Torquay United Dominates AFC Stoneham 6-1 in FA Cup

Torquay United brushed aside AFC Stoneham 6-1 in the FA Cup second qualifying round, and Jimmy Ball liked just about everything he saw – especially the attitude.

Facing opponents two divisions below them in the Isthmian League South Central, the Gulls never loosened their grip on the tie. They were in front inside six minutes, Callum Morton striking early to settle any nerves and underline the gulf in levels.

Torquay dictated the tempo, moved the ball with authority and pinned Stoneham back. The pressure told again on 36 minutes when Beaumont-Clark stepped up from distance and thumped in a long-range effort to make it 2-0.

Stoneham’s response was instant. Straight from the restart, Tom Annetts pounced to pull one back and briefly jolt the visitors. Any hint of jeopardy vanished before half-time.

Sonny-Blu Lo-Everton took charge of the contest in the closing minutes of the first half. First, he drilled in from the edge of the box on 43 minutes to restore the two-goal cushion. Then, deep into stoppage time, he finished smartly from a corner routine to send Torquay into the break 4-1 up and cruising.

The midfielder wasn’t done. Midway through the second half, Lo-Everton completed his hat-trick, capping a dominant personal display and killing off any lingering Stoneham hopes. Cody Cooke then added a sixth in stoppage time, rounding off a ruthless attacking performance.

Ball, speaking to BBC Radio Devon, highlighted the mindset behind the scoreline.

“Our attitude was good, mentality was good throughout, that's all I wanted really,” he said. He stressed that if his players approached the tie “properly” and in a “professional, humble manner”, the result would follow.

The message inside the dressing room was clear: standards do not drop, regardless of opposition or competition.

“We just made the players aware that of our standards, regardless of who we're playing, when we're playing, what competition we're playing in, we need to come off the pitch proud of ourselves and proud of our output and proud of our performance,” Ball explained.

Torquay’s attacking play backed up those words. They shifted the ball quickly, found solutions in tight spaces and repeatedly unpicked a deep-lying Stoneham defence.

“Attacking-wise we looked good,” Ball said, recalling his warning from the start of the season about how difficult it can be to break down a side that “sits in there very deep and has lots of bodies in there” to navigate.

They found the answers this time. Convincingly.