Torquay United manager Paul Wotton said he would take ‘encouragement’ from the amount of chances his team created at St Albans City at the weekend - despite it being a 1-1 draw in the end in Hertfordshire.

The Gulls had to fight back for the point there, with Jordan Young’s second-half penalty followed by a cascade of chances they couldn’t take. Now, at Slough Town tonight, Wotton says his team need to be better in the box and put away the chances when they come.

Asked on Saturday if he ‘took comfort’ from the amount of missed chances Torquay had at St Albans, Wotton said: “Not comfort, but I take encouragement.” The manager continued: “We had ample opportunities to be better in their penalty box.”

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Torquay go to Slough still top of the National League South table - so there is no panic. But with only one striker in the squad at the moment (the other three - Brad Ash, Ben Seymour and Jaydn Crosbie - are all out on loan) Wotton is looking to the attacking midfielders to step up and help leading goalscorer Cody Cooke in front of goal.

Young, who scored from the spot - his third goal in four games - was brilliant at St Albans, and if he plays like that at Slough he will be Torquay’s main threat again. But, after taking Dylan Morgan and Will Jenkins Davies off for Omar Mussa and Lirak Hasani on Saturday, the manager does have options. Mussa changed the game when he came on, with his runs at the St Albans defence, and Hasani also did well. But on other days it has been Morgan and Jenkins Davies that have been the more impressive, and Mussa coming off. So it will be interesting to see who Wotton fancies for this one.

At the back, apart from being cut through for St Albans’ goal in the sixth minute on Saturday, Torquay were good again, with Jordan Thomas (right back), Jordan Dyer (centre back), Sam Dreyer (centre back) and Jay Foulston (left back) proving to be one of the best back fours in the division. The return of Foulston from a short-term injury meant he only played 60-odd minutes before he was replaced by Matt Carson - but he should be OK.

Slough are 15th in the National South table, 16 points below the Gulls. They drew 0-0 at home to Eastbourne Borough on Saturday - but lost 4-1 at Hemel Hempstead Town and 5-1 at Boreham Wood in their two previous games. Before that they drew three games on the trot. They haven’t won a game since Saturday, November 26, when they beat Chippenham Town 3-0 away. Torquay are on a run of 13 league games without a defeat, which covers the whole of November, December and nearly all of January now.

After their goalless draw on Saturday, Slough’s player-manager Scott Davies said: “Would’ve taken a point this morning but having watched the game back, disappointed not to take all three. A difficult couple of weeks but we’ve stopped the rot and now welcome a fantastic club in Torquay on Tuesday. Hopefully we can turn out in big numbers.”