With Torquay United opting to play a number of pre-season friendlies behind closed doors, I opted to take in a number of other local friendlies to fill the void.
Here's a summary of the matches that I chose.
Exmouth Town 1 Truro City 2, July 7, 2023
My first choice of friendly saw Kevin Hill's Exmouth Town take on Paul Wotton's Truro City at Southern Road.
Both managers are fine servants to football in the South West, as Hill is Torquay United's record appearance holder with 474 appearances in all competitions, whilst Wotton is Plymouth Argyle's joint-second appearance holder with 491 in all competitions.
The hosts took the lead on 26 minutes through their number 14, but the visitors came from behind in the second half as Andrew 'Rocky' Neal and Will Dean both found the back of the net with strikes from distance.
Buckland Athletic 0 Yeovil Town 4, July 8, 2023
The following day I decided to take a look at another of the Gulls' prospective National League South opponents in the form Yeovil Town, who travelled to Newton Abbot to face Buckland Athletic of the Western League.
The Glovers brought a sizeable away following with them, and new owner/chairman Martin Hellier was also in attendance.
Yeovil took the lead in the seventh minute through a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area from Jordan Stevens after Benjani junior had been fouled.
Ex Gulls striker Jared Lewington came the closest to scoring for Bucks on 26 minutes when he created space for himself with a neat flick, which enabled him to elude Glovers’ defender Ollie Haste, before volleying over the bar.
The Glovers were forced into making a change in the 31st minute when right-back Morgan Williams limped off, after surviving a heavy challenge earlier, and was replaced by youngster Jacob Shore.
A minute later, Yeovil doubled their lead when Malachi Linton had a shot in the box which Jake Hyde got the final touch on.
In the second half, Glovers boss Mark Cooper made wholesale changes, which saw the introduction of a number of former Gulls, including Jamie Sendles-White and Frank Nouble, who spent the final weeks of the 2022-23 season at Plainmoor, and former midfielder Matt Buse featured as a trialist at right-back.
Eight minutes after the restart, the Glovers added a third when a cross from the left from Alex Whittle found its way to Nouble who curled the ball home.
With four minutes to go, Yeovil extended their lead to four when Jordan Maguire-Drew found Matt Worthington who found the bottom corner with a low drive as the Glovers underlined their status as National League South title contenders.
Buckland Athletic 0 Exmouth Town 4, July 11, 2023
It was a return to Homer's Heath to witness Buckland face Exmouth Town who, of course, play in a league above them in the Southern League Division One South - and the visitors ran out as 4-0 winners.
Exmouth took an early lead on five minutes through a 20 yard strike from Mike Landricombe.
The visitors then doubled their advantage four minutes before half time when Callum Shipton tapped home a cross from the left.
In the second half, a penalty from James Richards in the 53rd minute increased Exmouth's lead to three before they rounded off the scoring on 77 minutes when Ben Steer raced onto a through ball from Ace High and calmly slotted home.
Liskeard Athletic 1 Huddersfield Town 13
Thirteen proved to be unlucky for Liskeard Athletic as Huddersfield Town found the back of the net 13 times against them in the final match of their pre-season tour of the South West.
The Terriers, who are managed by former Torquay United and Plymouth Argyle boss Neil Warnock, had already faced Bodmin Town and Tavistock earlier in the week and ran out as winners in emphatic fashion.
Kian Harratt netted a hat-trick from the sub's bench while Josh Koroma, Jack Rudoni and Sorba Thomas all bagged braces. Danny Ward, Jaheim Headley, Tyreece Simpson and Ben Jackson all scored a goal apiece.
However, Liskeard did come out of the game as midfielder Max Gilbert struck with a long range strike from 25 yards in the 26th minute, which made it 2-1 to Huddersfield at the time.
