Torquay boss Paul Buckle is delighted his newly-promoted League Two side will visit Championship outfit Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup first round.

Buckle, 38, has just collected the non-League manager of the year award after steering the Gulls to promotion following their 2-0 Blue Square Premier play-off final win over Cambridge at Wembley last month.

The Gulls chief said: "Palace away is an absolutely fantastic draw for us and shows we have well and truly arrived back in the Football League - what a bonus for our supporters!

"I have the utmost respect for Neil Warnock as a manager, and of course he was here as (caretaker) manager before and has a fondness for the club.

"I haven't spoken to him for a while but he was really helpful to me when I started out as a manager two years ago and you never forget things like that."