TALKING POINTS

Clive Hayward – Byehorse

Clive discusses the Gulls’ start to the season

Sunday. Time to take a breath, take a beat, take a walk, take a carload to the tip. It’s a day for many of us to relax (sorry ambulance drivers and supermarket workers).

I often relax by writing about Torquay United, and here are a few thoughts from me as Autumn begins and our thoughts turn to Hampton, Ebbsfleet and the FA Cup.

SIX GAMES IN

Football fans are creatures of habit, and perspective isn’t always our strength. When our team has won, all is well with the world, but defeats often bring anger, doubt and dismay. The Gulls messed it up at Hemel yesterday, and a new spiral of disillusion began as soon as the final whistle was blown.

It was a third away game without a win, and the loss sees us drop from second to seventh in an early season league table which sees nine clubs covered by three points. You could throw a blanket over Weston, Hampton, Totton, Hemel, Chelmsford, Maidstone, Dorking Ebbsfleet and ourselves. To judge by some of the reaction online United also deserve a hood, a priest and a firing squad.

Which is nonsense.

There are clearly concerns about the away form, which arguably cost us the title last year. Horsham and Hemel were back-to-back poor performances where games of fine margins went the wrong way when with a little more skill and application we could have gathered points.

Paul Wotton appeared quite stressed in his weekly press call, and his comments after Hemel left no doubt as to his thoughts on his team’s performance. The first time I met him, in the heady days of summer 2024, he told me one thing he could promise fans was that his players would run. He places great store- rightly- on the nasty stuff. The unglamourous parts of the sport which are the basis from which games can be won:

“I’m shocked. I’m shocked at our performance. I don’t know where it’s come from. I think the first half was abject at best. Listen, if we can’t do the basis properly- forget the injuries and who’s coming off and all that- … if you’re not prepared to run and fight and sweat for the club you’re representing that’s what happens… I’m beyond angry…. We prepared properly and that’s not good enough.”

The manager is right. Running, fighting and sweating are the bare minimum for any footballer. They are the building blocks. He sets great store by them, so you can appreciate his anger if he’s not seeing it. This was as angry as I have seen him post-match since the FA Cup debacle at Bishops Cleeve last September.

A couple of Torquay players definitely had their cards marked that day. They were swiftly loaned out and are now plying their trade elsewhere.

But wholsesale changes cannot happen this September. We haven’t got the players or the money to cut a swathe through any under-achievers. As we know, the playing budget is pretty much spent up- for now at least- and Wotton’s room for manoeuvre is severely restrained by an injury crisis that makes the Charge of the Light Brigade look like a teddy bear’s picnic.

We went into Saturday with Lo Everton, Dolan, Sundire, Morgan and Fish unavailable: five key players who had arrived in the close season with a brief to give us that extra spark we would need for a championship challenge. Believe it or not, Saturday also saw an injury to skipper Matt Worthington: his efforts to carry the midfield almost single handedly severely hampered by a dead leg.

By National League South standards though, we were still able to put out a decent eleven. The likes of Sam Dreyer, Matt Jay, Jordan Young and Cody Cooke would walk into most opponents’ teams.

But very little was created going forwards. A Dan Hayfield effort struck the bar and Ed Palmer stabbed in another equaliser but from what I have read Hemel were value for their win, which featured our “abject” failure to react to a short corner- a scenario where running, fighting and sweating for the cause could well have delivered a different outcome.

There has been some criticism of the manager overnight. Some want to see him put an arm round the shoulder of his depleted troops rather than giving them regular bollockings. Ultimately, it’s players who get managers the sack though. His life is in their hands, just as they rely on him for contracts, appearance fees and bonuses. I don’t think we have many “non-triers” in this group, but it does seem that the disappointing defeats in the last two away games have been due to a failure of mentality and determination to win key battles.

But the buck stops with Paul. We often talk about pressure in football. In absolute terms, coaching a football team is not the most pressurised situation you could find yourself in. It doesn’t compare with spending your nights in a bomb shelter in Kyiv or trying to feed your family in Gaza without getting shot. But these things are relative, and as he said to me in our pre- season chat, everyone at Plainmoor knows what this season’s target is. Michael Westcott probably falls asleep at night murmuring: “We’ve got to get out of this League.” That was never going to be easy. There are several well-funded clubs this season and every Tom, Dick and Horsham is putting up their gazebos and brushing their plastic pitches hoping to ambush the big boys.

Sadly, it looks like we are several weeks away from being able to put out our strongest squad. Allowances do need to be made for that. A sense of perspective is also very important. We have looked good at home, winning all three matches and notching nine times in doing so. But a win at Hampton tomorrow night would be very welcome.

How do we get that?

I’m tempted to say that’s not for me to decide, but there are a couple of things I might try. If Jordan Dyer is fit to start, then in my opinion he should do that. Ed Palmer has had a storming start to the season, and normally picking Jordan would mean Ed would need to be satisfied with an hour or so on the bench. For Tuesday though, I would pick the defence on form and that means our beautiful vice-captain Sam Dreyer must miss out. The Rolls Royce has been misfiring slightly so far, and by all accounts he had a shocker on Saturday. So I would select Dyer and Palmer at centre back, with Denzel Akeampong on the right. I think he’s done enough to earn a start with Jordan Thomas lacking a bit in confidence.

Other than that, if you can walk, you probably play: and you’re going to need to get stuck in. How would Warnock describe it? You need to die for three points. If we can, we need to get Matt Worthington and Louis Dennis out there again despite neither being fully fit. We need Youngy to have one of his good nights and- please- for Cody to get on the end of a couple.

And if we don’t win?

Well, we’d still only be seven games in! One of Bill Shanley’s greatest quotes was that a league season is a marathon not a sprint: and his Liverpool teams only had to play 42 games. Maybe a better description (sorry Bill) is that the National League South is a 10,000 metre race. You can’t win it in the first few laps, but you do need to stay in contention and to make sure that the other class of the field doesn’t get away from you. I’d like to think Plainmoor will yield more points for us this year- we look equipped to turn more draws into wins at home- but to challenge for the title you do need to be picking up regular points on your travels.

Might see you at the Beveree.