Darlo returned from their long trip to the English Riviera without a point and a long hard road ahead.

Quakers needed something from the game against one of the teams who could potentially be fellow strugglers, but it was obvious that Darlo need major surgery after their fifth successive defeat, and their worst ever at Plainmoor.

Matters weren't helped by injuries to Mark Bower and Andrew Milne, but as a team Darlo failed to get going for any length of time, and they were outplayed by their hosts, who scored five at home for the first time in a decade.

Torquay pulled Darlo apart with their pace, with Chris Zebroski and Jake Thomson proving quite a handful.

Darlo were pushed back early on. Danny Hall headed off the line from Chris Robertson, before Zebroski cleverly turned Bower and beat Nick Liversedge with a right foot shot. Bower injured his ankle whilst trying to stop the Torquay striker, and had to go off and be replaced by 17 year old Dan Burn, the 41st player to appear for Darlo this season.

Liversedge denied Zebroski with a good save after the striker broke clean through, but the keeper had no chance again on 31 minutes when Zebroski got away down the left and pulled the ball back for Wayne Carlisle to turn home.

Worse was to follow just before half time, when Quakers failed to deal with an inswinging corner, and Scott Rendell headed in.

There was a bit more fight about Darlo in the second half, but it was all over on 76 minutes when Carlisle hooked another corner against the bar, and Zebroski followed up and scored.

And the long journey home felt a few more miles further after 76 minutes when Torquay sub Elliot Benyon was given space to control a right wing cross, and volley past Liversedge.

Darlo manager Steve Staunton said afterwards; "Last week against Bradford we looked solid, but this week we were all over the place again."

"All the goals we conceded were bad goals, but it's been bad goals all season. We're not scoring goals at one end, and we're conceding bad ones at the other end.

"I don't know what I can do, but we'll be working hard in training again this week to try and put things right. There is a lack of confidence amongst the players.

"But they can't keep going from Monday to Friday doing things right in training, and not doing them properly on Saturdays."