Exeter City suffered a frustrating defeat in their final home pre-season match of the summer against a solid Torquay United outfit.
Ryan Bowman opened the scoring on the hour before Jordan Chapell doubled the lead after finishing off a well-worked move.
The Gulls acquitted themselves well throughout, and although 2-0 was probably a touch harsh on City, there was no doubt who performed better on the day.
On such a warm afternoon, it was no surprise that the match struggled to ever really hit top gear, although the first 15 minutes did see some hefty challenges from both sides.
The Grecians were without Jordan Moore-Taylor, who is set for a spell out with a stress-fracture to his metatarsal, and Scot Bennett, and the lack of direction in the middle of the park was apparent at times.
Christy Pym was the first of the keepers called into action, and he did well to fend off a volley from Elliot Benyon on the edge of the box.
Triallist Christian Ribeiro was a constant thorn in Torquay's right-hand side for the entire afternoon, and his cross deserved more than Jimmy Keohane's mis-hit effort.
Both teams were linking up nicely in the middle of the park, although there was a distinct lack of end product from both.
Keohane warmed the gloves of Martin Rice with a volley after being played through by Aaron Dawson, before Louis Briscoe fired powerfully over for Torquay.
Courtney Cameron then had his head in his hands after shooting high and wide unchallenged from 12 yards, but the hosts hit back as Keohane wriggled clear, only to see his weak shot easily saved.
Torquay went in at half-time the happier, and they again looked comfortable in the second period as both sides struggled to muster a chance.
But things exploded into life on 58 minutes as the Grecians came within inches of scoring.
A fine run and cross saw Ribeiro set up Keohane but, after mis-cueing his first effort, the second was cleared on the line before Matt Oakley blazed over.
Two minutes later, the visitors were ahead as Bowman ran onto Briscoe's pass - despite a hint of offside - before cutting inside his man at beating Pym with a powerful low effort at his near post.
Pym then saved well from Dan Sullivan's 25-yarder, and Matt Grimes then lashed over from 20 yards after a rapid counter.
The Grecians huffed and puffed but struggled to really cut open their opponents, and it was left to Chapell to fire home across Pym to wrap up the win.
