Ling: 'We are giving ourselves a chance of competing at the top'
When former Shrimpers winger, and Borient boss, Martin Ling left Roots Hall after a 4-1 thrashing with his present club Torquay back on October 22nd, their were calls from the Gulls faithful for his head.
The board didn't listen, and the team went on to win five successive games after that miserable Saturday afternoon, (for them, I quite enjoyed it), and have now lost only twice in 14, including three 2-1 away wins in a row, to move them into the play-off zone, eight points behind the league leaders Southend.
Ling said after victory at the Globe Arena: "It was a really good win for us in really difficult conditions. I thought we were excellent in the first half when Morecambe had the wind behind them. We kept our shape and played some really good football and thoroughly deserved to be ahead at half-time and perhaps should have had a bigger lead than we did with the pressure we had. We didn't play as well with the wind in the second half but we restricted Morecambe to very few chances until the end of the game when they caused us a few problems. But I think we deserved the three points in the end and I have to give the lads a lot of credit because to win three games in a row away from home is a great achievement. Our form is excellent at the moment and we are giving ourselves a chance of competing at the top."
The dreaded Manager of the Month award could be on the cards if Lingy keeps this up!
Beeb highlights from Shrimps v Gulls: http://news.bbc.co.uk
And with a home game Tuesday evening against second from bottom Dagenham & Redbridge, they could edge even closer!
Ling will have a fully-fit squad to take on the Daggers and told www.torquayunited.com: "Everybody is fit and all 22 players trained together today. Our physio Damian Davey is taking all the credit at the moment and he's got his feet up. It's brilliant to have everyone available and we'll go with the same 18-man squad we took to morecambe on Saturday. We'll pick a side to hopefully win the game from that group."
Southend United will play the Gulls at Plainmoor on Saturday, April 14th, a long weekend maybe on the cards!
Stevens: 'We nearly got promoted last year so we're hoping to go one better from last year'
However, any talk of the League Two play-offs around the club is premature, according to midfielder Danny Stevens.
Fair enough, it is January!
Stevens, who has featured 25 times for the Plainmoor club this season, insists everyone associated with Torquay should not be looking too far ahead.
He said: "No-one's really talking about the play-offs, we don't want to be getting over-confident. We play every game as it comes and keep on from there. There's 20-odd games left, it's way too soon to be talking about it. We are a bit higher, I think, than we were last year but we don't need to look too far ahead. We nearly got promoted last year so we're hoping to go one better from last year. We've got a new manager and he's come in and gets on with the lads and runs it a bit differently but hopefully we can keep pushing on and we'll see where that gets us."
The Gulls lost 1-0 to Stevenage at Wembley in last season's League Two play-off final.
The Ling Files
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Martin Ling | ||
| Date of birth | 15 July 1966 | ||
| Place of birth | West Ham, London, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1983–1986 | Exeter City | 117 | (14) |
| 1986 | Swindon Town | 2 | (0) |
| 1986–1991 | Southend United | 136 | (30) |
| 1991 | → Mansfield Town (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 1991–1996 | Swindon Town | 150 | (10) |
| 1996–2000 | Leyton Orient | 148 | (8) |
| 2000 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 8 | (1) |
| Total | 564 | (63) | |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2003–2009 | Leyton Orient | ||
| 2009 | Cambridge United | ||
| 2009–2011 | Cambridge United | ||
| 2011– | Torquay United | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
(Full manager info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Ling)
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