United looked well-organised under new head coach Keith Curle but were forced to play a man short for 55 minutes following the dismissal of central defender Stevland Angus.
Once down to 10 men the League's bottom club worked hard to snuff out the Lincoln attack, but rarely posed any threat at the other end of the pitch.
The result might have been different had Torquay made more of an impressive start. They quickly had Lincoln on the back foot and should have gone in front in the sixth minute.
Lincoln's Lee Frecklington was penalised for a foul on Lee Mansell just outside the box. The free kick was touched to Mark Robinson who smashed in a powerful shot which Lincoln keeper Alan Marriott could not hold, but striker Lee Thorpe failed to hit the target with his follow up from six yards out..
Two minutes later Marriott dropped a free kick from Robinson in front of his own goal but Lincoln skipper Paul Morgan cleared before Jamal Easter could take advantage.
Lincoln gradually got into the game and took the lead in the 25th minute with what proved to be the winner. Lee Beevers set up a deep cross from the left where Stallard rose above Angus to head in.
Torquay immediately tried to hit back and a corner from Mansell set up Thorpe again but this time the striker's header was hacked away by Jeff Hughes.
Angus earned his first yellow card of the game in the 33rd minute for a rash challenge on Frecklington as the Lincoln man tried to move forward.
Almost immediately Angus himself was chopped by Spencer Weir-Daley, earning the Lincoln man a booking. But that was almost Angus' last contribution to the game as he fouled Beevers on the edge of the box in the 35th minute and was dismissed for his second yellow card.
Torquay immediately withdrew Easter into midfield leaving Thorpe as a lone figure battling against the Lincoln defence.
Lincoln had virtually all the possession for the rest of the game, but thanks to the hard work of the Torquay midfield and defence, they rarely looked like scoring.
Lincoln's only chance of the second half fell to Weir-Daley who got behind the Torquay defence but his final shot was well saved by Kevin Miller.