TORQUAY UNITED 1 BRAINTREE TOWN 5

Vanarama Conference Premier

Dan Sparkes was Braintree Town’s hat-trick hero as the Iron made their first visit to Torquay United’s Plainmoor ground a memorable one.

Sparkes scored twice before the break and once after, with Matt Paine and Ryan Peters also getting in on the act as a side who were in the Football League this time last year and were in the FA Trophy semi-finals this season were humbled on their own turf.

Braintree made just one change from the side that had started the 1-1 draw at Forest Green Rovers on Saturday with Sparkes coming in for Simeon Akinola in a straight swap as Akinola dropped to the bench.

And it proved to be a masterstroke by boss Alan Devonshire.

It had been a 275-mile trip for the Iron’s players to get from Braintree to the Gulls’ Plainmoor ground, however, there was no travel weariness in their legs as they made the perfect start.

Having seen off Torquay’s early advances, the Iron’s first attack ended with Sean Marks heading on to Sparkes and he fired into the back of the net from about ten yards out.

Play flowed from end to end after that, but Braintree continued to put the Gulls’ back line under pressure with the movement of Marks and Bernard Mensah causing particular problems.

They were looking to capitalise on a lack of confidence in the home side, who had not won in their previous five games and hadn’t scored in the four outings before the visit of the Iron.

In the 20th minute there was a golden opportunity to double the lead as a ball into box from Sparkes caused uncertainty in the home defence and Marks pounced but put his shot just wide.

They were ruing not making more of their dominance in the22nd minute, though, as the Gulls broke their goal drought from a free-kick.

The ball was played into the area and with Iron keeper Nick Hamann not able to collect, John Campbell drilled it into the goal.

Home tails were suddenly up and Courtney Richards had an effort from 25 yards but it went just over the bar and when Campbell fired in another effort, it took a block by Remy Clerima on the line to stop Torquay from going ahead.

It was then the hosts’ turn to rue not making more of chances as Braintree went back into the lead five minutes before the break.

Mensah played a lovely ball through to Sparkes and he unleashed a wonderful driven shot into the top left corner of the goal to give the visitors the advantage at the break.

Torquay came back out knowing they needed to get back on level terms and in the 48th minute Toby Ajala header from a corner thumped back off the crossbar and dropped into the arms of Hamann They were unable to find the breakthrough but the pace of Ajala continued to cause problems and a last-ditch saving tackle by Matt Paine was needed to stop Campbell from levelling the scores.

Once again, Torquay were left ruing missed chances in the 71st minute when Sparkes took the game away from them by completing his hat-trick with a third goal.

Akinola, who had replaced Mensah, raced forward, fed the ball in to Sparkes and he proved lethal in front of goal for a third time on the night with a thunderous shot from an acute angle.

And the hat-trick hero then became provider.

Akinola had just forced home keeper Martin Rice into a great save and then twisted and turned before feeding the ball to Sparkes, who laid it off to Paine on the edge of the box and he drilled the ball into the net.

Braintree weren’t finished, though, and after Ryan Peters replaced Sparkes, who went off to a standing ovation from the home fans, and the substitute latched on to Chez Isaac’s through ball before slotting in the Iron’s fifth of the night.