Torquay United must rectify things with a big performance straight away

Bishops Cleeve celebrate their victory with their supporters after beating Torquay United 3 - 0 during the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round Match between Bishops Cleeve and Torquay United at Kayte Lane, Bishops Cleeve on 14 Sep 2024. Photo: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK
-Credit: (Image: Tom Sandberg/PPAUK)


Every Wednesday in the Herald Express, our Torquay United correspondent Richard Hughes takes a sideways look at what's going on in the world of the Gulls. This week, he looks at that shocking FA Cup loss and how Gulls needs to bounce back

I wasn’t there – so it was a hard listen. Not only because Torquay United played so poorly against a team they should have beaten easily, but also because the Radio Devon’s link from Kayte Lane was at times like listening to a commentary inside a tin can, with the voices of Paul Mulhern and David Thomas competing with static and a home crowd that was enjoying itself a tad too much.

Radio Devon did their best, but with no proper connection at Bishops Cleeve, and with the Wifi dropping in and dropping out, it was a shared mobile phone for the commentators – and at times you could hardly hear a word they were saying.

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In some ways, that might be considered a good thing – because what Mssrs Mulhern and Thomas were trying to describe was a disaster scene of epic proportions. Had they known what was to come, the broadcast should probably have come with a health warning. To quote a line from the song Therese by the 1980s Glossop beat combo The Bodines: ‘It scared the health out of me’.

What are we to make of that display, that terrible performance? Speaking to Paul Wotton yesterday he said it was still ‘stinging’ – like it had indeed brought on a physical reaction. He said, in that emotional interview after the game, that he couldn’t believe what he had seen.

-Credit:Tom Sandberg/PPAUK
-Credit:Tom Sandberg/PPAUK

There were some very experienced players out there, yet they played a game that was not planned, and didn’t change their thought-processes despite Wotton and assistant manager Mike Edwards constantly shouting and bawling from the sidelines. At times the players looked like they had just landed from another planet and had been asked to participate in a sport they knew nothing about.

Ed Palmer, who was a shadow of the player he has been since coming into the team following the hamstring injury picked up by Jordan Dyer, wrote on X: “I can only apologise ... that one hurt.” It did.

But we all need to remember how far we have come in such a short space of time. This is a club rejuvenated by new investment, new personalities, and a brutally honest manager. Wotton says the best way to forget September 14, 2024, is rectify things with a big performance straight away.

And the best way for the fans to react is to get fully behind the players on Saturday, when St Albans City come to Plainmoor, and be louder than any Torquay crowd has ever been before. Loud and clear, loud and proud. For one thing is for certain – the 12th man at home will be better than all 15 were at Bishops Cleeve.