Impressive Torquay United match a record that has lasted 43 years

It took some grasping to learn that Torquay United’s 1-0 win over Ebbsfleet United marked the first time in 43 years that the Gulls had won their first five league matches of the season.

For a start, it sure is a long time since United, with player-manager Bruce Rioch in midfield and Steve Cooper and Jackie Gallagher up front, dispatched Stockport County (3-0), Aldershot Town (4-2), Darlington (1-0), Hartlepool United (3-2) and Northampton Town (3-1) in the first couple of months of 1982-1983.

The club has been promoted four times and reached ten Play-Offs since, and not once in those campaigns did they start with maximum points from the opening five games.

In 1982-83 United remained unbeaten (W9 D2) in the league at Plainmoor until mid-January, when York City beat them 3-1 here.

They fell away badly after that, perhaps derailed by a run to the Fourth Round of the FA Cup before Sheffield Wednesday knocked them out in a 3-2 thriller at Plainmoor.

Many times in their history, different Torquay sides have turned Plainmoor into a proverbial ‘fortress’.

Eric Webber’s best team went through the entire 1956-57 season unbeaten at home (W19 D4 L0) before losing the old Third Division South title to Alf Ramsey’s Ipswich Town on goal-average.

The ‘Swinging Sixties’ featured several flying home starts under Webber and Frank O’Farrell.

The best was probably in 1967-68 when O’Farrell’s side, trying to take the club into what’s now the Championship for the first time, didn’t lose at Plainmoor until February 24 (W10 D4), but without winning the first five.

They finished fourth.

Mike Green’s entertaining team of 1979-80, a favourite of many older supporters, included Portsmouth and eventual champions Huddersfield Town among their victims as they were unbeaten at Plainmoor until February 23 (W11 D3).

And only a 1-1 draw with Scunthorpe interrupted a run of six home wins to start the 1990-91 season, which ended with promotion against Blackpool at Wembley.

It’s pretty frustrating now that Paul Wotton’s United will have to wait until at least October 11, maybe longer, before they can try and make it six in a row.

Because of their FA Cup exit at AFC Totton, the Gulls sit out this weekend’s Third Qualifying Round. Dagenham & Redbridge are away to Spalding United in the Cup on Saturday.

If the Daggers, who are due here on Oct 11, get past Spalding, they’ll be in the Fourth Qualifying Round that day, which will leave Torquay without a home game, and important revenue, until Tuesday, October 21 and a visit from Chippenham Town.

Whether a Cup win at Totton might still have been more valuable than that league victory over Ebbsfleet is something I’ll leave entirely up to you!