 In his first season as manager, a young Torquay side made the Division Three play-offs and lost the semi final against his old club Preston North End.The game will be remembered for a wrong decision by the referee to send off the Torquay defender Darren Moore which gave Preston an advantage and they went on to score four times to win 4–1 and 4–3 over the two legs.After selling some of his key players from the play-off season the following season was to produce a mid-table position of safety.