United manager Gary Johnson was proud of his side’s performance on Tuesday evening, despite a late winner for the hosts seeing Maidstone claim all three points.
With his side showing great spirit to twice battle back from a goal behind before eventually succumbing to a 3-2 reverse, the energetic and battling performance on show at the Gallagher Stadium appears to have given United a platform on which to build for the remainder of the campaign.
“I’m gutted for the boys, and I’m gutted for the fans,” said Johnson after the match.
“We know which group of people to go into the next few games with, because some of them have proved themselves now they’re ready to go, and they’ve got that bit between their teeth. We’ve got a couple more lads to come in, and I thought Austen and Arkell, that people haven’t seen, both had great games. Obviously they’ve seen Austen a couple of times, but I thought he had a fantastic game today.
“It’s great to see the fans clap the players, and the players clap them, often it’s not quite reciprocal when we haven’t played well, and I understand that, but we’ve got something to build on now – that team energy – and I thought we played well too.
“I was just proud of the lads today, because there’s been a bit of noise going round and going on, and we sort of understand that, but at the end of the day, they’ve shown that they are still fighting for this Football Club.”
With Maidstone ultimately grabbing an 87th winner after pouncing on a lapse from Gulls substitute Ethon Archer, the United boss was also disappointed with a number of decisions that appeared to got against his side in Kent.
“It’s our mistake that lost the point. He did alright when he came on, but you can’t be dribbling in the defensive third when we’ve just come back to two-all. He’ll learn I hope, but it’s cost us. He’s a good player, but he needs to learn the game a bit, and he needs to respect the game.
“I thought the referee and the two linesmen didn’t give us as much as they gave them, and that’s not an excuse because I’m still proud of the lads. Fouls that were being given against us weren’t being given against them, and it sort of breaks up the momentum a little bit, but they [Maidstone] are very good at what they do, and that’s what they did tonight.”
With a number of the Torquay players nursing strains, the Gaffer paid tribute to them, as well as giving a brief update on defender Ross Marshall, who scored his side’s second equaliser prior to leaving the field early following a recurrence of his hamstring injury.
“The lads went beyond the call of duty, because some of them had strains, and unfortunately you only get three subs in this league.
“He [Ross] had a hamstring injury, we’d have like to have taken him off after an hour just to save him, because we know he was brave enough to say ‘I want to stay in there’, and otherwise it was difficult – although I thought Arkell did well when he went in there.
“I don’t think he’s pulled it badly, but unfortunately he’s got something there that’s niggling, and it’s been there a little while.
“Of course, we’ve lost Ollie, we’ve lost Fin, so we’ll have to have a look at that and see what we can do before Saturday.”