FULL TIME – GULLS 2 NORTHWICH 1
How close was that, for that matter? A truly clueless performance in the second half, and Northwich might feel more than a little hard done by. But we’ve got away with murder there. Sills came on and saved the day, and maybe took some of the pressure off the manager.

GOAL – GULLS 2 NORTHWICH 1
PENALTY FOR GULLS IN THE 95TH MINUTE.
Welch fouls Benyon and gets a booking for his troubles. Dino Maamria storms off down the touchline after an angry exchange with the fourth official. Tim Sills waits as cool as you like, and chips the ball into the top corner. How cool was that?

Carlisle puts a free kick over the bar from 25 yards in the 93rd minute.

The fourth official has signalled five minutes of added time. Can we possibly nick this? Lee Steele is replaced by Phil Marsh in the visiting team.

There are three minutes left, and Mark Roberts denies Benyon with a great tackle. Wayne Carlisle has just failed to clear the first defender with a free kick from the right with the penalty area packed with Gulls players and that, ladies and gents, just about sums up the kind of schoolboy errors we are making today.

We are making elementary mistakes all over the pitch here. Tyrone Thompson has just transformed an attacking move into desperate defence. Both teams have scored from their only efforts on target and on this form the bottom end of the BSP is the right place for both of them.

Mr Sainsbury is over by the bench asking the Northwich boss to calm down, but the tensions are running high here. Both teams, and let’s face it both managers, need this win very badly indeed.

In the 78th minute Carlisle races in on a Sills through ball but Tynan is out again to deny him.We’re making our third and last change, with Danny Stevens on for Carayol in the 79th minute.

And Paul Barratt heads over for Northwich from another Mullan cross.

What a chance. Carlisle puts Sills away in the 74th minute, he squares for Benyon but Welch just gets a toe in before Benyon can get there. The ball runs away for a corner.

The attendance here is 1,758.

Darryn Stamp hobbles off for Northwich to be replaced by Paul Barratt. Jonny Allen will play up alongside Steele now, and Northwich must be thinking they can go on and win this.

Sills lashes one over the top in the 67th minute after a good run by Carlisle. Sills has already given us more in 10 minutes than Matt Green did in the previous 57. Robertson is booked for pulling Mullan’s shirt.

Hodges curls a free kick just wide after 63 minutes. If we don’t win this, things are even worse than we thought…

Mullan has really livened things up for Northwich, and he’s giving Lee Hodges some headaches down the wing.

Sills is on for the lacklustre Green after 57 minutes, and he wins his first challenge in the air. Sills/Benyon has to be the best combination up front, and with an hour of this gone, at last we have it. Now will it work?

Northwich just had a great shout for a penalty turned down. Robertson just felled Stamp as the Northwich player closed in on the ball eight yards out. Mr Sainsbury says no, and Northwich boss Dino Maamria is livid. I would be, too.

GOAL – GULLS 1 NORTHWICH 1
And in the 53rd minute Lee Steele equalises with a crisp left foot finish from 10 yards after being put in by Stamp. A player of his pedigree was never going to miss the target from there, and the keeper couldn’t get to it. The 50 or so Northwich fans behind Poke’s goal go nuts, and so they should.

Crowell has just missed a tremendous chance for Northwich in the 51st minute. He was 10 yards out and volleyed over with just Poke to beat, after Stamp had chested a cross down to him. That was a great chance.

THE SECOND HALF STARTS HERE:
A substitution on each side, with Tyrone Thompson replacing Steve Woods, who seemed to have twanged something painful while clearing the ball. Sure enough, the pale and wan boy is off for Northwich, and Jamie Mullan has come on.
Thompson seems to have gone to right back, with Robertson dropping inside.

There’s a bloke out on the pitch singing ‘Uncle Tom Cobley’ for reasons which have not been made clear. No-one seems to be joining in. We think it’s something to do with BBC Radio Devon.

