1. Club unbeaten record beaten.
In beating Slough Town, Torquay United set a club record for 16 consecutive unbeaten league matches - surpassing a record that was originally set in the 1990-91 season under Dave Smith. During the course of the sequence, United have won 13 times and drawn three; they have also scored 46 times and conceded 15. All of these results have come under the managerial reign of Gary Johnson. Coincidentally it was also the Gulls' tenth win in a row, and their fifth over the festive period.
Johnson said afterwards: "It's great for this group of players and when I'm old and grey we can look back on it. This group of players has done something that no other group has done at this football club, so we can only be proud of them."
2. Seeing double.
With Gary Johnson serving a two-match touchline ban for an incident at home to Billericay Town earlier in the season, he was watching the game from the director's box. This meant that his brother Pete, United's head of recruitment, and Aaron Downes, the Gulls' assistant manager, took care of things on the touchline. Before the match, Gary handed his yellow scarf to his brother Pete, so it couldn't have been too big a surprise if the match officials and the United players thought they were seeing double! Gary even quipped to BBC Radio Devon afterwards: "I wanted Pete to look like me so we kept the familiarity in the dugout, so that's another result that he's got him and he's got a 100% record!"
3. Lightning strikes twice.
Readers of this blog who saw the Gulls' pre-season friendly with Bristol City's Under-23 side will no doubt remember that Jake Andrews was on target for the young Robins with a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area. Andrews scored another free-kick yesterday when he scored the Gulls' third from a similar distance and into the same goal, but on this occasion he found the bottom corner, instead of hitting the top corner as he did for Bristol City in pre-season. It was also his sixth goal for the Gulls in all competitions - making him United's third top scorer.
4. Celebrating new contracts.
Before the match it was announced that skipper Asa Hall and Kalvin Kalala had agreed contract extension to remain at Plainmoor for next season and both players played a key role in the Gulls' victory. Kalala's cross picked out substitute Ruairi Keating for United's third on 87 minutes and Hall added United's fourth with a cool, close range finish deep in injury time. Johnson particularly expressed his delight in securing Kalala's contract, as his previous six-month deal was set to expire.
5. A fortnight's break coming up.
As they are currently out of the FA Trophy and have no outstanding league fixtures that need to be re-arranged, Torquay United will now have a fortnight break before they return to league action against Bath City on 19th January. For the players, it represents a chance to re-charge their batteries following a spell that has seen them play five games in the space of 14 days.
Footnote: After Ben Wynter opened his goal scoring account for the Gulls with United's first of the afternoon, Kyle Cameron is now the only players out of the Gulls' regular starting outfield players who is yet to score this season.
