United 1
(Little, 11′)
Grimsby 3
(Efete, 23′, Coke, 33′, Clifton, 90+2′)
Match Sponsored by
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United slipped to defeat on Saturday, as Grimsby came from behind to register a 3-1 win at Plainmoor.
Although Armani Little opened the scoring for The Gulls with early strike, the visitors hit back midway through the first period through former Gull Michee Efete and Town skipper Giles Coke to give the side from Humberside the lead at the break, with a late strike from Harry Clifton eventually sealing the points Town’s way.
Boss Gary Johnson made just the one change to the side that earned that thrilling 4-3 win at Maidenhead the previous weekend, with Chiori Johnson returning from suspension to replace Tom Lapslie in the starting eleven.
Just as they had done at York Road last Saturday, Torquay began well, with a number of well-crafted moves forcing Grimsby onto the back foot.
When one of those moves saw Danny Wright upended illegally on the edge of the box 11 minutes in, the stage was set for Little to replicate his heroics from seven days earlier.
Challenged with getting his free-kick up and down over an imposing opposition defensive wall, Armani seemed to make little of it, as he smashed the ball into the net to give the men in yellow an early advantage.
It nearly got even better eight minutes later, with the midfielder again at the heart of things.
With his corner delivered with superb accuracy towards Wright at the back post, the Gulls’ centre-forward sent his header back across the six-yard line, however just as the Yellow Army prepared to celebrate a goal from Joe Lewis, the defender hooked his volley over the crossbar.
That miss proved costly moments later, as the half reached the halfway point.
Town, who had remained a threat on the break despite United’s dominance, drove through the centre of the midfield, and with Efete finding enough space to fire in a low diagonal shot, Mark Halstead was powerless to stop parity being restored.
Worse was to follow.
On 33 minutes, a Town free-kick from right on the touchline from Ryan Towler beat a combination of attacking and defensive bodies, and with Halstead’s punch only making its way to visiting captain Coke, his headed effort looped into the net, despite Lewis’ best inentions.
The game threatened to slip away from Johnson’s men there and then, with only a spectacular goal line clearance from Dean Moxey preventing the deficit being increased shortly after, following Harry Clifton’s left-wing cut-back leaving Ryan Taylor to blast the ball towards a seemingly unguarded net.
It was undoubtedly an escape, and Torquay nearly took advantage of that let-off just before the break.
A Little corner right on half-time initially appeared to be bringing little hope of a leveller – with Ben Wynter’s mis-hit volley heading back from whence it came – however, with the ball coming back into the box via the same source, Ali Omar got to the ball first – sadly though, his header was too high to trouble James McKeown underneath the Grimsby crossbar.
Once again then, United were once again forced to head for the dressing rooms with a half-time deficit to digest.
They began the second period well enough, gaining plenty of territory, although it took a double-dose of defending from Little and Lewis to prevent Erico Sousa testing Halstead on 51 minutes, ans some dangerous set-pieces deliveries from Grimsby kept Torquay’s defenders sufficiently occupied thereafter.
A low right-wing ball the box from James McAtee nearly saw Clifton profit from almost point-blank range on 75 minutes, as United’s urgency began leave a few gaps at the back.
There was drama with seven minutes to go though.
With Torquay desperately searching for an equaliser, Johnson whipped in a delicious volleyed delivery into the box which Lewis met with a firm header. With McKeown appearing to be well behind the goal line when he parried the ball, the Family Stand rose in unison with the Torquay players to acclaim the goal, however the officials remained unmoved, and a corner was the sole result of the protestations that followed.
That apparent injustice only served to intensify The Gulls during the closing moments, with Lewis going close twice more. A header off-target was followed soon after by a clearance off the line, as his personal mission went ever closer.
With nine minutes of additional time signalled, hopes grew of another ‘Gary Time’ finale, however when the injury-time goal arrived, it fell the way of the away side.
Hunting in numbers for that elusive goal, McAtee powered towards goal before finding the advancing Clifton in space to his left, just inside the box. Halstead duly came out to narrow the angle, however Clifton slotted the ball past him to put to the result beyond doubt.
As usual, the National League fixture list slows down for no-one though, with the next test for Johnson’s men coming on Tuesday, in the shape of a trip to Solihull Moors.
TUFC: 1. Mark Halstead, 2. Ben Wynter, 5. Ali Omar, 7. Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, 8. Asa Hall (c), 9. Danny Wright, 10. Armani Little (16. Keelan O’Connell, 53′), 14. Chiori Johnson, 21. Dean Moxey (3. Dan Martin, HT), 30. Dan Holman (19. Klaidi Lolos, 63′), 31. Joe Lewis.
SUBS NOT USED: 17. Gabby Rogers, 23. Marcin Brzozowski (GK).
Yellow Card: Johnson, 74′
Grimsby: 1. James McKeown, 2. Michee Efete, 3. Adam Crookes, 6. Luke Waterfall, 8. Giles Coke (c), 10. John McAtee (39. Edwin Essel 90+9′), 15. Harry Clifton, 18. Erico Sousa (19. Max Wright, 75′), 22. Ryley Towler, 26. Alex Hunt (4. Ben Fox, 75′), 29. Ryan Taylor.
SUBS NOT USED: , 7. Will Bapaga, 17. Sebastaian Revan.
Yellow Card: Efete, 55′, Hunt, 72′
Attendance: 2,364 (462 away)