TT BLOG

Dom Roman

@DomRoman

Dom discusses the Gulls

FINDING UNITY

I normally miss Torquay United’s first game in the FA Trophy, and in all honesty, I could have also missed last Saturday’s. But with my wife sympathetic to my footballing needs (the previous Saturday I had trooped out to see some very local football!), a reasonable ticket price, not to mention the company of family assured and updates on Facebook to make, I decided to take the trip to Plainmoor. Optimism was fairly low about a re-match with Yeovil Town, but there is always hope and by the end of the afternoon I was glad I took the plunge. It was a game to warm the cockles, and a game in which Torquay United gave a fair impression of a decent football team!

The line-up changes helped, most specifically the introduction of Callum Dolan and Dillon De Silva. United have taken the term ‘workmanlike’ to the extreme in the early months of 22/23, too predictable and grinding, a nice bunch of lads trying, but often failing, to raise our pulses. Dolan looked promising on his debut at Hampton, and it was disappointing when he succumbed to some kind of injury soon after. But he returned with a bang. ‘Give me the ball and I will make something happen’. A clever turn, quick thinking and the midfielder spread play out to De Silva. The finish arrived and so had Torquay United, an early goal for once and the Glovers were in trouble.

Callum looks like the kind of player we were hoping Brett McGavin would be last season. Alongside a forward thinking attitude and ability on the ball, he plays with some swagger and cockiness, and those assets combined make him a player with plenty of potential. He likes to drift into space outside the penalty area, and during the second half there were opportunities to get him the ball and see what he could do. His goal was a sweet little turn and the right footed shot was perfect, head over the ball, bottom corner, we don’t see very much of that at Plainmoor and in that mood I fancy him to score more in the coming weeks. A confident player who helps make Torquay United fun to watch? They are always welcome.

Dillon De Silva received criticism for his performances early in the season, but to be fair to the winger he was, I believe, carrying a knock and not fully fit. Thankfully this was not the case on Saturday. I have always liked Dillon, he’s frustrating at times, a player who can waste crosses and run into dead ends…but he’s also got plenty of positive attributes. He’s pacey, balanced, tricky and can finish, and DDS showed all those things against the Glovers. Hogging the touchline, United enjoyed the width he gave us and the chance to move through the gears, attacking quickly, it was a refreshing change to watch a strong balanced attack.

In truth the whole team stood up and showed something, from the almost written off Dylan Crowe, who had energy and determination down the left to the much-maligned Ryan Hanson, who was desperate to put himself about, whilst strikers Bradley Ash and Theo Williams were a nuisance to the Yeovil defence throughout. Williams stands out to me. He’s a clever little player with an appreciation of where to be in the attacking third, makes intelligent runs and isn’t afraid to throw himself into challenges and use his speed to run at defenders. Whatever he’s learning at Fleetwood, it’s working! Gary Johnson will surely be sweet talking his son in the coming weeks to keep Williams and Dolan for as long as possible.

That’s three wins in the last four for United. Is this a period where we will start putting in consistent performances, show our professional ‘expertise’ and make us all believe that renewing our season tickets wasn’t a silly decision after all?! Maybe. The run of games we have now (see above) are very winnable, but there’s also a chance we’ll slip up at the likes of Dartford or Eastbourne. United have found the more chaotic away fixtures tough to control this season and defensively, even against Havant, we were shipping chances, so I need convincing that Gary Johnson is finding a winning formula.

But if we can replicate the hard work and unity shown in Saturday’s win, concentrate defensively, play football in the right areas and give Callum Dolan space to shoot at goal, then this freshened up Gulls squad could start to motor.. No promises mind, trusting this team and their manager is fraught with danger! Let’s take one game at a time and bring all 3 points back from Dartford to start with, that’ll do nicely.