No panic at Torquay United brings the right result on the road

‘Crisis’ Averted! Situation Under Control. Normal Service Resumed.

Those might have been the headlines as Torquay United headed home from wet and very windy Salisbury with a 1-0 win under their belts (writes Dave Thomas).

During the build-up to last Saturday’s match in Wiltshire, you might have thought that Plainmoor was a house of nerves, worry and lost sleep.

The Gulls did happen to be third in the National League South, with maximum and pretty entertaining points from five home games, and second top scorers in the division.

But two draws, two defeats and no wins on the road, plus an FA Cup loss at AFC Totton, was being billed as near to a disaster as makes no difference.

Never mind that it was only the first week in October, and manager Paul Wotton had been without most of his midfield roster during one of the busiest times of the season.

Nobody wants to hear ‘excuses’. Especially perfectly good ones.

But even allowing for the usual social media loudspeakers, far too many otherwise sensible people were getting their proverbial knickers in a twist.

You dread to think what might have been said if the referee had given a disgraceful but decisive penalty against the Gulls at Salisbury, or the wind had caught a deflected shot and left goalie James Hamon stranded.

Disaster? Apocalypse? End Of Life As We Know It?

But United, with all their midfielders bar Munashe Sundire fit again, did beat Salisbury.

Sure, they should have been home and hosed by half-time, which jangled a nerve or two into the remnants of Storm Amy in the second half.

Salisbury are bottom of the table, of course, and it would have been nice to stick another goal or two past them.

But it was a second ‘clean sheet’ on the trot, United have taken 13 points out of 18 and they’re five points behind early leaders Hornchurch, with a game in hand.

The lesson, or the moral, surely is that United’s chances of winning that precious promotion are not going to be helped if each setback is greeted by doom-and-gloom every time.

The Gulls WILL lose games. They MAY WELL have a bad patch.

But championships are not won by the faint hearted, and last Saturday’s three points was fitting reward for the 755 United fans, most of them out in the open, who were at the Ray Mac Stadium to see it.

Next up are Dagenham & Redbridge, Andy Carroll and all at Plainmoor this Saturday.

And win, lose or draw, it’ll then be on to Chesham and Chippenham and Dorking etc etc.

The late and still-missed John Cobbold, chairman of Ipswich Town during their greatest years under Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson, was interviewed at Portman Road one day in the middle of a lean spell for the Town.

When one reporter used the word ‘crisis’, Cobbold politely pulled him up short.

“Crisis? Crisis?” he replied incredulously. “Young man, we have a crisis at this club when we run out of white wine in the boardroom. Any more questions?”

That’s the spirit! Onwards and upwards...