Tim Sills opened the scoring in the 37th minute
Torquay United took a massive step toward the Play-Off Final on May 18th after beating Exeter at St. James' Park tonight. Tim Sills and Chris Zebroski were the goalscorers as Paul Buckle's tactical changes bore fruit.
Steve Woods made a surprise return to action after missing the last 16 games and he played as the sweeper between Chris Todd and Chris Robertson. Chris Zebroski was given a free role behind the front pairing of Lee Phillips and Tim Sills who were both expected to work the City full-backs. Chris Hargreaves and Steve Adams also returned to the starting line-up after missing out against Crawley.
United started brightly enough with Phillips forcing an early corner and the Gulls forward was very unlucky to be given offside when slipped through by Sills as Exeter seemed to be suffering from an early bought of nerves. The first chance, did though, go to the home side when Edwards headed goalward but it was straight at Simon Rayner.
Exeter gradually took control of the possession although Steve Adams was calming things down well for Torquay and the front two were pressing as much as they could but it was Exeter who had another attempt on Rayner's goal and again the header, this time from Taylor, was directed into the arms of United's 'keeper. Lee Mansell had to be alert to clear from a Tully cross and Taylor had another header flash wide of the far post but Exeter were playing a lot of their, at times decent, football in front of Torquay and creating very few clear cut chances.
Tim Sills and Lee Phillips were running their socks off up front in an attempt to get close down the Exeter flanks and force the ball inside and on the whole it was working. Harley and Carlisle had long range shots but neither troubled Rayner and gradually United were holding the ball up more and giving the midfield time to push up in greater numbers. The best move of the match gave United the lead; Lee Phillips battled to win the ball and was supported well by Lee Mansell and Chris Zebroski. It was Zebroski who exchanged passes with Mansell before laying the ball off for Phillips to line up a cross which he hit perfectly right into the path of the leaping Sills who directed his header back across Jones and sending the Gulls support behind the goal into a frenzy!
Football purists may say that Paul Buckle's side hadn't done enough to deserve the lead but that doesn't take into account the efforts being made to stop Exeter playing and the quality of the build up and execution of the goal itself. A very satisfactory half for Torquay, a goal up and all the questions were Exeter's to answer in the second half with their home crowd expecting a big response.
Little did we know of the drama awaiting us in the second half! Lee Phillips started where he left off in the first period by pressurizing and winning a free-kick and almost getting on to the end of a Chris Robertson long throw. Chris Zebroski was the first player booked after a tackle on Taylor in the 53rd minute for a tackle from behind and it was Taylor who nearly scored from the resultant free-kick when he headed over from a position that he should have done better from.
United's tactical plan was working even better in the second half with the City centre backs being forced to hit the ball longer and give up possession a lot quicker than they did previously. United seemed to have had a let off on the hour mark when a Carlisle header was ruled out for offside when everyone in the ground apart from the referee's assistant thought the equalizer had come. That moment seemed to galvanize the home side somewhat and The Gulls were having to call on all their experience and guile to protect their precious lead. With Sills and Phillips working so hard on the flanks and Zebroski chasing the ball around the pitch it was Chris Hargreaves who on occasion found himself as United's furthest forward player.
Lee Phillips was injured in the 73rd minute in a typically robust challenge with Jones when chasing down a Zebroski high ball, the United forward dusted himself down in time to see Paul Tisdale take his captain Seabourne off and replace him with Richard Logan in a bid to grab a goal. The equalizer wasn't long in coming; a long ball from Edwards was flicked on by Logan and Carlisle reacted quickest to sneak in and beat Rayner high to his left.
The City crowd were baying for a winning goal but Paul Buckle had another trick up his sleeve after Lee Phillips had run himself into the ground - Kevin Hill and a 3-4-3 formation! Hilly came on for his 472 appearance and was straight into the action winning a trademark header but it was United's second change that proved the most important. Steve Adams picked up a knock and was replaced by Roscoe Dsane who within 60 seconds found himself surrounded by three City players; Roscoe took the sensible decision of running the ball out wide right before slipping the ball inside where it was controlled by City centre back Taylor who passed the ball back to Jones in the City goal. Chris Zebroski then did what he had been doing all night, he chased the ball down and for some reason Jones went for power rather than height on his kick and hit it straight at Zebroski who gleefully reacted quickly and knocked the ball into the empty net. The ground would have been silent with shock had it not been for the ecstatic celebrations down the other end of St. James' Park being lead by Kerry and Sally from the United offices along with the 1000 other Gulls fanatics!
The goal came in the 91st minute and United played out the remaining three minutes without any scares. The final whistle was blown and the win was achieved. Over the weekend we will hear the usual comments- ''job half done'', ''not won anything yet'' and something about a kitchen sink- and all these classic lines will be right but just for this weekend let's enjoy the moment for there is no doubt that Exeter City will come to Plainmoor determined to turn things around and we can be sure that there will be another 90 minutes or maybe more of tension and drama unfolding at Plainmoor on Monday afternoon.
