Southend 1
(Dunne 76′)
United 1
(Johnson 45+5′)
In the final game of the season, United battled out a 1-1 draw away at Southend.
Chiori Johnson’s first goal of the season gave Torquay the lead just before the break, before a second half leveller from James Dunne earned his side with a share of the spoils on the last day.
With manager Gary Johnson unable to call upon the services of Shaun MacDonald and Armani Little following the midweek defeat at Stockport, the Gaffer named Mark Halstead and Keelan O’Connell as their respective replacements.
There was plenty of end to end play in the early stages of the game, but it was The Gulls who created the opening chance in the 5th minute, as Joe Felix’s free kick from halfway was flicked on by Ali Omar into the path of Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, whose effort was cleared off the line by Neal.
In the 13th minute United went close again as Danny Wright saw his effort from a Felix cross strike the outside of the post, before four minutes later Lemonheigh-Evans tried his luck with a driven strike that went narrowly wide of the right-hand post.
Still the men in yellow pressed forward.
On 24 minutes good play up the left between Stephen Duke-McKenna and Ben Wynter saw the latter’s cross parried by Steve Arnold, leaving a bouncing ball to fall for Johnson, who could only steer his half-volley form the edge of the box over the crossbar.
Ten minutes later, the home side threatened for the first time.
Callum Powell, who looked lively despite limited support from his colleagues, beat Joe Lewis on the left touchline before cutting into the left edge of the United box and sending a low drive into the side-netting from six yards.
United continued to boss proceedings though, and in the fourth of five additional minutes, they got the lead they deserved.
With defender Ollie Kensdale initially doing well to fend off the attentions of Lemonheigh-Evans, his teammate Dunne failed to respond in a similar manner, seeing a loose ball picked up on by Johnson midway inside the Southend half, before the midfielder clipped the ball over the advancing Arnold to make it 1-0 at the break.
The hosts responded following the change of ends, and were quick out of the blocks in the second half.
Four minutes after the restart, Halstead had to be alert to save a shot by Leon Davies, before six minutes later Powell chased a long ball forward, before diverting his run centrally and firing a decent shot off-target.
On 57 minutes the home side went down to ten men after a dangerous challenge on Ben Wynter by Demetriou saw the Southend skipper shown a straight red card.
Rather than seizing upon the initiative though, The Gulls were forced back as the home side rallied.
Halstead made a great save to deny a headed effort by Sam Dalby to ensure United remained ahead, before in the 70th minute the home side threatened again, as a shot from range by Harrison Neal rattled the bar from 20 yards.
Now forced to hit their opponents on the counter, the action reverted up the other end shortly after, with United fashioning another good chance, as O’Connell chipped the ball up for Johnson from the right, but his header was straight into the hands of Arnold.
Despite their one-man deficit, The Shrimpers levelled matters up on 76 minutes.
Dunne, whose earlier mistake had gifted Torquay the opener, somehow found himself left free in the centre of midfield, allowing him to pick up a loose ball and drive towards the edge of the 18-yard box, before sending his low diagonal shot past Halstead and into the bottom far corner of the net.
The were to be a couple more moments of promise for the Yellow Army to enjoy before the season was out though, with young prospect Alex Moyse stepping up from the bench to make his senior bow, moments before another former youth team player Olaf Koszela darted into the area to force Arnold to make a goalline smother in stoppage time.
That was just about that for 2021/22, however the Club remain indebted to their wonderful fanbase for the loyal support they have shown the side – home and away throughout the course of the season.
Here’s to 2022/23 – see you there!
United: 1. Mark Halstead, 2. Ben Wynter, 3. Dan Martin (27. Opi Edwards 32′), 5. Ali Omar, 7. Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, 9. Danny Wright, 14. Chiori Johnson, 15. Stephen Duke-McKenna, 16. Keelan O’Connell (18. Olaf Koszela 76′), 29. Joe Felix (22. Alex Moyse 87′), 31. Joe Lewis (c).
SUBS NOT USED: 23. Marcin Brzozowski.
Southend: 1. Steve Arnold, 5. Shaun Hobson, 7. Jack Bridge (20. Will Atkinson 85′), 8. James Dunne, 10. Sam Dalby, 11. Callum Powell (25. Jack Woods 90′), 17. Joe Gubbins, 21. Harrison Neal, 24. Jason Demetriou (c), 27. Leon Davies (40. John White 89′), 35. Ollie Kensdale.
SUBS NOT USED: 12. Tom Cliffords, 28. Ollie Coker.
Red Card: Demetriou 57′
Attendance: 6,294 (141 away)