Striking images capture Torquay's greatest moments

A photographer who went behind the scenes during some of Torquay United's glory days has had his images showcased in a national football fanzine.

Captured by Marcus Davies, from Devon, the pictures focus on moments in time, rather than the match action, and his shots include the club's centenary season in 1999 and promotion to football's third tier in 2004.

They have been published in the magazine Lower Block, which specialises in football sub-culture, terrace fashion and communities.

Among the images is the nail-biting moment the club beat Southend United 2-1 to reach the old Second Division - it shows the raw emotion of fans who Davies observed "looked like they were having heart attacks".

Just before the start of Torquay United's Centenary season in 1999, the young amateur photographer approached the club's then-chairman Mike Bateson suggesting he should document their special year.

Davies said: "I emailed him [Bateson] and he just said, 'Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, just meet me at the first game of the season'.

"He gave me a ticket, a go anywhere pass for the season."

"So what I did was I set about trying to take photographs of all aspects of it, not just the games.

"I was trying to cover the state of the club in that period."

Some of the most striking images in the photographic tribute came from the match away at Southend on the final day of the season in 2004.

To be automatically promoted, Torquay would need a better result against Southend than Huddersfield could manage away at Cheltenham.

For the Torquay fans it was a rollercoaster of an afternoon.

With minutes to go in their game, Cheltenham had drawn 1-all with Huddersfield which meant a win for Torquay would see them promoted. Torquay needed to hold on to their 2-1 lead.

"So I turned round and I took this photograph of basically the Torquay faithful looking kind of like they might simultaneously have heart attacks in the moment of 'are they going to hang on?'," Davies said.

Football journalist Dave Thomas, of the Torbay Weekly, was covering the game for the Herald Express newspaper on that day.

"There was an awful lot happening on the pitch, but he [Davies] always had this instinct for turning round and seeing something else," Thomas said.

"So he, in a moment of his inspiration, realised that possibly, subconsciously, that the picture of the day might well be actually looking this way and not on the pitch.

"He turned round and got a series of photographs which to this day almost tell you more about the club, the fans, what happened that day, than anything that happened on the green stuff."

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