Gary Owers was proud of his side’s performance in Tuesday night’s 1-0 win over Leyton Orient was eager to shift focus to Saturday’s match against Solihull Moors.
Elliott Romain headed home in the 37th minute to give United a lifeline in the race to avoid relegation from the National League.
“Excellent three points,” said Owers after the final whistle. “Resilient defensive performance, especially in the second half. We can only approach one game at a time during the course of the run-in. I thought the approach to the game tonight was excellent. The players were really up for it.
“Good time to get a win and it takes us into Saturday – big game at Solihull, hopefully with a bit of confidence. If we can find that bit of quality and keep that organization that we showed tonight then I think we’ve got a good chance.
“We set up to defend a little deeper and allowed them to have the ball – that was the game plan. The three lads in midfield had to work extremely hard because they had to mark both centre midfielders and go and try and stop their full-backs coming out and I thought they were excellent. The three centre-halfs dominated in the air. We soaked up the pressure. We played a different way tonight and we got a good result.
The Gaffer was pleased to see his players show the required game management skills to earn three points. This was also evident at the half-time break.
“I walked in and everything was said before I spoke. I just listened to the captain; I listened to the other players. Everything that I was going to say came from them. We hadn’t done anything, we’ve still had another 45 minutes to go. We had to keep doing the same things, keep working hard for each other. It was just reinforcing those messages and they did that and I am pleased for them.”
155 United fans created a great atmosphere on the night. That will be needed every time United cross the white line from now until the end of the season.
“Thank you to the supporters,” added Owers. “They never stopped singing. They’ve endured a difficult season, I understand that. They’ve come a long way tonight and hopefully they’re proud of the team’s performance.
Another tireless performance from Elliott Romain and ingenuity of Brett Williams were highlighted by the Gaffer.
“I thought the front two in the first half were a threat to Orient, Brett Williams and Elliott Romain. We scored a good goal and we’ve seen it through and it would have been devastating [if Orient had equalized]. They’ve hit the post late in the game, almost last kick again. I think it would have been devastating if that had gone in bearing in mind the recent results but we got over the line tonight.
“These lads haven’t given up, I know that for sure because I work with them every day. Everything is to play for.”
Solihull Moors Vs Torquay United | 17/03/18 | Kick-Off 3pm | For travel and entry prices click here.