Johnno Hails Giant Tamers

Gary Johnson heaped praise on his patched-up Torquay United for stifling “the world’s biggest striker” and regaining their momentum at the top of the National League.

- Jon Couch

Johnson was without a number of regular first-teamers for Tuesday night’s tricky trip to Solihull Moors, who possess the tallest outfield player in English football in 6ft 9in striker Kyle Hudlin.

A run of just one win from their last seven games had cut Torquay’s lead at the top of the table from 11 points to four in recent weeks, but Johnson’s men showed they have plenty left in the tank with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Damson Park.

Asa Hall put the Gulls in front from the penalty spot on 18 minutes before Billy Waters doubled the advantage on 63 minutes, latching onto Connor Lemonheigh-Evans’ through the pass.

Torquay were forced to see out the game with ten men after goalkeeper Shaun MacDonald was sent off for a foul on Hudlin and even though Alex Gudger netted a consolation for Moors deep into stoppage-time, Johnson’s men held on to keep title rivals Sutton United at arm’s length.

“It was a good result,” said Johnson, chasing a seventh career promotion. “We’ve still got a lot of lads at the minute who are playing because we’ve got to play them, and they’re not 100% fit, so it was a heroic performance. At the end, we had three of four players on the pitch that wouldn’t normally play 97 minutes, but we had to keep them on.