It was raining goals at Plainmoor on Saturday, and there were goals aplenty in the matches involving our junior sides last weekend.
Our Under 8s, 9s and 10s travelled down to Cornwall for friendlies against Mousehole FC.
In very wet & cold conditions, our U8s were dominant from the first whistle and played some outstanding football to register a 16-0 victory and first clean sheet of the season. Goalscorers on the day were Alex Moss (4), Ethan Wills (3), Miko Marsh (3), Keane O’Neil (2), George Kelly, Frankie Parsons, Charlie Ripley and Jude Mason.
The U9s meanwhile secured an even more emphatic win, with a 24-0 win over their Mousehole counterparts. With some exceptional passing, Torquay secured the win with goals from Thomas Ross (7), Charlie Wise (6), Oscar Mills (3), Will Glanfield (3), Mason Bryant (3), Tom Budd (1), Jamie Mitchell (1). Goalkeeper Ollie McCarthy-Payne also deserves a mention for some super distribution, which helped to set up a number of the United goals.
The U10s fixture however went the way of the Cornish side, despite some great goalkeeping from Theo Spivey and good defending from Elliot Mills and Jack Waller. After going two goals down in the first quarter, our youngsters then began to take the game to their hosts. Liam Woodward went close from distance, however Mousehole notched two more in the second quarter to give themselves a healthy lead. A unfortunate injury to Spivey in the United goal resulted in defender Mills taking his place, and Mousehole pulled away with further goals to secure the win.
Our U12s also enjoyed a healthy victory, with an excellent 10-0 win against Bridgwater. The first quarter was a tense encounter with United going in a single goal up. The rest of the game was a more one-sided affair though, with some great teamwork and slick football resulting in a further nine goals without reply to secure more double-digit delight.
Our U14s’ South West Division match against Taunton Town Clarets also supplied it’s fair share of goals, however this game was more finely balanced. Taunton started the stronger of the two sides and were rewarded with a goal in both of the opening quarters, however Torquay deservedly got themselves level with Sam Bishop neatly setting up a goal for Alfie Lloyds, before George Collins equalised from a corner. Taunton regained the lead with just two minutes left, however Collins again came to his side’s rescue following a Danny Grant free kick. Amazingly, there was still time for United to find a winner, as Theo Gately making it 4-3 with virtually the last kick of the match.
Although not in action this weekend, our U13 squad have still been hard at work during their training sessions. Most recently the focus has been on shape, possession and learning how to the ball quickly and simply around tight areas- key skills for any aspiring professional footballer.
We’ve also had some fantastic new from a medical point of view in our U16s. Aaron Spragg and Josh Haydock were both back in action this weekend after long injury lay offs. Aaron dislocated his knee back in September whilst Josh suffered grade 2 torn ankle ligaments back in October. Both players have worked tirelessly behind the scenes with the rehabilitations programmes given to them, and can hopefully now look forward to the remainder of the season.
Keep up the great work lads!