Electric Torquay United reaching their goals as an attacking force

After a whirlwind start to the National League South season, Torquay United can happily reflect on 18 goals scored in the opening eight fixtures, and they sit nicely poised at fourth in the table.

The Gulls head to AFC Totton in the FA Cup this weekend and manager Paul Wotton will be hoping for more goals after his side swept into a 4-2 half-time lead at home to Slough last weekend, a scoreline that remained the same at the final whistle.

Jordan Young, Louis Dennis, Cody Cooke and an own goal did the damage for United in a half that could have seen even more balls in the net. While the attacking play was fantastic, Wotton naturally wants some defensive improvements.

“We were obviously happy with the three points,” he said. “In the first half, going forward, we were electric and it could have been seven or eight, but the two goals we conceded were poor.

“We’ve scored 18 goals this season, which is excellent. In the second half, we tweaked a couple of things and saw the game out, but I’m looking to watching our attacking play.

“It’s been a tough start to the season, Slough was our eighth game in 28 days, so a fixture every three-and-a-half days with a threadbare squad. The boys have been magnificent, I’m pleased with how we’ve progressed and I can see things that are vastly different from last season.

“We managed the game much better in the second half, showed a lot of maturity, but there’s no denying that we need to find a way of doing that away from home. We were solid second half and it had been a really long week, travelled to Hemel and Hampton.

“It’s now a two-week break before the next league game, and good to go into that with momentum. We can now look forward to the FA Cup game.

“Every team emphasises the importance of a fast start and we’re no different. I’ll analyse the two goals we conceded, the second was as bad as we will concede all season, but when you score four goals, credit where it’s due.

“I’m not deluded and saying we’re going to score four goals every week because we do also need clean sheets. We just need to tighten up.

“It’s been a hell of a start to the season, lots of games without our full squad, but we’re hanging in there.”