Torquay United 0 Birmingham City 0: Bruce seeks changes after Gulls give Birmingham good pecking

The Torquay goalkeeper Andy Marriott admitted he was astonished to have had such a quiet afternoon against his former club Birmingham on Saturday, a sentiment surely shared by the visitors' suffering fans.

The 35-year-old, who had a brief spell at St Andrew's in 2003, had little difficulty keeping a clean sheet as Steve Bruce's Premiership strugglers left Devon grateful to still be in the FA Cup.

"I was expecting a busier afternoon and we all thought we would come under more severe pressure," he said.

The tie will now be settled at St Andrew's on 17 January and Marriott, who played just once for the Blues at first-team level, admitted a replay should not have been necessary.

He said: "We are disappointed we haven't gone through. But equally we are proud of the performance. We showed a lot of grit and determination."

The replay will also be a financial boost for the Gulls manager, Leroy Rosenior, who is hoping to bring in new players to ensure the club does not drop into the Conference.

The chairman, Mike Bateson, said that he estimated it would be worth £250,000 to a club that has always operated on a shoestring budget and is available for sale.

He said: "It wasn't a big pay-day but we should get a bit more cash up at Birmingham. Hopefully TV might be interested as well.

"With our League position, the cup is not my personal priority. Off the top of my head, the replay will be worth £250,000 I would have thought, so that's quite useful. Better than being slapped round the head with a dead gull anyway."

Bruce also needs to pep up his side as soon as possible, and, having seen his players underperform in all departments, with Jiri Jarosik and Nicky Butt the worst offenders, he made it clear there would be changes against Charlton next week. "There will be four or five changes because we can't keep sitting back and watching that," he said.

New signing Chris Sutton, the free transfer capture from Celtic, should be fit enough to make his debut by then and Bruce also has another name to add to his squad list - his son, Alex.

The 21-year-old was handed a debut at right-back and did not look out of place. His father said: "I thought he did well. It is never easy in a game like that and it is not easy being the manager's son either, but I thought he did well enough."

Torquay United (4-4-2): Marriott; Lawless, Lockwood, Sharp, Lloyd; Phillips, Woods, Hewlett, Kuffour; Bedeau (Connell, 81), Hill. Substitutes not used: Bittner (gk), Hockley, Villis, Coleman.

Birmingham City (4-4-1-1): Maik Taylor; Bruce (Kilkenny, 68), Cunningham, Martin Taylor, Lazaridis; Pennant, Butt, Johnson, Gray; Jarosik (Pandiani, 45); Heskey. Substitutes not used: Vaesen (gk), Painter, Clemence.

Referee: K Stroud (Hampshire).

Man of the match: Maik Taylor.

Attendance: 5,974.