Keep swinging, keep fighting and keep going is the Torquay United approach

“We’re in a bit of a fight,” Torquay United manager Paul Wotton has admitted as the injury-hit Gulls prepare to calm a few nerves with long-awaited back-to-back home games against promotion-chasing Chelmsford City on Saturday and relegation worriers Farnborough next Tuesday.

When United won 3-2 at Dover Athletic on February 3, they were top of the NLS table on a run of seven unbeaten games (W5 D2) with trips to struggling Chippenham Town and Eastbourne Borough among their next few fixtures.

But one point from Chippenham, Maidenhead, Eastbourne and Worthing, plus another spate of injuries to key players, has severely dented those dreams of the title.

Now, with 13 games to go (8H 5A), can United (3rd) steady the proverbial ship and ride out the latest storm?

And, after six away matches in the last seven, can the Plainmoor faithful and that solid home record (W10 D3 L2) help them to do it?

“We’ve had a bad fortnight. We haven’t had a bad season,” stresses Wotton.

“We’re up against it a little bit. But you have to keep swinging and keep going.”

It’s at centre-back where the biggest recent gaps have appeared.

Jordan Dyer, Sam Dreyer and Ed James are all injured (James has returned to Exeter City with his loan effectively over).

Sonny Blu Lo-Everton and Louis Dennis both sustained cuts to their legs in the 3-1 midweek defeat at Worthing, but will hopefully play against Chelmsford.

Callum Dolan is still on the way back from knee surgery, and there remains a doubt over Jordan Young - Wotton reported on Thursday that his leading scorer still hadn’t pulled a boot onto his stitched-up left foot.

“Dolan, Dyer, Dreyer, Young – they’d all walk into any other team in this division, and probably the division above,” Wotton pointed out.

No wonder, after the departures of Jadyn Crosbie and Denzel Akyeampong presumably freed up a few bob on the wage bill, he’s been busy on the phone trying to track down a reasonably experienced central defender.

Tenth isn’t quite where Chelmsford hoped to be – United won there 2-0 in November – after throwing a fair bit of money at their squad last summer.

But one defeat in eight matches now smacks of a team hitting form at the right time.

They’ve been without forwards Jack Barham and Dominic Odusanya since early December, but manager Angelo Harrop – he’s the son of ex-Gulls Academy head and general manager Geoff Harrop – still has some good attackers around.

They include Ricky Holmes, Kane Crichlow, former United favourite Tom Lapslie and much-travelled striker Lyle Taylor, 35, who’s scored 13 league goals and 21 in all competitions.

The standout fixture elsewhere is Hornchurch (4th) v Worthing (2nd), but leaders Dorking against Chesham might not be a given.

Chesham have taken 25 points out of 33 to move up to eighth place and, if they’re for real, they have the upcoming games to do more damage – Worthing (A), Weston-super-Mare (H) and Torquay (A).

Ebbsfleet (5th) also entertain Farnborough and Maidenhead (7th), who have crept quietly into Play-Off contention, go to Chippenham.

Not in league action this weekend are Horsham or Weston-super-Mare (6th), because Horsham host Southend United in the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy.

Saturday’s referee at Plainmoor is Tom Ellsmore from Woking.