Torquay 3-13 Clevedon
Worrying mount up for Tics in wake of defeat
Monday,
February 08, 2010, 09:26
South
West One
TORQUAY are right in the thick of a relegation battle
now after this defeat plunged them to third from
bottom in the table.....

Report courtesy of the
Herald Express
The
Tics have been hovering over the danger zone for a
while well aware there was little or no room for
error.
The truth is that depleted Torquay did magnificently
well to hold a vastly superior Clevedon side to a
relatively slender win. Had their own passing and
handling been better – it fluctuated between woeful
and dreadful at times – they may even have scraped a
win.
The
forwards enjoyed an even share of the ball, but what
happened after it left their possession wasn't always
pretty.
Clevedon didn't always make the best of the chances
they had – and were harried into mistakes at every
turn by Torquay's cobbled-together defence.
But Clevedon had enough ball to afford a mistake or
several and did put away two tries, neither of which
Torquay could complain about.
That's six defeats in a row now for the Tics. Home
supporters haven't seen their team win since October
10 when they defeated Ivybridge 14-8. Sidmouth moved
ahead of them out of the bottom three on the back of
a win over Ivybridge on Saturday. Right behind them
on points difference only are Yatton.
Two of Torquay's next three games are against
Sidmouth and Yatton. The other is at Paignton this
Saturday Nothing less than four points out of six
will do now to start moving in the right direction up
the table.
Torquay's backline was horribly depleted due to
injuries, but the team made the best of a bad job and
got on with it.
Clevedon went ahead on 15 minutes when Torquay were
penalised for a high tackle and Steve Johnson took
the three points on offer.
Regular Torquay scrum-half Ed Cribb – who did a
sterling job in a strange position on the right wing
– appeared to have put Chris Dorling in for a try but
the move was called back for a forward pass.
Clevedon scored a good-looking try on 22 minutes when
Tom O'Rourke's run split the home defence and
wing-forward Owen Biggins followed up behind to claim
the try.
Torquay attacked from the restart, won the ball back
in the Clevedon 22 and got the visitors in such a
fluster they gave away a penalty that James Wood
kicked for 8-3 at half time.
The second half was played out largely between the
22s with opportunities limited at either end.
Seven minutes in Clevedon attacked along the
grandstand side. Tom Thie chipped and Johnson chased
to carry the ball over in Clubhouse
Corner.