All about response from Torquay United in tonight's test at Worthing

Perhaps the biggest shock of last weekend wasn’t just Torquay United’s 4-2 defeat at bottom of the table Eastbourne Borough, but the fact that the Gulls were still second in the NL South after it.

Nearly everybody else dropped points too, but that’s not going to keep happening and Paul Wotton’s side has got to respond with a far more robust performance against Worthing (4th) at Woodside Road on Tuesday night.

United came from 0-2 down to win the corresponding game 3-2 in a breathless encounter at Plainmoor three months ago.

With leaders Dorking Wanderers now six points clear and heading for Eastbourne on Tuesday, the value of United registering a ‘double’ over Worthing can hardly be underestimated.

Wotton was personally stunned by the meekness of Saturday’s display, against a Borough side they had beaten 7-0 at home.

He’s admitted that his team is conceding too many goals – only one clean-sheet in 12 matches.

But first-choice centre-back Jordan Dyer won’t be back for three or four weeks (hamstring) and young Exeter City loanee Ed James’ debut turned into a difficult afternoon in Eastbourne’s wind and rain.

Recalling Ed Palmer must be one option, a broader reshuffle may be another.

Leading scorer Jordan Young was missed at Eastbourne after needing stitches in a foot wound against Maidenhead (1-1).

Young may need a fitness test, but with 13 games still to come after Worthing, Wotton is unlikely to gamble on such a key player.

When they kicked off at home to improving Slough Town at the weekend, Worthing fans must have been fearing the worst.

After the return of manager Adam Hinshelwood from York City in October, it had been a tale of feast and famine.

Eleven wins in 12 games, broken only by that loss at Plainmoor, were followed by a winless run of eight matches which produced only four points.

The Rebels did shake themselves up to beat Slough 4-1, but without a goal from Brad Dolaghan.

Dolaghan, 21, had returned to the club last summer after failing to break through at West Ham United, but home seems to be where his heart is.

Dolaghan has scored 21 goals in 30 games in all competitions so far.

Hinshelwood still has several of the players who made the Play-Offs under Chris Agutter last year, including Joel Colbran, Jake Spong and Joe Cook.

Attacking midfielder Teddy Jenks is proving a good acquisition from Forest Green Rovers, and few forwards looked more dangerous at Plainmoor than the powerful Razzaq Coleman.

One thing is pretty certain.

It was Hinshelwood who inspired Worthing’s play-out-from-the-back style during his first spell three years ago, and they show no signs of forsaking it now.

Other fixtures on Tuesday see Hornchurch (3rd) away to Dover, Ebbsfleet (5th) travel to Horsham, Weston-super-Mare (6th) in a local derby at relegation worriers Bath and in-form Chesham (7th) at home to under-new-ownership Dagenham.

Tuesday’s referee at Worthing is Matthew Norton from Hertfordshire.