Torquay United have challenged the fans to break the 4,000 mark this weekend when the top-of-the-table Gulls take on Hemel Hempstead Town at Plainmoor on Saturday.

There were 3,303 fans inside the ground last weekend when Torquay beat Farnborough 2-0 to go top of the National League South table – and now chief executive officer Joe Lovell wants to break the 4,000 mark in the league for the first time this year.

Launching ‘The 4K Challenge’ on the club’s website, Lovell said: “Support this season has been phenomenal. How good would it be to round off 2024 by tipping over the 4,000 mark this Saturday?”

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And with the Gulls on a 10-game unbeaten streak going into the game against Hemel, what better way to spend the final Saturday before Christmas than get behind the Gulls in their last home game of a 2024 that has been remarkable for its contrasting fortunes. Considering the former owners said they would be putting the club into administration in February, the turnaround since the buyout by the Bryn Consortium has been nothing short of miraculous.

Torquay have been steadily improving under new manager Wotton, who had to build a squad from scratch in the summer, and they are now top of the table and ready to push on for promotion in 2025. Wotton has always said he doesn’t take much notice of the table – but for the battle-hardened fans it is a wonderful sight.

“Without saying I have a look, I am obviously aware of where we are in the table – but there’s only one date that matters when you are top of the league and that’s the last game of the season,” he said.

“It just is what it is. We are on a good run, we are improving slowly, and we want to keep the run going – and obviously there is confidence within the group at the moment, and a little bit of momentum, but it’s game by game. We can never rest on our laurels because someone said to me yesterday we are the eighth different league leaders in the National League South, That’s crazy. So let’s not get too carried away. But I would rather be top of the league than bottom of the league. It is what it is.”

One of the early leaders, Hemel Hempstead Town, are one of in fact nine teams that have topped the National South table so far this season. But they have dropped right away in the last two months and come to Plainmoor in 17th place, 15 points below the Gulls.

But on Saturday they beat bottom-of-the-table Weymouth 3-0 – so they shouldn’t be taken lightly. But, to be fair, taking anyone lightly is something Torquay would never do under Paul Wotton. The Hemel win came in the first game under new manager Lee Allinson, who was appointed to the role a week after the departure of Bobby Wilkinson. Allinson is someone Wotton knows well.

He said: “I know him really well and have managed against him many times when he was at Hendon – and I am looking forward to seeing him. He had a great start on Saturday at Weymouth, so again, I think no matter what run you have been on, any win does start to bring back that confidence. So they’ll be confident as well and they’ll be relishing coming down here. So we are going to have to be – as always – bang on it.”

Wotton signed 22-year-old midfielder Jack Wood on loan from National League side Southend United in time for last Saturday’s game – and he made his debut as a second-half substitute. Torquay were 2-0 ahead in seven minutes following goals by Will Jenkins Davies and Jordan Young – and never really looked back after that.