If Gary Johnson's Torquay United are to reach the National League play-offs in the 2021-22 season then they could do a lot worse than follow the example of Kevin Hodges' class of 1998 who reached the Third Division play-off final.
In the 1997-98 season, the team that Hodges had rebuilt in the summer of 1998 spent much of the first half of the campaign in mid-table before finding themselves on the fringes of the promotion race by the turn of the year.
This was, of course, before a club record run of eight successive wins between January and March 1998 (Shrewsbury 3-0, Hartlepool 1-0, Brighton 4-1, Hull 5-1, Doncaster 1-0, Chester 3-1, Lincoln 3-2, Cardiff 1-0) moved the Gulls firmly amongst the division's front runners; they were still in contention for automatic promotion right up until the final day of the campaign when they lost to Leyton Orient.
One similarity that can be found between the class of 1997-98 and the present day United is that the responsibility for finding the back of the net is spread evenly amongst the squad.
While Rodney Jack topped the goal scoring charts with 16 goals to his name and he was followed by the iconic wing-back pairing of Paul Gibbs (10) and Andy Gurney (9). Attacking midfielder Armani Little is currently United's top scorer in 2021-22 with ten and the next on the list is Little's fellow midfield maestro Connor Lemonheigh-Evans with five and centre back Joe Lewis and skipper Asa Hall are next with four apiece.
However, a major catalyst for United's record breaking run in 1997-98 was the loan signing of Jason Roberts from Wolves, who netted four times during United's eight matching winning sequence and formed a lethal partnership with Jack into the bargain.
If Johnson can pull another proverbial 'rabbit out of the hat' in the loan market, as he often has done since his arrival at Plainmoor in September 2018, who can have a similiar impact to the one that Roberts had in 1997-98 then United's recent victory over big spending Wtexham could be the start of something very special indeed.
