PREVIEW

Steve Harris

@steveharris84

MATCH DETAILS

Torquay United versus Truro City – NLS

Venue: Plainmoor

Date: Saturday 26th December 2023

Kick-off: 3pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Torquay: 2

Draw: 0

Truro: 0

FORM GUIDE

Torquay: W, W, W, W, W, L

Truro: L, W, W, L, W, W

TOP SCORERS

Torquay: Aaron Jarvis/Brad Ash (9 each)

Truro: Tyler Harvey/Andrew Neal (7 each)

TRURO FACTFILE

Year founded: 1889

Nickname: The White Tigers

Last season’s league finish: 3rd in Southern Premier Division South
(promoted via the play-offs)

Notable honours:

FA Vase winners: 2006-07

Southern League Premier Champions: 2010-11

Southern League Division South and West Champions: 2008-09

MANAGER – PAUL WOTTON

After making his debut for his hometown Plymouth Argyle as a teenager in the 1994-95 campaign, Paul Wotton went on to captain the Pilgrims to their Third Division championship under Paul Sturrock in the 2001-02 season. Two years later, he also captained Argyle to the Second Division title in the 2003-04 campaign and remained a regular at Home Park until his release at the end of the 2008-09 season.

Spells with Southampton and Yeovil Town followed before Wotton returned to Home Park midway through the 2011-12 season. When he returned to Home Park, the Pilgrims had just exited Administration and were fighting to avoid being relegated from the Football League. He played a key role in helping the Pilgrims retain their place in League Two under Carl Fletcher. Wotton then remained at Home Park for the remainder of his playing career before joining the Argyle coaching staff in 2014. Wotton worked as first team coach under both John Sheridan and Derek Adams. He rose to the position of assistant manager, which he held until him and Adams were dismissed from their respective roles towards the end of the 2018-19 season, before becoming Truro manager in the summer of 2019.

In the 2022-23 season, he led the White Tigers back to the National League South through the Southern Premier Division South play-offs.

WOTTON STATS

Date of Birth: 17/08/77 (46)

Appointed: 4th Jul 2019

Other Clubs Managed: None

PLAYER TO WATCH – TYLER HARVEY

Former Plymouth Argyle starlet Tyler Harvey is currently in his second spell with the White Tigers after re-joining the club from Bath City in 2019. Harvey broke into the Argyle side as a 17-year-old and scored his first goal for the Pilgrims against the Gulls in a 1-1 draw on Boxing Day 2012.

Harvey left Home Park in 2016 to sign for Wrexham– but would return to the South West midway through the 2016-17 season when he was loaned to Bath City. His next move would see him sign for Truro City, where he stayed until 2019 when he signed for Bath on a permanent basis. He soon re-joined the White Tigers and has been the club’s top scorer in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.

HARVEY STATS

Position: Striker

Date of Birth: 29/07/95 (28)

Birthplace: Plymouth

Height: 1.85m

Former Clubs: Plymouth, Salisbury, Bath, Wrexham

OLD BOYS

Torquay: None

Truro: Ed Palmer, James Hamon, Ryan Law

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

Torquay

Mark Halstead

Ross Marshall – Ollie Tomlinson – Dean Moxey – Archie Harris

Lewis Collins – Ryan Hanson – Ethon Archer

Dillon De Silva – Theo Williams – Osman Foyo

Truro

James Hamon

Connor Riley-Lowe – Ed Palmer – Tom Harrison – Sam Sanders – Ryan Law

Will Dean – Ryan Brett – Adam Porter

Tyler Harvey – Harvey Greenslade

LAST MEETING

Tuesday 1st January 2019: Truro City 1 Torquay United 3

Two goals from Jamie Reid – his 17th and 18th of the season – and one from livewire Kalvin Kalala saw Torquay overpower Truro for the second time in six days, setting a new club record of nine successive league wins in the process.

Just as they did in the Boxing Day meeting between these two teams, Truro took the lead with a peach of a goal. Niall Thompson intercepted a careless pass from Liam Davis, raced forward and crossed for Jared Lewington to head home.

But Jamie Reid kept up the quality for United, driving in a fierce low shot from 30 yards to level the scores. With 12 minutes to go Reid scored his 18th goal of the season to give United the lead.

Truro’s Niall Thompson was sent off for a second yellow card moments after Reid’s second goal.

Kalvin Kalala got a third for Torquay five minutes from time.