TORQUAY UNITED 1 EXETER CITY 0
Match Sponsor: HERALD EXPRESS
Match Ball Sponsor: LEIGH EXTENCE
Torquay kept up the pressure on league leaders Aldershot at Plainmoor today with a 1-0 win over neighbours Exeter City. Tim Sills was on the score sheet again in a match that United could have won by more than the one goal.
Lee Mansell continued at right back with Matt Hockley also retaining his place in central midfield in an unchanged line-up from the Woking match. In front of a packed Plainmoor the match began in a very different manner to the Boxing Day game, United were clearly not going to let their visitors dwell on the ball and were closing down the Exeter players at every opportunity. Both sides had a shot at goal within the first couple of minutes, Mackie testing Martin Rice and Tim Sills hitting the target but not troubling Jones with his shot. Most people who watched the match last week would agree that Jamie Mackie was allowed too much time on the ball, well Matt Hockley clearly had other ideas today, the first 'Happy New Year' tackle of the game came, not unsurprisingly, from Hockley when the ball dropped invitingly between himself and the City forward. The result was painfully obvious to the Gulls supporters, fair tackle won by Hockley, opposing player left in a heap on the floor. The tackles were flying in and Lee Mansell also had a challenge with the unfortunate Mackie which left the Exeter forward looking longingly at the bench. To be fair to the City player he managed to carry on and gave the United defence another testing 90 minutes.
The first decent chance of the match went to Chris Hargreaves, Kevin Nicholson whipped in a free kick from the left and Hargreaves couldn't quite direct his header on target. Martin Rice got a heck of a lot of flack from the City fans last week and today he did everything asked of him and had a very solid game to claim his second clean sheet of the week. Basham gave Martin his first test of the day when he had to brave of his line to block at the strikers feet. In the 24th minute United should have opened the scoring, some good passing gave Kevin Nicholson the chance to cross and his centre was met by Lee Phillips but the ball slipped wide when most of the crowd and probably Lee himself thought the ball was goal bound. Chris Todd put in another fine performance today and on the half hour mark he saved his team, Mackie was about to pull the trigger after teeing up a shot when Todd came in with a great blocking tackle to concede a corner when a goal looked on the cards. One of the best moves of the first half nearly gave United the lead: Phillips flicked the ball on to Tim Sills who did well to knock the ball on to Danny Stevens, Danny flicked the ball up and hit a 30 yard volley which was directed straight at Jones, a yard either side and the City 'keeper would have been struggling. Martin Rice blocked well again at the feet of Mackie as the half drew to a close and both sides, while not producing their best football, would have been satisfied with 0-0 at the break.
The second half started with United on the front foot, Matt Hockley released Lee Phillips in the 50th minute and the Gulls forward made another of his strong, direct runs at the City defence, he cut inside and hit a right foot shot that just missed Jones' left hand post with the 'keeper no where near getting to the ball. Matt Hockley had already had a shot blocked in the first half and a similar event happened on the hour when he picked up a clearance from a corner on the edge of the box. Both defences played well today and it was looking like an individual piece of skill or a mistake would settle matters or, perhaps, superior fitness, it has to be said that United finish most if not all their matches more strongly than their opposition. On another day Chris Hargreaves could have scored a hat-trick, Chris Zebroski and Lee Phillips combined expertly to leave Hargreaves with a shot at goal from the edge of the area but he got under it and it fizzed over the crossbar. A minute later and he was heading on to the top of the goal from a Danny Stevens cross when it looked as though he had timed his run and jump to perfection. Exeter were reduced to the odd break and couldn't get a foothold in the match as United tried to attack down both flanks and this was where the winning goal was to be created. Danny Stevens had been causing the Exeter defence problems all afternoon and sooner or later he was going to pick out the right cross at the right moment, in the 75th minute he picked the ball up just outside the right of the Exeter penalty area, Danny looked up and picked out Tim Sills who was making his run to the edge of the six yard area, the cross was pinpoint accurate and Tim did the rest with his guided header low past Jones. There haven't been many goals celebrated with such enthusiasm at Plainmoor in recent times but the job was far from finished and with a quarter of an hour to go United were going to have to close the game out in a professional manner. Kevin Nicholson had a free kick saved with ten minutes left and Exeter were pressing right to the end forcing corners but never giving the steady Martin Rice anything to worry himself about, it was a solid confident performance by Martin and a clean sheet that he will be delighted to keep! The last minute produced one more chance for Exeter but Rice was up to the shot and the 3 extra minutes were seen out well by United, Lee Phillips was running at the Exeter defence at any opportunity and won the free kick that used up all the remaining time left in the match.
This was far more like what a local derby is expected to be, no quarter asked or given and, although the neutral will disagree, to win and keep a clean sheet will always feel better than losing a seven goal thriller!
