Two goals from striker Will Goodwin and one more from Dean Moxey saw Torquay United wrap up pre-season with a 3-1 win against Truro City. But an early red card for central defender Ali Omar - for a professional foul - certainly complicated things for the manager, with Torquay having to play 81 minutes with 10 men against the Southern League Premier Division South side.

Playing in Plymouth at Bolitho Park, ahead of Torquay's National League start at home against Oldham Athletic next Saturday, the Gulls took the lead when Stoke City loanee Goodwin headed a Tom Lapslie cross past James Hammon. Goodwin shot over with a cracking volley on 35 minutes. Corey Andrews was dragged down in the box for a penalty in the 39th minute and Moxey was accurate from 12 yards.

Brett McGavin was adjudged to have handled the ball in the Torquay area a minute before half time and Tyler Harvey scored for Truro. Mark Halstead made way for Rhys Lovett in the second half and the substitute goalkeeper made a brilliant save from a looping header by Harvey in the 56th minute. Truro were better in the second half but the third Torquay goal also came from the penalty spot when Olaf Koszela was brought down in the area late on and Goodwin beat Hammon from 12 yards.

Read More - Torquay United announce new signing ahead of final friendly

The inclusion of Lapslie will be a relief for the fans after the combative midfielder missed most of pre-season, but striker Aaron Jarvis was missing for the second match in a row, and midfielder Sean Donnellan picked up a knock during the game. Also missing but expected to be fit for next week were midfielders Kieron Evans and Ryan Hanson.

Johnson said: "We try to learn something from every game - we certainly learned something from the Plymouth game, and we have done all right since then; and you learn things about your players at non-league grounds, if you like. All non-league players are decent on their non-league grounds.

"We learned, if you are going to try and take positives out of it, we talked to them about playing with 10 men. We might be unlucky on Saturday and have to play with 10 men - and we now know what we are looking for them to do.

"They looked fit, the ones that were out there, we had a few niggly injuries again - and Sean took a heavy whack on his ankle. But we will assess that over the next couple of days and we will assess our injured lads."

Goal celebrations for Dean Moxey, Captain of Torquay United from the penalty spot during the pre season match between Truro City and Torquay United at Bolitho Park, Plymouth, Devon on Saturday 30th July 2022 - PHOTO: Dave Crawford/PPAUK

So with away wins against Buckland Athletic and Exmouth Town, a home draw against Newport County, that learning curve of that 5-0 home defeat by Plymouth Argyle, and the 1-0 win against Exeter - before Truro - what does Gary Johnson make of pre-season then?

"Ask me that question after the Oldham game," he said. "You have all sorts of pre-seasons; sometimes you have a lot of games, sometimes you have no games to get them fit because you are always worried about the injuries.

"There is no hard and fast rule. But we will have a strong 11 and I think that group is getting stronger and stronger. They know what I'm like, they know what pleases me, they know what doesn't please me. We want to see them enjoying themselves and we want to see them playing our game."