ON THIS DAY

Steve Harris

@steveharris84

WEST HAM (H) 1990

After the euphoria of reaching the Sherpa Van Trophy final in 1989, Cyril Knowles quit as Gulls’ manager in September 1989, following a high profile fall out with Chairman Lew Pope.

A bad feeling between the two men had existed for some time, which had been tempered by the revelations that Lew Pope received a £16,000 payment from the Wembley profits and Knowles had also been seen tearing up a piece of paper symbolising his contract.

Former Plymouth Argyle manager Dave Smith, who had led the Pilgrims to promotion from Division Three in the 1985-86 season before heading to Scotland to manage his hometown club Dundee, was named as his successor.

Smith’s arrival led to an improvement in results and the Gulls also enjoyed a fine FA Cup run, which saw them beat Sutton United and Basingstoke Town to earn them a home tie in the third round against West Ham United.

The Hammers are a club that the Gulls have had a number of strong links with. The most notable of these is former manager Frank O’Farrell – a member of the original West Ham Academy – who enticed the likes of John Bond, Ken Brown and Bill Kitchener to Plainmoor in the late 1960’s.

Given the connections between the two clubs, it was then perhaps no surprise that a future Gulls’ manager featured on the day for the Hammers in the form of second half substitute Leroy Rosenior.

At the time of this meeting, the Hammers had just been relegated from the ‘old’ First Division, and their extra class told in the first half.

Ian Bishop’s dangerous runs from midfield, allied with the attacking menace of right winger George Parris and the visitor’s strike pairing of Trevor Morley and Jimmy Quinn meant the Gulls’ rear guard of goalkeeper Kenny Veysey and their defensive quartet of Paul Holmes, Matt Elliott, Phil Lloyd and skipper John Uzzell had to be on the top of their game.

In the 29^th minute, Veysey plucked a close range header from Northern Ireland striker Quinn out of the air, which help to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

At the other end of the pitch, Gulls’ striker Dave Caldwell was enjoyed an often fierce battle with the Hammers’ centre back duo of former England defender Alvin Martin and Tony Gale.

It was a challenge on Caldwell by Martin that set Torquay up for their best chance of the first half, as Caldwell quickly took the resulting free-kick himself and picked out Robbie Taylor who – in turn – set up Uzzell for a effort from 12-yards that he pulled wide.

United probed and stretched the Hammers’ defence down the right hand side through Dean Edwards and Paul Smith and – following a frantic goal mouth scramble on 35 minutes – they forced four successive corners, but they were unable to break the deadlock.

In the second half, with the tie seemingly heading for a replay at Upton Park, Dave Smith made what would later prove to be a decisive substitution, which he described as being ‘tactical’, when he replaced Caldwell with the fresh legs and youthful exuberance of Hirons.

Within three minutes of his introduction, the change paid off for the Gulls as Paul Smith set off on a bursting run out of defence. He then produced a cross which found Taylor, whose miss hit shot landed straight into the path of Hirons, who fired home past Hammers’ keeper Phil Parkes with his first touch of the match.

With nine minutes to go, Hammers’ boss Lou Macari threw caution to the wind – as they attempted to get back on level terms, sending on Rosenior on as a substitute for Parris with nine minutes to go.

In the dying minutes of the tie, Rosenior headed a Steve Potts’ free-kick over the bar and Quinn forced a thrilling save from Veysey, as the Gulls held on to secure a famous win to reach the fourth round of the cup for the fifth time.

The result helped to ensurethat the Gulls were ‘forever bursting bubbles’- according to the headline which accompanied the report of the match in the Herald Express, a play on words of the song famously sung by the Hammers followers.

Before the game, Smith had asked Uzzell as team captain to gather the players in a circle and chant: ‘We can, we will’ (as detailed in his foreword for Torquay United: A History in 50 Matches) – and, of course, United did.

However, there was to be no repeat of their heroics against the Hammers in their fourth round tie away at Blackpool, which they lost 1-0.

Torquay: (4-4-2) Kenny Veysey; Paul Holmes, Matt Elliott, Phil Lloyd, John Uzzell; Paul Smith, John Matthews, Ian Weston, Robbie Taylor; Dean Edwards, Dave Caldwell (Paul Hirons 74)

Attendance: 5,342

OTHER MEMORIES

2014 – Hargreaves returns

Former captain Chris Hargreaves is appointed manager in succession to Alan Knill.

1900 – Start of the Century

The first match of the 20th Century, a home friendly with Paignton, is abandoned after 30 minutes.

BIRTHDAYS

Shaun McCoulsky (27) TUFC: 2008-10 – Appearances 36, Goals 5

Paul Cox (52) TUFC: Jun-Sep 15 – Played 10, Wins 2, Draws 4, Lost 4

LAST TIME

06/01/18 – Wrexham 4-0 TUFC – National League, Attendance 4,242

Chris Holroyd revitalised Wrexham’s promotion push with a hat-trick as they brushed aside bottom club Torquay.

The forward opened the scoring by heading home Marcus Kelly’s in-swinging corner and claimed his second following a dazzling Paul Rutherford run.

In between those goals Manny Smith had added Wrexham’s second, connecting with a powerful header after a free-kick. Holroyd added his third goal late on with a penalty after referee Karl Evans spotted a Torquay handball.

Sean McGinty came closest for Torquay but saw his shot saved brilliantly by Chris Dunn.