TT REVIEW

Ben Wade

Ben reports back from Plainmoor

TORQUAY UNITED 1-1 MAIDSTONE UNITED – 17.01.2026

SUMMARY

The Gulls went into an intriguing clash with play-off contenders Maidstone United at Plainmoor. TUFC would be looking to continue to push on after the confident beating of Hampton and Richmond Borough the previous Saturday. Wotton made just the one change, with Callum Dolan sidelined for the remainder of the campaign, Dylan Morgan came in for him. The Yellows wore a light mint and white strip to promote and support Rowcroft Hospice. This gave the visitors the opportunity to wear their amber and black home kit.

Torquay dominated possession and got on the front foot early on with numerous corners and final third progress without finding the cutting edge. After quarter of an hour, Thomas’ cut back was touched into the path of Jordan Young whose effort was blocked. Unfortunately, 20 mins in, ‘The Stones’ started to creep into the game and a passing move relieved them from the high TUFC press. This forced Jordan Dyer into a yellow card offence around 27 yards out. The lively Maidstone number 17 Riley Court curled a stunning effort into the corner past Hamon for 1-0. The away fans were in dreamland but the visitors were pegged back soon after. Jay Foulston’s underlap proved effective as he found Lo-Everton who was challenged before the ball fell for Morgan to sweep into the far bottom corner. This 15 yard strike gave the hosts the upper hand to pile more pressure on Maidstone.

To the irritation of the home crowd, Young was booked straight after as what looked like an innocuous 50/50 collision ended up with the star man in the book. Three minutes before the 1st half was up, Hamon gathered the ball but a scuffle broke out with away full back David Sesay seemingly throwing a punch at United keeper James Hamon. The referee rightly sent off the Maidstone man. This got Plainmoor up and about but a Hamon save stopped the visitors snatching the lead at the break. TUFC were looking to pile it on the vulnerable 10 man away side.

The 2nd half kicked off and The Yellow Army started to get back on the ball but many crosses couldn’t find their way to a mint shirt. Matt Worthington moved to right back as Jordan Thomas made way for the talismanic Cody Cooke in the 57th minute. A couple of Maidstone breaks were the only threat they were posing but the ground still had a nervous edge to it considering our dreadful record versus The Stones. The Gulls kept pushing forward as goalscorer Morgan was replaced by Exeter loanee Kieran Wilson whose stay at Plainmoor was extended on Monday. Lo-Everton and Young both had wide free kicks but the visitors dealt with the set pieces very dominantly and were superb in areal battles.

An extremely tall Maidstone sub headed a free header just over the bar on 77 minutes. The Gulls kept going though and we consistently threatened to score a winning goal. Another commendable attendance saw 3262 supporters turn out with 114 making the trip down to The Bay. Approaching the 90th minute Louis Dennis slightly nudged his man as they headed it out of play. This sparked an unnecessarily lively reaction with a kafuffle taking place. Dennis seemed to tamely shrug the Maidstone player off and the referee sent our number seven off. If the incident is not successfully appealed, Gulls fans can expect to see the main man be suspended for three games. Just seconds later, an amber shirt obviously headed the ball out for a corner but the referee gave a goal kick. Young was clearly frustrated with a very odd decision and was sent off with a second yellow card for dissent. This further wound up the crowd and also the fourth official failed to put the board up for how many added minutes. We rode our luck in the final stages with the number 23 heading over form 3 yards in the dying seconds. 104 minute in, the eventful match was brought to a close, spoils shared.

PLAYER RATINGS

1. HAMON – 7: Questionable positioning is inevitably discussed, some decent enough stops however.

3. FOULSTON – 7: The sponsors chose him as MOTM, that is going too far for me but he was very good.

4. DYER – 8: MOTM

5. DREYER – 8: Could easily have been chosen as MOTM, a commanding leader against Faal.

26. THOMAS – 7: He is normally a dependable defensive presence and he put a few decent balls across the box this afternoon, clearly carrying a knock, so substituted early.

20. HAYFIELD – 7: He is a true hard worker and often is unnoticed.

18. WORTHINGTON – 7: He definitely controlled the tempo more than last week and had a better pass complesion rate for sure.

24. LO-EVERTON – 6: Decent first 45 but felt slightly anonymous in the number 10 as the game progressed.

11. MORGAN – 7: A very good and assured finish, does not get involved much though.

8. YOUNG – 7: A very lively performance, great movement, at Enfield he will be missed.

7. DENNIS – 6: Never a sending off, okay attacking performance.

Subs

9. COOKE – 6: Always a nuisance but a shame he couldn’t get his head on a cross.

23. WILSON – 6: I feel sorry for him, he wasn’t able to impact in attack when we moved to a back 3, the role doesn’t suit him, Wotton was improvising.

10. Jay – 6: No time to make an impact.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH – JORDAN DYER

My player of the match award goes to Jordan Dyer, a huge amount of praise is given to Dreyer who is very commanding but Dyer should not be overlooked, his partnership with SD5 was phenomenal.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Captain Sam Dreyer gets a mention, a strong performance acting as a role model. Left back Jay Foulston gets the second honourable mention, he was assured in his display.

TACTICS

For the most part we played an orthodox 4-2-3-1 but Thomas’ early substitution left us with a 3-4-1-1 formation. After the sending offs, utter chaos.

THE OPPOSITION

Maidstone were set up solidly in a compact style. They provided the physical capabilities we expected. The Stones had 114 travelling fans which was a considerable effort. A very different support to Hampton’s 19 fans.

THE OFFICIALS

The referee didn’t seem to cope well with the occasion. He made many sloppy mistakes. The end was not under control. The linesman were fine but a couple of potential errors. The 4^th official should maybe put up his board, no on knew the added time.