Fan Zone 19/09/2025
- TUST
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
FAN ZONE
By Nick Brodrick, TUST's Chair and TUFC board member.
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THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME BUT AWAY FORM NEEDS ATTENTION
THE MAGIC OF THE FA CUP CONTINUES EVEN WITHOUT TORQUAY’S FIRST TEAM
WET AND WINDY PLAINMOOR BUT IT’S 3-2 TO UNITED’S WOMEN
It wasn’t just United crashing out of the FA Cup last Saturday at the same stage for the second consecutive year but another away defeat.
The worry on the minds of Torquay fans was voiced by TorquayTalk’s Clive Hayward at Thursday’s press call.
‘How difficult is it to get results on the road?’ And ‘What are the issues?’
All this bearing in mind that in the club’s history the team has only won 23% of matches away from Plainmoor.
Boss Paul Wotton cited travel, home mentality, different mind-set.
‘Some enjoy playing away from home, some don’t, I’m learning who they are,’ said Wotton. He did qualify his remarks quoting data from the four away matches compared with last year’s which shows shots on target are higher, crosses and final entries much higher and expected goals much higher.
Ending on a positive he said,’ I’m convinced our away form will change.’
We should be thankful that the club has a manager who is prepared to put in the miles to not just look at future opponents but to go on scouting missions.
I know that he travels to Bristol to watch City’s Under-21s play clubs like Brentford, Bournemouth, QPR, Cardiff and Sheffield United in the Professional Development League while next Saturday when there’s no fixture, due to it being the third round qualifying of the FA Cup, he’s off to watch Salisbury who we play the week after.
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Talking of the FA Cup there could well be another blank Saturday looming on October 11th as opponents Dagenham & Redbridge have a good chance of being involved in the fourth round qualifying FA Cup tie. Keep a look out for their result next Saturday.
If that match is postponed might a later fixture be moved? Otherwise, there would be only one home fixture in October.
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Don’t you just love the FA Cup? It throws up all kinds of shocks and stories. For example, last week it was, as the BBC reported, Enfield v Enfield. Well, it was actually Enfield v Enfield Town, Town winning 3-0.
In a Kent derby Folkestone Invicta defeated Maidstone United 2-0 in front of 1,235 with the tie played at neutral Chatham as Folkestone’s pitch is not ready for use. The match saw Jay Saunders, now manager of Invicta, against the team he was in charge of for seven years.
Non-League Crowd Watch: Southend 7,900, Carlisle 7,039, Hartlepool 3,401, Yeovil 2,646.
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It wasn’t the best of days weather-wise but last Sunday, with over 200 in attendance, United’s new look Women’s side won 3-2 at Plainmoor, the first of six matches due to be played here.
If you haven’t seen it Sam Swann’s TikTok video captured the excitement and main action of the afternoon, goals from Lily Hilton (2) and Georgie Knott.
This Sunday the squad travels to AFC St Austell for a second round qualifying Adobe FA Cup tie.
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Congratulations to United’s Under-18s on defeating AFC St Austell 3-1 on Monday evening earning them another ‘home’ match in the second round qualifying of the Youth FA Cup against Street.
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Tomorrow sees United take on one of the pre-season favourites Ebbsfleet, newly relegated from the National League. It’s likely to be a tough test but word is that maybe four of our injured players will be back in the matchday squad.
Wotton must be confident as he has sent striker Jadyn Crosbie out on loan for three months with Dorchester Town.
The weather predictions are not great for Saturday and the fan zone has been called off. Otherwise, work on the floodlight pylons has been progressing in preparation for the new LED bulbs.
Disappointingly, the new digital screen has had a few set-backs, removing the old one has proved more challenging than anticipated and rain in particular cannot get into the new one before it’s assembled. So, no big screen tomorrow.
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Thank you to all those who sent in their suggestions for non-clothing items to be sold in the club shop in time for Christmas. All these have been forwarded to the club for consideration. For what it’s worth there were some cracking ideas.
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Next Tuesday, 23rd, it’s the Torbay derby United versus Brixham AFC at Wall Park (7.30pm) in the Bayside Graphics Devon St. Luke’s Bowl.
And finally, congratulations to September’s 1899 Lotto winners.
COYY
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