Torquay United defender Josh Gowling has had a frustrating wait as he recovers from an injury picked up in United’s 2-1 win over Maidenhead. With United not having a fixture last Saturday, the Yellow Army will be hoping that the man with over 400 first team games under his belt will recover in time for Saturday’s match against AFC Fylde.
First of all, Gowling and the team want to send their messages of support to former Gull, Damon Lathrope, after he sustained a broken leg against Boreham Wood on Saturday.
“I sent him a long message yesterday wishing him all the best, and that if he wanted to have a chat about anything he can call me,” said Gowling.
“I’ve been through a long-term injury where I was out for twelve months, and it is a difficult time. Sometimes it can affect you psychologically. I just hope he stays positive because he’s got a lot of people, especially at Torquay, that are here to support him. He’s good friends with a lot of the boys and we’re sorry this has happened to him. We wish him a speedy recovery.”
After a weekend in which none of the teams around us in the table could manage to clinch a win, United are focused purely on Saturday’s match at Plainmoor against a very competitive AFC Fylde team. Coasters’ striker Danny Rowe has struck nineteen National League goals this season and they currently occupy the last play-off place in the table.
“They’re a good team and they’ve got a big budget and a goal scorer in the big man up top. They are organized and they play out quite well from the back; they’re quite a dynamic team.
“I think generally speaking we do well against the top teams that we play against. If we do the fundamentals well we can match anyone in this league.”
United will have to deal with a spot of cold weather coming into the South West this week. Three points on Saturday will do much to warm the hearts of the Yellow Army.
“We have to keep positive and keep pushing and working hard every day, and that’s what the lads are doing. We just need to concentrate on having a positive week.
“Barrow play Guiseley on Tuesday and we’re coming up to be playing all of the teams around us. It’s in our hands because we have Maidstone, Leyton Orient, Solihull Moors, and Guiseley among others coming up.
“I think we can do it, and I think the lads think that too. We’ve got ourselves into a predicament that we shouldn’t be in, but we can still get out of it.”