A spectacular overhead kick from Lee Bradbury in the 55th minute sealed United’s win in their first home game of the season against relegated Torquay. Bradbury’s goal followed a cross from Stuart Gray on the left wing, and gave the Us the points that their overall play had deserved. After a nervy start, United dominated the first half, but the Gulls keeper Andy Marriott had little to do, with Bradbury and Chris Hackett both missing decent chances. United also bossed most of the second half, with the Torquay defence rarely able to cope with Hackett’s pace and decent crossing. It was only in the last ten minutes, when play became a bit ragged and United started to lose their shape, did Torquay ever look like they might scrape a point from the game. The visitors offered nothing up front, with new signing Carl Priso unavailable due to delays with his paperwork, Tony Bedeau suspended, and Leon Constantine forced off injured after just seven minutes. Still, United did well, and should have scored more as Hackett ripped the visitors’ defence apart.

Brian Talbot picked the same starting eleven that began at Grimsby on Saturday, and will have been pleased with the partnerships that are starting to develop among the side. Jon Ashton and Chris Willmott look solid in central defence, and new skipper Chris Hargreaves and Barry Quinn provide the steel in central midfield. Lee Mansell and Hackett linked up well on the right, and there were glimpses of an understanding between Matt Robinson and Gray on the left, which should improve once Gray reaches match fitness. It is up front where there still look to be problems, with Steve Basham anonymous throughout much of the first half, and then spurning an excellent chance created by Hackett at the start of the second half, although Bradbury was on fire and looks a different player to last season’s disappointment. Craig Davies celebrated his call-up to the Wales under-21 squad by replacing Basham after 67 minutes, and his pace and willingness to chase the ball immediately caused problems for the away side. Davies forced Marriott into one rushed clearance that fell nicely to Bradbury, but the keeper made amends with a great save from Bradders’ excellent effort.

The referee was Gary Lewis, who started off okay, but gradually lost the plot as the game wore on, not helped by his assistants. He showed a yellow card to Davies for a late challenge. The attendance was 4,820. We hope to publish a match report tomorrow.

There was only one other fourth division match tonight, with Boston and Shrewsbury drawing 1-1. After just two games, Leyton Orient are the only club in the division with a 100% record, while Bury and Mark Wright’s Peterborough have yet to pick up a point.