Torquay United go to St Albans City this weekend with some payback to dish out after a home draw in September that was memorable for its feistiness and bad refereeing decisions.

The Gulls were held to a 1-1 draw by St Albans when they came to Plainmoor last year. Ben Seymour - who was shipped out on loan to AFC Totton this week - scored his only goal so far in a heated match during which Ed Palmer sustained a fractured cheekbone (Zane Banton was sent off for that!) and ended with Omar Mussa injured and the Gulls furious they hadn’t been given a penalty for the foul on him

It was perhaps a bad performance by the referee Sam Reid that day that denied the Gulls the win, rather than a good one by St Albans, but that result in September still rankles - despite the two teams differing seasons since then.

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Torquay are two points clear at the top of the National League South table now, while St Albans are one place inside the relegation zone with a six-point buffer zone above them. But Paul Wotton will tell you till he is blue in the face that there are no easy games in the National South.

“It is going to be a tough game,” he said this week. “It is irrelevant where teams are in the league. It’s a tough game of football, every team in the league is to be respected, absolutely. I think I say it every Thursday, we will have to be at our best to get a result.”

There is an imbalance to Torquay’s home and away games at the moment. They have played 14 at home but just 11 away. However, four away days in the next five games sort that out, with trips to St Albans, Slough Town (on Tuesday), Chippenham Town (Tuesday, January 28) and Maidstone United (Saturday, February 1) only separated by the home game against Hampton & Richmond Borough on Saturday, January 25.

Unbeaten at home, Torquay have still only lost three games away. “I honestly don’t think about it. You still get three points wherever you win,” said Wotton, when asked about the home record at his press conference.

"It’s good. It means we are doing something right at home and it coincides with having a tremendous fanbase as well, which is a huge advantage. It’s great, and it’s brilliant, and long may it continue, but three points is three points whether you are playing on the moon or at Plainmoor - or at St Albans away at the weekend.”

With Seymour having gone out on loan - and fellow strikers Brad Ash (Bath City) and Jaydn Crosbie (Gloucester City) also on loan spells - Torquay still only have one striker in the squad: Cody Cooke. But with a pack of attacking midfielders - Jordan Young, Dylan Morgan, Will Jenkins Davies and Mussa - currently backing him up, there is no great rush to get another man in. Defender Jay Foulston is back in training but this game might come too soon after his short-term injury.

St Albans have changed their manager since that game in September. Ian Culverhouse replaced David Noble in December. Culverhouse is likely to be without Ken Charles, Alfie Payne, and James Sweet as they continue to recover from injury. The manager will also be hoping that Dom Hutchinson has recovered from the illness that prevented him from travelling to Weston-super-Mare last weekend.