Midfield is where it Matters for Torquay United

Football games are won and lost in the middle of the park, as the saying goes.

If that is the case, Torquay United’s engine room has the potential to spearhead a march up the National League South table over the second half of the season.

After a turbulent start to life in Yellow, Brett McGavin is developing into a serious player at this level, a player blessed with the tools to guide the Gulls further up the pyramid.

As well as a neat passing game and the willingness to put his foot in, McGavin has the X Factor of a thunderbolt strike from distance. All three of those midfield attributes were on display in the stodgy 1-0 victory at home to Dover Athletic last weekend.

United took a while to get going but when they did, it was the quick passing of McGavin that often started an attacking sequence. Prior to that, however, he had picked up a yellow card for an untidy lunge in the opening ten minutes.

Having demonstrated his passing and tackling ingredients, McGavin had primed Plainmoor for the show-stopping moment. Picking up the ball 35 yards from goal, McGavin took a touch, checked his radar and unleashed a rocket into the top corner.

At any level of the game, it was a special strike and a midfielder with those tools could be pivotal. Throw in the power an experience of Asa Hall, the energy and enthusiasm of Tom Lapslie, the craft and talent of Will Jenkins Davies, plus more returning options, and the midfield could be the engine for success.

However, if midfield is the engine, all the surrounding cogs also need to be in working order and manager Gary Johnson has identified the need for his team to be less open to the counter-attack.

The Gulls were caught out by an injury-time leveller when leading 2-1 at home to Eastbourne earlier this month and it was a lesson they must heed.

The partnership of Ollie Tomlinson in the centre of defence is a perfect blend of youth and experience, full-backs Ross Marshall and Dan Martin offer ideal balance, Mark Halstead has seen it all before between the sticks, but any back four/five requires protection.

Step forward, once again, McGavin, Hall, Lapslie and the rest. The beauty of playing in centre midfield is that you are always heavily involved in the game, the downside is that you have no respite in those areas.

Midfielders link the play, start the next attacking sequence and then have to break up opposition attacks, cover any defenders who opt to forage forward and provide back up in both boxes. If they stay fit, United have the personnel to do these jobs over the next few months.

While those midfielders can make or break a team, it was the return of striker Brad Ash that had the Plainmoor terraces whispering in anticipation last weekend. He looked a little rusty on his return but there is never any doubt of his power and graft in the vanguard.

A fit and firing Ash will be another crucial component to a promotion push and one final word on the enterprise offered by Dillon De Silva. Like any winger, he can occasionally blow hot and cold, but there is no denying the excitement levels rise whenever he is on the ball. De Silva is a player who can make things happen.

A fully fit Torquay United is more than capable of overpowering virtually every team in this league, and now they have to prove it.