Evergreen Moxey proves ever reliable

If the season stopped now, and Torquay United were about to hand out their Player of the Year awards, one man would be odds-on favourite to win.
For the question you surely have to ask yourself before any PotY vote is ‘Which player would we miss most?’ And the answer must be – Dean Moxey.
We’re talking here about the oldest player in the club – Moxey will be 38 on January 14 – with 680 appearances under his belt for Exeter City, Derby County, Crystal Palace, Bolton Wanderers, Exeter again and the Gulls.
Twenty of his Palace games were in the Premier League.
When he arrived at the far post to score the last-minute winner against Hemel Hempstead Town (3-2) recently, it was the 40th goal of his career.
At a time when United have been wracked by injuries to more than half-a-dozen senior players, Moxey keeps turning out each week. Gary Johnson may often say that Moxey’s fitness has to be ‘managed’ these days, but he must thank his lucky stars that he can usually look towards his most experienced player before selection time each week and get a reassuring nod.
That’s probably all he’ll get, for Dean is not a man of many words. His actions speak for him.
Once a left winger, a wing-back and then a full-back as his pace began to fade, he’s now playing as a centre-back in a young Gulls defence, usually alongside 21-year-old Ollie Tomlinson.
In years to come, Tomlinson will tell his future team-mates with pride of the time he spent as Moxey’s defensive partner, and the lessons he learned there.
People often talk about Moxey’s ‘legs’ going, as they do too quickly with older players.
But there’s an equally old saying in football that ‘The first five yards are in the head’ and watching Moxey play proves it.
He long ago learned to ‘proact’ rather than react, his anticipation solving problems before they arise.
And don’t anyone think he can’t cover the ground when he has to.
He’s one of United’s best sprinters in training and, when needs must, he’s seldom outpaced. Then there’s that left foot.
Torquay fans used to rave about the quality of another much-loved left-back, Kevin Nicholson.
What is certain is that, over five yards or 50, Moxey’s left foot can strike a ball like few others. And all those games for Derby, Palace and Bolton testify to how good he must have been then.
Right now, as his extraordinary professionalism carries him through the 20th season of his senior career and his fourth at Plainmoor, all Gulls fans are grateful and relieved to see his name on the team sheet each week.