Some improvement but another home loss

Truro City lost two nil last night to a strong Poole side.  We played well in the first half and apart from gifting them a goal, could easily have edged it.  In contrast, the second half was poor, heads went down, Poole shifted up to third gear and yet again we handed them a goal on a plate.  Our formation was predominantly 4-5-1 leaving the sprightly Ben Watson doing all the work up front.  Against four strong defenders, the tactic was clearly not working and we ended the night with another loss and still no home win of the season.   With the sad news of Hinckley's demise, give or take a one goal difference, we are now in the relegation battle.

Below are some of the wiser comments from the Tigertalk forum last night:

BIG ROD said:

Just back home from the match. This is how I saw it. Poole are a very fit team, ran at everything gave 100%. Truro played very well in the first half. Jamie Lowry was a very steady influence. He did have a couple of misplaced passes but he may be a bit rusty. He also had a couple of good low shots on goal. In the first half there were a lot of balls coming in from the right wing, but with a lone striker, nobody to get on the end of them. The goal in the first half was a scrambled affair from a corner. I got the impression that the Ollie was reluctant to come and claim it, but it was really a goal given away.

In the second half Poole either changed their tactics or else they went up a gear and we dropped off the pace. They had much more of the ball in the second half. Their second goal was very strange. It came in from a corner bounced back and everybody just stood rooted to the spot for what seemed like ten seconds and the guy planted it in the net.
I think if City had have played against most sides the way they did in the first half they would have been 3-0 up. By the way, apart from looking like a Cormac worker (all in orange), their Goalie was good. For a change the ref. was pretty good too. Apart from the score line, quite an entertaining game.

 

DUTY281 said:

 

First half decent, second half inept. Couldn't find a final ball in either half, and so couldn't break down a very organised Poole defence. Poole were decent, but nothing special. Both goals could and should of been averted, both from set-pieces which we couldn't defend against (again). Heads dropped after the first goal, and we never recovered. I can only recall their keeper having to make one save, and that was from a set-piece.

Questions must be asked again:

Evans started instead of captain Kendall, why? (Car problems delayed their arrival eds.)
Les didn't start, despite being one of our best players on Saturday, why? (Ditto above eds.)
One up front at home again, why? Watson is great at holding the ball up but it's no good when you're isolated.

I think we've lost 5 league games in a row now.

Something. Must. Be. Done.

Otherwise we'll be in a relegation battle. Scratch that, we ARE in a relegation battle.

 

GORRANBLADE said:

 

The word "ORGANISE" springs to mind. For their first goal I particularly watched how our defence organised itself for the corner. Frankly they did not organise very well. We had already seen their tactics, bunching at the far post and attacking the ball as it came across. So what did Aaron Pugh do? He stood rooted in the 6 yard box along with 3 other Truro players. Nobody coming in with their runners to attack the ball.
The second goal was a bit of a magic backheal to find the scorer in space to bang it home. Personally I'm not too critical of this goal although he did have to much space while we ball watched.

On a positive note, we played at 100mph in the first half but were let down by the final ball. Several good efforts which will probably show up in the stats.

Ollie Chenoweth had a good game and backed up my view that he is an excellent shot-stopper; he just needs to keep his concentration levels at a high level.

Jordan Copp really wanted to play in the first half but lost his way later on.

Overall a much improved performance but the "mighty midgets" need a big leader of the line; we are not skillful enough to keep the ball on the ground and beat most of the defences in this league.

Joe Broad went off with what looked like a hamstring injury. So come on Ollie Brokenshire step up to the plate and show you can make the grade.
Finally I hear that there is some discontent amongst some of the players with the coach. Certainly with the lack of organisation shown in the last two games, that would not surprise me.

Cue the incoming mortars.