Screamers, late limbs, and getting our club back: Five magic moments from 24/25
In the long annals of Torquay United’s history, the 24/25 season will be pencilled in as the year where we finally took control. A decade of decline has earmarked the club’s fortunes so far in the 21st century; brief pockets of success interspersed with the direct opposite. This season, more than any in the last 10 years, has been nothing short of cathartic. The age of the Bryn Consortium kickstarted recovery from the club’s lowest ebb, and very nearly resulted in what would have been only our third ever league title.
Across the course of the season, the Yellow Army have racked up many memories both home and away. Five stand out in particular as landmarks in a season littered with monuments to the strength and spirit contained within our community.
The Return to Plainmoor
A sunny day in early August served as the first test for the new ownership, who spent their shortened summer frantically getting everything in order for the start of the season. Enfield Town were the opponents, a side new to the league who we had last faced in 1994 under a different name.
United were very much a brand new side themselves that day. Foulston, Dyer and Dreyer featured in a back three, a combination which would become increasingly rare going forward. Matt Carson and Finn Tonks were the wing backs, Oscar Threlkeld started in midfield alongside Dan Hayfield. Cody Cooke was joined by Brad Ash up front, and just behind them was Omar Mussa, United’s shiny new signing who had joined just two weeks before.
With everyone inside Plainmoor in high spirits and hopeful for a maiden Bryn win, the game naturally got off to the worst possible start. In just the 4th minute, Enfield’s Lewis Taaffe foxed into the box to grab an opener for the away side – the first goal scored by any team in 24/25 across the top 3 divisions of non-league.
Thankfully, the goal didn’t do much to dispel the mood on the day. United’s new heroes dusted themselves off and started showing what they could do. Threlkeld grazed the crossbar in the 12th minute with a clever volley. It was great foreshadowing from the skipper, as just 3 minutes later, Matty Carson arrived late to a corner and smashed a bouncing ball into the back of the net.
Brad Ash, who had gotten slightly in the way, would have been disappointed to find that the goal was not his after wheeling away in celebration. Fortunately for him, Carson was once again on hand to direct a ball towards him in the 28th minute. Brad nodded home a looping cross from the wing-back, giving encouragement to many a wild theory that he was to become an aerial presence for United in his second season.
Despite many more chances, there were no more goals on the day. Instead, it was Omar Mussa, so often a motif for the team’s passion and enthusiasm this year, who kept everyone entertained by dancing around the purple-clad Towners for just over an hour. The scoreline may not stand out among the crowd in 10 years’ time, but all who were in attendance can fondly remember this game as the understated start to a noisy new era.
The Yellow Moon of Twerton Park
Away days are so often among the highlights of the season in football, and this year has been no different. United’s late-season trip to Dorking would probably figure highly in the lists of all who were in attendance, as several hundred Gulls flocked to Surrey to pay witness to a Jordan Dyer showstopper. A visit to Chesham United early on, where a stooping Ash header won the day (he really was giving mixed signals), stands out as another notable outing for the Yellow Army.
For me, August’s pilgrimage to Bath City was the standout. A reasonably close trip up from Devon meant that several hundred assembled in Twerton Park’s imposing fenced away end, which itself screams history – likely because it’s not been updated for several decades. Members of the Bryn Consortium were among them, testing out what would become a habit of integration with the fans on away days over the course of the season.
The game itself looked like it might be difficult on paper, but got off to the perfect start when former Roman Cody Cooke fired home for his first of the season. As darkness fell, United pushed to extend their lead, facing some resistance from the home side. The deciding blow fell in the 64th minute. Hayfield’s loopy cross dropped onto the head of Ed Palmer, who thundered home in front of the Yellow Army. Watching on behind him was a huge, yellow-hued moon – the ultimate omen for what was to come next.
Weston’s Super-Mare
Once upon a time in November, Weston Super-Mare were top of the league.
In the first four months of the season, the race for the National League South title was far from the behemoth that it became. Sure, things were tight, but it felt as though somebody was bound to run away with it before long. Boreham, Maidstone and Dorking had all faltered early on and the dangerous Worthing were wobbly. Truro looked much better than expected, but still nowhere near.
With us and our Somerset rivals looking like contenders, the stage was set for a high stakes evening at Plainmoor. The conditions were miserable, perhaps more than in any other game this year.
The first half was tense and closely contested. Luke Coulson had fired the visitors ahead from outside the box before Lirak Hasani equalised with a spectacular curling effort into the right of the goal. United then took the lead, albeit fortunately, when Will Jenkins Davies pounced on a misplaced backpass for his first of the season. That barely lasted seven minutes before Sam Avery walked the ball in from a corner to make it 2-2. Then, on the stroke of half time, Cody Cooke saw his penalty saved and it seemed like it might not be going our way.
Things looked increasingly desperate in the 48th minute when Hasani received a straight red card for a clumsy challenge, one of only two sendings off for United’s squad across the entire season. Weston got at us on the break, and it seemed like only a matter of holding on was going to get us anything out of the game.
If you have followed Torquay for any amount of time, you will have learned to always expect the unexpected. That is exactly what Cody Cooke chose to do on that cold, wet evening. United won the ball back high up the pitch, and a low drive into the box just about fell to Hayfield. The ball rolled innocently enough off his boot, but United’s number 19 was waiting at the back post. The subtle flick of the heel. Elation.
As if that wasn’t enough, Hayfield and Cooke combined for a second time ten minutes later to seal the three points and send United on their way to the top of the table before Christmas. There’s been some special moments at Plainmoor this year, but perhaps none quite so exhilarating as this.
Truro by Train
As the season dragged on, United’s form faltered, and there were a number of games which we would much rather forget than memorialise. Some were utterly miserable, like defeat away to Worthing in the FA trophy, while others are emotionally complex – like when Matt Jay scored the goal of the season from halfway against Chelmsford, only for us to go on and lose 3-2.
United were still well within a shout of winning the league throughout these tough times, and by the last three games were in as strong a position as ever ahead of an away trip to table-topping Truro. On an Easter holiday which may go down in history as the Good-est Friday of them all besides the original edition, the Gulls delivered the goods.
Like all three of our 1-0 wins against Truro this season, the game was decided by a defining moment of quality. In the FA trophy, it was Dan Hayfield’s best-kept-secret of a free kick. On New Year’s Day, Jordan Young tiptoed across the box to drive into the bottom corner. And on a misty day in Cornwall, it was Matt Jay who turned up with a spectacular effort to make the last week of the season just that little bit more exciting.
Heartbreak Hemel
It all came down to this. In a memorable occasion for not just United but the footballing world in general, the final day of the National League South season saw the possibility of no less than six teams walking away with the title. Of course, nothing really changed at the top, and now the team in seventh place, who weren’t even part of the fun, have every chance of besting the rest and going up. Really, all of that trumped-up drama was quite beside the point.
United may have been just two goals away from the National League, and gone on to bow out early in the playoffs, but nothing can take away from the final game of the season. The 2,200 that we took to Vauxhall Road on that day outnumber any away following for decades. Watching over them were tearful co-owners who have the club incredibly close to their hearts, and are no doubt working night and day once again to improve ahead of next season.
What we must realise is that we are living through a historical period for the football club at the moment. As humble supporters of the team we have grown up following each week, we are experiencing what has never been experienced before. The current league position doesn’t take away from the magnitude of any of our present achievements: in fact, it magnifies them. Torquay United is a club on the rise once again, and it’s hard not to get caught up in the belief that we are going to make it back where we belong. This campaign has produced some magical moments in itself, but truly, 24/25 felt like the first season of a great show, a set up for greater, more ambitious things to come.