Gaffer Gary lays down gauntlet to under-achieving Gulls

Manager Gary Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet to his under-achieving Torquay United side, calling them ‘a bit like a damp squib’ as they prepare to try and reverse a damaging League defeat by Maidstone in the FA Cup this Saturday.
Problems are pressing in on the Gulls, who slipped to seventh in the National League South with that 1-0 defeat to the same Stones team they face again in the Cup 4th Qualifying Round this weekend Unless Johnson goes back into the transfer market, which is always more difficult ahead of a Cup round, he will have to field a makeshift defence against Maidstone.
Ross Marshall starts a three-match suspension after his first-half dismissal last Saturday – the third of his Plainmoor career – and Johnson has no other specialist centre-backs to partner 21-year-old Ollie Tomlinson.
Injuries also mean that United were down to their last 16 fit players in the wake of loanees Will Jenkins Davies and Luke Pearce leaving the previous week.
But Johnson still didn’t hold back after the first Maidstone league loss, their second in a row which leaves them four points behind Westcountry rivals and new leaders Yeovil Town.
He did not protest either Marshall’s red card or the resulting penalty, which was saved by goalkeeper Mark Halstead.
“We started poorly – they go out of the dressing-room like raging bulls and then they start a bit like a damp squib,” he said.
“Sometimes players have off-days – they are human beings. But we know where our standard is and it certainly wasn’t there today.
“But we get another chance to play them (Maidstone), and this team can turn it around in a week.”
Hoping for a second ‘clean sheet’ against his old club will be ex-Gulls keeper Lucas Covolan, who didn’t have to work too hard for his first. The Cup-tie is unlikely to be watched by the same crowd (2,436) which was at Plainmoor last
Saturday, but there is £9,375 in prizemoney at stake, on top of the £9,000 United have already collected from wins over Southern League Wimborne Town and Hungerford Town.
The real money kicks in if Torquay can reach the First Round Proper for a second successive season - £41,000 for winning there.