United’s FA Youth Cup journey ends at Eastleigh
Torquay United’s Young Gulls bowed out of the FA Youth Cup on Monday evening as their spirited run in the competition came to an end at the First Round Proper stage.
Things started well enough at the Silverlake Stadium, as Kevin Wills’ side were gifted an early lead thanks to an unfortunate own goal from Spitfires’ Henry Muribu on seven minutes.
A 21st minute penalty saw Ethan Jones level things up for the hosts, and that was the way it stayed until the interval.
Once things got back underway, two goals in two second half minutes saw Barney Stone put Eastleigh in front, only for Toby Hard to square things up for Torquay in the 54th minute.
At that stage, all looked set for a tense finale, with both sides level-pegging going into the final minutes.
However, the dying stages belonged to the home side.
After Darnell Tarley broke yellow hearts with two minutes remaining to put his side 3-2 ahead, further salt was rubbed into those wounds in injury time, as Jones and Stone both notched their second goals of the evening, to give the scoreline a look that was somewhat harsh on Wills’ battling side.
Photo credit: Graham Scambler