TT BLOG

Dom Roman – @DomRoman

UP FOR THE CUPS

Now AFC Stoneham and Bovey Tracey definitely don’t represent high-level opposition (no disrespect to both), but it’s always nice to reach the next round of the cups and two wins can help players find rhythm and form to take into the following months. I believe AFC Stoneham’s team had been severely weakened the week before due to the captain getting married, yes we are at this level of football…and unfortunately it’s now been the case for years.

We never seem to get far in the Devon Bowl, with our last final appearance being at St James Park way back in 2007. I remember the physio playing a part and a motley group of Yellow Army enjoying a win over the Grecians. I can’t pretend the Bowl interests me very much, but I do miss playing those sort of teams between the months of August and April (rather than July!). That summer of 2007 brought a new wave of optimism to the club and Paul Buckle, a chap who did know how to bring the magic of the cup to United (just don’t mention Crawley), and since his tenure victories in cups have been rare to say the least. I don’t think his time at the club got the praise it deserves, but of course the ending left a sour taste in all our mouths.

Back to the present and Billericay await at the weekend, this brings to mind two things – Gavin & Stacey, and ex-owner, director and manager Glenn Tamplin, who had big plans for the club, but ended up sacking himself and leaving in 2019 after a lively few years! I want to believe in a run of form for the club now, we’re 3 unbeaten, let’s make it 6 or 7, and whilst that’s a possibility, there is concerns around the team and defensively we seem fragile, understandably so after losing the Dyer/Dreyer/Foulston trio to new clubs and injury, and Toby Savin also has much prove in goal.

That’s the thing with a Torquay squad though, without big money spend, the group will never be perfect, it’s just the way it is. We may improve in certain positions, but lose important players in others. The key is finding players who can potentially improve with us, balancing that out with experienced quality and some useful loans, and Jimmy Ball has certainly attempted to do that. Last season the squad assembled looked stronger, but lacked the togetherness and harmony of 2024-25, meaning a second chance of a title win was frittered away.

The season is so long and so much can happen, we’ll almost certainly be play-off contenders but finding defensive solidity and valuable clean sheets could make us into title contenders. This looks like a wide open race again and Torquay United desperately need a promotion. A fourth consecutive season in the National League South is not for the faint-hearted, win games and it’s relief, lose and it feels disastrous. We need the joy of battling out points at National League level against teams whose names don’t elicit a response of ‘Who?”, a pride that the team have won or drawn against odds, scrapping away as underdogs and coming up trumps. I just hope it’s next season!

Good luck at Billericay lads!