Despite the opposition being rock bottom of the league, manager Russ Wilcox is gearing up for yet another tough encounter when his side travels to Plainmoor on Saturday.
The Iron will be looking to make it 25 games unbeaten – continuing a newly establish club and Football League record – while also looking to complete the double over the side following a 3-1 victory at Glanford Park earlier in the season.Since the last fixture, the management has changed, with former Scunthorpe and Bury boss Alan Knill given the boot at the beginning of the year, with Chris Hargreaves now the man in charge of attempting to get the side out of trouble as their Football League status hangs in the balance.
“Torquay are at the wrong end of the table,” Wilcox told The Iron Player.
“They’re at the wrong end for a reason; they’ve not picked enough points up this season, it’s a simple fact.”
He added: “We’re going there full of confidence – not arrogance – but certainly confidence and belief that we can win that football match.”
Following a game against Wycombe in which the Chairboys were quite open in admitting they were happy with a point, Torquay’s circumstances indicate that a point wouldn’t be good enough for their survival hopes. In that respect, the match at Plainmoor is set to be a much more open affair, with both sides gunning for the three points.
“We certainly hope it will be a more open game than the one of the weekend,” he continued.
“I think it has to be. If they’re looking at what they need to do, they’ll certainly need three or four wins to have an opportunity to stay in the league. It is going to be a difficult game, we know that.
“They’re going to be right at it from the word go and we have to make sure we stay solid in the early part of the game, which we have done well away from home.
“Flipping the coin the other way, we can play on their nerves a little bit. There are edgy moments when you’re down at the bottom and nervy times playing at home in that position. I think they’ve only won four at home this season. We can play on that and take the game to them.”
He added: “I think that’s what we’ve tried to do in the previous 24 games.”
See much more from Russ Wilcox, Deon Burton, Michael Collins and Matt Sparrow on The Iron Player.