1. Danny Wright's goalscoring return.
Danny Wright reminded Torquay United of what they had been
missing during his lengthy absence through injury as he came off the bench to
score an 83rd minute winner against Woking. Former Cheltenham striker Wright hadn't featured for the Gulls since he limped off with a hamstring injury on Boxing Day against Yeovil Town, which later required surgery. However, he was in the right place at the right time to connect with Adam Randell's 83rd minute cross to score the game's decisive goal. Wright's effort was his 9th of the season, which sees him reclaim his status as United leading league goalscorer from Asa Hall, who is currently on six.
2. Return of the late winner.
Earlier in the season, late winners had been a key part of United's play - most notably on the opening day of the season when Connor Lemonheigh-Evans struck a last gasp effort against title favourites Stockport County, which helped to set the tone of the rest of the campaign. Danny Wright's strike was the first late winner that United have scored since Lemonheigh-Evans netted to make it 4-3 away to Weymouth on December 28, 2020 in the 87th minute.
3. Three wins out of four - and three clean sheets.
United's victory was also their third win in four games, and it was also their third clean sheet in that space of time as well. The Gulls won 1-0 against King's Lynn Town, beat Solihull Moors 2-0 before losing 1-0 to Dagenham & Redbridge prior to Good Friday's result. Credit for this record must go to United's back four of Ben Wynter, Sam Sherring, Joe Lewis and Ryan Law and goalkeeper Lucas Covolan who made an important save to deny Woking leading scorer Max Kretzschmar from a free-kick in the 70th minute.
4. The Home Park connection.
While there has been a lot of loan transfer activity between Torquay United and Bristol City in recent seasons, it was two loan signings from United's closer neighbours Plymouth Argyle who played a key role in the Gulls' victory over Woking. Midfielder Adam Randell, who has appeared as a centre midfielder, right midfielder and right-back since joining at the start of the season, provided the assist for Wright's goal and left-back Ryan Law produced another steady display since his arrival. Argyle manager Ryan Lowe will no doubt be keeping tabs on their form from afar.
5. Durkin in charge again.
For the third season in a row James Durkin, son of Paul Durkin, was appointed to referee a clash between Torquay United and Woking. Durkin took charge of their meeting at Kingsfield on April 6, 2019 which finished 3-3 and effectively ended the Cards' National League South title challenge -with United sealing the championship a week later against Eastbourne Borough. He then took charge of their festive meeting at Plainmoor on December 28, 2019 - which the Gulls won 4-1. On both of those previous occasions Woking were reduced to ten men, with Ben Gerring seeing red at Kingsfield and Godfrey Poku receiving his marching orders at Plainmoor. However, this time he didn't dish out any red cards, but he did award seven yellow cards - two to the Gulls and five to the Cards.
6. Closing the gap on the league leaders.
The three points that United gained proved to be particularly important in the context of the National League title race. The Gulls went into Good Friday ten points behind leaders Sutton United, but that gap has now been reduced to eight after the U's drew 0-0 away to Boreham Wood. The Gulls still have to travel to Gander Green Lane to face Sutton on April 13 and will be looking to make further inroads into that eight-point margin between now and then.
