Paul Wotton: ‘I can’t accept that performance for Torquay United’

Torquay United manager Paul Wotton pulled no punches in slamming his players after a 3-0 defeat at Southern League outfit Bishops Cleeve in the FA Cup.

Wotton warned his team of the threats posed by a determined regional club looking to inflict a major upset but United’s tepid opening saw them fall behind to an early goal from Ross Langworthy, and the Bishops had chances to extend their lead before the half-time break.

There was a painful inevitability about the second goal, again delivered by Langworthy just four minutes after the restart, and a third from Ethan Dunbear rubbed salt in a very painful wound for the Gulls.

Wotton’s anger was understandable and unrelenting.

“I don’t even think we were second best, absolutely zero credit to be had, Bishops Cleeve should have won by more,” he said.

“I’m at a loss because they were pre-warned all week. What I will say is that I thought training was flat all week because there was disappointment from the Welling game but I can’t accept that performance for Torquay United.

“We didn’t win a header and we didn’t win a tackle. In the first half we were playing into a strong wind and I told them to play in their half but we persisted on playing short balls into midfield and Bishops Cleeve were on us.

“Our physicality was non-existent, our forward play was non-existent. I can suffer a lack of quality in a football game, no problem with that, but I’m embarrassed of our team today [Saturday].

“There is not a single player to come out of that with credit.”

The Gulls welcome St Albans to Plainmoor in the National League South on Saturday but Wotton is in no mood to move on from the Bishops Cleeve ‘embarrassment’.

It is very clear he expects to see a reaction from a team that had made a decent start to the season and a team that must respond to this bitter disappointment.

“Some people will say it doesn’t matter because we’re never going to win the FA Cup, some of the players might think that, but that’s outrageous,” Wotton added. “For Torquay United Football Club, playing a game of football, and the manager and assistant manager are shouting more than a player on the pitch, including senior players, let down!

“It isn’t a case of drawing a line under it and move on to the league, that’s got to sting and there’s got to be accountability.

“The players know the standards I expect from them and my players have turned up like they have a divine right to win the game. There is no positive from the game and they’ve been told it’s unacceptable.”