For the third Boxing Day in a row, Torquay United will face Yeovil Town in a National League fixture.
Remarkably, the current 2021-22 campaign is only the fourth season that the Gulls and the Glovers have played in the same division as each other.
The first time they crossed swords as divisional opponents came in the 2003-04 season, which was Yeovil's maiden campaign as a Football League club.
In their first meeting of the season in September 2003 at Huish Park, Torquay returned to Devon as 2-0 victors with goals from David Graham and Jo Kuffour.
When the two sides met again at Plainmoor later on that season in front of a near capacity crowd of 6,156 in April 2004. The Glovers raced into a two-goal lead with Darren Way and Jake Edwards finding the target before United skipper Craig Taylor pulled one back with a free-kick shortly before half-time. The Gulls drew level in the second half through Steve Woods who slotted home after seeing his 59th penalty saved by Steve Collis.
At the end of the campaign, the Gulls clinched automatic promotion for the first time in 38 years, while Yeovil finished eighth - narowly missing out on a Play-off spot.
The following 2004-05 season saw the pair were drawn together in the first round of the LDV Vans Trophy.
On that occasion, only two league places separated the two sides as the Gulls
lay 23rd in League One, after winning automatic promotion in the
previous 2003-04 campaign, and the Glovers were top of League Two.
A crowd of 1,610 poured into Plainmoor to see Torquay take the lead
through Jo Kuffour on 17 minutes before Latvian international Andrejs
Stolcers, who had represented his country in Euro 2004 during the close
season, levelled for the visitors three minutes before half-time.
Early in the second half, two goals from skipper Craig Taylor and Bayo
Akinfenwa, his first for the Gulls, in the 53rd and 59th minutes
respectively gave Torquay a 3-1 lead.
However, the Glovers, famed for claiming a number of higher division
scalps during their non-league days, weren’t to be undone as strikes
from Adrian Caceres and Bartosz Tarachulski saw Yeovil level at 3-3 and
sent the tie into extra time.
With four minutes remaining, and the game set to be heading for penalties, Akinfenwa scored a late winner for the Gulls.
Then, as part of his celebration, ran into the Family Stand behind the
goal and sat down in an empty seat, a decision which earned him a red
card as Torquay played out the final four minutes with ten men, but they
still hung on to their slender advantage to win.
Torquay would exit the competition in the next round following a 3-1
defeat at the hands of Northampton Town and at the end of the season.
The two sides would swap divisions at the end of the season as a 2-1
defeat at Colchester on the final day of the campaign saw the Gulls
relegated to League Two, whilst the Glovers clinched the League Two
title with a 3-0 victory over Lincoln City in their final fixture.
Two years later, both Torquay and Yeovil would experience further
contrasting fortunes as the Gulls lost their Football League status for
the first time in 80 years whereas the Glovers found themselves one game
away from a place in the Championship after reaching the League One
Play-Off final where they were beaten by Blackpool.
Their paths would cross again in the first round of the following
season’s FA Cup, the most recent encounter between the two sides, which
saw Torquay win 4-1 as Chris Todd and Danny Stevens both scored doubles
to cancel out Marcus Stewart’s opener for Yeovil.
In the 2012-13 season, by which time the Gulls had re-established themselves as a Football League club, they met again in the rebranded Johnstone's Paint Trophy at Plainmoor. They drew 2-2 with Ryan Jarvis netting a brace for United and James Hayter doing the same for the Glovers before Yeovil won 5-4 on penalties. At the end of the campaign, Gary Johnson, then in his second spell in charge at Huish Park, guided the Glovers to an unlikely promotion to the Championship, as they beat Brentford 2-1 in the League One Play-off final, while Torquay avoided relegation from League Two.
However, the subsequent 2013-14 season would see the Gulls relegated from the Football League for a second time. Nevertheless, they wouldn't face Yeovil in a competitive fixture until the 2019-20 campaign, which followed their National League South title triumph under Gary Johnson. The Glovers had gone into a sharp decline since their promotion to the Championship and experienced three relegations between 2014 and 2018 - which saw them return to non-league football after 16 years in the Football League.
At Huish Park on Boxing Day 2019, Yeovil recorded their biggest ever win over the Gulls with a thumping 6-2 win, which was followed by a 2-0 victory at Plainmoor on New Year's Day. The Glovers would finish the 2019-20 campaign in 4th place - which cemented their place in the Play-offs in a National League that was decided by PPG (Points per game) following its suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, where they were beaten by Barnet.
The following 2020-21 campaign saw the Gulls enact a modium of revenge on Yeovil, as hit the Glovers for six on Boxing Day 2020 at Plainmoor - in a game that saw them lead 4-0 at the half-time interval. It was Torquay's biggest ever win over the Glovers, but Yeovil secured a 2-1 win over United in their re-match at Huish Park on January 2, 2021. The Gulls would go on to reach the National League Play-off final, where they were beaten 4-3 on penalties by Hartlepool United after drawing 1-1 in normal time.
What will their 2021-22 encounters bring?
