Background The
2020–21 season was overshadowed by the
coronavirus pandemic which had forced the cancellation of the preceding
2019–20 campaign in March 2020. The vast majority of fixtures were played
behind closed doors to avoid transmission of COVID-19. As COVID-19 restrictions were relaxing, fans were allowed to return to stadiums at a reduced capacity. On 17 May 2021,
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that stadium capacities would be limited to 25% to allow
social distancing for the return of supporters. The normal capacity of
Ashton Gate is 27,000 meaning that both clubs were allocated approximately 3,100 tickets each. In contrast to recent years where the final was contested at Wembley Stadium, the venue of Ashton Gate was selected to avoid clashes with UEFA Euro 2020 matches. Torquay, who were managed by
Gary Johnson, were in first place for the majority of the season. The Gulls went to the top of the league in October 2020 before losing top spot in March 2021. Before the play-off semi-final, the Gulls were on an unbeaten run of 13 matches. Torquay had previously won one
National League play-off final, by winning 2–0 against
Cambridge United in
2009. Torquay were looking to return to the
Football League for the first time since their relegation in
2014. Since this relegation, Torquay had mostly struggled in non-League and were relegated to the
National League South in 2018. The Gulls returned to the fifth tier as champions at the first attempt and then finished in 14th place in
2019–20. Hartlepool, who were managed by
Dave Challinor, guaranteed their play-off spot with a 3–1 win at
Aldershot Town on 15 May 2021. After an unbeaten run of 16 games between February and May, Hartlepool had an erratic end to the season by losing three of their final five fixtures to finish in fourth place. Since the last time Hartlepool experienced promotion in
2007, they had been relegated twice and only finished in the top half twice. Hartlepool were looking to return to the Football League which they joined in 1921 before being relegated from
League Two in 2017. Prior to the match, Hartlepool had never been promoted via the play-offs in any division and had lost their only previous play-off final in
2005. In the matches between the two clubs in the regular season, both teams won their away games. In October 2020, Torquay defeated Hartlepool 5–0 at
Victoria Park, live on
BT Sport. However, Hartlepool picked up three points by winning 1–0 at
Plainmoor in March 2021. Hartlepool's top scorer going into the final was Rhys Oates with 14 goals in the regular season before he scored an additional three goals during the play-off campaign. Torquay's top scorer was midfielder Asa Hall with 12 league goals. Before the match, Hartlepool were regarded as marginal favourites to win the Final by the
bookmakers. The match was broadcast live on
BT Sport 1 with coverage starting at 13:00.
First half The match kicked off at 14:00. Eight minutes into the match, Torquay seemed to have taken the lead through
Kyle Cameron, however, Pools goalkeeper Brad James was deemed to have been impeded. The decision to disallow the goal after a foul on Hartlepool's goalkeeper was a controversial one and was disputed by Torquay. Subsequently, Pools' top goalscorer, Oates – was a catalyst, by driving forward and troubling
Lucas Covolan with a low shot that proved awkward for the goalkeeper. Armstrong almost scored when connecting with
Gavan Holohan's effort, but the Gulls managed to clear only for the
Salford loanee to come close again with a header that Covolan managed to save. In the 36th minute, Armstrong did open the scoring for Pools, collecting Oates' rebound effort and hitting a shot off the crossbar. In the 43rd minute, both sets of fans joined in a round of applause in memory of Hartlepool fan Danny Shurmer who had died in the previous week at the age of 43. Just before half time, Torquay nearly conceded a second after Oates had found himself unmarked from a corner, his headed effort was pushed over by the goalkeeper and the half ended with Pools leading 1–0.
Extra-time Waters had two efforts blocked as Torquay dominated the early stages of the first period of extra time.
Jake Andrews of Torquay was stretchered off with an injury which allowed a previously deflated Hartlepool to regain some momentum. Pools had a penalty appeal turned down in the first half and pushed for a winner via
Danny Elliott in the second half of extra time. Nevertheless, both sides had to settle for a penalty shootout to decide the winner. In the resulting penalty shootout, both sides missed their first two penalties. All subsequent penalties were converted, forcing the shootout into sudden death. Club captain
Ryan Donaldson converted his penalty to make it 5–4 to Hartlepool before Matt Buse took his penalty. His effort was saved onto the bar by James, marking Hartlepool's promotion to the Football League. Dave Challinor said: "It feels amazing, absolutely amazing. You come into these play-off scenarios knowing that it could be a bit of a lottery and I suppose that game was the ultimate lottery. When our best two penalty-takers miss and their best two penalty-takers miss you start questioning what's going on a little bit. But I'm massively delighted and made up for the players. This is a group of lads who back in June when we came back were trialists, were lads who'd been discarded from other clubs, and we spoke about giving them a platform to perform. The group now has a chance of staying together because our scenario as a football club is massively different between being a National League club and Football League club. There's been a lift of positivity around the football club, stuff off the field is looking good, and being in the Football League will only aid that process." The team celebrated the promotion back to the Football League with their fans through an open-top bus tour of
Hartlepool on 25 June 2021. In the following
2021–22 season, Torquay were led to an eleventh placed finish in the
National League under Gary Johnson, four places and eight points below the play-off positions. In
2021–22, Hartlepool finished in seventeenth place, sixteen points clear of the relegation zone. Simultaneously, Pools managed to maintain two good cup runs. They reached a joint record fourth round of the
FA Cup after defeating
Championship side
Blackpool before losing 2–0 to
Premier League side
Crystal Palace. Hartlepool also reached the semi-final of the
2021–22 EFL Trophy for the first time before losing to
Rotherham United on penalties. In November 2021, Hartlepool's manager Dave Challinor decided to join National League side Stockport County despite having signed a three-year contract in September 2021. At the end of the
2022–23 season, Hartlepool were relegated back to the National League after two seasons in the Football League. Torquay were also relegated in the
2022–23 season, returning to the National League South. ==References==