Torquay United disappoint season's biggest crowd

Torquay lose to Truro by the only goal of the game

The boos that echoed around Plainmoor after this disappointing Boxing Day defeat reflected Torquay’s poor showing, but Truro deserved plenty of credit for a performance which deserved all three points from the opening moments onwards.

In a bumper festive crowd of 3,764 - Torquay’s biggest of the season - only the 72 Truro supporters in Bristow’s Bench went home happy.

Only a few weeks ago Torquay boss Gary Johnson was praising his defenders for their solid defending from set pieces, but in the 19th minute the White Tigers became the third team in as many matches to score direct from a corner against the Gulls.

This time it was Ben Adlesbury who got up highest to meet the kick from the left and his powerful header flew in.

Truro had started better than United, and for much of the first half the visitors were on top. Torquay squandered chances and misplaced passes, their injury woes laid bare as the starters struggled to cope in the absence of players like Aaron Jarvis, Brad Ash, Kevin Dawson, Tom Lapslie and Asa Hall, who all might have seized control as the game slipped away from their team.

The arrival of Dillon De Silva from the bench in favour of home debutant Osman Foyo well before half time gave the home side some of the energy they had been lacking, and they started to threaten the Truro goal.

Brett McGavin - back in the side after suspension - hit the post with a long-distance effort, and after the break Lewis Collins skimmed the top of the Truro bar with a dipping shot from distance.

Torquay had decent spells with the ball in the second half, but Truro held firm and no-one inside Plainmoor could quibble with the final result.

Both goalkeepers made great saves, too. Torquay’s Mark Halstead performed heroics in the first half to keep his side in with a shout, while Truro’s James Hamon also earned his Christmas bonus.

Hamon was one of five ex-Gulls in the Truro squad, but it was Paignton lad Connor Riley-Lowe, who has never played for United, who ran the show for the visitors.

The two teams meet again at Plymouth’s Bolitho Park on Saturday, and Torquay will need to be much better than this if they are to get anything from that game.