After seeing him upset the odds to overturn a four-goal deficit against Peterborough United, all Torquay United fans will be rooting for Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore when the Owls face Barnsley in the League One play-off final on Bank Holiday Monday.
Wednesday trailed Peterborough United 4-0 after the first leg of their semi-final at London Road, and some Owls fans were calling for his dismissal, and he also suffered further abuse online; the kind that the perpetrators wouldn't dare to say to his face if they met him in the street. Of course, in the second leg at Hillsborough Wednesday won 5-1 after extra time before winning 5-3 on penalties and the rest, as they say, is history.
However, those who know Moore's career well are no doubt aware that he is indeed no stranger to adversity. He took a similar route to Plainmoor to the one that Lee Sharpe followed in 1987, when he joined the Gulls as a 16-year old apprentice in 1990 - moving away from his West Midlands home in the process.
His professional debut soon followed in March 1992 against Birmingham City and he played a handful more games as United were relegated from the 'old' Third Division - now League One at the end of the 1991-92 campaign.
In the 1992-93 season, Moore was part of the Gulls side who avoided relegation from the Football League under Neil Warnock, with survival secured thanks to a 1-0 away win at Carlisle United in their penultimate league fixture. Moore's contribution was recognised by the fact he won the club's player of the season award for the campaign.
Then in the following 1993-94 season, United qualified for the play-offs with a sixth placed finish, where they faced Preston North End in the semi-finals. The Gulls overcame the Lilywhites 2-0 in the first leg at Plainmoor with Duane Darby and Moore finding the target and the challenge of overcoming Preston on their much maligned plastic pitch.
It was all going so well as United were drawing 1-1 - with Barbadian international Gregory Goodridge scoring for the Gulls - until Moore was involved in an off-the-ball scuffle with Preston midfielder Paul Raynor, in which Raynor went down clutching his face, even though replays have since shown Moore didn’t make contact with him.
To make matters worse, Preston won 4-1 on the night, and 4-3 on aggregate, with Raynor scoring the winning goal.
Nevertheless, Preston were beaten in the final at Wembley by a Wycombe Wanderers side managed by Martin O’Neill and remained in Division Three, and the Gulls secured a measure of revenge by completing the ‘double’ over them in the 1994-95 campaign.
Moore would leave Plainmoor in the summer of 1995 to move to Doncaster Rovers for a fee of £62,500, and would go on to enjoy a 650 game career with Bradford City, Portsmouth, West Bromwich Albion, Derby County, Barnsley and Burton Albion.
Once he hung up his boots, he then embarked on a career in coaching and management with West Brom, Doncaster and now Sheffield Wednesday.
It’s been quite a journey for him – and one that started at Plainmoor and the United faithful will be hoping that his Owls' side can do the business once more for him at Wembley.
