Truro City 1
(Harvey 44′ pen)
United 3
(Goodwin 12′, 90′ pen, Moxey 39′ pen)
United ended their pre-season campaign on a winning note, as Gary Johnson’s side beat Truro City 3-1 at Bolitho Park.
With The Gulls looking to apply some finishing touches to round off their promising warm-up schedule, their plans took quite a jolt early on, as Ali Omar was shown a straight red card in just the seventh minute, leaving his teammates to fight out the remaining 83 minutes with ten men.
Torquay soon put that setback behind them though, as Tom Lapslie nipped into the penalty area before sending a teasing right-footed hooked cross to the back post, where Will Goodwin was on hand to power home a header past former Gulls goalkeeper James Hamon in the 12th minute.
United’s centre-forward certainly enjoyed his first goal in yellow, and on 35 minutes, he nearly added another with a sublime volley from 22 yards out that just cleared the crossbar.
Six minutes before the break though, Johnson’s men grabbed their second goal from the penalty spot.
A ball over the top was timed to perfection for the onrushing Corie Andrews, and it was to his credit that he drew a save from Hamon despite being dragged to the ground by a Truro man. The referee instantly pointed to the spot with no advantage pending though, leaving skipper Dean Moxey to blast his penalty low to the ‘keeper’s right, and double his side’s advantage.
There was was to be more spot-kick drama at the other end just a minute before the break though, as a contentious handball decision at close range went against Torquay midfielder Brett McGavin, with Tyler Harvey gleefully sending Mark Halstead the wrong way to halve City’s deficit.
Following the restart, Halstead made way for Rhys Lovett, with the replacement glovesman making a superb save eleven minutes in, as he dived full-length to prevent Harvey’s looping header nestling into the bottom corner, low to his left.
Torquay’s ten men were forced to soak up a fair bit of pressure for a period thereafter – without conceding too much in the way of clear-cut chances – yet, after Shaun Donnellan left the field following a knock, The Gulls roused themselves to seal their fourth win of the close-season in the final minute.
Olaf Koszela was quickest to react to a ball into the box, and with Hamon exposed and forced to react, there was little surprise when the referee once again pointed to the penalty spot, as the young United striker was flattened by his former Plainmoor teammate.
On this occasion, it was Goodwin who spotted the ball down, before stroking the ball in the opposite direction to City stopper to make it 3-1.
With the warm-up action now completed, all attention now rightly switches to next weekend’s National League opener against Oldham Athletic at Plainmoor – see you there!
UNITED: 1. Mark Halstead (13. Rhys Lovett, HT), 2. Dylan Crowe (23. Ollie Tomlinson, HT), 4. Tom Lapslie (25. Jack Winsor, 60′), 5. Ali Omar, 6. Ross Marshall (17. Callum Thomas, 80′), 10. Corie Andrews (18. Olaf Koszela, 60′), 14. Brett McGavin, 16. Shaun Donnellan (12. Brandon Quinn, 76′), 19. Will Goodwin, 21. Dean Moxey (c) (15. Isaac McCue, 90′), 26. Ben Wyatt.
Red Card: Omar 7′
TRURO CITY Starting XI: 1. James Hamon, 3. Connor Riley-Lowe, 4. Ben Adelsbury, 7. Jack Rice, 8. Will Dean, 9. Tyler Harvey, 12. Trialist A, 14. Shane White, 15. Andrew Neal, 18. Kyle Egan, 19. Trialist B.
SUBS: 2. Trialist C, 5. George Newton, 6. Jordan McCarthy, 10. Ryan Dowling, 11. Jacob Grange, 16. Jamie Edlin, 17. Oliver Perrow.
Yellow Card: 38′