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Man of the Match : Chris Hargreaves

Torquay drew 0-0 with York City at Plainmoor this afternoon in a match that didn't want for effort but lacked quality in wet and windy conditions that didn't help the players.

Paul Buckle reverted to the side that beat Northwich last Tuesday; Chris Todd, Tim Sills, Chris Hargreaves, Lee Phillips, Roscoe Dsane and Chris Zebroski all returned to the starting line-up with Kevin Hill on the bench and only 3 appearances away from becoming United's all time leading appearance maker.

The Gulls got off to a bright start and inside the first minute Lee Phillips got himself into a good position wide right and crossed low but behind Chris Zebroski who had made a run to the near post. Just two minutes later and it was Phillips again who was involved when he shot low and wide after good play from Roscoe Dsane had given him the opportunity. The first corner of the match went to York but came to nothing although Chris Todd had to be alert moments later to block a shot from Fortune-West.

The visitors were trying to play on the shoulders of the Torquay defence but were caught offside more often than not in the first half. United were playing in to the wind in the first half and were coping with the conditions quite well. Midway through the first period and Paul Buckle made a tactical switch with Lee Phillips moving out to the left wing and Chris Zebroski coming inside to play just behind Tim Sills.

Lee Phillips almost broke the deadlock just after the half hour when his cross was slightly miss-hit and with the help of the wind beat Evans in the York goal but struck the crossbar and was cleared on the rebound. The best chance of the half went to York; a cross from Rusk looked to going safe but fell between Lee Mansell and Chris Todd, neither player seemed to notice Beadle who stole in between them but put his header wide when he should have done better. Matt Hockley, who had a solid game, nearly caused Evans some embarrassment when he battled to win the ball in the far right corner and sent in a cross that caused Evans to tip over for a corner. From the resulting corner Chris Hargreaves had a header that was saved by Evans which turned out to be the final chance of the opening period.

The 2165 hardy souls who braved the weather at Plainmoor were hoping for an increase in goalmouth action but were left slightly disappointed with the return that they got as both teams struggled to come to terms with the conditions and each other in the second half.

Roscoe Dsane was causing problems for the visitors defence down the left and United became far more dominant for a period at the start of the second half that it looked like they may wear York down and clinch the points that would secure second place. Ten minutes after the restart and Kevin Nicholson sent a trademark long ball over the top of the York defence which was met by Lee Phillips who had timed his run perfectly, unfortunately he couldn't quite control his header and it went agonisingly wide with Evans beaten.

York gradually became less of an attacking force as the match wore on but United were not quite at their best today when it came to creative play around the penalty area, Jody Banim was introduced in place of Tim Sills on 79 minutes but the match had an end of season feel about it and clear cut chances were few and far between. Chris Hargreaves thought Torquay should have had a penalty when his shot seemed to be blocked by the arms of McGurk but the referee was having none of it and really niether side deserved anything but a point from the match. The main positives to come out of the match were the point gained that all but ensures that United will finish second and that no new injuries were picked up. In fact the injury scenario is looking much more positive; Tony Bedeau is back training and Paul Buckle hopes to have Steve Adams and Danny Stevens back soon while skipper Steve Woods is hoping to get the all clear when he sees the specialist to resume full training and may be available for the business end of United's extended season.