Crawley boss Steve Evans described his side's progression to the last 16 of the FA Cup as "fantastic" - but admitted his team had expected to win at Torquay today.

Matt Tubbs grabbed the only goal of the game six minutes before half-time at Plainmoor and the Blue Square premier side could have had more, but Gulls goalkeeper Scott Bevan saved second-half penalties from Tubbs and Craig McAllister.

Both sides finished with ten men after Chris Zebroski was shown a second yellow card for handball - the incident which resulted in Crawley's first penalty - and Dean Howell was dismissed for the visitors seven minutes from the end.

The win added Torquay to the scalps of Swindon and Derby which Crawley have already claimed and Evans said: "We expected to come here and win. We said it and we have done it.

"Arguably if we go and practise penalties tomorrow we might score the next one.

"I think if the first one goes in then I think we may have won here rather comfortably this afternoon.

"It's fantastic for the owners that we are through to the last 16 for the first time.

"Obviously by progressing in the FA Cup we might encounter some fixture congestion ahead - and now we might do some transfer business before the window closes that wasn't planned.

"I think you have to give us a lot of credit for the way we played today."

Torquay boss Paul Buckle said: "We are disappointed, it's never easy when you lose a game.

"It was a big game today. It was a big game for both sides. We weren't at our best, I'll hold my hands up and say that although it was an unbelievable game with all the incidents in the game, especially the second half.

"We have had lots of good days at Plainmoor but today is not a good day for us. We weren't at our best.''