MATCH VERDICT

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive reports back from Longmead Stadium

TONBRIDGE ANGELS 0-1 TORQUAY UNITED – 08.03.25

SUMMARY

On the first warm Saturday afternoon of the year Torquay made it back-to-back wins on the road, with Jordan Young’s first half strike securing a “clutch” three points for Paul Wotton’s resurgent Yellows.

Torquay started brightly, with Hasani, Young and Jay keeping the ball well and probing for openings. There was a lucky escape on a rare Tonbridge break. Sam Dreyer lost Jack Wood, and the former Torquay loanee dinked his finish just wide with James Hamon’s goal at his mercy.

Around the half hour mark Lirak Hasani had a clash of heads with Mikey Berry. He recovered, but the Tonbridge player looked very wobbly as he was helped off.

There was nothing wobbly about what happened next. On 35 minutes Matt Carson stormed down the left. His low cross ricocheted off a couple of defenders on the near post before dropping to the goal-hungry Matt Jay. Jay’s shot struck the upright and rebounded to Jordan Young 7 yards out. He hit a high-quality first-time finish across keeper and covering defender into the top corner.

I can highly recommend the new BBC Sounds “Commentators’ View” podcast. Thanks to this new obsession I now know a better way to describe Young’s goal. He placed it, with pace, beautifully into the very top left-hand corner. It was “postage stamp” or “top bins”. But Brazil taught the world how to play beautiful football, and there is a Portuguese phrase that encapsulates it so much better.

After screaming gooooooooooooooooooal for a few seconds, a Brazilian commentator would have said that he put the ball:

“Onde dorme a coruja!: “WHERE THE OWL SLEEPS!”

Our new signing Offrande (“Ozzy”) Zanzala doesn’t bring Brazil to mind, but he has started his spell at Plainmoor magnificently. He will run all day- even, as yesterday, on one leg- and just before half time a first time Young through ball put him clear on goal. He went most of the way round Matthew Rowley but couldn’t get his shot off quickly enough.

It meant a tight second half. Tonbridge hit the goal frame early, but overall Torquay were good enough in possession to limit the hosts to few real opportunities. We had one cleared off the line following a corner and Hasani stood out in a really strong midfield.

There were other scares. Mo Dabre will be convinced he should have had a penalty. Hamon had initially done well to thwart a through ball, but in trying to reach the rebound he took man and ball on the right edge of the box. Tonbridge were adamant it should have been a spot kick and manager Jay Saunders was sent off for his protests. But the referee gave very little all afternoon and in that, at least, he was consistent having earlier booked Zanzala for what he thought was “simulation”. An injury time set-piece blitz was repelled- there was an important save by Hamon- but ultimately Torquay deserved their narrow win.

After some very unhappy afternoons at Longmead Stadium we were finally able to start that long walk back to the station with a spring in our steps and joy in our hearts!

PLAYER RATINGS

James Hamon – 7: An important save near the end. Probably lucky not to have given away a penalty shortly beforehand, but credit to James for a vital clean sheet

Matt Carson – 8: His best game since the early weeks of the season. Matt is likely to get a rest soon, as first choice left back Jay Foulston returns and he links up again with Northern Ireland, but he produced a performance of pace, heart and desire.

Sam Dreyer – 6.5: A couple of shaky moments in the first half but rallied and as usual was calm in possession.

Jordan Dyer – 7: Set and forget with this lad. Solid and dependable as usual.

Jordan Thomas – 7: A decent 90 minutes on the right flank.

Lirak Hasani – 8: Just what we needed in midfield. Good energy and consistently used the ball well. Martin Gritton said he was a strong contender for Man of the Match.

Dan Hayfield – 7: In truth, I can’t remember too much from Dan, but he’s a steady presence in midfield who can run all day.

Will Jenkins-Davies – 7: Good energy and decent in possession.

Matt Jay – 8: On an artificial pitch it’s really helpful to have players who can receive the ball and look after it. Matt is that man. Was the width of a post away from making it 5 goals in 5 games. Carl Airey can rest easy.

Offrande Zanzala – 8: Ozzy had a frustrating afternoon on a personal basis. Booked for simulation and missed a big chance. But I’ll tell you what, he is worth his weight in gold to Paul Wotton at the moment and his presence in the forward line despite clearly struggling with the knee injury he picked up at Chippenham on Tuesday was invaluable.

Jordan Young – 8.5: His first-time finish was the difference. You really wouldn’t have wanted the chance to fall to anyone else. I don’t know if he can boss the National League but he must surely be one of the most valuable players in the sixth tier.

