After winning promotion against Blackpool in the Division Four play-off final in 1991, Torquay United's visit to Division Three for the first time since the 1971-72 campaign only lasted for one season.
However, the formation of the Premier League meant that the Gulls were relegated from Division Three to Division Three.
Promotion winning manager John Impey was dismissed early on in the 1991-92 season and Wes Saunders and John Uzzell were placed in caretaker charge by chairman Mike Bateson before former Southampton and Yugoslavia defender Ivan Golac was appointed as manager.
Sadly Golac was unable to halt their decline and left in the summer of 1992 and was replaced by youth team coach Paul Compton.
Unfortunately for Compton, who was embarking on his first job in management, it proved to be a uphill struggle as Wes Saunders and Sean Joyce - key survivors from their Wembley success in 1991 - both succumbed to injuries which would end their respective careers.
Also player-assistant manager Justin Fashanu frustrated as much as he entertained and as United entered 1993 a second successive relegation looked more than a possibility.
Increasingly desperate times called for desperate measures, as Bateson brought in Warnock as a 'football consultant' before appointing him as caretaker manager in the following March.
Less than a year earlier Warnock had been managing Notts County in the top flight, and he was now in charge of a team whose status as a Football League club was under serious threat.
Nevertheless, Warnock, who brought in Don O'Riordan, Lee Barrow and Gary Chapman from the Magpies, was able to stop the rot as United went into their penultimate away game against Carlisle United needing a win to avoid relegation to the GM Vauxhall Conference.
The Gulls had not won away against the Cumbrians since the 1963-64 season and they needed to better Halifax Town’s result in their relegation battle with Gillingham 320 miles away at the Priestfield Stadium to stand any chance of retaining their league status.
Carlisle started the second half the stronger, as Gabbiadini and fellow forward George Oghani proved to be a constant threat to the Gulls’ defence following the restart.
Torquay
gradually began to turn the tables on them and they were rewarded for their
efforts when in the 65th minute a cross from Don O’Riordan picked
out left-back Tom Kelly, whose header was tipped onto the bar by O’Hanlon.
Darby
reacted quickest to the rebound, but his first effort was blocked. However, his
second effort hit his chest before bobbling across the goal-line from two-yards
– the Gulls had made their breakthrough. United also had chances to score a second as John Muir had a shot turned around the post by O’Hanlon and Gary Chapman blazed over after being set up by O’Riordan.
However,
as it turned out, they didn’t require another goal as Darby’s 13th
of the campaign proved to be enough and Warnock’s rescue mission was complete.
He has also visited Plainmoor on numerous occasions in pre-season friendlies with Huddersfield, Bury, Sheffield United, QPR and Leeds and has also loaned a number of players to the Gulls, including Rhys Healey, who scored six goals in seven matches to finish the 2017-18 season as United's top scorer.
A full account of this encounter and a number of other memorable matches in the club's history can be found in Torquay United: A History in 50 Matches, which is still available at: https://torquayunitedahistoryin50.bigcartel.com/
