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Peter Jackson must have been left cursing yesterday as Town missed a golden chance to make up some lost ground in League One yesterday.
Efe Sodje turned from hero to villain as he scored for Town but gifted Torquay their equalizer with a scuffed clearance.
Town have only won twice in their last 10 games and before Andy Booth was out, Junior Mendes was sent home hours before kick-off with a virus and Pawel Abbott failed a pre-game test and was also sent home with a mystery virus.

That left Jon McAliskey and Akpo Sodje as the strikeforce for Town against the Gulls but it was the same old story as Town cannot shake off the habit of surrendering leads and again it proved costly as it did against Bristol City at the Galpharm on Bank Holiday Monday. Some how outplayed Torquay pinched a point with their first shot on target at the wind-lashed Galpharm Stadium and there were doubts before the game that the match was going to go ahead after high winds had damaged a suite box.

The Gulls, automatic promotion winners last season but struggling in League One, did not fashion a shot until the 57th minute of a pretty much one-sided game that was dominated by the Terriers, but it was enough, once again to deny Town all three deserved points.
Midfielder Kevin Hill, who was playing behind Torquay striker Adeobayo Akinfenwa, was the man who stunned Town with a cracker after Efe Sodje had put Town in front from a Tony Carrs? corner on 24 minutes.

It was the Nigerian International defender Efe Sodje?s loose clearance when Bryan McGlinchey?s cross from the left was knocked in, Sodje scuffed the clearance and Kevin Hill was allowed the chance on the edge of the penalty area.

It was sweetly struck first-time shot that rocketed into the roof on the net and left Town keeper Paul Rachubka with no chance, Once again it was Town camp comedy band box defending which is bloody awful to watch being a fan.
It meant Town paid once again for the loss of two points for the lack of fire power they showed and the chance of moving nearer to the play-off zone is slowly and surely slipping away now.

Akpo Sodje was brought in to partner Jon McAliskey up front, McAliskey was unlucky with the second half header that hit the inside of the post and was scrambled clear and though the younger Sodje showed some good touches from time to time, he was guilty of wasting a golden chance and another that could be played in the silver category.

Moments after Chris Brandon had a shot tipped over by Gulls keeper Olafur Gottskalksson, who was a solid shot stopper but was shaky at handling crosses, Efe Sodje headed in his first goal of the season.
Tony Carrs? corner was clipped in the from the left, it was curling and the wind helped it, it managed to elude Gottskalksson and Sodje was there at the far post to knock the ball in from a few yards out with an easy header.

Minutes later Akpo Sodje should have made the Gulls pay, when picked out from a good cross by McAliskey, Sodje somehow directed the header wide when it seemed easier to score.
He followed by getting a touch when set up by a cross from Andy Holdsworth but the Torquay keeper managed to block.
After a dull Christmas period for the Terriers, more agony was pilled on Town?s lowest crowd of the season so far when Hill levelled matters on 57 minutes.

Hill should have done better when another schoolboy defending by Town. The ball was pumped long from the back by Torquay, Akinfenwa chased the ball but Clarke had it covered and hoped the ball would bounce into the penalty area for Rachubka to catch, it didn?t and it looked like Akinfenwa would get infront of Clarke and Rachubka but Rachubka headed the ball out from the edge of the area and the ball just happened to land at the feet of Kevin Hill, He tried to chip the ball over into the net but totally got his wires crossed and Rachubka managed to clear up.

Town pounded Torquay but their defence held firm and Efe Sodje had a header clip the bar.
The there was a sickener for Town fans when Nat Brown fired wide in the last minute and Brandon forced Gottskalksson into a good save from close range.

Town are going to have to show ?bounce-back-ability? to beat Barnsley next Saturday if they want to still mane tame a challenge for the play-offs and silence the boo-boys and the armchair fans that write into the Examiner calling for Jackson to be sacked.
New faces are a top priority for Town.

Teams:

Town: Rachubka, Brown, E Sodje, Holdsworth, Worthington, Carrs, Schofield, A Sodje (Fowler 66), McAliskey,
Subs Not Used: Senior, Ahmed, McCombe, Lloyd

Torquay: Gottskalksson, Villis (Phillips 45), Taylor, Woods, McGlinchey, Lopes (Story 78), Robinson, Gosling (Hockley 53), Hill, Woodman, Akinfenwa
Subs Not Used: Pulis, Skinner.

Attendance: 9,194

Ref: D Drysdale (Lincolnshire)