Buckland 0
United 1
(Koszela 40′)
Gary Johnson’s side kicked off pre-season with a 1-0 away at Buckland Athletic on Friday evening.
Olaf Koszela’s first-half strike was enough to separate the two sides, in what was a keenly-fought encounter.
The first chance of the game fell to United on 3 minutes when some good link-up play down the right flank saw Dylan Crowe play the ball out towards Koszela, whose cross found Kieron Evans unmarked at the far-post, resulting in a header that went just wide.
The Gulls’ next effort came via a set-piece, as Evans stepped up to swing a corner for Brett McGavin to send in a volley that went off-target, with a repeat of the double-act a few moments seeing the ball hit too high moments later.
Apart from 30-yard Owen Stockton free-kick that was sent well over, Torquay continued to boss proceedings, and their persistence paid off five minutes before the interval.
Koszela, breaking into the area down the left, cut inside before sending in a goal-bound right footed strike that home defender Frazer Clark seemed to have covered on the goal line, however the pace of the ball beat the Buckland man, as it sailed past him and into the back of the net.
Two minutes before the break, it was nearly 2-0 as Hall glanced another Evans flag-kick wide of the far upright, leaving the lead at a single goal at the change of ends.
Following the restart, Torquay were again on top in the early stages.
Having delivering a number of inviting openings from set-pieces for his team mates, Evans appeared to feel the need to turn from provider to finisher, with the on-loan Cardiff man nearly achieving just that on 54 minutes, with an audacious strike from 25 yards that forced former Torquay stopper Andy Collings to deny the Welshman.
After beating Ali Omar to a long ball, Buckland’s Ryan Bush spurned a chance to level the scores soon after, as the forward cut in from the right, however he snatched at the shot from 20 yards, and could only watch as it drifted well wide.
A raft of changes for both sides saw a youthful young United side work hard to protect their lead in the latter stages, with another former Gull, Sammy Stayt, nearly levelling things up in the 84th minute, after seeing his close range effort deflected just over the bar.
That was as close as the hosts came though, with the final whistle sounding soon after, signalling a winning start to United’s 2022/23 warm-up campaign.
United: 1. Mark Halstead (13. Trialist B HT’), 2. Dylan Crowe (12. Brandon Quinn 68′), 3. Dan Martin (22. Trialist C 14′), 4. Tom Lapslie (17. Joel Greenslade 68′), 5. Ali Omar (16. Callum Thomas 68′), 8. Asa Hall (c) (25. Jack Winsor 60′), 11. Kieron Evans (24. Lewis Brooks 60′), 14. Brett McGavin (15. Kai Swann 70′), 18. Olaf Koszela (20. Jayden Gilbert 74′), 19. Trialist A, 21. Dean Moxey (23. Trialist D HT’).
Attendance: 1,211