Torquay United F.C. - History - Two Years in The Conference National

Two Years in The Conference National

Torquay United started their first season in the Conference National well beating Aldershot Town 3–0 and went unbeaten until losing 3–1 away to Burton Albion in September, this defeat spurred them on though and they won 5 straight games on the trot leading the table by the end of October. Their form in the league dipped through November and December but a 4–1 victory over rivals Yeovil Town in the FA Cup, live on the BBC, gave the club a massive boost. They couldn't take advantage of this and dropped numerous points over the Christmas period including a 4–3 defeat to arch rivals Exeter City. Torquay got their revenge beating Exeter City 1–0 a week later however by the end of January, Torquay were second, three points behind Aldershot Town. An unbeaten February followed but Torquay were now 5 points off Aldershot Town. Away from the league, Torquay were progressing well in the FA Trophy and had reached the semi-finals by the end of the month. March started horribly with Torquay losing their first three league games of the month including a 2–1 defeat at home to leaders Aldershot Town, this caused Torquay to fall 14 points off the top and drop to fourth. On Saturday 15 March 2008 Torquay reached Wembley for the first time in ten years with a 2–1 aggregate win over York City in the semi finals of the FA Trophy.

After finishing 3rd in the Conference National Torquay had to play their fiercest rivals Exeter City to determine who would reach the play off final to play either Cambridge United or Burton Albion. Torquay had to play Exeter City away first with the return leg at Plainmoor. Torquay started the 1st leg poorly and were fortunate when Tim Sills scored just before half-time but Exeter City levelled when Wayne Carlisle equalized and just when the game looked like a draw Chris Zebroski pounced on a poor clearance by Paul Jones to make the final score 2–1 to Torquay. Torquay knew going into the 2nd leg that if they scored one goal Exeter City would need two goals to force extra time and when Kevin Hill scored in the second half in his record equalling appearance the match seemed all over but Exeter City then scored four goals in the space of 18 minutes to dump Torquay out of the play offs to ensure they had to have another season in the non league.

On 10 May 2008, Torquay lost 1–0 in the FA Trophy final to Ebbsfleet United at Wembley, with former Gulls striker Chris McPhee scoring the winner just before half-time.

Torquay started their second season in the Conference National as bad as the first one had finished, picking up only 5 points from their opening 7 games. The following 3 months however were to be the best in years, as Torquay remained unbeaten from 7 September 2009 to 2 December 2009, setting a 17 game unbeaten record. They reached the FA Cup 3rd round with a 2–0 win over Oxford United at the end of November. The start of 2009 was shaky but on 3 January 2009 Torquay beat Blackpool 1–0 at home in the FA Cup 3rd round to reach the 4th round of the competition for the first time in 19 years where they faced Coventry City. They struggled for goals throughout January and against Coventry City with a sell out crowd of 6,018 they lost a game which they should have won; losing dramatically late on to an 87th minute goal by Elliot Ward. At the end of the month they lost to Southport 3–0 in the FA Trophy 3rd round.

Torquay United were promoted back to the Football League on 17 May 2009 after a 2–0 victory over Cambridge United in the Conference National play off final at Wembley.

With goals from club captain Chris Hargreaves and leading scorer Tim Sills Torquay triumphed 2–0 over Cambridge in an entertaining match watched by over 35,000 fans. Lee Phillips played for Cambridge that day, and set a record (for a non-league player) of losing at Wembley 3 times in 3 years with 3 different clubs, In 2006/07 season he lost 2–1 to Morecambe in the Play-Off Final versus Exeter City, even after putting Exeter 1–0 ahead in the game, then in the 2007/08 season he lost in the FA Trophy final to Ebbsfleet with Torquay United 1–0 thanks to a goal from former Gull, Chris McPhee and then in the 2008/09 season he lost to Torquay United in the Blue Square Premier Play-Off Final.