Torquay United slump to shock FA Cup defeat

Bishops Cleeve 3 Torquay United 0

Torquay United were dumped out of the FA Cup on an afternoon that will go down in club history for all the wrong reasons.

The Gulls have been on the wrong end of cup upsets before, but not many of them have stung like this one.

Southern League Bishops Cleeve were simply better, and their celebrations at the final whistle were well deserved.

The Mitres said this was going to be the biggest game in their history, and they rose to the occasion impressively. Torquay, on the other hand, were poor from start to finish.

Striker Cody Cooke was a late withdrawal from the Torquay side, his partner having given birth to a new arrival to the family overnight, but it was a strong Gulls side that started the game on Bishops Cleeve’s artificial pitch.

United started well enough, but the home side were in front after 10 minutes when a mix-up between Matt Carson and Dean Moxey let in Ross Langworthy to score.

Both sides had good chances and Torquay finished the first half strongly, but the home side made it 2-0 soon after the break with a header by Langworthy.

Ethan Dunbar made it 3-0 with 20 minutes to go, and although Torquay boss Paul Wotton used all his available substitutes in an effort to get something from the game, his players were soundly beaten.