Boden goal hands Gulls a much-needed victory
GARY Johnson said Torquay United had to ‘fight for everything’ to beat King’s Lynn Town on Saturday - a result that was much-needed after the disappointing defeat by Maidenhead United in midweek.
It was the Gulls’ first home win since Boxing Day and it keeps them third in the National League table but more importantly, after the 4-1 loss at Maidenhead, it was a result in the right direction after the injury-hit team’s recent worrying slide in form.
And a 96th-minute equaliser for Stockport County against leaders Sutton United won’t have done any harm to the atmosphere in the changing room after the game, either.
Johnson said he and assistant manager Aaron Downes had been working on the players’ confidence after Tuesday night’s defeat - and there was certainly some evidence of that. But it wasn’t until the second half that Scott Boden scored the only goal of the 1-0 win - with a little bit of deserved fortune when the visitors’ goalkeeper parried a Connor Lemonheigh-Evans shot to his feet.
Johnson said: “We knew that our next win was going to be so vital, just to get us back on track again, and we knew that it would take a work rate.
“I thought the lads were magnificent in making sure King’s Lynn didn’t get their game going in and around our penalty area. We competed, we shut them down, we nicked the ball quite a few times, and maybe we could have had more than just the one goal.
“We had a couple of free kicks that I thought we should have got on the end of and we had Scott’s chance early on in the first half. I thought ‘oh no, it might be one of these’ - but we got them wound up and they came out flying, which was nice, and we got the goal.
“From then it was a matter of trying to create a second goal but making sure we didn’t let a goal in.
“Since the Maidenhead game, we knew that we had to be more organised and more solid and I thought the lads took to that well because we really had only one or two days to work on it.”
There were two changes from the ‘Maidenhead’ team with goalkeeper Lucas Covolan coming in and Shaun MacDonald dropping to the bench, and Plymouth Argyle loanee leftback Ryan Law making his full debut, with striker Billy Waters moving to the substitutes’ bench.
After a month of making-do at the back, the inclusion of Law meant with two recognised centre backs Sam
Sherring and Joe Lewis - and Ben Wynter at right back, it was finally the right pegs in the right holes again.
Adam Randell was on the right and Jake Andrews on the left, with the midfield completed by Asa Hall and Lemonheigh-Evans, and Armani Little in behind striker Boden.
With relegation cancelled for this season, King’s Lynn cannot go down despite being in 21st, so have ‘furloughed’ some of their more expensive players and have been playing with a mixture of young players and loan signings. Still, with nothing to really lose, they played some crisp passing football from the start and Covolan made a brilliant save inside the first two minutes after Tyler Denton had hit the crossbar with a free kick - the ball coming back out and Jordan Richards’ shot on the rebound on target but stopped with one hand by the Brazilian goalkeeper.
Torquay had first half chances Sherring, Hall, Randell - and one falling to Boden on 14 minutes when he swept the ball wide from in front of goal. The flag went up for offside to save his blushes.
Once he got into the game, Law linked up well with Andrews down the left - Andrews having his best game of the season restored to his favoured position.
Another Andrews cross from the left was close to the toes of several Torquay players. An excellent Andrews cross set up Boden to try a spectacular overhead kick - but the ball went straight into the chest of Richardson. That was unlucky.
In the first minute of the second half, Lemonheigh-Evans attacked King’s Lynn goal and shot from the edge of the box. The goalkeeper Richardson should have held the ball but split it and Boden was there to poke it home. It was the Gulls’ first goal from open play in 433 minutes.
Josh Umerah came on for Boden on 76 minutes. A Little shot on 79 minutes was parried by Richardson. There was a little pressure at the end but Torquay survived to win all three points.
Johnson, who is now planning for tomorrow night’s home game against Solihull Moors, said: “They [King’s Lynn] don’t feel like they have got any worries anymore regarding relegation... so they could play their game with a bit of freedom and they started off well when they hit the crossbar. But they didn’t get too many chances after that.
“I am very pleased for our club and I am hoping that this could be the start of a group of wins that we need. We had to fight for everything today and that was why I was pleased.”