United manager Gary Johnson was pleased with his side’s performance in the 3-0 win over Chippenham Town at Plainmoor.
“It was a nice win. In the second half, you’re 1-0 up and once you’re 2-0 up, you can press home the advantage, because you’ve worked relentlessly hard to shut an opposition down, get some goals, and then you’ve got to keep going, it’s the fitness side of it.
“I was pleased we did keep going, we looked quite strong today, we certainly had control of the ball, much better than I’ve seen for the last couple of weeks. Training days are coming up trumps because we had to do a lot of possession stuff, we were giving the ball away in the previous games too often.
“I thought today we took more care of it, and we were fit enough to get on the end of it, make third man runs, one-twos, and we looked a lot sharper today, so that’s good. The Plymouth game showed how far we were away from our game and our fitness, but a couple of weeks later, I’m pleased to say we’re in good shape.”
Johnson was also pleased with the contribution of new man Dan Holman, who celebrated signing a deal with the Club by scoring United’s second, after a couple of near-misses early on.
“He’s got an unbelievable shot on him – we’re going to need a couple of crossbars if he’s going to hit them that hard, as we’ll need to replace them. Two great strikes, and I was really pleased when he got his quality goal, those sort of finishes you only see in the Premiership. He’s done well, he’s still got a bit of sharpness to go, as he proved when he didn’t quite get that first one, but I know Dan inside out, and I know when he’s ready. He’ll be a good find for us, that’ll be for sure.”
Torquay’s performance against Chippenham also saw a return to his side’s relentless nature, much to the Gaffer’s liking.
“You want to be so relentless that by the end of the game, the opposition have gone, almost. Credit to Chippenham because they stayed in it for 45-50 minutes, and that’s what they do against us. Usually they get a goal on the break and we can’t score and they beat us 2-0, like they’ve done before. It’s always a good test against Mikey cook’s teams, and I think they’ll do OK in National League South. We looked very strong all through the game I thought. It gave us a chance for our back four a chance to play together a little bit and I thought they looked very, very, solid.”
Nest up for United is a test against Bournemouth U23s on Tuesday evening, as his new-look squad begins to gel ahead of the season start date of August 21st.
“Bournemouth is always an interesting game, because we know that they’re a possession side as well, and we’ve got to be at our best and our strongest to stop them putting their ten-twelve passes together like they like to do. Then we’ve got to be potent to try to win the game and score goals.
“Our players know that is what I am looking for now. Can you be a part of that, part of the move that leads to a goal? Can you be the one with the cut eye that wins us the game. I don’t want anyone to get a cut eye, and you won’t do if you go in bravely for a 1-0 win. We’re at that stage now, they know what we’re looking for as a group, and as a mental state, and now they’ve got to show me what I’ve seen in them, they can put into their game that shows intent.”