Ding dong night of football for Torquay United and Exeter City

The completion of three home pre-season games in the space of six days arguably brought the most entertaining contest, as Torquay United and Exeter City shared a 1-1 draw.

After the impressive win over Newport and the heavy loss against Plymouth Argyle, the Gulls and Grecians ramped up the volume in a raucous second half at Plainmoor, with Jordan Young levelling late following Jayden Wareham’s opener for City.

“I enjoyed the game,” said United boss Paul Wotton. “For a pre-season game, it was ultra competitive, the fans got right behind it and at one stage, it felt like a league game and it was entertaining.

“The first half was a little bit dour, Exeter played a system and they are excellent at it, so we had to change a couple of bits tactically and we got to grips with it, nullified them toward the end of the first half and had a couple of chances.

“Weirdly, I’ve been saying all the way through that pre-season is about learning and developing, and we played like the away team in the first half because they were excellent, whereas against Plymouth on Wednesday, we went full tilt to press them and it obviously didn’t work.

“In the second half, it turned into a ding dong, the fans were up and a really good night. The boys have got minutes into their legs, some who have been injured or not getting as much time.”

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The game arrived just 48 hours after a tough defeat to Argyle, and Wotton called on troops who needed game time.

Along with a couple of trialists, Matt Wonnacott made his return after a season of injury concerns, and there were valuable minutes for the likes of Ed Palmer, Dan Hayfield, Matt Jay, Callum Dolan, Matt Carson, Matt Worthington and Cody Cooke.

“The team we put out was boys who obviously needed minutes. We had a couple of trialists playing, so a perfect night for them to play.

“Matt Wonnacott in goal hadn’t played 90 minutes in over a year, so it was great for him. Palmer, Carson, Worthington joined us late, so he needed minutes, Hayfield’s been injured and needed minute, same with Dolan and Matt Jay.

“The subs we brought on, who were heavily involved on the Wednesday, it was a training exercise for them to get 20 minutes and it made a big difference to the game.

“We thank Exeter for coming down and it’s great to play them because the crowd are bang up for it. I don’t really like pre-season games but that was thoroughly enjoyable.”

The final piece in Torquay United pre-season Jigsaw will be the weekend trip to Weymouth, as the Gulls prepare for the National League South curtain-raiser at home to Enfield.

The Terras of Weymouth are on the rebuild after relegation to the Southern League last season and will no doubt provide a lively test for the Gulls.

United manager Paul Wotton is already viewing the game as a final notch in his Enfield preparations, with the last fortnight of pre-season focussing on the details.

“The boys had Saturday and Sunday off because three games in six days obviously wasn’t ideal, and with it being pre-season, they’ve worked really hard in between games,” he said.

“We are now going into real fine detail, in and out of possession, working on set-pieces and start tapering off and building up to Enfield. Part of that build up is Weymouth away.”