While the Pilgrims soar, the Gulls plummet

The contrast in current fortunes could hardly be any greater at Devon clubs Plymouth Argyle and Torquay United.

While the Pilgrims of Plymouth are soaring into a position of relative mid-table safety in the Sky Bet Championship, their first campaign in the second tier for 13 years, the Gulls of Torquay are languishing in football depths rarely experienced in their history.

The weekend demonstrated two clubs following a very different path, and yet it was just 12 seasons ago that Torquay inflicted a league debut over Argyle.

Now, they are separated by four divisions in the football pyramid and while the Greens of Plymouth secured an impressive 1-0 victory at Swansea City, neatly setting them up for an FA Cup replay with Leeds United, the Yellows of Torquay suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat at home to part-time St Albans City, prompting angry protests from disgruntled supporters at Plainmoor.

For Argyle, the win at Swansea marked a milestone in their campaign, as it was a first victory on the road in the Championship and another goal for the hugely impressive Morgan Whittaker, who was the subject of a transfer window bid from Italian giants Lazio.

Argyle got their breakthrough on 18 minutes and a delightful corner routine saw the ball squared to Whittaker just inside the area and he swept a confident finish into the bottom corner. The Pilgrims had to withstand heavy pressure after the break but, apart from one glorious save by Conor Hazard, the defence held firm.

The story at Plainmoor was very different, and very painful.

St Albans arrived on a strong run of form and Torquay were hampered by more injury woes, leaving United manager Gary Johnson with just four subs on the bench, two of them untried teenagers.

Shaun Jeffers breached the home defence inside the opening ten minutes and when he added a second, plus a goal from Giorgio Rasulo, before half-time, the crowd had turned toxic.

Torquay stuttered through the second half and were punished again by a second from Rasulo, with fans gathering to vent their frustration outside the main entrance at full time.