Torquay United 0 Oldham Athletic 0 - Gulls start National League with a draw

Torquay United certainly worked hard for it so a point from the first game of the National League is not to be sniffed at. The goalless draw against Oldham Athletic at Plainmoor was a fair result with both teams slugging it out in the blazing hot sun, neither of them helped by some questionable refereeing that we must hope hasn't set the tone for National League officials again this season.

Concerning for manager Gary Johnson will be the injuries picked up by striker Corie Andrews and midfielder Kieron Evans, while Ali Omar also had to leave the pitch following a clash of heads late on. Torquay then ended up playing with 10 men - but Oldham were already one player short after a second half red card for two yellows.

After the long hot summer of pre-season, Johnson unsurprisingly opted for the 3-5-2 formation he had been developing in the friendlies. This meant there were eight full debuts in the Gulls starting 11 with central defender Ross Marshall, wing-backs Dylan Crowe and Ben Wyatt, midfielders Ryan Hanson, Brett McGavin and Evans, and strikers Andrews and Will Goodwin all making their first appearances.

Those who were at Plainmoor last year playing this first game were goalkeeper Mark Halstead, and central defenders Omar and Dean Moxey, who was wearing the captain's armband. There was no Tom Lapslie, Aaron Jarvis or Shaun Donnellan on the bench, so their injuries kept them out. Dan Martin's injury was always going to see him miss the start of the season.

But there was a new player among the substitutes, Ashley Nathaniel-George, who was sitting alongside Asa Hall, Olaf Koszela, Ollie Tomlison and Rhys Lovett, and he would become the ninth debutant of the day. There was quite an atmosphere at kick off - with Oldham