Torquay United want points from Welling as away game run starts

Aaron Downes is getting to know Gloucester City’s Meadow Park quite well after visiting the National League North club’s ground twice this week to see relegation rivals Taunton Town, Truro City and Hemel Hempstead Town in action - before Monday’s away game against Truro, 200 miles from the Cornish city.

Both Taunton and Truro are playing their final National League South games of the season at Meadow Park, which has an artificial pitch, to clear fixture backlogs for both clubs caused by poor pitches at Plymouth Parkway and Taunton. However, Downes lives just 20 miles from the ground, so getting the gen on two teams that Torquay are yet to face in their final five games hasn’t been too much of a problem - just some journeys up the M5 at the end of each day in Torquay, and back down the motorway each morning.

On the two nights Downes spent at the Park, both Truro and Taunton lost, but first and foremost in the interim manager’s mind will have been tomorrow afternoon’s trip to Welling United, another team in the mix at the bottom, before the focus falls then on the game against Truro at Gloucester on Monday.

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Welling are 17th in the table, three points above the Gulls, who dropped a place to 19th on Thursday night when Hemel Heampstead beat Truro to go above the Gulls. But after last weekend’s dramatic 3-3 draw against Weston-super-Mare, fans will be hoping for more of the same in the goals-for column, and less of the goals-against.

With much fewer points being won away than at home this season - fans will also be feeling the jitters, with four games away now, before the final-day visit of Havant & Waterlooville to Plainmoor on Saturday, April 20.

After Welling and Truro, Torquay will go to Bath City on Saturday, April 13, before taking on Taunton in Gloucester on Tuesday, April 16 - although that match may be moved to another night as Truro are supposed to be playing Dover Athletic there on the same day. It could get confusing with four teams playing on the same pitch.

Downes said: “We feel it is an opportunity. Our away form hasn’t been where it should be this season and that has been a big factor of letting us down. So it is an opportunity for us to rectify, to a degree, that away form. And give back, because people pay a lot of money and travel a long way, and put a lot of effort into getting to away games, so it is important that we pay back those loyal supporters, the people that spend a lot of money.

“People, rightly so, let me know how much money they have spent and how far they have travelled, after a match, and I absolutely empathise with that. They are right to say that and we have got to make sure we give them value for money - and we haven’t done that this season. It is an opportunity for us to right a few wrongs.

“Rather than worrying, we are actually quite excited about the next four games away from home. It gives us an opportunity to rectify some of the form that we have had.”

Six points from two games in three days would go a long way to securing Torquay’s National South survival. Downes said: “”We have got to focus, first and foremost, on Welling - the threats and dangers they pose, but also making sure that we just take one game at a time.

“We have got a plan in place on how we turn it around quickly, but those change quickly because you can never tell what’s going to happen on the Saturday. So it might change after the match but hopefully we can stick to it and we can come out with a positive long weekend.”

Striker Aaron Jarvis is unlikely to return for these two games, but Downes has hinted at a return for experienced midfielder Kevin Dawson, who has been missing for the last three games. Finlay Craske is out for the season, but the only other doubt right now is Dan Martin.

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