United 2
(Duke-McKenna, 70′, Little pen 80′)
Chesterfield 0
In their final home game of the season, United produced a wonderful performance to seal a 2-0 victory over Chesterfield at Plainmoor.
With the BT Sport cameras in attendance, it was Stephen Duke-McKenna who opened the scoring, before leading scorer Armani Little followed that up from the penalty spot shortly after.
United manager Gary Johnson named one change to the starting line up that drew at Dagenham & Redbridge on Monday, with Choiri Johnson dropping back to the bench for the returning Dan Martin.
Amid a closely-fought opening to proceedings, it was those in yellow who seemed to be quickest out of the traps, with Asa Hall’s low drive from 22 yards forcing visiting goalkeeper Scott Loach into action by way of a diving parry on 11 minutes.
It was Torquay who continued to boss things thereafter, without getting the goal that some of their neat build-up play deserved.
Hall went close again on 26 minutes, with the Gulls skipper producing a nifty backheel to divert Little’s low corner towards the net, with Loach having to scramble across his line promptly in order to keep it out.
The Spireites weren’t initially able to respond with much in the way of clear-cut opportunities themselves, such was the commitment shown by United’s well-marshalled backline.
A deep free-kick nearly provided Johnson’s men with the breakthrough in the 38th minute, however after Little’s ball into the area was deflected to Danny Wright via Ali Omar eight yards out, Torquay’s centre-forward could only send his volley over the crossbar.
It was another sign of the side’s dominance, and that pattern continued in the main all the way up until the interval.
In the final action of the first period, the visitors finally roused themselves enough to create a half-chance, as Scott Quigley’s looping header was cleared away from danger by Hall, before Emmanuel Oyeleke volleyed the rebound wide of Shaun MacDonald’s right-hand upright.
Goalless then at the break.
Following the change of ends, a competitive start to the action saw Jamie Grimes send a flicked header wide of the back stick from a corner, before Torquay responded at the other end, as Little’s cross from the left saw Connor Lemonheigh-Evans rise to challenge glovesman Loach, with the end result seeing Danny Wright just miss out on steering the bouncing loose ball home.
A 25-yard piledriver from Ben Wynter nearly brought the proverbial house down on the hour mark, however those screaming ‘shoot!’ were left disappointed seconds later, as his stinging diagonal right-footer was sent narrowly wide of the post.
Ten minutes later though, a moment of magic from teammate Duke-McKenna finally gave United the advantage they had been striving for.
A ball out onto the right hand-side saw Wright pick out the QPR loanee in a more central position on the edge of the penalty area, and after twisting this way and that, he took aim and planted a delicious strike into the bottom corner of the net, to give The Gulls a thoroughly deserved lead.
The game promptly opened up even more.
Firstly, Joe Lewis, making the most of his brief spell in attack, drove into left side of the area before seeing his shot across the face of goal just evading the onrushing contingent in yellow.
An ambitious 40-yard free-kick from Danny Rowe did strike the MacDonald’s post moments later, however with ten minutes remaining, The Gulls made it 2-0.
Having controlled the ball delightfully just inside the box, a rash challenge on Little saw him hit the turf right in front of the referee, leaving the official with no option but to point to the spot.
Little duly picked himself up and dusted himself down before sending Loach the opposite way of his cooly-dispatched penalty for his 15th goal of the season.
It so nearly got even better during a mammoth nine minutes of additional time, had Omar’s stretch brought about a third, rather than a goalline save from Loach, in front of a baying Family Stand, loving every moment of their side’s exhibition in the sun.
Chesterfield had little more to give, leaving those present inside the ground – as well as those watching all over the country – to reflect on a showing that displayed all that is good about not just Johnson’s team, and also the Club around it.
Thanks for your support at Plainmoor this season, Yellow Army – let’s do it all again next season!
United: 37. Shaun MacDonald, 2. Ben Wynter, 3. Dan Martin, 4. Tom Lapslie (29. Joe Felix, 83′), 5. Ali Omar, 7. Connor Lemonheigh-Evans, 8. Asa Hall (c) (14. Chiori Johnson, 57′), 9. Danny Wright (18. Olaf Koszela, 90′), 10. Armani Little, 15. Stephen Duke-McKenna, 31. Joe Lewis.
SUBS NOT USED: 1. Mark Halstead, 16. Keelan O’Connell.
Chesterfield: 1. Scott Loach, 4. Emmanuel Oyeleke 5. Gavin Gunning (c), 8. Curtis Weston, 9. Akwasi Asante (7. Danny Rowe, 56′), 10. Liam Mandeville, 12. Tyrone Williams, 20. Jeff King 22. Jamie Grimes 24. Tom Denton, 29. Alex Whittle.
SUBS NOT USED: 6. Laurence Maguire, 16. Jim Kellermann, 24. Tom Denton, 28. Saidou Khan.
Yellow Cards: King 37′, Rowe 72′, Mandeville 90+1′
Attendance: 3,075 (894 away)