Upward left frustrated by Torquay’s time-wasting
Maidenhead United midfielder Ryan Upward (below) was left bemoaning Torquay United’s game management after they defeated the Magpies at home this week.
Goals from Aaron Jarvis and Frank Nouble (two) got Gary Johnson’s side three goals to the good before Shawn McCoulsky scored what proved to be a consolation in the 75th minute.
At full-time, Upward was openly critical of the Gulls’ ‘timewasting’, saying that they were intent on slowing the game down long before McCoulsky’s finish.
“The ref bought everything they did. They fell over with any slight contact, if one of us put our arm out to feel a player, the ref gave a foul for a push. How he only added on four minutes at the end too is beyond me,” he said.
“There’s a few bad decisions that have been made today.
“Shaun Donnellan, their right centre-half, was with us last year or the year before. He’s an absolute mastermind at time-wasting and going down easily.
“I remember away to Torquay, he wound their fans up so much they wanted to fight him. Now he’s at Torquay, doing the timewasting for them.
“It’s very frustrating, but they did what they had to do to win.”
A fair few supporters were probably surprised Monday’s clash went ahead considering the torrential downpour in the morning. The rain had stopped by 3pm but York Road and its occupants were still subjected to forceful gusts and blinding sunshine which the Magpies found particularly difficult to deal with in the second half.
“Those were tough conditions to play in,” said Upward.
“We didn’t take advantage in the first half when we were going down the slope with the wind at our backs. In the second half, the sun was right in our eyes and that made it hard to play or do certain things.
“These aren’t excuses though. We didn’t take our chances and they got their first goal at the perfect time. In the second half, we made two mistakes for their other two goals.
“Once we scored, I thought we would have put the pressure on them but we didn’t. We didn’t create enough or our final ball wasn’t good enough, including mine.
“Overall, they probably deserved the win. They have won four on the bounce now and are in survival mode.
“We’ve got to win a game at least to definitely be safe. We just have to push on to Oldham Athletic now.”