting face to face.."

Rickler wrote:

Angry wrote:

Person Of Interest wrote:

It was great to bump into and share a few pre-match drinky-poos with few ATDers today. Namely, Iggy, SFD, Alanoftivvey, Bandwagon.

Cheers guys. A good day all round.

freak fest 2014     

"Real fans meeting face to face.."

we need to make them some polo shirts    

Immense performance. That midfield today showed how shit Hourihane and Young are. Neither of them are good enough to lace Norburn, O'connor or Allen's boots. Proper midfielders I say. Only disappointment for me is Sheridan thinks Allesandra is a winger.

Rickler wrote:

Angry wrote:

Person Of Interest wrote:

It was great to bump into and share a few pre-match drinky-poos with few ATDers today. Namely, Iggy, SFD, Alanoftivvey, Bandwagon.

Cheers guys. A good day all round.

freak fest 2014     

"Real fans meeting face to face.."

Does that make us a cabal?

Here's a letter to a newspaper about our meet-up.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

#stripeseisfeckinback

Rickler wrote:

Angry wrote:

Person Of Interest wrote:

It was great to bump into and share a few pre-match drinky-poos with few ATDers today. Namely, Iggy, SFD, Alanoftivvey, Bandwagon.

Cheers guys. A good day all round.

freak fest 2014     

"Real fans meeting face to face.."

Zackerly.

Faces to names was good - my head hurts now, great day out!!

Ouch, my head hurts    did we really win 3 nil or was it all a cruel dream   

Nice early cider for brekky.. My head hurts as well. Had a great arguement with some posh twat on the train home   

Bandwagon wrote:

Faces to names was good - my head hurts now, great day out!!

I said I'd seen your face somewhere before, its on your feckin avatar! Lol. Not sure I like Bandy, he thought I was seven years older than I really am, it had been a long day though.
That was a relly good day at the footy.