Torquay United secured promotion to League Two after goals from Chris Hargreaves and Tim Sills gave The Gulls a 2-0 victory over Cambridge United in the Blue Square Premier play-off final at Wembley.
Hargreaves struck after 35 minutes with a fine effort and, following the dismissal of Cambridge defender Phil Bolland, Sills secured a return to The Football League for The Gulls when heading home on 75 minutes.
Torquay boss Paul Buckle leads the club back to the bottom rung of professional football following their relegation in 2007 but Cambridge must contemplate a second play-off final defeat in two years having only narrowly missed out on automatic promotion.
The defining feature of the opening 20 minutes was a running battle between Torquay’s Sills, sporting a protective mask, and Cambridge defender Wayne Hatswell.
Sills sparked the feud when catching Hatswell with a trailing arm after seven minutes, although replays showed that accusations of a deliberate elbow were wide of the mark. The Cambridge stopper then earned a booking when clattering into his rival on 21 minutes.
Personal scores settled, the game sprang into life when Lee Phillips drove a shot narrowly wide for Cambridge and Chris Robertson responded with an effort of his own as he controlled on the edge of the box and sent a half-volley flying off target.
Cambridge boss Gary Brabin, who saw his side miss out on automatic promotion by two points to Burton Albion, would have been leaping off his seat on 31 minutes when Robbie Willmott burst into the box but Gulls keeper Michael Poke produced a stunning diving stop to keep the scores level.
Just four minutes later it proved to be a critical moment as Torquay took the lead themselves. Wayne Carlisle appeared to be fouled when trying to latch onto an Elliot Benyon pass 20 yards from goal, but the ball rolled to Hargreaves, who rifled home a fierce effort.
Cambridge were hard done by after enjoying substantial possession but could have gone into half-time 2-0 down when only an excellent saving tackle from Daniel Gleeson prevented Danny Stevens from doubling his side’s lead.
Torquay assumed total control in the second period and were substantially aided in their efforts when Cambridge defender Bolland saw red after 70 minutes for collecting a second yellow card.
From the resulting free-kick, Sills sent an effort against the post and Chris Todd then hammered the rebound just inches over the bar.
But Sills only had to wait four minutes until his decisive contribution. Carlisle was the creator as he burst down the right and sent in a perfectly-flighted cross that was met with a thumping header from the Torquay man as he powered the ball past Bartlett.
That was to prove the killer blow for Cambridge who, with ten men, could not muster the response necessary to avoid another play-off final defeat. For Torquay, though, league football is the prize after they made up for the disappointment of losing the FA Trophy final at Wembley last season.