SUBS:

Threlkeld (for Hasani, 84) – n/a

Foulston (for Carson, 84) – n/a

Palmer (for Jay, 90) – n/a

MAN OF THE MATCH – JORDAN YOUNG

For his high-quality strike and all-round excellence throughout the afternoon I am going to give it to Jordan Young. I’m pleased to say there were several genuine contenders and I know it seems like the easy option, but without his calm skill under pressure we might only be talking about a creditable draw rather than a joyous win.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Loads!

Lirak Hasani – a tremendous display, perhaps his best for the club. He showed the energy which is his trademark, but added a lot of quality. Kept and used the ball well, allowing us to spend lengthy spells in the opponent’s half.

Offrande Zanzala – Brave, committed and effective. He gave the attack a focus despite clearly being in frequent pain with his knee- a legacy of his critical goal at Chippenham on Tuesday night. Without him making himself available I believe things would have been very different and although footballers now have to look after themselves I would love the chance to buy him a pint. Or a gallon. We can all think of strikers from previous Torquay squads who would have sacked it off today. Ozzy deserves huge credit for his attitude since joining us. He has made a difference in every game.

Matt Carson – Matt has had many ups and downs this season. He arrived in July as a highly promising left wing-back and in preseason and those sunny first few games he earned himself an improved contract. As winter and the hard realities of men’s football set in, his form dipped and at times he has looked a weak link when required to play as a full back. What he won’t do is stop trying, and yesterday there were several excellent bursts, one of which led to the goal. If this is a sign-off from him with first choice Jay Foulston coming back to fitness, he’s left the manager with some good memories. If he keeps working hard he should go on to do well in the game.

TACTICS

It sounds so simple when you write it down, but the best thing we did yesterday was simply to keep the ball. You don’t need 65% possession to win football matches, but it’s much more difficult when you are penned in your own half for long periods. That was how we got our result yesterday. In particular, Hasani, Young and Jay kept the ball well, used it intelligently and greatly reduced the pressure on our back four. We lined up again in a 4-3-3 with Jay and Young each side of the Trojan Zanzala. For the most part we won the midfield battle and although we all know it’s the hope that kills you two away wins in a week (which have had to be worked very hard for) have brought that back.

OFFICIALS

I’ve been listening back to the Radio Devon commentary this morning. It’s fair to say Harry Salvidge & Martin Gritton wouldn’t have given referee Dan England 5 stars. Having said that, he clearly knew his own mind, and was consistent in wanting to award only stonewall penalties. He booked Zanzala for, in his view, going down too easily and enraged the home supporters by waving play on when Hamon cleaned out Dabre.

OPPOSITION

Tonbridge didn’t and won’t ever lie down. They will say they deserved a point and if a couple more things had gone their way they may well have got one. Their fans appear to have been genuinely sorry to see Ryan Hanson (hapless for us, wholehearted for them) go on Friday. The remaining ex-Gulls were centre back Ronnie Nelson and winger Jack Wood. I felt sorry for Nelson. I’m sure he will continue to do a job at this level, but the current fetish for “playing out from the back” means he finds himself with the ball at his feet by the six yard box way too often for comfort. He’s not a ball-player. He is a beanpole who can head it, kick it and fight with centre forwards. I bet he just wants to be allowed to do that. I thought Jack had a decent afternoon, and was probably one of their main threats. If he’d been slightly more accurate with his early chance this might have been a very different match report.

KEY MOMENT

We never saw it. It was the conversation between Ozzy Zanzala and Paul Wotton on Saturday morning, which led to the big fella putting heart, soul and knee into a big 90 minutes for the Gulls.

It might have gone something like this:

PW: “Alright Ozzy, how’s the knee mate?”

OZ: “Sore Boss. I’ll play if you need me though.”

PW: “Legend, Ozzy. If you can’t play, I’ll probably have to stick Mike Edwards up front and put Simon Baker on the bench”.

OZ: “You can bring me off after an hour, yeah?”

PW: “See how it goes Ozzy, Good luck mate!”

CONCLUSION

Last March an administration-haunted Torquay United were hammered 4-1 by a mid-table Tonbridge side. Nearly everybody who was there that afternoon was also in attendance yesterday. Fortunately, that did not include the old regime. The new regime, on the other hand, were making themselves seen and standing with fans behind the goal. Just a week after that Borehamwood heartbreak, this second good result in 4 days leaves us looking up rather than down. Just occasionally, if you keep buying a ticket you can win a lottery. We kept the faith. Roll up, roll up for Salisbury on Tuesday night!