United 3
(Hanson 16′, Archer 23′, Moxey 89′)
Hemel Hempstead 2
(Iaciofano 6′, Ajayi 12′)
United produced a stirring comeback at Plainmoor on Saturday, as they came back from two goals down to run out 3-2 winners over Hemel Hempstead.
It was the visitors who struck first through Joe Iaciofano’s early penalty, and that lead was doubled soon after through Kyla Ajayi. Ryan Hanson dragged his side back into proceedings shortly after, before Ethon Archer levelled things up to round-off an action-packed first quarter. A late, late winner from Dean Moxey turned one point into three, with even the late dismissal of Brett McGavin failing to spoil the festive mood.
United manager Gary Johnson made four changes to the side that ran out 3-1 winners over Weymouth in their last National League outing, with Ross Marshall, Hanson, Will Jenkins Davies and Archer taking the places of Dylan Crowe, Tom Lapslie, Brad Ash and Jack Stobbs.
The game was only a few minutes old when Hemel took the lead via the penalty spot.
With a through-ball seeing Tyrese Briscoe nip in behind the Torquay backline, his driving run towards goal was ruled to have been illegally ended by Mark Halstead, and despite the United goalkeeper’s insistence that no offence had been committed, the referee saw things differently, and pointed to the spot.
Halstead guessed the right way, however Iaciofano’s strike was dispatched just a little too far down inside right-hand post, as Hemel broke the deadlock.
Things got worse on 12 minutes.
A corner was directed perfectly into the path of the Ajayi eight yards from goal, and with the defender rising high above all comers, he headed into the empty net to make it 0-2.
Johnson’s men needed to respond quickly in order to avoid being blown away, and they did just that four minutes later.
A determined run from Lewis Collins down the left wing ended with a low cross to Theo Williams, however with the on-loan forward crowded out on the edge of the box, his blocked shot dropped to Hanson 18 yards from goal. Hanson responded with a calm drive into the net, past a flat-footed Craig King in-between the sticks to halve the deficit.
As quickly as United had slipped two goals behind, they duly restored parity.
This time it was a foray down the opposite flank that produced the desired result in the 23rd minute, and as Williams’ dart into shooting territory on the right-hand side of the area forced King to come off his line, the ball once again fell to a yellow shirt, with Archer well placed enough to see his bundled effort deflect off a retreating defender and crawl over the goalline.
Although United were now largely in the ascendancy, it took a superb near-post save by Halstead to keep things level, as a left-wing cross was met by Iaciofano, forcing The Gulls’ No.1 to react at point-blank range.
On the 36th minute, Archer’s ball to Williams 35 yards from goal saw the latter show power and pace before darting into the 18-yard box and forcing King into a smart parry.
A 41st minute corner from McGavin nearly saw United edge in front, before Ross Marshall’s back-post header was hacked off the goal line.
All-square at the change of ends.
Chances didn’t flow quite so freely in the second period, although both sides did create a few openings.
Archer’s curling 20-yarder forced a fine parry from King, before it was swiftly followed by a Marshall header from an archie Harris cross that just cleared the bar on the hour mark.
Halstead produced a wonderful reaction stop to keep out Ajayi’s low shot from ten yards moments later though, as the destination of the points remained in the balance.
A neat move from the visiting side saw Halstead again called into action, with a smart smothering save this time denying George Williams on the edge of the box.
Collins, on a McGavin through-ball, forced a save out of King with five minutes remaining as The Gulls sought a valuable late winner, but it just didn’t look like it would come.
A number of set-pieces came and went without any joy, and when another corner was cleared in the 89th minute, it looked like the wait would continue.
However, with the men in yellow keeping the move alive, McGavin’s delivery got the merest of near-post flicks from Williams, allowing a rampaging Moxey to fire home from point-blank range at the back-post and complete a memorable comeback.
The final stages were navigated successfully, despite a late second yellow card seeing McGavin depart the field early, prior to United celebrating a spirited comeback at the final whistle.
Five on the spin, and up to 2nd in the table.
UNITED: 1. Mark Halstead, 6. Ross Marshall (2. Dylan Crowe, 90+2′), 7. Ryan Hanson, 10. Lewis Collins, 14. Brett McGavin, 18. Will Jenkins Davies (17. Dillon De Silva, 68′), 19. Theo Williams, 21. Dean Moxey (c), 23. Ollie Tomlinson, 26. Archie Harris, 30. Ethon Archer (24. Calum Thomas, 90+2′).
SUBS NOT USED: 3. Dan Martin, 22. Rhys Lovett.
Yellow Cards: Halstead 5′, Williams 45+2′, Hanson 46′, Marshall 58′, McGavin 73′
Yellow Card / Red Card: McGavin 90+6′
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD: 1. Craig King, 3. Joshua Williams, 4. Kyle Ajayi, 7. George Williams (c), 9. Joe Iaciofano (20. Daniel Powell, 70′), 11. Brandon Barzey, 14. Joe Re, 16. Chris Smith, 17. Tyrese Briscoe (26. Bayley Brown, 64′), 19. Tyrelle Newton, 22. Myles Judd (2. Montel McKenzie, 52′).
SUBS NOT USED: 5. Joshua Hill, 23. Arj Krasniqi.
Yellow Cards: Barzey 27′, Newton 51′, Re 57′, Alexander 90+4′, Brown 90+5′
Attendance: 1,861 (35 away)