United 1
(Ash 60′)
Southampton B 3
(Ehibhatiomhan 34′, 39′, Dibling 67′)
Southampton B secured victory at Plainmoor on Saturday, as United’s pre-season campaign came to an entertaining close.
It was the visiting team who were in the ascendancy early on, with Kamari Doyle and Lewis Payne both missing early chances, before a remarkable goal-line clearance saw Shaun Donnellan deny Ryan Finnigan from scoring the game’s opening goal.
Gary Johnson’s side slowly began to gain a foothold in the match though, with one delightful through-ball from Brett McGavin just evading the outstretched boot of a rampaging Aaron Jarvis on the edge of the Saints’ penalty area.
It wasn’t long before The Gulls started to create some clear-cut opportunities of their own.
On 16 minutes, Brad Ash got in behind a static defence to find himself with just Southampton goalkeeper Josh McNamara to beat, however the glovesman stood his ground well, and diverted Ash’s low effort away with his leg.
With Stobbs beginning to find more and more joy down the right flank, six minutes later it was the former Oldham winger’s cross that found its destination perfectly, only for rising skipper Asa Hall to head narrowly wide of the far post from eight yards.
It was entertaining stuff for the watching fans.
After a brief stoppage for a visiting injury, Torquay were at it again, with Donnellan letting fly with an ambitious effort from 22 yards which McNamara nearly spilt, before the subsequent corner was eventually worked out to Hall, who fired just over the crossbar from an almost identical distance.
Johnson’s men thought they had made the breakthrough in the 33rd minute.
After twisting the visiting left-back inside-out, Stobbs delivered a precise right-footed cross from the byline, and although Ash stopped to head home, the goal was promptly ruled out by the Assistant Referee.
That seemed hard to take for the Yellow Army, and it was even more so when Torquay’s opponents promptly scored twice in the space of five minutes.
The first came from the right, with a pull-back seeing Princewill Ehibhatiomhan eventually shake off the attentions of Donnellan to fire high into the net on the turn, before the same player found equal joy down the left, cutting inside before curling a low shot past Mark Halstead to make it 2-0.
That was the way it stayed until the break.
From the restart, Southampton continued to pose The Gulls’ backline plenty of questions, with Rhys Lovett having to come up with one smart near-post parry to keep the deficit at just the two goals.
On the hour mark, Johnson’s men dragged themselves back into the match however.
A half-cleared corner by substitute Will Jenkins Davies was sent back into the danger area by Donnellan, and although Jarvis couldn’t quite get enough on it to see the ball home himself, his presence alone was enough for Ash to find space in behind him to head home and reduce the arrears at 1-2.
The two-goal margin was swiftly restored though.
Inside the Torquay penalty area, Tyler Dibling’s close-control saw him work edge past Finley Craske and make room for a low diagonal shot from eight yards, which duly found its way past Lovett and into the far corner of the net.
Johnson’s men continued to plug away, and very much remained a threat in attack, however as the clock began to tick down, the overriding priority of plans for Dover began to gain added prominence to most of those gathered inside Plainmoor’s Bristow’s Bench.
Jenkins Davies rattled the woodwork with a powerful effort with three minutes remaining, before the returning Dean Moxey crowned his seven-minute showing with a late near-post strike, only for McNamara to come to his side’s rescue.
With all the warm-up matches safely navigated, United’s preparations ahead of 2023/24 are now nearing completion.
Onto Dover next Saturday…
UNITED: 1. Mark Halstead (22. Rhys Lovett, HT), 4. Tom Lapslie, 8. Asa Hall (18. Will Jenkins Davies, HT), 9. Aaron Jarvis (7. Ryan Hanson, 74′), 10. Lewis Collins, 11. Brad Ash, 14. Brett McGavin (3. Dan Martin, 72′), 15. Finley Craske (21. Dean Moxey 83′), 16. Shaun Donnellan, 23. Ollie Tomlinson, 27. Jack Stobbs (2. Dylan Crowe, 35′).
SUBS NOT USED: 24. Calum Thomas.
Attendance: 945 (39 away)
Yellow Card: Lapslie 57′