Paul Wotton: “Best clean sheet of the season”

Torquay United manager Paul Wotton has heaped praise on the resilience of his players after an extremely dogged and determined 1-0 victory over Truro City at Plainmoor.

After getting over the hurdle of two pitch inspections on a soggy New Year’s Day, the bumper crowd of over 5,000 were treated to a proper scrap between two sides fighting for promotion in the National League South.

The game was ultimately decided by a fabulous late goal from Jordan Young but United still had to cling on with ten men for the closing minutes following the dismissal of Jordan Thomas for a second booking.

It was particularly pleasing for Wotton against the side he managed for five years and a Truro team he believes will be promotion contenders all season.

“It was a tremendous result and I don’t know why the game was in doubt, the pitch played really well in tough conditions, so well done to [groudnsman] Julian [Gouldthorpe] for getting the game on,” said Wotton.

“First-half, we were good and we came out of the traps. We had a couple of good chances, Truro had a couple of chances but I felt we edged the first half. At half-time, I wanted us to be a bit more composed in the final third because we were forcing crosses from wide areas.

“I wanted us to be braver on the ball but credit to Truro in the first 20 minutes of the second half because they were fully on top. They pressed us high but we got back into the game and looked comfortable until the sending-off.

“After the sending-off, we were magnificent.

“Truro City will be right up there at the end of the season. I know that because I’ve coached eight of their starting 11 and I know what they are. They play the same shape and they’re good at it. They’ve got top players and you can see why they score so many late goals because they’re relentless.

“It’s probably our best clean sheet of the season. We had endeavour, spirit, passion, togetherness. We can be much better in certain areas but Truro City will be right up there.”

The final word of praise was reserved for Young, who cut inside on his lethal left foot with a moment of genuine quality.

“I thought he [Young] was the best player on the pitch,” added Wotton. “He had the bravery to play in tight areas, he was technically great and he worked tremendously hard. His goal was terrific, a great moment of quality to win the game.”