Torquay United 'point gained' after late equaliser in draw

Torquay United manager Paul Wotton said he felt like it was a point gained after the Gulls ambled to a 1-1 draw against Maidstone United on Tuesday night.

A late header by Jay Foulston won that point when it looked like it was going to be the end of an unbeaten home record at Plainmoor. It was a poor performance on a windy day - and one that stunned the home fans into silence when the whistle was blown at the end.

Torquay are the biggest team in the National League South and want promotion back to the National League at the end of this season. After this performance, Wotton said the Gulls need to be better.

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“I was disappointed with us tonight,” said Wotton. “It was really difficult conditions. We told them how to play before and the boys persisted in trying to play a certain way, which the conditions didn’t enable us to play.

“I thought we looked off the pace, I don’t think we did the basics particularly well. First half there was nothing in the game, Maidstone were playing it forward and we were dealing with it OK. We had a couple of opportunities but we weren’t really at it.”

Maidstone went 1-0 ahead in the 39th minute when Charlie Seaman bent a free kick around Torquay’s wall and the ball flew into the near corner of James Hamon’s net. Up until then, neither side had really threatened to score.

Wotton said: “It had nil-nil written all over it and then we miss a simple tackle on the edge of the box and it’s a great strike from the boy.”

After a lot of huff and puff in the second half, it was in the 87th minute that the equaliser finally came when defender foulston got his head on an Omar Mussa free kick and the ball went past the seemingly wrong-footed Maidstone goalkeeper. But, unlike in other games, when it is a draw going into the final minutes, I didn’t feel like the Gulls had another goal in them.

Wotton said: “I just feel like, at the minute we have to work so hard to score and teams against us don’t have to work particularly hard. That’s a frustration. I’ve got a headache tonight, I’m tired, I thought our body language was a bit off. We were one-nil down and I thought, ‘come on, where’s the spark, who’s gonna lift us’. I bought subs on and I didn’t think they showed a real determination to come on. The subs that came off, I felt they sulked in the dugout.

“I am frustrated. We have got to be better. I am really happy we didn’t lose but even at the end there we score and I thought, ‘here we go! Come on boys’. But then we go backwards and Hammy has to make a couple of really important saves. It shouldn’t be like that at the end.”

The point, however, did see the team move up from sixth to fourth in the table - with an FA Trophy weekend to come, which will see the manager’s former club Truro City come to Plainmoor. “We need leaders on the pitch to drive us on,” said Wotton. I can’t find the words, it felt like a long night.”