FA Cup: Torquay United boss Gary Johnson hails his Gulls side after fightback against Derby County

Gary Johnson says his Torquay side's comeback in the FA Cup draw with League One side Derby shows the commitment his players have to the club.

The Gulls, who are bottom of the National League, went 2-0 down early in the second half at Plainmoor.

But they came back to draw 2-2 thanks to Will Goodwin's added-time equaliser.

"It was a fantastic cup tie - you like to be involved in those types of ties, where at 2-0 everybody's thinking 'game over'," Johnson told BBC Radio Devon.

"But it's never over with our lads, and whether it's the FA Cup or a league game we try and push them and push them and gradually they're learning what 100% effort means.

"It's not always 100% quality because of the level we're at, but you've got to give 100% effort, and if you do then you can put a League One team under pressure for 45 minutes like we did in the second half."

Gary Johnson's side have lost 10 of their 20 games in all competitions this season

Derby were reduced to 10 men early in the second period after Eiran Cashin was sent off for a foul on Goodwin, with Asa Hall converting the resulting penalty.

Torquay pressurised their opponents, but it was not until the fifth minute of added time that Goodwin turned home Aaron Jarvis' effort to secure a replay at Pride Park.

"I don't really remember much of it, I remember the ball coming into me and thinking 'I've got to just put it towards the goal' and it's gone in and I just ran off," Goodwin told BBC Radio Devon.

"I can't remember much else about what happened."

Having enjoyed a morale-boosting 6-1 win over Aldershot last Tuesday, and now a dramatic draw against a League One side, Johnson hopes his team are starting to turn around the poor form that saw them win just two of their first 16 games in the league.

"We had more subs than we've had this season so far, we've got injuries that have just started coming back," said the 67-year-old.

"We've still got a lot of injuries, but we've hung on in there, we had the game against Aldershot, the 6-1 win, and we knew we had that in us and it just had to come out so everyone could see it and feel it.

"That took us into this game and I think it will take us into the rest of the season."