United 1
(Lapslie 42′)
Notts County 2
(Langstaff 34′, Rodrigues 48′ pen)
Match Sponsored by:
Lil’s Last Lot
United slipped to defeat on Saturday, as Notts County emerged as 2-1 winners at Plainmoor.
After Macaulay Langstaff broke the deadlock, Tom Lapslie levelled things up just before the break. The decisive moment came just after the break however, as Ruben Rodrigues fired home via the penalty spot to clinch all three points for County.
United manager Gary Johnson named an unchanged starting eleven following his side’s midweek 1-1 draw at Woking, although new signing Lewis Collins took his place on the bench in the place of Brett McGavin.
A competitive and closely-fought opening offered little in the way of goalmouth incident, although Kieron Evans’ ball over the top on six minutes allowed Tope Fadahunsi to dart behind a retreating backline, however, the last-ditch intervention from Aden Baldwin saw the ball taken off his bootlaces just as he was poised to fire the ball goalwards.
County, with so many attacking options at their disposal, were getting very little change out of The Gulls’ well-organised backline, however when the opportunity fell to Langstaff in the 34th minute, his finish was decisive, as he held off the attentions of Nico Lawrence, before firing home low past Mark Halstead on the turn to open the goalscoring.
It was a real setback for Gary Johnson’s side, who had certainly given as good as they got up until that point.
The Yellow Army stuck with their side however, and it wouldn’t be too long before they had something tangible to celebrate.
After defending a corner with relative ease, Torquay launched a swift counter through the recently-introduced Collins. Seeing his progression down the right-wing blocked, the debutant played the ball back to Shaun Donnellan, who in turn, delivered a superb ball onto the penalty spot, where Lapslie had time to cushion the ball down, before powering home a right-footed half-volley past Sam Slocombe to make it 1-1.
It was all-square at the break, yet just moments after the restart, the visitors regained the advantage.
Against his former club, Aaron Nemane darted past Ben Wyatt inside the box, and when the two players came together, the referee decided to point to the spot.
Rodrigues shrugged off the protestations from the United ranks to send Halstead the wrong way and edge his team back in front.
Although his goal ultimately sealed the result, the Portuguese wouldn’t be around to receive the congratulations of his teammates at full-time.
In the 65th minute, a searching ball from the Notts left had a little too much on it for Rodrigues, and having failed in his attempt to make something of it, his deliberate handling of a ball destined to go out of play incurred the officials’ wrath, and resulted in a second yellow – swiftly followed by a red – card.
Charged with mounting an assault on their opponents with 25 minutes remaining, Johnson’s charges applied plenty of workrate and endeavour into the final stages, however they couldn’t force their way through to find a second equaliser.
The closest they came deep in injury time, as Dillon De Silva broke free of his shackles down the left before forcing Slocombe into a flying near-post parry.
The final whistle sounded soon after.
Not to be today, but you sense the momentum continues to build.
United: 1. Mark Halstead, 4. Tom Lapslie, 7. Ryan Hanson (6. Ross Marshall 43′), 9. Aaron Jarvis, 10. Tope Fadahunsi (31. Lewis Collins 35′), 11. Kieron Evans, 15. Ben Wyatt (2. Dylan Crowe, 79′), 16. Shaun Donnellan, 19. Nico Lawrence, 21. Dean Moxey (c), 27. Dillon De Silva.
SUBS NOT USED: 12. Jacob Mensah, 22. Rhys Lovett.
Yellow Cards: Hanson 13′, Wyatt 47′, Evans 82′
Notts County: 1. Sam Slocombe, 3. Kyle Cameron (c), 5. Connell Rawlinson (16. Geraldo Bajrami, 87′), 8. Sam Austin (10. Jodi Jones 56′), 9. Macaulay Langstaff (19. Cedwyn Scott, 79′), 11. Aaron Nemane, 15. Aden Baldwin, 18. Matt Palmer, 20. Ruben Rodrigues, 23. Adam Chicksen, 24. John Bostock.
SUBS NOT USED: 6. James O’Brien, 17. Frank Vincent.
Yellow Cards: Rawlinson 30′, Rodrigues 38′, 65′, Austin 56′, Slocombe 62′
Red Card: Rodrigues 65′
Attendance: 2,621 (489 away)