1. Lirak Hasani opens his account for the Gulls.
United midfielder Lirak Hasani opened his account for the Gulls in arguably the best way possible way when he struck from 20 yards in the 55th minute after being teed up by Dan Hayfield.
Hopefully, it will be the first of many for the club.
Hasani, who joined the club in the summer from Gateshead, was also responsible for taking United's set pieces, and he delivered a number of corners, which asked plenty of questions from the Dorking defence.
Having made his initial appearances for United as a substitute, Hasani has begun to play his way into the side, and he will be looking to maintain his place in the starting line-up.
2. A hard fought win for the Gulls.
For the first 15 minutes, Dorking looked the stronger side and enjoyed the majority of the possession. However, the Gulls had a late flurry of chances towards the end of the first half.
However, the Gulls started the second half on the front foot and were finally rewarded for their efforts when Hasani found the back of the net on 55 minutes.
Nevertheless, Dorking still had chances late on as skipper Charlie Carter, sub Matt Briggs and Barry Fuller all went close in the final ten minutes, but United hung on to win.
It was also the Gulls first win over Dorking in three attempts.
3. Ed Palmer stands out at the back.
A few eyebrows were raised amongst the Yellow Army when Ed Palmer, a former United youth product who had a brief professional career with the club before going on to play for the likes of Truro City, Taunton Town and Weymouth re-signed for the Gulls in the summer. However, Palmer, who combines playing for United with running a Barber's Shop in Totnes, followed up scoring on his full debut for the club away to Bath City with a display that earned himself the sponsor's man of the match award.
He also went close to scoring his second goal in as many games as he had a header blocked on the line by Dorking's Luke Moore in the 42nd minute. Moments later he attempted a long rang effort from 30 yards, which narrowly dipped over. In the second half, he also had a hand in United's goal as his pass found Dan Hayfield, who teed up Hasani for his goal.
The centre back positions have been arguably the most heavily contested spots in the United side so far this season, and Palmer has certainly staked his claim with Jordan Dyer currently being out injured.
4. Finley Craske produced a fine display at right wing-back.
After he missed much of the 2023-24 campaign through injury, Torquay United fans are now starting to see the best of Finley Craske.
Against Dorking he completed his first 90 minutes and he showed incredible athleticism as he made several marauding runs down the right hand side.
His opposite number on the left hand side has produced a number of fine displays so far this season, so if Craske continues in this vein, they could be talked about in the same breath as Jim McNichol and Tom Kelly (1987-88) and Andy Gurney and Paul Gibbs (1997-98).
5. United now up to third.
We might be only four games into the new season and the new look United remained a work in progress under Paul Wotton, but Saturday's win over Dorking Wanderers lifts the Gulls up to third in the table.
United currently trail leaders Boreham Wood by one point and are level on nine points with Slough Town and Farnborough, with only goal difference separating them.
6. Crowd watch.
Yesterday's attendance of 3,566 was comfortably the biggest crowd for a game in the sixth-tier, with only the 1,508 that saw Truro City defeat Enfield Town 3-1 coming close. In the National League, it was only bettered by the 3,614 which saw Hartlepool draw 1-1 with Wealdstone. It was also bigger than the 3,481 who saw Barrow defeat Port Vale in League Two.
A special mention should also go out to the Torquay United Supporter's Trust Community Share Issue, which, at the time of writing, has raised in the region of £73,000 within days of being launched.
