Gulls humbled at Bishops Cleeve

Torquay United suffered a painful 3-0 FA Cup defeat at Southern League Bishops Cleeve to fall at the first hurdle in the world’s oldest competition.

On a day when everything that could go wrong did go wrong, United fell behind to an early goal from Ross Langworthy, and never really recovered.

A second from Langworthy immediately after the restart turned the molehill into a mountain and it was game over when Ethan Dunbear made it 3-0 with 20 minutes remaining.

After going down to a late loss at Welling in the league a week previous, United boss Paul Wotton freshened up his side with the introduction of Omar Mussa and Brad Ash, who quickly posed a threat with a header back across goal from a Finn Tonks cross but the home side scrambled clear.

United were looking comfortable when they were given an almighty shock by the determined hosts, a long ball over the top was nodded back towards goal by Dean Moxey but it lacked the power to reach goalkeeper James Hamon, allowing Langworthy room to pounce for the opening goal.

Bishops Cleeve took that moment of joy as a moment of huge inspiration, Dunbear firing a free-kick narrowly off target before Jay Malshanskyi was given too much room behind the United defence, mercifully shooting wide from a great position.

The same Bishop then forced Hamon into a decent save and Malshanskyi still had time to blaze over the bar after again escaping the clutches of a beleaguered United defence.

The Gulls came out with renewed purpose after the break but found that bubble unceremoniously burst by a second from Langworthy, heading home from close range after a superb incisive counter by the home side.

Wotton rolled the dice with the introduction of Jadyn Crosbie, Finely Craske and Roddy Collins, and United enjoyed their best spell of a traumatic afternoon, Craske forcing a decent save from home custodian Lewis Clayton with a powerful header from Matt Carson’s corner.

Just as the Gulls began to build some semblance of momentum, they were hit by a decisive suckerpunch, Dunbear latching on to another ball over the top to bear down on Hamon and fire a tidy finish into the gaping net.

Dunbear almost made it worse with a close effort in the final minutes but there was no hiding from an extremely difficult afternoon for Torquay United.

Bishops Cleeve: 1 Lewis Clayton, 3 Will Turner, 4 Joe Turley (16 Steve Davies 75), 5 Josh Nelmes, 6 Matt Liddiard, 8 Ben McLean, 9 Ethan Dunbear (20 Bryan Stalley 82), 10 Ross Langworthy (c) (19 Edward Scott 90+3), 11 Jay Malshanskyj, 12 Isaac Pearce (7 Aaron Evans-Harriott 61), 18 Matt Bower. Subs Not Used: 13 Charles Lovell (GK), 14 Noah Parker, 15 Joe Selman.

United: 1 James Hamon, 5 Sam Dreyer, 7 Lirak Hasani, 9 Ben Seymour (15 Jadyn Crosbie 53), 10 Omar Mussa, 11 Brad Ash (23 Ollie Tomlinson 83), 14 Matt Carson, 16 Ed Palmer, 17 Finn Tonks, 18 Oscar Threlkeld (c) (8 Roddy Collins 57), 21 Dean Moxey (2 Finley Craske 53).

Yellow Cards: Tonks 18