After the minutes applause in respect for Sir Bobby Robson the game started brightly.
Torquay were at times camped in their own half in the first half with Chesterfield playing some nice attacking football. Both teams began nervously in front of the near-4000 crowd, the weather and the fact that this was the first game of the season obviously creating a level of tension but the game did come to life quite quickly as Tim Sills blasted over in the first minute.
Chesterfield grew in confidence and for the first quarter-of-an-hour they settled into a nice playing style, spreading the play and creating chances.
In the 15th minute it was Torquay’s new loanee Scott Rendell who opened the scoring with a calm and collected finish from close range, Danny Stevens the architect with a low cross into the danger area.
Chesterfield appeared shaken after the goal, having been in control for the majority of the game and never really challenged Scott Bevan’s goal for the remainder of the first half. Niven went close for Chesterfield as he fired towards the bottom corner of Bevan’s goal but the tall keeper was on hand to palm the shot away.
It was to remain 1-0 at half time although Chesterfield felt aggrieved not to be at least level having played the best game on the pitch.
No changes at half time as both teams managers clearly believed that their respective teams were capable of winning the game as they were playing.
While they led by just the one goal Torquay were vulnerable and it was clear that the expectant crowd were nervous coming into the second half. Team talks can change matches, and Chesterfield came out brightly. Talbot missed from close range after ten minutes of the restart and Chesterfield, again, hit the post a minute later.
Torquay doubled their lead on 70 minutes after Lee Mansell headed home from a Tim Sills nod-on in the box. It was to be the end of Chesterfield’s serious fight back and despite one or two well placed shots which Scott Bevan did extremely well to deal with, Torquay were safe.
Three points in the bag and a nice sunny day in front of a large crowd, it was a very pleasing afternoons work for the lads.
Player Ratings
Scott Bevan
A great first performance this season from the Goalkeeper who missed the playoffs due to a calf injury. His pre-season was also spent trying to recover his fitness, however today he performed well with a string of high-quality saves.
Lee Mansell
Chris Todd
Chris Robertson
Kevin Nicholson
Wayne Carlisle
Nicky Wroe
Chris Hargreaves
Danny Stevens
Tim Sills
Scott Rendell
Elliot Benyon
Lee Hodges
Manager Rating
Torquay have made a limited number of transfers over the summer and that showed today with the number of last years playoff final-winning squad. Nine of the eleven were at Wembley with only Elliot Benyon and Martin Rice not starting today. This may have been a massive help to the playing style of the Gulls with most other teams having a large turnover of playing staff.
Well summarised article on the game. I felt that the players initally showed some nerves but quickly settled down . Danny Stevens was definitely the mom so I don’t understand why it was given to Greavsie even though he played his heart out. Some of our players still think that they have the same time on the ball as they had in the Blue Square League and a better side will punish us for that if we don’t speed things up, otherwise an excellent match.
Fulham Gull
I know what you mean about the time on the ball. There is better levels of fitness and speed in this league to passing and moving are going to be a key part of the build up this year as opposed to looking up and placing a long ball or dribbling distances.
I just ope that Bucks gets them working on it this week. Hoping that we can learn a thing or two from Palace tommorow then Dag and Red will learn a thing or two from us on the weekend.