Connor Lemonheigh-Evans and his return to Ashton Gate in the playoff final

Connor Lemonheigh-Evans hoping his Torquay side can return to the Football league on the ground of his former club Bristol City.

The former Wales under-21 international has been a regular for National League side Torquay this season. He’ll be hoping to help them back to the Football League this Sunday, after a seven-year absence.

The Gulls will face another recent Football League side in Hartlepool United in the final, but it won’t be in the usual venue where it’s been in each of the last nine outings.

This makes it a peculiar afternoon for Lemonheigh-Evans as the final is being played at Ashton Gate, where he was for eight years, due to Wembley being used for EURO 2020.

“It’ll be a bit weird going back, obviously I spent a lot of time there (Ashton Gate). I think I signed there when I was 15 and left when I was 23. It would’ve been nice if it was at Wembley but apparently there’s a major tournament going on.

But is it fate that draws the former Bristol City youngster back to BS3.

“Maybe, who knows. We’ll see. You’ll have to give me a callback Sunday and I’ll give you the answer then. We’ll just see what happens. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.

Another individual with ties to the Robins is current Torquay manager Gary Johnson, who spent five years as a manager at the Gate. His son Lee also managed there recently, being dismissed from the role in July 2020.

Lemonheigh-Evans spoke highly of his current manager and has a lot to credit to the 65 year old, who was formerly manager of Cheltenham Town, Yeovil Town and Cambridge United.

“He’s great the gaffer is. I’ll be grateful for everything he’s done for me so far in my career, especially this season. I think I’ve played in every game so far this season.

“He’s good to work with, he’s got his style of play that he wants to play, and everyone enjoys it. He likes to score goals and that’s the way the boys want to play as well.”

As he mentioned, Lemonheigh-Evans has played in all 43 of Torquay’s National League games this season, attributing 10 goals which helped his side to a second placed finish in the fifth tier.

He was awarded the Torquay United player of the year earlier this month but had heaps of praise for his partners in crime down on the Devonshire coast.

“It’s always nice to win an individual award but to be fair to the boys any of them could’ve won it. They’ve been brilliant this year. But like you said, it’s always nice for the fans to recognize how well you’ve been doing.

“They’ve been buying their streams and making sure they don’t miss any games, so fair play to them. It was nice to win the award, but it’ll be even nicer if we can get that win on Sunday.”

The men in yellow spent large parts of the National League campaign, but faltered after a few injuries, seeing them pipped to the post by Sutton United.

But Lemonheigh-Evans and Torquay are refusing to go quietly and are now just one win away from the ultimate goal of promotion.

“The boys have got unbelievable character. We were top of the league for a long time, but we got hit with a few injuries that we struggled with.

“I think were 14 unbeaten now and it’ll mean everything to win on Sunday. We’ve got a great chance to get ourselves back into the football league and we’ll do everything we can to achieve that.”

Lemonheigh-Evans was born Llanelli and played in the Wales youth setups growing up, making three appearances for the under-21’s.

The 24 year old played alongside a lot of the players with Wales at the current European Championships and said it’s nice to see them excel on the big stage.

“It’s always a privilege to play for your country so it was always good. We played against some top players and I played with some top players as well.

“I get on with Joe Morrell quite well, I still speak to him. We used to room together and we spent a lot of time together at Bristol City.

“Rhys (Norrington-Davies) is still doing well, Dan James I was with all the way up, Harry Wilson, people like that. Its always nice to see lads you’ve played with do well.”

(Featured Image: Bailey8891)