Gary Johnson Says Losing Gulls' Top Spot May Be A Good Thing

Torquay United’s 133-day, 3,200-hour stay atop the National League ended on Tuesday night.

Not due to defeat themselves, but Sutton United’s relentlessness was finally rewarded on an evening the inactive leaders had been fearing for a while as they actually slipped to third.

Johnson knows his team could well be six points adrift before they kick-off in front of the BT Sport cameras at Boreham Wood on Saturday night.

It’s something he is prepared for, and like all good managers he decided to tackle the issue head on.

He called his players together on Thursday to not specifically talk about this key fixture.

The former champion to Cheltenham and Yeovil wanted to discuss the mental impact losing the leadership after so long might take on his players.

What’s more, he thinks relinquishing top spot actually may turn out to be quite a good thing.

"You sit them down and you have a chat with them and you talk to them about staying with the belief - and what got us to the top of the league,” he explained to DevonLive.

"Remember your principles and your philosophy and we have just got to get better at all that because that got us there.

"You know sometimes when you see a race and you see somebody out in front and that person in front knows that the person behind might just have a little bit to win the race. He panics a little bit, and the one behind pushes on and finishes like a train, so that's how I am hoping we will see this one out.

"I have said all along, we were the champions for a long time, and we don't want to lose or draw games, but it might be good to give someone else the pressure of being up there."

He added: "We have gone slightly below our level, that we were at, over the last couple of weeks - and we have got to make sure that we get back to the level”

"We are comfortable with it all and we know we are going to improve, we know that when we get our full squad back. Most of them should be back come the last 10 games of the season, for instance, so we need to hang on in there and get a few results over the next few weeks."

The Gulls’ form may be near to rotten, 14th in the eight-game form guide with three home defeats in a row but scratch the surface and you’ll find few do it better on their travels.

One defeat in ten away from Plainmoor, they’ve won seven of those including the last two - games at Barnet and Solihull Moors.

Captain Asa Hall recently told us: “We’ve got enough in this dressing room to get over the recent results.

“We just say to the fans to stick with us. We’re still fighting and we know how much it means to them.”

One thing on their side this Saturday is a bit of recent history.

Torquay turned Boreham Wood over 4-0 in the FA Trophy less than two months ago in a performance their manager rightly called first class.

But Luke Garrard’s team can move into the play-offs with a good set of results this weekend.

He wants to set the record straight in the process in front of the nation.

“We owe them one,” he told the club’s YouTube channel after Tuesday’s goalless draw at Woking.

“They bashed us in the FA Trophy - and we have to be better prepared, it’s as simple as that.

“They have a great manager and great personnel. It’s live and we have to be at our very best.

“We need to put on a show. They are the challengers for the title and we have to be right on it, or they will put us away for sure.”

He added: “Seeing the results come in, we could have gone to sixth midweek win a win - but there’s no point looking at the should have, would have, could haves.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re all on it this weekend because we know how good Torquay United are.

“We’ve conceded clusters of goals in recent weeks, so a clean sheet away from home has to be looked at as a positive.

“We were slightly fortunate they didn’t put us to the sword in the second half but we can’t be unhappy with the point on Tuesday.

"But we need to be that bit sharper in certain areas on Saturday for sure."

PHOTOS: PINNACLE AND BOREHAM WOOD FC