In which we were played off the park by deft opponents in the first half; then we re-organised and bossed the second half but without finding a pinch of good fortune inside the penalty box.

We didn’t particularly deserve to lose, but then again Torquay were worth all three points for as impressively fluent and nimble display as we’ve seen by visitors to Hull for a good while. And though there was nothing in defeat to induce any sudden panic that we might after all yet again fall short this season, several individual performances were not up to scratch and we have, for sure, heaped a deal of pressure on our backs as we confront thoroughly awkward away fixtures on both the next two Saturdays.

Injuries to a batch of first-choice players forced us to field an unfamiliar line-up:

Burgess Walters
Elliott Green Hinds Marshall
Holt Delaney Joseph Thelwell
Myhill

And it was a moderately lively beginning, with both sides showing signs of adventure. A hopeful hoof from Joseph was controlled with first-time elegance by Elliott, whose clever cross towards Burgess was intercepted by a desperate defensive hoof that shovelled the ball high over the bar. Then Torquay, sporting a kit that shrieked West Brom, passed their way confidently through our defence to force a save from Myhill. Our turn next, as Elliott scuffs a shot tamely wide, and then Delaney’s fine block from an effort by Kuffour rescues Thelwell who has been exposed with disturbing ease down our right.

Quarter of an hour in, the quality is good and Torquay, led by a skilful front pair in Kuffour and Graham, are evidently no mugs. But it’s quickly clear they haven’t just come to put up a flashy opening and then generously subside to inevitable defeat. Myhill makes a stop from a free-kick look a bit flashier than necessary, to my taste at least, but moments later our keeper produces an undeniably superb save, one-handed from Kuffour who has all too cosily turned away from our defence into space before shooting. A few minutes later a defensive horror show in which Delaney is an unlikely principal culprit presents Myhill with another tough ask: he’s up to it, and valiantly deflects a shot away for a corner. Next up, another shot flies a yard or so over our crossbar, and a largely silent Circle crowd is witnessing the Tigs taking a gruesome pasting.

Hinds is palpably incapable of playing the tough-tackling midfielder role. He can’t even hold his position with consistency. Ian Ashbee is a limited player, but he knows the lower Division basics, and he was sorely missed yesterday. Thelwell doesn’t look fully fit to me, and I have taken a deep dislike to this fellow Marshall. I thought he was rotten at Carlisle and worse yesterday: if he reckons playing at 80% commitment is adequate as a loan player in the bottom Division then he’s not the sort of character we should be cluttering up our squad with.

We redressed the balance a little in the later stages of the half, assisted by the departure of the dynamic Kuffour to injury. An Elliott cross was headed away for a corner as Burgess lurked, and then a Walters header from a corner was safely pouched by tubby ex-Tiger Kevin Dearden in the Tork goal. Walters tested the side-netting with a neat turn and powerful shot from near the edge of the box.

But Torquay had unquestionably been the superior force and there was no denying the justice when they took the lead in stoppage time. Garbage goal, though. Joseph ushered their attack through, and Gritton graciously accepted the invitation, skipping gleefully round the exposed Myhill to stroke the ball into the net. 0-1. Half-time.

We’d been tepid, listless, ill-disciplined, and Mr Taylor presumably hurled these adjectives and other fruitier ones at his table-topping chumps during the half-time break. He did more than that too, he adjusted the team formation - radically.

Delaney was pushed forward into midfield, while Hinds went right-side. Thelwell moved into the centre to partner Joseph. Burgess was asked to carry a heavier workload on his own up front as we tried where possible to use Walters, on the right, and Elliott, on the left, to provide a wide front on which to attack. And though the Torks had a very fine chance early on, as the able Graham slipped a shot a couple of inches wide, we duly improved.

Green sets up Burgess: just over. A cross from the right, Elliott heads it back across the face of the goal where it is cleared by a retreating defender, only for the ball to be returned directly into the danger area where Delaney soars high above the defence but turns his header firmly into the Dearden gut.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Andy Holt booted Graham’s legs out from underneath him inside the box, and the Torquay players no more appealed for a penalty than Curtley Ambrose bothered to bawl “’owzat?” when he’d uprooted all three stumps with a 95 mph yorker. It was a cast-iron, nailed-on, no-arguments-there penno. Not given.

Hinds and the vulnerable Holt now came off, and France and Peat joined the fray. We’re well on top now, but struggling to do damage in the box. Ben Burgess has had a cracking season for us, but yesterday he had one of his occasional “what’s this donkey doing in our team?” days – nothing went right for him and he looked uncommonly morose from an early stage. He is a much better player with Allsop alongside him. Ben was substituted in favour of Jamie Forrester as we sought to wrestle a not-really-deserved point.

Peat headed a Torquay corner off the line before we re-asserted control in the final quarter of an hour. A constructive run by Green ended in a neat pass to Elliott who was able to round the keeper, only for a defender to block his narrowly-angled path to goal. Then Elliott headed just wide at the back post from a France cross. Our best chance of an equaliser looked to lie with Elliott, Green or Walters – in that order – but the fluency of our better performances in the course of this campaign was missing.

Mr Little was rightly criticised for being too reluctant to make changes when things were going awry. Mr Taylor operates at the other end of the spectrum. He does see himself as the arch tactician. But I doubt it’s sensible to expect too much versatility of players in this Division. Damien Delaney is an excellent (and still improving) left-sided centre back. We saw at Carlisle that it’s asking too much to throw him into midfield. Yet Mr Taylor tried it again second-half yesterday. It didn’t work. Is Thelwell really a centre-back? Not on this evidence. And especially not when short of full fitness. Keep it simple, o former England manager.

Mind you, former England manager or not, unappealing personality or not, Mr Taylor is entitled to expect more help from his team's home support than boos as the Tigs suffer defeat for the first time since before Christmas.

On 87 a Torquay shot crashed against the inside of Myhill’s post and though an offside flag was waved I think it was concerned with infringements after the ball bounced back into play – which is to say we were a couple of inches of woodwork from going two down. And, as we moved into 4 added minutes, first Thelwell and then Joseph tried to present opponents with gifts deep inside our own half. Gloomy stuff, and Joseph, after a sequence of classy displays over the last couple of months, has now had two bad Saturdays in a row.

Last chance? A Green free-kick is floated into the box and headed goalwards … scrambled clear off the line. Then a Forrester chip is destined for Elliott … but he can’t quite reach it. End.

We did enough to pinch a point. But that sort of summary is far short of what we’ve come to expect this season. Well, I don’t normally like to praise the opposition. It’s not my job. But Torquay are probably the English League’s least offensive club, so there’s no reason to withhold respect when it is due. They are in very good shape indeed.