Torquay United are hoping for their biggest crowd of the National League South season so far when Truro City come to Plainmoor this afternoon.

Torquay ’s New Year’s Day opponents are another team in the race for one of the two promotion places – and, of course, they are the club that the new Gulls owners, the Bryn Consortium, lured manager Paul Wotton away from in the summer.

So today’s game will be a six-pointer as well as a game with a modicum of pride at stake – on the first day of a 2025 that could be one to remember for Gulls’ fans. In the final table of the old year, Torquay were top with Truro just two points behind them in fourth. Wotton is always saying being top only halfway through the season is nothing to shout about – but for the supporters, after a tumultuous 2024, being top is the perfect way to move into the second half of a season that has been a joy after the trauma of the previous one.

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One of the men behind the turnaround, co-chairman Michael Westcott, is delighted about that. “I just think we have been blown away by the way that Torquay United fans have embraced the new club, the fan ownership, and the Bryn Consortium,” he said. “I think they have been brilliant with Paul and the way they have responded to the players.”

And in a major new interview for the Herald Express and DevonLive, Westcott revealed his message for the fans, going into the new year: “Stay behind us, stick with us, and we will leave no stone unturned to bring success to our beloved football club. That, we all deserve.”

Torquay’s Christmas games took them to the top of the table (with the 2-0 home win against Hemel Hempstead Town) and kept them there (with the 2-2 draw at Weymouth on Boxing Day). But Truro will be tough opponents – ahead of Saturday’s trip to Worthing in the FA Trophy.

After Will Jenkins Davies scored to make it 1-0 at Weymouth, striker Cody Cooke scored his 10th goal of the season to make it 2-1 – but a second Brendon Goodship equaliser denied Torquay two points there.

They were without defender Jay Foulston at Weymouth and he is likely to be out for at least two weeks – so Matt Carson is likely to get the nod at right back. Second goalkeeper Matt Wonnacott is the only other player out injured, so Wotton may be tempted to go with the same 11 that started the game at Weymouth.

With home tickets sold out, the club was hoping for a big gate – possibly 5,000 – and that’s a measure of fans’ excitement for 2025.