Torquay United manager Paul Buckle was delighted with his side’s 3-0 win opening day with over Northampton Town at Plainmoor. Goals from Kevin Nicholson, Chris Zebroski and Elliot Benyon made it a winning start to the new season for the Gulls as they brushed aside a highly fancied Cobblers side.
He said “I’m delighted to score three goals on the opening day of the season against a very good Northampton side. It was a good start for us and we carried on from where we left off last season in keeping a clean sheet. It was a typical first game of the season, a bit nervy and a bit edgy. We scored late in the first half with a wonderful counter attacking goal from Kevin Nicholson and then we went from strength to strength.”
The Gulls started the game in a positive manner as Zebroski went on a mazy run down the right wing that was snuffed out by Northampton left back Marcus Hall.
Defender Dean Beckwith looked to have given the Cobblers the lead on 10 minutes, but his close range effort was ruled out for offside.
On 35 minutes, Gulls centre back Mark Ellis latched on to a Nicholson corner. Unfortunately for Ellis, his headed effort was turned on to the cross bar by the Cobblers debutant keeper Oscar Jansson.
Torquay went ahead on 44 minutes when Nicholson fired a thumping shot into the back of the net from inside the penalty area against his former club.
After the break, Zebroski doubled Torquay’s lead in the 47th minute when he fired home a rebounded effort after Jansson parried his initial shot.
Benyon put Torquay three up on 50 minutes when he connected with a Lee Mansell through ball and slotted the ball past Jansson from 16 yards.
Substitute Michael Jacobs almost pulled a goal back for the Cobblers in the 65th minute with a well struck free-kick which hit the bar.
Nicholson almost bagged himself a brace in the 80th minute with a free-kick that was deflected on to the bar as the Gulls made a dream start to the campaign.
Northampton boss Ian Sampson said: “It goes without saying, you don’t like to lose your first game and to lose it by three goals to nil is disappointing. In the first half, the game was frantic and our quality was poor. The most disappointing thing was probably the reaction to the goals because we have quite a few experienced heads in the team.”
