With Torquay United Women returning to action with a trip to AEK Boco on Sunday, manager Ryan Perks has taken the opportunity to look back on a promising first half of the 2025/26 season, in addition to outlining his hopes for remainder of the campaign.
Although a quick look at the SWRWFL Premier Division table confirms that Perks’ side are in fifth place, their record of five wins and one draw from six outings confirms that United remain well-placed to go one step better than their runners-up finish last term, despite a series of postponements giving the current standings a slightly lopsided look.
“The early part of the season, with weeks with no games, was frustrating,” confirmed Ryan.
“You’re watching other teams win games and you end up playing catch-up, and it does put a little bit more pressure on you when you’re chasing. The other teams have points on the board that we don’t. We’d rather have played more games, because the more games you play, the more momentum you build, and we’ve seen that in recent weeks.
“So far we’ve handled that well though, and it’s been a case of so far, so good.”
With some teams having played up to 12 matches – double Torquay’s – there are only two sides remaining who have yet to taste defeat, and it is therefore little surprise that Perks feels that statistic could prove crucial come the end of the season.
“If you look at the league table, it’s only Forest Green that are the only other unbeaten team in the league. They’ve played one more game than us, and we don’t have them until the latter stages of the league, so at the moment it looks like it could come down to those two games!
“We still have a tricky away trip to Sherborne, who have hit a bit of form, and we now have Boco (2nd) back-to-back, so there’s still lots of tough games to come, and we’ll treat everyone with the respect they deserve. It’s down to us to turn up on the day, and get the job done.”
Recent weeks have seen The Gulls in a rich vein of form, with the settled squad displaying an impressive level of consistency, which has no doubt aided their recent convincing wins, as Perks explains.
“We’ve had more of a settled squad in the last few games, but that doesn’t mean the girls that haven’t been involved won’t get opportunities, in fact it’s caused a few headaches in recent weeks.
“It’s a credit to the players that have been starting that they’ve been doing the job to make my life more difficult, but we still have the County Cup and League Cup , so there will be plenty of chances for everyone to get game time, and it’s then up to them to take that opportunity.
“Part of my reason for taking the job was because I knew the quality of players we could attract here, and since they’ve been coming through the door, I think the dominance in our games has begun to show.”
Having been forced to introduce a whole host of new additions during a whirlwind summer, that transition was always likely to be challenging, but it’s one the manager encountered in his previous role in charge of Plymouth Argyle, and with injuries now beginning to clear up, it’s full steam ahead for 2026.
“The progression of the team, and getting them to play how we want them to play has been pleasing,” said Ryan.
“We came in at quite short notice and introduced a lot of changes, and a lot of new personnel, but to see the squad building week-by-week has been great.
“It was a similar story when I was at Plymouth – it was a bit of a rebuild every year, so I’m quite used to it in a way, but we had a lot more players coming into Torquay this year. It’s been a bit of a learning curve bringing in fifteen – some I’ve worked with, some I haven’t – but it’s been a challenge I’ve enjoyed, and I think it’s one the girls have too.
“Mollie Taylor pulled up with a hamstring injury in the Frampton game, but it doesn’t look as though it’s as bad as we first thought, so hopefully in a couple of weeks she will be back into training so she can be assessed.
“She’s been vitally important , not only on the pitch where she’s been coming up with a couple of important goals, but she’s vocal and more experienced, and i think the girls have enjoyed having Mollie around.
“Molly Orr-Love has been out since the last game of pre-season with an ankle injury, but she’s been back in training and looking sharp, so hopefully we’ll soon get to see Molly.
“She’s probably the only out-and-out striker we have at the moment, and we’ve had to adapt and play people out of position. We’ve done that really well, but it will be nice to have a natural striker in that position.
“A fully-fit squad will hopefully kick-start a very important January for us!”
