City beaten by late Gulls deflected strike

A deflected shot eight minutes from time was enough to send City to defeat against Torquay United at Plainmoor this afternoon. Although the home side’s pace up front looked dangerous from time to time, City had defended superbly and possessed a threat of their own when they broke forward, so it was particularly cruel when Donnellan tried his luck from 30 yards and the ball struck Kieran Parselle to send it looping over Will Buse.

The Gulls started the game brightly with Buse forced to turn efforts from McGavin and Dolan over his bar in the opening quarter of an hour. Once City had weathered this early pressure they began to get a foothold in the game, although a Parselle shot that cleared the bar was the closest they came to opening the scoring during the first 45 minutes.

The game began to open up as the second half progressed with both sides searching for a breakthrough. On 74 minutes Jordan Dyer’s header forced a fine save from Lovett, the keeper scrambling the loose ball behind for a corner before a City player could pounce. Dyer then blocked a close range effort from Hall but three minutes later Donnellan finally broke the deadlock. City threw everything they could at the Gulls after this but, even with six minutes stoppage time, they couldn’t find a deserved equaliser.