Frustrating afternoon ends in share of points for Torquay United

Stage one of a quickfire double header at Plainmoor ended in a frustrating 1-1 draw for Torquay United against a dogged Aveley side in the National League South.

The Gulls toiled hard through the first period and snatched a breakthrough on the stroke of half-time thanks to a goal from Matt Carson, but they were pegged back by a wonder-strike from Alex Hernandez.

“Frustration is the right word,” said United manager Paul Wotton. “First-half, we were slow with our tempo and, ultimately, we didn’t ask enough questions of Aveley’s goalkeeper.

“We had some poor crosses but some tremendous crosses as well, we didn’t look a threat from corners, and it’s definitely two points dropped.

“We got the goal just before half-time, and Carson was excellent all day, but in the first 15 minutes of the second half, I didn’t like our body language. In forward areas, I don’t think we were good enough.

“It was a great strike from the free-kick by Aveley but, from a Torquay point of view, you can’t give away a foul there. I’m not going to use the word disappointing but it was a frustrating afternoon. We were a little bit off it and Aveley worked extremely hard, fair play to them.

“Some of our play was really good, some was poor. Our decision-making was poor in good areas and we didn’t look enough of a threat. It’s not doom and gloom, we take a point and move on.”

There was little to choose between the sides in the opening quarter, Brad Ash forcing a double save from Carey Bloedorn in the best moment for United. Bloedorn followed that with a tidy tip over from Dan Hayfield’s header.

Lirak Hasani had a strike glanced over by an Aveley head, as the Gulls slowly increased the pressure, finally getting reward in the dying embers of the first period, when a cross-shot from Carson looped over Bloedorn for a slightly fortuitous opener.

United spurned a fine chance to double the lead, Hasani blasting his volley off target from a deep cross by Ed Palmer, and Aveley turned their reprieve into a glorious leveller, Hernandez curling a sublime free-kick beyond the reach of James Hamon.

The Gulls still had 30 minutes to restore their lead and there was plenty of endeavour, just not the cutting edge that brought three goals at Chesham in their previous outing. The corner count ticked up for United but Aveley defended manfully to secure their point.

United: 1 James Hamon, 2 Finley Craske (17 Finn Tonks HT), 3 Jay Foulston, 5 Sam Dreyer, 7 Lirak Hasani (10 Omar Mussa 62), 11 Brad Ash, 14 Matt Carson, 16 Ed Palmer, 18 Oscar Threlkeld (c), 19 Cody Cooke (9 Ben Seymour 62), 20 Dan Hayfield. Subs Not Used:  8 Roddy Collins, 15 Jadyn Crosbie.

Attendance: 3,263 (22 away).