BRIGHTLINGSEA Regent’s upcoming FA Cup showdown against non-league giants Torquay United is bound to stir up memories for Colchester United followers.

The U’s and the Gulls met in the Third Division play-off final at Wembley Stadium in May 1998.

David Gregory’s penalty midway through the first half – awarded for a handball - secured a 1-0 victory for Colchester, much to the delight of their fans among the 19,486 crowd.

His spot-kick went in via the post and meant the north Essex side moved out of English football’s bottom division for the first time in 22 years.

The game took place on a Friday night, having been brought forward to accommodate an England international against Saudi Arabia on the Saturday.

Colchester had eliminated Barnet in the play-off semi-finals – losing 1-0 but then winning the second leg 3-1, therefore booking their place at Wembley courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate win – while the Gulls had comfortably seen off Scarborough 7-2.

The U’s team in the final was Carl Emberson, Joe Dunne, Simon Betts, Aaron Skelton, David Greene, David Gregory, Richard Wilkins, Paul Buckle, Steve Forbes, Mark Sale and Neil Gregory.

Tony Lock replaced Neil Gregory while Karl Duguid came on for Skelton.

Paul Abrahams was an unused substitute.

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Torquay left-back Paul Gibbs had previously made more than 50 appearances for Colchester while U’s duo Sale and Neil Gregory were also up against their former side, having spent time at Plainmoor.

Buckle made more than 70 appearances for the Devon side in the mid-1990s and later became Gulls manager, guiding them back into the Football League in 2009.

Moving forward 20 years, Torquay now play their football in National League South – where they currently sit 12th – and will head to the Taydal Stadium on October 6 on the back of a 7-0 thrashing of Hampshire minnows Lymington Town in the second qualifying round on Saturday.

Next weekend’s meeting means there will be a well-known face in the opposition dug-out.

Torquay are managed by Gary Johnson – the former Cambridge United, Kettering Town, Yeovil Town (two spells), Peterborough United, Northampton Town and Cheltenham Town boss – who was appointed on September 13.

Johnson, whose son, Lee, is in charge of Bristol City, also has experience of international management with Latvia.

In terms of current-day players, there are a couple of strong links between Torquay and Colchester.

Former U’s defender Ryan Dickson, who made 35 appearances for the U’s in 2013-14, is now at Plainmoor while Colchester full-back Aaron Barnes is a former Gulls loanee.

He spent time there during the end of his time with Charlton Athletic.

After signing for the U’s in January, he was then sent back to see out the rest of the season at Plainmoor.

One other link between the clubs is Geoff Harrop.

Harrop, Colchester’s former assistant director of youth football, is now chief executive at Torquay.

His son, the former U’s youth-teamer and Stanway Rovers manager Angelo, was at Tuesday’s replay against Egham Town, which Brightlingsea won 2-1.