Trialists and development players turn out for United.

Two goals from Ollie Critchlow, and strikes from Connor Stewart, Craig Duff, and Danny Gaze earned Stoke Gabriel victory in a pre-season match that will allow Torquay United player-manager, Kevin Nicholson to further assess trialists that were eager to impress.

The Gaffer remarked after the match that when he assesses players, he learns more about them when things aren’t going so well on the pitch, rather than a comfortable win.

United were made up of trialists that had impressed enough against Newton Abbot Spurs on Tuesday to get another game, some development players from Torquay Academy and beyond, and some new faces.

The match was fairly even up until the last half an hour but then Stoke punished United who were finding it difficult stay competitive after numerous substitutions.

United opened the scoring thanks to a Stoke Gabriel own goal. Trialist, Kev Mbelek got behind Stoke’s defence and his low ball across the box was inadvertently deflected over the line by a Stoke defender.

One standout moment in the second half came from development player, Adam Seedhouse-Evans when he was called upon to pull off a full length diving save to his top right when keeping out a strong header.

Late on in the game, midfielder Liam Northcott lifted the ball over the advancing Scott Corderoy to – at that point – make it 4-2.

All eyes now point to Wednesday when the first team see their first action of pre-season. We welcome EFL Championship side Bristol City (kick-off 7:30pm) to Plainmoor, and we hope to see the Yellow Army there in what should be a very entertaining game.

We would like to thank Stoke Gabriel for their hospitality today.

Torquay United XI                                                                          Stoke Gabriel Squad

Neal Osborn                                                                                      Scott Corderoy

Charlie Mares (Torquay Academy)                                                   Rob Farkins

Cameron Kelly                                                                                  Ryan O’Callaghan

Haydn Greening                                                                               Danny Gaze

Jake Anderson                                                                                  Morgan Harford

Jamie Lowry                                                                                     Lewis Woodmore

Jay Malpas                                                                                        Ollie Booth

Macauley Southam                                                                          Ollie Critchlow

Kev Mbelek                                                                                       Mark Ashworth

Ike Robertson                                                                                   Craig Duff

Montel Gibson                                                                                  Louis Roberts

Substitutes                                                                                     Tom Kelly

Kyle Willoughby                                                                              Connor Stewart

Jack Compton                                                                                  Nathan Hebbes

Liam Northcott                                                                                 Jamie Orchard

Dan Buckley

Noah Keates

Robbie Herrera

Russell Cleave