A brace from Grezgorz Rasiak steered Southampton to a 2-0 victory over Torquay United at Plainmoor in the third round of the FA Cup.

The Pole struck with a goal in each half to ensure that the Saints progressed to the next round at Torquay's expense. However, the Gulls did manage to create a number of good chances and were unlucky not to find their efforts rewarded with a goal.

Lubos Kubik made a number of changes to the side that faced Bristol Rovers. Kevin Hill replaced Stephen Reed at left back, new loan signing from Cardiff City Nick McKoy made his debut and Chris McPhee filled in up front in place of the suspended Jamie Ward.

Gulls keeper Martin Horsell was called into action in the first minute when Southampton striker David McGoldrick burst through and fired a shot at goal which tipped behind for a corner by Horsell.

Torquay then had a good spell of possession and came close to taking the lead through Adam Murray who shot wide from the edge of the penalty area.

A few minutes later, Saints keeper Kelvin Davis came out of his area to clear the ball but he was beaten to it by Lee Thorpe who then burst down the left flank and crossed the ball into the box before Davis managed to recover his ground. The cross proved to be too high for the onrushing Chris McPhee and Lee Mansell.

The Gulls gave a good account of themselves in the first half and put Southampton under a lot of pressure but frustratingly couldn't find the back of the net.

Martin Horsell was called upon to make a number of top quality saves to keep efforts from David McGoldrick and Bradley Wright-Phillips at bay.

The Saints broke the deadlock on 43 minutes when Martin Horsell tried to keep a mis-kick from Steve Woods from going behind for a corner. Unfortunately for the Torquay keeper, he knocked the ball into the path of Grezgorz Rasiak and the Polish striker punished the mistake by firing the ball into the back of the net to give Southampton the lead.

In the second half, the Gulls looked to try and get back on level terms. Lee Mansell had their first real chance when he fired over from the edge of the penalty area.

They adopted a more attacking approach to the game as new loan signing Jamal Easter replaced Matt Hockley to make his debut for in the 53rd minute.

Four minutes later Torquay pressure forced Davis headed the ball away on the edge of his area. The ball was then driven back into the area by Chris McPhee and Davis reacted well to save to his left.

Lee Thorpe came close to scoring for the Gulls after Lee Mansell picked him out with a precision pass, but his shot failed to trouble Kelvin Davis.

In the 72^nd minute, Torquay won a corner that was taken by Adam Murray. The former Derby midfielder managed to pick out Gulls skipper Steve Woods whose rising header saw the ball land on the roof of the net.

A minute later the Saints doubled their advantage when a cross from substitute Mario Licka picked out an unmarked Raisak who headed home to complete his brace and to double Southampton's advantage.

This prompted Lubos Kubik into making his third change of the match as Carl Motteram came on for Kevin Hill. Unfortunately for the Gulls, they couldn't pull a goal back despite pressing Southampton right up to the final whistle, which saw the Saints march in to the next round.

Man of the Match: Adam Murray