Parkway again falter at Bolitho
Parkway v Dorchester Town | Match ReportPlymouth Parkway slipped to 15th defeat of the season, losing 1-2 at Bolitho to Dorchester Town, despite having led the game.
Tom Dean’s second goal of the season was wiped out by a brace from Olaf Konzsela to ensure Dorchester took the three points.
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A disappointed Chris McPhee said: “It’s a huge amount of frustration because again, the result doesn’t reflect the game but ultimately you get punished when you make poor decisions in key moments.”
“In the earlier part in the season, we were making these kinds of mistakes, these kinds of decisions, these key times and it’s, it’s crept back in today. We’ve worked tirelessly, we’ve worked so hard to get ourselves in a position where we’re able to take the lead.
“Normally, those moments are where we we’ve been quite resilient, and we’ve been able to manage the game a lot better than what we have done today.
“For 75% of the game, it’s been ours, and it was ours to lose today, and that is the most frustrating thing – we looked in control. We’re going to look back on this one as a massive opportunity missed.”
Fresh from a strong showing away at lead leaders Merthyr Town, an unchanged Parkway started the match brightly with Dean fashioning a chance for Matt Wright to head goalward, testing keeper Harrison Lee within the opening five minutes.
Referee Craig Scriven was given a big choice to make just a minute later when Wright was taken out by the last man, William Spetch, but the defender was shown a yellow card despite big protests from the Parkway squad.
Perhaps it was too early for a red?
Dorchester soon were gifted their first opportunity after a botched clearance from Carlo Garside allowed Konzsela the chance to fire at goal, but the striker’s effort was equally miss-hit, and it failed to trouble Alex Rutter.
Following another headed opportunity from Wright, Tylor Love-Holmes came close to scoring an exceptional opener.
The Truro loanee picked up the ball just inside the opposition’s half on the left wing, spun one defender, cut in past another onto his right foot and narrowly missed the bottom right corner with a low curling effort – the run alone deserved a goal.
Having had the better of the chances in the first half, Parkway finally took the lead in the 53rd minute.
Shane White pressed forward from defence and squeezed a ball through to Wright up top.
The striker turned brilliantly past his man and got his shot off on goal, forcing a good save from Lee but to the keeper’s misfortune, the ball landed at the feet of Dean who slotted home to make it 1-0.
Before the weekend, Dorchester had failed to score a goal at Bolitho in five previous attempts but after forcing Rutter into his first save of the afternoon, the away side hit back just 10 minutes later to shatter that record.
A low ball was cut back across the box on the 12-yard mark to Konzsela who took a touch and fired past Rutter into the left-hand corner aided by a deflection making it all square once more.
New signing Reece Thomson was inches away from getting his side back in front on his return to Bolitho but his flicked effort from a cross-turned shot from Liam Oakes went agonisingly over the crossbar.
The story of Parkway’s season reared its ugly head once more as McPhee’s men were once again punished for not taking their chances.
An unfortunate handball from White in the box presented Konzsela a chance from the spot, and unlike Parkway, he took that chance, firing home into the bottom left to complete the comeback in the 75th minute.
Both game management and a lack of cutting edge in the final third let Parkway down in what could quite easily have been another vital three points in the relegation dog fight.
The Yellows remain 15th in the table, three points away from the relegation zone, but next Saturday’s home tie against Gosport Borough now becomes that bit more important.
Match Info
1 Rutter, 2 Dean, 3 Oakes, 5 Scarff, 6 White, 7 Williams (Wilson 79), 8 Hall, 10 R. Garside, 14 Love-Holmes, 17 Wright (Thompson 62), 20 C. Garside (Brett 83).
Subs: 4 Brett, 9 Thompson, 11 Wilson, 16 Cunningham (unused), 19 Watts-Barciela (unused).
Dorchester Town:
1 Lee, 2 Dickson, 3 Haste, 4 Spetch, 5 Ngalo (Daws 62), 19 Pardoe (Roberts), 15 Buse (Fogden 57), 8 Moore, 9 Konzsela, 10 Gwengwe (Hutchinson 81), 11 Robinson (Turner 30).
Subs: 12 Roberts, 17 Daws, 20 Hutchinson, 18 Turner, 7 Fogden.
Yellows:
Spetch (4), Dickson (46)
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