Torquay United 'dealt a tough hand' as relegation fears grow with defeat

Interim manager Aaron Downes said 'the hand we were dealt was a difficult one' at Welling United, where Torquay United lost 1-0 on Saturday to further fans' fears of relegation to the Southern League.

With one eye on Monday's trip to Gloucester to play Truro City on their borrowed artificial pitch, Downes made a few changes after the 3-3 draw against Weston-super-Mare - but his plans were shot out of the water after 20 minutes when Ross Marshall fouled Anthony Grant and was immediately sent off.

Kevin Dawson, who had just shaken off an injury to be recalled, then said he couldn't continue - and in the 34th minute, the third blow was a goal by Jason Adigun that Torquay shouldn't have allowed. There were chances to stop the move before the shot, which goalkeeper Mark Halstead should have saved anyway.

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Although Torquay were by far the better team in the second half, they couldn't find a way back - and the result, a bad one, means the Gulls go to Gloucester just two points above the National League South drop zone. With just four games to go now, it is paramount that they at least get two wins - if not more - to survive.

Downes said: "The second half performance was fantastic from the boys. The hand we were dealt was a difficult one, being 1-0 down and down to 10 men. I thought, bar scoring a goal, the boys were superb.

"I praised them, the lads that finished the game and the lads that came on, because it was a difficult challenge and they absolutely gave everything in that second half. And I don't know how we have come away without a result there. We deserved something out of that game, the boys deserved something out of that game.

"I am disappointed for them, but there are obviously clear incidents that happened in the first half that put us on the back foot. It was a red card, we are not going to moan about that, the ref has made the right decision. And the reaction from that, we were sort of rocked a little bit. We tried to galvanise and just stay in the game - and then we conceded a soft goal, really. Just got caught out a little bit on one side.

"I am absolutely gutted that we have not drawn or won this game. The situation we are in is about points, is about results. We have got to take some positives from it but at the end of the day we have lost the match and it makes Monday's game a really, really big one for us - because we have to go there, we have to put in a performance, and we have to win the game. If we play like they did in the second half, we will win on Monday night."

Downes said they will assess Dawson's injury but that he trained well on Thursday and Friday and was fit to play. One player whose season looks over though, is Marshall, who has been sent off twice now this season and will almost certainly be banned for the final four games. It was a reckless challenge and one that cost his team dear.

But Downes insists that with 11 players on the pitch against Truro, the points are there for the taking. "We have just got to make sure that we don't make the errors that we made in the first half, and that we put 11 v 11, the same application and the same attitude with 11 v 11 on Monday - and I am ever so confident in the boys," he said.

Results elsewhere didn't help. Torquay were the only relegation-threatened team to count that lost. Havant & Waterlooville lost but they are almost down and it would have been better if they had not handed all three points to Dartford, who closed the gap on Torquay to just two points.

But with three away games left and a last-day match against Havant at Plainmoor, Downes says Torquay's survival is still in Torquay's hands.

"We have got to make sure it stays that way," he said. "It's about picking up results quickly. I know what people will throw at me and that's fair enough - but my role is to get the best out of these players, and I feel they have given everything for this football club today."

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