James Beattie insists he won’t be underestimating Torquay United tomorrow despite their battle to climb out of the relegation zone.

The Reds head to Plainmoor in a patch of excellent away form that’s seen them win four times away from the Store First Stadium since the end of November.

The home side are second bottom of the League Two table ahead of kick off but having seen his own side occupy a bottom two spot earlier in the season Beattie knows his side can expect a tough test.

“It’s not a very nice situation to be in,” he explained. “But when your back’s up against the wall as ours was on Tuesday, sometimes that’s when people come to the fore.

“Maybe there are a few players in Torquay’s squad who have got hero status waiting for them.

“But it’s up to us to keep working hard and keep believing in what we’re doing because we’ve seen the benefits of trying to play the right way, and obviously having the option of going long, and making the right decisions at the right times. It works, and the lads have seen that first hand now.”

The trip to Plainmoor comes just days before another long haul away game at Portsmouth on Tuesday with the squad staying in the south after Saturday’s full time whistle blows.

The manager hopes that will help preparations but isn’t getting too carried away.

“I don’t know about expecting six points but we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure the best result is gained,” he said.

“The away form recently has been good, but it’s only been good because we do the right things. We start the game well, we get a foothold in the game and when the chances come we’ve been taking them.”

Stanley bounced back from last Friday’s defeat to Scunthorpe with a battling point against Bury in midweek and Beattie believes that stands them in good stead for this weekend.

“I think if you wanted an example of how are as a team, a squad and a club then that was shown on Tuesday night against Bury.

“To play an hour with 10 men against a team that came and got at us for the first half-hour when we had 11 sent out a message that we’re not going to go down quietly in any game, no matter what the situation is.

“We’ve been on a couple of disappointing results, not least the previous Friday when we were 2-0 up at half-time (and lost), but that went a major way to putting that to bed.

“They’ve got the bit between their teeth after Tuesday and it’s done morale no harm whatsoever having had a result like that.”