United 3
(Young 24′, Dennis 30′, 54′)
Worthing 2
(Colbran 9′, Cook 16′)
United produced a performance full of desire on Tuesday evening, as they battled back from two goals down to end Worthing’s nine-match winning run at Plainmoor.
A breathless first half saw Worthing race into an early two-goal lead following goals from Joel Colbran and Joe Cook, before United roared back to level things up through Louis Dennis and Jordan Young before the interval. Dennis’ strike after the break saw the yellows seal a remarkable comeback, and clinch three valuable points for The Gulls.
Unsurprisingly, boss Paul Wotton decided to name the same starting eleven that thrashed Eastbourne three days earlier, with the only amendment coming on the bench, where new goalkeeper Adam Seedhouse-Evans replaced Matt Wonnacott, who made the loan move to Tiverton Town earlier in the day.
The game was just nine minutes old when Worthing broke the deadlock.
After Brad Dolaghan broke into the box, the forward was forced wide but duly picked out Worthing skipper Colbran, who fired a shot into the side of the net to make it 1-0
In the 17th minute, Torquay were facing a mountain to climb against the division’s in-form side.
The Gulls did well to force the ball behind for a corner, but with the subsequent flag-kick delivery finding Cook with a brave header, a one-goal deficit was doubled.
Wotton’s men are made of stern stiff, and they provided further evidence of that almost immediately.
The men in yellow had already created a number of chances, before the man of the moment Dennis latched onto a flicked ball to fire past away goalkeeper Josh Jefferies to continue his prolific run in front of goal.
Six minutes later, parity was restored.
This time it was a delightful ball from Sonny Blu Lo-Everton that sent Young away, with United’s leading scorer finishing confidently to claim his 11th of the season.
Despite more chances at either end, it was 2-2 at the halfway point.
Young went close with a superb curling effort from the edge of the box just after the restart, but the Yellow Army didn’t have to wait much longer for United to turn the game on its head.
A sizzling move involving Matt Jay and Young ended with the latter delivering the ball into the path of Dennis, who turned his man before applying another cool finish to make it 3-2. Ten for the season, and seven in his last three matches.
Just as was the case in the first half, the action continued to switch from end to end, but as the match edged towards its conclusion, Wotton’s team showed as much heart and desire to protect their lead, as they did show their class and composure to drag themselves back into the match earlier on.
Torquay continued to carry the fight in attack, and were unlucky not to extend their lead, but when Worthing threw caution to the wind in a bid to salvage their unbeaten run in the dying stages, legs, heads and all available yellow limbs were there to deny them.
A long, long way to go yet – but having won back-to-back home games in vastly different – but equally impressive – manners, the Yellow Army had every right to savour this one.
UNITED: 1. James Hamon, 3. Jay Foulston, 4. Jordan Dyer, 5. Sam Dreyer (c), 7. Louis Dennis, 8. Jordan Young, 11. Dylan Morgan (17. Sonny Fish, 71′) 20. Dan Hayfield (2. Denzel Akyeampong, 90+7′), 24. Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 26. Jordan Thomas, 27. Matt Jay (22.Sonny Sharples-Ahmed 83′).
SUBS NOT USED: 21. Adam Seedhouse-Evans (GK), 29. Aidan Edwards.
Yellow Card: Hayfield 42′, Lo-Everton 73′, Foulston 90+8′
WORTHING: 15. Josh Jefferies, 2. Joel Colbran (c), 5. Joe Cook, 7. Razz Coleman De-Graft (9. Nathan Odokonyero, 72′), 10. Jack Spong, 12. Harry Ransom, 14. George Cox (11. Nicky Wheeler, 53′), 16. Sam Packham, 18. Toby Byron (20. Matt Burgess, 81′), 21. Brad Dolaghan (27. Ollie Godziemski, 72′), 24. Teddy Jenks.
SUBS NOT USED: 4. Kwaku Frimpong, 8. Odei Martin-Sorondo, 22. Danny Jordan.
Yellow Card: Byron 77′
Attendance: 2,849 (48 away)
