United to spend day off scouting for the run-in

Victory over National League title rivals Sutton has put Gulls back in contention

TORQUAY United might not have a game tomorrow, but for manager Gary Johnson and his coaches it will still be a working day as they spy on the teams that the Gulls are about to come up against in the race for the National League title.

Torquay’s 1-0 win at Sutton United on Tuesday night was a massive result for the club as it tries to win promotion back to the Football League – and while the Gulls do not play again until they go to Woking next Tuesday, Johnson says he will be using the time off wisely.

“We will still be busy – we won’t be putting our feet up and watching some documentary,” said the United manager.

“We’ll just keep abreast of what the other teams are doing and who they have got, who’s injured, and who’s playing well.”

Johnson said he will watch the live stream of a game, and so will assistant manager Aaron Downes, head of performance analysis Louie Birkenshaw, and Johnson’s brother, head of recruitment Peter Johnson.

It is a shame for United that, after clawing back to the same amount of points as Sutton, their rivals would again be three points ahead if they beat Altrincham. However, as Johnson says: “They’ve got a difficult game up at Altrincham – and if they get away by three points, they get away by three points. At least they haven’t got away by six points, if they had beaten us.

“We have put ourselves in a decent position and it’s a one-game turnaround, if you like – we’ll have to win an extra one and they have got to lose an extra one. And then we will see where we are. But all we can do is worry about ourselves and try to win every game we go into.”

It was an 81st-minute header by captain Asa Hall that won the game at Sutton – possibly Torquay’s most important victory of the season.

Torquay had been 12 points clear at the top of the National League going into the Christmas period, but a poor spell followed, with some key players out injured.

That allowed Sutton to build a 12-point lead themselves, but the south-west London side’s recent form has been poor and before losing to Torquay they could only draw their previous three games.

Torquay, on the other hand, have now won six of their last seven games.

With nine games left, the Gulls are sitting comfortably in third on 63 points, the same as second-placed Sutton, and one point behind the leaders Hartlepool United, who have played two more games than Torquay and three more than Sutton.

It was an excellent performance from the team at Sutton and one that will breed confidence.

Johnson said: “We stopped a team that was flying high a month ago, as we were earlier in the season.

“We had to catch them up as quickly as we could with games to spare – and that’s what has happened at the moment. So, credit to the boys, six wins in seven games is a good return.”

The week between games may also give a few more players the chance to get fit after their injuries. Defender Kyle Cameron came on as a substitute at Sutton after two months out. Winger Ben Whitfield is expected to be fit again soon, and midfielder Aaron Nemane is also on the mend.