Torquay United focus turns to Taunton after disappointing defeat

Torquay United’s interim manager Aaron Downes said the focus is now firmly on Tuesday night’s game at Taunton Town, which could make or break either club’s National League South season, after the Gulls were beaten 1-0 at Bath City on Saturday, and Taunton 1-0 won against Farnborough.

Torquay went to Twerton Park with a point less than they were expecting, after having one point deducted by the National League on Friday for playing the suspended Ross Marshall in the recent draw at Weymouth.

And the defeat by Bath - whose goal came from Elliot Frear in just the 10th minute - meant, with other results not going the Gulls’ way, that Torquay will go to Taunton just two points above the relegation zone, with two games to go - and in real jeopardy of dropping into the Southern League next season.

Read More - Bath City 1 Torquay United 0 - Gulls in relegation peril after defeat

Read More - Torquay United docked one point for fielding ineligible player

With Dover Athletic, Havant & Waterlooville and Darford already relegated, win both games and Torquay will be safe, but lose or draw at Taunton on Tuesday and it will be a seriously nervy last day of the season when Havant come to Plainmoor on Saturday, especially if Taunton can get some more points from their game in hand at Weston-super-Mare on Thursday.

Downes said he felt there wasn’t much in it at Bath, but there was a lack of firepower up front with both Aaron Jarvis and Duane Ofori-Acheampong both injured, and the team still missing the experience of Kevin Dawson in midfield. The chances were few and far between for both sides after Frear’s goal, which turned out to be the only one of the game.

Downes said: “The disappointing thing for me is that we go in at one-nil down relatively happy because we have weathered that early storm from them, and then we worked ourselves back into the game and had a couple of good opportunities - albeit longer shots. The second half, going down the hill, I felt we could potentially pen them in, but we didn’t, we kept the game too even.

“The disappointing thing today is we have not been able to cause the goalkeeper too many issues. They haven’t caused our goalkeeper many issues either, don’t get me wrong, but we haven’t done enough to win a football match. I am gutted to lose a game when there’s nothing in it really.

”We came here to win the football match and we didn’t do enough to do that. The players know that, they are disappointed, and what we have got to make sure is we get over this very quickly. So we can digest what has happened now - but my focus firmly now goes on to Tuesday, because it’s a really big game for this football club.”

The squad is so stretched that, with Marshall now suspended for the rest of the season after his red card at Welling United, young defender Callum Thomas was recalled from his loan spell at Tiverton Town. But he wasn’t the youngest player on the four-man bench - that was 17-year-old academy striker Jacob Wellington.

However, Downes chose to move captain Asa Hall into the front line late on to play alongside the hard-working Brad Ash. Downes said: “We didn’t have a cutting edge in the final third, and with 10 minutes to go you have got to do something. It is very difficult to throw on two young lads in Jacob and Callum, so it was a case of putting the big one up, and Asa goes up front and Austen Booth comes into the back. It was just trying to get a physical presence at the top end of the pitch, and move to a 4-4-2.

“It didn’t really work. You are trying and if it comes off you look great and if it doesn’t people shout ‘what are you doing?’ But we are limited a little bit to what we can do - but that’s not an excuse. We had enough on the pitch to win the game today and we didn’t”

Get the best stories delivered to your inbox every day. Choose what you love here