Torquay United break a positive to allow players to recover

If Torquay were playing this weekend, the squad would be stretched

Paul Wotton says the second two-week break in a month for torquay-united-fc>Torquay United can be a positive, giving time for a few players to get over injuries and the squad to work on things in training.

After one two-week break, Torquay went to Hampton & Richmond Borough on Saturday and won 1-0 with Cody Cooke’s third goal of the season securing the points. But now Torquay have another two-week break with their next game away at Eastbourne Borough not until Saturday, October 19.

But with fresh injuries for Sam Dreyer and Jay Foulston after the Hampton win, which pushed the Gulls up to third in the National League South table, going without a game again this weekend might not be such a bad thing. With Jordan Dyer, Ed Palmer, Omar Mussa and young goalkeeper Matt Wonnacott already out with injuries, and Matt Carson unavailable because of his call-up to the Northern Ireland under-21s quad this weekend, if Torquay were playing Maidstone United instead of Maidstone playing in the FA Cup, Wotton’s squad would have been really stretched.

With Cooke’s goal at Hampton coming in the 22nd minute, there could have been more, and one disallowed goal by Brad Ash looked like it should have stood before it was flagged for offside. But, just as important as the goal, was the clean sheet, as Wotton pointed out on Tuesday morning in an interview for Thursday’s Torquay United Yellow Army Podcast.

He said: “I don’t think we have had enough clean sheets so it was pleasing because, being an ex-defender, I love clean sheets. It’s a ridiculous thing to say but if you keep a clean sheet you have got a point at worst.

“That was really important and I have got to be honest, I never at any stage thought Hampton threatened our goal. So I think it was a pretty comfortable clean sheet, but a clean sheet is still a really tough thing to get in football.

“I would like a few more of them to be honest. It’s really obvious but if we had kept the ball out of the net against Aveley and St Albans you are four points better off – so they are really, really important, clean sheets.”

Wotton has said already this season that he doesn’t look at the table too early – but with 10 games gone, a marker for some managers, Torquay are third and just one point off the top. That’s not a bad start in anyone’s book.

“I don’t look at the table but I obviously know where we are and I would much rather be there than the other end of the table,” said Wotton. “It is important, where you are, but personally, talking about Torquay United, I think arguably we could have had a few more points.

“That’s not to say that before the start of the season, if you said you have 20 points from 10 games with all the change that has gone on, I still think that’s a terrific start.

“There are lots and lots of positives, and lots of the positives are that we can still improve in lots and lots of areas. Personally I think 12-14 games you’ll kind of see who’s going to be at the bottom end of the table and who’s going to be around the top eight. It will start unfolding, it will start stretching out.

“I just think, so far so good at the moment. I never get carried away, there’s a million things we can still improve on, but that takes time. You are coming home on the bus after winning 1-0 away at Hampton and your mind is already on what you are doing in training this week to improve. We have got two weeks now to nail down a couple of things for the next game at Eastbourne.

“You are never sat there thinking ‘we’ve cracked it’ because we won 1-0 away at Hampton. We haven’t cracked it, there are loads of things I want us to improve on. But that is a positive, definitely.”

And the new break will also give Wotton a chance to see if he can bring some more talent into the squad. “There are a few players that have been highlighted,” said Wotton. “We are always looking for constant improvement. So I am hopeful something might happen in the next two weeks. But the dynamics change daily.”