OWERS IS FINDING GULLS LIFE THREE-SY
VERDICT: Torquay’s resurgence under Gary Owers continues as they once again proved they can be a match for anyone by holding title chasers Aldershot
GOOD things come in threes for Torquay manager Gary Owers who saw his side extend their unbeaten run to three matches against Aldershot and keep their third successive clean sheet in the process.
The Gulls had fallen to narrow defeats against the Shots in their two previous meetings in the league and the FA Cup, but they more than matched their opponents at Plainmoor – much to the delight of Owers, who served the Shots as assistant manager between 2009 and 2011.
“It was a good solid performance from us, particularly in the second half when I thought we took the game to Aldershot a little bit more than what we did in the first half,” said Owers. “In the end we could have sneaked it.
“They’ve had a tough week and we knew that and we’ve finished the game strongly, and that’s credit to the players because they’ve worked really hard on the training ground over a number of weeks now and we are getting to see the fruits of our labour.”
For Aldershot, it brought an end to a four-match winning run, but assistant manager James Rowe insisted on focusing on the positives.
“We knew what was coming, they (Torquay) have had an upturn in form,” said Rowe.
“They had more athleticism in the team from when they played us in the FA Cup, which is credit to them. I thought that we stood up to it and went toe to toe with them.
“We’ve got to take the positives and that’s four clean sheets out of five for us.”
The Shots gave United a scare in the seventh minute when Matt McClure made a dangerous run down the right and looked well placed to score, but he was crowded out by the Gulls defence before keeper Vincent Dorel smothered the danger.
United carved out a chance of their own on 17 minutes when Josh McQuoid connected with a left-wing cross from Liam Davis but missed the target.
At the other end, Fabien Robert attempted an ambitious long-range strike for the visitors, which comfortably cleared the crossbar.
Within a minute, it was
Torquay’s turn again – Ruairi Keating latching onto a free-kick from Luke Young and racing through on goal but saw his shot, which took a deflection off Shots defender George Fowler, hit the post and bounced clear.
Back came Aldershot again and on the half hour, Matt McClure looked well placed to put them in front but he fired his effort straight at Dorel.
The Gulls upped the ante after the break and threatened again six minutes into the restart when Young narrowly missed the target with a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area before Davis’ perfectly-weighted cross found McQuoid but his headed looped over the bar.
But it was Aldershot who almost snatched all three points 11 minutes from time – and it was the efforts of former player Damon Lathrope who denied them, superbly blocking McClure’s goalbound free-kick to earn his side a point.