TT PREVIEW

Steve Harris – @steveharris84

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MATCH DETAILS

Match details: Chelmsford City vs Torquay United

Competition: National League South

Venue: The Melbourne Stadium, Chelmsford

Date: Saturday 29th November 2025

Kick-off: 3pm

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Torquay: 3
Draw: 2
Chelmsford: 2

CURRENT FORM (LAST 6)

Torquay (W4 – D0 – L2):

L 1-2 Hornchurch H

W 3-1 Farnborough A

W 2-1 Maidenhead United A

L 0-2 Maidstone United H (FA Trophy)

W 7-0 Eastbourne Borough H

W 3-2 Worthing H

Chelmsford (W3 – D1 – L2):

W 4-2 Tonbridge Angels A

W 1-0 Hampton and Richmond Borough H

W 2-0 Hornchurch H

D 0-0 Hemel Hempstead Town A (FA Trophy lost 6-5 on penalties)

L 0-3 Salisbury A

L 1-2 Hemel Hempstead Town A

TOP GOAL-SCORERS

Torquay: Jordan Young (11)

Chelmsford: Lyle Taylor (7)

CHELMSFORD FACT FILE

Year founded: 1938
Nickname: The Clarets
Last season’s league finish: 2nd in the National League South
Chelmsford notable honours:
Isthmian League Premier Division:
Champions: 2007-08
Southern League:
Champions: 1939-40, 1945-46, 1967-68, 1971-72

MANAGER – ANGELO HARROP

The son of former Gulls youth coach and Chief Executive Geoff Harrop, Angelo Harrop took charge of the Iron in May 2022 and led them to the National League South play-offs in his first season at the helm. In the 2023-24 season, he guided Braintree to promotion to the National League following their play-off final victory over Worthing.

A former Colchester United youth team player, Harrop junior had previously managed Stanway Rovers, Brightlingsea Regent and AFC Sudbury, and succeeded Robbie Simpson as Clarets manager in the summer of 2025.

PLAYER PROFILE – LYLE TAYLOR

Lyle Taylor joined the Clarets in August 2025, after a season with Colchester United in League 2, where he was the U’s top scorer. His career started out with Millwall, but he found some prolific goalscoring form with Concord Rangers. That resulted in a move to Bournemouth where he had loan spells in the National League South with Lewes and Woking.

He joined AFC Wimbledon in 2015, where he had his longest spell with 1 club. During his 3-year-stint Taylor netted over 50 times in over 150 games. He also helped the Dons get promoted to League 1, scoring the opener in the Playoff final. After that he was promoted to the Championship with Charlton and to the Premier League with Nottingham Forest.

Since then, he had spells with Birmingham City, Wycombe Wanderers and Cambridge United before playing for Colchester United last season.

PLAYER STATS:
Position: Striker
DOB: 29/03/90
Height: 1.88m
Previous Club: Colchester
NLS Stats 25/26: Appearances: 11, Goals 5, Assists 1, Yellow/Red Cards 3/0

OLD BOYS

Torquay: None

Chelmsford: Tom Lapslie

LAST MEETING

Last meeting: Saturday 22nd February 2025, Chelmsford City 3 Torquay United 2 

There was late heartbreak for United on Saturday, as Chelmsford came back from 2-0 down to emerge as victors at the Melbourne Stadium. Cody Cooke’s penalty broke the deadlock, before a world-class strike from Matt Jay, from inside the centre circle, doubled Torquay’s advantage ahead of the break.

However, a second-half turnaround saw a brace from Jordan Greenidge level things up, before an injury-time winner from Charlie Ruff saw Chelmsford snatch all three points.

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

Torquay United (4-2-3-1): James Hamon; Jordan Thomas, Jordan Dyer, Sam Dreyer, Jay Foulston; Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Dan Hayfield; Jordan Young, Matt Jay, Dylan Morgan; Louis Dennis

Chelmsford City (4-1-4-1): Chris Haigh; Paul Appiah, Ben Tompkins, David Long-King, Harry Barbrook; Dom Odusanya; Sam Folarin, Jason Adigun, Ricky Holmes, Jesuran Uchegbulam; Lyle Taylor

COYY – STEVE

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