George Burley was pleased with a professional display as Saints eased into the FA Cup fourth round.

A double from Grzegorz Rasiak secured a comfortable third round victory against the Football League's bottom side Torquay at Plainmoor.

Burley said: "I think when you come to grounds like this and the conditions are very tricky the first goal is so vital and we got it.

"We started brightly and their keeper made a couple of saves.

"Torquay came back after we got the first goal but I felt we'd won the match.

"The key in any cup competition is getting through and it's never easy.

"You can see the conditions, it wasn't ideal for passing the ball but both teams tried to do that.

"The FA Cup is always David and Goliath and people are looking for upsets. Thankfully it wasn't here."

Injury-hit Saints, who were without ten first team players for their second trip to Devon in six days, saw Chris Makin limp off with a hamstring strain which makes him doubtful for Saturday's visit of Burnley.

Central defender turned central midfielder Pele also to a knock to his knee, but it is not thought to be too bad.

The bonus, though, was seeing Darren Powell come through his first 90 minutes since April after being thrown straight into the team without so much as even a single reserve game.

"Darren played his first game since April," said Burley. "We had nine out and Claus Lundekvam having an operation meant I wanted to push Darren in.

"In the reserve league there is not many games and so it was great for him to come through the 90 minutes".

Saints' win at Plainmoor earnt them a £40,000 cash windfall from the FA's prize pot. They will bank a further £60,000 if they can win their fourth round tie, and will earn £150,000 if a fourth round tie is televised live.

Full story: See today's Daily Echo