Torquay put a large dent in Aldershot’s promotion hopes, with a 2–0 victory at the Rec on Tuesday evening.
In truth the visitors outplayed their hosts in every department – the Shots looking lethargic and lacking in cohesion all over the pitch, which is bizarre considering their lofty league position.
Kevin Dillon made two changes to Saturday’s starting line up, when Soares came in for Jackson and Blackburn replaced the injured Herd at right back.
The Shots did start brightly and Soares’ well struck daisy cutter, in the first minute, was well saved by Poke in the Torquay goal.
It turned out to be the only real save the visiting keeper had to make during the entire ninety minutes.
The visitors should have taken the lead on 11 minutes. A cross came over from the Shots left and Jamie Young missed his attempted punch.
The ball fell to Elliott Benyon inside the 6 yard box, but the forward lifted his effort over, when it seemed easier to score.
However the diminutive striker made amends six minutes later.
He collected the ball on the angle of the 6 yard box, where he turned inside Winfield before hammering the ball between the legs of Young and into the net.
Torquay were oozing new found confidence now, due to their drubbing of League leaders Rochdale on Saturday, and they almost increased their lead on 26 minutes.
Kevin Nicholson whipped in a dangerous free kick, which Young managed to get a strong hand on, to divert it onto the bar and over.
The lead was doubled though, ten minutes later, in unfortunate circumstances for the home side.
The ball was bouncing around inside the penalty box, and when a shot eventually came in from Rendell, it took a wicked deflection off Winfield to wrong foot Young, giving him no chance.
In the 39th minute, Chris Blackburn came close to reducing the deficit when his effort on the turn went narrowly wide of the upright.
HALF TIME: SHOTS 0 TORQUAY 2
Kevin Dillon surprisingly decided not to shuffle the pack at half-time, relying on his starting eleven to turn things around.
In the 51st minute Donnelly came close, but his 20 yard free kick curled a yard wide, with Poke scrambling across goal.
On the hour mark Hudson and Spencer replaced Soares and Marvin Morgan respectively.
Ten minutes later Howell replaced Bozanic.
However Torquay continued to close the Shots down, not giving them any time on the ball, and the home side on the night were not at the races.
Scott Rendell almost added to the score line in injury time – but the Shots wouldn’t have scored if they played until midnight.
TS RATINGS:
Young 5, Blackburn 5, Straker 6, Winfield 5.5, Brown 5, Harding 4, Bozanic 4 (Howell), Donnelly 5, M Morgan 4 (Spencer), D Morgan 5.5, Soares 4 (Hudson),
Ref: D Sheldrake 5
Entertainment value: 4.