Brad Ash nets twice as Torquay United fight back for victory at Slough Town

Slough Town 1, Torquay United 2

A deflated Scott Davies admitted he was starting to feel like a broken record after his side dominated the first half of Saturday’s home game with Torquay United but failed to pick up even a point for their efforts.

Nathan Minhas fired the home side ahead with an acrobatic first half effort as the Rebels dominated the opening hour, but two opportunistic strikes from Brad Ash saw the Gulls leave Arbour Park with all three points.

Buoyed by their 3-0 win at Weston-super-Mare the previous weekend, the Rebels grabbed this clash by the scruff of the neck in the first half, raining in shots on the Gulls goal, but failing to make the most of their complete and utter dominance.

For much of the first 45 minutes the Gulls – relegated from the National League last season – were at sixes and sevens in defence as the lively George Alexander and Minhas ran them ragged.

With Munashe Sundire making tackles all over the pitch and disrupting the visitor’s play, and Davies pinging passes to the wings and forwards early on, the Rebels were able to create a host of good chances.

They took one of them in the 16th minute, when Johnny Goddard looped a cross into the box and Minhas held off his marker and scissor-kicked the ball past Mark Halstead to make it 1-0.

And rather than sit on their lead, they continued to pile forward, playing with a freedom and fearlessness that impressed the 1,000 plus crowd inside Arbour Park. They might have made it 2-0 within a couple of minutes as Alexander hooked over the bar under pressure after the Gulls struggled to clear a left-wing corner.

The Rebels were so dominant that Torquay opted to hook defender Dan Martin in favour of Finlay Craske in the 20th minute, but the waves of pressure continued to fall on the visitors’ penalty area from the hosts. In the 27th minute, Halstead pulled off the first of several stunning saves, diving to his left to get a strong hand on Goddard’s well-struck shot. He then got down well to keep out Minhas’ shot after the Slough striker bullied his way through on goal again.

Josh Jackman was the next Rebels player to chance his arm when he saw his goalbound effort tipped around the post by Halstead in the 37th minute after a nice, one-touch, build up from Slough. A one-sided first half then ended with another brilliant stop from Halstead, this time from an arrow-like volley from Jackman.

The Gulls trudged off at half-time a goal down but crucially they were still in the game. They really shouldn’t have been. The Rebels held the lead, but the game should have been wrapped up in that opening 45 minutes.

Whether the visitors were given a rocket during the half-time interval is open for debate, but whatever was said it led to a much-improved performance from them.

Even accounting for that, the Rebels should have killed the game before Ash scored twice to give Torquay the points. In the 57th minute, Alexander played Minhas through on goal, but Halstead stood up well and palmed his left-footed effort around the post.

然后,它开始展开的所有主机。在the 58th minute – and very much against the run of play – Ash was afforded space in the Rebels area and fired the ball across Rohan Luthra and into the net to make it 1-1.

Suddenly, the outcome was very much back in the balance as the two sides traded blows in an entertaining, end-to-end clash. Eweka fought back to make a crucial sliding block on Ash after he was turned in his own area. Slough continued to throw bodies forward without fear and created opportunities to retake the lead.

However, Torquay grabbed another goal out of nothing in the 72nd minute when Collins’ cross was headed home by Ash in the six-yard box. It was harsh on the Rebels who’d given so much to the game only to find themselves behind.

Davies’ side had a good go in the final few minutes and stoppage time, but the Gulls looked increasingly solid and composed as the game progressed. They stood to Slough’s pressure well, with Halstead getting out quickly to smother a chance for Jackman in the 90th minute. Alexander then swept another decent chance over the bar from another Goddard cut back. It summed up the home side’s frustrations in front of goal. They’d had 15 shots to the visitors five, but once again had nothing to show for those efforts.

It leaves them third from bottom in the National League South ahead of Monday’s trip to 11th placed Chippenham Town.