Injury nightmare improving for Paul Wotton and Torquay United

Manager Paul Wotton says he’s “supremely confident’ in the group of players he’s assembled at Torquay United ahead of Saturday’s home game against Slough Town (3pm).

The Gulls, currently seventh in the National League South after seven games, have won all three of their home games, but have taken only two points from four matches on the road (writes Dave Thomas).

But the campaign so far has been dogged by injuries which left Wotton without seven players for Tuesday’s 2-2 draw at Hampton & Richmond.

That situation is starting to improve at last.

“I am supremely confident in the squad,” says Wotton.

“I understand there’s a little bit of frustration about.

“Torquay United aren’t going to win every game of football that they play, but we’re seven games in and we’re still up and around it.”

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Although Munashe Sundire will be out for several months with a ruptured hamstring, fellow midfielder Matt Worthington hopes to be back from a ‘dead leg’ problem this weekend.

Callum Dolan and Dylan Morgan have Ebbsfleet at home in a fortnight’s time as their target return and centre-forward Sonny Fish is making ‘good progress’ in his rehab from a cartilage operation.

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and Sundire are the only two longer-term absentees.

Also in the squad for Slough is left-back Matt Carson, after a month’s loan at Weymouth, Luton Town winger Josh Phillips and new loanee midfielder Keane Anderson from Aldershot.

Phillips was claimed for a cup outing for the Hatters this midweek under the terms of his youth loan, but he’s back at Plainmoor now.

Anderson made his debut at Hampton.

From having only five of seven available subs at the Beveree, Wotton will suddenly have to say ‘Sorry, not today’ to at least one player on Saturday.

United’s two worst days so far have come in 2-1 defeats at Horsham and then Hemel Hempstead Town last Saturday.

In neither game did Torquay produce the level of performance or what Wotton calls ‘desire’ that he prides himself on his sides delivering.

But that wasn’t the problem at Hampton, where Wotton says he was once again ‘proud of the players’, not least because he added: “I’ve watched the game back, and we didn’t lose one 50-50 tackle.”

Seventeen years ago, as a 20-year-old loanee from Reading, Slough player-manager Scott Davies scored a vital late goal here to earn Aldershot Town a 2-1 win over Paul Buckle’s promotion chasing Gulls in 2008.

It went a long way to deciding the Conference title that season and Davies, who’s still playing after well over 600 senior appearances, has never forgotten it.

His Slough team this year has taken a slightly different direction, most visibly in the signings of brothers Reiss and Jordan Greenidge from Maidstone and Chelmsford respectively.

Reiss, at 6ft 6in, plays at centre-half and Jordan, 6ft 4in, at centre-forward.

For stats lovers, at least so far in the NLS this season, Slough have employed the fewest passes to register a goal attempt.

Whether they come at United in exactly the same style remains to be seen, but other potential dangermen include experienced midfielder Johnny Goddard and two more new forwards, Ruben Bartlett-Antwi from Leatherhead and Wiktor Makowski, who scored 60 goals in two seasons for Combined Counties League Flackwell Heath.

Greenidge J, Bartlett-Antwi and Makowski all scored in Tuesday’s 3-2 home win over Chippenham Town.

Saturday’s referee is Sam Read from Wiltshire.