HALF TIME – GULLS 1 NORTHWICH 0
That’s a satisfactory half for us, although we would all be happier if we were another goal or two up. We have to kill this game off inside the hour or we could be in for some late trouble again. Matt Green has been curiously ineffective up front for us, but maybe he’ll play himself into form in the second half. For them, we have never seen a more pale and wan footballer than Mark King. The Northwich midfielder looks as if he turned up for work experience at Northwich and was asked to bring his boots.

There’s a minute to go until the break, and Darryn Stamp heads over for Northwich as a cross finds him at the far post.

Tynan’s on the move again in the 40th minute, sprinting out to deny Benyon again.

A great cross from the left by Carayol in the 30th minute, but Green can’t quite meet it. Mustapha seems to have the freedom of that side of the ground. Aspin, the Northwich full-back, can’t get near him.

Hargreaves puts Benyon in in the 27th minute but again Tynan is swift off his line with a brave block. Benyon is down and needs treatment but he’s on his feet quickly and back on the field.

Benyon finds Carlisle wide on the right and Carlisle’s cross is a beauty. Northwich clear, but our passing and movement is streets ahead of anything we’ve seen here for the past couple of games.

A bad mistake from Grand at the back for the visitors and Green is in on the keeper again, but the keeper gets there first and clears. Northwich have a corner which Stamp meets with a firm header. Mark Roberts just fails to connect. If he had, it would have been 1-1.

There are 20 minutes gone and two balls on the field. Mr Sainsbury decides to have a bounce-up and it’s contested. I love that.There aren’t enough contested bounce-ups in the modern game.

There’s a little bit of Northwich pressure and Crowell blasts a free kick against Mansell in the Torquay wall.

14 minutes and Matt Green chases down a through-ball. He has the beating of Northwich centre-back Welch but Tynan races off his line and clears.

GOAL – GULLS 1 NORTHWICH 0
Wayne Carlisle puts the Gulls in front on 10 minutes. A Steve Woods free-kick from the left finds him at the far post. For a moment the ball is stuck under his feet, but he stabs it in from six yards or so. A great start!

Nine minutes, and Matty Crowell of Northwich is in the book for kicking the ball away. A silly yellow card, and the kind that gets the managerial hairdryer going at half time.

Three minutes gone, and Green heads a Carayol corner just wide. Green is looking busy, and forces another corner in the fifth. Nothing comes of it, but once again this is a positive start. Stamp has a turn and shot inside our box but it is blocked by Mark Ellis.

And we’re off, playing in all yellow towards the Babbacombe End. Northwich are in green shorts with white sleeves and white shorts and socks.
Some ambitious scores have been chosen in the press box sweepstake today, so there are clearly people expecting this to be the day it all comes good for the Gulls.

GULLS V NORTHWICH – LIVE BLOG
Apologies for the late start to the blog. Our IT chaps say it was something to do with a firewall, but we’re up and running now.
Welcome to sunny Plainmoor once again, where the big news is that Elliot Benyon is in the starting line-up, with Matt Green alongside him. That means Tim Sills drops to the bench and Roscoe Dsane drops out altogether.
Mustapha Carayol also gets a start and Lee Hodges comes in for Kevin Nicholson.
So we line up with Poke in goal; Robertson, Woods, Ellis and Hodges across the back; Carlisle, Hargreaves, Mansell and Carayol across the middle and Benyon and Green up front.
On the bench we have Sills, Wroe, Thompson, Stevens and Yeoman, who will be the third youngest Gull ever if he gets on. David Byng and Lee Sharpe will remain the youngest, but it will be a big day for16-year-old Ashley if he does get on.
Rock-bottom Northwich, without a win yet, line up 5-3-2 with Tynan in goal; Aspin, Welch, Roberts, Grand and Allan across the back; King, Crowell and Flynn across the middle and Steele and Stamp up front.
On the bench for the visitors are Mullan, Barratt, Jones, Bailey and Marsh.
Referee is Andrew Sainsbury from Wiltshire.

.