Torquay rue missed penalty in stalemate
GARY Johnson said a point was probably the fair reward for Torquay United’s endeavours at Boreham Wood on Saturday evening.
Asa Hall had a first half penalty saved at Meadow Park but the home side hit the woodwork twice and former Torquay striker Tyrone Marsh had a great chance late on but sliced the ball wide.
Once again, it was in front of goal that Torquay were lacking, while goalkeeper Shaun MacDonald and the defence kept a clean sheet against a determined Boreham Wood attacking.
With Sutton United winning in the afternoon, Torquay are now third in the National League, five points behind the leaders, who have a game in hand. Hartlepool United are second with a point more than the Gulls but having played a game more.
“We’ll take it for now, but know that we’ve still got to improve a little bit,” said Johnson.
“We missed a penalty early on, and they hit the post a couple of times. I think both teams didn’t really create lots of opportunities, but at the end of the day we’re going away with a point.”
Johnson made one change from the team that lost at home to Hartlepool the previous Saturday with Jake Andrews dropping to the bench and Billy Waters coming in to join Scott Boden up front.
At the back, Johnson opted for a back three of Ben Wynter, Sam Sherring and Joe Lewis behind a midfield of Adam Randell on the right, Hall, Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and Armani Little, and Ben Whitfield on the left.
When Whitfield broke down the left on 25 minutes Gus Mafuta pushed Little as the midfielder ran into the box to meet the cross – but Nathan Ashmore saved Hall’s penalty, diving well to his left.
Whitfield tried a shot from out wide on the left on 31 minutes but the ball was always going over at the back post. A Lemonheigh-Evans cross on 38 minutes was a little too high for Boden and his jump put Whitfield off at the back post with the winger hitting the ball wide.
Waters fed Whitfield with a perfect ball in the box a moment after a minute had been added on to the end of the first 45 – but his first touch was poor and the ball ran away from him.
Whitfield then went down after jarring a knee in a challenge for the ball with Kane Smith – and for a short while it looked like the injury curse had struck again. The half-time whistle went before play resumed and it was a relief when the player came back out for the second half.
MacDonald claimed a dangerous Smith cross in the first minute of the second half – before two Whitfield shots were blocked and Corey Whitley had a shot deflected wide by Sherring after a quick counter attack.
The lively Tshimanga hit the post from a difficult angle after another counter attack in the 57th minute and Whitely struck the post again four minutes later with a cracking shot after an excellent through ball.
Waters did well to get down the right soon after and his ball to LemonheighEvans was good. The midfielder turned well but his shot went inches wide. Waters then had the ball taken off his foot as he took his time over shooting.
In the 74th minute Johnson made his first change, bringing on Matt Buse for Little.
Josh Umerah came on for Boden and Olaf Koszela replaced a limping Whitfield but Torquay were forced to defend with Smith heading a chance well wide of MacDonald’s goal. There were some jitters in the box from a corner as Torquay struggled to hold on to the ball and move it forward. The referee said Hall had used his hand when climbing to meet a LemonheighEvans cross as the game entered timeadded-on.
Lemonheigh-Evans was then bundled over in the 91st minute but his delivery from the free kick summed up Torquay’s performance – the ball failing to beat the first man.
Tomorrow night, Torquay are at Maidenhead United aiming for three points to keep the chase of table toppers Sutton alive.