Torquay United head coach Gary Owers expressed his satisfaction with a good night’s work after watching his side beat promotion-chasing Sutton United at Gander Green Lane.
Striker Ruairi Keating headed home in the 10th minute of the first half to clinch United’s third win of the season.
“Yeah, good result, and we needed it, to be honest” said Owers after the final whistle.
Three points was just the tonic for United after the disappointment of Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to AFC Fylde.
“I had a bit of a ‘pop’ at the lads on Saturday, and I asked for a response, and I asked them to show me some resilience, and some spirit, and some fight, and they’ve shown that in abundance tonight. It was a really, really hard working, dare I say it, ‘ugly win’. I couldn’t be happier.
“We’ve played some good stuff over the weeks. I felt that we haven’t had the reward that some of the performances warranted. Tonight, we got our reward for working really, really hard. Scored a good goal early in the game and then when it came down to it, in the later moments of the game, defended really, really well.
“We’ve been making lots of chances. People will tell you, and the managers that I speak to before the games and after the games. I spoke to Ian Baird, their assistant manager tonight. He warned their team. He said, “they’re not a soft touch, they’re not as bad as people my think,” and I don’t think we are. I’m just really pleased that we have got the three points.”
“I’m delighted. I think some of the lads get a bonus for a clean sheet and I wish I was paying a bonus every week. Some of the lads might get a bonus for scoring a goal and I wish I was paying more win bonuses and goal bonuses, but we’re not.
The visit of Leyton Orient to Plainmoor and picking up points at home is now occupying the Gaffer’s mind.
“We’re going into two home games now. I have been disappointed with the home form. I hope that we can go back now to Plainmoor and make some progress up the league by collecting some points at home.
“I’m really pleased but I am trying to keep a level head because we haven’t done anything yet. We have been here before. I don’t know what it is but we seem to do well in the dark. Maybe we should play our games at night!
“I have told them [the players] – we made more chances against Hartlepool and Maidstone than we will make in five or six games, but we didn’t take them. Even when it was 1-0 tonight and we were under the coach, we broke away, we had the better opportunities. If we can kill teams off then we will be alright and I’m sure it won’t be long until we make some progress.”
What the opposition said…
Sutton United manager Paul Doswell gave credit to the Gulls for claiming all three points.
“I thought Torquay were the better side on the night,” said Doswell. “I thought their start was better than us, I thought their energy was better than us tonight.
“I think Jamie Butler has made two fantastic saves as well. Certainly the one on the second half was a great save to keep us in it.
“There’s two teams playing a game out there tonight, and I thought Torquay came and had a game plan, it was organized, as we knew it would be with Gary [Owers] and Martin Kuhl.”