Andrews inspires Gulls in club record FA Cup victory

The FA Cup has always been so important to Torquay United that the idea of it serving as a warm-up for a more important league game is a luxury which few, if any, managers have ever enjoyed. But that’s exactly how Gulls boss Gary Johnson described it as the rain tipped down at Lymington Town’s Sports Ground.

Johnson was careful to deliver his verdict after United had given their game Wessex League opponents a thorough going-over, but in the wake of this record-breaking rout every Torquay fan will probably be happy with an efficient 1-0 win when National League South leaders Woking come to Plainmoor this Saturday.

Johnson has been flagging up the Woking match ever since he walked in the place, and he could hardly have given United supporters more encouragement to get along this weekend than a start which reads: P2 W 2 F9 A0.

It was 59 years ago, all but seven weeks, when Torquay beat Northampton Town 7-1 in Round One – Ernie Pym and Graham Bond both scored hat-tricks, Tommy Northcott hit one and, most remarkably, all three were born in the town.

On only a couple of occasions did Lymington look remotely like breaching a United defence which has now conceded only four goals in 11 matches this season, while it was quite a feat for the ‘Linnets’ to hold out as long as 36 minutes – and then it was to an own-goal.

How United had failed to score before then was down to a

Jamie Reid challenges for the ball with Lymington’s Tim Stephenson bit of bad luck – Asa Hall headed against the bar – and the acrobatics of Lymington goalkeeper Nic House.

Despite the scoreline, House had one of the games of his life in front of the BBC cameras and only he stood between the Gulls and double-figures.

Chris Regis, Hall three times, Ruairi Keating and Opi Edwards all went close before United’s domination was confirmed with two goals in two minutes.

Both started from left-winger Jake Andrews with raking crossfield passes, which were a feature of the Bristol City loanee’s outstanding performance.

Jamie Reid laid the first off to Ben Wynter, whose right-wing cross was deflected into his own net by Lewis Braily, and Edwards took the second, waited for Jones to advance off his line and unselfishly rolled a square pass for Reid to score from five yards.

The second half wasn’t completely the Andrews Show, but he looked like taking the outgunned hosts apart every time he got the ball in a decent position.

Left-back Braily was visibly out of his depth against the combined threat of Edwards and Wynter, so he was taken off at half-time, and after more heroics by Jones to defy Keating, Andrews and Hall again, Town gave midfielder Carlo Tate a break.

The locals insisted that Tate is approaching 40, from the wrong direction, and he was even supposed to be booked in for a Veterans’ match on the Sunday morning. He had no hope of stemming the tide of attacks which washed over his outgunned colleagues.

The contest, if you can call it that, was over after Andrews initiated two more goals in the 56th and 59th minutes.

It was Andrews’ cross which Keating finished with a right-foot volley from six yards, and Reid then skipped past an over-eager Jones off his line, on an Andrews pass, before crossing for Regis to guide a ‘cushion’ volley into the empty net.

Johnson made three changes just after the hour-mark.

New loanee striker Saikou Janneh took over from Keating, fit-again Jean-Yves Koue Niate replaced debutant Jamie Sendles-White at right centre-back and Brett Williams was sent on in place of Reid.

Lymington kept trying their hearts out, but United looked like scoring from almost every attack in the closing stages.

Williams headed a Liam Davis cross against the bar before helping himself to his first goals of the season – a tap-in ‘assisted’ by Wynter and a sweet left-foot drive from 25 yards which not even Jones had much hope of stopping.

All that had been missing from Andrews’ display was a goal, though he’d gone close enough several times, but he put that right in the last minute, turning on a pass from Janneh to give Jones no chance for 7-0.

Lymington had neither the athleticism, the fitness nor the ability to threaten United, not even on the increasingly rare occasions when Torquay attacks broke down.

It will be a much sterner test when Woking come to town this weekend, and nobody knows that better than Johnson.

Still, old Eric Webber’s Class of 1959 did follow up that 7-1 destruction of Northampton – they won promotion, the first in the club’s history, from the old Fourth Division. Johnson has something similar in mind...

Lymington Town (4-4-2): Jones; Davies, Stephenson, Ansell, Braily (Willett 46); Man, Tate (Ross 57), Hennan, Gosney; Jarvis, House; Subs not used – McNamara, Wood, Barnes, Jordan, Newman.

Torquay United (4-4-2): MacDonald; Wynter, Sendles-White (Koue Niate 65), Cameron, Davis; Edwards, Regis, Hall, Andrews; Reid (Williams 66), Keating (Janneh 61); Subs not used – Banton, Bawling, Wright, Burton (gk).

Referee: Stephen Hughes (Sussex); Attendance: 639.

PPAUK