1 week Ago By [email protected] (Richard Hughes)
Paul Wotton said Torquay United are still “right in the mix” after Saturday’s hugely frustrating 2-1 defeat at home to Chesham United. The result saw Torquay drop from fourth to fifth but they are still only three points off the top of the National League South, where Truro City now sit, in what is one of the closest title races the club has ever been involved in. Leading 1-0 from a goal in the 34th minute, scored with a Jordan Dyer header but somehow attributed to Cody Cooke, Torquay were actually second in the live table.
However, there were chances to score again before Alex Lafleur got Chesham’s equaliser on the counterattack just three minutes into the second half. Wotton made changes to freshen things up - but with a couple of players having off-days - notably Matt Jay and Jordan Young weren’t their usual sparky selves - the team struggled to put chances away, and the killer blow came in the 88th minute when, once again, Lafleur was allowed to break away and score with a confident shot past James Hamon. All game Chesham had wasted time and played with the dark arts - so it was really disappointing that the only yellow card for these tactics was shown to the goalkeeper in time-added-on.
Far too late to act as a deterrent. If Torquay had a bad day, the referee Alexander Becket had an even worse one. Ozzy Zanzala, who started up front with Cooke in a 4-4-2 formation had his shirt tugged in the area but didn’t go down, so it wasn’t a foul apparently.
Wotton said: “I thought we had really good opportunities to put the game to bed. Chesham obviously came with a game plan, which is fine. I thought the first half we were fine, no problem at all.
I’m not sure we were ruthless enough in the final third today. And we have been done with two counterattack goals. “That’s the game really.
It’s disappointing of course, it’s frustrating. You have to lick your wounds, train Monday, train Tuesday, train Thursday-Friday, and get ready for Slough. Four games left, we are in the same position as we were before.
It has never been in our own hands, so we have just got to keep going and make it as difficult as possible for everyone around us. “We are one of the twists and turns today, aren’t we. Of course disappointment, of course frustration - I get it.
I completely get it, I am frustrated and disappointed. I just felt we lacked that little bit of quality today. Some of our set pieces were really poor, straight into the goalkeeper’s hands.
“And at the end we are chasing the game and we became a little bit ugly, and a little bit ragged, we weren’t playing off a structure. The boys were getting a bit tense and making poor decisions. There’s no hiding from it, it’s a disappointing day.
” So, Slough at home then, as Torquay chase Truro at the top, Worthing (who have now lost their last three games) in second, Dorking Wanderers in third, and Eastbourne Borough in fourth..
