Torquay United feeble in defeat at Dartford

Gulls press 'self-destruct' button and there's no way back

Given the chance to make up ground on the teams chasing Yeovil at the top of National League South, Torquay responded with a feeble performance in Kent.

They were careless at the back and aimless up front as unfancied Dartford seized their chance to give their supporters an afternoon to remember.

For much of the match the two sides were evenly matched in a game that was scrappy at best. But for 15 awful minutes at the end of the first half United had no answer to the speed and attacking verve of their hosts.

It was all change again for Torquay, with the enforced changes coming right up to the last minute. Mark Halstead was on the team sheet for a return in goal, but he felt ill in the warm-up, meaning Rhys Lovett kept his place.

Shaun Donnellan and Ryan Hanson were both missing along with long-term injury victim Tom Lapslie. Ross Marshall returned to the starting XI while winger Jack Stobbs was on the bench.

The opening exchanges were more or less even. Dartford were faster to the ball and used the flanks well, but Callum Dolan forced a decent save from home keeper Ryan Sandford and Asa Hall had an effort cleared off the line from the resulting corner.

Torquay pressed the self-destruct button comprehensively in the closing minutes of the half. Charlton loanee Richard Chin was given ample time to choose which foot to strike the ball with, and curled a peach of a shot beyond Lovett. George Alexander made it 2-0 with a crisp strike and, just before the interval, veteran Moussa Diarra clipped the ball in cleverly when he was allowed to meet a cross unchallenged.

Gulls boss Gary Johnson made a double substitution at half time, with Dylan Crowe and Dillon De Silva making way for Jack Stobbs and Lewis Collins.

Callum Dolan came the closest to giving United’s travelling fans something to cheer in the second half with a shot that whistled just wide, but while Dartford never hit the heights that had taken them into a 3-0 lead before the break, Torquay never looked remotely like staging the kind of comeback that would have earned a point.

The anger of the United supporters spilled over at the final whistle, and senior pros Dean Moxey and Asa Hall both came across to talk to the fans on the rails.

United travel to Eastbourne for another league match on Tuesday night. They will have to be so much better than this if they are to avoid returning home from another long trip empty-handed.