A stunning first half hat-trick from Moses Emmanuel set Bromley on their way to a 7-3 away win at Torquay United.

There was no sign of what was to come when James Hurst headed home from Dan Butler’s long free-kick to give managerless Torquay a fifth minute lead.

However, parity was quickly restored three minutes later by Emmanuel, who cut in from the left to curl a shot beyond the reach of home keeper Daniel Lavercombe.

Ali Fuseini went close to putting the visitors ahead before Emmanuel did just that on 13 minutes after the Torquay defence failed to clear their lines.

Anthony Cook shaved the post with a free-kick, Rob Swaine saw a header saved before Cook stung the keeper’s hands with a firm volley.

Malachi Lavelle-Moore should have levelled, but mis-kicked in front of a gaping goal on 26 minutes.

And that miss was to prove costly as Emmanuel completed his hat-trick just four minutes later. 

Good work by Fuseini in the area led to his shot being blocked, but Bromley’s leading scorer picked up the loose ball to fire home from six yards.

Tyrone Marsh reduced the arrears in first half stoppage time, coming in on the blind side to get on the end of a Hurst cross and side-step Chris Kettings to convert into an empty net.

Ben May did not reappear after the interval and with no recognised forwards on the bench, Jack Holland moved up front to allow Paul Rodgers to come in at right-back.

The move proved successful as Holland restored Bromley’s two-goal advantage in the 58th minute, tapping home from Rodgers’ cross. 

Shortly afterwards, Holland was denied a second by a good stop from Lavercombe.

Louis Dennis got on the scoresheet when he was upended in the 69th minute by Exodus Geohaghon on the edge of the area and was quickly on his feet to drill the resulting free-kick home.

It was 6-2 minutes later as Cook was brought down inside the box by Bayan Fenwick and he got up to send the home keeper the wrong way with the spot-kick.

Fuseini blasted home a seventh in the 80th minute from 25 yards following good work by the impressive Holland.

Torquay pulled one back with five minutes remaining, Marsh scoring second goal of the afternoon when he broke into the area and slotted past Kettings.

But this was to be Bromley’s day as they enjoyed their largest away victory since 2010, and inflicted Torquay’s heaviest home defeat for almost 20 years, as the Ravens moved up into ninth in the Conference table.

Bromley: Kettings, Holland, Anderson, Fuseini, Swaine, Chorley (Francis 77), Cook, Porter, May (Rodgers 46), Emmanuel (Tumwa 81), Dennis, Subs not used: Udoji, Prestedge. Att: 1,653.