Match Reaction: Plainmoor protests after painful defeat

A group of Torquay United supporters staged a protest outside the front entrance of the Plainmoor stadium after a horrible 4-0 defeat at home to St Albans City in the National League South.

The Gulls were second best throughout the game, trailing 3-0 at half-time to a double from Shaun Jeffers and a Giorgio Rasulo goal. United never looked like staging a recovery after the break and a dismal day was underlined by Rasulo adding a fourth nine minutes from time.

The Yellow Army voiced their displeasure during and after the game, with United manager Gary Johnson conceding his team were a long way from the required standards.

“We are very disappointed, of course, the boys didn’t perform anywhere near where they could have done,” said Johnson.

“It was a very, very poor performance from our boys and they’re gutted. We’re going to have a meeting to say what we are going to do to turn it around. Some people will say to get rid of me and that’s their prerogative.

“Supporters are entitled to give us stick when the performance is that low. We’re better than that and we’re going to need some form of change around. Who that is and what personnel, we will have to wait and see.

“It’s a disappointing night for us. I didn’t enjoy watching the game from the Directors’ Box because of a touchline suspension. It was tough and the boys are really disappointed because they are better players than what we’ve seen today.

“The whole club will have a discussion and see what comes out. All people who support Torquay United will be disappointed with our performance.”

Johnson’s cause was not helped by Jack Stobbs and Duane Ofori-Acheampong both suffering late setbacks in their recovery from injury.

Archie Harris was also recalled from his loan by parent-club Bournemouth, which all added up to just four subs named by United.

“Late on in the week, these are facts and not excuses, Bournemouth called me to say they needed Archie back because they’ve got a lot of injuries,” said Johnson.

“Stobbs and Duane trained great on Thursday, only to turn up on Friday with a couple of problems. We took them for a fitness test this morning and they weren’t fit.

“We’d actually done a lot of work with them in the group, so it was a little bit last minute. We brought in young Jacob Wellington because we didn’t have enough subs.”