TT PREVIEW

Ben Wade

JUMPING BACK UP

Obviously, the display and result at Dagenham on Saturday was absolutely far from ideal and Jimmy Ball made that very clear in his post-match interview. The standards expected of you to play for Torquay United are the highest in the league and Jimmy, who always backs his players, didn’t hold back. It is going to be extremely important to see how the players react to the 2-0 defeat especially with three Saturday league matches in a row with the two midweek away games in between. If we are going to reach where we want be by the end of the season then we need to start tightening up on those errors and adding end product in the final third. Jumping back up from a couple of sloppy performances overall is much needed, particularly at Plainmoor with thousands of fans behind the boys.

OFFENSIVE OUTPUT

Having started the season scoring just three goals in four NLS games, the huge attacking depth that we have has not yet come into play. Jordan Young, Dylan Morgan, Matt Jay, Isaac Westendorf, Deon Moore, Louis Dennis, Cody Cooke… the list goes on and on and it just shows the quality that we have in our side. Unfortunately, no-one has been able to make much of an impact in the final third with great link-up play but no moment of brilliance to add goals to neat patterns of play. Hopefully, Hampton & Richmond, who are a very open side on paper, will be the right team to get our offensive personnel going and get a few goals ahead of a tough midweek battle at Maidenhead United.

POWERFUL PLAINMOOR

In our first four matches we have drawn both home games and won one and lost one on the road. It was the away form that had been the big issue in previous campaigns but a 50%-win record so far is OK it is just that the games in front of generous attendances at Plainmoor need to be won. It was a solid overall performance Weston Super-Mare came to town; it was only that quality finish that was missing. In credit to WSM, they blocked tremendously well. However, the first game of the season at home to Horsham should’ve been a victory. Despite not creating lots of chances, two clearcut opportunities were missed which then led to a controversial disallowed winner near the end. That is unlucky but more creativity is needed at home. So, let’s make Plainmoor a fortress again and get behind The Gulls.

THE OPPOSITION

Hampton & Richmond Borough F.C. are the opponents for this crucial NLS fixture. They sit 21^st in the league having lost their first three matches and won their last game. Their campaign started with a 5-0 thrashing by Salisbury before Weston Super-Mare beat them 3-0 and Horsham beat them 2-0. With ‘The Beavers’ failing to score in their first three games, they went on to beat Slough Town 5-3. This shows the unpredictability of their season so far and multiple teams have opened them up to leave them with a goal difference of -8. Let’s hope we can do the same.