Gulls maintain promotion charge

Torquay kept up their push for an automatic promotion place with their second away in win four days, 4-1 at struggling Burton.

The Gulls wasted no time in stamping their class on the game as Rene Howe set up Danny Stevens for a six-yard finish in the seventh minute. Burton had a spell of pressure which made have resulted in an equaliser but neither Jack Dyer nor Lionel Ainsworth could keep their shots on target. And the visitors made them pay dearly as the classy Eunan O'Kane and full-back Kevin Nicholson combined to set up close-range finish for skipper Lee Mansell - his fourth goal in three games. Burton temporarily found themselves in the contest with a lucky break in the 69th minute. Gulls keeper Robert Olejnik lost possession in a collision with team-mate Brian Saah, leaving Justin Richards to tap the ball into the empty net. It was Burton's first goal in more than nine hours of football, but the Gulls made sure of the points when Howe finished off a breakaway with a magnificent finish into the top corner from the angle of the box in the 82nd minute. Taiwo Atieno came off the bench to grab a fourth goal for the visitors three minutes from the end before Olejnik saved a Richards penalty in added time after Andy Corbett had been tripped by Saah.