TORQUAY UNITED boss Kevin Nicholson reckons the club’s long trips to away games are taking their toll on his squad.
The Gulls are down to the bare bones but still managed to pull off an impressive 1-0 win against Dagenham & Redbridge at Plainmoor on Tuesday night.
The victory, their first win in five, no doubt came as a relief to boss Nicholson and the Gulls supporters but Torquay could only name four substitutes.
Ben Gerring saw red for the second time this season at Gateshead on Saturday and now faces a four match ban while Dan Sparkes and Aman Verma have fitness concerns.
The Devon outfit have plenty of travelling to do this season – their closest trip is 125-miles to Forest Green – and Nicholson thinks the long journeys could be having an impact on his players’ condition.
“For those boys that aren’t used to it, it can take its toll on the backs and the hamstrings,” he said.
“Unfortunately it happened to Verma on Saturday after the trip to Gateshead, it’s happened to Sparkesy on Tuesday and we’ve got Brett Williams suspended so I might be getting up front at this rate!
“You become hardened to it, you just get used to it and it becomes one of those things.
“But when it’s fresh like it is now for the boys, they’re a young group and they just need to make sure they do every possible thing they can to physically recover form those trips.”
With striker Williams also set to be out on Saturday after picking up his fifth booking of the season against Dagenham, Nicholson says he will be searching for new recruits ahead of this weekend’s game against Chester.
“We’re a small squad to start with and right now we are bare bones,” he added. “Wednesday was going to be a day off, but it isn’t any more for me because I’m going to have to put some work in to find somebody.”
