TT BLOG

Clive Hayward – @Byehorse

Clive blogs about Paul Wotton’s latest presser

Injuries & Availability

With the exception of long-term absentee Callum Dolan, United face the weekend with no current injuries.

Enfield (A)

If you’ve been hiding under a rock, or have perhaps had better things to do than follow non-league football closely, I can tell you that Torquay scrapped hard to bring three points back from struggling Enfield Town last Saturday. We trailed at half time, but thanks to a dominant second half and a late penalty won and converted by loan forward Kieran Wilson we got the 2-1 verdict we needed.

Paul confirmed that Wilson popping up on the left late in the game was no accident: it had been a little tactical switch which paid off beautifully. He confirmed there has been no plan for Wilson to be on penalties if/when Cody Cook went off, but that the big Scotsman had grabbed the ball straight away: “He’s a confident lad.”

In terms of his emotional celebrations immediately after the final whistle, the boss denied that relief had played any part. He said he had just been “happy”. “It’s all about the three points.” He paid tribute to the travelling support, saying that having drums and chants behind the team makes a big difference. He also said he is confident Enfield will pick up points in their remaining home games (so it’s possible Saturday’s win may turn out not to have been as “routine” as many of us thought).

Farnborough (P)

Being a good journalist, Guy Henderson got in first with the 2 questions I had been planning to ask. The first had been about Saturday’s goalpost-kicking managerial celebration and the second had been about the postponement of the Farnborough game, with Plainmoor not quite being able to survive amber warning levels of rainfall overnight.

Paul was fairly philosophical, saying that he had “kind of readied” himself for it to be called off. He pointed out that it hadn’t been for the want of trying, with our committed ground staff having put in “18 or 19 hour days” to give the game the best possible chance.

I asked whether, on balance, he would have preferred the game to be played. He was very clear that he would: “I’m not a big fan of fixture pile-ups.”

Hornchurch (A)

There is really no getting away from it. In their second season at this level, the well-resourced East London side are huge title contenders. They won at Plainmoor on November 1^st, in a game where both sides played well. They currently top the table with a 2 point lead over both second placed Worthing and third placed Torquay. They have a game in hand over us and 2 over the Sussex outfit, who are in dreadful recent form.

Wotton is a promotion winning player and manager, and he didn’t hide from the potential importance of Saturday. He described it as a big game and he’s obviously chomping at the bit:

“We can’t wait to get up there and we can’t wait for 3 o’clock.”

Tactics/Selection

Understandably, he didn’t volunteer any information about his intended starting XI (and it would have been daft of us to ask). Clearly the main issue is: “What shall we do about Kieran”.

After his tremendous all-round performance and standing up to be counted when the game was there to be won at Enfield, he has given Wotton a big decision to make. You have to assume that Jordan Young will return after his one game ban (don’t you?) but it would seem harsh on Wilson if he didn’t retain a place in the team.

Paul is clearly relishing the relative riches at his disposal, He put it this way.

“There’s good decisions to make, definitely”

In terms of tactics, Dave Thomas asked whether we might need to go more “direct” on Saturday rather than relying on passing and possession. This was Paul’s response:

“Teams aren’t gonna let us. We’re in a competitive football league. No-ones going to let us turn up and do what we want to do. That’s not football. As long as Torquay United are in National League South no-one’s going to let us do what we want to do. So we have to find different ways. You’ve got your set way of playing but you have to be adaptable. You have to change formation. You have to play the conditions, play different ways. That’s part of managing the team.”

That does give an insight into a complex and often lonely job.

Paul claims that he’s better now at letting things he can’t control go. If I was doing his job though, I reckon I would kick the odd goalpost too!