Torquay United troubles deepen

The troubling times at Torquay United plunged to new depths with a last-minute loss at home to Slough Town.

Currently floundering as a mid-table club in the National League South, it is easy to forget the Gulls were an established Football League outfit for many decades and less than three years ago, under the management of Gary Johnson, they were just a penalty shoot-out away from a return to the EFL.

Sadly, the downward spiral has been relentless over the past couple of seasons, and Johnson is desperately struggling to rekindle some of the magic from the early years of his six-year reign.

On Saturday, Torquay led Slough on three occasions, and were pegged back all three times, eventually losing the game 4-3 with a stoppage-time goal from the visitors. It all added up to four straight defeats and the Gulls drifting away from the play-off picture.

Promotion was the only objective from this current campaign but that seems a long way off and Johnson, a manager with a superb CV dating back almost 40 years, is facing weekly protests from an exasperated Yellow Army.

After the Slough defeat, a despondent Johnson told the club website: “I’m gutted really.”

“We got ourselves 1-0 up, 2-1 up, 3-2 up and they kept coming back. I just thought – the same as them – the defending in the boxes wasn’t very good.

“There were a lot of ricochets, a lot of opportunities for both teams really, but they probably had more. The last goal was a killer, and that’s how football goes sometimes when it’s not quite going well for you. It’s difficult, and I’m disappointed.”

Playing a lot higher up the football pyramid, Plymouth Argyle have enjoyed an excellent start to life under new Head Coach Ian Foster, but they were undone by a Sunderland blitz in the Sky Bet Championship.

Ryan Hardie had swept the Pilgrims into a half-time lead but second-half goals from Pierre Ekwah, Jack Clarke and Jobe Bellingham secured a 3-1 victory for Sunderland, as Argyle looked weary from their midweek cup replay loss to Leeds United.