Five former Magpies were in the matchday squads, but of those only left back Kevin Nicholson will be celebrating this evening, with Danny Crow, Daryl McMahon, Dan Gleeson and Andy Parkinson all tasting defeat with Cambridge. The U's started brightly, with wingers Courtney Pitt and Robbie Willmott using the full width of the Wembley pitch and stretching Torquay, and Cambridge seemed the likeliest to open the scoring in the first half hour, however the opening goal came on 35 minutes against the run of play. A neat move saw the ball played inside by Wayne Carlisle into the path of Chris Hargreaves, and the 37 year-old swept the ball into the top corner past Adam Bartlett from the edge of the box to give the Gulls the lead going into half time.
The second half progressed in much the same way, with centre halves Chris Todd and Chris Robertson winning everything in the air and knocking back everything Cambridge could throw at them. The closest Cambridge came to getting an equaliser was when former Notts man Dan Gleeson smashed the ball across the six yard box, and a deflection took the ball onto the outside of the post. After Michael Poke saved smartly at the feat of Scott Rendell, Torquay broke and a sweeping crossfield ball set Elliot Benyon away. The former Bristol City forward got away from Phil Bolland, who hacked down the pacy striker, and with Bolland already having been booked for fouling Danny Stevens, the ref had no choice but to give him his marching orders. To compound Cambridge's misery, five minutes later an excellent cross by Wayne Carlisle was headed past Bartlett by Torquay's top scorer Tim Sills to seal a return to League Two for Torquay United.