TORQUAY United are a very well organised and settled side who will make life very difficult for us this weekend.
Their manager, Martin Ling, has done an absolutely fantastic job and they are on a superb run of form at the moment.
Torquay haven’t been hit by too many injuries or suspensions, which has obviously helped them.
And their defensive record has been fantastic.
There was a stage in the season where they had four or five 1-0 wins in a row and, if they score, they make it very difficult for opposing sides to break them down.
That’s something we have to be wary of this weekend because we really need the three points to keep alive our chances of finishing in the top three.
The games are starting to run out and we can’t really afford any slip-ups if we want to be winning automatic promotion.
We also need two out of Torquay, Shrewsbury and Crawley to drop some points in their remaining matches, so it will be difficult.
But the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, so we do still have a chance!
We go in to the game with one or two players struggling with knocks and it means the team will not be selected until just before the game when we know who is available.
Luke Prosser (pictured top) has a hamstring problem which will need checking and the fact he got the nod against AFC Wimbledon was purely a horses for courses decision.
We will have the same thought process when it comes to selecting the team this weekend and we will also have Sean Clohessy and Lee Hills available again, so there are a few decisions to be made.
Freddy Eastwood (pictured below) should be able to continue in attack but it’s not ideal that he’s having to play with a knee injury at the moment. We’re trying to get the problem settled down but he’s in pain every time he trains.
Freddy would be the first to admit he isn’t the fittest at the moment either, so ideally he does need to train to improve his overall condition.
But it’s a catch 22 situation because training on the hard ground isn’t helping his knee.
Freddy will actually have an injection after the Torquay game in a bid to reduce the pain he’s in.
That should be able to keep him going until the end of the season when his knee will need a flush out.
It was good for him to score again against AFC Wimbledon though and we want to build on that win now.
There are still positions, points, prizes and promotion to be played for and we want to end the season on a high.
FULL COLUMN IN FRIDAY'S ECHO
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