OPPOSITION Q&A

Andy discusses the Terras

TUFC SITUATION & TICKET GESTURE

My first and foremost thought is one of sadness that a proud club with a great history and large, passionate fanbase such as Torquay United has found itself in this desperate situation – one which I sincerely hope is short-lived and ends happily for all Gulls supporters.

As for Weymouth FC’s gesture, having been so close to going out of existence ourselves as recently as summer 2022, I can empathise with Torquay fans right now, as clearly can our Chairman, Paul Maitland who led that rescue mission, so the gesture (alongside that of agreeing to postpone our fixture last Saturday’s at Maidstone to enable them to prepare for their FA Cup tie) fills me with considerable pride.

I hope it encourages many more Gulls fans to make the relatively short journey on Saturday but even if we don’t make much by way extra revenue, the PR with all the supportive social media comments, not just from TUFC fans, but the non-league football world in general is most heartening.

SEASON SO FAR

Just about satisfactory. After our miraculous escape last season, all I’m wanting from this is to avoid relegation mathematically a couple of weeks earlier than the last match. We’re not wealthy enough to compete with the big boys (see 1 above) just yet so we need to rebuild organically. We’re not out of danger but I think we’ll do enough.

FORM

Very inconsistent. We’ve taken one point from the last four matches, albeit against top sides like Chelmsford, Worthing and St. Albans but prior to that won four on the bounce. Will the real Weymouth please stand up!

HIGHLIGHTS

Very few really but recently we’ve seen some magnificent and exciting late comebacks at home – 3-3 v Weston-super-Mare when 3-1 down and 4-3 v Hemel Hempstead when 2-3 down in 85th minute. There was also a very accomplished 3-0 win at home to an in-form Slough Town recently but the highlight for me would be the 3-2 victory away to WSM on Boxing Day when we were in poor form. It was a very good performance against a good side and gave us a lot of belief.

KEY PLAYERS

Our captain and midfielder Tom Bearwish is for me the number one crucial player. A local lad who used to support WFC from the terraces, and his passion is clearly evident. Not only that, but he is also a very skilful player with a great engine – a model skipper. Brandon Goodship is perhaps our most well-known player who struggled early season but has been a revelation in the last couple of months since dropping into a less forward role and has 11 league goals to his credit. Recent loan signing from Yeovil Town Malachi Linton is a quick, tricky forward who your defence would do well to be wary of.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

If I were to tell you that in just six matches at the Bob Lucas Stadium in 2024 we’ve scored 16 times yet conceded 17, you’d get a pretty good flavour of our strengths and weaknesses! Last Tuesday evening’s match against St. Albans was a pretty good case in point. 1-2 down, we equalised in the 84th minute and incredibly took the lead in the 89th. That should have been enough for three points, but no, we conceded an equaliser in the 95th and still relied on an offside flag to rule out a St. Albans winner!

BEST OPPOSITION

Worthing were superb here three weeks ago winning 4-1. Despite going down to 10 men on 14 minutes, they worked their socks off containing us and broke with such speed and precision we couldn’t contain them. I rarely note individual opposition players but one couldn’t help notice what an exceptional player Ollie Pearce is for Worthing and why he’s head and shoulders above everyone else in the goalscoring charts. He scored a hat-trick that day – we had no answer to him.

PRE-MATCH REFRESHMENTS

The nearest pub to the ground is The John Gregory in Southill, a sports pub ten minutes’ walk away and there are numerous good pubs in the town centre – The Market House is a good football one which a group of Terras fans frequent – but that’s a good half an hour’s walk to the stadium.

However, as segregation will be in place for the game I expect we’ll open our “away supporters” bar at the ground so in return for our gesture, I would hope Gulls fans will choose to put their beer (other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages are available) money into Weymouth FC’s coffers!

THE CROWD

Difficult to tell now – a lot depends how many Gulls supporters answer the rallying call and make the journey. Other than Yeovil (on Easter Monday) it’s going to be our best attended match.