The date August 25th 2012 will go down as the day Torquay United recorded their first win of the 2012-13 campaign, against Rochdale.
It will also be remembered as the date Niall Thompson and Nathan Craig made their debuts for the Gulls.
Niall, a first year pro at 18, started the game and played 75 minutes, whilst Nathan came off the bench for the last ten minutes as Torquay beat their East Lancashire opponents 4-2.
When Torquay axed their youth scheme in 2004, a system that had unearthed the likes of Mark Loram, Robbie Herrera, Lee Sharpe, Darren Moore, Garry Monk and Mike Williamson, it seemed as though the Plainmoor talent well had run dry.
However, the newly relaunched youth set up, which came into being in 2007, is starting to bear fruit following Niall's promising showing of in his first league outing.
The youngster had previously been used as a substitute against Championship side Leicester City in the Capital One Cup by Martin Ling, who was quick to praise his young charge.
"Niall Thompson had one of those debuts you dream about, it could have gone either way for him, but it went the right way and he was outstanding:" said Ling.
"I've not seen many better in terms of debuts, the lad has got to move onto the next level and keep on going.
"He's got something that we all dream about and that's scintillating pace."
Niall, who hails from Derby, is one of four youth products in the Gulls squad alongwith Kirtys MacKenzie, Ashley Yeoman and Saul Halpin.
Also making his first appearance in a Torquay United shirt in the Gulls' victory over Rochdale was Nathan Craig when he came on as a substitute for Billy Bodin.
Whereas Niall had progressed through the youth ranks at Plainmoor, Nathan's journey to South Devon was similar to that of the recently departed Eunan O'Kane, who made the switch from Torquay to AFC Bournemouth in the summer for a fee of £175,000.
Like Eunan before him, Nathan had been on the books of Premiership side Everton and had received international recognition with Wales at youth and Under-21 level with Wales, just as Eunan had been capped up Northern Ireland, prior to his switch to the Republic.
Nathan's teammates in Brian Flynn's young Dragons side included Darcy Blake, Neil Taylor and Andy King, all of whom have since earned full international honours, and despite being the youngest player in the side, at 19, he was handed the responsibility of taking all of the team's set pieces.
In the 2010-11 season, he was also handed his debut for the Toffees by David Moyes in a Europa League game against BATE Borisov.
However, at the end of the campaign, Nathan was released by Everton and on leaving Goodison Park, he encountered a number of the issues which had faced Eunan O'Kane had also encountered as many lower league clubs, now operating on tighter budgets in the recession, weren't prepared to give the time to nurture and develop his talents.
He was then forced to return to roots and signed for his hometown club, Lock Stock Welsh Alliance side, Caernarfon Town.
Luckily for Nathan, Martin Ling was alerted to his talents, in a similar way that Paul Buckle was tipped of about the talents of Eunan O'Kane after he returned home to Ireland to play for Coleraine, and he was offered a six-month deal until the end of the 2011-12 campaign.
During this time, he significantly expressed Ling enough to be offered a two-year deal, which will keep him at Plainmoor until the end of the 2013-2014 season.
Although both Niall Thompson and Nathan Craig may have taken different routes to join Torquay United, the pair both made their debuts on the same day and their time at Plainmoor could yet play a crucial role in helping to kickstart their careers in the game.
