On 25 March 1999, after over 200 League of Wales goals in four seasons, Torquay United paid £70,000 (breaking their transfer record) to sign Williams, beating off competition from a number of clubs, possibly helped by his Barry teammates Lee Barrow and Paul Mitchell, both former Torquay players, passing on happy memories of Plainmoor. He made his league debut against Hartlepool United and made an instant impact as he became only the second Torquay player to score a hat-trick on his debut (the first being Peter Laraman in the 6–2 defeat of Barnsley in September 1961). Unfortunately this led to massive expectations being placed on Williams' shoulders, for example, Neville Southall, in goal for Torquay that day, predicted, "He can go all the way to the Premiership."