United 5
(Jay 63′, Morton 70′, Beaumont-Clark 87′, 90+3′, Browne 90+1′)
Slough Town 1
(Janneh 60′ pen’)
United came from behind to run out clear winners over Slough on Saturday, as a second-half goal fest saw The Gulls hit five at Plainmoor.
Although the first 45 minutes were goalless, a red card for Slough’s Dennis Adeniran gave Torquay an advantage to take with then into the dressing rooms. A penalty from the returning Saikou Janneh gave the ten men a brief lead, before goals from substitutes Matt Jay and Callum Morton saw United overturn the deficit. A late brace from Jacob Beaumont-Clark and another from Luke Browne added further gloss to proceedings, to send the Yellow Army home happy.
United boss Jimmy Ball made four changes to the side that defeated Tonbridge in the FA Cup last weekend, with Munashe Sundire, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, Jake Wannell and Morton replaced by Dan Hayfield, Sean Robertson, Caleb Roberts and Beaumont-Clarke in the starting eleven.
United should have been two up inside the first few minutes.
There were just two minutes on the watch when Cody Cooke got on the end of a low right wing ball into the box before firing over the crossbar, before two minutes later, Roberts’ foray down the opposite flank saw the ball met by the diving Robertson, only for the ball to flash wide of the near-post.
After such a bright start, it was something of a surprise that the goalmouth action dried up somewhat thereafter, as Slough’s dogged and committed defending largely kept The Gulls at bay, with only a couple of brief counter-attacks stemming the flow.
Beaumont-Clark saw a couple of shots blocked from close range as the first half drew to its conclusion – but the biggest drama was yet to come.
Having picked up a booking in the 42nd minute for a late challenge, Aderniran had already been issued with his final warning, and after incurring the wrath of the referee again in first-half injury time, a second yellow – followed by a red card – was shown to the Town man, and the visitors were down to ten men.
That set the second half up nicely for the men in yellow.
A flurry of attacks down both flanks by Ball’s men threatened a second half onslaught, but after Slough launched a rare counter-attack, it was Town’s ten that broke the deadlock via a penalty kick.
A challenge on very edge of the box looked debatable, but with Brooks tumbling inside the box, the referee pointed straight to the spot.
Former Gull Janneh showed no mercy to his previous club by stroking the ball the opposite way of Savin’s dive, and for a moment, United were in a spot of bother.
The United manager had seen enough, and after bringing on Jay in response, the Torquay sub instantly repaid that faith with a low drive from the edge of the box to make it 1-1.
It wasn’t long before it was 2-1.
Another sub, Angelo Cappello fired in a shot that Slough stopper Killian Barrett could only spill into the path of Morton, who gleefully fired home from six yards out.
For a moments thereafter, Slough threw bodies forward in a bid to get back on level terms, but as the game edged towards its finale, the floodgates opened.
Beaumont-Clark, who had lively all afternoon, took aim from the D, and found his target of the bottom corner perfectly in the 87th minute.
Not content with that, Ball’s side continued to pour forward, and after Morton occupying a couple of defenders before seeing his route to goal blocked, his vision picked out Browne to his right, and the Notts County loanee rounded off the move by firing a powerful low shot into the net from just outside the area.
The finishing touch was left to ‘JBC’ though, as the rampaging winger drew a defender to him inside the box before getting his shot away and past the despairing dive for Barrett, who could only watch as the ball crept inside the post.
Three points in the bag, five goals scored. Not a bad way to mark United’s return to Plainmoor!
UNITED: 1. Toby Savin, 9. Cody Cooke (14. Deon Moore, HT), 11. Jacob Beaumont-Clark, 12. Harry Shield, 15. Kian Jenkins, 18. Matt Worthington (c) (6. Munashe Sundire, 80′), 20. Dan Hayfield (27. Matt Jay, 62′), 21. Oludare Olufunwa, 23. Sean Robertson (39. Callum Morton, HT), 24. Caleb Roberts (17. Angelo Cappello, 69′), 26. Luke Browne.
SUBS NOT USED: 3. Tyler Hill, 22. Tegan Finn.
Yellow Card: Morton 75′
SLOUGH: 1. Killian Barrett, 2. Terell Thomas, 5. Joseph Morrison, 6. Shay Spencer, 7. Jared Myers (22. Latrell Humphrey-Ewers, HT) , 8. Kyle Brooks ( 3. Arthur Gregory, 80′), 11. Luke Holness (19. Godlove Oppong, HT), 18. Saikou Janneh (24. Jamie Odegah, 68′), 20. Balu Makumbi, 29. Elijah Oladunjoye, 30. Dennis Adeniran.
SUBS NOT USED: 10. John Goddard, 14. Kennan Quansah, 21. Jaiden Drakes-Thomas.
Yellow Card: Morrison 83′
Yellow Card / Red Card: Adeniran 42′, 45+1′
Attendance: 3,450 (67 away)
