A lacklustre Blues side were, somewhat worryingly, outclassed by the League’s third worst side at Plainmoor.
Torquay looked by far the more dangerous side, especially after dominating the second half, and were unlucky to only end the game with a replay to show for their efforts.
Blues created seldom few chances, whilst the Gulls struck the woodwork and had a goal unluckily ruled out.
Torquay thought they had gone ahead in the seventh minute as Tony Bedeau struck, but the goal was ruled out for a challenge on Maik Taylor as he rose to collect the cross.
Blues then proceeded to stamp their authority on the game for the remainder of the half, but failed to take their chances – Jermaine Pennant seeing a shot deflected wide, whilst Emile Heskey fired over from six yards following a corner.
That was to be our good half – as per usual, Blues did not put in a good performance in both halves – and Torquay emerged from the break with confidence, and immediately went on the attack.
Taylor saved well from Bedeau following a quick break, but worse was to come for the Blues keeper.
Steve Woods hit Taylor’s crossbar with a stinging 25-yard effort, and then Alex Lawless forced his way through the Blues defence, forcing Taylor to dive at the full-back’s feet.
Torquay continued to dominate, and had a penalty appeal turned down after Nicky Butt appeared to haul down Gulls striker Kevin Hill, but all appeals were waved away by the referee. Taylor was forced into another good save to deny substitute Alan Connell, sortly after Julian Gray missed a good chance at the other end.
Steve Bruce admitted that Blues were lucky to escape with a replay – likely to be played a week on Tuesday – saying:
‘I have got to be honest: we had a bit of Lady Luck on our side today. Especially in the second half, we just didn’t perform at all. We are lucky that we are still in with a shout.
‘The players are relieved – and so they should be. We nearly had one of those horrible afternoons where you get a shock and an embarrassment.
‘We will take them back to St Andrews and maybe we didn’t deserve to but that’s the beauty of the FA Cup. It does this to you, especially at small grounds where the pitch is not the best.’
Bruce also promised multiple changes for next Saturday’s trip to The Valley to face Charlton:
‘We had a couple of chances but we don’t look like the threat we should do at the top end of the pitch. It has been glaringly obvious all season and today was no different.
‘There will be four or five changes for next next week because we can’t just can’t keep sitting back and watch that. I can understand the frustration of the people who travelled down here today because I felt that with them.’
The poor performance will no doubt be a knock to a Blues side recently displaying signs of regaining its confidence after a poor run. Things will need to pick up quickly if we are to avoid relegation.