Depleted Gulls tick all the boxes for Gary

IT WAS ‘ONLY’ the FA Trophy, and Torquay United’s 2-1 win over Yeovil Town at the weekend was never going to undo the damage done by the Glovers’ 3-1 league victory at Plainmoor eleven days before, writes Dave Thomas.
But Saturday’s win undoubtedly ticked as many of the boxes that manager Gary Johnson could havehoped for.
It’s worth remembering that, even though Yeovil were able to make seven changes from the side that had beaten Farnborough 4-2 in the league last midweek, Johnson had no fewer than NINE players unavailable to him.
Goalkeeper Mark Halstead, defenders Ross Marshall, Dan Martin and Finley Craske, midfielders Tom Lapslie, Kevin Dawson and Jack Stobbs and centre-forward Aaron Jarvis were all injured, while young winger Ethon Archer was cup-tied.
United were able to fill only five of seven available substitute places, and two of them were noncontract goalie Filip Chalupniczak and teenage defender Calum Thomas.
But after the Gulls had dominated long periods of the game, scoring two fine goals by Dillon De Silva and Callum Dolan, and completed a deserved win, it must have been Town boss Mark Cooper who headed home with more to think about.
Johnson saw exactly what he’d been asking for – a more energetic and front-foot performance than we’d seen in the league defeat. Not hard, admittedly, but true all the same.
Without the ball, the Gulls put the Glovers under real pressure, forcing them into mistakes and never allowing them the time and space they’d been gifted in the first match.
Fleetwood Town loanee Theo Williams has at last brought some real pace to United’s attack.
Let’s hope that Johnson can persuade his son Lee to leave him with us for an extended stay!
Of course, even though we’re only a third of the way through the season, Yeovil already have a daunting lead in what might turn into a one-horse race for the title. But what Torquay, and their supporters, simply could not have stomached at the weekend was another defeat, especially like the first one.
That didn’t happen. United won on merit.
But the way they way about it – looking more like the high-tempo Gary Johnson team that have always been his hallmark – surely set a standard that must be the norm for the rest of the season.
There is still a long way to go, and a desperately needed promotion to win. But even with a so-called weakened team, we might just have seen against good opposition on Saturday how they might deliver it.