Trophy tales for Torquay United in the trip to Horsham

The FA Trophy and the Devon St Luke’s Bowl may be the only cup competitions left to Torquay United this season, but neither is about to push promotion down manager Jimmy Ball’s list of priority targets.

That doesn’t mean that the team which Ball sends out for Saturday’s Trophy Second Round tie at NL South rivals Horsham won’t be trying.

The Gulls have just beaten Walton & Hersham (3-0) and Hemel Hempstead Town (2-0) away in the league, during a spell of five successive matches on the road.

It started with a 0-1 defeat at his old club Totton which Ball will struggle to get out of his system for a while yet.

But if they could win at Horsham and then beat Braintree Town in the league in Essex next Saturday (Nov 21), this month and a bit away from Plainmoor could prove an unlikely turning point in United’s fortunes this season.

Tougher tests are ahead.

After Chesham at home (Nov 24), the Gulls must face Chelmsford (8th) home, leaders Ebbsfleet away and, over Christmas, Truro (4th) away and Salisbury (3rd) at Plainmoor.

You want to be heading into that key period in as good a form as possible.

Ball pointed out at his midweek press conference that only a couple of clubs have managed to win the Trophy and promotion in the same season.

And, of course, United have experience of that scenario.

In 2008 they lost in the Conference Play-Off Semi-Final while they were also preparing for a trip to the Trophy Final.

Twelve months later they eventually bowed out of the Trophy (at Southport 0-3) in the Fifth Round and then went on to beat Cambridge United in the Play-Off Final at Wembley.

Last season Horsham were having a pretty good first tilt at the NLS, until they got involved in a long run in the Trophy.

It went all the way to the quarter-finals, where they lost to Southend United, but it coincided with a slide down to the league table.

“Our main goal this season is to get promoted,” says Ball.

Horsham, who drew 1-1 at Plainmoor on the opening day of this campaign, are 12th to United’s 11th.

On their best days Dom Di Paola’s side can be a handful – they improved a strong run with a 5-0 win at Farnborough recently – but they followed that with a 2-3 home loss to Totton.

Charlie Hester-Cook, Reece Myles-Meekums, experienced winger Greg Luer and James Hammond are all goal threats.

But whether Di Paola makes the same sort of changes that Ball seems to have planned remains to be seen.

Jake Wannell serves the second of a four-match suspension, and United may still be without Jordan Dyer, Kian Jenkins, Oludare Olufunwa, Isaac Westendorf and Deon Moore for a variety of injury, loan and international call-up reasons.

All the six subs at Hemel – Zak Baker, Angelo Capello, Cody Cooke, Caleb Roberts, Sean Robertson and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton – are expected to see plenty of action in West Sussex, and possibly a couple from United’s Under-18 squad.

Ball, who has been scouring the loan market for a centre-back, reports that Olufunwa hopes to be back from his knee problem early next month.

For the record, prizemoney on offer at the all-weather Fusion Aviation Community Stadium is £3,750, with £1,000 to the losers.

Saturday’s referee is Ayrton Hursey from Colchester.