Torquay United have to put FA Cup disaster behind them
Torquay United manager Paul Wotton said he had a good meeting with his players on Monday and they now have to put the disaster of the FA Cup defeat at Bishops Cleeve behind them by “putting in a performance that will rectify it”.
The 3-0 defeat at the Southern League Division One South side was the shock result of the second qualifying round – and the home team celebrated like they had won the Cup itself, and who can blame them, it was such a momentous day for them.
Bishops Cleeve had already said, to be playing National League South ‘giants’ Torquay was incredible enough – but to go and beat them 3-0 in front of a sell-out crowd in the Cotswolds village was a surprising added bonus. For Torquay and Wotton – it was a nightmare of a result, and one that kicked the breath out of the manager.
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Wotton was very emotional talking to his club’s website after the game, and on Tuesday morning he said the result still hurt. “It’s still stinging,” he said “I was very surprised by the performance. In the eight league games before the boys had been absolutely bang on it and working their socks off, and I didn’t ever envisage that performance. It’s too easy to say it’s a bad day at the office but I am convinced it’s a one off.
“We all know it’s a very, very poor result. It couldn’t be worse. But it is very important to not lose sight of the fact that we have had a good start in the league, the league table hasn’t changed, and we need the next game quickly. It is going to have to be forgotten about at some point, but it won’t be forgotten about until the boys put in a performance to rectify it
.”
Wotton said the players reacted by training well on Monday. That;s a start, at least. “It was the polar opposite of what I was as a player – the performance was the polar opposite,” he said.
“I wasn’t so much angry as I felt very, very let down. But we had a really good meeting about it, weirdly, the boys trained as good as they have trained for weeks on Monday. Last week wasn’t a good week, we were trying to raise them in training – and the alarm bells were ringing for me in the week.
“So we have put that right, we had a really good training session yesterday, and it has to be full focus on St Albans and our league form – there has to be a point when we stop thinking about the FA Cup game.”
Torquay welcome St Albans City to Plainmoor, still fifth in the table after dropping from second following their 2-0 defeat at Welling United. St Albans are bottom of the table without a win to their name.
Wotton said: “Their league position is false. They have got a good manager and they play a specific brand of football, and they have got some excellent players. As with every league game in the National League South, we are going to have to be on it – and I think the vast majority of the league games we have been.
“There are a couple of moments in games when we haven’t, but we are all learning and we are all new still, and like I said our league form has been good. Hopefully we can carry that on on Saturday.”
Striker Cody Cooke will return after missing the game at Bishops Cleeve after his partner gave birth on Friday night, and Wotton is expecting injured duo Jay Foulston and Dan Hayfield to be back too. Young wing back Finn Tonks picked up a fifth yellow card on Saturday though, so should be suspended.
However, Wotton has gained the services of 20-year-old midfielder Will Jenkins Davies, who was on loan from Plymouth Argyle all last season, and who returned, initially until January, on Tuesday.
“Will is a player who did very, very well for Torquay United last season,” said Wotton. “He’s a player I know anyway from my previous time at Plymouth Argyle. He brings energy, commitment, and technical ability to the side”